えると、新車両でヒガラカ住宅街遺跡に向けて荒野を進んでいた。
車両は装甲兵員輸送車に近い荒野仕様の大型車だ。車両後部には貨物部があり、遺跡内での通行に少々制限が出る大きさだ。貨物部には十分な予備弾薬と新しいバイクが積まれている。路地のような場所を通過する場合は車から降りてバイクを使用する予定だ。
銃は拡張部品で強化済みのSSB複合銃を2
『アルファ。これ、どうなってるんだ?』
『私に聞かれてもね。知っていそうな人に聞いてみたらどう?』
アルファがハンター達を指差す。そこには他のハンター達に混じって警備をしているコルベやエリオ達の姿があった。
コルベが近付いてきたアキラに気付く。
「アキラか。なんだ、お前もまだここに用があったのか? 遺物の出所を
「その辺はどうでもいいだろう。で、これって何の騒ぎなんだ? 前の騒ぎが続いているのにしては長すぎるし騒ぎすぎだ」
コルベは少し意外そうな顔を浮かべた後、軽く笑った。
「ああ、お前、知らないのか。お前がクズスハラ街遺跡にいた頃にちょっとした事件があってな。その余波が継続中なんだよ」
「事件って、何があったんだ?」
アキラが視線を思わず遺跡側に移す。
「......いや、だからって、ここまでするか? 遺跡を整地する勢いだぞ?」
「それだけの値が付いたんだろうな。最終的な買取額は非公開だが、複数の企業が入手を争ったらしい。誰が見付けたのか知らないが羨ましい限りだ」
ハンター稼業は命賭けだが、そこに見る夢に命を
「いや、俺は警備を請け負っただけだ。先日の襲撃騒ぎから逃げた大型モンスターへの警戒で報酬が高めでね。なかなかに割が良い。ぶっちゃけた話、突っ立ってるだけでも結構な金になる。だから頭数を増やすためにエリオ達も連れてきた。駆け出しハンターの稼ぎとしては十分だし、経験も積めるしな」
エリオ達は全員ハンター登録を済ませていた。シェリルの徒党に所属するハンターとして、シェリルやヴィオラの仲介で依頼を受けて仕事をする形式になっている。カツラギから購入した装備を身に
「その手の大型が出現しても、そいつらを喜び勇んで狩る連中が真っ先に倒すよ。エリオ達がその手の大型と直接戦うことはまずないな。まあ、遠距離からロケットランチャーを撃って援護ぐらいはするかもしれないがな。心配ならお前も今から警備に参加するか?」
「いや、俺は用がある。じゃあな」
アキラが遺跡の方へ歩いていく。その姿が途中で急にぼやけた。それを見ていたコルベが驚きを顔に出す。
コルベの頭には無数の疑問とそれに対する仮説が浮かんでいた。納得できそうな仮説も幾つか浮かんだが、アキラ本人に問いただすことはできない。出所不明の遺物の出所を探ろうとしていると思われたら大変だからだ。コルベは少しもやもやとしたものを覚えながらも、気を切り替えて警備に戻った。
アキラがコートの迷彩機能を有効にして遺跡の中を進んでいく。コートはフード付きのマントに近い形状で、銃などを内側にしっかりと格納できる造りになっている。フード部も顔を全てしっかり覆える造りになっているが、アキラはしっかり覆わないと迷彩効果が落ちると分かった上で、ある程度何となく露出させていた。頭部装備のオカルト話もあり、しっかり覆った所為でアキラの気が散って戦闘能力が落ちては本末転倒なので、アルファもそこはアキラの好きにさせていた。
情報収集機器でアキラの微弱な反応を偶然捉えたハンターがアキラの方に顔を向ける。そして反応の周囲を確認した結果、大きな反応もなかったので気のせいだったと思い直して顔を元の方へ戻した。
同様のことが何度もあり、アキラは迷彩機能の有用性に少し驚いていた。
『結構近くを通っているのに見付からないものなんだな。こんなに見付からないのならもっと早く買っておくべきだったか?』
余計な慢心を生まないようにアルファが
『確かに駄目だな。よし。誰かが見付けてくれたおかげで、下手な未練がなくなって良かったってことにしよう』
吹っ切れたアキラを見て、アルファが満足げに笑っていた。
その後もアキラは迷彩機能を有効にしたまま遺跡の中を
「アキラ。今ちょっと良いかしら」
「ハンター稼業中だ。後でも良い話なら後にしてくれ」
「そのハンター稼業に絡む話よ。前の依頼も終わって遺跡探索を再開しているんでしょう? それで、今はヒガラカ住宅街遺跡にいる。そうでしょう?」
アキラは自分の行き先など誰にも話していない。だがヴィオラはそれを知っている。アキラはその情報の入手経路を推測して少し黙った。
「また旧世界製の情報端末がたくさん手に入るのなら、今度はバラ売りなんか止めて私に全部一度に流してほしいのよ。実はちょっとした伝で、もっとないかって軽く催促されてるの」
「手に入るかどうかなんて、探索が終わってみないと分かるわけないだろう」
ヴィオラの口調は軽いものだったが、そこにはそちらの裏は分かっているという確信が込められていた。アキラにそれが事実かはったりかを見抜く技量はない。
「......見付かったとしても、その手の遺物はカツラギに優先的に持っていく約束になっている。それを曲げてヴィオラに流す理由はないな」
またアキラが少し黙る。返事を待たずにヴィオラが少し楽しげに続ける。
「お客の要望とか、伝の先の心証とかいろいろあってね。無理にとは言わないけど、その方が高値で売れるの。今から場所と時間を送るわ。確認して、難しいようなら言ってちょうだい。できる限り調整するから」
「遺物の鑑定もそこでするのか?」
「しないわ。遺物の質に関しては、私はアキラを信じているし、客も私を疑うような
「分かった。日時も場所も大丈夫だ。今から向かう」
「助かるわ。じゃあね」
ヴィオラとの通話が切れた後、アキラはアルファが少し
んだアルファにアキラも笑って返した。
『そろそろ時間よ。......来たわ』
男が部屋の出入口から中の様子を慎重に
「これで全部か?」
「金はヴィオラが払うと聞いている。必要ならこの場でヴィオラに連絡を取り、振り込みを催促してくれ」
「では、取引成立だな。どちらから立ち去る?」
「......えっと、じゃあ、俺からで」
「行ってくれ」
男はその言葉を最後に真顔のまま黙った。視線だけはアキラに向けていた。アキラはゆっくりと男から離れていき、そのまま部屋を出た。そして廃ビルから出ると近くに
『......俺、帰り道に襲われたりしないだろうな?』
『その時は、返り討ちにした上でヴィオラの頭を吹き飛ばしましょう』
廃ビルに残っていた男が非空気振動式で連絡を取っている。カメラを兼ねた義眼で撮影したリュックサックの中身の映像も一緒に送信している。
『物は手に入れましたが、質の方は不明です。一度帰還して鑑定作業に出しますか?』
『いや、不要だ。都市の鑑定を通すと記録に残る。旧世界製の情報端末なんて遺物なら特にな。そのまま予定の場所に運んでくれ。準備が済み次第、発見役のハンターに連絡して偶然を装って発見させる。遺物の質の方は買取所での鑑定作業で判明しても遅くない。事前に鑑定を実施して、後で鑑定記録が重複するのも厄介だ』
『了解しました。ところで、発見役のハンターはヤナギサワの管理下にあるようですが、
『そこは妥協する。発見者があいつの下にいるハンターなら、多少疑念を抱かれても実際に追及に出るやつは減るはずだ。話を通していないハンターにこっちで隠した遺物を偶然発見させる以上、運の要素が絡むのが難点でもあるが、普通の力量の持ち主なら発見できるはずだ。まあ、無能ならこちらでハンターを別途手配する。よし。行け。遺物の設置を済ませた後は、発見役のハンターを遠距離から監視しろ。万が一、ハンターが遺物の発見後に遺物発見の連絡を怠るようなら、自分の懐に入れるようなら、強盗を装って始末しろ。必要なら追加の戦力を手配する』
通信が切れるのと同時に男の姿が消える。その高性能な迷彩機能は、男の装備を手配した上司、通信先の人間の慎重さと作戦への意気込みを示していた。
After Akira got his new set of equipment with the help of Shizuka, he took his new vehicle for a drive to the Higaraka Residence Ruin.
His new vehicle was an APC fully refitted for traversing the wasteland. It had a cargo hold filled with ammo and his new bike behind it which made it too big to go through certain places inside the ruin. Akira was planning to take his bike instead if he had to go through smaller roads.
As for his new guns, he brought with him a pair of modified and enhanced SSB multi-weapon rifles, and just like last time, he bought an augmented suit that came with the maintenance cupboard. As a matter of fact, he bought an augmented suit from the same high-end line of product as his previous one, and not to forget the coat which was equipped with forcefield armour and camouflage capability.
"Alpha... What the heck is going on here?"
"No idea. Let's ask someone who might know."
Alpha pointed at the Hunters. Among those Hunters guarding the area, Akira spotted Colbert and the children from Sheryl's gang.
Colbert noticed Akira coming at him.
"Akira, huh? Do you still have something to do in this barren ruin? If you came here to trick people about where you got your relics from, this place is already too popular for you to do so. Or is it that you really did hide your relics here? In that case, you have my condolences."
"That is not important, so, what in the world is going on here? No matter how you look at it, it's strange to see this as the continuation of the ruckus from last time."
Colbert raised his eyebrows and lightly smiled.
"Ohhh, you don't know, huh? When you were working in Kuzusuhara ruin, there was a small incident, and this is the after-effect from that incident."
"Incident? What incident?"
Akira's gaze inadvertently turned toward the ruin.
"...But still, isn't it overkill for them to do this? They're basically destroying the ruin."
"I bet that's just how much that relic cost. Although the first sale price is not revealed to the public, I heard that there are multiple corporations fighting for it. I don't know who found it, but he must be one lucky bastard."
Working as a Hunter means to gamble with one's life, thus most Hunters believed that they could earn a huge amount of money to justify risking their lives. Then from time to time, a really lucky Hunter would appear albeit very rarely, but it was enough to reaffirm other Hunters to keep chasing their dream. This was the huge force that pushed ruin exploration in the eastern district. The scene in front of Akira was a simple manifestation of that dream. As a matter of fact, Akira himself was one of those Hunters chasing such a dream.
"Not exactly, I was hired as a guard. Since that last battle, the guards get paid pretty well to watch out for the remaining monsters. To be honest, the money is pretty good, we get paid quite a lot of money just to stand here doing nothing. That's why I brought along Erio and the other guys to fill the member quota, this is a good chance for them to get some experience as amateur Hunters."
Erio and the other children there had registered themselves as Hunters. They were basically working as Hunters affiliated with Sheryl's gang and they occasionally got requests from Sheryl and Viola's connections. Since they brought along decent equipment from Katsuragi when they registered their names, they started as Rank 10 Hunters which were way above Akira's when he first registered himself as a Hunter.
"Well, even if those monsters actually show up, I bet the other Hunters would happily hunt them down first. So these guys won't even have the chance to fight those monsters. Well, even if they do, they can just provide support from afar using rocket launchers. If you're that worried, how about joining us?"
"No thanks, I have other things to do here. Later then."
Akira then walked toward the ruin. But his image suddenly blurred into the surroundings, Colbert who saw that could not hide his surprise.
A lot of questions popped up inside Colbert's mind, although he had his guesses, he could not ask Akira for confirmation. After all, it would not end well for him if Akira suspected him of trying to find the location of Akira's relics. Colbert was standing there feeling troubled for a few seconds before he decided to just forget about it and return back to his job.
Akira turned on the camouflage on his coat and went into the ruin. The coat was equipped with a hood and it was big enough to hide Akira's 2 rifles under it. Although the hood was designed to cover his face and its camouflage would not be complete without it, Akira deliberately let a part of his hood open. Since some Hunters believed that putting something on their head would lower their awareness during battle, Alpha allowed Akira to do it instead of having his focus disrupted if he covered his face with the hood.
One of the Hunters in the area noticed the signal from Akira in his information-gathering device suddenly dim, he inadvertently turned toward Akira's direction. But since there was nothing worth noting, he returned back, keeping his eyes on his information-gathering device.
Similar things happened a few times after that, Akira was honestly surprised at how effective the camouflage was.
"They didn't notice me even when I was pretty close by. If only I knew that it is this effective, I would have bought it sooner."
But Alpha reminded Akira not to get too confident.
"You're right, that would be a bad idea. Alright then, let's just be glad that someone else found it instead of me so now I know what would happen if it was me."
Alpha smiled happily seeing Akira was completely over it.
Akira wandered around inside the ruin after that with his camouflage still on. It served as training to help him get used to using that camouflage as well as to trick other people. After all, a Hunter, wearing a camouflage coat, wandering around inside a ruin filled with other Hunters would make people guess why he did that.
"Akira, do you have some time?"
"I'm working right now. If it's nothing of emergency, can you put it for later?"
"It has something to do with your job as a Hunter. I know you have finished your last request and now you're going back hunting for relics, right? And you're in the Higaraka Residence Ruin right now, right?"
Akira never told anyone where he was going, but Viola already knew. He went silent for a bit guessing where she got that information from.
"If you're going to gather more of those old-world information terminals, there's no need to sell them bit by bit, you can just sell all of them to me. One of my connections is actually looking for them, you know?"
"I don't know whether I would get any until I'm done searching."
Although Viola said that casually, she also sounded that she was sure of what she said. Akira had no skill to identify whether she really knew or it was just a bluff.
"...Even if I did, I promised Katsuragi that I would bring them to him first, and I have no reason to change that."
Akira paused again, Viola then continued without waiting for his reply.
"It's a request from my client, just think of it as showing my sincerity to my client. I won't force you but you'll be able to get more money from the relics if you do so. I'll send you the place and time after this. If it's impossible for you, just let me know and I'll do my best to adjust it."
"Are we going to check the relics there too?"
"No, I trust you regarding the quality of the relics and it doesn't seem the client is questioning my reliability either. Well, don't worry, even if the client checks it later and finds that it doesn't fit his expectation, I would be the one he would complain to. And don't worry, I'll also be the one paying the money to you. I'll pay you a suitable amount of money and I won't reduce it just because the client complains."
"Alright, I'm good with the time and place. I'll be heading there now."
"Okay, thanks. Later then."
Viola closed the call, Akira then noticed Alpha staring at him.
Alpha smiled at Akira and Akira replied with a smile too.
"It's time, they're coming."
A guy carefully peeked into the room from a door. He then noticed Akira and carefully entered the room.
"Is this everything?"
"I heard that Viola will handle the payment. If you want to, you can go ahead and call Viola to confirm the transfer."
"Well then, we have a deal then. So, who would leave first?"
"...In that case, I'll go first."
"Sure, go ahead."
The guy then shut up and stood there with a serious face while staring at Akira. Akira then carefully left the room, got to his bike that he parked near the building, and returned back to his vehicle that he parked a bit further away since he could not bring it through the small road.
"...It's not like someone would ambush me on my way back, right?"
"When that happens, you just need to kill them and make sure to kill Viola too afterwards."
The guy who was left behind inside the building contacted his friend through a non-wave communication device. He also sent the picture of the inside of the rucksack through the camera installed in his prosthetic eye.
"I got the relics, but I don't know about their quality. Should I return back and get them checked first?"
"No, you don't have to do that. It'll leave a record if you get them checked inside the city. After all, these are old-world information terminals. Bring them to the next location. Once the preparation is done, call the Hunters and let them find the relics. They can then confirm the quality of the relics afterwards. It would be too much work to readjust the appraisal result afterwards if we appraise the relics beforehand."
"Roger that. By the way, it seems that the Hunters assigned to find the relics are Yanagisawa's men though, are you sure it will be fine? They might just snatch the relics, you know?"
"I've accepted that risk. Since they're working under that man, even if they get suspicious of the relics, most of them would prefer not to dig too deep. The problem here would be whether they would be able to find the relics. Although it depends on their luck, they should be able to find the relics just fine if they are at least as good as common Hunters. But in the case they can't, we will send our own Hunters. Alright then, go. Once you're done placing the relics, stay around the area to keep your eyes on the Hunters from afar. If they don't contact you after they discover the relics or if they're trying to keep the relics for themselves, disguise yourself as a robber and kill them. We can send you reinforcements if you need."
The guy closed the call and vanished. The powerful camouflage device was something that he received from his boss which indicated how careful the person he was on the call with just now, and how important this operation was.
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