184 ティオルの目覚め
敵を倒し終えて場が落ち着きを取り戻した後、ソノダ達は治療を受けていた仲間と一緒に休息を取っていた。
の方はどうなんだ?」
「ああ。ばっちりだ。あの医者、業突く張りだが腕の方は一流だな。......俺の所為で危険な目に遭わせたみたいで悪かった」
ソノダが少し重い様子で謝る仲間に軽い調子で笑って答える。
「その辺を何とかするのがチームってもんだ。気にすんな。治療費の方も結局無料になった。俺達の治療まで
ソノダ達は僅かに重そうになりかけた空気を笑って流して雑談を続ける。
「......しかし、結果的に助かったとはいえ、あそこに診療所ごと突っ込むとはな。何を考えているんだか」
「それで、そのヤツバヤシって医者はどこに行ったんだ?」
人でも探してるんじゃないか?」
「診療所を放ってか? ......ま、いいか」
ソノダ達は楽しげに笑って仲間の無事を喜んでいた。
ヤツバヤシがハンター達によって倒された個体を楽しげな様子で調べている。少年ほどの大きさの人型を怪しげな機器で解剖していた。比較的原形を保っている個体を何らかの器具で切り開き、頭部から何かを取りだして楽しげに笑う。
「発信器発見。だがこれは俺が埋め込んだ物じゃないな。複製したのか」
ヤツバヤシが堪えきれない笑い声を漏らす。
「......そしてこれは、ここにいるのは全部下位端末か。自律レベルは低いはず。簡易遠隔操縦に近いのか? なるほど。しかしそれを可能にするモンスターを捕食しただけでは、その機能をここまで高度に取り込めるとは思えない。ティオル君。どうやら君は旧世界の英知に触れているようだな。実に羨ましい。俺もここまで来た
ソノダ達を向かわせたのも調査目的だ。ヤツバヤシが当たりを付けた場所に、救出対象がいると偽って派遣したのだ。
ヤツバヤシが近くに転がっている頭に楽しげに笑いかける。
「もし、俺の話を聞いているのなら、顔を出すと良い。歓迎するぞ?」
転がっている頭は、何も返事を返さなかった。
「釈明を聞きたいわ」
ツバキは愛想の欠けた顔で平然としている。
「ない」
アルファが視線をより鋭く冷酷なものに変える。
ツバキも表情に強く暗い威圧を
「そちらと不必要に敵対する意思はない。無条件で頭を垂れろと要求しているのならば、十分な必要性があると判断する。必要なら、そちらとも差し違えよう」
アルファとツバキが無言で
「......私の管理下にある個体を、そちらの管理下にある個体が殺害しようとした件に関して、説明を求めるわ」
「まず、私は私の管理区域を防衛する
アルファは納得を示して表情を無愛想程度には緩めた。ツバキも威圧を弱める。一触即発の状態から比較的穏便に話ができる程度まで場が改善されると、今度はツバキが不満を表に出した。
「警告しておきますが、私の管理区画に無許可で立ち入った場合、たとえ
残弾をほぼ使い切ったアキラがエレナ達に仮設基地まで送ってもらっている。エレナ達の車に乗せてもらい、バイクは自動運転で後を追いかけるように設定していた。
アキラが無人で走り続けるバイクを少し面白そうに見ていると、サラがバイクとアキラを見て軽く笑う。
「高性能な荒野仕様のバイクによく付いている機能だけど、何も考えずに見ると幽霊でも乗っていそうな光景よね」
「幽霊ですか。確かに」
「幽霊と言えば、アキラは知ってる? クズスハラ街遺跡には誘う亡霊っていう怪談があるのよ」
「まあ、概略ぐらいは。旧世界の遺物を餌にして、ハンターを遺跡の奥に呼び寄せて殺してしまう亡霊の話ですよね」
いろいろと心当たりのあるアキラは僅かに微妙な表情を浮かべた。そして言い訳するように続ける。
「......まあ、亡霊がいてもいなくても、遺物収集目的で遺跡の奥に向かって死んでしまうハンターは珍しくないですけどね」
エレナが運転席から口を挟む。
「あの怪談。実は昔は全然違う内容だったって
『......俺とアルファの時間感覚が違うだけだ』
アキラはそれで話を流して追及を打ち切った。アルファは変わらずに楽しげに
イナベはヴィオラを僅かに警戒しながらも基本的には見下しており、その連れであるシェリルも軽んじていた。
「それで、私に何の用だ? 私と面会可能な伝を得ている優秀さは認めるが、下らない用件ならすぐに帰ってもらうぞ」
ヴィオラが旧世界の遺物を取り出してイナベの前に置く。イナベがそれを見て僅かな嘲りの笑みを浮かべる。
「これが鑑定書よ。鑑定は黒銀屋のもの。非公式に依頼したから社印はないけれど、内容は確かよ」
イナベがヴィオラから受け取った鑑定書の内容を確認する。
「少し前に話題になった出所不明の旧世界製情報端末か。賄賂で御機嫌取りか?
視線を遺物に向けながら余裕の態度を見せているイナベに、ヴィオラが非常に楽しげに笑いかける。
イナベの表情が一気に険しくなる。
「......どういう意味だ?」
「......どこまで
「それらしいことを口にして惑わせているだけかも」
イナベの表情が険しさを増した分だけ、ヴィオラの表情が怪しげに楽しげに変わった。
仮設基地の建設から始まった遺跡攻略後方連絡線確保計画は、クガマヤマ都市が本腰を入れて実施している大事業だ。当然多数の利権が絡んでおり、都市内部の派閥争いや勢力争いにも深く関わっている。
計画推進の責任者はヤナギサワだ。仮設基地の建造やその後の運営も順調に進み、後方連絡線も順調に伸びており、後方連絡線の周辺からの遺物収集も順調という結果をもって自身の手腕を示し、その権力基盤を強固に固めていた。ヤナギサワを追い落としたい者達には苦難の日々が続いていた。
なものがない区域。都市もそのような場所に資金を投じはしない。このままだと自分の担当区域を投資不適格と認定される。そうなってしまえば投じた資金は無駄となり、出世は遠くなり、派閥内での力も弱まる。イナベは焦っていた。
ヴィオラが持ち込んだ旧世界製の情報端末を見た時、イナベはすぐに思いついた。この出所不明の遺物を自分の担当区域で発見されたことにしてしまえば、その区域の価値は跳ね上がる。少なくともこの苦境を乗り越える足掛かりや時間稼ぎになり、追加の予算が手に入り、更なる投資も呼び込める。
イナベの視線は無意識に旧世界製情報端末に向けられていた。
(......私ならこれを区画で発見された遺物に紛れ込ませるのは可能だ。だが、この女の
迷っているイナベの前で、ヴィオラがイナベの前にある遺物を自分の前まで引き寄せた。イナベの表情の迷いと焦りが強くなる。更にヴィオラは追加の遺物を取り出してテーブルの上に並べた。
(......こ、これだけあれば、十分な説得力が......。だ、だが、この女が持ち込んだものだぞ? こいつに関わって破滅した者が何人いると......。し、しかし、持ち込む品や情報の正確さは確かだとも言われている......)
イナベの表情が期待、疑念、誘惑、希望で複雑に
ヴィオラがイナベの様子を見て非常に楽しげに笑う。そして少し芝居がかった口調でシェリルに告げる。
「ボス。残念だけどイナベさんの興味は引けなかったわ。私の力不足ね」
「イナベ様。本日は貴重なお時間を割いていただき、誠にありがとう御座いました」
イナベはシェリルから駆け引きではなく本当に帰る気配を感じ取って反射的に止めてしまった。それでイナベの決断も後追いされた。
「......座ってくれ。要求は何だ?」
シェリルが座るまで待ってから、ヴィオラが笑って答える。
遺物屋を営んでいるの。その仕入れに協力してほしいのよ」
「簡単に言ってくれるが、それにはかなりの利権が絡んでいると分かって言っているのか?」
「別に高価な遺物を根
「取引成立ね」
ヴィオラがシェリルに視線で合図を送る。シェリルは指示を察すると、テーブルの上に置かれた遺物を全てイナベの方へ移動させた。
「付かぬ事を尋ねるが、君とヴィオラはどういう関係なんだ?」
「仕事上の、上司と部下。それだけです」
イナベは既存の得体が知れない女と、新規の得体が知れない女を見比べて、どちらも要注意だと結論付けた。
く取引内容の詳細を詰めていると、イナベの部下が報告に入ってきた。
「失礼します。例の人型についての現状報告です」
「一応詳細な調査を続行中です。また検疫課がサンプルを提供してほしいと言っています」
「好きなだけ渡してやれ」
ヴィオラが口を挟む。
「それ、注意喚起が出ている人型モンスターの話?」
「見てどうするんだ? 自動人形でもないんだ。変わった死体でも眺める趣味があるのか?」
ヴィオラが意地が悪い笑顔を浮かべる。
「まあ、見たければ見ればいい。案内してやる」
シェリルはヴィオラと一緒にイナベに案内されて仮設基地の倉庫に向かった。人型モンスターの死体などに興味はないのだが、一人で残っても仕方がないからであり、自分だけで残って余計な
シェリルが倉庫の様子に軽く圧倒されていると、ヴィオラが小声で説明する。
「ここは低価値とはいえ旧世界の遺物の保管所。普通は入れないのよ? 良い経験ができたわね?」
「初めからそっちが目的だったんですか?」
倉庫の片隅にアキラ達に倒された人型が真空包装に似た状態で複数保管されていた。比較的状態が良く、透明な包装の下に見える顔も
い物は小型コンテナの中に乱雑に詰め込まれていた。
「これらが旧世界製の自動人形なら宝の山なんだがな」
「ああ、付き合いのある企業の研究所などに送る物は多少見栄えを整えている。簡易調査では粗大ゴミだったが、専門家が念入りに調査すればまた違った結果が出る可能性もあるからな。少し前にビルの備品らしい人形が買取に持ち込まれたが、それは大分破壊された状態でもかなりの値が付いた。これらにも似たような値が付けばと、少し先走った結果だ」
ヴィオラとイナベが話し込んでいる横で、シェリルはその話を興味深そうに聞きながら真空包装の個体を見ていた。そして急にかなり
「......ティオル?」
シェリルが他の個体の顔も確認する。それらも全て似たような顔をしていることに気付き、軽い困惑を覚える。関連性を疑ってみたが何も思いつかない。
イナベがシェリルの様子に気付いて軽い冗談を口に出す。
「興味があるなら持って帰るか? 値段は要相談だ」
その後シェリル達は部外者を随分長居させたことに気付いたイナベに退出を促されて倉庫から出て行った。
ヤツバヤシはティオルに警備系のモンスターから抽出したナノマシンを改造したものを投与していた。モンスターの敵味方識別装置を誤認させる技術の実験であり、成功すれば遺跡の中をモンスターに襲われずに探索できるようになるはずだった。
しかし実験は失敗。逆に脳に達したナノマシンがティオルの意識を掌握し始めていた。だがそれも不安定なシステムであり、ティオルは一帯に飛び交っている通信を
ヤツバヤシが改造したナノマシンは変異を繰り返していた。治療のために注入したナノマシンの機能や捕食したモンスターの機能なども取り込んで、奇妙な分体の生成や、体の自己改造まで可能にしていた。
そのティオルに今度はツバキが手を加えた。ツバキがティオルの内部で複雑に競合して動作不良を起こしていたシステムを再構築したことで、ティオルは旧世界の警備システムの一部に生まれ変わった。
存在の在り方を大分変えられてしまったティオルだったが、意外に充実した日々を送っていた。スラム街にいた時とは比べものにならないほどの力を手に入れたことを喜んでいた。自身の下位端末を生成して戦力を拡大し、ハンターやモンスターなどと戦うのを楽しんでいた。自分の名前すら忘れてしまっていたが、その時のティオルにとっては大したことではなかった。
いつものように警備を続けていると、下位端末がアキラと遭遇する。ティオルはアキラのことなど忘れていた。だが下位端末から送られてきた情報を知覚すると、意識の奥から妙な指示、欲求が浮かんできた。
あれを排除すれば素晴らしいものが手に入る。既にティオルの意識は警備システムの一部になっていたが、その欲求はシステム側の判断を押し切った。ティオルは強烈な意思でシステムの判断基準を
結局アキラを排除することはできなかったが、浮かび上がってきたティオルの意思は、中途半端な状態で残り続けていた。
そして、戦闘の能力を完全に失っていた下位端末から、ティオルの名前を
遺跡の廃ビルの一室にいたティオルが大きく目を見開く。どことなく意思の欠けたような事務的な無表情だった顔に意思が満ちる。
近くにいた下位端末達がシステムに反旗を翻したようなティオルに警戒態勢を取る。だがティオルはそれらを
ティオルは自分がシステムと一部融合している状態であることを理解していた。自我を取り戻したとはいえ、システムの制約は強力だ。現状ではクガマヤマ都市に戻るどころか、警備区画の外に出ることさえできない。これではシェリルに会いに行けない。
「どうすれば良い? ......そうだ! あいつだ!」
ティオルが人外の身体能力でビルの窓から飛び出した。そして常人なら即死の高さから、地面に大きな亀裂を作って着地すると、目的地を目指して遺跡の中を走り続けた。
目的地である廃ビルの一室、大分損傷しており真っ白とまでは言えなくなった部屋の中で、ティオルが力の限り叫ぶ。
ティオルは叫び続けながら辺りを見渡すが、部屋の中を自身の声が反響し続けるだけだった。
「出てこいって言っているだろう! 出てこねえのなら、そこら中のハンターにお前の存在を言い触らして回るぞ! 脅しじゃねえぞ!」
すると部屋にツバキの立体映像が現れた。ツバキは面倒そうな冷たい表情を浮かべていた。
ティオルはツバキを見付けると、駆け寄りながら大声を出す。
ツバキのその一言で、ティオルの体が本人の意思を無視して硬直した。ツバキは動けない状態のティオルに軽い侮蔑の表情を向けながら近付いていく。
「本当に礼儀に欠けている。不愉快だ。そして知能も欠けている。身の程を超える力を得て高揚しているのだろうが、叫べば要求が通るとでも?」
ツバキはティオルの側まで来ると、立体映像の手をティオルの頭の中に差し入れる。
「私の管理区域の周辺を防衛してもらえることを期待して、その報酬として不安定なシステムを調整したが、不服なら元に戻そう。
き回されているような感覚を覚えて必死に抵抗する。動けない体に有らん限りの力を込めて、ツバキの手から逃れようとする。すると、ティオルの体が非常にゆっくりではあるが少しずつ動き出した。そしてツバキの手を自分の頭から抜いた。
ティオルは自分の体を縛っていた何かを解けたのを感じるのと同時にツバキから大きく距離を取った。驚きと焦り、恐怖と憤りが混ざった
「......な、何をすれば良いんだ?」
ティオルはツバキから頼み事の詳細を聞くと、その内容に表情を大きく変えた。
「......それを俺にやれって言うのか?」
断れば、自我も怪しい状態で遺跡の中で暴れていた状態に戻ってしまう。ティオルに選択肢はなかった。
「わ、分かった。やるよ」
Ch 184
After cleaning up the rest of the monsters, Sonoda and the other Hunters were taking a rest while getting their injuries looked after.
"So, how're your injuries?"
"No problem. Although that guy is a cunning greedy bastard, his skills are top-notch... Anyway, sorry for getting you into trouble back then."
Sonoda gave a serious apology, but his teammates replied with a small laugh.
"That's what it means to work as a team, no? So don't worry about it. Furthermore, he treated our injuries for free. Though, to be honest, I'm still bothered by the fact that he looked rather happy when he told us so. But it's way better than getting told to pay because we failed the request."
Sonoda and his team lightly laughed off their fairly serious situation as they continued chatting.
"...But still, although it's a good thing that we got saved by it, I didn't expect the clinic to come for us. I really don't know what that guy is thinking."
"So, where is that Yatsubayashi guy now?"
"No idea, I bet he's out there looking for the other injured Hunters or something."
"And leave the clinic just for that...? Well, I guess it doesn't really matter, huh."
Sonoda and his team laughed, celebrating their survival.
While on the other site, Yatsubayashi was checking the units that the Hunters had just defeated with a wide grin. He was dissecting a young boy robot using his suspicious-looking machines. He took a unit that still had its body relatively intact and opened its head with some kind of tool, he then pulled out something from its head and smiled.
"Transmitter device. But this isn't mine, it's some kind of imitation, huh?"
Yatsubayashi could not hold back his smile.
"...Then these are... All of these are primitive terminals, huh. It should only be able to do low-level autonomous action. In that case, are these some kind of makeshift remote control? I see. But still, he shouldn't be able to reach this level only by eating monsters with this kind of function. Tiol-kun, it seems that you've gotten yourself some old-world knowledge, huh. Honestly, I'm so envious of you. Well, I guess I didn't come all the way here for nothing."
That was also the reason why Yatsubayashi sent Sonoda to that place. He faked the SOS signal in order to dispatch Sonoda to investigate the area.
Yatsubayashi looked at the head scattered around him and laughed.
"In case you're listening, I'm more than happy to welcome you if you show yourself, you know?"
Of course, the heads did not give any reply at all.
"I'm waiting for your excuse."
Tsubaki replied back flatly with an unfriendly face.
"I have none."
Alpha's face turned sterner and her gaze colder.
Tsubaki suddenly started oozing an ominous aura.
"I don't think I'm being that hostile to you. If you want me to apologize, I shall apologize. If it's needed, I'm even willing to swap places."
Alpha and Tsubaki just stared at each other in silence. Due to their accelerated time perception, their moment of silence was actually longer than it seemed. Alpha opened her mouth first.
"...I'm here to hear your excuse regarding the subject under me and the subject under you trying to kill each other."
"First of all, in order to keep the safety of the region under my supervision, what I did was just a rewrite of the system configuration of a unit that had unstable software based on one of the security drones defending my area. So to be more precise, that unit is not under my supervision. It just picked the subject under you as its target by chance when it tried to follow its software to protect the region that it's responsible for. Well, I did not specifically tell it to not attack the subject under you, but again, I have no obligation to do that in the first place."
Alpha seemed to have accepted that excuse and her stern face slightly relaxed. Tsubaki also toned down her intimidating aura. Now that the mood had returned to the point that they were able to negotiate calmly, this time, it was Tsubaki's turn to complain.
"I'll at least give you this warning. Even if it's someone under your supervision, I will have to take him out if he steps into my territory without the proper permission. So keep that in mind."
Since Akira had almost used up all of his ammo, he asked Sara and Elena to accompany him back to the forward base. He set his bike to run on autopilot to follow the vehicle as he hopped into Elena and Sara's vehicle.
Akira was enamored by the scene of his bike running just fine without anyone riding it. Sara, who saw Akira like that, smiled and said to him.
"Although it's a common feature for advanced bikes made to explore the wasteland, when you look at it, it looks like a ghost is riding it, doesn't it?"
"Ghost, huh. You're right."
"Talking about ghosts, Akira, have you heard about them? There's an urban legend in Kuzusuhara ruin about a beguiling ghost."
"Yeah, more or less. Although I don't know the details, it's about a ghost that uses old-world relics as bait to lure Hunters and kill them, right?"
Since Akira had some guesses about that rumour, he could not help but make a conflicted face. He then continued.
"...Well, putting the ghost aside, it's nothing rare for Hunters to get killed when they try to go to the deeper part of the ruin for relics."
Elena, who was driving the vehicle, jumped into their conversation.
"It seems that in the past that urban legend had a completely different content."
"...It's just that your interpretation for 'a bit' is different than mine."
Akira only said so and dropped the subject there. Alpha just smiled like usual.
Although Inabe was being careful with Viola, he was not taking her seriously. He was also looking down on Sheryl.
"So then, what is it? It's pretty impressive for you to manage to get a connection to contact me, but if it isn't worth my time, I'll leave right away."
Viola took out a certain old-world relic and placed it in front of Inabe. Inabe looked at that relic and smiled mockingly.
"And this is the result from the appraisal. It's from the Kurogane Corporation. Since I was using a backdoor, it has no Kurogane insignia on it. But what's written here is the actual result from them."
Inabe took the document handed over by Viola and skimmed it.
"It's the old-world terminal from an unknown source that everyone was talking about not too long ago, huh. Are you trying to bribe me with this? What a joke!"
Inabe looked pretty calm while still eyeing the relic. Looking at that, Viola said with a wide smile.
Inabe's expression immediately turned serious.
"...What do you mean by that?"
"...Where did you hear that from?"
"I might be just making blind guesses, you know."
The more Inabe's face turned sterner, the wider Viola's smile got.
Building a secured route into the inner part of the ruin starting from the forward base was a serious endeavour and the City Management placed significant effort into doing that. So of course, there were many people interested in it which caused infighting between different factions.
The one who was responsible for the planning was Yanagisawa. Since the construction and the maintenance of the forward base was doing fine, as well as the relic collection around the secured route, Yanagisawa was cementing his standing among the interested parties. Of course, it was not a good period for the people who were against Yanagisawa.
When the area under his supervision proved to be pretty dangerous and without any worthwhile relics, the City Management had no reason to keep investing in it. At this rate, the City Management would completely stop its investment and Inabe would lose all the money that he had already invested in that territory as well as his influence among the competing factions. In reality, he was getting nervous.
When he saw the relic that Viola brought with her, Inabe thought that if that relic could be found in his territory, it would definitely kick up the value of his territory. At least, it would be enough to solve his current trouble, buy him some time, as well as bring in some money for him to get more resources. Thus luring in more potential investors.
Inabe's gaze naturally wandered to that old-world relic.
[...To be honest, I'm sure I can make it sound as if this relic comes from the area under my care. But I've heard all kinds of rumours about this woman. Moreover, even if I can do that, I only have one relic here. It's far from enough in order to increase the value of my territory...]
While Inabe was still contemplating what to do, Viola put her hand on top of that relic and slid it close to herself. Inabe's expression turned slightly sterner. Viola then pulled out the same type of relics and lined them on the table.
[...W-well now, if there are this many, it should be enough, but... It's this woman we're talking about here... There are already so many people who met their demise after getting involved with her...B-but, they do say that she never lies...]
Inabe made a conflicted face which was a mix of his hope, expectation, doubt, and desire. His expectation that this might be the way to his bright future started to bud.
Viola watched Inabe's reaction with a smile. She then said to Sheryl in a blatant act.
"Boss, it seems that Inabe-san is not interested. I'm sorry, it's my fault."
"Inabe-sama, thank you very much for your time today."
Inabe thought that Sheryl was not faking it and she was really about to leave, so he could not help but stop her by pure reflex. It gave him the final push.
"...Sit down, what do you want in exchange?"
Viola waited for Sheryl to sit back before she answered that question with a smile.
"We are running a relic shop, that's why we want you to help us get old-world relics."
"You said that as if it's an easy thing to do, or is that you already know there are many people interested in collecting relics?"
"It's not like we want you to get us all the expensive relics out there. We just want you to share some of the relics you collected with us. You can at least do that much, right? We will also pay for them, of course, we won't be stingy with the rate."
"We have a deal then."
Viola sent a glance to Sheryl, who understood what Viola meant with that glance as she slid the relics on top of the table to Inabe's side.
"By the way, what is your relationship with Viola?"
"My business partner and I'm her boss. That's all."
Inabe looked at Sheryl and Viola. One of them was a suspicious woman that he knew well, while the other one was a suspicious girl that was new to him. He placed a mental note to be careful with both of them.
Sheryl, Viola and Inabe stayed there for some time to talk about the details after that. That was until one of Inabe's men came and gave a report.
"Excuse me, I'm here with the report regarding the humanoid units."
"They're still in the middle of the investigation even now. The research division is asking for more samples if possible."
"Give them as many samples as they want."
Viola suddenly interjected.
"Is it one of those humanoid monsters from that warning?"
"What are you planning to do with them? They're not robots, so they're just like weird looking corpses. Or is it one of your hobbies?"
Viola smiled mischievously.
"Well, if you want to see them, you can just go ahead and take a look. I'll take you there."
Sheryl followed Viola and went with Inabe to the forward base's warehouse. Although she had no interest in the monster's corpses, it was not like she could do anything if she was left behind alone. Moreover, it was better for her to go with them to make sure that she would not leak anything unnecessary.
Sheryl was a bit overwhelmed by what she saw there, Viola then leaned in and whispered to her.
"Although they're cheap relics, normal people won't be able to get permission to enter this place, you know? Aren't you glad?"
"Wasn't this your original aim?"
In one corner of the warehouse, there were pieces from the humanoid monsters that Akira and the other Hunters had defeated. They were kept in some kind of vacuum container. They were in relatively good conditions, their faces were visible through the transparent bag looked mostly unharmed. While for the ones that were in a bad shape, they were piled into a small container.
"You're keeping them in a relatively safe container."
"If they were old-world humanoid robots, it would have been a treasure trove."
"Yeah, I'm sending them to a research corporation that I have some connections with, so I need to make them at least presentable. Although that short investigation revealed that they're nothing but scrap, I might get a different result if I get a specialist to look at them. Someone actually brought in old-world humanoid robots from the ruin you see, and they fetched quite a lot of money even though they were already mostly destroyed. So I'm hoping if these things can fetch the same price too, you see."
While Viola and Inabe were having that conversation, Sheryl was listening to them while looking at the container bag. That was when she noticed something, her eyes were fixated on the face under the container bag and thought that it looked familiar to her.
"...Tiol?"
Sheryl checked the faces in the other bags too and found out that all of them looked similar, which was strange. Although she suspected that he had something to do with them, she could not think of anything.
Inabe noticed Sheryl's weird reaction and lightly joked.
"If you're interested, do you want to take one of them home? Of course, you'll have to pay for it though."
After that, Inabe realized that he had allowed some outsiders to stay for a rather long time inside that warehouse. So he suggested that they leave the warehouse.
Yastubayashi had healed Tiol by injecting nanomachine extracted from one of the ruin drones. It was an experiment to check if it would trick the old-world monsters' IFF. If it worked, Hunters would be able to explore the ruin without the fear of getting attacked by monsters.
But it ended in failure. As a matter of fact, the nanomachine even invaded Tiol's brain and affected his consciousness. But in the end, it was nothing more than an unstable system. It then picked random transmissions from around him and solely followed the vague command coming out from that bugged system when he ran away from Yatsubayashi's clinic.
The nanomachines that Yatsubayashi injected continued to evolve even now. It took in the nanomachines of the mechanical monster and the peculiar features of the biological monsters that Tiol ate, thus modifying his body to the point where strange-looking parts were growing out from his body and he was able to completely reconstruct his own body.
But it did not end there, he then met Tsubaki and received some help from her too. Tsubaki basically reconstructed the system inside his brain and claimed that he was one of the old-world's security drones.
Although his mind and body were completely altered, surprisingly enough, he was doing pretty well. He was actually happy now that he had gained power that he could not even start to imagine back when he was living in the slum. He was also enjoying himself fighting other monsters and Hunters using simple remotely controlled robots that he created. Although he had even forgotten his own name at this point, he did not really care.
As he continued acting as the ruin's security drone, one of his robots encountered Akira. Of course, he, himself no longer remembered Akira at all. But when he saw the footage sent from one of his robots, a certain order, or desire to be more precise, surfaced from deep within his mind.
His thought of winning a wonderful reward after he was able to kill Akira was already rooted deep inside his mind, but the directives from his security system software pushed that desire aside. Tiol fought hard against that directive and eventually was able to order all of his robots to attack Akira.
In the end, he was not able to take out Akira, but his consciousness that was able to resurface stayed in that state.
And then, through one of his robots that had already lost all of its fighting power, he saw and heard Sheryl mumble his name.
Tiol finally opened his eyes and found himself inside a room of a dilapidated building. Although he had an emotionless face, he said with full of resolve.
One of the terminals was alerted of Tiol. But as he glared at it, he was able to hijack its chain of command and make it obey him.
Tiol understood that he was still one with the system. Although he had regained his consciousness, he was still under strict restriction from the system. Forget returning back to Kugamayama city, at the moment, he could not even leave the territory that he was assigned to. Of course, he could not go and meet Sheryl in this state.
"What should I do...? Ah, right! I can use her!"
Tiol jumped out through the building's window with his superhuman strength. He then landed from the height that would kill a normal human with a loud bang and ran toward his goal.
It was one of the rooms inside a weathered building. That room was badly damaged and no longer completely covered in white. After he entered that room, Tiol screamed as hard as he could.
Tiol screamed while looking around the room, but he heard nothing else other than the echoes of his own voice.
"Show yourself!! If not, I'll tell the Hunters about your existence!! And I'm not bluffing here!!"
Tsubaki's image suddenly appeared inside that room. She looked displeased and had a cold look.
Tiol spotted her and ran at her while shouting.
With that one word, his whole body came into a sudden halt, ignoring his wish. Tsubaki then walked towards Tiol, who could not move at all, with mild contempt plastered on her face.
"You really have no manners, how unpleasant. And you have lost your logical mind too. I know that you're excited after gaining so much power, but do you think that I'll accept your demand just because you're shouting it?"
Tsubaki stopped and stood next to Tiol, she then extended her hand toward his head.
"Our deal is that I will fix your bugged system and you'll guard the area that I assigned to you. If you don't like it, I don't mind reverting your system back. You can just go ahead and unconsciously rampage until the day you die like a feral beast or a bugged machine for all I care."
Tiol felt like his mind was being messed with while he fought back as hard as he could. He squeezed all of his might to try and push off Tsubaki's hand with his immobilized body. When he did that, although it was only slightly, his body actually moved and swiped her hand off his head.
Tiol could feel something that was restricting his body was lifted off. He immediately jumped away from Tsubaki. His face was reflecting desperation, fear and terror. He was breathing roughly while glaring at her.
"...W-what do you want me to do?"
Tiol asked the details of Tsubaki's demand and could not help but be surprised.
"...You're telling me to do that?"
If Tiol refused, he would return back to being a feral beast rampaging pointlessly in the wasteland. Basically, he had no other choice in this situation.
"A-alright, I'll do it."
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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