アキラはシェリルの案内で診療所の前まで来た。診療所はスラム街の一画にあり、シェリル達の縄張りの外だが比較的近い場所にあった。
そこは一種の中立地帯で、スラム街の住人から暗黙的に騒ぎを起こさない場所として認識されていた。診療所が戦闘に巻き込まれると自分達にも被害が出る。また騒ぎを起こすと治療を拒否されてしまう。その程度の強制力だが、周辺の住人には十分な効果があった。
診療所の外観を見たアキラが微妙な表情を浮かべている。
「......シェリル。本当にここなのか?」
「はい。ここです。......気持ちは分かりますけど、ここです」
「......そうか」
臭い外観をしていた。診療所というよりは研究所という外観で、日々怪しげな研究を続けているとでも周囲に公言しているような用途不明の機材が屋根に設置されていた。摩耗して文字の消えかかった看板に薄らと八林診療所と記載されていた。
アキラがシェリルと一緒に診療所の中に入る。中では白衣の男がシェリルの部下に緑色の薬品を注射していた。恐らく何らかの治療薬なのだろうが、僅かだが発光している緑色の液体は見るからに怪しげだ。
「来たか。こいつらに使っていた回復薬について話が......ん?」
男がアキラを見て何かを思い出そうとしている。そして軽く笑って話す。
「お前か。久しぶりだな」
しかしアキラは男に見覚えがなかった。
「どこかで会ったか?」
「俺だよ。ヤツバヤシだ。ほら、クズスハラ街遺跡で俺の治療を受けただろう?」
そう言われてアキラもヤツバヤシを思い出した。
「......ああ、あの時の」
「思い出したか。あの後、俺の治療の成果を台無しにしたらしいな。おかげで都市から横やりが入って、
「俺に言われてもな」
アキラがキバヤシとの契約でいろいろとなかったことにした余波はヤツバヤシにまで及んでいたようだ。だが文句を言われてもアキラにはどうしようもない。気にするつもりもない。
シェリルがヤツバヤシに軽く頭を下げて尋ねる。
「皆がお世話になっております。私にお話があると伺いましたが......」
ヤツバヤシがシェリルとアキラを交互に見て、納得したように答える。
「ああ。それはもういいや。運び込まれた子供にかなり高価な回復薬を使用した形跡があったから、そんなのを買う金があるのなら治療費をきっちり支払わせようと思ったんだが、違ったようだからな」
の女の機嫌を取るためにでも高値の回復薬を気前良く渡したのだろう。自分の目から見ても、シェリルはアキラが入れ込んでも不思議はないほどの女だ。ヤツバヤシはそう判断してアキラに笑って尋ねる。
「それはそれとして、何なら治療費を足さないか? 足した分だけきっちり追加でいろいろ治してやるぞ?」
アキラが普通に答える。
「そこまでする義理はねえよ」
アキラの入れ込み様は余り強くないようだ。ヤツバヤシはそう判断し直して、追加の治療費の請求を諦めた。そしてシェリルに状況を説明する。
「治療を済ませたやつらはあっちだ。手遅れが2名出たが、それは俺の所為じゃない。死体の処理をこっちでするなら別料金を
けながらシェリルに付いていく。軽傷だったので治療を後回しにされていたのだろうが、自力で動ける程度には回復しているのだ。怪しげな緑色の薬品の効果は高いようだ。
アキラが何となくヤツバヤシに尋ねる。
「助からなかったやつって、どんな状態だったんだ?」
「その程度でもう駄目なのか? その程度なら軽傷なんだろう?」
ヤツバヤシが軽く笑って答える。
「それはハンター稼業に慣れたやつの発言だな。ハンターの軽傷と一般人の軽傷を同じに考えては駄目だ。普通はその程度でも死ぬ。生首になっても平然としているやつは大抵義体者だし、下半身を吹き飛ばされても死なずに済むやつは、高価な回復薬を山ほど服用して無理
「......言われてみればその通りだな」
アキラは自分の感覚がかなり
診療所に来たんだ。お前は治療を受けていかないのか?」
「そうだった。診察を頼みたい。一応
「何だよ。診察だけか? 言っておくが無料じゃないぞ?」
アキラが強化服を脱いでヤツバヤシの診察を受ける。ヤツバヤシは以前の診察時のように怪しげな機器でアキラの体を調べていた。その途中でヤツバヤシが少し興味深い表情でアキラに尋ねる。
「なあ、もしかして超人を目指したりしているのか?」
アキラが訝しんで聞き返す。
「超人? 何のことだ?」
「回復薬を山ほど服用した状態で身体に多大な負荷を掛けているだろう。その負荷で回復薬の効果がすぐに切れてしまいそうなほどにだ。覚えないか?」
「強化服使用時の負担を補うために回復薬を飲みながら戦うことは多いけど、そのことか? それが何かあるのか?」
「自覚無しでやってるのかよ。イカレてるな」
「だから、どういう意味だ」
「余り意識していない者が多いが、東部の人間はしっかり鍛えるとちょっと驚くほど身体能力を上げられるやつも多い。
アキラが過去の経験を探る。似たようなことをした記憶は山ほど思い浮かぶ。
「それ、効果があるのか?」
「結構あるらしいぞ? まあ、普通はそんなことをするよりも、強化服を着用したり身体改造を受けたりした方が手っ取り早いし確実だからな。どうしても生身で強くなりたいっていう
「でも、そういう才能って生まれつきなんだろう? 頑張って鍛えても駄目だったってことが多いんじゃないか?」
好みの話題なのか、ヤツバヤシが
「意外に本人が気付いていないだけでその手の素質持ちは結構多いらしいぞ。その手の超人は旧世界の時代にその高度な技術で生体調整を受けた人間の子孫である可能性も指摘されている。それに似たような技術を発掘して現代の人間に適用する試みも多い。加えて未知のナノマシンの影響で知らない間に変異している人間も多い。彼らの子供に両親の特性や変異が遺伝したりして、加えて子に新技術での身体改造が加わったりして、いろいろごっちゃになっているからな」
旧世界の技術は人間の定義を再定義し再設計し再構築できる領域に達している。ある意味で、東部の人間もまた旧世界の技術の産物であり、旧世界の遺物なのだ。
ゆえに、時にその旧世界の遺物に高値が付く。例えば旧領域接続者などは非常に高値が付く。解析が終わり、ありふれた技術に成り下がるまで、その価値が下がることはない。
「中央部のやつらの中には、東部をミュータント、生物兵器の
める。スラム街での配給品は治験の代金と相殺されて配られている。その手の変異の危険性を完全には除去できていないものばかりだ。アキラはそれを日常的に食べてきたのだ。死なない程度の自覚できない変異が起きている恐れもある。
「歴戦のハンターの中にも身体能力がちょっとおかしいやつが結構いるが、超人とまでは行かなくても日々の戦闘で鍛え上げられて、近いところまで到達しているのかもな。まあ、大抵のやつはそこに到達する前に死んだり、解析済みの身体強化技術で改造したりして、今でも解明されていない超人の素質を失ったりするもんだ。だからその手の超人の数は本当に少ない。個人的にも鍛錬で超人を目指すのはお勧めしない」
「俺もそんなつもりはないよ」
「そうだろう。個人的には身体改造処置がお勧めだ。どうだ。ちょっとやっていかないか? 保険は適用できないが、今なら治験代と相殺で処置代が結構お安くなって......」
「そんなに嫌がらなくても良いじゃないか。大丈夫だって。俺だって多少の安全性は確認済みだ」
「多少じゃなくて完全に確認してくれ」
「ハンターに死の危険は付きものだろう? 旧世界の遺跡で死ぬ危険性を考慮すれば大したリスクじゃないはずだ。高確率で
く安静にしていれば大丈夫だろう。ただやはり残留ナノマシンの数値が結構高い。除去薬を出すから服用しろ。他所でも買えるが、俺から買うなら保険が利かない分ちょっと高めだが、診察代を代金に含めておいてやる。診察代だけなら1万オーラム。除去薬込みなら10万オーラムだ」
「除去薬込みで頼む」
「高価な回復薬を山ほど使った痕跡があるんだ。あいつは相当稼いでいるはず。研究資金は幾らあっても足りないんだ。シェリルの恋人って話だし、そっちの伝から何とか金を引き出せねえかな。......ちょっと考えてみるか」
ヤツバヤシは十分良識的な人物だ。本当なら死ぬはずの多くの命を救っている。だがその善意は
シェリルを拠点まで送ったアキラが家路に就いている。その途中で何となく気になったことをアルファに尋ねる。
『なあアルファ。あの超人の話だけどさ、俺にも可能性があると思うか?』
アルファが笑って答える。
『可能性ならね。ただしその確率はそれを考慮してアキラの訓練内容を変更するような現実的な数値ではないわ』
『素手で戦車を殴り飛ばす必要はないでしょう? 必要なら強化服を着て殴り飛ばしなさい』
『それはそうだけど、できるのか?』
『強化服の性能次第ね。シズカが掘り出し物を見つけてくれることを期待しましょう』
アキラは新しい強化服への期待を膨らませながら帰っていった。
ヴィオラは普通の格好を、非戦闘用の服装をしている。しかしキャロルはしっかり戦闘用の装備を整えた格好をしていた。
キャロルの格好は昼間にアキラと会った時よりも重装備だ。強化服をしっかり着用しており、携帯可能な重火器を装備している。遺跡探索時並みの武装だ。夜間の荒野とはいえ都市に近い場所であり、2人がいる場所で必要となる火力ではない。その戦力が必要になる可能性があると事前に知っている場合を除いて。
キャロルが情報収集機器による索敵を含めて周囲の警戒を続けながらヴィオラに尋ねる。
「そろそろ予定の時間じゃないの?」
「そろそろだけど、まだ少しあるわ」
「情報収集機器の広域マップにも反応無し。残りの時間でここまで来られるの? 言っておくけど、相手が取引の時間に遅れたら私は帰るわ。ヴィオラが誰と何の取引をしようと勝手だけど、取引の時間も守れない相手とのごたごたに巻き込まれるのは御免だわ」
取引の時間を守れない者は、取引を成立させる信用か能力が足りていない。そのような相手との取引は危険なのだ。キャロルはそう考えている。
ヴィオラがビジネス向けの表情を浮かべて答える。
ヴィオラが軽く笑って話す。
「......話を変えるけど、キャロルの次の獲物って、あのアキラって子なの?」
キャロルが不敵に笑いながら答える。
「獲物とは失礼ね。優良顧客の開拓と言ってちょうだい」
「あんな子供にまで手を出すなんてキャロルも節操がないわね。宗旨替えでもしたの? それともあの子に
れでアキラを狙っているわけではないと判断した。それを基に少し思案してから試しに提案する。
「年齢が関係ないのなら、今話題のカツヤってハンターの方が狙い目じゃないの? あの話題の子もアキラと同じぐらいの年齢だったはずよ。あのミハゾノ街遺跡の事変でも派手に稼いできて、都市からも一目置かれているらしいわ。ドランカムでも彼の実力を恐れたハンターが反カツヤ派なんてものまで結成して、ドランカムの内紛の原因にもなったらしいわ。彼の実力は申し分無し。しかも彼が率いる部隊はカツヤのハーレム部隊なんて
ヴィオラが少し挑発してみるが、キャロルの態度に変化はない。
「......? どういうこと?」
「ちょっとした用事でドランカムの施設に入った時に、その話題の彼の話を聞いたり、彼らの様子を見たりしたんだけど、私はちょっとあれには関わりたくないわ。ヴィオラがさっき口にしたカツヤのハーレム部隊だけど、私が彼を籠絡すると、その連中が私を本気で殺しにくる気がするのよね」
ヴィオラが少し不思議そうに尋ねる。
の群れならね。......あれはちょっと違うわ。あれは、強いて言うなら、そう、あれは信者ね」
「そう。信者。まあ、全員がそうだとは言わないけれど。放っておくと数がどんどん増えていくんでしょうね。ヴィオラが言った通り、ドランカムの内紛を引き起こすぐらいに。多分このままだと、ドランカムが乗っ取られるのも時間の問題なんじゃない? 私は新興宗教のごたごたに巻き込まれて死ぬのは真っ平御免だわ」
キャロルが嫌そうにそう答えた。キャロルもハンター稼業などをやっている所為で一般人より死を許容している方だが、それでも自身の死因の
「やっぱり来ないわ。無駄骨だったわね......!?」
キャロルの情報収集機器に突然反応が現れた。キャロルが驚きながらも素早く反応し、ヴィオラを
銃口の先、誰もいなかったはずの場所にいつの間にか1人の男が立っていた。
一目で生身の人間ではないと分かる金属むき出しの頭部を持つサイボーグの男だ。男は全身を包む黒のコートを身に着けている。そこにいると分かっていても
「すまないが、目立ちたくないのでね。こんな時間にこんな場所で取引を行うことから察してほしい。そちらが十分反応できる距離で迷彩を解いたのだ。大目に見てほしい」
実は男はキャロル達より先にこの場に来ていた。迷彩を保ってじっと潜伏していたのだ。
男がヴィオラに話す。
「確認してくれ。そちらの品は?」
「荷台の中よ。開いているから確認してちょうだい」
男は現金の詰まった大型の現金収納ケースを置いたまま、トラックの荷台の後部扉を開けて中に入った。荷台の中には中身の詰まった5人分の死体袋が積まれていた。シェリル達の拠点を襲撃してアキラに殺された襲撃犯達の死体だ。男が死体袋を開いて中身を確認していく。
トラックの外ではヴィオラが札束を確認している。キャロルがヴィオラに
けているだけなのか。それはキャロルには分からない。だが両方の可能性を考慮して、ヴィオラとの付き合いから後者寄りの判断をしても、余計なことを聞かない程度の付き合いは保っていた。
「取引の相手が彼なのか、彼らなのかも分からない。あの死体がこの後どうなるかも分からない。知りたいとも思わない......とは言わないけれど、キャロルの警戒を突破する相手から無理に聞き出す気にはなれないわね。単純に見えない程度の迷彩なら、キャロルなら見破るんでしょう?」
男が荷台から降りてくる。荷台の扉を閉めてヴィオラに話しかける。
「確認を済ませた。こちらは問題ない。そちらは?」
「こっちも問題なしよ」
「次の機会があるかどうかは分からないけど、次は振り込みにしてもらいたいわ。こんな大金を持ち歩くのは、か弱い女性の身だと重くて大変なのよ?」
「こちらとしてはそちらの口座に不明瞭な入金元の履歴が残らないように気を遣ったつもりなのだがね。今から振り込みに変えるかね?」
「いいえ。お気遣いなく」
「そうか。では、これで失礼する。念のため忠告するが、私の後を付けたりしないことを強くお勧めする」
「ヴィオラの取引に口を挟む気はないけれど、こんな取引を続けていると長生きはできないわよ?」
余裕を取り戻したヴィオラが少し楽しげな様子で話す。
ね。こんな時間にこんな場所でこんな取引をしている私だけど、基本命懸けで旧世界の遺跡に行くハンター稼業よりは安全に稼いでいるはずよ?」
ヴィオラのもっともな話を聞いて、キャロルは苦笑しながらそう答えた。
く待ち続けた後、ヴィオラが呼んでいた車で都市に戻っていった。
サイボーグの男と襲撃犯の死体を乗せたトラックは
男が運転席から降りてトラックの荷台の中に入っていく。開けたままの荷台から死体袋が投げ出されていく。男が荒野に投げ捨てているのだ。4人分の死体袋がゴミを捨てるように荒野に投げ捨てられた。
男は最後に残った死体袋だけを丁寧に敬意を込めて慎重に運んでいく。中身はザルモの死体だ。男はザルモだけを特別扱いしていた。
男はトラックの外に出ると、誰かと連絡を取り始めた。
『私だ。......ああ、同志を回収した。......ああ、問題ない。次の体の手配を頼む』
男の体に内蔵されている情報端末の機能を介した通話であり、その声が音声として空気中に伝わることはなかった。
Akira followed Sheryl to the clinic, which was located inside the slum city. Although it was located outside Sheryl's territory, it was not that far from the base.
It was located in a particular area inside the slum where there was an unwritten rule among the residents not to cause any trouble. After all, if the clinic got involved in a fight, it would bring trouble to all of them. Also, even if the clinic was fine, it might refuse to treat them if they caused trouble there. Although it was an unwritten rule, it was effective enough to make people around the area obey.
When Akira saw the exterior of the clinic, he frowned and asked.
"...Sheryl, is this really the place?"
"Yes, it's this building... I understand what you want to say, but this is the clinic."
"... I see."
The clinic looked suspicious from the outside. Rather than a clinic, it looked more like a laboratory, weird devices were sticking out of its roof as if to say that they were doing questionable experiments inside. The dangling signboard was so worn out, the letters written on it were almost unreadable. But, it still could be read 'Yatsubayashi's clinic'.
Akira and Sheryl entered that clinic, a guy in a white suit was tending Sheryl's men. He might be tending their wounds, but judging by the glowing liquid that he was using, it looked more like he was experimenting on Sheryl's men. That man noticed Akira and Sheryl, he immediately went to Sheryl, whom he had asked to come to the clinic, and said to her.
"You're here, huh. It's about the medicine that I use... Hm?"
That man looked at Akira and felt like he had seen Akira somewhere before. He then lightly smiled and said.
"Oh, it's you. Long time no see."
But Akira did not remember that guy at all.
"Did we ever meet before?"
"It's me, Yatsubayashi. I tended on your wounds back in the Kuzusuhara city, remember?"
When Yatsubayashi said that, Akira immediately remembered him.
"...Ohhh, the guy from back then, huh."
"Now you remember. I heard that you got badly injured right after I tended to your injuries though. Thanks to that, the City Management intervened and I couldn't use the data that I gathered from tending your wounds, you know?"
"It's not like I can do anything about it even if you tell me so"
It seemed that Akira's contract with Kibayashi to erase all kinds of records from back then had affected Yatsubayashi too. But it was not like Akira could do anything about it even if Yatsubayashi told him so, and in reality, Akira himself was not bothered by that.
Sheryl lightly bowed to Yatsubayashi and said to him.
"Thank you for helping us, so I heard that there's something you need to talk to me about..."
Yatsubayashi looked at Sheryl and Akira alternately, he then lightly nodded and said.
"Nah, it's not a problem now. It seemed that the guys your men brought in had been treated with some expensive medicine. So I just thought that if you have enough money to buy that kind of stuff, I want you to properly pay for the treatment, but it seems that's not the case."
Yatsubayashi thought that it would not be strange for Akira to easily pay for those expensive medicines to win some points from Sheryl. After all, from his point of view, Sheryl was beautiful enough for Akira to aim for her. He then smiled and said.
"Putting that aside, do you want me to charge more for the treatment? The more you pay me, the better the treatment that these guys will get."
Akira flatly replied.
"I have no reason to go that far."
It seemed that Akira was not really that interested in Sheryl. Yatsubayashi thought so when he saw Akira react that way, so he decided to stop offering more treatment. He then shifted to Sheryl.
"Over there are the people that I've finished treating. 2 of them ended up dead, but that's not my fault. If you want me to take care of the bodies too, then you'll have to pay more. If not, then take them home. While for those who are still alive, they should be able to walk back home by themselves by tomorrow."
Sheryl lightly bowed and left. Sheryl's men who had already finished getting their treatments noticed Sheryl although some of them were still half-dazed. Some of them were already recovered enough to move, it might be because their injuries were not that bad, or it might be because the strange green medicine was pretty effective.
Akira suddenly casually asked Yatsubayashi a question.
"How bad were the people that you couldn't save?"
"Was that really that bad? I thought that level of injury is only a light injury, right?"
Yatsubayashi lightly laughed.
"That's indeed the case for Hunters. You can't just compare the injuries between Hunters and normal people. Normal people would die with that level of injury, you see. As for those who are still alive, even after they are left with nothing but their heads, they are mostly cyborgs. While those who are still alive even after they get cut into two are only alive because they use a lot of medicines to forcefully keep their bodies functional. Those people with enhanced bodies basically have a completely different level of resilience compared to normal people. So if you compare these normal guys with Hunters, they would die, you know? You gotta be careful about this difference."
"Now that you say so, that's kind of true..."
Akira smiled bitterly, he just realized how badly skewed his perception was.
"Well, putting that aside, since you're here, how about getting some treatment too?"
"Ah, that's right, I wanted to have a check-up. As for my injuries, I already treated them with my own medicines, so I just want you to do a normal body check up and also check the nanomachine leftover accumulated inside my body."
"Just a check-up, huh. Geez, just to let you know, it won't be free."
Akira took off his augmented suit and did a check-up there. Just like last time, Yatsubayashi used weird devices to check Akira's body. When he was doing that, it seemed that something picked his interest as he said to Akira.
"Say, are you trying to be superhuman or something?"
Akira asked back confusedly.
"Superhuman? What are you even talking about?"
"You were putting your body under immense stress while consuming a lot of medicines, right? And that stress was so immense that it more or less negated the healing effect from the medicines that you consumed. Do you have any recollection of doing something like that?"
"Well, I did fight a lot while consuming medicines to compensate for the stress from my augmented suit though. Is it from that? Is there anything wrong with that?"
"So you don't even realize that you're doing it, huh. You're really crazy."
"What are you even talking about?"
"Although not many people realize it, the people of the eastern district would improve a lot only with a small amount of training, you see. Of course, the effect differs between people and there's a limit on how effective it is. But some people have an abnormal level of growth, these people basically can throw a tank without any extra help, these people are what you usually call superhuman. But even those people can't get that level of strength purely from training. After all, their talent only increases their potential the more they train, not their real strength, that's why they need to do something else other than just physical training to obtain that strength. And one of those methods is to put your body past its limit while consuming powerful medicine. They do that to compress the training intensity as much as possible."
Akira searched through his memories, it was true that he did something similar numerous times in the past.
"Is that even effective?"
"I heard so, but well, rather than doing that, it's far faster to just modify your body or to just use an augmented suit though. So, unless you're obsessed with getting that level of strength only with your body, no one would try to do that."
"But, that kind of thing is a talent that you are born with, right? So I bet most of the people can't do that even if they try."
Yatsubayashi seemed to be having fun talking about that subject, it might be a subject that he was interested in.
"Surprisingly enough, a lot of people actually have that kind of body, they just don't realize it themselves. Some theories say that those superhumans might be the descendants of enhanced people from the old-world era. As the story goes, some people tried to be superhuman by using technologies in the old-world era, much like how they did it in the past. On the other case, some people get their bodies modified before they even realize it because of the nanomachine that they keep using. Either way, that strength propagated to their children and then their children used new technologies to achieve the same thing. And basically, everything accumulated together."
The old-world technology was at a level where it could redefine what it meant to be a human. As a matter of fact, the current people of the eastern district were created through the old-world technology, so they were, in a sense, old-world relics.
Because of that, relics sometimes cost a lot of money. For example, the people who can connect to the old-world domain were prized highly. And that worth would not go down until they completely analyze the cause and extract the technology from it.
"I even heard that some people from the central district call the people from the eastern district as mutants or even biological weapons. Well, looking from that point of view, it could be said that everyone in the eastern district is a mutant, and since we call biological monsters as monsters because of similar reasons, I can't say that is wrong."
Akira slightly frowned. The free food distributed in the slum city were free because they were not safe, they were filled with stuff that might cause mutation and Akira had been eating such substances for a long time. His body might as well have been mutated, although it was just not enough to kill him straight away.
"A lot of veteran Hunters have abnormal strength. Although they are not superhuman, they get pretty close to being one from all of the training that they have gone through. Well, of course, a lot of them died before they could reach that point, or just decided to enhance their body with a particular technology that has been fully analyzed, or lose their potential to be a superhuman because of an unexplainable reason even now, that's why there are not that many superhumans out there. Personally speaking, I don't recommend trying to be one too."
"I don't want to be one either."
"Yep, if you want to get stronger, my recommendation would be to modify your body. So, want to try it? Although you can't use any insurance for this, I'll give you a big discount so that it'll cost more or less like a normal treatment, you know..."
"You don't need to be that wary. It would be fine, of course, I already checked that it's more or less safe."
"I want a guarantee, not 'more or less safe'."
"Isn't the possibility of getting killed an occupational hazard for a Hunter? It's less risky than exploring old-world ruin. And considering that it'll give you a superhuman strength if it succeeds, I would say that it's a very low risk."
"Your injuries will fully recover in no time as long as you don't do anything crazy. But as I thought, the nanomachine count inside your body is too high. I'll prescribe you a medicine to clean it off, so make sure to take it. You can buy the medicine in another place, but if you buy it from me, I can give you a better one, although I can't guarantee its safety. If you decide to take my medicine, I'll put the medicine cost together with your checkup cost. The check-up alone is 10,000 Aurum, if you want to buy the medicine too, the total will be 100,000 Aurum."
"I'll take your medicine."
"The record says that he's been using a lot of expensive medicines, it means that he's earning a lot of money and I am always in need of more money for my research. It seems that he's Sheryl's lover, I wonder if I can get a lot of money from him through Sheryl... I guess I'll think about it."
Yatsubayashi was a kind person, he had saved the lives of a lot of people who would have died otherwise. But that kindness did not come for free. The biggest reason why he opened a clinic in the slum city was because poor people would be desperate enough to try something risky. In the slum city, it was relatively easy for him to test pretty dangerous stuff that would have originally taken a lot of money and time. Not to mention, no one would complain if some of them got killed in the process.
After Akira took Sheryl back to her base, he headed back home. In the middle of the way, he thought of something and asked Alpha.
"Say, Alpha, about that superhuman thing though, do you think I can be one?"
Alpha smiled and replied.
"Possibility-wise, yes. But the success rate is too small that it's unrealistic to change your training schedule just because of that."
"It's not like there's any need for you to throw a tank solely relying on your physical strength, right? If you want to do that, you can just do that with an augmented suit."
"Well, you're right about that, but is that even possible?"
"It depends on the quality of your augmented suit. Let's just hope that Shizuka would find a good one."
Akira headed back home while looking forward to his new augmented suit.
Viola was wearing casual clothing not recommended for combat, in contrast to her, Carol was armed to teeth.
Carol was way more armed compared to when she met Akira that day. She was using an augmented suit and carrying a portable heavy weapon. It would not be strange if she went to explore an old-world ruin in that state, but there was no mistaking it that she did not need that much firepower in the area where she was right now. Of course, that was excluding the case if she expected something to happen that needed her to be that armed.
Carol was checking the area around her with her information-gathering device when she suddenly threw a question at Viola.
"They should be here soon, right?"
"Soon, but not yet."
"My information-gathering device hasn't picked anything yet though, are you sure they can reach this place before the meeting time? Just so you know, if they don't come on time, I'll leave. I have no idea who are you dealing with, and I have no plans to get involved in trouble with people who can't come on time."
Those who could not come at the meeting time could not be trusted to uphold the result of the negotiation. Thus, Carol thought that it would be dangerous to negotiate with them.
Viola had her business face up as she replied.
Viola then smiled and continued.
"...By the way, putting that aside, is your next prey that Akira boy?"
Carol smiled smugly and replied.
"That's so rude to call him a prey. Call it investing in a prospective customer."
"Geez, you would even go for such a young boy, you really have no integrity at all. Or did you change your principle or something? Or is that you see something special in that boy?"
Judging from how Carol responded, Viola knew that Carol did not target Akira out of a whim. So she thought of a plan based on that and made a suggestion to Carol.
"If age has nothing to do with it, then how about you go for that popular Katsuya? He should be around the age of that Akira. From what I heard, he did pretty well during that battle in Mihazono ruin, and the City Management seems to be interested in that boy too. Even some skilled Hunters in Drankam decided to create an anti-faction since they're scared of his power, it's the main reason why the gang is broken into factions right now. There's nothing to complain about his skill and it seems that he likes girls pretty much that even his team is called Katsuya's harem team. I'm sure it's an easy thing for you to slip in. It's your favourite thing, right? Money that these Hunters earned with their talents."
Viola tried to provoke Carol for a bit, but Carol did not show any change.
"...? What is it?"
"I actually had a job to go to Drankam's facility, I heard about that boy from back then and I did check him out too. To be honest, I don't want to get involved with him. About that harem squad too, I feel like they're going to kill me if I try to seduce that Katsuya."
Viola found that a bit weird and asked Carol.
"That is if they're really nothing but small fries... But that's not exactly true, they're... Uhh, rather than strong, they're more like cult members?"
"Yep, cult. Well, it's not like all of them are like that. But I'm sure it'll only gather more and more members with time. Just like you said, it's already big enough to break Drankam into factions. So at this rate, probably, it'll take over the whole gang. I have no plans to get killed fighting a cult, you see."
Carol sounded like she really hated that idea. Although she was already used to facing death since she was also a Hunter, she at least wanted to have the leeway to choose how she would die, and she hated the idea of dying to a cult.
"As I thought, they didn't come, so it was pointless, huh...?"
Suddenly a signal was detected in her information-gathering device. Although that surprised her, she still reacted quickly to it, she immediately covered Viola and aimed her rifle in the direction where the signal came.
In the direction where she was aiming, a guy was standing, where there was no one just a moment ago.
That guy's head was made of metal, it was obvious from the first glance that he was a cyborg. He was using a black robe so it would be hard to spot him in the middle of the night. That man slowly walked toward Carol and Viola. His strong looking arm was carrying a single case.
"Sorry, we just don't want to stick out. I was hoping you can understand that since we picked this place and time to meet. Moreover, I did remove my camouflage not too close to you, so I hope you can forgive us with that."
In reality, that man was actually there even before Carol and Viola arrived. But he kept himself hidden under his robe.
That guy then said to Viola.
"Go ahead and confirm it, how about the goods?"
"It's inside, you can go ahead and check it too. Don't worry, it's open."
That guy left the case on the ground and went inside the truck to check the goods. There were five body bags inside the truck, they were the body bags of the robbers that attacked Sheryl's base. That guy opened the body bags one by one and checked the bodies inside them.
While outside, Viola was checking the money inside the case. Carol tilted her head and looked at her, confused.
Carol could not tell whether Viola was being serious or that she was just playing fool. Considering both possibilities and the fact that she needed to still get along with Viola, she decided not to ask any further.
"I can't even tell if this negotiation is with him alone or he's just a representative of a bigger group. I don't know what they are going to do with the corpses, and I have no plans to find out either... Or at least that's what I want to say, but seeing how he can easily break through your guard, I don't want to ask now. If it was a common camouflage, you should have been able to spot him, right?"
The guy stepped out from the truck and said to Viola after he closed the door.
"I already checked it, there's no problem. How about yours?"
"I have no problem too."
"I don't know if there's next time, but if we're going to do business again, just transfer the money, okay? It's not easy for a frail girl like me to carry around this heavy case filled with money, you know?"
"Honestly speaking, I did this since I don't want to leave a suspicious record in your bank account. I can still transfer the money if you want."
"No, it's fine."
"I see, I'll take my leave then. Just to be safe, let me remind you that it's better if you don't try to tail me."
"It's not like I want to dictate to you what to do and what not to do about your deals, but you won't be able to stay alive for long if you keep making deals like this."
Viola, who had regained her composure, smiled amusedly and replied.
"I don't want you to tell me that when you're working as a Hunter yourself. Although right now I'm the one who agreed to make that deal in this place and time, it's still safer than exploring old-world ruin as a Hunter, you know?"
Viola was indeed correct, Carol smiled wryly and gave that short reply.
After they waited there for a while, they returned back to the city in the car that Viola called.
The cyborg guy, who drove the truck with the dead bodies inside, drove away for a bit and stopped not too far away from the city.
He stepped down from the driver seat and went to the backside of the truck. He then dumped some of the body bags while they were still opened. He dumped 4 of the 5 body bags as if they were just trash.
As for the last one, he carefully picked that body bag and carried it outside. It was Zalmo's body bag. That cyborg was treating Zalmo's body differently.
When that man stepped out of the truck, someone called him.
"It's me... Yeah, I've picked up our brother... Yeah, it's no problem, I'll leave the rest to you."
It was a call through the communication device installed in that guy's body, thus his conversation did not make any sound at all from the outside.
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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