アキラ達が地下街の中を本部に向かって移動している。レイナは今にも倒れそうなシオリを支えながら歩いていた。アキラはそのレイナ達の横を、少し離れて歩いている。その距離はアキラがレイナ達を今でも警戒している証拠だ。
アキラは回復薬のカプセルを何度も服用しながら周囲を警戒しつつ移動していた。回復薬はシズカの店で購入したものだ。アキラが旧世界の遺跡で見つけたものと比較すると、非常に性能の低いものだ。それでも大量に使用すれば体力の回復は早まる。
アキラは回復薬の箱に記載されている注意事項に目を通している。アルファに教わって文字を読めるようになったので、その意味も理解している。その上で、アキラは回復薬を大量に服用し続けていた。
アキラは弱い。そのためアキラは身体を可能な限り最良の状態に近づける必要があるのだ。たとえ薬の副作用で10年後にアキラが死ぬことになっても、今日を生き残り、明日死なず、来週も元気に動けるようにするためには、今現在の無茶が必要不可欠なのだ。
レイナが大量に回復薬を使用しているアキラを見て尋ねる。
「......さっきからずっと回復薬を服用しているけど、そんなに使用して大丈夫なの?」
アキラがあっさり答える。
「駄目だろうな」
レイナが怪訝そうに話す。
「だ、駄目って......」
「具体的な数は書かれていないが、短期間に大量に服用するのは避けろと書いてある。確実に体に悪いな」
「じゃ、じゃあどうして......」
シオリが気力を振り絞って口を挟む。そのままレイナとアキラに話を続けさせると、会話の内容が3人にとって好ましくないものになると判断したのだ。
「お嬢様。あの場所からかなり離れました。お手数ですが本部と通信が
もっと早くレイナを止めるべきだった。余計な会話は慎むよう進言しておくべきだった。シオリは鈍った頭でそう考える。普段のシオリなら事前にそれとなくそのことをレイナに話していただろうが、今のシオリにそれを可能にする余裕はない。その余力はシオリが気絶しないために、この場で意識を失わないために使用されているからだ。
アキラはシオリが意図的に口を挟んだこととその理由に気付いていたが、余計な
レイナの端末から本部の職員の声が出る。
「こちら本部......」
がったことを確認した瞬間、アキラが怒鳴る。
「こちら27番! 不審者との交戦により負傷者3名! 戦闘続行不能! 不審者は死亡! 他の不審者が存在する可能性大! 不審者の一味は地下街で発見された遺物を盗み出そうとしている模様! 至急戦闘能力に
本部からの返答が少し沈黙を挟んでから返ってくる。
「27番。状況の確認を求める。まず不審者についてだが......」
「まずは俺達が本部に帰還することを許可しろ」
「27番。そちらの状況を確認する必要がある。まずこちらの質問に......」
「許可が先だ」
アキラは強く言い放った。疲れからくる怒気が
「......本部への帰還を許可する。移動中にこちらの質問に答えろ。いいな?」
本部の職員の声には明確な威圧の色が含まれていた。
「......27番、了解」
アキラは自身を落ち着かせるために深く息を吐いた。
端末から聞こえてくる向こうの周囲の音が本部の慌ただしい様子を伝えている。あちらはあちらで大変なようだ。
の影響で、レイナとシオリの通信が途絶したこと。ヤジマはアキラが殺したこと。加えてヤジマ達が地下街にある旧世界の遺物を狙っているとアキラが判断した理由など、多岐にわたる質問にアキラはしっかり答えていく。
職員はレイナとシオリからも話を聞こうとした。だがレイナはまだ死にかけた混乱から完全に立ち直っているとは言えず、更にシオリの容態が心配でそれどころではない様子だ。シオリの方は意識が
めたのは、そのハンター達がカツヤ達だったからだ。
助けが来たことに安心して、限界寸前のシオリの意識がついに途切れた。意識を失って崩れ落ちようとするシオリをレイナが慌てて支えた。カツヤ達がレイナ達の周囲に集まり一緒にシオリを支える。
アルファがアキラに提案する。
『彼女たちのことは彼らに任せて、私達は先を急ぎましょう。彼らと一緒にいると、いろいろ事情を聞かれたりして面倒だわ』
『そうだな。一緒に連れてこいと厳命された訳じゃないんだ。面倒事は御免だ』
アキラがレイナ達からこっそり離れて本部に向かおうとする。カツヤがそれに気付いて呼び止める。
「待て! どこに行く気だ!」
い顔色で意識を失っているシオリ。シオリが倒れたことで明らかに平静を欠いているレイナ。一人だけ平静を保ちこの場から離れようとしているアキラ。カツヤは場の状況とアキラへの不信感から、この被害の原因をアキラに求めた。アキラが何らかの不手際を起こしたためにレイナ達に多大な被害が出た。アキラがレイナ達を襲ったのではないかとすら考えた。
既にアキラはその場から走り出している。アルファが
「27番。騒がしいが何があった? 状況に変化があったのか?」
カツヤが荒々しい声で代わりに答える。
「俺はドランカム所属のカツヤだ! 今負傷した仲間と合流したところだ!」
「誰だ? 何番だ?」
「......俺は52番だ!」
「27番はどうした? そこにいないのか? 27番を含めて負傷者が3名いる報告を受けている」
27番がアキラであることに気付いて、カツヤが吐き捨てるように答える。
「そいつなら元気に走っていったよ! どこに行ったかまでは知るか!」
「......了解した。残りの負傷者はドランカム所属だな。その2人は52番のチームに帰還したものとする。任務を続行してくれ。以上だ」
「待て! レイナ達を連れて行けってことか!?」
「52番のチームの任務は指定地点の状況確認だ。負傷者の負傷の程度を判断して、連れて行くのか、防衛地点で休ませるのか、本部の医療班に治療を受けさせるのか、適切に判断してくれ。その程度の判断はそちらでやってくれ。何名戻すかとか、残った人員でどこまで任務を達成するかとか、戦力的に厳しいから撤退するべきかどうかとか、その程度の細かい判断はドランカム側でやってくれ。そんなことを一々こちらに判断させるな。ドランカム側に指示を求めろ。本部の判断を仰ぐべき事項かどうか判断してから聞いてくれ。こっちも忙しいんだ。以上だ」
本部の職員はそれだけ言って通信を切った。
めた。カツヤはすぐに決断した。
「全員でレイナ達を連れて本部まで戻るぞ」
全員で戻るのならば任務の放棄とも取れる。そう判断したアイリが簡潔にカツヤに尋ねる。
「任務は?」
「向こうがこっちで決めろっていうならこっちで決めるさ。一度本部に戻って、レイナ達を医療班に引き渡してから続ければ良いだけだ。任務より仲間の方が大切に決まってるだろう?」
任務より仲間を優先させるカツヤに、カツヤが連れてきた仲間の若手ハンター達が好意的な視線を向けた。
ユミナは、それでも全員で戻るのはどうかと考えたが、その場合は恐らくカツヤが残ることになるので黙っていた。ユミナもシオリの実力は知っている。そのシオリがこんな状態になる場所にカツヤを向かわせるのは、ユミナも嫌だったからだ。
本部に到着したアキラが本部の職員にヤジマのことを報告している。再び事細かに質問されると思っていたが、アキラにとっては意外なことに簡単な報告だけで済んだ。
それはレイナ達と一緒に移動していた間に、本部に粗方報告を済ませていたためだ。そしてアキラが本部に到着する間に状況が変化したためでもある。ヤジマの仲間らしき人物が地下街に現れて他のハンターと交戦し多数の死傷者が出たのだ。
死者が出た話を本部の職員から聞いたアキラが冷や汗をかく。あの状況でヤジマと同格の実力者と交戦していれば、アキラは恐らく殺されていただろう。あと少しでその死体にアキラも加わるところだったのだ。
『あの場からすぐに離れた判断は正解だったわね』
『全くだ。何でこんなにギリギリの状況が続くんだ? やっぱり俺が不運だからか?』
を言うなよ。あの状況で銃を捨てたら、俺は絶対殺されてたぞ?』
『でしょうね。何とか助けたけど、それだけでは帳消しにならなかったのかもね。
アキラが嘆く。
『そんな理不尽な』
に適当なことを言っているだけだ。それはアキラにもよく分かっていたが、アキラはなぜか少し納得しそうになってしまった。
目立つ外傷こそ少ないがアキラの体はかなり
「医療班の治療を受けるのは構わないが、念のため言っておくと無料ではない。そこを勘違いしているやつが結構いるんだ。注意してくれ」
「支払はどうするんだ?」
「そこは医療班のやつと自分で交渉してくれ。大部分のやつは報酬から差し引くようにしているみたいだな。どの医療班に頼むかで、保険が利くかどうかも違ってくるから注意しな。ああ、端末が壊れたんだっけ? 先に端末を交換しておいてくれ。端末がないと治療が受けられない。位置情報が共有されていないと、最悪脱走扱いになるぞ。気を付けな」
アキラは職員の忠告に従って端末を交換してから医療班が待機している部屋に向かった。
一口に治療と言っても、ハンターの中にはアキラのような生身のハンター以外にも、ナノマシンによる身体強化者や一見普通の人間に見える義体者、明確に機械化されていることが分かるサイボーグもいる。治療ではなく修理と呼ぶべき作業が必要な者もいるのだ。
生身の人はこちら。そう書かれた看板に従って進むと、白衣を着た男がアキラを迎えた。
男は医者と呼ぶより人体実験を好む科学者のような風貌をしていた。彼はヤツバヤシという名前で、ここで生身のハンターの治療を受け持っていた。
アキラはヤツバヤシを見て少し不安になった。アキラには医者に診てもらった経験など一度もないが、ヤツバヤシからはそれでも分かる
ヤツバヤシがアキラに和やかに話す。
「ヤツバヤシ診療所クズスハラ街遺跡支店へようこそ。早速だが支払はどうする?」
「報酬から天引きにしてくれ」
「了解だ。ああ、クガマヤマ都市営業部の支援により、診察だけは無料となっております。だから診察だけして、金がないから治さなかったとしても俺を恨むなよ? じゃあ、服を脱いでくれ」
アキラは言われたとおりに強化服を脱いでヤツバヤシの診察を受けた。ヤツバヤシはアキラの体を、カメラのような器具や、スキャナーのような装置、その他怪しげな器具を使用して調べていく。それらの器具が診察に適した機材なのかどうかは、アキラの
診察は10分ほどで終了した。ヤツバヤシが診断結果をアキラに告げる。
「軽傷でなによりだ。だが治療をお勧めする。どの程度治す?」
「俺は軽傷なのか? さっきから腕や脚が
アキラとヤツバヤシでは軽傷の概念が異なるらしい。ただしハンター的な考え方ではヤツバヤシの認識の方が正しいのかもしれない。
アキラが納得したようなしていないような微妙な表情で答える。
「戦闘に支障が出ないように、治せるだけ治してくれ」
「そうか? 治療方法はいろいろあるが、保険の利かない手段がお勧めだ」
「保険には入ってない」
ヤツバヤシが少し意外そうな表情を浮かべた。ここにいるハンターならば保険に入っているハンターの方が多いからだ。
しそうな表情を浮かべながら話す。少なくとも医者が患者に向ける表情ではない。
「そうか! それなら俺が開発した回復薬を使っても良いか? お勧めだ! 保険に入ってないんだろう? 安くしておくぜ!」
そう言ってヤツバヤシが近くにある容器を手に取ってアキラに見せる。容器の中には緑色の液状の物体が入っていた。アキラにはどう考えても怪しげな薬にしか思えない。
「嫌だ。保険が利かないって、何かやばいやつじゃないのか?」
「大丈夫だって。別に俺が一から作成した訳じゃない。俺が旧世界の遺物を解析して近い性能を再現した一品だ。俺自身に投与した結果も含めて効果は検証済みだ。保険が利かないってのも、そういうのは大抵大手の製薬会社がバックについているから、自社製品を優先させるために保険の適用外にしているだけだって。効果は絶対こっちの方が高い。断言する。だから良いだろ? ある程度の使用実績を積まないと、そもそも保険の認可対象にならないんだよ。安くて性能の良い薬が出回れば世の役に立つだろ?
ヤツバヤシは何とかアキラを説得しようとしていた。
アルファがヤツバヤシを観察した結果を一応アキラに教える。
それが大手製薬会社の企業努力による囲い込みの結果であったとしても、認可済みの薬が広く使用されているのであれば、致命的な副作用などはないはずだ。幾らヤツバヤシが自分で試したと言ったとしても、アキラがヤツバヤシの薬の使用を戸惑うのは仕方がないだろう。
ヤツバヤシはアキラの迷いを見抜いた。迷っているということは、絶対に嫌だということではない。そう考えたヤツバヤシがアキラに勢いよく話す。
「良し! 分かった! 俺の薬での治療を受けるなら、俺が持ってる旧世界の遺物を売ろうじゃないか! 本来ならコロン払いでも不思議じゃない旧世界製の回復薬だ! それを思い切ってオーラムで売ろう! どうだ!」
ヤツバヤシは近くの荷物入れから小さめの箱を取り出してアキラに見せた。アキラにはその箱に見覚えがあった。アキラがクズスハラ街遺跡で手に入れた回復薬だ。
アキラがアルファに確認する。
『アルファ。あれって......』
を吐いている様子はないし、箱も未開封。多分本物ね。できれば手に入れておきたいわ』
アルファもアキラと同意見だった。アキラもその効能は体験済みだ。できれば手に入れておきたい。
「何箱まで幾らで売ってくれるんだ?」
「1箱だけだ。値段は200万オーラムだ。本来重傷患者に使うものだ。
付け加えれば、この回復薬はヤツバヤシの薬が万一効かなかった場合の保険だ。ヤツバヤシもそこまでは教えなかった。
ヤツバヤシが提示した値段は妥当なものだ。アキラはかなり迷ったが、ヤツバヤシの提案を受け入れた。
「良し!」
くの間、そうだな、1時間ぐらいは安静にしていてくれ。動き回ったって死ぬわけじゃないがな。安静にしていた方が高い効果が見込める。あと、その回復薬を売ったことは黙っていてくれよ? 本来売り物じゃないんだ。他のハンターに押し掛けられても困るからな」
「分かった。この治療は幾らかかったんだ?」
「10万オーラムだ。効果は期待してくれ。なお代金は保険が利かない代わりに治験の代金と一部相殺した金額となっております。治験に御協力いただき誠にありがとう御座いました」
果たしてこの金額は妥当なのか、高いのか安いのか、それはアキラには分からない。1時間程度で戦闘に支障が出ない程度まで回復するなら、今のアキラにとっては十分安いとも言える。
効果抜群の回復薬も手に入ったのだ。万一の場合はそれで対処しよう。アルファも止めなかったし多分大丈夫だ。アキラは無駄な精神疲労を避けるために、そう判断することにした。
急に辺りが騒がしくなる。アキラが騒ぎのする方を見ると、重傷のハンターが運び込まれてきていた。血
「おっと、急患だ。軽傷のやつは邪魔だから離れてくれ。できれば全員助けたいからな」
「......全員って、どう見ても死んでるやつがいないか?」
「ところがそうでもない。事前に頭部だけ半義体化しているやつや、首を落とされても短時間での脳死を防ぐように生体保全ナノマシンを入れているやつもいる。治療を急げば意外に間に合ったりする。まあ、金があればの話だ。サイボーグ化も
アキラが改めて重傷のハンター達を見る。あの状態でもある程度助かる可能性はあるようだ。そのことを驚きながら、邪魔にならないようにその場から離れた。
アルファが次々と運び込まれる重傷者を見ているアキラに笑って話す。
『アキラは軽傷で良かったわね』
一歩間違えばアキラがああなっていたのだ。その場合、アキラは助からないだろう。
アキラは強化服をもう一度着る前に、強化服のエネルギーパックを交換した。エネルギーパックはアキラの想像以上に消費されていた。
な挙動をさせたからね。これは仕方がないわ。壊れなかっただけ運が良かったわ』
アルファはアキラを死なせないために確実に強化服の寿命を縮める使い方をしていた。そのおかげでアキラは生き残ることができたのだが、代償は大きかった。
アキラが何となく強化服の動きにぎこちなさを覚えながら本部に戻る。ヤツバヤシの診察は一応本部にアキラの不調を納得させる効果があり、その後は安静にする名目で本部の警備に回された。アキラはこのまま何事もなく依頼時間が過ぎていくことを期待しながら警備を続けた。
その計画を指揮していたヤジマが死亡したため、今はケインとネリアが中心となって計画を進めていた。
ケインとネリアはヤジマが隠していた遺物を諦めて地下街を脱出していた。その後、地上に出た後で出入口を爆破してハンター達の追跡を阻止した。
ケイン達は既に地上に運び終えていた遺物とともにクズスハラ街遺跡を脱出し、そのまま他の都市まで逃走する予定だった。輸送車両は荒野の都市間の物資運搬にも使用される頑丈で巨大な車両だ。車両には旧世界の遺物が大量に積み込まれている。後は仲間達とともに出発すれば、彼らは大金を得ることができるのだ。
輸送車両はヤジマが用意した物だ。高性能な制御装置が設置されていて、素人でも運転ができるようになっている。しかし問題はその制御装置にあった。ヤジマが用意した制御装置には、ヤジマが改造した追加プログラムが付け加えられていた。
死後報復依頼プログラム。東部のネットワークに裏で流れているプログラムだ。義体者やサイボーグが死んだ場合に、その直前に得た情報、主に自分を殺そうとした誰かや何かの映像などを送信し、その対象の殺害を依頼するプログラムである。対象を殺害することにより条件が満たされると、依頼者の隠し口座から金が振り込まれたり、隠し財産の隠し場所が提示されたりするのだ。
制御装置はこのプログラムにより対象を殺さない限り輸送車両が動かないように設定されていた。車両の制御装置を交換するという強引な手段もあるが、制御装置の交換や再設定にはそれなりの技術が必要だ。その技術も予備の制御装置もケイン達は持っていなかった。
対象の死亡を確認する方法もプログラムによって様々で、その判断基準にも個性がある。粗悪な作りのプログラムなら、適当に対象に似せたマネキンでも破壊すれば十分な場合もある、逆に対象を殺しても
め息を吐いてケイン達に提案する。
「仕方ないわ。諦めましょう」
「諦める!? ふざけるな! この計画に幾らかけたと思ってるんだ!? 集めた遺物が幾らになると思ってるんだ!? 売れば最低でも100億オーラム、いや、それ以上だ! その遺物を捨ててたまるか!」
荒々しいケインの様子に他の仲間達が
「何を言ってるのよ。遺物を捨てるわけないでしょう?」
「......どういう意味だ?」
「諦めるのは死後報復依頼プログラムの認証を
「こいつを殺しましょう」
表示装置にはアキラの姿が映っていた。
Akira, Reina and Shiori were still on their way to the HQ. Reina was supporting Shiori who was on the verge of collapsing as they were walking through the underground hallway. As for Akira, he was walking a little further away beside Shiori and Reina, his distance showed that he was still cautious of them.
Akira was regularly consuming medicines while keeping his eyes on his surroundings. The medicines that he was taking were the ones that he bought from Shizuka's shop. Compared to the medicines found in the old-world ruin, their potency was extremely low. But even so, if he chugged a significant amount of that medicine, it would at least speed up his fatigue recovery and the healing of his wounds.
He glanced at the warning printed on the medicine's packaging. Thanks to Alpha's training, he was able to recognize words, and so he was able to understand the warning. But even so, he kept on chugging that medicine frequently.
Akira was weak. He understood that well, and so, it was important for him to maintain his body in the best possible state. Even if it meant that he would definitely die 10 years later from the side effect of the medicines that he was consuming. He knew that he had to do crazy things to survive the present, to stay alive tomorrow, and to keep his body functioning next week.
Reina watched Akira chugging medicines and asked him.
"...I noticed that you've been regularly consuming a lot of that medicine. Are you alright with consuming that many at once?"
Akira answered back swiftly.
"I bet it's not alright."
Reina was surprised by his answer.
"N-not alright, huh..."
"Although it doesn't say how many is too many, it does warn to not consume a large amount of this medicine in a short time. So I bet it's bad for my body."
"T-then why...?"
Shiori thought that if she let Reina and Akira continue that conversation, the subject of their conversation may turn into something that was not pleasant to talk about between the three of them. So she squeezed her leftover power to interject in their conversation.
"Milady, we've moved quite far from that area. I know it's rude for me to ask, but can you please check if we can already contact the HQ or not."
Shiori's mind was still slightly numb as she thought that she should have stopped Reina sooner, or at least warned her not to talk about anything sensitive. If she was in her usual condition, she would have warned Reina way sooner than that, but the current her was unable to do that. It was because she was focusing all of her remaining energy to keep herself awake and not to fall unconscious in that place.
Akira understood why Shiori suddenly interjected, but since he also did not want to cause any fight there, he just kept quiet. Reina was the only person who did not notice that as she focused on her terminal.
A voice came out from her terminal.
"This is HQ-"
The moment Reina confirmed that her terminal was connected to the HQ, Akira immediately yelled at the terminal.
"This is number 27!! We've got 3 injured Hunters after fighting against that suspicious person!! We're not in a condition to face any more fights!! The suspicious person is dead!! There's a good chance that he brought more of his friends from underground tunnels!! It seems that they're planning to secretly carry relics out from the underground city!! Send us Hunters who can fight well and are proficient in providing support!! My terminal was destroyed by that suspicious person when I fought him!! That's why I'm contacting you from another Hunter's terminal!!"
There was a brief pause before the HQ staff replied back.
"Number 27, explain what happened. First of all, about that suspicious person-"
"Give us permission to return back to HQ first."
"Number 27, we need to confirm the situation first before we can do that, so answer our questions first-"
"The permission first!"
Akira was yelling. From his voice, it was obvious that he was tired. The staff understood that it was pointless to argue back, so he just gave them permission to return.
"...Very well, you're permitted to return back to the HQ. But answer our questions while you're on your way back, understand?"
There was a slight intimidating nuance coming from his voice.
"...This is number 27, roger that."
Akira took a deep breath in order to calm himself down.
They could hear sounds of a commotion leaking out from the terminal, it seemed that there was something going on in the HQ.
Akira was answering the questions from the HQ staff while walking back to the HQ. He told the staff about Yajima who suddenly attacked him out of the blue, about the jamming smoke that prevented him from contacting Shiori and Reina, about the fact that he killed Yajima, and about the reason why he thought Yajima and his friends were planning to secretly carry out old-world relics from the underground city. He properly answered all the questions that the HQ staff asked him.
The staff was also thinking of asking Shiori and Reina too. But Reina still could not fully recover from that chaos and was still a bit dazed by everything that just happened. Not to mention, she was really worried about Shiori, as such, she was not in a condition to answer the staff's questions. As for Shiori, she was barely conscious, she was also not in a position where she could properly answer his questions. Thus he was only able to question Akira.
The reason why Akira looked slightly annoyed was because it was Katsuya's group who came running.
Shiori was so relieved that they were finally able to meet up with the other Hunters, that she immediately lost consciousness then and there. Reina panicked and tried to hold her up as she was about to collapse. Katsuya and the others quickly surrounded her and helped Reina support Shiori.
Alpha then said to Akira.
"Let's just leave her to them. We should leave quickly. If you stay around them, it would be a pain in the bum when they start asking you about the situation."
"You're right. It's not like they told us to go back to the HQ together anyway. And I want to avoid anything troublesome if it's possible."
Akira was quietly walking away from Katsuya's group, but Katsuya noticed him and tried to stop him.
"Wait!! Where do you think you're going?!!"
Shiori was obviously in a bad shape as she fell unconscious and Reina panicked when that happened. The only person who was completely calm, Akira, was trying to sneak away. From the situation that they were in; plus his distrust of Akira, Katsuya thought that Akira was the real cause of that situation. He thought that Akira did something bad and caused Shiori and Reina to get injured, or even maybe it was he who attacked Reina and Shiori.
Akira was already running away from that place. Alpha smiled at him and warned him.
"Number 27, what was that sound? What's going on over there?"
Katsuya sounded obviously angry when he replied back.
"This is Katsuya from Drankam!! We just met up with the injured Hunters!"
"Who? What number?"
"...It's number 52!!"
"Where's number 27? Is he not there? I heard that there were 3 injured people including number 27."
Katsuya realized that number 27 was Akira as he answered back as if he was venting.
"If it's that guy, he looks completely fine and ran away!! I don't even know where he's going!!"
"...I see. The rest of the injured Hunters are from Drankam, right? Number 52, I'll put the other two back in your team, you take the command from here and on. That's all."
"Wait!! Are you telling me to bring Reina and Shiori around rather than sending them back?"
"Your duty is to confirm your situation. Check how bad their injuries are and decide whether to bring them along with you or to let them rest in the defensive point. You can even bring them to the medical team if their injuries are serious. You guys decide what to do from there. Whether you would send some people back or not, or proceed with your duties with the remaining Hunters, or whether you bring your whole team back since it doesn't seem like you can continue with your current situation, it's up to you guys from Drankam to discuss and decide on your own. Don't ask us for every single thing on what to do. Ask Drankam instead. Only inform the HQ if you decide that it's necessary to do so. We're also busy here, you know. That's all."
The HQ staff ended the call after saying that.
Katsuya could feel that the HQ was taking Shiori and Reina's situation lightly. His face was twitching with anger. He then quickly decided on what to do next.
"We'll take Shiori and Reina back to the HQ."
Taking everyone back to the HQ could be interpreted as abandoning his duty. Airi understood it, so she asked Katsuya.
"What about our duties?"
"They told us to decide on our own. We'll return back to HQ, leave Reina and Shiori with the medical team, and then return back to our duty. After all, our friends' lives are much more important than our duty, right?"
Seeing how Katsuya prioritized his friends' lives over his duty, the other young Hunters in his team looked at him with approving gazes.
Although Yumina was not sure whether it was a good idea to bring everyone back, she felt like Katsuya would decide to be the one staying behind if she said anything, so she just kept quiet. She knew how skilled Shiori was and something had happened to render her in such a bad shape, so she did not want to let Katsuya take any risk by going alone.
When Akira arrived at HQ, he went on to give his report about Yajima. He thought that the staff would be asking him a lot of questions again, but instead, he was let go after giving a simple report.
It was because they had already asked the necessary details when Akira was on his way back to the HQ together with Shiori and Reina. And also, while Akira was on his way back, the situation had changed. There seemed to be more of Yajima's friends found in the underground city and they killed some Hunters that the HQ had dispatched.
Akira let out cold sweat when the HQ staff told him that there were some deaths reported after the clash between them. If he had encountered more people who were as strong as Yajima on his way back, there was no doubt he would have been dead by now. He barely dodged the bullet back there.
"I'm glad we quickly left that place."
"You can say that again. I wonder why I'm always pushed into this kind of dangerous situation? Is it because I really ran out of luck?"
"Don't be crazy. If I had threw down my weapon, there was no mistaking it that he would have killed me immediately, you know?"
"I bet you're right. Although you somehow saved her, that might not be enough to balance everything. Or it may be since you were able to save her ultimately, your luck increased and were able to get out from that unlucky place right before anything troublesome happened."
Akira mumbled.
"That's just unreasonable."
He understood that Alpha was only joking in order to cheer him up. But for some reason, she sounded really convincing to Akira.
Although there were only a few minor external wounds, Akira's body was actually in a terrible state. The cheap medicines were not enough to heal his wounds. So he asked the staff about the medical team and the staff explained to him about the details.
"I don't mind if you want to meet the medical team. But let me tell you this beforehand, it's not free. There are a lot of Hunters who misunderstand this point. So be careful with the bill."
"What should I do to pay the medical bill?"
"You should negotiate it with the medical team. Most of the Hunters have their medical bills subtracted from their rewards. The amount of the bill depends on the medical services you seek and whether you have taken the insurance or not. Ahh, your terminal was broken, right? You should go and get a replacement first, the medical team won't help you without the terminal. If you don't share your location through the shared network, they might think that you're going to run away without paying. So be careful about that too."
Akira followed the staff's suggestions to first get a new terminal before heading to the room where the medical team was on standby.
Although they were called as the medical team, there were many other Hunters who did not have a biological body like Akira. Some of them used nanomachines to enhance their bodies, some of them were cyborgs with human-like appearance, and some of them looked completely mechanical from the outside. These types of Hunters needed fixing rather than healing.
As Akira followed a board saying 'biological body is this way', a man wearing a white coat welcomed him.
That man, Yatsubayashi, looked more like a scientist who loved to do human experiments rather than a doctor. He was stationed there to heal Hunters with biological bodies.
Akira looked worried when he saw Yatsubayashi. Although he never went to a doctor before, it did not take him much to notice that Yatsubayashi was obviously a shady person.
Yatsubayashi welcomed Akira in high spirits.
"Welcome to Yatsubayashi clinic, Kuzusuhara ruin branch. Sorry to cut the chase, but how are you going to pay for the bill?"
"Subtract it from my reward."
"Alright, got it. Ahhh, thanks to the aid from Kugamayama city management, you can get a free check-up. Check-up is free of cost but my other services costs money. Don't hold any grudge against me if I don't fix your body because you don't have enough money, okay? Alright then, remove your clothes."
Akira followed Yatsubayashi's instructions and took off his augmented suit. Yatsubayashi used a strange camera-like tool and some kind of scanner to check Akira's body. He also used other weird tools to do the check-up. With his current knowledge, Akira had no idea if all of those tools were really for checking his body or not.
It took about 10 minutes to finish the check-up. After which, Yatsubayashi gave Akira the result.
"I'm glad that it's nothing serious. But I suggest that you get some treatment. So, what kind of treatment would you like to take?"
"My wounds are nothing serious? My limbs are screaming in pain though. I can only move around thanks to the cheap medicines that I'm taking."
It seemed there was a big gap between Akira's and Yatsubayashi's standard for light injuries. But from the perspective of the Hunters, Yatsubayashi's line of thinking was the correct one.
Akira smiled vaguely, he sounded as if he was half convinced.
"Can you heal my wounds at least so it won't lower my fighting ability?"
"I see. There are various treatments that you can take, but I suggest you take the one for which normal insurance doesn't apply."
"I'm not in any insurance."
Yatsubayashi looked surprised. After all, most of the Hunters in that place were in some type of insurance.
Yatsubayashi seemed delighted. It was at least an expression that a doctor would not make.
"That sounds great!! In that case, how about taking this medicine that I'm developing? This is my recommendation! You're not in any insurance, right? So I'll let you buy it for cheap!!"
Yatsubayashi grabbed a small container near him and showed it to Akira. The container was filled with a green liquid. It was a very dubious-looking medicine no matter how you slice it.
"No thanks. Since insurance doesn't apply to that thing, it must be something unsafe."
"It's fine, don't worry. It's not like I made it from nothing. I made it by breaking down and analyzing the old-world medicine, then using that data to imitate its effect. I can guarantee its effect since I've already tried it on myself before. The reason why insurance doesn't apply to it is because of the influence of the big companies, it's set like that so people would choose the medicines manufactured by those big companies instead. This medicine is better, I can guarantee you at least that much! So, what do you think? It's not like I can get the certification unless I have enough data and samples from people using it. It'll also be better for the world if people can buy a cheap but powerful medicine, right? It'll provide a better healing effect that might even save people's lives. Just think of it as a good deed to regain some of your humanity that you guys tend to lose when you do dangerous works as Hunters."
Yatsubayashi was trying hard to convince Akira.
From her observation of Yatsubayashi, Alpha said to Akira.
Even if that medicine could not become mainstream because of the influence of the big pharmaceutical companies, if it was a medicine that had spread among the people and had earned a certification, then it at least should not have any bad side effects. No matter how many times Yatsubayashi used that medicine on himself in the past, it was not enough to convince Akira.
Yatsubayashi knew that Akira was hesitating. But hesitation was not equal to refusal. Yatsubayashi thought so as he urged Akira further.
"Ah, I know!! If you buy this medicine, I'll also sell the old-world medicines that I have with me!! These are medicines that you can't usually buy unless you use Chrome!! But I'll sell them to you in Aurum!! What do you think?!"
Yatsubayashi pulled out a box from a bag near him and showed it to Akira. Akira was familiar with that box, it was similar to the medicine that he found back in Kuzusuhara ruin.
Akira confirmed that with Alpha.
"Alpha, isn't that...?"
"It doesn't seem like he's lying and that box is still sealed. I think it's the real thing. You would want to get that if it's possible."
Alpha and Akira agreed with each other. He knew well how powerful that medicine was. As such, he really wanted to get some of those medicines if it was possible.
"How many boxes are you willing to sell?"
"Just one for 2,000,000 Aurum. This medicine is usually used only for serious injuries, so it's not like I can sell it for cheap."
To be honest, it was actually a kind of insurance in case his medicine did not work. But of course, Yatsubayashi would not say that to Akira.
The price was reasonable. Although Akira was hesitating at first, he ended up taking that offer.
"Alright then!!"
"That's it. Just take a rest for the time being... Let's say for about the next 1 hour. It won't kill you if you move around, but its effect will be maximized if you just take rest. And also, don't tell anyone that I sold you that medicine, okay? It's not something that I usually sell, you know. So it would be troublesome if other Hunters come to me asking for the same thing."
"Alright. How much for that treatment?"
"100,000 Aurum. You can look forward to its effect. Since insurance doesn't apply for this one, I gave you a big discount for the treatment here. Thank you very much for cooperating with the treatment."
Akira did not know whether it was expensive or not. If it would recover his body to the point that his injuries would not lower his fighting ability in 1 hour, he thought that it was rather cheap.
Not to mention, he also got a powerful medicine, so he could use that in case if anything bad happened. Alpha also did not stop him, so it should be okay. So he just decided not to worry about that in order to conserve his mental strength.
Suddenly things got pretty busy around him. Akira looked over to the source of the commotion and saw some Hunters with severe injuries being carried to the medical team. Some of them were drenched in blood, some of them lost all of their 4 limbs, there was even a Hunter who had lost half of his body.
"Whoah, we have an emergency here. Everyone with light injuries would only get in the way. I'm sorry but can you guys move somewhere else? I want to save as many people as possible."
"...Even if you say so, some of them are already dead, aren't they?"
"That might not exactly be the case. Some of them have half mechanized brains and some of them are using nanomachines that would allow them to stay alive even after losing their neck for a short time. We might still be able to save those people if we hurry up. Well, of course, that is if they have enough money to pay us though. It's not like we can turn you into a cyborg with zero cost after all. They might have to work for their whole life to pay the debt, but it's not our problem. So there you have it, make way, make way."
Akira took another look at those Hunters. He was surprised to know that Hunters with that level of injuries could still be saved as he moved away so that he would not get in the way.
Alpha smiled at Akira who was looking at those Hunters.
"It's good that you only get light injuries."
Akira would have joined that line of Hunters if he had made even the slightest mistake. He even bet that he would be dead if that had happened.
Before putting back his augmented suit, Akira replaced the energy pack in his augmented suit with a new one. He noticed that he had used way more energy than he had expected.
"It's because I took control of the augmented suit to execute crazy manoeuvres. So it can't be helped. It's a good thing that it's not broken because of that."
In order to make sure that Akira would survive the fight, Alpha controlled the augmented suit in a way that would definitely shorten its lifetime. Although it allowed Akira to survive, it was not cheap at all.
Akira could feel that the augmented suit was a bit stiff as he walked back to the HQ. The check-up result from Yatsubayashi was a good excuse to explain about Akira's injured state to HQ, as such, the HQ only assigned him to keep watch around the area near the HQ so he could take rest. He hoped that his shift would end without any more bad things happening.
Since the mastermind of that plan, Yajima, was dead. The plan continued with Nelia and Kain at the helm.
Kain and Nelia had exited the underground city carrying the relics that Yajima had hidden. After they reached the surface, they blew up the hole to cover their tracks.
Their original plan was to run away to another city after retrieving all the relics that they had hidden in the underground city. The truck itself was well prepared to traverse the wasteland, it was big and very durable. There was a huge amount of expensive old-world relics piled on its tray. They only needed to escape that place together with their friends and they would be rich.
The truck was originally Yajima's. It had an advanced control unit so that even an amateur would be able to drive that truck just fine. But the very source of their problem was that advanced control unit. The control unit prepared by Yajima was installed with an extra program from him.
It was the post-mortem revenge request program. It was a program that the Hunters could download from the dark web of the eastern district network. It was a program used by the cyborgs to collect the data of the person who killed them and send them over the network to make a request to kill that person. By killing that person, the one who completed that request would get rewards such as money from the requester's hidden account or locations of hidden properties of the requester.
The control device of the truck was set to freeze until the target from the program was killed. Of course, they could just rip out the control device, but in order to install a new one, they would need a special set of skills. And they did not have that skill nor a spare control device that they could use.
The program could confirm the target's death using different methods depending on the setting of the program. Some badly made programs could be fooled using a similar mannequin doll, it might also be unable to confirm the death of the target even after the target of the request was killed. As for advanced programs, they confirmed the death of the target from submitting the image of the dead target.
Nelia sighed and said to Kain and the others.
"There's nothing we can do about it, let's just give up."
"Give up, you say?!! Are you kidding me?! How much money do you think is riding on this plan?!! How much do you think all the relics that we gathered are worth?!! If we sell them, we can at least get 10,000,000,000 Aurum!!! No, we can get even more than that!!! Like hell, I would leave those relics here!!!"
The others around flashed looks of dread when Kain flared. If he went on a rampage with his formidable powered suit, no one in that place would be able to stop him.
"Who said anything about giving up on the relics?"
"...What do you mean?"
"I was just saying to give up on bypassing that program."
"Let's go and kill this boy."
On that terminal was the image of Akira.
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