キャロル達との用事を済ませたゼロスが車で帰路に就いている。ババロドはヴィオラに引き渡したので乗っていない。
ゼロスとヴィオラの現場での交渉は
高ランクのハンターということもあり、一定の自由を奪われた上で負債を完済するまで遺跡に潜り続ける程度で済むだろう。ゼロスはそう考えており、それで良いと思っていた。チームリーダーとして許す訳にはいかないことをしたとはいえ、少しは情もある相手を地獄に落とすのは気が引けるからだ。
その上で、ゼロスが
ただそれでも義体者やサイボーグに対して単純に性的に付け込むのは難しいとされている。感覚器の感度調整は義体側で調整可能であることが多く、そもそも戦闘用の機体でその手の機能が付いていない者も多いからだ。
拡張現実機器を併用するなどの手段を取っても、単純に性的に溺れさせるほどの体感を与えるのは難しい。その
よってその手の者の籠絡を試みる場合、大抵は擬似的な恋人関係を構築するような方面から攻めることになる。しかしそれも普通は難しい。目標の好みの調査や偶然を装った接触など手間も時間も費用も掛かる。逆に言えば、それだけの労力を費やしても実行した場合、それに見合う目的が存在することが多い。
ゼロスもそれぐらいは知っている。だからこそ今回の件に強い懸念を抱き、
ゼロスは今回の件を敵対するハンターチームなどからの攻撃だと考えていた。工作員を送り込み、目標との関係を深めさせて、チームの金、情報、信用を奪いに来た。そう考えていた。
だが確認してみればババロドの相手は
つまりキャロルは今回かなり危ない橋を渡っていた。各部位が傷んでおり、谷も深く、落ちれば死にかねない危険な橋だ。本人にもその自覚が有った。それでもその橋を渡ったのは、地雷原を歩くよりはましだと判断したからだ。踏めば確実に即死する地雷が埋まっている地面を歩くよりも、危険な橋を注意して渡った方が安全だと判断したのだ。
実際には地雷は埋まっておらず地雷原だと示す立て札が立っていただけだったとしても、全て
今日もアキラはキャロルの護衛としてミハゾノ街遺跡の地図の作成作業に付き合っていた。一緒に遺跡の中を移動しながら、時折自分にはよく分からないことをしているキャロルを見て、恐らく何らかの地図作成作業なのだろうと思いながら後に続く。
キャロルが今も道の途中で立ち止まり、何も無い空中に視線を向けている。そして笑ってアキラを手招きすると地面を指差した。
「アキラ。ちょっとここに立ってみて」
アキラは言われた通りに指示された場所に立った。別段何も起こらない。しかしキャロルはアキラの様子をさり気なく、だが注意深く観察していた。
「......立ったけど、何だ?」
少し不思議そうにしているアキラを見て、キャロルは観察を止めると今度は前を指差した。
「今度はあっちを見て。あそこに迷彩機能を有効にしている機械系モンスターがいるんだけど、分かる?」
アキラがその方向を凝視する。情報収集機器がその視線の動きを感知して、情報収集処理の範囲と精度の調整を始める。単純な迷彩機能ならばそれで見破れる。しかしそれらしいものは発見できない。
『アルファ。そんなやつ本当にいるのか?』
アルファが笑って答える。
『確かにいるわ。見付けにくいけどね。サポートした方が良い?』
『頼む。あ、まずは情報収集機器の索敵設定の調整の方で頼む』
アキラの情報収集機器の性能では絶対に探知できない程の高度な迷彩だった場合、アルファのサポートでそれを見抜いてしまうと、それを後で指摘された時に
キャロルが得意げに笑う。
「これも地図作りの作業でちまちまと丁寧に念入りにデータを取った上で、集計データを何度も更新した成果なの。こういう情報を記載した地図は高値で売れるのよ。そこらの地図屋の地図には載ってないわ」
「成る程。遺跡に何度も出向いて手間
「普段は見えないだけの置物だから、こっちからちょっかいを出さない限りは無害よ。恐らく前のような騒ぎに備えた予備戦力なんだと思うわ」
そこでキャロルが意味深に笑う。
特定の条件を満たさない限り襲ってこない多脚戦車が、高度な迷彩状態で遺跡に配置されている。運悪く条件を満たした者が数多く死ねば、死亡理由不明の死者が増えていく。その不明確な
よ。任せなさい』
アルファは自信たっぷりな態度で答えた。
クズスハラ街遺跡には誘う亡霊という怪談がある。だが自分は死んでいない。少なくとも、今はまだ。アキラは何となくそう思っていた。
キャロルが話を続ける。
「そうなのか。うーん。それでも別に怪談になるような話じゃないと思うけどな」
「あとね、どうしてもその正体が気になって、そのメイドを躍起になって探し回った人もいるらしいんだけど、その何人かが消息不明になってるそうよ。その中には結構強いハンターもいて、もっと東の方から来た高ランクのハンターも混ざっているとかいないとか」
遺跡でハンターが数名消息不明になっても、普通は当人の技量不足や遺跡の難易度上昇で片付けられる。しかし場違いに強いはずの者がいなくなれば、それだけの何かがあるという恐れも強くなる。明確な理由無しに似たような事態が続き、中途半端に関係がありそうな
「そういうことか。確かにそんなことが続けば怪談になりそうだな」
「怪談になったとして、名前を付けるなら、クズスハラ街遺跡には誘う亡霊って怪談があるし、こっちは、誘うメイド、かしら?」
「いやー、それはちょっと安直じゃないか?」
レイナはシオリ達と一緒にミハゾノ街遺跡の市街区画を探索していた。当然ハンター稼業としてだ。だが普段のハンター稼業とは少々事情が異なっていた。
シオリとカナエは今日もメイド服を着用している。但し以前と同じものではない。シオリが上と交渉して調達した高性能な戦闘服だ。
一応メイド服のデザインを保っているが、デザインよりも戦闘能力向上を優先した部位が多く見られる。遠目ではメイド服に見えても、近くで見ればただの見間違いだったと判断する者も出る程度には戦闘服よりだ。性能も以前のものに比べて格段に高く、ツェゲルト都市近辺で活動するハンターの装備と比べても全く見劣りしない。
そして今日はレイナもシオリ達と同じ装備を身に付けていた。
シオリはレイナに自分達と同じ服を着せることを余り快く思っていなかった。どれほどデザインに優れており戦闘面でも非常に高性能な代物であっても、結局は使用人側の服だからだ。しかし上との交渉でレイナ用の武装を別に手配するのに失敗したことと、レイナ自身が着用を全く嫌がらなかったことで、レイナもシオリ達と同じ使用人側の装備を身に付けることになった。
羽織るだけでも大分変わる。使用人側の服を着たレイナの姿を隠せる。そう思っての言葉だった。だがレイナは軽く首を横に振った。
「このままで良いわ。この装備、上に何か羽織る設計では無いから、下手をするとその
何か羽織って性能を落とす必要もないでしょ? このままで良いわ」
シオリは渋々引き下がった。その様子を見て、カナエが表面上は軽い様子で笑って
カツヤの死を知ったレイナは非常に悲しんだ。だがそれ以上に驚いた。レイナ自身、今まで何度も危なかった。もう少しで死ぬところだった状況は何度もあった。だからこそ、ハンター稼業とはそれほど厳しいものだと分かっていた。
だがそれでも、カツヤは死なないだろうと心のどこかでずっと思っていたのだ。それがカツヤの死で覆された。
荒野とは、ハンター稼業とは、あのカツヤでさえ死ぬほどに危険な場所で、危険な稼業なのだ。レイナはカツヤの死を知ったことでそう認識した。それは心のどこかにまだ残っていた甘い考えを、荒野の危険を軽視していた部分を消し去った。
荒野を、ハンター稼業を改めて怖いと思った。だが
その成長もあって、レイナは自分の服装など余り気にしていなかった。
「それでシオリ、その仕事の進捗はどんな感じなの?」
「申し訳ございません。残念ながらこれといった成果は無く、
くのご辛抱を......」
「大丈夫。実家絡みの依頼ってことも含めて、割り切っているつもりよ」
レイナは今回の仕事の詳細を知らない。正確には
「ええ。場所が悪いのか、認証の問題か、そもそも手段が間違っているのか。......分からないわ」
「予定の場所はそろそろ調べ終えるっす。場所の問題では無いのなら続けるだけ無駄骨っすよ。どうするっすか? 予定の場所を調べ終えたら、セランタルビルに突入って手もあるっすよ。今の私達の装備なら何とかなると思うっす。それであそこで駄目なら、もう
さんっすからそこは任せるっすけど、このままだと手詰まりっすよ? 一旦引き上げっすか?」
シオリもカナエの言い分は正しいと分かっている。このままだと成果無しで引き上げる羽目になるのは確実だ。白いカードを交渉材料にしてまで得た機会なのだ。むざむざと手放したくは無かった。
「......場所の問題であれば、別の可能性も考えてあるの。引き上げる前に、まずはそっちを試すわ」
シオリが自然と険しくなっていた表情を戻し、レイナに向けても問題無い
「お嬢様。次の場所に移動します」
「了解。行きましょうか。あ、何度も言ってるけど、今はシオリが雇い主みたいなものなんだから、もうちょっと軽い口調でも構わないわ」
「そう? まあ、そこは雇い主の意向に従っておきますか」
レイナは軽く笑って冗談っぽく話を流した。
「ねえカナエ。シオリ、大丈夫なの?」
さんに自分で言えば良いと思うっすけど?」
「私がシオリに無理をするなと言っても、逆に無理をしろと言っても、何も言わなくても、シオリは無理をするんでしょう? だからカナエに言ってるの。お願い」
「......私、そういうふうに思われてたの?」
「ぶっちゃけると、お嬢と初めて会った時はクソガキAぐらいにしか思ってなかったっす。あ、今は違うっすよ?」
「クソガキAに戻らないように気を付けるわ」
「良い心掛けっすね」
妙な主従は曲がり形にも一応は親しげに話しながら遺跡の中を進んでいった。
Since his business with Carol was over, Zelos returned back in his vehicle. Babalod was not with him since Babalod had already been taken away by Viola.
Zelos and Viola's negotiation reached a conclusion without much trouble. It was not rare for a negotiator to take care of negotiations between Hunters. After all, if two high ranking Hunter teams broke into a fight, the damage to the area would not be small. Except for the times when their main aim was the destruction of the other team, Hunters tend to use negotiators to handle the negotiations peacefully. Zelos was already used to this, so he just threw his negotiation with Viola to his own team's negotiator.
Furthermore, with Babalod being a high ranking Hunter, at most, he would be forced to go to the ruins until he would be able to pay his debt. Zelos knew that and was fine with it. Although if Babalod got sent for human experimentation, he could not let that slide as the team leader. After all, he would still feel bad to throw someone that he cared for into hell.
With that being said, Zelos looked a bit uncertain as he mumbled.
Even so, it was well known that it was not easy to seduce a cyborg. Many of them could adjust their sensitivity manually. Then to top it off, a cyborg's body was battle-oriented, thus many of them did not even have the device to enjoy such an activity.
Even if they could choose to add such a device, the sensation transmitted from that device would hardly make someone addicted. Because of that, hardly any cyborg gets addicted to body stimulus.
As such, those who aimed to try to seduce cyborgs were often forced to build a pseudo-lover relationship. This was also not easy. It took time and money to investigate one's preference and set up a chance meeting. Those who still chose to do that must have known that their hardwork would be properly rewarded by the end of the day.
Zelos understood that much. This was the reason he was very suspicious of Carol and went there himself to confirm his suspicion.
Zelos thought that the matter with Carol was some kind of attack from another Hunter team. They sent one of their operators to approach a target and stole his team's money, information, and trust.
But after he went to check it himself, it turned out that Babalod's problem was related to a Hunter who was working a side job as a prostitute. Babalod told him everything after a light interrogation when his embezzlement of the team's budget was discovered. Afterwards, Babalod agreed to go to Carol to demand the money back. This showed that Babalod's relationship with Carol was nothing more than that of a prostitute and a client. It did not seem that it was some kind of elaborate honey trap where Carol completely seduced Babalod.
In short, Carol took a big gamble to cross this bridge. It was a dangerous, damaged bridge hanging on top of a deep ravine. Carol knew that. But even so, she still decided to cross that bridge. She believed that it was better than having to walk through a minefield. After all, it was much safer to carefully cross through a precarious bridge instead of having to tread through the land with hidden mines that would blow her up.
Although the land itself might have no mines buried under it, it might just be her unwarranted fear making her believe that there were mines. Nonetheless, she still could not choose to walk through it.
Today, Akira was working as Carol's bodyguard again as they were collecting information to make a map of the Mihazono ruin. In the middle of their exploration, he saw Carol regularly doing something that he did not understand. He simply thought that she must be working on the map or something.
Just like last time, Carol suddenly stopped and looked in the direction where there was nothing, she then smiled at Akira, waved at him, and pointed at the ground.
"Akira, try standing here for a bit."
Akira did as he was told and nothing in particular happened. But Carol casually but carefully observed his reaction.
"...Okay, and?"
Seeing that Akira was a bit confused, Carol stopped and pointed to the front.
"Can you try to look over there? There's a monster hiding over there with optical camouflage, can you see it?"
Akira frowned and looked in the direction she was pointing at. He used his information terminal to search for movement there and adjusted the focused direction and the sensitivity of his information-gathering device. If it was some common optical camouflage, this would be enough to detect such a monster, but strangely enough, he did not find anything.
"Alpha, is she telling the truth?"
Alpha smiled and replied.
"Yeah. Although it's a difficult one to detect. Do you want me to give you my support?"
"Yes, please. Ah, can you start with tweaking the setting of the information-gathering device?"
If it was a monster with optical camouflage that was obviously undetectable using Akira's information-gathering device, it would be difficult to explain how he could detect that monster with Alpha's support. But that was not the case if it was something that could be explained by adjusting the setting of his information-gathering device. Since Akira was also using that chance to train himself, he decided to be careful about that as well.
Carol nodded.
"This is thanks to all the information that we've been diligently collecting, making regular updates for the map. The map made using this kind of information would fetch quite a lot of money, you know? Maps from common map brokers have no record about that monster."
"I see. So, it's thanks to our hard work going in and out of this ruin so many times, huh?"
"It's basically just like an invisible static object. So as long as we don't pick a fight with it, it normally won't attack us. I bet it's some kind of additional security monster in case a huge ruckus like the one in Kuzusuhara ruin occurs."
Carol's smile then deepened.
The hidden multi-legged tank monsters were posted inside the ruin; they would not attack unless certain conditions were satisfied. When more unfortunate Hunters, who satisfy said condition get killed by the monster, it would add to the number of Hunters who got killed by an unknown threat. It would not be strange for this to develop into another ghost story. As Akira thought so, he glanced at Alpha.
"But of course. Just leave it to me."
Alpha replied, full of confidence.
[There is a story of the beguiling ghost in Kuzusuhara ruin. But I am still alive, at least, that is the case for now.] Akira thought.
Carol then continued.
"Is that so? Well. Even if that's true, I still don't see how that would turn into a ghost story."
"Moreover, it seems that there are people who really, really want to know the real identity of those maids and went to look for them, but they vanished mysteriously. Among them, there were some high ranking Hunters as well. Those who came from further to the east, or so I heard."
Hunters who vanished inside the ruin were mostly regarded as dead because of their lack of skill compared to the difficulty of the ruin. However, since those high-ranking Hunters were way too strong to get killed in the Mihazono ruin, it meant that there was something extremely dangerous inside the ruin. If Hunters kept vanishing the same way and rumours that vaguely connected to them kept spreading, it was only a matter of time before it turned into another ghost story.
"I see. That kind of story indeed might turn into a ghost story."
"If it does turn into a ghost story, then just like the beguiling ghost of Kuzusuhara ruin, I wonder if it will be named as the beguiling maids."
"Well,won't that sound a bit too safe for such a dangerous story?"
Reina, Shiori, and Kanae were searching the city blocks of the Mihazono ruin. Of course, it was for a Hunter job, but this time, it was a little bit different compared to their usual Hunter job.
Just like usual, Kanae and Shiori were donning their maid outfits that day. But it was not their usual maid outfits, they were advanced battle suits that Shiori had procured beforehand.
Although they still kept their maid design, some parts of the suits were obviously modified to prioritize fighting capability to the point that it was obvious they were battle suits up-close. Though, they looked like normal maid outfits from afar. Their new fighting capability had greatly improved to the point where they could hold a candle when compared to the equipment from around Zegelt city.
And for today, Reina also wore similar equipment as Shiori and Kanae.
Shiori did not like the idea of making Reina use the same equipment as them. No matter how powerful their fighting capability, regardless of the design, in the end, they were maid outfits meant for servants. However, since her negotiation to get a different outfit for Reina failed and Reina herself was fine with wearing it, all three wore the same armor.
Even just a cover would greatly change the feel. It could hide the fact that Reina was using a servant's outfit. That was the meaning behind Shiori's words. However, Reina lightly shook her head and stated.
"I'm fine with this. This thing is not designed to be put under something else, so it might even lower its fighting capability, right?"
"But that doesn't mean that there's any need for me to risk lowering my fighting capability, right? I'm fine like this."
Shiori reluctantly backed off. Seeing that, Kanae tried to cheer her up with a smile.
Reina was extremely disheartened when she found out about Katsuya's death. But more than that, she was surprised. Reina herself had gone through so many dangerous situations where she almost died, she knew well just how dangerous being a Hunter was.
But even so, somewhere in her heart, she always believed that Katsuya would not die. And now, that Katsuya was dead.
The wasteland, being a Hunter. These two things combined were so dangerous that even someone like Katsuya got killed. Reina was reminded of this after hearing about Katsuya's death. Because of that, every aspect of her which looked down on the dangers of the wasteland got completely blown away.
Once again, Reina was reminded that going to the wasteland and working as a Hunter was a frightening endeavor. However, she did not let that break her. She also did not hesitate. Now that she recognized them as scary, she could properly prepare herself to get through them. She had the talent to at least accomplish that much.
Because of this development, Reina did not make any fuss regarding her equipment.
"So then, Shiori, how is the progress of the request?"
"My apologies. Unfortunately, we're not making any progress. This is not a good situation. But this does not mean that all our hard work is in vain. I know that Milady might find it vexing that I cannot tell Milady the details, so please be-"
"...Thank you very much."
"Don't worry, considering that it's a request from home, I'm already well over such a thing."
Reina had no knowledge about the details of her current job. To be more precise, she knows almost nothing about what was going on. The way she got that request was also abnormal, basically, Shiori sent a request to Drankam and Drankam assigned that request to Shiori. Thus, right now, Reina was formally working under Shiori.
"Yes, it's either the matter of the location or recognition failure or that we're doing this completely wrong in the first place... Either way, I don't know why it is not working at all."
"We only have a handful of places to check next though. If it's not about the location, then there's no meaning in checking all of them. So, what's the plan now? We can try to break through to the Seranthal building once we have no other places to check though. I'm sure we will be just fine with our current equipment. And if that doesn't work as well, then it means we're doing this wrong. So, we can just return back for now after that and..."
"I see. Well, in the end, it's your decision, so I'll leave it to you, but at this rate, we'll run out of options soon, you know? How about taking a break for now?"
Shiori understood why Kanae said so. She knew that the next few days would only be filled with more failures. This was an opportunity after she obtained that white card, so she had no plan to let this opportunity slide.
"...If it's a matter of location, I have another guess. Before we end our search for today, I want to check that first."
Shiori's stern expression turned back to normal, she turned toward Reina and smiled at her as if there was no problem at all.
"Milady, let's go to the next location."
"Okay. Let's go. Ah, by the way, I've told you this a few times before, but I'm basically working for you this time, so you can be more casual with me."
"Is that so? Well, I guess I'll just leave it like that considering it's my employer's decision."
Reina chuckled and jokingly said so.
"Say, Kanae, is Shiori alright?"
"I think it's fine if Milady tells Ane-san that yourself, you know?"
"Whether I tell her to not push herself too hard or not, or even if I don't say anything, she will still push herself too hard. That's why I'm saying this to you, so, please."
"...What do you think of me as?"
"To be honest, I only thought of Milady as a spoiled brat the first time I met you. Ah, but that doesn't mean I still think so right now, okay?"
"I'll be careful so as not to go back to being just a spoiled brat."
"That's a good resolve."
The master and the servant continued to talk in a strangely friendly manner while they traversed the ruin.
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