178 見出されたハンター
君臨していた2大組織が壊滅したことで、スラム街は勢力図の大規模な再構築を余儀なくされていた。その状況で中小の徒党の幹部達が集まって話し合いをしている。主な議題は壊滅した2大組織の縄張り、今は巨大な空白地となった区域の扱いだ。
武力で奪い合うわけにもいかない。しかしいろいろな利権も絡むため、お互いに簡単に引き下がるわけにもいかない。その所為で話し合いは
「いい加減決めようぜ。空白地に隣接する組織間で等分。それで良いじゃねえか」
「ふざけるな。てめえのところが得するだけじゃねえか。こっちは連中に貸して回収不能になった債権が山ほどあるんだ。その分の縄張りだけでも手に入らねえと割に合わねえんだよ」
「縄張りに飛び地なんて作っても更なる
「拠点だって建物だけでも価値はある。ハンター連中が見向きもしない物だって、きっちり扱えば十分な金になる。お前らだって回収してえだろう。このままだと全部灰だぞ?」
「拠点を奪えばその周辺は当然そいつの縄張りになる。どこが取るんだ? お前だとでも言い出すつもりか? ふざけるな。
「抗争に実戦レベルで関わった組織に空白地を得る権利があるのなら、権利を持っているのはエゾントファミリーとハーリアスの残党連中、そしてそこの新入りってことになる。だが残党連中はこの場にいない。つまり新入りの総取りってことになるな。その筋を通すなら、新入りの意見を聞きたいところだな」
幹部達の視線が徒党間会議の新入りに、シェリルに集まった。
シェリルはヴィオラとキャロルを連れて会議に参加していた。ヴィオラ達は座っているシェリルの
「では、全部頂けますか?」
余りに予想外な答えに幹部達が半ば
「仮に全部手に入ったとしても、お前のところであの広さを管理できる訳がねえだろうが。常識的に考えろや」
「そうですね。では、シジマさん。頂いた縄張りの管理を委託しますので、代わりに管理をお願いします。空白地からシジマさんのところで管理可能な広さの範囲だけ頂く。私達の取り分としてはこれでどうでしょう? シジマさん。縄張りが生み出す利益とその管理費の調整は後日ゆっくり交渉しましょう」
ある男がシジマの徒党の組織力で管理可能な範囲を想定して、その広さや利権の多さに、それを他組織に奪われ兼ねない状況に表情を険しくさせる。
「ちょっと待て。何で急にそんな話が出てくるんだ? 第一どうしてシジマのところなんだ? 管理を委託するなら他のところでも良いだろう。事前に取決めでもしていたのか?」
「そういうわけではありませんが、以前アキラを含めて交渉した際に、シジマさんとはこちらと仲良くすると約束しましたし、アキラからもそれを
シェリルがアキラの名前を出すと、幹部達がそれぞれ異なった様子を見せる。恐れ、警戒、興味、疑心、嘲り、各自が保有している情報をその態度に映し出していた。
幹部達の視線がヴィオラに集まる。少し懐疑的な視線が増えていた。この女ならやりかねない。皆そう思っているのだ。
ヴィオラはいつも通りの余裕で挑発的な笑みを浮かべている。そしてその表情のまま情報端末を取り出して操作する。すると幹部達の情報端末に一斉に通知が届いた。ヴィオラの仕業であることは明らかなので、皆が通知の中身を確認する。中身は何らかの映像への接続先だった。
その映像を閲覧した幹部達が
「おい、何だこのイカレ野郎......」
「こいつ、人型兵器と生身で
「ちょっと待て、これ、まさか勝ってるのか? 冗談だろう......?」
映像は様々な場面の切り貼りだったが、アキラがここにいる者の基準で十分狂人の
一人の男が動揺を隠しきれない様子でヴィオラを問いただす。
「この映像が本物である証拠は? お前が適当に
ヴィオラは挑発的に少し小馬鹿にするように笑っている。
「私の情報を信じられないのなら、裏取りぐらい自分でやりなさいよ。一応都市の社外秘映像だけど機密レベルは低い方だから、そっちの情報ルートの伝を持っていれば、ちょっと金を積めば同じものが手に入るわよ?」
問いただした男はそれで映像が事実だと確信した。少なくともこの映像は都市が信頼するに足る情報精度を保持している。他の者達も程度の差はあれどそうと認識した。
別の男が少し平静を欠きながら矛先をシェリルに戻す。
「......お前の後ろ盾は別にしてだ。空白地を全部寄こせってのは強欲が過ぎるんじゃないか?」
「全部頂けるのなら断る理由はないというだけですよ。ただ、私もアキラから借金を抱えていますので、頂けるなら頂いて何らかの金策に充てたいと考えています。一度縄張りを頂いた後なら、それを他の徒党に売り払うという手段も使えますので。以前にも抱えきれない分の縄張りをシジマさんのところに売りましたしね」
「40億オーラムほどです」
「......40億って、何の冗談だ?」
「冗談ではありません。ただ、算出したのはヴィオラだと答えておきます」
シェリルはそう答えた後で、僅かに敵意を乗せた視線をヴィオラに送った。ヴィオラは楽しげに
り合うほどの実力者で、単身助けに行くほどにシェリルに入れ込んでいて、たかがスリを殺すために拠点に乗り込むほどに狂っている。そのような者が恋人の借金返済を邪魔する相手にどのような感情を抱くのか。自身が40億オーラムという大金を得る機会を潰そうとする障害にどれだけの敵意を抱くのか。それを考慮した上で、シェリルを相手に縄張り争いをするべきか。
男は思案を終えると、広大な空白地を巡るこの争いの方針を転換した。
「新入りが縄張りの管理を委託するのは構わんが、別にシジマのところでなくても良いんじゃないか? シジマのところと仲良くするって言ったが、別にそんなデカい利権を保証するようなものとは思えない。違うか?」
「まあ、そうですけど」
「だろう?」
男は笑ってそう答えると、比較的仲の良い他組織の者達に目配せした。同意はすぐに取れた。シェリルが縄張りの管理を委託する相手をシジマから合同で奪う連合が一瞬で組まれる。
男が先んじようとした時、シェリルが少し困った表情を浮かべながら続ける。
「でも、アキラと交渉して、引き下がらせて、金まで支払わせた人って、私はシジマさんしか知らないんですよね」
「......一度休憩にしないか?」
反論は誰からも出なかった。幹部達が会議場としていた部屋から出て行く。当然だが本当に休憩を取る者はいない。この場では話せないことを話し合うために、それぞれ場を移しただけだ。
いと理解しているのだ。まずは他の者から距離を取り、その後に裏でいろいろ暗躍していたはずだと決めつけたヴィオラに連絡を取った。
シェリル達は部屋に残っていた。シェリルは少し疲労を見せながら大きく息を吐いている。ヴィオラは情報端末でシジマと話している。そしてキャロルは、少し楽しげな様子でシェリルを見ていた。
「キャロルさん。どうかしましたか?」
「ん? 何でもないわ。もしヴィオラに妹でもいたら、シェリルみたいな子なんだろうなって思っただけよ」
「......止めてください」
本気で嫌そうな表情を浮かべるシェリルを見て、キャロルは楽しげに笑っていた。
その後、一定の方向性を得た会議は少々の対立はあったものの緩やかに
アキラがクズスハラ街遺跡の大通りをバイクで走っている。この大通りはクガマヤマ都市が建設した仮設基地から遺跡の奥へ続いており、現在も駐留部隊などによって整備が続いている。遺跡奥部攻略の要となる重要な道路だ。
アキラがキバヤシから受けたハンターランク調整依頼の内容は、粘り強い交渉を日が落ちるまで続けた結果、この大通り周辺でのハンター稼業となった。具体的には汎用討伐、遺物収集、周辺の
一応制限もある。依頼中に収集した遺物は全て仮設基地内の買取所に持ち込むこと。収集した情報も一緒に引き渡すこと。救援要請を基本的に無視しないこと。大通りにモンスターの群れが出現した場合、そちらの対応を優先させること。アキラは弾薬費等の条件と引換えにそれらの内容を飲んだ。
『まあ、大通りの周辺で好き勝手にやってくれってのは助かる。弾薬費も向こう持ちだしな。言い換えれば、ランク上げの依頼ってことを考慮しても、そんな条件が通ってしまうほど、この辺が危険だってことなんだろうけどさ』
アルファが軽く補足する。
『この大通りは以前にアキラを襲った大型機械系モンスターの巡回ルートを既に横断しているから、そういう意味では十分危険よ』
『そうなのか? ということは、道を通すためにあれを何とかしたのか。
アキラはそこで検問をしている部隊の者に、腕に着けている端末を見せていた。仮設基地で借りたこの端末は、以前地下街での依頼の時に借りたものと同様のものだ。今回の依頼でもこの端末を使用しており、端末は検問を通過する通行証も兼ねている。ハンターが遺跡の奥まで楽に進もうとしてこの大通りを使用する際には利用料が必要で、その徴収にも使用されていた。なおアキラは今回の依頼中は無料となっていた。
警備の男は自分の端末でアキラの端末を読み取ると、少し興味深そうな視線でアキラを見る。
「へー。お前がアキラなのか」
「あ、良いぞ。進んでくれ。まあ頑張りな」
アキラは男の態度を気にしないようにして検問を抜けた。しかし後から気になってしまった。
『私にも分からないわ。気にせずに進みましょう。一度戻って確認するほどのことでもないでしょう?』
『彼らの中でアキラの話でも出回っているのかもしれないわね。キバヤシがアキラに見せた映像でも見たり、その話を聞いたりしたのかもしれないわ』
『彼らが都市の職員なら、社内の話でしょう?』
『......勘弁してくれ。あの戦闘を基準にして応援要請とかを回されるのは御免だ』
『引き受ける義務はないのだから、その時は依頼を受けた義理の分だけ戦って逃げれば良いのよ』
『そうだな。そうしよう』
男の同僚がアキラの応対に素通りと呼ぶには多すぎる時間を掛けたことを不思議に思って声を掛ける。
「いや、何でもない。昨日飲んでた時に話題に出たハンターを見掛けたってだけだ」
「あいつ、そんなに珍しいハンターなのか?」
「あいつがっていうか、あいつに目を付けているやつがってところだな。ほら、キバヤシだよ」
「あー、そういうことか。まだ子供みたいなのに。へー」
たとえキバヤシの悪癖の所為で3桁を超えるハンターが巻き添えになろうとも、最前線で活動するほどのハンターとの縁を確保できれば十分釣りが来る。その判断により、キバヤシは都市やハンターオフィスからいろいろと大目に見られているのだ。弾薬費等をほぼ無制限で肩代わり等というアキラの少々異常な優遇処置の根拠もそこにあった。
「それで、あいつはおめでとうの方なのか? それともお気の毒の方なのか?」
「さあな。今のところは死んでないんだし、おめでとうの方で良いんじゃないか? まあ、いつお気の毒の方になっても不思議はねえんだけどさ。俺はあんな境遇は御免だね」
『さて、ここからどうするか』
アルファが簡単な指針を提示する。
『一応確認するけれど、今回の依頼中は基本的には私のサポートなしで頑張るのよね?』
『ああ。アルファを頼ってモンスターを無駄弾も使わずに撃破し続けたりしたら、また変に目を付けられそうだからな。あの黒い機体を倒したのは俺の実力ではなく偶然だったと判断してもらう
にも、俺の自力での実力を確認する
アキラも軽く笑って返す。
『微妙な内容だったら、これからの訓練を更に厳しいものにしてあげるわ』
『これ以上厳しい内容にしたら、訓練のたびに手足が千切れるんじゃないか?』
『その時は500万オーラムの回復薬が役に立つわね』
アルファは楽しげに笑っている。アキラは少し引き気味の表情でバイクを走らせた。大通りから脇道に入り、廃ビルの間を通って遺跡奥部の探索を始めた。
ヤツバヤシが診療所の自室で顔を
大型の表示装置にはティオルに埋め込んだ発信器の反応位置が表示されている。一緒に送信されている各種情報の内容も表示されている。その位置はクズスハラ街遺跡を示していた。
「埋め込んだ爆弾は時間経過でも起爆するはずなんだが、そっちも無効化されたのか、
ヤツバヤシはティオルの生死そのものは重要視していない。その内にどこかで死んで適当に処理される分には問題ないと思い、今まで状況を楽観視していた。しかし当初は僅かな懸念事項だと判断していたことが、今は大分現実味を帯び始めていた。
ティオルの反応は都市が遺跡の後方連絡路確保作業を続けている大通りの周辺を示している。何らかの事態が発生して、そこに派遣されている部隊がティオルを生死問わず確保してしまい、更に何らかの疑念を抱いてティオルを詳しく調査した場合、ヤツバヤシにとって不都合な事実がいろいろと露見する可能性があるのだ。
「まっずいなー。何らかの手段でティオル君を回収した方が良いか? でもなー」
ヤツバヤシは実際に回収に動いた場合に発生し兼ねない別の実害を思い浮かべた。それはこのままティオルを放置した場合に発生する実害より大きかった。しかし回収に成功した場合に得られる利益を考慮すると、黙って放置するのも惜しいとは思うのだ。
Ch 178
With the destruction of the two reigning gangs, a large chunk of slum city was immediately thrown into a vacuum of power. Bosses of medium-sized to small-sized gangs gathered together to discuss that very matter right now. Their main focus was what to do with the territory left by the two destroyed gangs.
Of course, they could not afford to use military power to fight for that territory. But in order to keep their right over that territory, they could not afford to just back out either. Thanks to that, they could not come to a consensus even after a long and difficult discussion.
"Geez, let's just decide on something. Just split that territory equally to the gangs neighbouring it, isn't that good enough?"
"Heck no! If we go with that method, you'll get a huge chunk of that territory. Even my gang had also lent those two gangs a lot of money and we can't retrieve them back now. I won't accept it unless we get enough territory to compensate for that amount."
"Breaking that territory into pieces will only cause more trouble later."
"Even the bases and the buildings are pretty valuable for us. Hunters might have no interest in them, but we can use them to earn more money. I'm sure you guys want them too. If we keep bickering like this, the City Management will burn them sooner or later, you know?"
"If you take the base, the area around the base will automatically become yours too. So how are you going to split that? I bet you're planning to take that base for yourself, right? Like hell I will just let you do that!"
"If we only divide the territory among the gangs which participated in that battle, that would be the remnants of Ezont Family and Haurias, and that newcomer. But with no one from the Haurias nor Ezont Family here, that means everything will go to that newcomer. If we go with that method, I want to at least listen to the newcomer's opinion first."
Everyone in that room turned to the newcomer, and that newcomer was Sheryl.
Sheryl had come to that place with Viola and Carol. Viola and Carol stood behind Sheryl's seat as if they were officers under Sheryl's gang.
"In that case, would it be okay if I take everything?"
No one expected Sheryl to say something as preposterous as that, half of the people there looked at her with widened eyes as they froze in place. The silence slowly shifted into whispers, and then whispers into chatters. While they were mumbling about those unexpected words from Sheryl, one of them shouted.
"Even if you take everything, there's no way you can manage the whole territory all by yourself anyway. Use common sense here, will you?"
"You're indeed right. Shijima-san, I'll leave the territory that I get to you, so will you please manage them for us? If yes, then I'll only take the territory that Shijima-san can manage, is that good enough for everyone? Shijima-san, we can talk about the details like how are we going to split the profit and the cost for maintaining that territory later."
One of the bosses there calculated how big the area that Shijima's gang could manage with their current power, and his face turned grim as he realized that there was a good chance another gang would try to wrestle that territory from Shijima later if they did that.
"Wait a sec. Why did you suddenly say that? Or more like, why Shijima? If you need someone else to manage that territory, you can pick any other gang, right? Did you guys make some kind of agreement beforehand or something?"
"Not exactly. But during the discussion with Akira from the other day, we promised him to get along with Shijima-san's gang and he hasn't told me to abandon that agreement either."
The moment Sheryl brought up Akira's name, all the gang bosses there showed various reactions- fear, alert, interest, doubt, mockery-all of them had different reactions to Akira's name.
Everyone looked at Viola. Although only some of them were obviously suspecting Viola, everyone could agree that the chance of her involvement was not zero.
Viola had her usual provocative smile as she pulled out her information terminal and operated it. Immediately afterwards, a notification reached the information terminal of the other people in that place. Since it was obvious that it was from Viola, everyone checked their information terminal and noticed that it was a video file.
The moment they played that video, everyone was dumbstruck. It was a video of Akira fighting a black powered suit. Murmurs started to ripple as they expressed their impression of that video.
"Damn, what the heck is wrong with this boy..."
"This guy fought a powered suit with nothing more than his body, huh? Wait, no, he's using an augmented suit, but still..."
"Wait for a sec here, he's winning? Are you kidding me...?"
The video was like a collage of multiple short shots, but it was enough as proof that Akira was a real maniac.
One of the bosses there could not hide his shock as he asked Viola.
"Can you prove that this video is not fake? For all that we know, you might have faked this video."
Viola smiled at him as if to mock him and challenge him.
"If you can't trust me, you can try to investigate it yourself. Although it's a confidential video, it's not a huge secret. So you should be able to get the same video with a little effort, you know?"
The guy who asked that question was convinced that it was not a fake video from that exchange. Or at least, he understood that the City Management even trusted that video too. Although he was not that convinced compared to the other people present, it was enough to shut him up.
Another guy then turned to Sheryl again, he still was not able to fully recover from the shock as he said to her.
"...Leaving that Hunter aside, I still think it's too much for you to ask everything, no?"
"True, but I have no reason to refuse that proposition either. Not to mention, I have some debts that I have to pay Akira too. So if I can take the whole territory, I'm planning to turn some of them into money. After I formally receive that territory, I'm thinking of selling some of them to the other gangs. After all, I did something similar with Shijima-san before."
"About 4 billion Aurum."
"...4 Billion? Is this some kind of joke?"
"I can assure you that it's not. The one who calculated that debt is Viola."
After Sheryl said that, everyone sent a hostile gaze to Viola. Viola only smiled back at everyone in response to that. Judging from that reaction, everyone had the same thought, Viola must have done something dirty to get Sheryl into that debt.
Akira was strong enough to fight a powered suit and was invested enough in Sheryl that he would go to rescue her himself. Then to top it off, he was crazy enough to raid one of the biggest gang's base just to kill a pickpocket. This opportunity was basically a good chance for Akira to get back the 4 billion Aurum that he had lent to Sheryl. So considering how much animosity they would earn from Akira if they tried to contest for that territory and preventing Sheryl from paying back her debt, it might be not a wise thing to be greedy, at least not for now.
After he made up his mind, he decided to change his method of trying to get his hands on that territory.
"I'm fine with it if you want to let the other gangs take care of that territory, but it doesn't have to be Shijima, right? Though you said you want to get along well with Shijima's gang, to be honest, I don't think you can get much profit from that, am I wrong?"
"Well, that's true."
"Thought so!"
That guy smiled and glanced at the bosses from the other gangs that his gang was going along relatively well with. All of them immediately gave their approval when he did that. Thus an alliance was formed in order to take a part of that territory management right from Shijima's gang.
When that guy was about to continue, Sheryl interrupted him while making a troubled face.
"But again, other than Shijima-san, I know no one else who has negotiated with Akira, forced him to compromise, and even made him pay up some money."
"...Let's take a short break here."
Since no one objected, they took a short break from the discussion as they started leaving the meeting room. But of course, no one was actually taking a break, they only left the room since they wanted to discuss something that they could not discuss there.
Shijima was the first one to leave the room. He understood very well that it would be bad if the other gangs swamped him. He believed that he should take some distance from the other gangs for now and contact Viola, who he bet had her hands on this behind the scene.
Sheryl, Viola and Carol were the only ones left inside that room. Sheryl let out a long sigh, she looked rather tired. Viola was talking with Shijima through her information terminal not too far from Sheryl. Carol, who was also standing close to Sheryl, looked at her and smiled amusedly.
"Carol-san, is there anything wrong?"
"Hm? It's nothing. I just thought that if Viola had a little sister, she would look just like you."
"...Please stop with the jokes."
Carol could not hold back her giggle seeing how Sheryl obviously hated that idea.
After that, the meeting continued pretty smoothly in one direction. Although there was a bit of disagreement, they finally agreed on a consensus, and Sheryl's gang was able to gain a lot of profits from that conclusion.
Akira was riding his bike through a major road inside Kuzusuhara ruin. This road was built by Kugamayama city and it went all the way to the forward base deep inside the ruin. Even now, the road was guarded by those who were also properly maintaining it. After all, it was an important road for the sake of exploring the ruin.
After the long negotiation with Kibayashi that lasted until the sunset, the rank-up request that Akira accepted from him was to take Hunter jobs around that road. To be more precise, it included hunting monsters and relics, patrolling and gathering information, as well as accepting SOS requests. Basically, it was a rather lax request where Akira was basically free to do whatever he wanted.
But of course, there were also some requirements that Akira had to do. Any relics that he gathered during that request should be sold to the relic exchange office in the forward base, he had to hand over all the information that he gathered, he should not ignore the SOS request he received, and he had to prioritize cleaning up any monster swarm that he found near the road. In exchange for paying his ammo and his other expenses, Akira accepted those conditions.
"Well, it's great that I'm basically free from doing anything I want as long as I stay near this highway, they'll also pay for my ammo too. But seeing from their perspective, it means that even considering the fact this request is made to boost my rank, this request is actually so dangerous to the point that they agreed on such a condition."
Alpha lightly added.
"This road basically cross past the patrol route of that big monster that attacked you the other day. So judging from that fact, this place is actually pretty dangerous, you know."
"Is that so? Wait, that means that they had to fight that monster when they secured this road, huh? That's pretty amazing, I wonder how they managed to defeat that monster?"
In one of those checkpoints, Akira was showing the terminal on his arm to one of the guards. That terminal was lent to him from the forward base and it was of the same type as the one that he had got during the request in Kuzusuhara underground city forward base. He was told to use that information terminal during this request too and it also doubled as a pass to go through the checkpoints. Normally, Hunters would have to pay when they wanted to use that road and a terminal was also there to collect the payment. But during this request, Akira was exempted from that fee.
The guard connected his terminal to Akira's terminal, he then slightly raised his eyebrows and looked at Akira.
"Ohhh, so you're Akira, huh?"
"Nah, everything is good. You can pass, good luck out there."
Akira just ignored that guy and passed through the checkpoints. But a little later he remembered something and seemed a bit bothered by it.
"No idea. Let's just forget about it and keep going. It's not that important that you would go back just to check it, right?"
"I bet it's just that they've heard about you or something. It might be just that they have seen that video from Kibayashi or heard about your involvement in that incident."
"Those guys are from the City Management, so it won't be strange if they know, no?"
"...Give me a break. I don't want people throwing requests at me using that battle as a basis."
"You're not obligated to accept them even if they do. But if something like that were to happen again, you can just fight enough to fulfil your contract and run away."
"You're right, I'll do that."
One of that guard's friends came to the guard when he saw him taking an unusually long time to check Akira's identity through the checkpoint.
"Nah, it's nothing. It's just that he was the Hunter we talked about when we were out drinking yesterday."
"Is that kind of Hunter really so rare?"
"Rather than at him, I'm more interested in the guy who's interested in him. It's that Kibayashi, you know."
"Ahh, I see now. I feel bad for him since he's still young..."
Even if his bad habit sometimes caused trouble with triple-digit rank Hunters, with his connections to all the Hunters working in the front line, Kibayashi was treated as an important person. Thanks to that, the City Management and the Hunter Office had their eyes on him. That was exactly the reason why Akira was able to get such benefits like all his ammo expenses paid by the City Management.
"So then, is he the lucky one? Or the poor one?"
"No idea. He's still alive and kicking for now, so I guess he's the lucky one. But with that being said, it won't be strange if he turns into the unlucky one anytime. Honestly, I wouldn't want to be in his situation if I were him."
"Now then, what to do from here?"
Alpha made a suggestion to Akira.
"Just to make sure, you'll do your best during this request without my support, right?"
"Yeah, if I keep defeating monsters effectively without using many bullets thanks to your support, I feel like people will start to get weird expectations of me again. So for the time being, I'll try doing this request on my own to check my own real strength and to make people understand that I was able to defeat that black powered suit because of luck instead of skill. I'll rely on your support only when it's really needed."
"In that case, this will be the perfect chance to check the result of all your training up until now. I'll be staying beside you to see how far you can go without my support."
Akira lightly smiled back at her.
"If I don't see much improvement, I'll increase the difficulty of your training, okay?"
"If you make it any harder, my limbs would fall off, you know?"
"It's a good thing that you bought that 5 million Aurum medicine, isn't it?"
In contrast to Alpha who was smiling amusedly, Akira seemed a bit concerned as he paced his bike. He then turned into one of the side roads and went through alleys between buildings to search the ruin.
While at the same time, Yatsubayashi was sitting in his private room while making a troubled face.
The big display in front of him was showing the signal from the tracker implanted inside Tiol. It also showed other information along with Tiol's position. At the moment, Tiol's signal was coming from Kuzusuhara ruin.
"The bomb inside him should have exploded after a fixed amount of time. Did he dismantle that too? Or did he completely devour it...?"
Yatsubayashi actually did not really care that much about Tiol's life. He thought he could just retrieve Tiol's corpse after he died somewhere, that was why he was not that pressured to take care of Tiol right now. But now it was starting to get worrying.
Tiol's signal was showing that he was staying somewhere next to the main road made by the City Management that went through the ruin. In case the guards captured Tiol and did a close investigation on him, it might link back to Yatsubayashi.
"Yep, this is not good at all. Maybe I should do something to retrieve Tiol back. But still..."
Yatsubayashi then thought about some of the negatives that might happen if he took the initiative to retrieve Tiol. Although leaving Tiol alone might cause him a lot of trouble, considering how much benefit he could get if he was able to retrieve Tiol back, he honestly did not want to let Tiol roam around freely.
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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