168 ハンター稼業再開
シズカがいつものように店番をしていると、店に入ってくるアキラの姿が見えた。いつものように声を掛けようとして、いつも通りではないアキラの様子に気付いてそれを止める。
ずとした様子で店に入った後、誰かを探すように店内を見渡していた。そしてその誰かがいないことを確認し終えると、安心したようにも残念そうにも見える少し複雑な表情を浮かべた。
「いらっしゃい」
シズカが笑って声を掛けると、アキラは一瞬びくっとした後で、少しぎこちない笑顔を返してきた。シズカはそれを少し不思議に思ったが、それでも取りあえず安心していた。エレナ達と
「今日の御用件は何かしら? 弾薬の補充には少々早い気がするけど。あ、暇潰しでも歓迎するわよ?」
「あ、いや、その、弾薬とかの補充に来ました」
「そうなの? この前装備品の購入と一緒に済ませたと思ったけど。新しい強化服の慣らしを兼ねてモンスターの掃討依頼でも受けて、たっぷり使っちゃったりしたの?」
「え、あ、その、い、いろいろありまして」
「そう? 補給品はいつも通りのやつで良い?」
シズカが僅かに顔を曇らせる。
「御免なさい。資材カートリッジは取り寄せになるわ。あれ、ちょっと高い製品だし、私の店で扱う品とは少しずれているから。すぐに必要なら急いで取り寄せるけど......」
「分かったわ。それなら普通に注文しておくわね。他の品は大丈夫よ。結構量があるから、アキラが車で来たのなら裏からでも良いかしら?」
「あ、その、あー、......はい。分かりました」
アキラが購入した弾薬等を車に積み込んでいる。シズカはその様子を見ながら何げないように尋ねる。
「ねえアキラ。その車、レンタルよね? 私から買ったものは整備にでも出しているの?」
アキラが一度動きを止める。そしてシズカから視線を
「いや、その、......すみません。あれは廃車になりました」
「廃車って......」
「その、いろいろありまして」
親身になって止めようとしてくれたのに、エレナさん達が言った通り、もう、本当に割に合わなくて......。やっぱりいろいろ感情的になっていたというか、意固地になっていた部分もあって、まあ、今だから言えることなんですけど......」
アキラは何かを反省して気落ちしている様子を見せていた。シズカがそれを見て、アキラを元気づけるように笑って明るい声を出す。
「何があって廃車になったか知らないけど、取りあえずアキラが無事で良かったわ。
「あ、はい。それは大丈夫です」
「それなら良いのよ。これからも体には十分気を付けなさい。アキラがあれをもう気にしてないってことは、私からもエレナ達に伝えておくわね。店におっかなびっくり入ってきたし、多分だけど、ちょっと気まずいんでしょう?」
「すみません。お願いします」
「分かったわ。ちゃんと伝えておくわね。安心して。エレナ達の方は別に怒ったりしていないから。大丈夫よ」
アキラが明らかに安心した様子を見せた。それを見てシズカが機嫌良く笑う。
シズカはアキラがアルナを殺したことに気付いていた。
割に合わなかった。そのアキラの言葉には実感が籠もっていた。車が廃車になったのも、今回の弾薬等の補給も、その割に合わない事態の代償なのだろう。エレナとサラに止められて、自分からもよく考えるように言われたはずだが、結局アキラはスリを見逃せなかった。あの時のアキラの様子から考えて、スリと劇的な和解をできたとは思えない。意固地になっていたと認められるほどの、我に返ったと言えるほどの意識の切り替えができるようになったのだ。ならば、恐らくは、殺して我に返ったのだ。
そう考えればアキラの店に入った時の態度も納得できる。友人達の助言や忠告をほぼ無視して突っ走ったのだ。その友人達と顔を合わせるのを気まずくも思うだろう。シズカはそう推察していた。自身の勘もそれを肯定していた。
う。殺されたスリに同情の念は湧かない。だがアキラがスリを殺したことには悲しみを覚えた。アキラは既に4億オーラムの装備を手に入れられるほどの力を得ているのだ。その力があっても割に合わなかったと判断した危険や損害も、結局はアキラを止められなかったのだ。
大きな力は余裕や寛容も生み出す。しかしアキラが得た力はアキラにスリの件を取るに足らない出来事にするほどの余裕や寛容を与えなかった。アキラの意識は
ヤツバヤシの診療所には治療用患者の部屋と治験用患者の部屋が存在している。治療用のベッドを使用するか治験用のベッドを使用するかは患者の金で決まる。ここに厄介になる患者は大抵スラム街の住人なので、大抵は治験用のベッドを使用することになる。
それらの部屋の更に奥には立入禁止の部屋が存在していた。治療でも治験でもない実験用患者の部屋だ。広めの室内には得体の知れない様々な装置や器具が置かれていた。そしてその部屋の中央にあるベッドにティオルが腰掛けていた。
ティオルはぼんやりとした表情で黙って前を見ていた。手と足に分厚い鉄板のような拘束具が着けられているが、それを気にしている様子は全くない。身じろぎもせずに座っていた。
部屋には窓もない。壁は防音性で外から音も入ってこない。ティオルも黙っているので部屋の中は非常に静かだ。その外部の一切の情報を隔離したような部屋で、ティオルが不意に視線を部屋のドアに向ける。するとドアが開いてヤツバヤシが入ってくる。
ヤツバヤシが食事を持って部屋の中に入ってティオルの様子を見た時、ティオルの視線は既に前方の空間に戻っていた。
ヤツバヤシはティオルの前に座ると、料理を金属製のフォークで刺してティオルの口元に運ぶ。ティオルが口を大きく開けて料理をフォークの先ごと
ヤツバヤシが先のなくなったフォークをティオルの口元に運ぶと、ティオルはそれも食べ始めた。その後、金属製の皿に乗った料理も皿ごと食べてしまった。ヤツバヤシは自分の手も食べられないように注意して皿を支えて、早めに手を放した。
食事を終えたティオルは黙ってヤツバヤシを見ていた。焦点は合っている。しかし近いものを見ているだけであり、その視線から何らかの意思を感じることはできなかった。ヤツバヤシがティオルの口を拭っても、ティオルは全く反応を示さなかった。
ヤツバヤシは僅かに険しくも残念そうな表情を浮かべている。
め息を吐く。そして立ち上がり、部屋から出ようとしてドアノブに手を掛けたところで振り返る。
「ティオル君。治療でも治験でもなく実験でも良いと言ったのは君だ。最善を尽くすが、駄目でも悪く思うなよ? じゃあ、また明日な」
ヤツバヤシは笑ってそれだけ言うと部屋から出て行った。先日の騒ぎで病室のベッドは満床だ。研究資金を稼ぐためにも彼らの治療に手は抜けず、ヤツバヤシはとても忙しかった。そのため常時ティオルに貼り付いている余裕はなかったのだ。
部屋にはまたティオルだけになった。静寂を取り戻した部屋の中で、ティオルは今までと同じように黙って前を見続けていた。その視線が急に自身の
トメジマが都市の下位区画の事務所で頭を抱えている。そこにコルベが入ってきた。トメジマが勢いよく顔を上げる。
かなり必死な表情を浮かべているトメジマに向けて、コルベが首を軽く横に振る。
「ちょっと調べてきたが、駄目だ。見つからないし、連絡も取れない。多分死んでるな」
「くそっ! またかよ!」
トメジマが再び頭を抱えた。そのかなり深刻な表情には多分に焦りの色が見えた。
「荒れてるな。そんなにヤバいのか?」
「当たり前だ。これで10人だぞ? 10人分の債権が吹っ飛んだんだ。損害額が幾らになると思ってるんだ?」
コルベはトメジマからの仕事で債務者の捜索及び債権の回収を頼まれていた。回収対象はハンターやハンター崩れだ。そこらの人間には手に余るため、同じハンターであるコルベに仕事が回ってきたのだ。
しかしその債務者達は現在行方不明だった。ただしトメジマもコルベも彼らの行方の想像は付いている。先日の大抗争で、エゾントファミリーかハーリアスのどちらかに雇われて戦死した。死体は恐らくエゾントファミリーの拠点内に散らばっている。そう推測していた。
コルベがその負債額を頭で軽く計算して少し不思議そうにする。
き集めても億には届かねえだろう。お前がそこまで頭を抱える額か?」
「今は少しでも金が要るんだよ......」
「......例の抗争で、うちは両賭けしてたんだよ」
コルベは頭を抱えるトメジマの苦境を理解して苦笑した。
エゾントファミリーとハーリアスは抗争の資金源を下位組織から絞っていたが、それに加えてトメジマ達のような金融業者からも多額の融資を受けていた。勝てばたっぷり色を付けて返す。更に競合相手を潰して盤石となった支配力でいろいろと便宜を図ってやる。そう言って半ば脅迫的に多額の資金を借りていたのだ。
その大抗争の結果、組織は両方とも壊滅してしまった。両賭けを選択した者達は多額の融資の回収先を失ってしまい途方に暮れていた。ある意味で彼らもヴィオラの被害者だ。
コルベがトメジマを軽く励ます。
「分かったよ。お前の会社に潰れられても困るからな。債務者連中をもう少し探してやる。あんまり期待せずに待ってろ。運が良ければ、死体ぐらいは見つかるだろう」
「言っておくが、その分の費用はちゃんと請求するからな?」
「お元気そうで何よりです。もう大丈夫なんですか?」
「完治済みよ。全く問題ないわ」
「そうですか。では、これから
ヴィオラはアキラとの約束通りシェリル達の徒党運営に協力しに来ていた。徒党の顧問のような立ち位置ではあるが、一応シェリルの配下としても動くことになっている。シェリルをボスと呼んだのもそのためだ。
シェリルはこれで表向きではあるが、アキラという非常に扱い
シェリルがヴィオラに厳しい視線を向ける。
「先に警告しておきます。私はアキラからヴィオラさんの監視も頼まれています。必要なら殺して良いとも言われています。私には戦力的に無理だとしても、アキラに理由を添えて連絡すればアキラが殺しに行くことになっています。くれぐれも注意してください」
自分はヴィオラの生殺与奪の権を握っている。シェリルは警告と忠告と
「ヴィオラで構わないわ。これから長い付き合いになるのかもしれないのだから、遠慮なくそう呼んでちょうだい」
ヴィオラは余裕の笑みを浮かべたままそう答えると、冊子のようなものをシェリルに差し出す。
「これ、何ですか?」
シェリルが
「情報端末でも読めるように電子データで渡しても良いのだけど、冊子のような紙の束になっていた方が実感も得やすいと思ったのよ。電子データの方も後で渡すから安心してちょうだい」
冊子の中身の意味を理解し始めたシェリルの表情が青ざめ始める。
「それでもかなり甘く試算したのよ? 何しろ利子は付かないし、催促どころか返済義務もない。そこらの金融業者に見せれば鼻で笑われる内容だわ」
冊子の中身はシェリル達がアキラに支払う報酬の詳細だった。徒党の後ろ盾。店の警備。エリオ達の訓練。先日のシェリルの救出。それらの様々な項目に対して妥当と考えられる金額が記載されていた。シェリルが抱えているアキラへの恩や借りを具体的な金額に算出したものとも言える。悪く表現すれば、アキラへ未払いのままの負債額だ。
った表情を浮かべながら、その負債額の総額を僅かに震えた声で口に出す。
「......38億オーラム、ですか」
最も高額な項目は先日のシェリル救出だ。10億オーラムと記載されている。シェリルにはその額の算出方法が妥当であるかどうか判断する知識はない。
「試算項目の内容に疑問があったら遠慮なく言って。すぐに修正するわ」
み付けるような視線を向けた。算出内容の不備を見つけたとしても、報酬額を下げる指摘はアキラへの評価を下げるのと同じだ。シェリルにはできない。ヴィオラはそれを理解した上で話しているのだ。シェリルにもそれぐらいは分かった。
「ああ、電子データの方は先にアキラに送ったけれど、内容を修正したらアキラにも再送するから安心してちょうだい」
シェリルの表情が一瞬だけ驚きに染まる。その後は込み上げる怒りで固まり始める。手を強く握りしめ、歯を食いしばって叫び出すのを堪えていた。
シェリルはヴィオラの生殺与奪の権を握っていたはずだが、それは先ほどの話で完全に無意味となった。ヴィオラはアキラとの取引でシェリル達の徒党の運営を改善させるためにここにいるのだ。その実力でアキラの投資を回収し更なる利益を生み出すために。その利益をアキラが得る
キャロルが徒党の少年達を使って自身の副業向けの能力を確認していると、部屋に入ってくるコルベに気付いた。
コルベもキャロルに気付く。そして嫌そうに顔を
「自分の悪評を理解してないのかよ」
「悪評だなんて。これでもお客からは絶賛されているのよ?」
は何しに来たの?」
コルベはシェリルの徒党の背後にアキラがいることを知っている。アキラと余り関わりたくないコルベがそれでも仕事を持ち込みに来たのは、徒党の仕事を増やそうとしているヴィオラからの要望だからだ。
コルベはヴィオラを警戒しているが、それでも関わりを断てないでいる。キャロルはその友人の
バイクはレンタル品ではない。クズスハラ街遺跡は未発見の遺跡ではないが、アルファの案内で奥部に向かうならレンタル品で移動するのは危険だ。移動ルートがしっかり記録に残るからだ。
アキラはアルファの勧めでこのバイクを購入した。ハンター向けの荒野仕様の大型バイクだ。車体の後方には搭載している制御装置と連動しているアーム式の銃座が2本取り付けられている。そのアームにはDVTSミニガンとA4WM自動擲弾銃が取り付けられている。車体の装甲はアキラの防護コートと同じ
アキラは新しいバイクの疾走感に機嫌を良くしながらも、表情に少しだけ疑問を浮かべていた。
『必要経費よ。割り切りなさい。クズスハラ街遺跡の奥部には車では入れない場所も多いわ。あそこを当面の活動先にするならバイクの方が良いのよ。確かに、今のアキラには高い買物だったけれどね』
アキラはバイクの代金に預金のほぼ全額を使い切った。万一の場合の再起用の予備予算まで
『ここまで金が危なくなったのは、明日の宿代もなくなって遺跡に行った時以来か? 絶対に旧世界の遺物を持って帰らないと。大丈夫なんだよな?』
アキラがバイクと併走して飛んでいるアルファに視線を向けて念押しすると、アルファが自信たっぷりの笑顔を返してくる。
『大丈夫よ。私に任せておきなさい』
アキラが軽く笑う。今の所、アルファのその笑顔には信じるに足る実績があるのだ。
『そういうことよ』
アキラはアルファと軽く笑い合いながら、クズスハラ街遺跡を目指して荒野を走り続けた。
Ch 168
Shizuka was waiting at her shop just like usual when she spotted Akira. As she was about to call him, she stopped when she realized that he was acting weird.
Akira looked a bit scared as he carefully entered the shop, he looked around as if he was searching for someone. After he confirmed that the person he was looking for was not there, he sighed in relief but with a rather conflicted face.
"Welcome!"
Shizuka smiled and welcomed him, Akira twitched and awkwardly smiled back. Shizuka found it weird, but for now, she was relieved to see his smile. Akira no longer gave off that tense mood which he exuded when he was talking to Elena and Sara last time.
"So, what do you need today? Though I feel like it's rather too soon for you to come here for ammo, after all, it hasn't been that long since the last time you came. Ah, or is it that you're here just for a chit-chat? If that's the case, I don't mind at all, you know."
"Ah, no, uhh, I'm here for ammo."
"Is that so? I thought you bought enough ammo the last time you came here for your new equipment. Did you go on a monster curbing request to get yourself familiar with your new augmented suit or something and used a lot of your ammo there?"
"Eh, ah, well, uhhh, things happened, you see."
"Is that so? Then, is the usual okay?"
Shizuka slightly frowned and said.
"I'm sorry but I can't give you the repair cartridge right away. That thing is pretty expensive after all, so I don't have that ready in my shop. But if you need it immediately, I'll place an express order for that..."
"Okay then. In that case, I'll put a normal order for the repair cartridge. You can get the rest just fine. You're buying quite a lot this time, so if you're here with your vehicle, can you bring it to the back of the shop?"
"Ah, uhmm, uhh... Alright."
Akira was loading ammo and other stuff into his vehicle. Shizuka who was looking at him then casually asked him.
"Say, Akira, that vehicle is a rental vehicle, right? How about the one that you got from me? Did you send it for repair or something?"
Akira stopped, he avoided looking straight at Shizuka as he replied.
"No, actually, uhhh... I'm sorry, I no longer can use that one..."
"What do you mean by that...?"
"Uhhh, things happened."
"Not at all. To be honest, I'm actually a bit worried that Sara-san and Elena-san hate me now since I thought I did something rather rude when they only tried to stop me since they're worried about me. And it's as they said, it really was not worth the trouble... I might have really gotten a bit too emotional back then. I know I can be a bit stubborn sometimes, though it may be too late to say that now..."
Akira looked a bit down and seemed to feel bad for what he did. Shizuka who saw that smiled at him to cheer him up.
"I don't know what happened for you to lose your vehicle, but I'm glad that you're fine. Are you injured?"
"Ah, not at all, I'm alright."
"Then that's all that matters. Make sure to take care of your body. I'll at least tell Elena and Sara that you're not that bothered by last time too. You did look a bit scared coming in after all, so I bet you feel awkward coming to my shop now."
"I'm sorry and thank you."
"Don't mention it, I'll make sure to let them know. Don't worry, it's not like they are angry at you. So it'll be fine."
Akira looked obviously relieved there. Seeing that, Shizuka happily smiled and said.
Shizuka noticed that Akira had killed Alna.
Akira sounded a bit regretful when he said that it was not worth the trouble. Shizuka bet that it must be the reason why Akira lost his vehicle and came there today to buy supplies. Elena and Sara did try to stop him and Shizuka herself also had told him to put a serious thought about it first, but even so, he still went and killed that pickpocket. Judging from his reaction last time, Shizuka thought that it was unlikely for them to find a peaceful solution to that matter. This time, he had regained his calm to the point that he could say he might have gotten a bit stubborn back then. Which made it likely that he had regained his calm after killing that pickpocket.
If that was really the case, that would explain why Akira looked a bit scared when he entered the shop. He ignored the warnings from the people close to him and went to kill that pickpocket, so it must be awkward for him to meet them now. Or at least, that was what Shizuka's intuition was telling her.
From that guess, Shizuka then thought. Although she did not feel any sympathy for the pickpocket that Akira killed, she felt sad for Akira, who killed that pickpocket. Akira had become strong enough to buy 400 million Aurum equipment, and even after acquiring that much power, the possible danger and loss from killing that pickpocket could not stop him from doing so.
Power would normally provide leeway and tolerance. But the power that Akira had gained was not enough to provide him with enough leeway and tolerance to let matters with pickpocket go. Akira's mind was still stuck as if he was still living in the slum.
Yatsubayashi had both an experiment room and a treatment room in his clinic. He treated people who came to his clinic either in the experiment room or in the other room depending on how much money those people could pay him. And since his clinic was in the slum, most of the people who came there got sent to the experiment room.
There was also another room in his clinic, it was a special room where people could not just casually come in. It was a room neither for experiment nor for treatment. Inside that big room, there were all kinds of mysterious devices lined up. In the middle of that room, there was a bed, and Tiol was sitting on that bed.
Tiol was only looking forward with an empty stare as if he was daydreaming. Although his hand and legs were secured with some thick steel, he did not seem to be bothered by that at all. He was just sitting there with an absent mind.
There was no window in that room. The walls were sound-proof, so no sound could come in, and since Tiol was only sitting there in silence, the room was incredibly silent. In that isolated room, Tiol suddenly looked at the door. That was when the door opened and Yatsubayashi came in.
When Yatsubayashi came inside that room with the food, Tiol had already returned back to looking forward with an empty look.
Yatsubayashi sat in front of Tiol and used the metallic fork to feed Tiol. When he did that, Tiol opened his mouth and chomped the food down, together with the metallic fork.
When Yatsubayashi extended the fork that had lost its head back to Tiol, he started to eat that fork too. After that, he also ate the food that Yatsubayashi brought in as well as the metallic plate that he had used to carry that food. Yatsubayashi carefully held the plate so as not to get his hand eaten too and quickly pulled his hand back when Tiol finished the plate too.
Once he was done eating, Tiol stared at Yatsubayashi. Though he was properly looking at Yatsubayashi, there was no emotion in his gaze, it was as if he was simply looking at something near him. Even when Yatsubayashi wiped Tiol's mouth, Tiol showed no reaction at all.
Yatsubayashi frowned and looked rather disappointed.
Yatsubayashi sighed. He then stood up and went towards the door. Before he reached for the door's handle, he looked back at Tiol.
"Tiol-kun, you were the one who told me that you don't mind participating in my experiment as long as I healed you. I did my best there, so don't blame me, okay? See you tomorrow then."
Yatsubayashi only said so and left the room with a smile. The patient beds in his clinic were filled with patients after all the ruckus yesterday. He could not just ignore them for the sake of collecting money for his own experiment, so he was busy that day. Because of that, he could not spend his time observing Tiol.
Tiol was once again left alone inside the room. The room had returned to the previous silence, Tiol once again was only looking forward with an empty gaze without saying anything. He suddenly looked at the cuffs on his hands, opened his mouth wide, and bit off those cuffs.
Tomejima was ripping his hairs out, of course figuratively, in his office in the lower district. That was when Colbert came in, Tomejima immediately looked at him and said.
Colbert looked at Tomejima's desperate face and lightly shook his head.
"I did some investigation, but nothing comes out. I couldn't find them nor reach them. They might as well be already dead."
"Dammit, again, huh!!
Tomejima hung his head down again, there was slight desperation mixed in his extremely distressed face.
"Calm down, is it really that bad?"
"It's already 10 people, you know? We basically lost 10 credits worth of people!! Just how much money do you think we're losing right now?!"
Colbert received a job from Tomejima to collect some debts. His targets were Hunters and some ex-Hunters. Since people like them tend to cause trouble, Tomejima asked Colbert, who was also a Hunter, to collect their debts.
But those people went missing now. Although to be more precise, Tomejima and Colbert had a good guess of where they went to. They most probably got killed in that battle between the Ezont family and Haurias the other day. Their bodies might as well be mixed in one of those countless dead bodies scattered in Ezont Family's base.
Colbert lightly summed all the debts that those people had and frowned.
"Their debts don't even reach 1 billion though. You don't usually take in this kind of credits, you know."
"I really need money right now, no matter how small it is..."
"...I placed some bet in that battle, you know."
Colbert understood the reason why Tomejima looked pretty down as he smiled wryly at him.
Ezont Family and Haurias squeezed a lot of money from the businesses under their leadership to fuel their fight, they also took a big loan from credit companies like Tomejima's company promising that they would return that money with interest once they won their fight. They also promised other benefits once they took full control of the lower district after crushing the other side. That was how they half-threatened those companies to lend them money.
Because of that, both gangs sustained heavy losses to the point that they might as well be already over. So, those who put their money on both sides lost a lot of money from that result. It could be said that they were also victims of Viola's doing.
Colbert lightly cheered Tomejima up.
"Alright alright, it would also cause me trouble if your company goes bankrupt. I'll go and look for them again. But don't expect too much, okay? If we're lucky, we might at least find their dead bodies."
"Just to let you know though, it won't be free, alright?"
"It's good to know that you're doing well, so how's your wound?"
"I already got it treated, so it's no problem at all."
"I see. Well then, we'll be in your care from now on."
Just like she had promised Akira, Viola came there to help out Sheryl's gang. Although she was basically taking command of the gang, she decided to work under Sheryl. That was why she called Sheryl boss.
Although it was only on the surface, with this, Sheryl had both Akira who was a dangerous and volatile person and Viola who was a very bad person under her thumb. Such a rumour had already spread around which caused all the gangs around Sheryl's gang to focus on her gang. But of course, Viola was the one who spread that rumour.
Sheryl looked at Viola with a stern gaze.
"Let me warn you here though, Akira asked me to keep my eyes on you. He even told me that I'm allowed to kill you if I want to. And even if it's impossible for me, he told me to give him a reason to kill you and he would do it himself. So make sure not to try anything funny."
Sheryl stated clearly that she could easily decide Viola's life or death, she also did that for the sake of venting her anger at Viola. If Viola looked a bit flustered after that, it would help Sheryl feel better. But that did not happen.
"You can just drop the honorific. We're going to work together for a long time after all, so just forget the honorifics."
Viola smiled casually and said so. She then pushed a book-like object towards Sheryl.
"What is this?"
Sheryl confusedly took the book and started reading it.
"I could have sent you the data that you can read with an information terminal, but I thought that you might get a better grasp of it if it's given in the form of papers like this. And don't worry, I'll also send you the data later."
As Sheryl started to read and understand the contents of that book, her face started turning pale.
"You might think that's pretty bad, but that's already based on a pretty naive calculation, you know? After all, there's no interest and no deadline to pay it back. If you show it to one of those credit companies out there, I'm sure they'll laugh at you."
The book contained a detailed list of reward money that Sheryl's gang should pay Akira for supporting her gang, guarding her shop, training Erio and the other children, saving Sheryl, and there were still a lot more favours that the gang had received from Akira. It showed how much Sheryl's gang owed Akira in simple terms of money. If they were to interpret it in a bad way, it could be said that the gang was in deep debt to Akira.
Sheryl did her best to show a calm face as she mumbled the total number with a slightly trembling voice.
"... 3 billion and 800 million Aurum, huh?"
The biggest debt came from when Akira rescued Sheryl the other day. It cost Sheryl 1 billion Aurum. Sheryl did not have enough information there to decide whether that number was properly calculated or not.
"If you have any doubt, you can go ahead and tell me. I'll immediately clarify it."
Viola smiled casually, in contrast to that, Sheryl was barely able to smile back while glaring at her. Even if she found some records not properly calculated, telling Viola to lower the number also meant placing less value on Akira. Sheryl could not afford to do that and she understood well that Viola also knew the same when she provoked her.
"Ahh, by the way, I've sent that data to Akira. I'll also send the new data to him if we want to make any revision, so don't worry about that."
Sheryl looked surprised for a split second. But her welling up anger caused her face to stiffen. Her hand clasped into a fist as she gritted her teeth.
Although Sheryl said that she had the say whether Viola would live or not, with that exchange just now, it was all meaningless. Viola was there to help Sheryl's gang because of the deal that she had with Akira. Her job there was to help Akira get more benefits from all the investments that he put on Sheryl's gang.
Carol was using the boys in Sheryl's gang to confirm her seducing ability, she then noticed Colbert coming into the room where she was.
Colbert also immediately noticed Carol and frowned.
"You don't even know about your bad reputation, huh?"
"Bad reputation? Just so you know, a lot of my customers give me a good review, alright?"
"So then, Colbert, why are you here?"
Colbert knew that Akira was behind Sheryl's gang. Although he did not want to get involved with Akira if it could be helped, he still came there to ask Sheryl's gang to do a job for him. It was simply because Viola told him to do so.
Although Colbert was wary of Viola, he could not afford to just cut his ties with her. Carol understood that was just how bad her friend was as she smiled amusedly.
The bike was not a rental bike. Although Kuzusuhara ruin was not an undiscovered ruin, it would be dangerous for him to go there with a rental bike since it would leave a record of his route in the rental bike.
Akira bought that bike since Alpha suggested him to. It was a pretty big bike designed for Hunters. It had two arms attached to its back that were connected to the bike's control device. Akira equipped those arms with his DVTS minigun and A4WM automatic grenade launcher. Its body armour was made of the same force field armour as his coat and it was controlled by the bike's control device too. Just like usual, Alpha had full control of that control device.
Akira happily rode his new bike while pacing it through the wasteland, but a question suddenly came up in his mind.
"Yup. So stop questioning it already, okay? There are many places in the inner part of Kuzusuhara ruin where you can't take your vehicle, you know. So it's better to go there by bike although it's indeed a rather expensive bike for your current budget."
Akira exhausted almost all of his money to buy that bike. He even had to use his emergency savings for that too. Thanks to that, forget his augmented suit repair cartridge, he might not even be able to pay his next month's rent. He did hesitate at first, but since Alpha said that it would be dangerous to go with his vehicle, he ended up buying that bike.
"The last time I had this little money was at that time when I went to look for relics to be able to pay for the next day's room rent, huh? I need to make sure to go back home with relics this time. It'll be alright, right?"
Akira glanced at Alpha who was floating next to the running bike. She smiled confidently and said.
"Of course, just leave it to me."
Akira lightly smiled. At the moment, he had no other option but to trust that confident smile from Alpha.
"Yup, that's right!"
Akira and Alpha lightly smiled at each other as Akira went straight to Kuzusuhara 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/
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