アキラが地下に続く階段を降りていく。階段を少し降りただけで日が差し込む場所ではなくなり暗闇の領域となる。
アキラは銃に取り付けた照明で先を照らして進んでいく。その光もどこまでも続いていそうな階段の先には届かない。奥は闇のままだ。
その状況でアルファが指示を出す。
『アキラ。照明を消して』
したが、言われたとおりに照明を消した。光源を失った一帯が一瞬で闇に包まれる。自分の体も見えない闇の中に、アルファの姿だけがくっきりと見えていた。
一帯を塗りつぶす闇の中、白銀に輝くアルファが右手を上げる。するとアキラを中心にした周辺の光景が、強い照明に照らされたかのように色づいた。近くの壁の細かなひび割れや変色までもはっきり認識出来るほど、周囲をしっかり確認できる。
アキラの視界は照明もないのに昼間のような明るさだ。確かにこれならば照明は不要だろう。アキラが感嘆の声を出す。
『当然よ。私のサポートなのよ?』
アルファが得意げに笑う。心強いことこの上ないアルファのサポートだが、アキラは低確率でそれを失う可能性もある場所を進んでいるのだ。
アキラはその万一の事態を想像して、気を引き締めて先に進んだ。
アキラの感覚で地下4階ぐらいまで階段を降りると、その先は長い通路だった。通路の天井には照明らしき器具が取り付けられているが、当然点灯などしていない。本来なら真っ暗闇の中、アキラは銃を構えながら通路の奥へ進んでいく。
「順調だな。これで後は旧世界の遺物がたっぷり残っていれば、大当たりの遺跡ってことになるんだけど」
アキラは長い通路を更に奥に進んでいく。すると通路の横に何らかの商店らしきものを見つけた。
商店は通路の壁に埋め込まれている構造で、ガラスのような透明な壁が通路と商店を分けているように見える。アキラが駆け寄って商店の中を見る。商店の内装は高級店を思わせる作りで、多くの高級そうな商品が、高額で売れそうな旧世界の遺物が陳列されていた。アキラにはどれも非常に高い価値がある遺物に見えた。
アキラが興奮を隠しきれずにアルファを見る。
「や、やった! アルファ! 遺物だ! 旧世界の遺物がこんなにたくさんある! 持って帰ろう! 全部持って帰ろう!」
『アキラ。落ち着いて』
「入り口、入り口はどこだ! 入り口がないぞ!?」
アキラが慌てながら入り口を探す。しかしどんなに探しても入り口らしきものはなかった。ガラスは頑丈そうには見えない。強化服の力で蹴破れば破壊可能に見える。
今にもガラスを蹴破って中に入ろうとしかねないアキラに、アルファが少し言いにくそうに告げる。
く表示するから、そのまま落ち着いて見てなさい』
アルファがアキラの視界を操作する。するとアキラの目の前にあったはずの商店の中の光景から奥行きが失われ、一瞬でのっぺりとした平面に変わった。
『地形情報を優先化させて、擬似的な立体視を無効化させたわ』
アキラは改めて商店の光景を写し出していた何かを見る。そして自分の知識の中から該当する物体の名称をひねり出した。
「ポスター?」
『旧世界の技術で作成された当時の広告でしょうね』
くアキラの理解が現実に追いついてきた。つまり、そこに店舗など存在しないのだ。アキラの前に存在しているのは、現実と見誤るほど高度な立体視の機能を持つポスターが貼られたただの壁だ。
アキラは落胆して崩れ落ちるのを何とか堪えた。
「これを剥がして持って帰るというのはどうだろう」
『壁と一体化しているから無理よ』
め息を吐き、気落ちしながら更に奥に進んでいった。
アキラの心情を反映して少々重い足取りだった歩みが時間経過で回復した頃、アキラは通路を抜けて広間に着いた。広間には別の場所に
商店を発見したアキラは問いかけるようにアルファを見る。
『大丈夫。今度は本物よ』
アキラは笑って商店に向かう。動力がないために動かない自動ドアを、強化服の力で強引に動かして商店の中に入った。
アキラは背負っていたリュックサックから別の空のリュックサックを取り出した。そして空のリュックサックの方に原形を保っている遺物を次々と入れていく。
何らかの小型の電子機器。包丁などの刃物。筆記用具らしき物。不自然なほどに変色していないノート類。下着と思われる物。箱は変色しているが中身は無事な回復薬。洗剤らしき液体の詰まった容器。ハンカチ。調理器具。電卓らしき物。洋服類。アクセサリー類。
アキラが余りにも関連性のない品々を見てアルファに尋ねる。
「......なあアルファ。ここは一体何屋なんだ?」
『多分日用雑貨店よ』
「調理器具や上着が日用雑貨なのか? よく分からない電子機器も? 旧世界ってのは本当によく分からない世界だな。旧世界の商店ってのはこういうのが普通なのか?」
『技術レベルが違えば文化も変わってくるわ。アキラの常識で考えてはいけないわね』
「そういうものか。まあ、遺物が高値で売れさえすれば関係ないな」
今の世界でさえ、都市の防壁の内と外では文化も生活も常識も異なるのだ。アキラは店の品
リュックサックはすぐに遺物で満杯になった。これなら売却額は相当な金額になっても良いだろう。アキラは顔を緩めさせた。
「遺物も手に入ったし、今日はこれで戻ろうと思う。アルファはどう思う? もう少し先に進んだ方が良いと思うか?」
『アキラがそう思うなら帰っても良いと思うわ。厄介ごとが起きる前に切り上げるのも大切な判断よ』
「じゃあ戻ろう。モンスターとの交戦も無し。今のところは大当たりの遺跡だったな」
『気を緩めては駄目よ? 生きて帰るまでは油断はできないし、遺物を売り払って金に換えるまでは大当たりの遺跡と判断するのは早計よ』
「分かってるよ。良し、帰ろう!」
アキラは意気揚々と来た道を戻り始めた。アルファが機嫌良く歩いているアキラを見て思案する。今日は
アキラは恐らく未発見である旧世界の遺跡を見つけ出し、モンスターとの遭遇もなく、旧世界の遺物を手に入れてクガマヤマ都市に戻ろうとしている。
アキラは運が悪い。少なくとも何らかの厄介ごとに関わる可能性が非常に高い。ここまで都合が良いと、その揺り戻しが心配だ。何の根拠もない話だが、アルファはそう判断していた。
アルファの予想に反して、アキラはモンスターとの遭遇もなくあっさりクガマヤマ都市に戻ることができた。途中の荒野でハンターらしき者達が乗る車とすれ違ったが、念のために彼らと大きく距離を取ると、別段何事もなく逆方向の荒野へ消えていった。
都市に戻ったアキラはそのまま家に戻った。既に今からカツラギを探して遺物を売りに行くにしては遅い時刻だったからだ。遺物を売りに行くのは明日にして、今日はゆっくり休むことにした。
かり1日の疲れを癒やしている。それなりの量の遺物を取得できたこともあって、アキラの機嫌はかなり良かった。
「幾らぐらいで売れるかな。結構状態の良いやつもあったし、高値になっても良いはずだ。そう思うだろ?」
アルファはアキラが無意識に算出している遺物の買取り価格が、その期待によって徐々に高額になっていることに気付いていた。アキラを落ち着かせるために少し否定的に答える。
『過度に期待するのは禁物よ。クズスハラ街遺跡で私が選んだ遺物を売った時と同じように考えるのは多分間違いよ。売れないとは言わないけれどね』
「......そうなのか?」
『カツラギの旧世界の遺物に対する目利きや、遺物の種類の需要も買取り額に大きく関わってくるわ。期待しすぎると、後でがっかりするかもしれないわよ?』
「ふーん。まあ、明日分かることか」
アキラの中で膨れあがっていた遺物の買取額に対する期待は、アルファの説明である程度は落ち着きを取り戻して少しだけ小さくなった。
翌日、アキラは早速カツラギに遺物を売りにいった。カツラギが遺物の査定を済ませて買取り額を提示する。
「220万オーラムだな」
カツラギが商人の笑顔を浮かべて話す。
「買取り額に不満があるって顔だな。だがこの前のように、すぐにハンターオフィスの買い取り所に持って行くと言い出さない程度には納得もしている。そうだろ?」
を刺していなければ、アキラはもっと高値の買取り額を期待していたはずだ。アルファからこの場で買取り額への指摘が出ていればアキラの態度も違っただろうが、それもない。買取り額を聞いて、そんなものか、と思いはした。しかし完全に納得できる金額でもないのだ。
カツラギはアキラの不満を見抜くと、そこから自身の利益に
「俺はお前とはこれからも仲良くやっていくつもりだ。だからお前が不満を募らせて遺物の販売先を他所に変えるのは困る。そこでだ。お前には遺物売却に関するノウハウがかなり足りていないようだから、良い機会だから俺が教えてやろう。どうせあれだろ? 普段は討伐中心で、遺物探索は余りやってないんだろ? 売却慣れしているなら、俺の所には持ち込まない遺物もたくさんあったからな」
「想像に任せる」
「まあ違ったとしても聞いておけって。聞いて損はない話だぞ?」
自分にとって都合のいい話をどこまで混ぜるか。カツラギはそう思案しながらアキラに遺物売却の知識を話し始めた。
旧世界の遺物はそのどれもが高値で売れるわけではない。そして誰に売っても同じ値段で売れるわけでもない。
ハンターオフィスの買い取り所では統企連が望む遺物を高額で買い取る傾向が強い。統企連が最も望むものは旧世界の異常なまでに高度な科学技術であり、その技術の入手元である旧世界の遺物だ。
東部の大企業は旧世界の技術を入手する
統企連が経営するハンターオフィスの買い取り所で買い取られた遺物は、その遺物から得られる可能性がある技術的な内容で選別される。そして技術的により貴重な遺物ほど統企連の母体である五大企業や関連する大企業に流れていく。そのため大企業と中小企業の技術格差はなかなか縮まらない。
中小企業がそのような技術的に貴重な旧世界の遺物を手に入れるには、別の入手ルートが必要になる。つまりカツラギ達のような個人商人を経由して買うのだ。
カツラギはアキラが持ち込んだ遺物の中から何らかの電子機器らしき物を手に取ると、それをアキラに見せながら話す。
「この類いの遺物を俺みたいな所に持ち込むのは大正解だ。どの企業もこの類いの遺物には
現行技術でも同等の性能の物は製造可能だが、製造費用が売り物にならないほど高額になる物。本来の製造目的とは別の使い方をされる物。旧世界の遺物というブランドが付加価値となる物。そのような遺物は対応する取扱業者へ流れ、品質を確認され、見栄え良く装飾され、時には別の物へ加工され、商品として流通するのだ。
カツラギはアキラが持ち込んだ遺物から、調理器具を手にとってアキラに見せながら話す。
ハンターは様々な旧世界の遺物を持ち帰って金に換えようとする。しかし扱いに困る遺物も多々存在する。旧世界の遺跡から持ってきたのだから高値で売れるはずだ。そう思い込んだハンターが何でもかんでも持ち帰るからだ。近場の店で買えば済むような物、
しかしそういった遺物でも
「......えっと、それは大丈夫なのか?」
「捨場所に気を付けているってこともあるが、今のところ文句を言われたことはないな。スラム街に近い荒野に捨てると1ヶ月持たずに消えるな。多分スラム街の住人が拾ってるんだろう。荒野に捨てても、やっぱりいつの間にか消えてるんだ。これには諸説あって、旧世界の清掃機械が今も稼動していて
アキラはカツラギの話を興味深く聞いていた。アキラの表情から買取り額に対しての不満が大きく軽減されたことに、カツラギは大いに手応えを感じた。
「買取りに関する話はこれで終わりだ。それでだ。俺の事情も理解してもらったところで提案がある。200万オーラム分だけ俺に売るってのはどうだ? 残りの分、つまり俺が高値を付けなかった遺物はアキラの好きにすれば良い。ハンターオフィスの買い取り所に持ち込んでも良いし、別の買取り業者に持ち込んでも良い。お互い納得できる提案だと俺は思うぞ?」
「良し。取引成立だ」
カツラギが自分の所に持ち込むのは不正解だと説明した遺物は全て残っている。そのほかにも細々とした物が残っていた。布系の遺物、下着やハンカチなども全て残っていたことは、アキラとしては少し意外だった。
アキラが目視で確認する限りでは品質に問題はないように見える。しっかり密封されている服や下着は痛みもなく新品同様に見える。恐らくカツラギはその類いの遺物を売却する販路がないのだろう。アキラはそう判断した。
『それ以外にもいろいろ残っているけれど、どうするの?』
アキラは問題を先送りにすることにした。この問題を放置するとアキラの家の中が売り先のない遺物で
アキラは空き部屋に売れ残りの遺物を詰め込んだ。空き部屋の空間にはまだまだ余裕がある。十分な空き空間はアキラにこの問題に対する猶予を与えた。
アキラは部屋を出ようとして、あることをふと思いつく。そしてリュックサックに布系の遺物とアクセサリー系の遺物を詰め込んだ。
『どうしたの? やっぱり売り先を探すの?』
「いや、違う。贈呈品にはちょうど良いとおもってな」
アキラは再び外出する準備を済ませると、遺物を詰めたリュックを持って外に出た。
シェリルが拠点の空き部屋で徒党の子供達に読み書きを教えている。アキラに頼まれたことでもあり、シェリルは優しく熱心に丁寧に読み書きを教えていた。そのため徒党の者達からの評判は非常に良かった。
大人になってからスラム街に流れ着いた者とは異なり、子供の頃からスラム街にいる者には読み書きが不十分な者も多い。その技術が生きるために非常に役立つことを理解するだけの知識だけは持っているが、しかしその技術を得る機会が全くない者も多い。ボスであるシェリルからの指示であることも含めて、皆一生懸命に授業を受けていた。
部下の一人が部屋の中に入ってきて、シェリルにアキラの来訪を伝える。
「分かったわ。アリシア。続きはお願いね」
シェリルが教師役の続きをアリシアに頼んで勉強用の部屋から出て行く。そのシェリルの姿を数名の少年が残念そうな表情で見ていた。
シェリルの容姿と徒党での地位などもあり、徒党内でのシェリルの人気は高いのだ。シェリルに取り入るために熱心に勉強して仕事に精を出す者も増えていた。
ナーシャは他の子供達と一緒に読み書きの勉強を受けていた。新入りであるナーシャが人数規制のある読み書きの勉強に加わっているのは、
くの間様子を見るつもりだが、このまま問題がなければ何とかしてアルナをシェリルの徒党に加えたいと思っている。そのためにもより深く徒党の内情を調べるつもりだった。
ナーシャはかなり機嫌良く部屋を出て行くシェリルを見て、近くにいた同僚に尋ねる。
「ねえ、ボスが随分機嫌が良く出て行ったけど、理由を知ってる?」
「理由って、そりゃアキラが、おっと、アキラさんが来たからだろう? ああ、お前新入りか」
徒党の人間なら予想の付くことを聞かれて、尋ねられた少年はナーシャが新入りだとすぐに気付いた。
しく。で、どういうことなの?」
「アキラさんはボスの恋人で、ボスが
ハンター崩れに限らず高い戦力の持ち主がスラム街の徒党に護衛や後ろ盾として関わることは多い。
小さな縄張りの徒党ならば、そのまま徒党のボスの座を乗っ取り好き放題にする者もいる。大規模な縄張りの徒党ならば、旧世界の遺跡に行くよりは安全だとして護衛や抗争時の兵力として高値で雇われ続ける者もいる。どちらにしろ、彼らに支払われる様々な報酬は徒党の他の人間が負担することになるのだ。
ナーシャはアキラもその類いの人間なのだろうかと考えて尋ねたのだが、少年は首を横に振る。
ってる感じだ。俺らの縄張りが他の縄張りの連中に奪われないでいるのも、あいつが俺らの後ろ盾になっているからだし、俺らと付き合いのある武器商人もあいつの伝だ。他にはそうだな、俺らが拠点にしているこの建物、結構良い建物だろう?」
「ええ、部屋数も多いし風呂も付いてるしね」
「だからいろんな所から狙われてるんだ。この建物を縄張りごと明け渡せって、別のデカい縄張りの徒党のやつが脅しにきたこともある。確かシジマってやつの所だ。知ってるか?」
アルナが入っても大丈夫そうな徒党を調べていた時の知識で、ナーシャもシジマの徒党のことは知っている。それなりに広い縄張りの徒党で、人員も装備もシェリルの徒党を大幅に超えている所だ。ナーシャの知識が確かなら、シェリル達程度の規模では、諦めて渡すしかない相手のはずだ。
「知ってるわ。良く無事だったわね。大丈夫だったの?」
少年は表情を険しくさせて答える。
「どうなんだろうな。あいつはその時に自分を脅したやつを殺して、その死体を持ってボスと一緒に相手の拠点に乗り込んで、相手のボスと話を付けてきたよ」
ナーシャが絶句している。少年が気持ちは分かると言いたげに
「一応、相手の徒党と友好的な関係になった、ことになっている。時々向こうの人間がアキラ......さんが死んでないか確認しに来るんだよ。アキラさんもハンターだからいつ死んでも不思議はないからな。アキラさんが死んだら、あいつら、絶対またここを奪いに来るんだろうな」
アリシアの視線が厳しくなってきたため、少年はこの場での無駄話を切り上げた。
我に返ったナーシャも慌てて姿勢を正す。
(随分ぶっ飛んだやつが後ろ盾になっているのね。この徒党もどこまでも都合が良いわけではないか。話の続きも気になるし、アルナのためにも、もう少し内情を調べないとね。アルナもいつまでも隠れているわけにはいかないでしょうし......)
Akira followed the stairs underground. It did not take that many steps before he was enveloped with total darkness where he could not see anything at all.
He then turned on the flashlight on his rifle and continued going deeper. The light from the flashlight could not even reach the base of the stair which extended deeper into the darkness.
At that time, Alpha suddenly said to Akira.
"Akira, turn off the flashlight."
Akira hesitated, but he eventually turned off the flashlight just like he was told. Darkness immediately enveloped him the moment he lost the only source of light. In that situation where he could not even see his own body, he was able to see Alpha's image clearly.
In the midst of the total darkness, Alpha, who was giving off a silvery glow, suddenly raised her right hand. The moment she did that, everything around Akira suddenly became clear as colours returned to his vision. Akira could even see the cracks and the stains on the wall around him.
Although there was no light at all, Akira was able to see everything as clear as day. He was amazed, it was true that he did not need any light source in this situation.
"But of course, it's my support after all."
Alpha smiled proudly. Her support was really reassuring, but Akira kept on moving forward into a place where he might lose that support.
Akira thought of that possibility, he then made his resolve and swung his legs forward.
Akira felt like he had gone down for about 4 floors before he reached a long hallway. There were lamps installed on the ceiling of the hallway, but of course, they were not on. If it was not because of Alpha's support, he wouldn't have been able to see them at all. Akira readied his gun as he continued walking deeper into the long hallway.
"It's going really well. Now then, if I can find a lot of old-world relics left in this place, then this will be perfect."
As Akira continued walking through the hallway, he noticed something that looked like a shop next to him.
The shop itself was embedded into the wall of that hallway. Akira realized that it was a shop since the wall was made of glass that allowed him to see what was inside. It seemed like the entire section of the wall was built as the display window of that shop. He came closer to the display window and peeked inside. The interior of that shop looked pretty extravagant with luxurious and expensive looking relics lined up inside that shop. To Akira, all of them looked like they would sell for a lot of money.
Akira could not hide his amazement as he turned to Alpha.
"W-we did it!! Alpha!! Those are relics!! This place has so many old-world relics!! Let's take them back, let's take all of them back home!!"
"Akira, calm down."
"Entrance, where's the entrance? I don't see any though."
Akira excitedly looked for an entrance, but he could not find anything that resembled it. The glass of the display window looked not that durable, he thought that he might be able to break it using his augmented suit.
Looking at Akira, who seemed like he was going to break the glass to get inside, Alpha hesitated as she said to him.
"I'll explain it to you, so just calm down for now."
Alpha then modified Akira's vision, the moment she did that, all the expensive looking relics that were in front of his eyes immediately vanished. Akira dropped his jaw.
"I prioritized the topological data to remove any holographic images from your vision."
Akira noticed an object that was projecting the image of the relics that he just saw a moment ago. He then dug through his knowledge and worded out the name of the object that came up in his mind.
"Holographic poster?"
"It was made using the technology of the old-world, I'm sure it's some kind of advertis.e.m.e.nt from when this place was still active."
Akira finally understood what was going on, the shop in front of his eyes was non-existent. It was only a super-advanced poster that produced a highly realistic image.
Akira was somehow able to prevent himself from just dropping on his knees.
"Can I at least bring this poster back?"
"It's embedded into the wall, so that'll be impossible too."
Akira let out a big sigh. He then continued going deeper while calming himself down.
In contrast with his expression, his steps still felt heavy when he left that poster. As time passed by, he eventually got back to his usual self. At that point, he had already reached the end of that long hallway and entered a big open-hall. That big open-hall was connected with another hallway, there were also several automatic ticket gates and shops present.
When Akira looked at those shops, he turned to Alpha as if he wanted to ask her something.
"It's alright, those are real this time."
Akira smiled and walked to one of those shops. Without any power source, the automatic door in front of the shop could not move, so he used the power of his augmented suit to pry it open before entering that shop.
Akira pulled out a rucksack, different from the one that he was using to carry his equipment. He then started stuffing any objects that still retained its original shape into his empty rucksack.
Among them, there were weird looking small electronic devices, knife-like sharp objects, some stationeries, notes that strangely enough still retained its original colour, some pieces of clothing that looked like underclothes, strange discoloured boxes filled with still consumable medicines, liquid containers filled with some kind of cleaner, handkerchiefs, cooking utensils, something that looked like calculators, fashionable clothing, small accessories, and even toys. Akira did not discriminate as he stuffed everything inside his rucksack.
As he was looking at the pile of mismatch relics in his rucksack, he asked Alpha.
"...Say Alpha, what kind of shop was this exactly?"
"Maybe just a general shop."
"They sold cooking utensils and clothing in a general shop? And even this strange electronic device too? I don't really understand the old-world culture. Was this kind of shop normal in the old-world?"
"Different technological era have different cultures. So you shouldn't use your common sense."
"I guess that's true, huh. Well, as long as these relics sell for a lot of money, I don't really care much about it."
Even in the current era, the lifestyle and the culture inside the wall and outside the wall were greatly different. So Akira decided not to let himself get bothered by the mismatched collection of relics that he found inside that shop.
It did not take long for him to fill his rucksack to full capacity. Akira smiled, he should be able to make quite a lot of money with this.
"Now that I already got the relics, I'm thinking of ending the exploration here for today. What do you think, Alpha? Should I continue exploring this area for a bit more instead?"
"If you think so, it's okay to go back home now. It's important to be able to decide where to stop before anything bad happens."
"Alright then, let's head back home. I didn't get to meet any monsters too, so I guess I really hit the jackpot today."
"You can't relax yet, you know? You should not drop your guard as long as you haven't returned back alive. And it's too soon to decide if you have hit the jackpot or not before you have exchanged all the collected relics into money."
"I know, let's go back home."
Akira went back through the hallway that he just passed through in a good spirit. As Alpha was watching him walking back in such a good mood, she thought that things were going too smoothly.
That day, Akira was able to find an unexplored ruin, get himself a lot of relics without encountering any monsters, and now he was going back to Kugamayama city to sell the relics that he gathered.
Akira had bad luck to the point that it was almost guaranteed that he would at least get roped into something troublesome no matter what he did. But now that everything was going well, Alpha was rather worried about the backlash. Although it was not like she had any evidence to support her claim, she still could not help but think so.
Unlike what Alpha expected, Akira was able to return back to Kugamayama city safely with all of his relics. Although he did meet some Hunters driving in the opposite direction on his way back, nothing bad happened. Akira put some distance between them just to be safe and continued driving in the opposite direction, those Hunters eventually disappeared behind Akira without anything major happening.
Once he got back to the city, Akira kept on driving his vehicle all the way back to his home. It was because it was already late, too late for him to look for Katsuragi to sell his relics. So he decided to just take a good rest for the remainder of the day and sell his relics the next day.
Akira took a warm bath to recover his fatigue from all the hard work he did that day. Since he got quite a lot of relics, he was in a rather good mood.
"I wonder how much I'll get from those relics. Some of them are still in very good shape, so they should be able to get me quite a lot of money. Right, Alpha?"
Alpha knew that Akira was expecting to get a lot of money from selling those relics. Thus she refuted his thinking in order to calm him down.
"You should not expect too much. This is not the same compared to when you were gathering relics in Kuzusuhara ruin with my instructions. But I won't say that they won't sell either."
"...Is that so?"
"The value of those relics will depend on Katsuragi's preference and the types of relics that are in demand at the moment. If you get your hopes too high, you might only get disappointed in the end, you know?"
"Hmmm. Well, I guess we'll find out tomorrow."
His expectation of the amount of money that he might get from selling those relics stopped swelling after hearing Alpha's explanation, it also helped him calm down.
On the next day, Akira went to Katsuragi to sell his relics. After checking all the relics, Katsuragi then told Akira how much he would buy Akira's relics for.
"2,200,000 Aurum."
Katsuragi made a businessman's smile as he said to Akira.
"That face, you were expecting to get more money, weren't you? But unlike last time, you're not saying that you're going to take them to the Hunter Office, so it's not like you fully reject it either, right?"
If Alpha had not warned him yesterday, Akira would have expected to get way more money than this. If she had said something after hearing the amount of money that Katsuragi was offering, Akira might have reacted differently too, but she did not make any comments at all. After hearing the amount, though Akira did not think that it was completely unexpected, he also was not fully convinced by that amount.
Katsuragi was able to see through Akira's displeasure and noticed that it might be his chance to get his hands on more money.
"I've been planning to get along with you for a long time, so it would be bad if you brought your relics to another place and was left with a bad impression about me. So, hear me out, I have a good idea. It seems that you don't have much knowledge about selling relics. In that case, I don't mind teaching you. After all, I bet that you mostly spend your time doing monster-hunting requests rather than hunting for relics, right? If you had known anything about selling relics, you wouldn't have brought a portion of these relics here."
"About what kind of requests I take, I'll leave it to your imagination."
"Well, even if I'm mistaken, you have nothing to lose from listening to my advice."
Katsuragi started explaining the basics of selling relics to Akira while carefully adjusting the level of self-interest that he could mix in his explanation.
It was not like all old-world relics would sell for a high price and the selling price would also change depending on to whom Akira sold them.
The buying price of relics at the Hunter Office was greatly affected by the type of relics the Corporate Government was looking for. The type of relics that the Corporate Government wanted the most was those with high scientific or technological values even among the old-world relics. After all, these relics could serve as an entry point to learn about old-world technologies.
The Corporate Government of the eastern district was gathering old-world relics from all over its territory to learn more about the old-world technologies. These relics would be then sent to the laboratories under its governance to be broken down, dissected, and analyzed by all the scientists and engineers working in those laboratories. The results from those laboratories are then used to boost Corporate Government's technology, thus allowing them to produce cheaper and better goods.
The relics that were brought to the Hunter Office's Exchange Centre, which were under the Corporate Government's management, would be categorized depending on how much of old-world technologies could be extracted from them. The better the value that those relics had, the higher the chance for them to be sent to the 5 corporations that headed the Corporate Government. Because of this, the technological gap between big companies and the small or medium companies would not shrink anytime soon.
In order to get those valuable relics, the small and the medium-sized companies would have to use other methods. So basically, these companies were the main patrons for Katsuragi and the other relics merchants.
Katsuragi then took the weird-looking electronic devices from the pile of relics that Akira brought to him. He then showed it in front of Akira and said.
"Bringing this type of relics to my place is the right course of action. Any company would happily buy this type of relic. And it's doubly true for those companies that don't get much chance to get such a relic. Since these types of relics will sell at a high price, I'm also willing to buy them from you for a high price. Well, of course, I only sell these relics to those companies after gathering quite a lot of them. And when I don't have enough to sell to the companies, I'll gather some more from my other fellow merchants."
Of course, some of them could be reproduced with the same level of quality using the current technology, but most of the time, the manufacturing cost would be too high for them to be profitable. Some of them were used for a different purpose than originally intended when they were manufactured. Some of them could sell at a higher price just because they were old-world relics. These kinds of relics would naturally be transferred to the respective type of company where they would be properly checked, cleaned, sometimes even manufactured into another type of product, before eventually getting sold again.
Katsuragi then took one of the cooking utensils that Akira brought to him and said.
Every day, Hunters would bring back all kinds of relics to the city to exchange them for money. But some of those relics that were deemed useless had nowhere to go. It was because some Hunters would bring anything that they could find thinking that they would sell well as long as they were old-world relics. So sometimes, they would bring some stuff that could be substituted with common goods that were readily available in the shops around them. Thus, there was no need to gather such kinds of goods from the old-world ruins.
"Then what will you do with this kind of relic?"
"...Uhhh, are you really okay with doing something like that?"
"Of course I'm always careful as to where I dump them, at least, I didn't get any complaints until now. If I dump them near the slum city, they'll disappear before even a month. I bet the people of the slum city are taking them. No matter where I dump them in the wasteland, they always eventually disappear. There are a lot of speculations out there, some say that it's because the still active cleaning droids of the old-world would secretly clean them up when no one's watching, while some say that the monsters eat them. Personally speaking, I believe the latter. After all, there are monsters out there that would even eat tanks. So there's nothing strange about it if they eat those relics too."
Akira listened closely to Katsuragi's explanation, he seemed to be honestly interested in the topic. After hearing the explanation, it seemed that Akira was more or less able to accept the amount of money Katsuragi offered. It was obvious to Katsuragi that Akira was properly listening to his explanation.
"And that will end my explanation. So then, I have a suggestion here, how about I buy some of your relics for 2,000,000 Aurum? Then for the other relics that I didn't buy, basically, the relics that I don't know what to do, you can do anything you want with them. You can try selling them to the Hunter Office. Or you can sell them to another merchant. I think this is a good offer for both of us, isn't it?"
"Good to hear that, we have a deal."
He ended up bringing back all the relics that Katsuragi rejected. There were also some small accessories and trinkets amidst them. Among all those relics, Akira was rather surprised that Katsuragi did not accept the apparels, like the handkerchiefs and the underclothes.
To him, those goods were completely fine. The apparels even looked completely new, although that was unnaturally so. Therefore, he thought that it must be because Katsuragi just had no viable outlet as to where to sell these kinds of relics.
"We ended up bringing back more relics than expected, so what's your plan?"
Akira decided to just postpone the problem for now. Of course, if this continued, then his house would eventually get filled with relics that had nowhere to go, but with that being said, it should be alright for the time being.
He then moved all the unsold relics to an empty room in his house. Even after he was done with it, that room still had a lot of open space and it gave Akira enough buffer time to arrive at a solution.
When Akira was about to leave his house, he suddenly remembered something. He then filled his rucksacks with the apparel and accessory relics.
"Oh, what are you doing? Are you going to look for someplace to sell them?"
"Nah, not that. I just thought that they should be perfect as gifts."
Akira then finished his preparation and left his house with his filled rucksack.
In an empty room in her gang's base, Sheryl was teaching the small children in her gang on how to read and write. Since Akira himself made that request to her, she was putting more effort than usual as she was thoroughly teaching the children. Because of that, the members of the gang took that activity really well.
Unlike the a.d.u.l.ts, who ended up in the slum city from another place, most of the small children who were born and brought up in the slum city could not read or write. But they understood that reading and writing were crucial knowledge in their lives, however, they had no chance to acquire that knowledge. Adding the fact that the boss of their gang, Sheryl, told them to do so, everyone in the gang was giving their best in studying how to read and write.
One of Sheryl's gang members suddenly entered the room to inform Sheryl of Akira's arrival at the base.
"Okay. Alicia, I'll leave this place to you."
Sheryl left the teaching to Alicia before leaving the study room. Some of the boys in that room looked disappointed when Sheryl left the room.
Because of both her position in the gang and her beauty, Sheryl was popular in the gang. Thanks to that, some boys put more effort into studying hoping that she would notice them.
Nasha was among the children who were studying in that room. The reason why they were also teaching Nasha how to write and read although she just joined the gang was because of the gift that she brought with her when she joined Sheryl's gang. Although she only gave a portion of 90,000 Aurum that she received from Alna, it was enough to get her on the good side of the gang.
Nasha was thinking of checking the situation for a bit more before getting Alna into the gang too. So, for that sake, she thought that she had to do a more thorough check of the gang.
When Nasha saw Sheryl exit the room in a good mood, she asked the kid next to her.
"Say, it seems that Boss is in such a good mood though, do you know why exactly is that?"
"Well, it's obviously because Akira is here, you know? Ahhh, you're a new member, huh?"
Since Nasha asked a question that everyone in the gang already knew the answer for, that boy quickly noticed that she must be a new member of the gang.
"Yep, I'm Nasha, nice to meet you. So, what do you mean by that?"
"Akira-san is the boss' boyfriend and it seems that the boss really likes him. He's the main support of the gang and also a skilled Hunter, or so I heard."
Not only the ex-Hunters, but there were also other kinds of people, those who knew how to fight, working as a bodyguard or a back-support for the gangs in the slum city.
Some of them became the boss of a small gang and did whatever they wanted with those gangs. While on the other hand, when they got involved with a big-sized gang, some of them were paid with a huge amount of money to protect that gang or to work as mercenaries in time of war. No matter which one was the case, the amount of money paid to those people caused a strain for those gangs.
Nasha asked that question thinking that Akira might be one of those people, but that boy shook his head.
"It's the opposite, it feels more like we're the one piggy-backing him. It's also because he's behind this gang that no one is trying to attack us. He's also the reason why we get a weapon merchant working with us. Other than that... Ah, right, this building too, it's a good building for a base, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it has a lot of rooms and it even has a bath too."
"That's exactly why other gangs also have their eyes on this building, you know. There was also an occasion where someone from a big gang came here demanding to hand over this building... It was from Shijima's gang, was it again? Do you know that gang?"
Nasha knew about Shijima's gang from the time when she was investigating gangs that she and Alna might be able to join. It was a pretty big gang with far better personnel and equipment compared to Sheryl's gang. According to Nasha's knowledge, Sheryl would have no other choice but to give up on the building if that gang asked her for it.
"Of course. It's impressive that you got out alive from that situation, so, was it alright?"
That boy's expression turned stern.
"Well, I can't really say for sure. When that happened, Akira-san shot the person who threatened him and dragged his corpse all the way to Shijima's place and had a talk with Shijima."
Nasha's jaw dropped. The boy nodded at her, saying that he understood her reaction.
"In the end, we somehow have a good relationship with that gang right now. They send people from time to time to check if Akira-san has died or not. Akira-san is a Hunter after all, so it's nothing strange if he suddenly dies out of the blue. If Akira-san really dies, I bet those people would come here to take over this base."
Since Alicia was sending a stern gaze at him, that boy quickly stopped making idle chatter.
Nasha realized that and fl.u.s.teredly fixed her posture.
[It seems that this gang has a pretty amazing Hunter supporting it, huh. I guess even this gang also has some kind of problems too. I'm actually interested in the continuation of that story. And for the sake of Alna, I still need to get more information about this gang. It's not like Alna can keep hiding forever...]
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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