アキラは宿の部屋で装備の整備をしながら、ヒガラカ住宅街遺跡での出来事をアルファと話していた。
「それで、結局あの女性は何だったんだ?」
『あれは非実在形式の人材派遣業みたいなものよ。あの地下室には旧領域に接続可能な機器が設置されていたようね。あの限られた位置にいないと接続できない上に、接続先も限定されていて汎用的な使用はできない機器なのだと思うわ』
「......人を派遣って、実際にはいないんだよな?」
『世の中には知覚できて受け答えができれば可能な仕事はいろいろあるのよ』
「そういうものなのか?」
『そうよ。証拠ならアキラの目の前にいるでしょう?』
アルファが得意げに笑って自分を指差した。アキラは納得して
屋敷の地下室、しかも隠し部屋に、実在しないとはいえメイド服の美女を派遣する。いろいろと知識に欠けているアキラは、そのことに特に何も感じず、思わず、気にしなかった。
アルファも一々教えたりはしなかった。もしアキラが何らかの反応を示していれば、明日からアルファの格好がメイド服を基本としたものになっていた可能性もあったが、それは避けられた。
アルファが話を続ける。
『アキラ。忠告するけれど、あの地下室に旧領域への接続機器があることを誰かに話しては駄目よ。機器を探して取り出して売るのも駄目だからね』
「何でだ? 貴重な装置なんだろ? 売れば高値になるんじゃないか?」
アルファが真剣な表情で強く答える。
『絶対駄目』
アキラは自身の素朴な疑問に痛烈な忠告が返ってきたことに驚きながらも、アルファの態度から相応の理由があることは理解した。
「分かった。話さないし、売ろうともしない。でもその理由ぐらいは教えてくれ」
『旧領域への接続機器は非常に貴重な遺物なの。そこまで貴重な遺物だと、入手場所や入手方法について詳しく聞かれる可能性が高いわ。その過程でアキラが旧領域接続者だと露見する可能性があるからよ。アキラが自分を旧領域接続者だと自覚していなければ、それだけ露見する可能性も低くなると判断して今まで教えていなかったわ。でも自覚した以上、絶対に秘密にしないと駄目よ。もし誰かにバレたら、楽には死ねないと思いなさい』
アルファはそのままアキラに、旧領域接続者の有用性と危険性を教え込んだ。最悪の場合、生きていれば人体実験の対象となり、死んでいれば脳構造を念入りに解剖されると聞いて、アキラが顔色を非常に悪くして嘆く。
「......正直、知りたくなかった。いや、自覚がないまま捕まるよりはましだったか? いや、やっぱり知りたくなかった!」
『黙っていれば案外ばれないものよ。私もサポートするわ。自分は接続者だと
嘘
「よし! 俺が旧領域接続者だからアルファに出会えて今も生き残っている! 俺は運が良かった! そう決めた!」
アキラは誰よりも自分自身にそう言い聞かせるために、はっきりとそう言い切った。そう言い切って完全に気持ちを切り替え終えた。少々無理
『アキラ。ショックから立ち直ったのは良いことだけれど、声が大きいわ。今は大丈夫だったけれど、誰かに聞かれたら大変だったわよ? 気を付けなさい』
我に返ったアキラが少し震えながら聞き直す。
『大丈夫よ。アキラの声が聞こえる範囲には誰もいないわ。盗聴器の類いも無し。私がしっかり調べたから大丈夫よ』
『さて、怖い話はこれぐらいにして、今度は今回の収穫の話をしますか』
アルファは今回の収穫についてアキラに説明を始めた。
アキラが見たメイド服の女性は、非実在形式の人材派遣業を行っている旧世界の企業が旧領域を中継して表示しているものだった。それは旧世界の企業の施設と、現在も稼動している遺跡とが接続していることを意味する。設備が生きている遺跡との接続は東部の者達に多くの利益を生む。旧世界の知識、技術、製品、その他様々なものを入手する重要な手段になるからだ。
東部では旧領域との接続手段そのものが非常に高値で売買される。統治企業やハンターオフィスに売りに行けば高額で売却できる。
アキラもアルファの説明を聞いて、その価値は理解した。しかし今の自分に直接的な利益を生み出すものとは思えなかった。
「......なるほど。そこに旧世界の遺物を探しに行くんだな?」
『そういうこと。当然その場所は旧世界の遺跡よ。もしまだ他のハンターに発見されていない遺跡があれば、大量の遺物が残っているでしょうね』
「よし! すぐに行こう!」
『駄目よ。最低でも荒野仕様の車を手に入れるまでは我慢しなさい。遠出する可能性もあるからバイクだと不安だし、大量の遺物を持ち帰るのも難しいでしょう?』
い目標があった方がやる気も出る。その手段を手に入れるためにも頑張るか」
首尾よく未発見の遺跡を見つけ出せば、手付かずの遺跡に眠る大量の遺物が手に入る。アキラはその期待に胸を膨らませながら、機嫌良く装備の整備を続けた。
アキラがバスに乗ってクズスハラ街遺跡に向かっている。バスにはアキラの他にも多くのハンターが乗車している。アキラのような新米もいれば、明らかに熟練者の雰囲気を漂わせた者もいる。全員ハンターオフィスから依頼を受けた者達だ。
クガマヤマ都市の経営陣はクズスハラ街遺跡の奥を効率的に攻略するために前線基地の建設を決めた。まずは遺跡の外周部に近い荒野に仮設基地を建設し、その後は遺跡奥部を目指す後方連絡線を構築する予定だ。
アキラが受けた依頼はその前線基地構築補助作業だ。作業場所の警備や作業員の護衛などが主で、実際に基地の建築作業に関わるわけではない。
アキラ達は建築中の仮設基地で仕事の大まかな説明を受けた。その後依頼元である都市の職員がハンター達の希望と実力を基に仕事を割り振っていく。
職員がハンター達に仕事用の貸出し端末を渡した後、その使用方法などを説明する。
「その端末で我々の指示を受けてくれ。端末は発信器を兼ねていて、端末のマップ機能で自分と他のハンターの位置を確認できる。モンスターと間違えて他のハンターを撃たないように注意すること。それと、遺跡にいるからといって遺物を探すのは控えてくれ。偶然見付けたものを持って帰るなとまでは言わないが、遺物収集が仕事じゃないんだ。そっちに精を出されても困る。こちらでもそちらの位置と動向を常に把握していることを忘れないでくれ。長時間同じ場所に
『縁がある番号みたいね』
端末の裏には番号が書かれたテープが貼られていた。14番だった。
アキラが端末のナビゲートに従って遺跡を進むと、無数にある廃ビルの一棟の前に着いた。そこで端末に通信が届く。端末を操作して通話要求を受け入れると、職員の声が聞こえてくる。
「こちらA2区画本部。14番。聞こえているか?」
「こちら14番。聞こえている」
「目の前のビルを制圧してくれ。ビル内部に侵入して内部マップを作成し、モンスターを発見した場合は除去してくれ。端末のオートマッピングを有効にしてある。ビルの全ての部屋を調査してくれ。倒したモンスターを放置すると他のモンスターを呼び寄せる可能性が高い。面倒だろうがビルの出入口まで運んでくれ」
「重量や大きさから運び出すのが難しい場合は?」
「こちらに連絡してくれ。専用の回収班を向かわせる」
「了解」
アキラが通信を切ってビルの中に入ろうとすると、アルファに止められる。
だから索敵の訓練も兼ねて探索しましょう』
『だから時間をかけずに速やかに、かつ十分に警戒して進むのよ。色無しの霧が濃くなったらその程度の索敵技術がないと生き残れないわよ? 私の索敵能力も情報収集機器の感度も下がるから、その場合はアキラが自分で対処する必要が生まれるわ。そんな状況を想定して警戒して進んでね』
アルファの索敵もなく情報収集機器も使えない状況など、まだまだ未熟なアキラには悪夢でしかない。アキラが顔を
『......色無しの霧か。分かった。いろいろ指摘してくれ』
アキラは気を引き締めて廃ビルに侵入した。
廃ビルを1階から順に探索していく。ビルの床には
アキラは何とか1階の探索を終わらせた。掛かった時間も疲労も普通に探索するのとは段違いだ。
『当たり前だけど、時間が掛かるな。遺物を探すなって
『安全に素早く索敵を済ませることもハンターの技量よ。訓練を続けて索敵技術を磨くしかないわ。特に迷彩能力を持つモンスターは要注意だわ』
『......光学迷彩って、そんなやつをどうやって探すんだ?』
『周囲の景色との微妙なずれを探したり、音や振動を解析したり、いろいろよ。高性能な情報収集機器や、索敵の専門家なら十分探し出せるわ。不必要な戦闘は避けられるし、攻撃時に先制攻撃が容易になる。無駄に銃火器を持ち歩くよりよっぽど安全に遺跡探索が行えるわ。遺物収集も
いエレナも、色無しの霧が濃いと急激に能力を落とすわ。情報収集機器の機能が急激に落ちるからね』
アキラは自分がエレナ達を助けた時のことを思い出す。あの時のアキラはアルファのおかげで色無しの霧の影響を
『色無しの霧か。あれは厄介だ。対処方法とかないのか?』
『色無しの霧に対して高い抵抗力を保つ情報収集機器を買えば、ある程度対抗は可能よ。ただし
『了解。次は2階だ。......ここ、何階建てだっけ?』
『8階建てよ』
『......先は長いな』
いて2階部分の探索を始めた。
その後、3時間ほどかけて廃ビルの全階の探索を済ませて屋上に出た。そこで一息入れていると、遠くから発砲音が響いた。どこかでハンターがモンスターと戦っているのだ。アキラがこのビルでモンスターに遭遇しなかったのはただの偶然だ。
再び端末に通信が入る。
「こちらA2区画本部。14番、聞こえているか? そちらの状況を教えてくれ」
「こちら14番。ついさっきビルの制圧が終わったところだ」
「了解した。ナビゲートに従って次のビルに向かってくれ。なお14番がそのビルを制圧するのに掛かった時間が、こちらが想定している完了時間を大幅に超過している。強力なモンスターとの遭遇など、何か不測の事態が発生したのか?」
「モンスターとの遭遇はなかった。全ての部屋を警戒しながら慎重に進んだので時間が掛かったのだと思う。......そちらの想定では、どの程度で終わる予定だったんだ?」
「1時間程度を想定している。警戒するなとは言えないが、もう少し急いでくれ。以上だ」
「......了解」
アキラは端末の通信を切った。実力不足を指摘されて少し落ち込んでいると、アルファが励ますように
『気にしないでこの調子で進みましょう。急いで探索して危険を増やす必要はないわ』
『それでこの依頼が失敗扱いになったら?』
技術の向上を目指して速やかな行動を心がけることは大切よ? そういう意味では急がせるからね』
『......その辺はお手柔らかに頼む』
『駄目。びしびし行くわ』
アキラとアルファが互いに冗談めいた笑いを浮かべる。アキラは気を取り直して次のビルに向かった。
その後アキラは数棟の廃ビルを制圧した。端末のナビゲーターがアキラの目的地を仮設基地に変える。アキラは仮設基地に戻って職員に貸出し端末を返した。これで本日のアキラの依頼は完了だ。
軽い疲労感を覚えたアキラがその疲労を吐き出すように息を吐く。モンスターとの戦闘など数回しかなかったが結構疲れていた。強化服を着用していることで身体的な疲労はかなり軽減されている。だがそれでも精神的な疲労までは補えないのだ。
だからここで何か食べていけば? 帰ってもいつもの冷凍食品でしょう?』
仮設基地の回りには数多くのトレーラーが止まっている。仮設基地で働くクガマヤマ都市の職員達と、ここに集まったハンター達を相手に商売をしているのだ。
ハンター用の固い携帯食ではなく、露店で売られている温かで柔らかな食べ物を頬張るハンター達の姿を見ると、アキラも急激に空腹を覚えた。
『そうだな。俺も何か食おう』
幾つかある露店を見比べるが、アキラにはどの店が
シェリルは一瞬驚きの表情を浮かべたが、すぐに笑顔で対応する。
「いらっしゃいませ。1人前980オーラムになります」
「......1人前で」
まりました。カードを御利用の場合は、こちらにお願いいたします」
シェリルがカウンターの上の読み取り端末を案内する。読み取り端末の上部には、デジタル表示で980オーラムと表示されている。アキラが読み取り端末の上にハンター証をかざすと、ピッと音が鳴って支払が完了した。
シェリルが一人前のホットサンドの包みをアキラに手渡す。その際にアキラに少し近付いて小声を出す。
「こんなところで会えて
店の奥からダリスの声が戻ってくる。
「お前の休憩はまだ早いはずだぞ!」
「アキラがいた! 俺はちょっとアキラと話があるんだよ! 良いから代わってくれ!」
そうな表情のダリスが出てくる。ダリスはアキラを見て、アキラの装備品を見て少し驚いたような表情を見せた。アキラの装備品が以前とかなり変わっていることに驚いたのだ。
ダリスはアキラの装備を見て、自分が店番を代わる程度には重要な話らしいと判断すると、それ以上は文句を言わずにカツラギと店番を交代した。
アキラとカツラギは少し困惑気味な表情を浮かべている。シェリルはアキラと会えて上機嫌で
アキラとカツラギはお互いの態度を見て、相手もシェリルの様子に少々困惑していることを察した。
「それでカツラギ、話って何だ?」
「ああ。大した話じゃない。お前のハンター稼業は順調かって聞きたいだけだ。ぶっちゃけた話をすれば、お前、あれから旧世界の遺物を売りに来ないじゃないか。軽い
「今はモンスターの討伐に力を入れているだけだ。俺は主にクズスハラ街遺跡で遺物収集をしていたんだが、今はそれどころじゃないことぐらいカツラギでも分かるだろう?」
「まあ、確かに今のクズスハラ街遺跡へ遺物収集に行くハンターはいないな。例の襲撃でモンスターの分布が大分変わったらしい。遺跡の外周部のモンスターも結構強くなったって話だ。外周部に残っている遺物の価値ではもう割に合わないだろう。その代わり、例の襲撃で遺跡全体のモンスターは大分間引かれたらしい。遺跡奥部の遺物を狙うなら今がチャンスなんだろうな。だから都市の運営部も大金を出して前線基地まで建設して遺跡奥部の遺物収集を推進しようとしているんだろう」
「俺が他の遺跡に遺物収集に行くのは移動手段の関係でちょっと難しいんだ。俺のハンターランクだと荒野仕様の車が借りられないんだ」
カツラギがアキラの装備を改めて確認する。強化服。AAH突撃銃とCWH対物突撃銃。そして情報収集機器。アキラの装備は移動手段に困るハンターのものとは思えない。
えているじゃねえか。レンタル業者からハンター稼業仕様の車両の貸出しを拒否されるようなハンターの装備品には見えないぞ?」
「カツラギに遺物を売っているから、俺のハンターランクは大して上がってないんだよ。強化服はあの代金で買ったやつだし、情報収集機器もエレナさんから格安で譲ってもらったものだ。装備に金を
く待っていてくれ。別に俺が遺物を持ち込まないからって経営難になるような経営状態じゃないだろう?」
カツラギが最も知りたかったことは、アキラがシェリルを見切って他所に遺物を売っていないかどうかだ。先行投資が無駄にならなかったことに取りあえず安心した。
「それで、シェリルは何でこんな場所にいるんだ?」
「カツラギさんの店に貸し出した人員の管理をしています。それとカツラギさんに協力していただいて、簡単な商売をしています。そのホットサンドも一応私達が作りました。これもアキラのおかげです。ありがとう御座います」
カツラギが補足を入れる。
「お前との取引の一環として、俺もいろいろやっているってことだ。シェリル達に小遣い稼ぎの手段ぐらいは提供してやっている。簡単な荷物運びとか俺達の手伝いとかだな」
カツラギはそう言って、売り物の弾薬などを運んでいる子供達を指差した。全員シェリルの徒党の子供達だ。
カツラギが話しながらホットサンドを食べ終えた。
「......足りねえな。シェリル。もう一つだ」
「分かりました。アキラはどうします?」
「お前も売上げに貢献していけ。金がないって言ってもその程度の小銭はあるだろう」
アキラもホットサンドを食べ終えていた。少し足りないと思っていたので追加を頼むことにする。アキラがハンター証をシェリルに渡して追加を頼むと、シェリルはそれを受け取って会計処理と追加分を取りに離れた。
「......なあアキラ。お前、あいつに何かやったのか?」
アキラが首を横に振る。
「初見の時とは別人だろ。実は双子で入れ替わったと言われたら俺は信じるな。まあ、商売相手としては今の方が良いけどな。客向けの愛想も良い。頭も悪くない。ホットサンドの販売もシェリルが言い出して、実際良く売れている」
「違う。俺は専門分野で成り上がる気だからな。飲食業に手を出す気はない。手配を手伝いはしたが、あれはシェリルの店だ」
「ん? 食材の仕入れは俺がやった。シェリルと手伝いの子供は風呂に入れてしっかり洗わせた。服も安物だが清潔なやつを用意した。食品調理用の使い捨て手袋も使っているし、調理も単純でやることは加熱とソース塗り程度だ。大丈夫だろう」
アキラはカツラギがシェリルの店で問題が発生した場合に、自分に補償や後始末をさせるつもりだと考えて、その問題発生の可能性を尋ねるために、大丈夫かと尋ねた。別に衛生上の問題点を尋ねたわけではなかった。だがその程度の返事が返ってくるのなら問題ないのだろうと判断して、細かく聞き直すのは止めた。
シェリルが追加のホットサンドを持って戻ってくる。アキラは受け取ったホットサンドを改めて見る。ホットサンドは濃厚なソースと肉汁は挟んだパンが吸い取っていて
いと答える味ではあった。しかし普段の生活で約1000オーラムを出して食べるかと問われれば微妙だ。ホットサンドの価格は確実に荒野料金だ。
だが仮設基地建設に関連している依頼を受けているハンター達はその程度の小銭など気にしない。少々足りないと感じて追加を求める者が、追加分の金を惜しむことはない。ホットサンドの量と価格はこの場の需要に応じて適切に調整されていることになる。
「このホットサンドの値段を決めたのって、カツラギか?」
「いえ、私が決めました。......もしかして、お気に召しませんでしたか?」
少し不安そうに尋ねてきたシェリルに対し、アキラが首を横に振る。
「その手の話って、カツラギがシェリルにいろいろ教えたりしたのか?」
「いや、俺が手伝ったのは材料や服の手配とかで、別にその辺の指南はしていないな。俺はシェリルに頼まれたことをやっただけだ。......勘違いするなよ? 失敗したらその責任をアキラに押しつけようとか、そんなことを思ったわけじゃないぞ? 本当だぞ?」
アキラとカツラギが顔を見合わせる。カツラギと念話などできないが、言いたいことは何となく理解できた。カツラギはアキラに、本当にシェリルに何もしていないのかと尋ねていた。
本当に何もしていない。アキラは一応そんな視線をカツラギに送っておいた。伝わったかどうかは微妙なところだった。
Akira was talking with Alpha about what happened back in the Higaraka Residence Ruin while doing maintenance for his guns inside his room.
"So, what exactly was that girl?"
"It seems to be some kind of holographic worker from a company. I think there's some kind of device inside that bas.e.m.e.nt that connects it to the old world domain. But judging from the fact that you had to stand on a certain location to activate it and its limited connectivity, I believe that the device is unusable for the general public."
"...Worker, huh? But they're only holograms, right?"
"In this world, there are various types of work that would open up if you can see and accept their existence."
"Is that so?"
"Yep, it is. If you want proof, you're seeing one right now."
Alpha then smiled and pointed at herself. Akira immediately understood her point and nodded.
Inside the secret room in the bas.e.m.e.nt of that mansion, he clearly saw a maid girl appear out of nowhere, though it was only an image. But Akira, who was lacking in knowledge about that subject completely ignored the fact, or more like, he did not notice that fact at all.
Alpha also did not tell everything to Akira. If he showed some sort of reaction to that maid girl, Alpha might start putting on a maid uniform from tomorrow, but that did not happen.
Alpha then continued.
"Akira, I'll at least warn you about this, don't tell anyone about the device inside that bas.e.m.e.nt which can connect to the old world. And don't ever think of taking and selling it, okay?"
"Why? Isn't that an important device? It might earn me a lot of money, you know?"
Alpha made a serious face as she strongly warned Akira.
"Don't do that no matter what."
Akira was surprised when his simple question was answered with a firm warning. But looking at Alpha's expression, he understood that there was definitely a valid reason for it.
"Alright, I won't tell anyone and I won't try selling it. But can you at least tell me the reason why?"
"Anything that can help you access the old world domain is a highly valuable object. Because of that, they might ask you how and where you got it. And so there's a chance they might discover that you're someone who is connected to the old world domain from your answers to those questions. I thought that such a thing would be unlikely to happen if you don't know that you are someone who is connected to the old world, and that is why I didn't tell you up until now. But now that you know, you have to keep it a secret no matter what. If someone discovers it, you'll die a painful death."
After that, Alpha explained to Akira the dangers of being someone who was connected to the old world domain. In the worst-case scenario, people would keep him alive as a test subject for all kinds of experiments, and even if he died, people would carefully remove and dissect his brain. Akira's face turned pale when he heard that.
"...To be honest, I would choose to not know it if I had the choice. Wait, no, I guess it's better now that I know, right? Wait, screw that, it's better if I don't know!"
"It is actually pretty safe if you keep it a secret, you see. I'll also give my support too. And not to mention that there are people who keep lying by saying that they are connected to the old world domain. So I think it's going to be alright as long as you're careful."
"I don't understand why people would lie about being one of them?"
"Alright then! It's because I'm connected to the old world that I was able to meet Alpha and survive up until now!! I'm a lucky boy!! That's my take of the situation!!"
Akira said that out loud in order to convince himself. After that, he looked way more positive and enthusiastic than before. Although it looked a bit forced, he just pushed it out with pure determination.
"Akira, it's a good thing that you got over the shock so fast, but your voice was too loud. It's okay for now, but it'll be bad if someone heard that, you know? So be more careful in future."
Akira who just got back on his senses trembled as he asked Alpha.
"It's alright. No one should have heard that and I don't detect any eavesdropping tool. I've checked everything, so don't worry."
"Now then. Let's just stop talking about scary stuff here and talk about our today's result."
Alpha then started explaining about the result from today's exploration.
The maid girl that Akira saw was from a hologram worker company that was advertising its service through the old world domain. It showed that even now some of the relics of the current era were still connected with the old world facilities. Any facilities that could be accessed through relics were of great importance to the people of the eastern district. After all, they would allow them to extract knowledge, technology and products of the old world from such a facility.
Anything that allowed access to the old world domain was regarded as an invaluable object in the eastern district. There was no mistaking that selling it to the Hunter Office or to the Corporate Government would earn you a huge amount of money.
Akira also understood its worth from hearing Alpha's explanation. But he did not think that it would give him any kind of profit.
"...I see. So we're going to look for relics in those places, right?"
"Yep, that's it. Of course, these locations are in the old world ruins. If the other Hunters haven't found them yet, you might be able to find a huge amount of relics there."
"Nice!! Let's go then!!"
"Stop there, at least wait until you have a vehicle specialized for exploring the wasteland. Since you will need to go to a faraway ruin, it would be dangerous to go on a bike, not to mention, it would be hard to bring back home all the relics that you might find with a bike."
"So I still need to wait, huh. But well, it's better now that I have a clear goal in mind. I guess I'll work hard so that I can get a vehicle soon."
If he could find an unexplored ruin, he would be able to find a pile of relics that no one had ever touched before. Akira was excited by that possibility as he was doing his gun maintenance in a good mood.
Akira was on a bus that was heading to the Kuzusuhara ruin. There were a lot of other Hunters inside the bus, some of them were amateur Hunters like him, while some of them were radiating the aura of a veteran Hunter. All of them were on the same request from the Hunter Office.
The Kugamayama city management decided to build a frontline base in order to effectively explore the deeper part of the Kuzusuhara ruin. They first planned to build a base near the outskirts of the Kuzusuhara ruin before constructing the communication line into the deeper part of the ruin.
The request that Akira took was to help protect the construction of the said base. It basically consisted of protecting the workers and securing the area. After all, constructing a base was not Hunter's job.
Akira was listening to the explanation given to the Hunters inside a temporary base. After that, the hunters would be assigned to their jobs depending on their ability and interest.
The staff distributed rental terminals for the work and explained how to use them.
"We'll give our instructions through this terminal. This terminal also contains a transmitter so you can check the other Hunter's whereabouts if you open them from the terminal. So be careful not to mistake another Hunter as a monster and shoot each other. And also, although we're in a ruin, refrain from searching for relics. I won't tell you as far as to not take any relics that you accidentally find, but we're not here to gather relics. We would be in trouble if you guys focus more on searching for relics, and don't forget that we always track your location too. So make sure not to stand in the same location for a long period of time or do anything that might cause suspicion. Finally, there should be a number behind the terminal, we will call you based on that number, so be sure to check that too. That's all. You may go to the ruins once you finish your preparation, you just need to follow the map's navigation in the terminal."
"It seems that this number is really fond of me."
The number taped behind his terminal was 14.
As Akira followed the navigation from the terminal, he arrived at an opening surrounded by countless crumbling buildings. He then pulled out his terminal to answer a phone call from the Hunter Office staff.
"This is A2 division HQ. Number 14, can you hear me?"
"This is number 14, I can hear you."
"Take control of the building in front of you. Explore and make a map of that building, don't forget to take out any monsters that you find. The terminal has an auto-mapping function, so you just need to check all the rooms inside that building. There's also a good chance that if you leave corpses of dead monsters, they might attract other monsters, I know it's a pain in the ass, but carry them all the way to the building entrance."
"What if they're too big or too heavy for me to carry?"
"In that case, let us know and we'll send a special team to help you."
"Roger that."
Akira then ended the call and went inside the building in front of him, but Alpha suddenly stopped him.
"Wait, this is a good chance for exploration training, so let's do that too."
"That's why you would have to do this carefully but not too slowly. If you don't have that much level of skill, you won't be able to survive in a colourless mist, you know? After all, my detection ability reduces inside the colourless mist. So you would have to rely on your own skills when that happens. We can use this chance to prepare for such a situation."
Exploring without Alpha's detection ability and support from an information-gathering device would be a nightmare for a beginner like Akira. Thus he could not help but frown at that possibility.
"...The colourless mist, huh? Alright, tell me how to do this."
Akira made his resolve and entered the building.
Akira started exploring the ruin from the first floor. Some of the floors in that building were covered in dust while some of them were not. It was because of the Hunters who had searched the building and the monsters which roamed inside it. He noticed that some walls inside the building were already crumbled.
Akira finally finished exploring the first floor. And of course, it took him longer than usual.
"I know that it's to be expected, but I did take a lot of time. I can see now why they told the Hunters not to go looking for relics."
"It's an important skill for a Hunter to be able to safely and quickly explore an area. And the only way to learn it is to train and improve your ability bit by bit. Especially when you're facing a monster with camouflaging ability."
"...Those optical camouflaged monsters, how can I detect them?"
"There are actually a lot of methods to detect them, you can look for optical anomalies or analyze the surrounding sounds. An advanced information gathering device or someone who specialized in information analysis would be able to detect them without any problem. It would allow you to evade needless fighting or to get the first shot in case you want to kill them, so you can safely and quickly search for relics."
"Yep, that's true. But even the skilled Elena-san will have trouble inside the colourless mist. After all, the colourless mist would render the information gathering device useless."
Akira remembered about the time when he saved Elena and Sara. At that time, the colourless mist did not affect him much thanks to Alpha's support. While on the other hand, the guys who ambushed Elena and Sara could not detect Akira at all due to the colourless mist.
"The colourless mist is really dangerous. Is there any way to cope with it?"
"You can buy advanced information gathering devices that could still barely work inside a colourless mist. But I heard that it's very expensive and it's less powerful compared to a normal information gathering device at the same price. Other than that, you can instead rely on your exploration skill rather than relying on your information gathering device. So there you have it, that's why you better work hard from now on, okay?"
"Roger that. Next is the second floor... By the way, how many floors are in this building?"
"8 floors."
"...I still have a long way to go now."
Akira mumbled as he proceeded to the second floor.
It took about 3 hours for Akira to finish exploring the whole building. After that, Akira went to the rooftop and took a break. But suddenly he heard cannons from faraway. It was coming from Hunters who were fighting some monsters. Akira did not find any monster in the building because of pure luck.
Suddenly his terminal rang again.
"This is A2 division HQ. Number 14, can you hear me? Tell me about your situation there."
"This is number 14. I just finished taking control of the building."
"Confirmed. Follow the navigation in your terminal and move to the next building. Now then, number 14, you took more time than we expected for taking control of that building. Did you meet a powerful monster or was there any other unexpected situation?"
"I didn't meet any monster at all. It's just that I searched all rooms carefully, I think that's why I took more time than usual... How long is your approximate time by the way?"
"We approximated that it should take you only about 1 hour. I won't tell you to rush things up, but do it faster next time. That's all."
"...Roger that."
Akira ended the call. He was a bit depressed after being told that he was less skilled than expected. Looking at that, Alpha just smiled trying to cheer him up.
"Don't worry about that, let's just continue like this. There's no reason to get yourself in more danger just to rush things up."
"But what if it causes me to fail this request?"
"Yep, that's good. But you need to remember that you have to enhance your detection and stealth abilities as soon as possible, you know? So you need to hurry up to improve in that aspect."
"...Please be gentle on me."
"Nope, I'll work you hard."
Akira and Alpha smiled as they exchanged jokes. He then changed his gear and headed to the next building.
Akira took control of so many other abandoned buildings after that. Eventually, his navigation map led him back to the temporary base. So he went back and gave his terminal back to one of the staff there. With that, his job for today was finished.
Akira felt tired as he let out a sigh, though, he was not tired to the level of exhaustion. He only met some monsters during his exploration and his augmented suit greatly reduced the stress on his body, but it did not help in reducing his mental stress at all.
"You did very well. Let's take a rest for now. Since we're here, how about we look for something to eat? After all, you'll only get to eat that frozen food if you're back in your room, right?"
The construction site was surrounded by many trailers, they were owned by the merchants who were selling their stuff for the Hunters and the workers from Kugamayama city.
Seeing how the Hunters were eating soft and warm food rather than their usual hard Hunter ration, Akira felt hungry out of nowhere.
"You're right, I guess I'll buy something to eat too."
Although Akira went and browsed the trailers, he did not know which food was tasty and which one was not. He felt like he would end up picking up something bad if he just chose randomly, so he observed other Hunters. Although there was no queue close to him, he spotted a relatively long queue nearby.
Sheryl looked surprised for a moment, but she quickly returned back to her usual smile.
"Welcome. The hot sandwich is 980 Aurum per portion."
"...I'll take one, please."
"Certainly. If you are going to pay with card, please place your card over the terminal."
Sheryl operated the terminal at the counter. The upper part of the counter showed 980 Aurum, as Akira put his Hunter ID on it, it made a beep sound and the payment was completed.
Sheryl then took a warped hot sandwich and gave it to Akira, but as she handed it over, she leaned towards him and said.
"I'm happy to see you here."
Darris' voice echoed from inside the trailer.
"Your break is still later, you know!!"
"Akira is here!! There's something I want to talk to him about!! So just watch the shop while I'm gone!!"
Darris appeared out from inside the trailer while looking annoyed. But the moment he saw Akira, he was taken aback by Akira's equipment. Akira looked completely different compared to the boy that he met not too long ago.
Darris looked at Akira's equipment and understood what Katsuragi meant when he said he had something important to talk about with Akira that he would even ask him to watch the shop. Thus he went to watch the shop without complaining any further.
Akira and Katsuragi looked a bit troubled while Sheryl was smiling very happily since she was able to meet Akira again.
Akira and Katsuragi looked at each other and noticed both of them looked a bit worried about Sheryl's behaviour.
"So then, Katsuragi, what do you want to talk about?"
"Well, it's not something that big. I just wanted to know how you are doing lately. To be honest, I'm just wondering why you haven't brought any relics since that time. I thought you were injured or something so you couldn't do any Hunter job. But since you're here, it means that it's not the case, right?"
"I'm focusing more on taking monster-hunting requests lately. I do hunt for relics in the Kuzusuhara ruin usually, but I'm sure that you know it's not the right time for that, right?"
"Well, it's true that it's not a good idea to explore Kuzusuhara ruin in the current situation. I heard that the distribution of monsters in the ruin changed greatly after that battle and strong monsters started roaming the outskirts of the ruin. And since there's no expensive relics left in the outskirts, I guess it isn't worth the danger, huh. But on the other hand, I heard that battle greatly culled the number of monsters. So this is a good chance if you want to grab some relics from the deeper part of the other ruins, right? Isn't that the reason why the manager of the city would even spend a huge amount of money to build the frontline base like this?"
"It's kind of difficult to go to the other ruins since I don't have the means of transport. I can't rent a vehicle with my current Hunter Rank, you see."
Katsuragi took another look at Akira's equipment. An augmented suit, AAH assault rifle, CWH anti-material rifle and an information-gathering device. Akira did not look like someone who would have a problem with transportation.
"...You have pretty good equipment though. I don't think anyone would refuse a Hunter like you if you want to rent a vehicle for your Hunter job, you know?"
"It's because I'm selling my relics to you, so my Hunter Rank doesn't go up much. I only got the augmented suit from the money that I earned back then, and for my information gathering device, Elena-san was nice enough to sell it for cheap to me. I put all of my money into my equipment, that's why I don't have much left, and not to mention I need money to rent a vehicle after I get my Hunter Rank high enough. It's because I promised to sell my relics to you, I have to do monster-hunting jobs to increase my Hunter Rank now. So there you have it, I can't do much even if you say that to me."
"Just wait for a bit more. It's not like you're in trouble just because I'm not bringing any relics to you, right?"
Katsuragi actually just wanted to make sure whether Akira had abandoned Sheryl or not since Akira did not bring any relics to him lately.
"So then, Sheryl, what are you doing in this place?"
"I'm managing the children from the gang who are working for Katsuragi-san. And I'm also managing a simple shop with help from Katsuragi-san. That hot sandwich was made by us, you see. This is also thanks to Akira, so thank you."
Katsuragi then added some more explanation.
"I'm basically just doing my part of the deal with you. I've also offered Sheryl and her gang some jobs like helping us load goods or stuff like that to help them earn some money."
Katsuragi pointed at some children who were moving his goods around when he said that. All of them were the children from Sheryl's gang.
Katsuragi finished the hot sandwich that he had been eating while talking.
"...That wasn't enough. Sheryl, bring me one more."
"Of course. Akira, how about you?"
"You should contribute to their sale too. Although you say that you don't have much money, you at least have enough money for another sandwich, right?"
Akira had finished his own sandwich too, and since he also felt that he was not satiated, he decided to ask for one more. He then gave his Hunter ID to Sheryl while telling her to bring one more sandwich, so she went to process the payment.
"...Say, Akira. Did you do something to her?"
Akira shook his head.
"She's completely different now compared to the first time I met her. I would even believe you if you say that she's Sheryl's twin, you know. Well, the current Sheryl is better as a business partner though. She's good at handling people and she's pretty smart as well. That hot sandwich was originally her plan, you see. And it's selling pretty well too."
"Nope. I want to attain success by staying in my field of expertise, you see. So I have no plans to do any food business. Although I helped her to get that shop running, that shop is Sheryl's own."
"Hm? I'm the one who procured the ingredients. I've told her to make sure that the children who would help her are bathed and cleaned properly. I prepared them cheap but clean clothes and told them to properly use the food-grade disposable plastic gloves too. Moreover, they basically just need to heat up stuff and put sauces on it. So they should be okay."
Akira thought that Katsuragi would make him pay and take care of the aftermath if anything bad happened to Sheryl's shop, that was why he wanted to make sure the possibility of any trouble happening later was low and it was not like he was concerned about its hygiene. But since Katsuragi answered back with that, Akira thought that it did not seem there would be any trouble later anyway, thus he decided not to try digging deeper into the subject.
Sheryl came back with the extra hot sandwiches and placed them on the table. Akira took a second look at the hot sandwich that he just received. It had a thick sauce and the bread was soaked in the meat juice as if it would not even let a drop of that goodness to getaway. The meat was pretty thick and had a good texture when he bit on it. Strangely enough, it did not feel rough despite its appearance. But it was not strange enough that it warranted a complaint.
If someone asked him whether it was good or bad, Akira would answer back that it was a delicious sandwich. But if asked whether he would spend 1000 Aurum daily to eat that sandwich, Akira would hesitate to say yes. After all, the sandwich's price was not affordable in a normal situation, it was only acceptable because they were in the middle of the wasteland.
But for the Hunters who were in that area for the construction help request, they did not mind paying such an amount for that sandwich. There were even people who would gladly pay for another portion after feeling that one sandwich was not enough. The price and the size of each portion of that hot sandwich were actually tuned very well to match the demand in such a situation.
"Who decided on the price of this hot sandwich? Was it Katsuragi?"
"No, I did... Is it not a good price?"
Sheryl enquired, sounding a bit worried, but Akira replied as he shook his head.
"About that though, did you teach it to Sheryl?"
"Nope, I only helped her procure the ingredients and the equipment. I didn't tell her anything about how to run her business. I only did what she asked me to do... Don't take this wrongly though. I have no plan pushing it to you if it fails, you know? I'm serious here, okay?"
Akira and Katsuragi looked at each other, although he could not talk telepathically with Katsuragi, he understood what Katsuragi wanted to say to him. Katsuragi was really questioning whether Akira really had not done anything to Sheryl.
The stare that Akira directed to Katsuragi was saying that he really did nothing. But it was rather doubtful whether his thoughts were properly conveyed to Katsuragi or not.
Rebuild World (WN)
リビルドワールド
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/rebuild-world/
Action Adventure Drama Harem Mecha Mystery Sci-fi Seinen
Abandoned Children Adapted to Manga Adventurers Alternate World Anti-social Protagonist Apocalypse Artificial Intelligence Beautiful Female Lead Cautious Protagonist Child Protagonist Dense Protagonist Determined Protagonist Distrustful Protagonist Futuristic Setting Gangs Gunfighters Harsh Training Lack of Common Sense Male Protagonist Manipulative Characters Monsters Near-Death Experience Older Love Interests Poor Protagonist Poor to Rich Ruthless Protagonist Shota Sudden Strength Gain Survival Twisted Personality Unlucky Protagonist Weak to Strong
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9736dt/
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