アキラがCWH対物突撃銃の専用弾を使用していることにレイナが気付く。そして床に散らばっている予備の弾倉も全て同じ専用弾であることに気付いた。
専用弾の価格と威力を知っているレイナが驚きながらアキラに尋ねる。
「どうしてCWH対物突撃銃の専用弾なんか持ち込んでいるのよ!? ヤラタサソリを相手に使う弾じゃないわよね!? アキラだけ戦車でも狩りに来たの!?」
「俺の実力不足を補うためにできるだけ良い弾を用意しただけだ! 戦車なんかと戦う訳がないだろう!」
「こんなに大量の専用弾をどうやって用意したのよ! この量の専用弾だと相当な額になるはずよ! そんなに稼いでいるの!?」
「弾薬費は依頼元持ちだ! CWH対物突撃銃の専用弾を山ほど使うって了承も取った! 嫌なら依頼を受けないってごねたんだ! そういう条件を出せば向こうから断ってくるって思ってな! そんな条件が通ったから俺はここにいるんだよ! 今思えば、依頼元の都市の連中、こういう状況が十分あり得るって知ってやがったな!」
全ては後の祭りだ。アキラはこの経験を今後に生かそうと強く誓った。
レイナがシオリを見る。シオリがこの状況をどこまで想定していたか気になったからだ。
が理由だからだ。カツヤ達と一緒に残っていれば現在の事態は生まれていないのだ。
シオリが急に機敏な動きで通路の中央に飛び出して銃撃を開始した。レイナが思わずその方向を見ると、ヤラタサソリが無数の銃弾を浴びて死んでいた。
「こいつらどこから来たの!? 穴はここだけじゃないの!?」
「お嬢様! 来ます!」
数は少ないものの、新手のヤラタサソリ達が通路の左右からアキラ達に迫ってきている。レイナとシオリが左右それぞれのヤラタサソリ達の迎撃を開始する。
アキラが叫ぶ。
「近くに別の穴があるなら数が少なすぎる! 多分15番防衛地点以外の場所に向かったヤラタサソリ達が戻ってきてるんだ! こっちは手一杯だからそっちで何とかしてくれ!」
「分かったわ!」
レイナの返事に、アキラが焦りを含んだ声で続ける。
アキラが必死になって叫んだ。アキラには穴の先から来るヤラタサソリの群れを相手にしながら、背後から襲ってくるヤラタサソリも相手にするのは荷が重い。今のアキラにはレイナ達の援護が必要だ。
レイナは一瞬だけ驚きの表情を浮かべたが、すぐに力強く笑って答える。
「......任せなさい!」
レイナの様子を確かめながら戦っていたシオリが、そのレイナの動きを見て驚いている。レイナは俊敏に、的確に、優雅さすら感じさせて戦っていた。
(......ここまでとは。お嬢様の才能を見誤っておりましたか。しかしなぜ急に......?)
しく思いながらも、急に腕を上げたレイナの姿に疑問を覚えた。しかし好ましい変化ではあるので深く考えはしなかった。第一今はそれどころではないのだ。
レイナとシオリはアキラの背後でこの場にいるのに
アキラは辛うじてヤラタサソリの侵攻を防いでいた。アルファのサポートと都市の財力。アキラのものではない力でアキラは今日も生き延びていた。それでもアキラはぎりぎりだった。
『アルファ! 幾ら何でも多すぎないか!?』
『押さえ続けてはいるのだから焦らずに戦いなさい。泣き言を言っても敵が減ったりはしないわよ』
『この調子だと、予備の弾薬なんかすぐに使い切るぞ!?』
『その時は死ぬ気で走りましょう。アキラの両脚を犠牲にすれば、多分逃げ切れるわ』
アルファがアキラの強化服を操作することで、体の負荷を無視してアキラを全力で走らせ続ければ、アキラがヤラタサソリの群れから逃げ切るのは恐らく可能だ。もっともその場合にアキラに掛かる負荷は相当なものになる。アキラもそれは十分理解しているのでできるだけその手段は使いたくなかった。
『そうだ! 追加要員だ! 来るんだよな!? もうその辺まで来ていたりしていないのか!?』
『私の索敵範囲にそれらしい反応はないわね』
にヤラタサソリの増援が止まった。アキラ達は最後の力を振り絞って残りのヤラタサソリを倒しきった。
アルファが笑ってアキラの労を
まった疲労を吐き出すように深く息を吐いた。
『結局戦闘中に追加要員は来なかったわね。何かあったのかしら?』
アキラが端末を操作して本部と連絡を取る。
「こちら27番! 本部! 応答を求む!」
「こちら本部。荒れてるな。何があった?」
「追加要員はどうなってるんだ!? 全然来ないぞ!」
「既にそちらに向かうように連絡済みだ。まだ到着していないのか?」
「誰も来てない! その所為で大量のヤラタサソリを3人だけで相手をする羽目になった! 急ぐように催促してくれ!」
「了解した。その前に交戦したなら交戦記録を取得するから少し待て」
アキラに支給された端末の画面が変化する。端末の画面には何らかの情報を送信中であることを示す説明が表示されている。それが終わっても本部からの返事はなかなか返ってこない。アキラが再び本部に何か言おうとした時、本部職員の慌てた声が聞こえてきた。
「なんだこりゃ!? も、もうちょっと待ってろ!」
その後すぐにレイナとシオリの端末に本部から通信が入る。
「こちら17番よ。増援はどうなってるのよ」
「こちら本部。そちらの状況を説明してくれ」
シオリが口を挟む。
「こちら18番です。17番の説明に補足いたします。大量のヤラタサソリの群れに襲撃されました。襲撃元の穴の先に複数、あるいは大規模な巣が存在していると考えられます。調査チーム及び討伐チームを至急派遣してください」
「......あのログは27番の端末の故障じゃないのか!? 交戦記録を取得するから少し待ってくれ。追加要員の連絡は済んでいる。まずは彼らとの合流を待ってくれ」
「お待ちください。故障とは?」
「27番の交戦記録だ。ヤラタサソリの討伐数が多すぎるんだ。他の2人の交戦記録と合わせて検証する必要がある」
「恐らくそれは故障ではないかと。通路を埋め尽くしているヤラタサソリの姿は私達も目視しております」
「......マジかよ。安全が確保できているなら、ちょっと穴の奥まで行って映像を送ってくれ。ついでに照明の設置等も済ませておいてくれると助かる」
「......気は進みませんが、承知しました」
本部はそれだけ伝えて通信を切った。
アキラは床に散らばっている予備の弾薬をリュックサックに戻していた。
CWH対物突撃銃の専用弾は高額だ。その専用弾が装填されている弾倉は更に高額だ。その弾倉の山は更に更に高額だ。それが今は中身を撃ち尽くした空の弾倉の山に変わっている。
アキラは先ほどの戦闘で費やした弾薬費を想像して、自分で支払ったわけでもないのに少し憂鬱になりながら、まだ中身が詰まっている弾倉をリュックサックに戻していた。
アキラが少し不安そうにアルファに尋ねる。
『......これさ、後でやっぱり弾薬費を払えって言われないよな? 大丈夫だよな?』
アルファが苦笑しながら答える。
『大丈夫よ。多分』
『た、多分って何だよ!?』
『私はクガマヤマ都市の長期戦略部の職員ではないからね。だから多分としか言えないわね。大丈夫よ。多分、きっと、恐らく、
アキラによって大量のヤラタサソリが過剰な威力の弾丸で粉砕された。それらの死体はそれらを踏みつぶして侵攻する無数のヤラタサソリに踏みつぶされて、更に追加で倒されたヤラタサソリの体液などと混ざり合い、一帯に肉片の沼を作り出していた。
その沼に浮かぶヤラタサソリの手足などが、沼の生成物が何であったのかを示している。この光景からアキラのヤラタサソリの撃破数を数えるのは不可能だ。アキラの交戦時間と発砲数、沼の深さと範囲面積から概算数を算出するのが限界だろう。
シオリもレイナも交戦中にアキラの戦況を確認する余裕はなく、ここまで
「お嬢様は通路でお待ちください。お嬢様が立ち入るような場所では......」
「だ、大丈夫よ。大したことはないわ」
しいかと。本部から指示を受けたのは私です。お嬢様は通路でお待ちください」
「大丈夫よ。私も手伝うわ。この依頼を引き受けている以上、こういう光景をこれからも見るかもしれないわ。今のうちに慣れておかないと」
レイナが引きつった笑顔で一歩踏み出す。ヤラタサソリの体液を吸って柔らかくなった地面に、土と肉片が混ざり合った沼に、レイナの足がずぶっと沈み込む。レイナが顔を更に
レイナとシオリが照明を設置しながら進んでいく。壁にもヤラタサソリの肉片は飛び散っている。歩くたびに足下から感触が伝わってくる。シオリとレイナは不快感に耐えながら照明の設置作業を続けた。
片付けを終えたアキラが通路の様子を確認する。レイナとシオリに防衛を任せていた場所だ。
は俺には無理か?』
『私がしっかりサポートすれば十分可能よ? 両手に強装弾を装填したAAH突撃銃を装備して、縦横無尽に駆け巡れば大丈夫よ』
『つまり無理ってことだな。それはアルファが俺の両腕を無理矢理動かして何とかするってことだ。それを実施したら俺の腕が
『......やっぱり、俺が今回の依頼を引き受けるのは早かった、早まったってことだな』
アキラはレイナかシオリのどちらか一方の代わりをする意味でアルファに尋ねた。アルファはアキラ一人で何とかする前提で説明した。そのためアキラの認識は現状とかなりの差異が生じていた。
アキラはカツヤ達の顔ぶれを確認すると、シオリに確認を取る。
「少々変形的だが、依頼は完了したと判断してもかまわないか?」
アキラがシオリから受けた依頼の期間は、レイナ達が防衛地点に帰還するまでだ。厳密には達成していないが、状況的には同じと言って良い。
シオリは軽く会釈をして依頼完了をアキラに告げた。アキラはシオリに軽く会釈すると、カツヤ達が合流したレイナ達から離れていく。
状況を理解していないカツヤ達が去っていくアキラを見て
(一時はどうなることかと思いましたが、これで大丈夫でしょう。後はカツヤ様に不用意に別行動を取らないよう厳命していただきましょう。......そもそもカツヤ様がチームリーダーとしてお嬢様の行動をしっかり止めてさえいれば......、いえ、これはただの愚痴ですね。まずは私がお嬢様を強固に止めるべきでした。そう言うことです。他者の所為にするなど、猛省が足りていませんね)
シオリは再度強く自身に猛省を促していた。
アキラ達が警備を続けていると更なる追加要員が到着した。探索チームと討伐チームも一緒に到着する。この場は正式な新たな防衛地点となり、この場の指揮は両チームの指揮者と本部の職員が受け持つことになった。
探索チームと討伐チームが穴の向こう側を調査制圧するためにいろいろと準備をしている。防衛地点は少し騒がしくなっていた。
アキラは近くに散らばっているヤラタサソリの掃除を指示されていた。ヤラタサソリの死体を通路に放置しているといろいろと邪魔だ。更に新たなヤラタサソリが死体を装ってこっそり紛れる危険もある。
そうは言ってもヤラタサソリの死体を地上まで運び出すわけにもいかない。倒したヤラタサソリは地下街の邪魔にならない安全な場所に
アキラがヤラタサソリを一匹ずつ運んでいる。ヤラタサソリの死体はそれなりに重量がありそうな見た目をしているが、アキラにはその見た目ほど重くは感じられなかった。
『思ったより軽い気がするけど、単純に強化服の出力を上げているからか?』
ヤラタサソリを運びやすいようにアルファが強化服の出力を上げているのだろう。アキラはそう思っていたのだが、アルファが首を横に振って否定する。
『いいえ。実際に軽いのよ。
『その辺りは諸説あって一概にそうだと言える根拠はないのよ。そういうものだと思ってちょうだい。説の例を挙げると、旧世界時代に散布されたナノマシンが分解速度を急速に速めているからとも言われているわ。色無しの霧の濃度が関係しているとも言われているわね。多くのハンターが荒野のモンスターを殺し続けているけれど、荒野にはモンスターの死体とかあんまり転がっていないでしょう? あれだけ殺しているんだから、中途半端に腐りかけている生物系モンスターとかがあちこちに転がっていても不思議はないのに』
『そう言われればそうだな。白骨死体とかは見るけど、腐敗している死体とかは見ないな。そうか。凄い速さで分解していたのか。......ん? でもこの前に見た暴食ワニの死体はどうなんだ? そんなにすぐに分解するならあれが形を残していたのも変なんじゃ......』
『確かにそうだな。......まあ、清潔なのは良いことだ。一々気にしても仕方ないか』
東部には不思議なことが山ほどある。東部に住む人間の大半はそれらのことを旧世界の何かが原因だと考えている。そして事実その大半は旧世界の何かが原因なのだ。アキラも含め、東部の多くの人々が良くも悪くもそれに慣れてしまっていた。
悪用すれば世界を滅ぼしかねない英知が、不可逆の
作業を終えたアキラが防衛地点の床に予備の弾薬を並べて残量を確認している。
残り少ない残弾を見るアキラの表情は少し険しい。この残量ではもう一度あの量のヤラタサソリの群れと戦うことはできない。今度は逃走一択。アルファに強化服を操作してもらって、アキラの両脚がもげる覚悟で逃げることになるだろう。
しかしアキラの顔を険しくさせている理由の大半はそのことではない。
アキラの端末に本部から連絡が入る。アキラが恐る恐る応対する。
「......こちら27番だ」
「こちら本部。交戦記録の査定がある程度終了した。そのことで幾つか質問がある」
「弾薬費は払わない。弾薬費は払わないからな」
アキラはまずそう言い切った。アキラの口調には少し追い詰められているような必死さが込められていた。
アキラはヤラタサソリとの戦闘でCWH対物突撃銃の専用弾を
弾薬を浪費した分だけ弾薬費を負担しろ。本部からそう言われても不思議はないのだ。しかしアキラにその支払能力はないのだ。
本部の職員がアキラの心配を見抜いて苦笑気味に返事をする。
「その点は問題ない。弾薬費は依頼元が持つ。そのことに変更はない。弾薬費が戦果に見合わないと判断された場合は、契約を打ち切られた上に報酬額が下がるだけだ」
の息を吐く。アキラが落ち着いて尋ねる。
「討伐地点の近くに中継器もなく端末から離れていることもあって、正確な討伐数が把握できない。よって支払われる報酬は推測した討伐数を基にしたものになる。算出方法等などに希望はあるか?」
「ヤラタサソリの死体がぐちゃぐちゃで数を確認できないからゼロだ。そんなふざけた方法じゃないなら好きに数えて3で割ってくれ」
「......それで良いのか?」
本部の職員は戸惑いによる僅かな沈黙を置いた後で答える。
「......いや、問題ない。討伐数を計算して各自の報酬が決まった途端、自分の取り分はもっと多いはずだとごねるやつが多いからな。確認を取っただけだ。こちらで数え、3で割る。念押しするが、この通話で確認を取った。後でごねるなよ。以上だ」
本部の職員はそれだけ言って通信を切った。
Reina noticed that Akira was using CWH anti-material rifle's specially designated ammo. All the magazines scattered on the ground were of the same type too.
Reina was surprised since she knew how powerful and just how expensive those bullets were.
"Why are you even using CWH anti-material rifle's special ammo?! It's overkill to use that ammo against a Yarata scorpion, isn't it? Are you here planning to hunt a tank or something?!"
"I'm just using them to complement my lack of skill!! Like hell, I would fight a tank!!"
"How in the world did you get this many ammo?!! You would have had to pay a huge amount of money for all of these bullets!! Or like, have you been earning that much money?!!"
"The requester paid for them and they approved it when I told them I'll be using loads of specially designated ammo for CWH rifle!! If you have any complaints, you can go ahead and say that to the requester!! I thought that they would refuse when I made that demand, you know!! It's exactly because they accepted my demands that I'm here right now!! Now that I think about it, those people in the HQ must have predicted that something like this would happen huh, dammit!!"
Akira was lamenting his situation, he vowed to himself that he would make good use of this experience.
Reina turned to Shiori, she was wondering if Shiori also predicted this situation. By the way, Reina did not expect it at all.
Reina's eyes started getting watery when Shiori pointed out that hurtful fact. After all, Reina had nothing else to blame other than her own selfishness now that she was in this place. If only she had stayed together with Katsuya's group, she would not be in this situation now.
Shiori suddenly turned her gun towards the centre of the hallway in a swift motion and started shooting. Reina inadvertently turned toward that direction and saw countless scorpions creeping out from the hallway showered under the flying bullets.
"Where are those scorpions coming from?!! Are there more holes other than this one?!!"
"Milady!! More are coming!!"
Although their number was not too many, the new scorpions closing in from the left and the right sides surrounded Akira and the girls. Reina and Shiori started shooting at those scorpions coming from the direction that they were facing.
Akira shouted.
"Their number is too small for them to come out from another hole!! They might be the scorpions that are coming back after exploring the area other than the defensive point 15!! Both of my both hands tied right now, so you girls need to deal with them yourself, okay?"
"Okay!!"
After Reina answered back, Akira sounded really desperate when he continued.
Akira was obviously so desperate as he yelled that. At the moment, he had to deal with the swarm gushing out from the hole in front of him, so it was impossible for him to deal with the scorpions coming from his flank. He really needed Reina and Shiori's help in this situation.
Reina looked amazed, but she quickly pulled herself back together and smiled confidently.
"...Just leave them to us!!"
Shiori, who from time to time checked how Reina was doing in the midst of the battle, was taken aback when she noticed Reina fighting so skilfully and accurately that she even looked elegant.
[...To think that Milady was this skilled. I guess I really misjudged Milady's skill, but still, why so suddenly...]
Although she was happy with the unexpected sudden growth, Shiori also found it strange that Reina suddenly got this good. Although it was totally unexpected, it was a welcomed surprise, thus Shiori did not try to think too deep about it. After all, she was not in a situation where she had the leeway to do that.
Reina and Shiori were showing that they had the skills to cover Akira's back as he continued shooting desperately at the Yarata Scorpion swarm.
Akira was having a hard time holding the swarm from coming closer. Both Alpha's support and the economic power of the city that allowed him to survive the swarm were not of his own. And even with both of those things, he was only barely able to hold the swarm off.
"Alpha!! No matter how you slice it, aren't there just too many of them?!!"
"You're properly holding them back, so let's keep calm and hold the ground. Even if you complain, it won't reduce their number after all."
"At this rate, I'll run out of ammo in no time, you know?!"
"Let's run as fast as possible if that happens, I believe you'll be able to run away from the swarm if you're willing to sacrifice both of your legs."
If Alpha took control of his augmented suit and made him run as fast as possible while ignoring the stress that it put on his legs, he might be able to run away from all the scorpions. But of course, it will put his body under immense stress. Akira also understood that very well, that was why he wanted to avoid that situation as much as possible.
"That's right!! The reinforcements!! They're coming, right?!! Are they already somewhere close?!!"
"I still can't find their signals within my scanning range."
Their hard work was not for naught, the swarm finally stopped coming. They squeezed their leftover energy to clean up the rest of the scorpions.
Alpha smiled and cheered the tired Akira for his hard work.
Akira dropped on the floor right where he was standing, he let out a long sigh as if he was expelling all the tiredness that had built up inside him.
"But Akira, in the end, the reinforcements didn't come at all. I wonder if something happened to them."
Akira quickly reached for his terminal and contacted the HQ.
"This is number 27! HQ!! You there?!"
"This is HQ. What's the matter?"
"Where are my reinforcements!? They're not coming at all, you know?"
"We've told them to go to your location. They're not there yet?"
"I don't see anyone else here!! Thanks to that, we had to deal with a swarm of scorpions just with the 3 of us, you know!! Tell them to hurry up!"
"Roger that. Before that, I'll need to access the record from that battle, so wait for a bit."
The monitor of Akira's rental terminal changed. It seemed that it was sending some kind of information. But once it was done, the HQ did not immediately answer back. He was about to say something to the HQ, but suddenly the HQ staff gasped.
"What the heck is this!? W-wait for a sec!"
Right after that, Reina and Shiori's terminal rang, those were calls from the HQ.
"This is number 17, what's going on with the reinforcement?"
"This is HQ. Can you tell us what's happening there?"
Shiori then interjected.
"This is number 18. Let me give a more detailed explanation. We just encountered a huge swarm of Yarata scorpions. Most of the scorpions came from the hole, it can be assumed that there's a big scale nest down that hole. With that in mind, please dispatch a search team and an extermination team this way."
"...I see, we're just wondering if number 27's terminal is malfunctioning. Wait for a bit while we access the record of that fight. We've contacted the reinforcement, so just wait there until they arrive."
"Please wait, what do you mean by malfunctioning?"
"It's the record from number 27's terminal. The number of scorpions that he took out doesn't make sense. So we need to check the record from both of your terminals to confirm it."
"I believe that his terminal is not malfunctioning. We saw it by ourselves how he took out the scorpions that were gushing out from that hole all by himself."
"...Seriously? Once you confirm the safety of that area, can you snap a picture of the hole and send it over? And also, it would be great if you could put some illuminations too."
"...I'm not happy to do it, but I guess I have to, huh."
The HQ ended the call after that.
Akira was picking up the magazines that were scattered on the ground and putting them back in his rucksack.
CWH anti-material rifle's special ammo was expensive already, and it was even more expensive to buy them in the form of a magazine rather than as individual bullets. Akira had used dozens of those magazines and the empty magazines were scattered on the ground.
While Akira was picking up the magazines that were still loaded with bullets back into his rucksack, he imagined the money that he would have spent on those ammo if he had to pay them by himself. It did not take much time for him to figure out that there was no way he would be able to pay for it as he looked all gloomy.
Akira then turned to Alpha, he sounded worried as he asked.
"With all of these ammo that I used, it's not like they would tell me to pay them myself, right? It will be okay, right?"
Alpha smiled bitterly as she said.
"Don't worry, it will be okay... Maybe."
"M-maybe?!"
"I'm not a staff member of Kugamayama city's Long-term Strategic Division after all. So I can't say for sure. But don't worry, it will be okay, I think, maybe, probably, I hope so..."
Due to the powerful bullet that Akira used, he blew the scorpions into tiny bits. Those tiny bits mixed together with the dead corpse of the scorpions as both of those things were trampled by the countless scorpions that were gushing out from the hole. They were mixed together and kneaded into a single humongous pile of meat.
Limbs and other parts of Yarata Scorpion were sticking out and formed a huge pile of flesh, it made anyone who looked at that pile of flesh wondered how the heck that terrifying thing ended up there. Looking at that pile of flesh, there was no way they could count the number of Yarata Scorpions that Akira had taken out. They could only approximate the number by calculating the time Akira spent fighting those scorpions, the number of bullets that he shot, and the width and height of that pile of meat.
Both Shiori and Reina did not have the leeway of checking Akira in the middle of that battle, but still, they did not expect it to be this intense. Shiori regretted that she accepted that order from HQ.
"Milady, please wait in the hallway. This is not a place for Milady to step into..."
"I-I'm okay. I can handle this."
"I believe there's no need for Milady to push yourself too hard. I was the one who accepted that job from the HQ, So please wait in the hallway."
"It's okay. I'll help too. Since I also took this request, I might get to see this kind of thing more often from now on. So I might as well get myself used to it while I have the chance."
Reina still looked scared as she squeezed out a smile and stepped forward to look into that hole. All the pile of meat that covered the ground from the dead Yarata Scorpions felt so squishy as it absorbed the impact from Reina's step. Reina could not help but to twitch when she felt that, but she did not step back and kept pushing forward.
Reina and Shiori proceeded deeper into the hole while installing the illuminations. There were Yarata Scorpions' meats scattered on the walls of the tunnel too. Every time they took a step, they could feel the soft squishy meat on the floor. They tried their best to endure the situation while continuing to install the illuminations.
After Akira finished picking up all his magazines, he peeked into the hallway, it was the place that he trusted Reina and Shiori to defend. It was filled with Yarata scorpion corpses, it showed the fierce fight that Reina and Shiori had while defending the place. Although there were corpses scattered not too far from him, the area around him had no corpses at all as if it was deliberately cleaned beforehand.
"Is it possible for me to do something similar?"
"It's perfectly possible as long as you have my support. You can even just run around freely without a care while carrying piercing ammo loaded AAH rifles on both of your hands with my support."
"So in short, I can't do that myself, huh. After all, if I do that, it just means that you'll be controlling both of my arms, and I'm sure it will leave both of my arms broken too, won't it?"
"...As I thought, it's too soon for me to take this request. This is a big mistake."
Akira was actually asking if he could perform just like Shiori or Reina. Basically, he was trying to compare himself with one of them. But Alpha answered back assuming if he had to face all of those scorpions that the girls faced all alone. Because of that, he was actually misunderstanding Alpha's answer.
When Akira saw Katsuya, he turned to Shiori and said.
"Although this is a little bit different to what we agreed to, would it be okay if I assume that I already finished your request here?"
The request that Akira accepted from Shiori was to provide support to Reina until they returned back to the defensive point. Although it was not like they returned back to the defensive point, their current situation was more or less the same as if they returned back.
Shiori lightly bowed to Akira and told him that he had officially finished the request from her. Akira lightly bowed back to Shiori and left the group as the girls went to join Katsuya again.
Katsuya and the other Hunters who did not understand what was going on looked puzzled. Watching Akira step away, Reina looked a bit disappointed. Shiori noticed that, but she felt like it would only cause unnecessary trouble if she asked her the reason, thus she decided to just ignore it.
[That was really dangerous but I guess it's alright now. After this, I just need to warn Milady not to move separately from Katsuya's group again... Moreover, since Katsuya-sama is the group leader, he should have properly stopped Milady... Ah, no, that would be me just venting at someone else, it was me who should have properly stopped Milady. Yes, that's it, I should properly evaluate my own action rather than blaming it on someone else.]
And so Shiori reflected on her actions once more.
Akira and the other Hunters were keeping watch on that place for not too long before more reinforcements came. It was the exploration team and the extermination team. The place then turned into a proper defensive point and the chain of command shifted to the leaders from both teams and the HQ.
The area suddenly became busy with Hunters as the exploration and the extermination team were preparing themselves to explore the hole.
Akira was told to clean the dead scorpions around the area, after all, those corpses were obstructing the Hunters there. Not to mention that some new scorpions might conceal themselves among the corpses.
But it was not like they could carry those scorpions to the surface, so these corpses were only gathered in a safe place in the underground city.
Akira was carrying the scorpions one by one, although they looked heavy, the scorpions were pretty light for their size.
"These scorpions are lighter than I thought, is it because of my augmented suit?"
Akira thought that Alpha increased the power output of his augmented suit while he was carrying the scorpions. But Alpha shook her head and denied his guess.
"Nope, they're actually pretty light. They'll grow lighter if you leave them for a while."
"There are various theories, but it's not like there is any definite proof which confirms any one of them as correct. So just take it as it is and don't think too much about it. One of the theories says that the nanomachines that were spread during the old world era accelerated their decomposition process. Some of the theories even say that it has something to do with the colourless mist. Just think about it, although the Hunters regularly kill a lot of monsters, you don't find that many corpses in the ruins, right? But with the number of the monsters that the Hunters kill every day, it should be normal to find some rotten corpses from time to time, right?"
"Now that you mention it, that's indeed weird. I sometimes find bones and skeletons but I don't find rotten corpses at all. I see, so they were decomposed at an accelerated rate, huh... Wait, then how about that greedy crocodile corpse that we found not too long ago? Isn't it weird that we found it still retained its shape when it should be quickly decomposed?"
"You're right... Well, it's good that this place is kept clean. It's just that I can't help but get curious about it, you know."
There were a lot of weird things in the eastern district. Most of the people in the eastern district blamed the old-world technology for those weird things. And it was true that most of it was because of the old-world technology. For better or worse, Akira and the other people of the eastern district had already gotten used to it.
But if you look at it from another perspective, it meant that there were a lot of old-world relics in the eastern district. These relics contain knowledge and technology that might cause irreversible damage and chaos or maybe even destroy the world if they were misused. The people who were alive in the previous era could not fight back the destruction that these relics brought and became ruins. It could be expected that the civilization of this era would also be wiped out and become one with the ruins if the old-world technology was mismanaged.
After he finished his job, Akira took out his reserve ammo to confirm how many magazines he had left.
Akira frowned as he noticed that he did not have much reserve ammo left. He would not be able to fight another swarm of monsters with the amount of reserve ammo that he had now. He would have no other choice but to run away if he encountered another swarm. He would have to let Alpha take over his augmented suit to help him run away, which, of course, would cause him to go through excruciating pain on both of his legs.
But that was only half the reason why he frowned.
Akira's rental terminal suddenly rang, it was from the HQ. Akira hesitated a bit when he answered the call.
"...This is number 27."
"This is HQ. We've finished examining your battle record. We have some questions regarding the same."
"I won't pay for the ammo, okay?! I just won't!!"
Akira quickly said that first. He sounded desperate when he yelled at his terminal.
Akira used a lot of CWH anti-material rifle's special ammo to fight the scorpions. It could even be said that he was wasting more ammo than needed and Akira himself knew that fact.
It would not be strange if Akira was told by the HQ to pay for the ammo that he wasted with his own money, but unfortunately, he did not have the ability to pay for them.
The HQ staff understood what Akira was worrying about, he chuckled and said.
"Don't worry about that. The requester will pay for those bullets, there's no change regarding that. Even if they thought that the amount of the bullets you used don't fit the result, they would only cancel their contract and reduce your reward."
Akira let out a sigh of relief. He calmed himself and asked again.
"There are no information relay stations around where you are and you took out those scorpions when they were far away from the terminal, because of that, we could not accurately calculate the number of monsters that you took out. And so we will only calculate your reward based on the approximated number of monsters that you killed. Do you have any request as to how we should calculate your reward?"
"As long as you don't count it as zero since you can't calculate the number of the scorpions that I took out, you can just use whatever calculation you want for the reward and then just divide it equally among 3 people."
"...Are you sure you're okay with that?"
The HQ staff was so surprised that he went silent for a moment, he then replied back.
"...Nope, there's no problem. It's just that most Hunters would usually complain that they should have gotten more reward the moment they see the amount of the reward distributed to them in their terminal. That's why I just wanted to make sure. So let me get this straight, we will do the calculation and the result will be divided equally between 3 people, okay? I already got your confirmation from this conversation, so don't complain afterwards, alright?"
After saying that, that HQ staff ended the call.
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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