アキラは新装備を受け取るためにシズカの店に向かった。
店の中に入ったアキラを、シズカが軽く手を振って出迎える。
「いらっしゃい、アキラ。こっちよ」
んでアキラを店の奥の倉庫に案内する。倉庫は商品の搬入口としても使われており、商品の重火器や弾薬等が棚に置かれていた。
アキラがふと思いついたことをシズカに尋ねる。
「そういえば、カウンターを空にして大丈夫なんですか?」
「大丈夫よ。武器屋の店主がカウンターからちょっと席を外しているだけで大問題になるほど、銃を求める客が列を成しているわけじゃないしね。前に都市にモンスターの群れが迫ってきた時もそんなことにはならなかったわ。
「いえ、盗難とかは......」
「展示してある武器は盗難防止に台に固定してあるし、監視カメラも設置してある。民間警備会社と連携している盗難保険にも入っているし、問題ないわ」
仮にシズカの店に強盗が現れてカウンターの金を何とかして奪って逃げたとする。その場合シズカには被害額と同等の保険金が支払われる。アキラが考えているような損害をシズカが負う可能性は低い。
そして保険会社と契約している民間警備会社が、社の威信を懸けて強盗を生死問わずに捕縛する。捕縛された強盗は様々な名目で請求される被害額を支払うために、私物を体を人生を、あらゆる手段で徹底的に金に変換されることになる。財産の没収で済むのか、強制労働を強いられるのか、新薬や新技術の実験台になるのかは、その被害額次第だ。
シズカがまだ少し気にしている様子のアキラに笑って話す。
「私がアキラのためにカウンターを空にするのが気になるなら、常連予定の顧客を私が
アキラは既に8000万オーラムほどをシズカの店の売上げに貢献している。それでもまだシズカの店の常連には数えられないらしい。
アキラのその考えが表情に出たのか、あるいは単にシズカの勘が鋭いだけなのか、シズカが続けて話す。
「アキラが当店の売上げに貢献してくれるのは大変有り難いんだけど、できれば当店の商品で貢献してほしいところね。強化服とかは注文代行に近い部分があるから、正直利益がいまいちなのよね」
シズカはほぼ冗談で言っただけなのだが、アキラが少し慌てながら答える。
「あー、それは、その、今後に期待していただけると」
「ふふ、期待しているわ」
んだ後、気を取り直して倉庫の搬入口のシャッターの方を指差す。
「さて、アキラの新装備一式だけど、あそこよ」
アキラがそこにあるものを見て小さく驚きと喜びの声を出した。
「シズカさんから来た見積書を読んで、用意してもらった新装備一式の内容は事前に知ってましたけど、本当にこれ込みで良いんですか?」
「そうよ。ちゃんと予算内に収めたわ」
そこには一台の荒野仕様の大型車両が
っているか確認するから、アキラも一緒に確認してね」
シズカは見積書の紙を取り出すと、アキラにもそのコピーを渡す。そしてそれを見ながら見積書に記載されている商品と、現物を指差し確認していく。
装甲タイルとは衝撃等に反応して力場装甲を発生させ、衝撃を防ぐ効果を持つ装甲板の一種だ。装甲タイルは力場装甲を発生させるとそのまま剥がれ落ちる。剥がれ落ちた装甲タイルは、荒野に幾らでも転がっている屑鉄の元の一つだ。
「CWH対物突撃銃が1
「荒野仕様のハンター向け情報端末が2台。頑丈で多少荒っぽく使っても壊れない品よ。荒野で何かあった時に、場合によっては緊急依頼を投げるためにも、情報端末は丈夫な方が良いわ」
アキラが助手席を見る。見るからに頑丈そうな情報端末が置いてある。
「電撃ナイフが2本。モンスター相手にナイフ使って接近戦をしなければならない時点で相当厳しい状況なんだけど、素手よりはましよ。電撃は1回こっきりの使い切り。運が良ければ、機械系モンスターをショートさせたりもできるわ」
にナイフが置いてある。ナイフは情報端末購入時の付録だったのかもしれない。当たり前だが機械系モンスター相手にナイフで戦いを挑むのは、普通のハンターならば自殺手前の無謀さである。更に機械なら電気に弱いだろうなどと考えていると、モンスター側にしっかり対策されている場合も多い。だからシズカも運が良ければなどと言っているのだろう。
「最後に、ERPS総合情報収集機器統合型強化服、商品名パワードサイレンスが1着。そこの収納ケースに付属品一式を含めて入っているわ。連携可能な照準器も付属品の一部として一緒に入っているから後で装着してね」
アキラは後部座席に置いてあるケースの取っ手を
「......強化服の力よ?」
シズカは服の下に目立たない強化服を着用している。アキラは以前にそう教えられたことを思い出した。
アキラの反応は僅かだがシズカの機嫌を損ねたようだ。
「え、あ、はい。分かってます」
すように答えた。
シズカが収納ケースから強化服を取り出す。アキラはシズカに手伝ってもらって新しい強化服に着替える。
アキラがその穴を不思議そうに見ていると、シズカが説明してくれた。
「それは小型の情報収集機器の接続用よ。総合情報収集機器統合型強化服って説明したでしょう? 付属品で小型の情報収集機器が付いているの。情報収集機器と強化服の統合をコンセプトに作られた商品なのよ」
「そういうやつはやっぱり高いんですか?」
「当然、高性能で多機能な強化服ほど値が張るわ。ただ、このパワードサイレンスはちょっと訳ありでね。かなり安いのよ。相場の価格と同価格帯の強化服に比べて、ワンランク上の性能だと考えて良いわ」
「訳あり、ですか」
アキラもシズカが変な商品を勧めるとは思っていない。しかし訳ありの商品などと説明されると気になるのも事実だ。
アキラが強化服を起動させると、強化服が縮まってアキラの体型に合わせて不快感なく密着する。軽く体を動かしても違和感は覚えない。ほぼ未調整でこれならば、シズカの説明通りに性能には何の問題もないのだろう。
アキラは強化服の収納ケースを閉じて車に積む。強化服の身体能力強化により軽々と積み込むことができた。
「これでアキラの新装備一式の確認は済んだわね。アキラの御期待には応えられたかしら?」
「はい。本当にありがとう御座いました」
「それは良かったわ。これからも当店を
シズカは一歩アキラに近付き、優しくアキラを抱き締める。
「......またハンター稼業に戻るんでしょうけど、十分気を付けなさい。良いわね?」
アキラはシズカから離れて車に乗る。軽く手を振ってアキラを見送るシズカに会釈して、アキラは家に戻るために車を走らせた。
シズカはアキラが見えなくなった後、軽く息を吐いて苦笑した。
い。大分入れ込んじゃってるわね。もっと割り切れる性格のはずだったんだけど。アキラの払いが良くなければ、大変なことになるところだわ」
このままだと赤字覚悟でアキラの装備を都合しかねない。シズカは自分に強く言い聞かせ、心を落ち着かせて店のカウンターに戻った。
アキラの装備が一新されてから3日後、アキラは自分の車で荒野を駆けていた。
車に搭載されている制御装置は既にアルファに掌握されている。そのためアルファが車を運転することも可能だが、運転技術の訓練も兼ねてアキラが運転している。
アキラの新装備の慣らし、強化服を着て動き回ったり、新しい銃の試し撃ちをしたりなどは既に済ませている。今日が新装備でのアキラのハンター活動再開の初日だ。
アキラ達の目的地は、クズスハラ街遺跡の地下街に行く前に一度だけ寄った場所だ。アキラ達がリオンズテイル社の端末設置場所を探していた時に、設置場所を示す矢印が地下を示していた場所だ。
けだ。そのような夢を見るハンター達が荒野を駆け、東部の調査を進めてきたのだ。そして成功者の一部は一晩で富豪となってハンターを辞めていき、更に多くのハンターがその後に続こうと荒野に繰り出して、そのまま荒野に飲み込まれ消えていくのだ。
アキラは車の制御装置のモニターに表示されているナビゲーターに従って車を走らせる。モニターには到着予定の残り時間も表示されている。
アキラが助手席に座っているアルファに話しかける。
「しかしこんなに早く自分の車が手に入るとは思わなかったな。これで俺がもし未発見の旧世界の遺跡を見つけても、他のハンターにすぐにはバレないんだろう? レンタル車両だと返した時に移動ログから見つかる可能性があるって話だったよな」
『ええ。討伐依頼を受けても同じだから、今回は討伐依頼を受けていないから注意してね。モンスターとの交戦は弾薬費が
むだけよ。倒したモンスターを持って帰って売りでもしない限りね』
「持って帰った方が良いか? 倒したモンスターの買取りはハンターオフィスの買い取り所でもやってたはずだ」
『そうでしょう? それに余計な荷物を詰め込めば、その分だけ車の速度も落ちるわ。ついでに持って帰ろう程度の考えなら邪魔なだけよ』
モンスターをたくさん倒して持ち帰れば金になる。スラム街にいた頃のアキラは漠然とそう考えていた。しかし現実にはモンスターを闇雲に適当に大量に倒しても大金にはならないようだ。
アキラが助手席に座っているアルファの格好を改めて見る。
アルファは純白のドレスを着ていた。上品な光沢のある布地を幾重にも重ねた鮮烈な白の輝きは、軽い神々しさすら感じさせる。白の長手袋と手首まで伸びている袖が手と腕の肌を隠し、床まで伸びている裾が足の肌を隠している。首元から下の肌を
本来なら布地が車のあらゆる場所に引っかかり、乗車すら至難な格好だ。視覚的な存在であるアルファだからこそ平然と座っていられるのだ。
「その格好、何とかならないのか?」
『あら、お気に召さない? アキラの趣味とは合わないかしら?』
「そういうことじゃなくて、場違い感とでも言えば良いのか、周辺との違和感が
「そう言われてもな。ああ、前のメイド服は駄目なのか? あっちの方がまだましなんだけど」
『メイド服ね......。私の考えすぎかもしれないけれど、メイド服で荒野に行くのはそんなに珍しいことではないのかもしれない。だから止めておくわ』
「そんなことはないと思うけどな」
『ほら、この前下位区画をメイド服で歩いていた人がいたでしょ? 彼女はハンター、若しくはそれに類する武力要員の可能性が高いわ』
「......ああ、確かにいたな」
アキラはその時のことを思い出して少し不機嫌になった。しかし取りあえずそれに付随する様々な感情を脇に置いて平静を保つ。あれはあれで無様な醜態だったが、思い出すたびに平静を欠いては恥の上塗りだ。
アキラはその時のメイド服を着ていた人間、カナエのことを思い出す。カナエは一触即発の状況を認識した上で薄笑いすら浮かべ、そのまま戦闘に移行することを望んですらいた気配まであった。カナエが荒事を好み、自身の戦闘能力に自信を持つ人間であることは間違いない。会話の内容からシオリの同僚である可能性も高い。同じぐらいには強いのだろう。
『つまり、そういった職業の者にとって、メイド服はそう珍しくない格好かもしれない。荒野にいるハンターがメイド服を着ている同業者を見ても、最近よく見る格好だな、程度で済ませるかもしれないわ』
ハンターがメイド服を着ていても何もおかしいところはない。自身の常識を揺らがせることを耳にしたアキラが微妙な表情で聞き返す。
「男女問わずって、男も?」
『男も。誰だって命は惜しいわ。まあ、その場合は町中で着たりはせずに、荒野に出てから着替えるのかもしれないけれどね』
アキラはその光景を少し想像してみた。
屈強な男のハンターが低価格高性能なメイド服を着て旧世界の遺跡を探索している。そこで彼は同じくメイド服を着た男の同業者と出会う。彼らは互いの格好を見て互いの事情を理解し、見なかったことにして、気まずさを残して無言で立ち去っていく。その後も似たような状況が続き、開き直った彼らは同じメイド服を着た部隊として、互いの格好を気にすることなく遺跡の探索を続けていく。やがて......。
アキラはそこでその先の想像を打ち切った。
「......俺の常識が崩れていくな」
『常識というものは日々変わっていくものよ』
可能な限りモンスターとの遭遇を避けたため、アキラ達は到着予定時刻を少し過ぎた時刻に目的地に到着した。アキラは車を
アキラが思っているほど荒野に止めてあるハンターの車を盗むのは簡単ではない。ハンター側もそれなりの防衛策を取っているからだ。
車に自動戦闘機能を持つ制御装置が搭載されている場合、盗む
残念ながらアキラの運は悪い方だ。アキラの防衛策がその不運に太刀打ちできることを願うしかない。
アキラは周囲を車の停車場所を中心にして円を描くように少しずつ探索していく。アキラ達が探しているのは恐らく
「そうなのか? シズカさんがワンランク上の性能があるって言ってなかったっけ?」
『それは強化服としての総合的な性能でしょうね。それにエレナに譲ってもらった総合情報収集機器が、かなり高性能だったってこともあるわ。あれ、エレナから捨て値で売ってもらったからアキラにも買えたけれど、本来ならあの時のアキラの稼ぎでは絶対買えなかったわ』
アキラは改めてエレナに感謝する、そしてこの恩を必ず返すと誓った。
アキラが周辺の調査を進めてから1時間ほど経過した。モンスターの襲撃を警戒しながら念入りに
「見つからないな。もしかして入り口は全然違う場所にあるのか?」
『大きな地下街ならそれだけ多くの出入口があっても良いはずよ。考えたくはないけれど、端末設置場所の情報が間違っている可能性もあるわ。どうする? ここは切り上げて別の場所に向かう?』
「いや、続ける。今のところモンスターとの交戦もない。調査自体は楽にできているんだし、このまま進めよう」
調査続行。アキラ達は更に調査を進めていく。
『そうね。この場所に存在していたであろう高層建築物の残骸が地面を埋め尽くして、長い年月で土やら何やらが積もりに積もって、当時の地面が地下深くまで埋もれてしまった。そんなとこかしら』
「その場合はもう重機でも持ち込まないと無理か?」
『出入口がビルの1階や地下部分にあって、そのビルがある程度原形を残したまま埋まっていれば、そこからビルの中を通っていけると思うわ』
アキラはアルファと雑談を続けながら周辺の探索を続けた。その後も念入りに探索を続けていく。探索場所を既に駐車地点からかなりの距離がある場所まで広げていた。
車から大分離れてきたので、アキラが駐車場所の変更を考え始めた時だった。アルファがアキラに指示を出す。
「モンスターか?」
「やっと見つけた! ......と、言いたいところだけど、矢印の場所から随分離れた場所だな。地下の遺跡がそれだけ広大なだけなら良いんだけど。全然関係ないビルの地下部分へ続く階段の可能性もあるな」
アキラは少し興奮気味であることを自覚し、ぬか喜びの可能性を意図的に口にして平静さを保った。
『降りて調べるしかないわ。邪魔な
「良し! やるか!」
アキラは意気揚々と
アキラは車まで一度戻り、階段の近くの瓦礫の陰まで車を移動させた。そして車に設置してあるCWH対物突撃銃を取り外して装備に加える。DVTSミニガンも持って行くべきかどうか迷ったが、置いていくことにした。これ以上重火器を持ち歩いても邪魔になるし、予備の弾薬をすぐに使い切ってしまいそうだからだ。
強化服のおかげで重量的な制限は軽減されているが、だからと言ってDVTSミニガンを使用するために山ほど予備の弾薬を持ち歩くわけにもいかない。遺跡探索の邪魔となる物は極力減らすべきだろう。
未発見の旧世界の遺跡から、大量の旧世界の遺物を持ち帰って大金を手に入れる。アキラの中からその高揚は消え去った。アキラの目の前にあるのは、その希望と欲望を餌に多くのハンターを飲み込んだ化け物の口だ。その化け物を内部から食い破り、生還したハンターのみが大金を得られるのだ。
緊張を高めるアキラに、アルファが追い打ちを掛けるように真剣な表情で忠告する。
『アキラ。今のうちに言っておくからしっかり覚えてね。地下では私の姿を可能な限り視界の中に入れておくこと。私の姿が見えなくなったり、私の声が聞こえなくなったりした場合、つまりアキラが私を認識できなくなった場合は、すぐに引き返しなさい。アキラが私を認識できない時は、アキラは私のサポートを全く受けられない状態なの。十分注意してね』
「全く? 低下じゃなくてなくなるのか?」
ってはそういう遺跡である可能性があって、地下ではその可能性が高まるってこと。その場合でも、アキラが私を認識できる場所まで戻れば大丈夫よ』
「クズスハラ街遺跡の地下街では大丈夫だったのにか?」
『クズスハラ街遺跡は私の庭のような場所だからね。ある程度は大丈夫なのよ。それでも索敵に多少影響は出ていたのよ?』
アキラは自分の足が
「......アルファから止めないってことは、危険性は低いし、普通なら俺でも十分対処できるってことだろう?」
「なら行く。勇気と覚悟は俺の分担だ。そうだろ?」
アキラは気合を入れて強がって笑顔を浮かべる。その笑顔がアキラの顔に張り付き、真実となるように力強く笑う。アキラの努力で克服できることは、アキラがするべきことなのだ。それはアキラがアルファに出会う前から変わっていない。
アキラがスラム街にいた頃にできたことを、より恵まれた環境でするだけのことだ。アキラは覚悟を決めた。
アルファもアキラに笑顔を返す。
『分かったわ。行きましょう』
アキラは意を決して、階段を降り始めた。そしてすぐに戻ってくる。
アルファが不思議そうに尋ねる。
『どうしたの?』
「やっぱりアレも持って行こう。その弾薬が尽きかけたら引き返すってことにする」
アキラは車まで戻るとDVTSミニガンを取り外して携帯する。意気込みを入れて階段を降りたのにすぐに戻ったアキラを見て、アルファが少し笑っていた。
『何でもないわ。慎重なのは良いことよ?』
アルファは笑ってそう答えた。
Akira headed to Shizuka's shop to receive his new equipments.
When he entered the shop, Shizuka waved at him.
"Welcome, Akira. Over here."
Shizuka smiled at him and then guided him to the backroom of the shop. The backroom was used as a warehouse for the stuff that she sold, thus it was filled with guns and ammo.
Akira noticed something and asked Shizuka.
"By the way, is it okay to leave the counter unguarded?"
"It's fine. It's not like there are that many people who want to buy guns anyway, so it will not be much of an issue even if I leave the counter. Even when the city was attacked by a swarm of monsters not too long ago, there were more people coming in than usual but it was not that many to even form a line in front of the counter."
"I meant it more like someone might steal something..."
"The rifles in the display are inside anti-thieving showcases, I have also installed security cameras, and have insurance with a private security company. So it'll be fine."
Even if someone was able to break the secured counter, take Shizuka's money from it, and escape from the security, she'll be paid with the same amount of money that she lost. Thus it was highly unlikely that Shizuka would suffer much damage that Akira thought she would.
Not to mention, the private security company that was working together with the insurance company, which Shizuka was contracted with, would catch that person dead or alive. If that person was caught alive, he would be fined with all kinds of charges and would be forced to exchange his life, his body, basically just everything that he had to pay the fine. Depending on the severity of the fine, he might get his property seized, or forced into a labour work, or used as a guinea pig for developing new medicines or technologies.
Seeing how Akira still seemed to be worried, Shizuka smiled at him and said.
"If you're still worried that I'm leaving the counter for your sake, just think of it as me giving some efforts to get a regular customer. It should bother you less that way, right?"
Although Akira had spent 80,000,000 Aurum in Shizuka's shop, it did not seem that she had thought of him as a regular customer.
Either because it showed on his face or just simply because her intuition was very sharp, she noticed what Akira was thinking and so she continued.
"I'm really thankful that you're contributing to the revenue of this shop. But to be honest, I hope that you would buy goods that I sell in my shop. I don't get much profit from that augmented suit that I ordered from another shop, you see."
Although Shizuka was only joking, Akira fl.u.s.teredly replied.
"Ahh, well, I'll do that from next time..."
"Fufufu, I'll be waiting then."
Shizuka smiled invincibly, after which, she pointed at the entrance shutter of the warehouse.
"Now then, your new equipment set is over there."
When Akira peeked in, he was a bit surprised as he happily said.
"Although I know the contents of my new equipment set from reading the doc.u.ment Shizuka-san gave me, is it really okay to get this included too?"
"Of course, it's still under the budget limit, you know."
In front of Akira was a large-sized vehicle which was also included in his list of new equipment.
"Well then, let's check if you have got everything that you ordered."
Shizuka then pulled out a doc.u.mented list of the items and handed a copy to Akira. They then checked the items with that doc.u.ment.
The force field plating was a type of armour plating that would activate a force field when hit by an impact to disperse the force of that impact. But after it activated a force field, the plating tile would peel and fall off. That was the reason why the wasteland was filled with used plating tiles.
"Then, 1 CWH anti-material rifle. 1 DVTS mini-gun. Both of them are installed into the vehicle so you can use them even without an augmented suit. Although you can demount them and use them just like a normal gun, you need to be careful since the DVTS mini-gun consumes a lot of ammo. I've also added some modification parts so it's compatible with piercing ammo. Although it's loaded with that type of ammo right now, you can also use normal ammo for it, so there's no need to worry about that part."
"Then there are also 2 information terminals for Hunters. Since they are strongly built, they should not break easily even if you use them rather crudely. Anything can happen in the wasteland, it's better to have a sturdy information terminal just to be safe so that you can use it for sending SOS request during an emergency."
Akira peeked at the driver seat, there were 2 durable-looking information terminals.
"Then 2 electric knives. Well, if you find yourself having to fight monsters using those knives, it means that you're already in a pretty bad situation, but it's at least better than nothing. Each knife can only be used for causing a single shock, if you're lucky, it can shut down a mechanical monster with its shock."
There were 2 knives beside the information terminal on the driver seat, they might be some kind of bonus items from buying the information terminal. Of course, for most Hunters, it would be suicide to challenge monsters in a close-range battle. Moreover, since most of the people knew that mechanical monsters were weak against electric shock, Akira thought that monsters must have at least adapted to that by now, and that must have been the reason why Shizuka added 'if you're lucky' when she said.
"Then lastly, the ERPS information-gathering device integrated augmented suit. Its name is PWD Silence. It's inside that case over there together with all of its equipment set. The equipment set includes an aiming device that can be connected with the augmented suit, so be sure to install it later."
Akira grabbed the handle of the case which was placed on the seat and pulled it out from the vehicle. But it was way heavier than he anticipated, it took everything he had to drag it out from the vehicle even after he used both of his hands.
"...It's not me, it's my augmented suit, okay?"
Shizuka was using a simple augmented suit under her clothes. Akira remembered the time when she had mentioned it to him.
Although Akira's reaction was not that big, it seemed to have offended Shizuka.
"Eh, ah, yes, I know."
Akira tried to gloss it over as he fl.u.s.teredly replied back.
Shizuka took out the augmented suit from that case and helped Akira put it on.
Akira looked curiously at those holes, Shizuka then explained to him.
"You can use those ports to connect the augmented suit with small-sized information-gathering devices. I did explain that it's an information-gathering device integrated augmented suit, remember? So, it has a small-sized information-gathering device installed in it. After all, it was designed to be used in tandem with information-gathering devices."
"I guess this kind of thing is really expensive, right?"
"Of course a better augmented suit cost more money. But, this PWD Silence is rather special, I got it at a pretty cheap price. Compared to the other augmented suits that you can buy with the same amount of money, this augmented suit is basically one level better."
"Rather special, huh?"
Akira knew that Shizuka would not recommend any defective products to him, but it still bothered him when she said that it was rather special.
When Akira turned the augmented suit on, it tightened up and fit perfectly with his body shape, he did not feel any discomfort at all. Even after moving his body around, he still did not feel anything uncomfortable. If he could move this fluidly even before the fine-tuning, there should be no problem with the augmented suit just like Shizuka told him.
Akira then closed the augmented suit's case and put it back in his vehicle. Thanks to his enhanced physical strength due to the augmented suit, he was able to do that easily.
"And with this, we've confirmed that you received all your new equipment set. Are you happy with them?"
"Yes, thank you very much."
"I'm glad to hear that, I hope that you'll keep coming to my shop."
Shizuka took a step closer to Akira and gave him a hug.
"...I know that you'll return back to doing your Hunter job, so please be careful out there, okay?"
After Shizuka let him go, Akira got into his vehicle. Shizuka lightly waved at him as she saw him off, Akira lightly bowed back to her and turned the vehicle, he then drove back home.
When Shizuka could no longer see Akira, she sighed and smiled bitterly.
"...This is bad; I am getting too attached. And here I thought I was more disciplined than this. I'm getting too emotionally invested in Akira that I'm now willing to go beyond my self-set boundaries. If it were not because Akira was also making a good contribution to my shop, this would have been really really bad."
Shizuka thought that at this rate, she would even become willing to face some monetary loss just to get Akira better equipment. She reminded herself to be more rational and to calm down before she returned back to the counter.
It had been 3 days since Akira got his new equipment set, and today, he was driving his new vehicle through the wasteland.
The control unit installed inside his vehicle was already under Alpha's control. Thanks to that, she was able to drive the vehicle. But this time, she allowed Akira to take full control to get him used to drive his vehicle.
He had already gotten himself familiar with his new equipment, he had tried using his augmented suit to move around and took some test shots with his new guns. This was the first day he was going to do a real job after getting his new equipment.
He was heading to an area in the Kuzusuhara ruin that he only visited for a short time once before he took that request to the underground city. It was the area where the pointer was pointing to the underground when he was looking for old-world facilities using the information that he had gotten from the Lion Steel Corporation's information terminal.
If he could find a load of old-world relics in an unexplored ruin, it would bring him a lot of money. This was the same exact reason that pushed a lot of Hunters to go out to the wasteland and continue exploring. Some of them got lucky and became rich overnight before retiring as a Hunter. This kind of success stories pushed more Hunters to go out to the wasteland hoping to find the same luck, but unfortunately, most of them got swallowed and vanished in the wasteland instead.
Akira was driving his truck following a guide shown on his vehicle's control unit's monitor. The monitor even showed the estimated time of arrival.
He then asked Alpha who was sitting next to the driver seat.
"But still, I never thought that I would get a vehicle this quickly, you know. With this, even if I find an unexplored ruin, the other Hunters should not be able to find out about it, right? If I remember it right, had it been a rental vehicle, other Hunters would be able to backtrace the log and find the unexplored ruin too, correct?"
"Yep, it's also the same case for subjugation requests. By the way, since you're not in a subjugation request this time, be careful with your ammo expense. After all, you won't be able to get back the money that you spend on your ammo this time, that is, as long as you don't bring back the dead bodies of the monsters that you defeated and sell them."
"Let's not do that now. It's something that you only do after getting enough information about where to sell them, how much they'll sell, and which parts of those monsters are profitable. Then you'll have to think about the transportation and the escort too to make sure that you'll still end up with profits. You'll also need to learn how to kill those monsters without damaging the value of their organs. I'm sure you already know this, do you think someone would buy the carcass of a monster that you turned into minced meat with the DVTS mini-gun?"
"So it's better if I bring them back to the city, huh? The Exchange Center in the Hunter Office should accept monster corpses too, right?"
"See? Moreover, it's better to keep your load to a minimum since it'll affect the speed of your vehicle. So it'll only be a useless extra weight if you bring them back just out of a whim."
When Akira was still living in the slum alley, he did think that it would at least get him some money if he brought back monster corpses to sell in the city. But it seemed that in reality, it would not bring him money if he just randomly killed monsters.
Akira glanced at Alpha who was sitting next to him.
Alpha was wearing a snow-white dress. The multiple layers of that snow-white dress looked luxurious and glossy, it gave off a holy and clean aura. Her hands were enveloped in white gloves that extended up to her wrist, thus hiding her long beautiful slim fingers from plain view. Her trouser also extended all the way to the floor, hiding her legs. It was as if her dress was designed to hide everything under her neck.
Normally, such a dress would get stuck here and there inside the vehicle and it would have been really hard to stay sitting on a running vehicle while dressed like that. But since Alpha was nothing more than an image, she was able to sit comfortably next to Akira.
"Can you do something about that dress?"
"Oh my, you don't like it? I guess you don't like this kind of dress, huh?"
"That's not the problem here. It just doesn't fit this place, so it's like, it feels really weird. It's not something that normal people would wear when they go to the wasteland, right?"
"Even if you tell me so... Ah, in that case, can you change to that maid uniform? I think it's at least better than what you're wearing now."
"Maid uniform, huh... I might be overthinking this, but I don't think it's rare to find people dressed in maid uniforms in the middle of the wasteland. That's why I'm not wearing that anymore."
"I don't think that's true though."
"You still remember that you met a person wearing a maid uniform in the lower district, right? She might be a Hunter, and even if she's not, she must be some kind of soldier."
"...Ahhh, you're right about that."
When he remembered what happened back then, he was mildly annoyed. But he decided to just push that aside for the time being in order to keep his calm. It sure was embarrassing to withdraw from a fight when he was the one who challenged them in the first place, so he could not help but feel annoyed. But again, he knew well getting his calm disrupted because of that would not bring him anything good here.
Akira knew Alpha was talking about Kanae, who was wearing a maid uniform when he met her. During that extremely dangerous situation, even though she knew what was going on, she was smiling as if she was enjoying it. Akira even noticed that she hoped for the situation to end up in a fight. There was no mistaking it, Kanae loved fighting, she was someone who had confidence in her fighting capability. According to their conversations, there was a good chance that she was in the same occupation as Shiori. So, he assumed that she must be at least as strong as Shiori.
"So what I'm saying here is that it might not be that strange for people, who have the same occupation as Shiori and that person, to use a maid uniform. Thus, people might only ignore it thinking that it's not strange to see Hunters with maid uniform when they see me in such a dress."
Alpha was basically saying that it was nothing strange to find Hunters in maid uniforms. Akira frowned when he heard that statement that was out of common sense.
"Regardless of gender? Even the guys too?"
"Even the guys too would want to stay alive after all. But well, I guess guys would change their clothes once they are in the wasteland rather than using the maid uniform when they are in the city."
Akira imagined such a scene.
A brawny guy, who was working as a Hunter, searching for relics in the old-world ruin wearing an expensive maid uniform. That man then met another guy, who was also in a maid uniform. They looked at each other, understood what was going on, and walked away without saying anything as they decided to forget what they just saw. With the same thing happening again and again, eventually, those guys in maid uniform formed a group and searched for relics together while ignoring each other's appearance, then in the end...
Akira cut his imagination there.
"...Don't destroy my common sense, will you?"
"Common sense is something that changes with time."
Since he was avoiding monsters, Akira was only able to arrive at his destination later than he originally estimated. He parked his vehicle under the shadow of a building in that area and put on a camouflage sheet over it. Although Akira could spot it easily, it would be hard for people, who did not know the exact place, to spot it even if they were actively looking for it.
Stealing another Hunter's vehicle in the wasteland was actually far more difficult than Akira imagined. It was because all Hunters would make sure to keep their vehicles safe.
Vehicles with an automatic combat module installed in its control unit could automatically shoot anyone who tried to steal it. Thus, normally, stealing other Hunter's vehicles was not worth the risk. But even so, there were cases where parked vehicles got stolen. So in the end, it was all a matter of luck.
Unfortunately enough, Akira was a boy with bad luck. He had no other choice but to hope that all of his precautions could counterbalance his bad luck.
Akira scanned the area around him. He moved around forming a circle with his vehicle in the centre and gradually moved further and further away from that centre. Akira was searching for an entrance to the underground buried among all the rubbles and wreckages in the area. Of course, he could not search it using his n.a.k.e.d eyes. Thus he was relying solely on his information-gathering device.
"Is that so? Shizuka-san did say that it's one level better than other information-gathering devices in the same price range though?"
"I believe she meant it when it's used in tandem with the augmented suit. Moreover, there's also the fact that the information-gathering device you got from Elena-san was actually a good information-gathering device. Elena-san sold it at a low price since it was only collecting dust in her place, but normally, with your earnings at that time, it was not something that you could buy, you know."
Akira became more grateful for Elena and promised himself to return that favour one day.
It had been an hour since Akira started searching. Since he was checking carefully under the rubbles while avoiding the monsters, his search progressed slowly. But even so, he wanted to avoid having to recheck the area just because he missed something during his search. Thus, he continued to carefully check the area.
"I just can't find anything. Could the entrance be located somewhere else?"
"That might be the case. However, normally huge underground facilities have multiple entrances. But then again, although I don't want to think about it, there's also a chance that the info we downloaded from that information terminal was actually inaccurate. So, what do you want to do? Want to try looking in other places?"
"Nah, I'll keep looking here. I haven't met any monsters and the search itself is not that tiring, so I'll continue searching around this area."
Akira continued his search in that area.
"Let's see, I guess it's because the ruin of what was once a tall building is now buried deep under the ground. Then after a long time, dirt and sands kept piling up on top of it and ended up burying that building deeper and deeper under the ground."
"In that case, will it still be impossible to find the entrance using heavy machinery?"
"The entrance is usually located on the first floor or the bas.e.m.e.nt. If it still somehow retains its original shape even after being buried for so long, it would be possible to enter the building from there."
Akira continued his search while chatting with Alpha. But even so, he was still cautiously checking every nook and cranny. He had even started searching around the area away from where he parked his vehicle.
As he was starting to think about parking his vehicle closer since he was getting further and further away from it, Alpha suddenly said to him.
"Is it monsters?"
"Finally found it!! ...Or so I want to say, but it's rather far away from where the pointer originally is. Well, it's fine if it's because the facility is really that big, but there's also a chance that it's from an entirely different building."
Akira realized that he had got too excited, that was why he intentionally said that to remind not to get ahead of himself.
"There's no other way but to go down there and check it yourself. Let's remove the wreckages blocking the way in, it should be an easy job using your new augmented suit."
"Alright then, let's do this!"
Akira excitedly started removing the wreckages and the rubbles.
Akira then returned to his vehicle and parked it under the shadow of a wreckage near the stair. He then removed the CWH anti-material rifle from the gun station and brought it with him. At first, he was unsure whether to bring the DVTS mini-gun too or not, but in the end, he decided to just leave it on his vehicle since he thought that it would only slow him down if he brought more guns than needed. Also, using the DVTS mini-gun would quickly burn through his reserve ammo.
Although his new augmented suit increased his max load, it did not mean that he could just bring more reserve ammo with him to use DVTS mini-gun. It was important to keep his load to a minimum during his ruin exploration.
The thought of getting a pile of old-world relics from an unexplored ruin and turning them into a huge amount of money had already completely gone from Akira's mind. What laid in front of him was the mouth of a dangerous monster that had swallowed many Hunters who went in chasing their desire and dreams. The only Hunters who were able to get a huge amount of money were those who were able to return back alive from that place.
As Akira became more and more nervous, Alpha suddenly said something with a serious face that delivered the final blow.
"Akira, I'll tell you this before going down, so make sure to remember it. When you're underground, try to keep me within your view. When you can't see me or hear me, basically when you can no longer recognize me, turn back as soon as possible, okay? When you can't recognize me, it means that you'll lose all of my support too, so be careful when that happens."
"All? Not just a portion of it?"
"Yes, of course. It's not like we know for sure if it's going to happen. It's just that there's a chance for something like that to happen when you go inside some ruins and that chance shoots up when you go to the underground ruins. When that happens, you just need to retrace your steps back to the point where you can see me again."
"But, it was alright when we were in the Kuzusuhara underground city, right?"
"Well, Kuzusuhara ruin is basically like my garden. So the effect was not that bad. But even so, it still affected my detection ability, remember?"
Akira clearly felt his legs freeze. He was only able to survive until now thanks to Alpha's support. Thus, he understood that he himself was scared of losing that support. It was fully understandable why he was hesitating to move forward.
"...Well, since you're not stopping me, it means that it's not that dangerous. So it's basically something that I should be able to handle myself, right?"
"I'll go then, resolve is my responsibility, after all."
Akira pulled himself together and somehow squeezed a fake valiant smile. He kept that smile on his face, hoping to make it real. Things that he could overcome with his own power should be overcome with his own effort. That one point did not change even after he met Alpha.
He knew that he had done something like this many times before in the slum city. This time, he just needed to do the same thing in a more blessed environment. Akira pulled himself together and made his resolve.
Alpha smiled back at Akira.
"Very well, let's go."
Akira made his decision and started walking down the stairs. But he quickly returned back.
Alpha found that weird and asked him.
"What's wrong?"
"On the second thought, I'll bring that too. I'll quickly go back if I run out of ammo."
Akira went back to his vehicle and took off his DVTS mini-gun to bring it together with him. Seeing how he went down the stairs with confidence just to quickly return back, Alpha giggled.
"It's nothing. Being careful is a good trait too."
Alpha was still smiling when she said that.
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/
非公開