弾薬費の支払という不安から逃れたアキラが少し上機嫌で弾薬をしまっていると、レイナがどこかおずおずとアキラのところに来る。シオリやカツヤ達も一緒だ。
アキラはレイナをちらっと見て、何も言わずに弾薬をしまう作業に戻る。シオリは
レイナはアキラの様子を見て何かを話しかけ、少し黙って発言内容を1度整理してからアキラに尋ねる。
「えっと、さっき本部からあの戦闘の報酬に関する説明を聞いたわ。推定討伐数を3分割でって話だけど、あってる?」
「ああ。聞かれたからそう答えた」
レイナの表情に困惑の色が加わる。それを見たアキラの表情にも困惑の色が加わる。アキラもレイナもお互いの発言の意図を考えていた。しかし思考の方向性が完全に逆であることにどちらも気付いていなかった。
互いの誤解が解ける前に、アキラが先に結論を出した。そして少し不機嫌そうにレイナに話す。
「あの戦闘はサポート依頼の最中の出来事だった。俺は飽くまで対象をサポートしただけであり、あの戦闘の報酬を受け取る権利は全て自分にある、とでも言う気か?
シオリが明確に機嫌を損ねた様子を見せるアキラを見て警戒を高める。カツヤ達も少し警戒する。
レイナはアキラの発言内容をすぐには理解できずにいた。しかし話の意味を理解すると、慌てて首を横に振って答える。
「違う! そうじゃない! そうじゃないわ! 逆よ!」
「逆?」
「大半のヤラタサソリを倒したのはそっちでしょ? 3分割だとこっちの取り分が大幅に増えるのよ? それで良いの?」
「3人で倒したんだから3分割だろ? まあ、弾薬費が自払いなら弾薬費を引いてから3分割にしてほしいところだけど、俺の弾薬費は依頼元が持つことになっているからな。俺からその辺をごちゃごちゃ言う気はない。そっちはその辺で何か
「な、ないけど......」
「なら3分割で良いだろう。討伐依頼とかで報酬を単純に討伐数で割ると、索敵専門のハンターなんか圧倒的に不利だろ。敵を探すだけで全然倒していないからお前の報酬は無しだ、何て言ったら相当
「話はそれだけか?」
アキラにそう問われて、レイナが何かを言う前にシオリが口を挟む。
「以上になります。お手数をお掛けしました。お嬢様。戻りましょう」
アキラから離れた後でレイナがシオリに尋ねる。
「えっと、注意したつもりだったけど、私の態度はまだいろいろ
シオリが少し険しい表情で答える。
「少なくとも、相手の誤解だとしても不必要に機嫌を悪くさせたのは確かかと。
「もう少し話をしてみたかっただけなんだけど......」
「お嬢様が数度怒鳴りつけ、そんなやつ一人で死ねば良いのよ、とまで言った相手です。不必要な会話は、余計な会話は、しばらく冷却期間を置いて謝罪した後にするべきかと。お嬢様の暴言を笑って許すカツヤ様と同じように考えてはいけません」
レイナがどの程度活躍できていたのか。アキラはレイナの活躍をどう判断していたのか。それをアキラに聞いてみたかったのだが、その機会は当分後になりそうだ。レイナはそう考えて、その機会を失わせた自分の言動を改めて後悔した。
レイナ達はアキラから離れていったが、カツヤ達はまだその場に残っていた。そのカツヤが少し言い
「あー、ちょっと聞きたいんだけど、サポート依頼って何の話なんだ?」
アキラが素っ気なく答える。
カツヤはアキラの態度に少しむっとしたが、それを堪えて再度アキラに尋ねる。
「俺達はドランカム所属のハンターで、彼女達とはチームを組んでいるんだ。一応俺がリーダーをしている。チームを離れていた時の行動とかを知っておきたいんだ。ドランカムに報告の義務があったりもする。報酬がどうこうとかいう話があるといろいろあるんだ。教えてくれないか?」
アキラはやはり素っ気なく答えた。取り付く島もない。
カツヤが口調を強めてアキラに問いただす。
「お前には何か話せない事情でも、隠しておかなければならない何かでもあるって言うのか?」
「本人に聞けば済む話だろ? お前は受けた依頼の内容を他者に
カツヤが本人に聞けば済む話だ。レイナ達が話せば話しても良いことなのだろう。黙っているならばそういうことなのだろう。アキラはそう判断して、本人に聞けと答えた。
アキラの態度にカツヤの
ユミナが心配そうにカツヤを見ている。
カツヤには自分が正しいと考えたことに対して若干盲目的な所がある。カツヤは単純に仲間の心配をしているだけだ。そしてチームのリーダーとしての責任があると考えている。カツヤがいない時にレイナ達がモンスターと交戦していた。その時の状況を知りたいだけだ。発端はそれだけなのだろう。
その状況を知っている人間がそのことを話そうとしない。カツヤが
「カツヤ。戻りましょう。レイナに聞いた方が早いわ」
「ユミナ!?」
ユミナがカツヤではなくアキラの肩を持った。そう勘違いしたカツヤが驚きの声を上げた。
カツヤの反応と内心を予測し把握しているユミナが素早く続ける。
「そんなどこの誰かも分からない人の言っていることを聞いても、話の内容を信用なんかできないでしょう? 同じチームの仲間から聞いた方が早いし信用できるわ。ね?」
ユミナはそう言ってカツヤに優しく
「同意する。曖昧で不確かな内容や虚偽の内容ではカツヤが困る」
アイリの発言は素だ。
ユミナとアイリに
を返した。アイリが黙ってカツヤに続く。最後に残ったユミナが、戻る前にアキラを見る。
アキラがカツヤ達の言動を気にしているような素振りはない。アキラはカツヤ達を見てすらいない。それでもユミナはアキラに謝罪の意を込めて頭を下げ、その後にカツヤ達の後を追った。
アルファが不敵に
みながら話す。
『大げさだな』
『そうかしら? カツヤとユミナ。あの2人の関係は良好で付き合いも長そうね。きっと何度も似たような事態の仲裁に割って入って、何事もないように場を治めてきたのでしょうね』
『もしそうなら、大変そうだな』
『彼女はそれを善意で好きでやっているのでしょうけど、彼がそんな彼女に無意識に甘えているから、彼の性格がああなった可能性も多少はあるかもね。まあ、私達には関係ないわ』
ユミナには悪いが、カツヤ達が起こす
既にアキラはヤラタサソリの群れと3人で戦うという成果を残している。その疲労も残っている。アルファも警備を兼ねてアキラに訓練をさせようとはしなかった。
勘の良い職員が気を抜いて周囲の警戒を
職員が少し意外そうにアキラに話す。
「なんだ、ちゃんとやっているのか。疑って悪かったな」
「いえ、確かにさぼっているように見えたかもしれません。疲れているのは事実ですから。少しふらついていたかもしれません」
アキラはしれっとそう答えた。職員には見えないが、アキラの横でアルファが笑っていた。
がった穴を見つけたんだっけな。戦闘もあったと聞いている。悪いが時間までもう少し頑張ってくれ」
職員が戻っていく。アルファが
かにしていたアキラを見抜いた職員が自身の勘を少し疑うことになったが、全体としてみれば許容範囲の被害だろう。ヤラタサソリの群れに奇襲されるよりはましだ。
クズスハラ街遺跡の地下街の調査、制圧を兼ねたヤラタサソリの巣の駆除依頼は24時間続けられている。地下街に生息しているモンスターに昼夜などないからだ。地下街の拠点を確保するためにも警備は常に行われている。
アキラの勤務時間はその内の8時間だ。これは勤務時間の下限だ。より稼ぎたいのなら24時間地下街にいても良い。当然だがアキラは8時間ちょうどで帰るつもりだ。
アルファからそろそろ時間だと教えられたアキラが本部と連絡を取る。
「こちら27番。本部、応答を求む」
「こちら本部。どうした?」
「そろそろ時間のはずだ。交代要員を送ってくれ」
「えー、ちょっと待ってくれ。確認する。27番か。......最低経過時間は満たしているな。了解した。そこの配置人数に問題はないから、そのまま帰って大丈夫だ。お疲れさん」
「端末の返却はどうすれば良いんだ?」
「契約期間中はそのまま持っていて構わないぞ。紛失等が心配なら仮設基地の職員に一度返してくれ。面倒ならそのまま持って帰っていい。明日はその端末を着けて直接ここの1階に来てくれ。なくしても端末代が報酬から引かれるだけだ。所詮量産品だ。予備もたっぷりある。戦闘中に壊すやつも多いからな」
「了解した。本日はこれで帰還する。以上」
「気を付けて帰りな。帰り道で襲われても、その分の報酬は出ないぞ。以上。お疲れ」
本部との通信が切れる。これで本日のアキラの仕事は終わりだ。
『お疲れ様。今日も無事に生き延びたわね。これで後6日間。頑張りましょう』
『まだ今日は終わってない。都市に戻るまでは、いや、仮設基地に着くまでは、最低でも地上に出るまでは安心できない。地下から出ればアルファの探索能力は元に戻るんだよな?』
『そうよ。それではさっさと地上に出ましょう。一段落付いても気を緩めないのは良い傾向よ。成長の
アルファはアキラの成長を素直に称賛した。アキラも褒められて悪い気はしなかった。
さっさと帰ろうとしたアキラの視界にカツヤ達の姿が入る。アキラが地下街に入った時に既にカツヤ達は地下街にいたので、カツヤ達の拘束時間がアキラと同じなら、カツヤ達も既に帰ることができるはずだ。
『あいつら、まだ帰らないのか』
いはアキラと彼らでは契約内容が違うだけかもしれないけれど。まあ何か事情があるにしろ、好き好んで残っているにしろ、私達には関係ないわ』
『そうだな。早く帰ろう。帰って風呂だ』
そう言って機嫌良く帰ろうとするアキラにアルファが
『お風呂は銃の整備を終えてからよ? アキラの疲労状態から考えると、先にお風呂に入ると銃の整備をする前にアキラは眠ってしまう可能性があるわ』
アキラが無駄な抵抗を試みる。
め息を吐いて帰っていくアキラを見て、アルファが楽しげに笑っていた。
レイナは立ち去るアキラの姿を何となく目で追っていた。そのことに特に理由はない。少なくともレイナに自覚できるような理由ではない。
カツヤがそのレイナの様子に気付く。
「レイナ。どうかしたのか?」
レイナがどことなく機嫌の良い様子で答える。
「ん? 何でもないわ」
カツヤはなぜかレイナの返事に
ちに押されて、レイナを少し問い詰めるように再度尋ねる。
「......本当か?」
「......まあ、強いて言えば、私達より後に来た人が私達より先に帰っているなあって思ったわ。私達の交代要員はどうなってるのよ?」
レイナはそう話しながら自分も帰りたいのに帰れない状況であることを思い出し、口調を強めてカツヤに聞き返した。
カツヤが慌てて答える。
「さ、催促はしてるって。もうちょっと待ってくれ」
めた。ドランカムと都市との契約で、ドランカム所属のハンターの交代要員は、同じくドランカム所属のハンターであることになっている。そのためアキラのように人員が足りているから帰るということはできないのだ。
「そう言ってもう3時間
レイナの機嫌が次第に悪くなっていく。レイナは話しながら自分の状況を再確認し、確認した状況に対し更に腹を立てていた。
アキラと一緒に戦った時のレイナは疲れを忘れて全力で戦っていた。その疲労は今もレイナに残っているのだ。交代で休んでいるとはいえ、硬い地下街の床に座っているだけでは、レイナの疲労は大して回復していなかった。その疲労がレイナの
「レイナも落ち着いて。カツヤを責めても仕方ないでしょ? もう少しの辛抱よ」
「カツヤの責任ではない」
み殺した。レイナは何かを耐えるように口を閉じて沈黙し、その後に大きく息を吐く。
「......そうよね。悪かったわ」
「何、その顔。文句でもあるの?」
「一々騒がなくなったのは良いこと」
最後のアイリの発言を聞いてレイナが若干眉をつり上げたが、それだけだった。レイナは自身を落ち着かせるために軽く息を吐く。
でも雇いたくないと最悪に近い評価を出していた。アキラはシオリと一触即発の状態になることを理解した上でその評価を取り消さなかった。
そのアキラが何でもないことのようにレイナ達と報酬を等分割している。自分と同等の報酬を受け取る資格がある。レイナはそれだけの実力があると示した。あれほどの実力を見せつけたアキラにそう評価された気がして、レイナは上機嫌だった。
シオリはそのレイナを複雑な目で見ていた。レイナの成長は確かに喜ばしいことだ。しかしそのレイナの成長を促す切っ掛けとなったのは、今日のアキラとの出会いだ。シオリはできることなら自分がその切っ掛けになりたかった。シオリはレイナを助け支えるために彼女の
レイナがいつ変わったかはカツヤにも分かっている。レイナがアキラを追いかけた後だ。
カツヤがレイナに自分達と分かれていた間のことを聞くと、レイナは自慢げに自分がヤラタサソリの群れといかに戦ったかを話した。自画自賛に足る戦いぶりだったと語り、一緒にいたシオリもそれを認めた。
カツヤ達と再会した後のレイナは基本上機嫌だった。納得の行く戦いができたことで、レイナの気分が高揚しているだけだとも考えられるが、カツヤにはそれだけだとは思えなかった。
カツヤの仲間がカツヤの嫌う人間と同行した結果、その仲間は明確に成長して上機嫌で帰ってきた。カツヤは自覚こそないものの、そのことに不快感を覚えていた。
Akira looked like he was in a good mood as he was stuffing his magazines back into his rucksack. He was happy that the HQ said the requester would still pay for the bullets that he used. Reina awkwardly approached Akira, Shiori and Katsuya's group followed behind her.
Akira only glanced at Reina before returning back to stuffing his magazines. Although Shiori looked calm from the outside, she was actually pretty shaken up inside.
Reina hesitated, she looked like she wanted to say something to Akira. But she went silent to think about it. Once she had thought enough, she said.
"Uhmmm, I heard about your call with HQ regarding the reward distribution and if I'm not mistaken, it seems like you told them to divide the reward equally for 3 people, is that correct?"
"Yeah, they asked me what to do and I did say that."
Reina looked a bit troubled. Looking at her made Akira uneasy too. Both of them were staring at each other, trying to understand why the other person said what they just said. But since their way of thinking was totally different from each other, neither could not catch the meaning behind their short conversation.
But before they could clear up the misunderstanding, Akira quickly drew a conclusion and looked annoyed as he said to Reina.
"Are you thinking of telling me to give you all the reward from that battle since I was in the middle of your support request and what I did was just a form of support for you? Just to let you know, I won't do that, okay?"
Seeing how Akira's mood worsened, Shiori quickly put her guard up, the same happened with Katsuya and his team.
Reina could not immediately understand why Akira said that, but the moment she did, she shook her head in panic.
"Ah, no! That's not what I meant!! It's the opposite!!"
"The opposite?"
"You took out more than half of the scorpions that we defeated, right? So if the reward is divided equally, it would mean that my reward will be way bigger than it should, are you okay with that?"
"We stopped them together, so it's only to be expected to divide the reward equally, right? Well, if I had to pay for my own ammo, I would like to divide it equally after covering for my ammo expense. But since the requester paid that for me, so I'll just divide it equally with 3 people. To be honest, I don't want to argue too much about that, or is that you have any complaints about it?"
"W-well, not really, but..."
"Then you have no problem dividing it equally with 3 people, right? If the reward from the extermination request is only divided according to the number of monsters that you take out, won't the Hunters who focus on scanning enemies only get a small amount of reward? It'll definitely cause a fight, you know?"
"So, is that all?"
Reina was about to answer that question, but Shiori suddenly interjected.
"That would be all, we're sorry to have troubled you. Milady, let's return now."
After they walked away from Akira, Reina asked Shiori.
"Uhmm, I was trying to be careful back there. Did I do something wrong?"
Shiori frowned as she answered.
"Well, it's true that you caused a misunderstanding which worsened Akira-sama's mood, but I believe it was because of Milady's clumsiness. But again, with that being said, you can't blame your clumsiness. It's wrong to assume that the other person will always understand what you're trying to say. There's always a possibility where the other person misunderstands and their misunderstanding might not get cleared up or even become worse."
"But I just wanted to talk with him, you know..."
"Milady, you yelled at him once that he can just die alone somewhere. So, I believe that you should not rush into a conversation so quickly, you should give him some time to cool himself before talking to him again. He's not like Katsuya-sama, he would not just laugh it off if you make a spicy remark about him."
Reina wanted to know how well she performed, she wanted to know Akira's opinion about her performance, that was why she wanted to talk more with Akira. But it seemed that she had to postpone that for now. Reina looked depressed since she understood that it was all because of her own action.
Reina and Shiori had left Akira to his own devices, but Katsuya and the other two girls were still there. Katsuya looked hesitant as he asked Akira.
"Uhmmm, there's something I want to ask you, what do you mean with that support request?"
Akira answered back apathetically.
Katsuya was a bit annoyed by Akira's behaviour, but he held himself back and asked Akira once more.
"We're Hunters from Drankam and she's one of my team members. Well, I'm basically the leader of our team, so I wanted to know what she did when she was away from the team. I need to give a full report to the gang, you see. It has something to do with the reward, so, can you please tell me?"
Akira answered back again, apathetically. It was as if he did not care at all.
Katsuya raised his voice and pressed for an answer again.
"Is it something that you can't tell or is there anything that you're trying to hide?"
"You can get all the details from her, can't you? Or is it like you're someone who doesn't mind leaking the request that you took from others without asking for approval?"
Akira thought that Katsuya could just go ahead and ask Reina instead. If Reina and Shiori told Katsuya everything, then it must be something okay to tell others, but if they refused to tell Katsuya, then it was indeed something that he should not share with others. Akira concluded it as such and that was why he told Katsuya to just ask Reina and Shiori instead of him.
Akira's behaviour was rubbing Katsuya the wrong way. He just went silent and continued packing his magazines as Katsuya was glaring at him.
Yumina looked worriedly at Katsuya.
Katsuya had a bad habit of taking actions thinking that he was correct. He was simply worried for his teammates and he was only thinking of doing his duty as the team leader. One thing for sure was that Reina and Shiori fought with some monsters when he was not around, he just wanted to know what happened. That was all.
But the person who knew what happened would not tell him anything, rising Katsuya's anger. But, even so, Yumina thought that it was not enough of a reason to cause a fight.
"Katsuya, let's just go back. It's faster if we ask Reina."
"Yumina!?"
Katsuya was shocked, believing that Yumina took Akira's side rather than his own.
Looking at how Katsuya reacted, Yumina was able to immediately predict what he was thinking, so she quickly tried to explain it to him.
"It's not like you can fully trust an explanation from a random stranger, right? So I think it's much faster and more reliable if we ask Reina, who's in our team."
Yumina smiled gently at Katsuya when she said that.
"I agree. It'll only cause you more trouble if he gave vague or even fake answers."
Airi stated that straightforwardly.
Katsuya finally calmed down after hearing Airi and Yumina.
After saying that, Katsuya turned and left that place. Airi did not say anything and followed behind him. Yumina, who was the only person remaining, stood there looking at Akira.
Akira did not seem like he was bothered by how they treated him, as a matter of fact, he did not even look at them. But even so, Yumina bowed politely to him as if she was saying sorry before following Katsuya.
If Alpha stopped her support, Akira would just turn into a deadweight. So he was planning to keep on relying on her so as not to slow the other Hunters down.
After the small conversation, Akira kept watch of his surroundings as time passed by without anything interesting happening.
"You're exaggerating."
"Is that so? Katsuya and Yumina. Those two seem to be in good terms and have been together for a long time. I'm sure this is not the first time she interjected to defuse the situation."
"If that's true, I guess she's having it hard, huh."
"I bet she's doing that happily on her own volition, but Katsuya might have become like that because he's been unconsciously relying too much on her. Well, it has nothing to do with us though."
Although he felt sorry for Yumina, it was not like he wanted to get involved in troubles that Katsuya and his team caused. He wished good luck for Yumina in case she was really doing that on her own volition.
Akira, Shiori and Reina were able to deal with a swarm of scorpions with only the three of them. It gave them an amazing accomplishment but left them dead tired. Because of that, Alpha decided not to tell Akira to watch his surroundings as a part of his training.
One of the staff who had a good intuition noticed that Akira was relaxing and not watching his surroundings properly, so he yelled at Akira and asked him a question that he would not be able to answer if he did not properly keep watch of his surroundings.
That staff looked surprised and said to Akira.
"Ohh, so you're properly keeping watch, huh? Sorry I doubted you."
"It's okay. It's true that I might look like just daydreaming and it's also true that I'm very tired, so I might be in a bit of a daze right now."
Akira answered back straightforwardly. Although that staff could not see her, Alpha was floating beside him while smiling.
"Ah, I see, you're the one who found that hole connected to the uncharted area, huh. I also heard that you went through a fierce battle too. I'm sorry but it seems that you need to work for a little longer."
The staff then went back to continue his work. Alpha turned and smiled at Akira.
Although in the end, it caused a staff to doubt his own intuition when he noticed Akira relaxing, it was an acceptable sacrifice looking at the bigger picture. It was way better than getting ambushed by a swarm of Yarata Scorpions.
The Kuzusuhara underground ruin exploration and Yarata Scorpion nests extermination went on for 24 hours. After all, the monsters in the underground city kept active regardless of whether it was night or day. Thus the Hunters had to stand watch 24 hours to secure the area.
Akira's shift lasted for 8 hours. It was the shortest working shift available. The Hunters who wanted to earn more money could stay in the underground city for 24 hours. But of course, Akira was planning to immediately return back home after 8 hours.
Alpha told Akira that his shift was almost done, so he pulled out his terminal and contacted the HQ.
"This is number 27. HQ, are you there?"
"This is HQ. What's wrong?"
"My shift is almost over, so please send another Hunter to take my place."
"Oh? Wait for a sec, let me check again, number 27, huh... You do fulfil the minimum working hours quota. And there's no problem with the number of Hunters present there, so you can just go ahead and return back home. Thank you for your hard work."
"What should I do with my rental terminal?"
"You can carry it around as long as you're taking this request. If you're afraid of losing it or breaking it, you can come to the temporary HQ and hand it over to our staff. If it's too much work to do, you can just carry it with you back home. For tomorrow, you just need to go to the first floor of the HQ with that rental terminal. Even if you lose it, you'll just get your reward subtracted. In the end, it's just a cheap mass-produced terminal and we have a lot of reserves left. After all, they often break in battles."
"Roger that. I'll return back home for today."
"Be careful on your way back, remember that you won't get any reward from the monsters that you kill if you get attacked on your way back home. That's all. Once again, thank you for your hard work."
The HQ then ended the call. Akira's work for that day was completed.
"Good work for today. You survived another day, we just need to do it 6 more times. Let's give our best."
"We're not done yet for today. It's not safe yet until I'm back in the city, or at least, I should not put my guard down before I'm back to the surface. Your detection ability will turn back to normal once we're out from the underground, right?"
"That's right, let's head to the surface as soon as possible. It's a good thing that you didn't immediately drop your guard just because the situation has calmed down. It's proof that you've grown."
Alpha was honestly praising Akira's growth and he felt that it did not feel too bad to be praised.
As Akira was thinking of going back, he caught a glimpse of Katsuya's team. Katsuya's team was already underground when Akira came, so if they took the same shift as Akira, they would have headed to the surface before him.
"Those guys are still staying down here, huh?"
"They're really hard-working Hunters. Or maybe, their contract is different compared to your contract. Well, whatever it is, whether they stay here or not, it's none of our business."
"You're right, let's return back as fast as we can, I can't wait to take a bath."
As Akira was about to excitedly depart, Alpha suddenly reminded him.
"Be sure to finish the rifles' maintenance before taking a bath, okay? Judging from how tired you are, I'm sure you'll fall asleep before cleaning your rifles if you take bath first."
Akira tried to negotiate although he knew it was futile.
Akira hung his head low after Alpha rejected him. He sighed and then dragged his feet back home, Alpha just smiled as she looked at him like that.
Reina's eyes followed Akira's back as he left that place. It was not like she had any particular reason why she did that, or at least, she herself was not aware of any.
Though, Katsuya noticed Reina's action.
"Reina, what's wrong?"
Reina looked like she was somehow in a good mood when she answered back.
? Ah, it's nothing."
Katsuya felt a bit annoyed by Reina's answer, he thought that she was trying to hide something from him.
He cast aside his displeasure and asked Reina for the second time.
"...Really?"
"...Well, I just thought that he went back first although he came here after us. By the way, what's going on with the people who have to take our place?"
When Reina said that, it reminded her that she was trapped there even though she also wanted to go back home. That was why she asked that question to Katsuya.
Katsuya answered back in panic.
"I-I've asked them to send someone. So just please wait for a bit more."
Katsuya immediately thought that it was a big mistake when he said that to Reina. According to the contract between the city and Drankam, the Hunter replacements for the Drankam Hunters would be from Drankam. Because of that, they could not go back home yet like Akira who was able to go back because there were enough Hunters to take his place.
"But still, it's already been 3 hours, you know. Don't you think you should at least check with them?"
Reina's mood was getting worse. She was checking the current situation while talking with Katsuya, and the result from that made her mood worse.
Reina was only temporarily forgetting her exhaustion from when she fought at full power. Now, all the acc.u.mulated tiredness weighed down at her. Although they were taking turns in resting, in the end, they could only sit on the hard floor, so it was not like they could recover much. Her tiredness only caused Reina to get even more annoyed.
"Reina, calm down. It's not like he can do anything about it even if you're blaming him, right? So just be patient."
"It's not Katsuya's fault."
But unexpectedly, she stopped and immediately tried to calm herself down. Reina was gritting her teeth as if she was holding back something, she then let out a big sigh.
"...I guess you're right, I'm sorry."
"What's with that face? Do you have any problems with what I said?"
"It's good that you won't cause a ruckus at every single thing."
The last remark that was from Airi caused Reina's face to twitch, but that was all. Reina sighed while trying to calm herself down. It did not take long before she returned back to her usual mood.
Akira judged that he would not employ Reina even if it was for free which was the second-worst possible evaluation, he did not take back that evaluation even after he was about to get into a fight with Shiori.
Then Akira asked the HQ to divide the reward from that battle equally among the three of them. It showed that he judged she deserved to get the same amount of reward as him. Reina thought that he made that evaluation after seeing her skill, that was why she was in such a good mood.
Shiori looked at Reina with a conflicted gaze. It was obvious that Reina's skill had grown, but the trigger of that sudden growth was because she met with Akira. Shiori actually hoped that trigger was her. After all, she stayed beside Reina in order to help and support her.
Katsuya knew well when Reina changed, it was after she followed Akira.
When Katsuya asked her what happened after she left the group, Reina proudly told him that she fought against a swarm of Yarata Scorpions. She told him how she fought valiantly and Shiori who was with her confirmed that it was true.
Reina was mostly in a good mood after she met up with Katsuya's team. Many would think she was in a good mood because she went through a good battle, but Katsuya did not believe that was the only reason.
Although he did not realize it himself, he actually found it rather displeasing that one of his friends went together with someone who he hated only to come back later with better skill and better mood than before.
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