トレーラーがアキラ達を乗せて荒野を進んでいる。クズスハラ街遺跡はクガマヤマ都市の近場にあり、アキラでも一応徒歩で行ける距離ではあるが、それでも普通は車両で行く距離だ。トレーラーでも少し掛かる。
カツラギとダリスは激戦の勝利後で上機嫌だ。モンスターの群れに長時間追われていた分だけ喜びも大きく、道中の苦難や最前線の様子を笑いながらアキラに語っていた。
今までスラム街で過ごしてきたアキラには、そのような話を聞く機会など
「へー。東部の東側って、そんな感じなんだ」
「そうだぞ。未到達領域との境目、最前線だからな。あの辺のハンターは戦車ぐらい持ってて当たり前。俺達が銃を持つ感覚で戦車を持ってるんだ。まあ戦車ぐらい持ってないと、どうしようもないぐらいモンスターが強いってことでもあるんだがな」
「そんなところから商品を運んできたのか。仕入れだけでも、そんなに大変なのか。商売って大変なんだな」
「まあな。仕入れの他にも、顧客とのコネとか、商機を
アキラは素直に感心していた。その様子を見て、カツラギが楽しげに苦笑する。
「まあ、今回の仕入れが特に大変すぎたってのは認めざるを得ねえ。それを基準に考える必要はねえよ。お前もやってみれば、意外に何とかなるかもしれないぞ?」
アキラは商売を始める自分を少し想像してみた。だが成功のイメージは全く浮かばなかった。カツラギがアキラの表情からそれを察して笑い声を大きくする。
「まあ、成り上がる手段はそれぞれだ。お前はハンターで成り上がれば良い。俺は商売でいく。それだけだ。俺も今はこんなトレーラーで商売しているが、今回の
けを足掛かりに規模を大きくして、いずれは統治企業に、さらには5大企業に加わってやる」
「統治企業になった暁には企業通貨を発行する。通貨名はカツラギだ。商品の値札に5万カツラギとか書かせてやる」
笑って自身の夢を語っていたカツラギが、その表情を少し真面目なものに変えた。
「......この積み荷はその夢の第一歩なんだ。だから、お前には結構真面目に感謝してるんだぜ? 積み荷を捨てて逃げたりせずに済んだからな」
「そうか。じゃあ今回の手助けは貸しにしておいてくれ。そんなに商売上手なら役に立ちそうだ」
「良いぞ。だが商品の値引きは手加減してくれよ? さっきも言った通り、俺には金が要るんだからな」
手段は違えど東部で成り上がろうとする者同士、談笑もそれなりに盛り上がっていた。その最中、その談笑に混ざっているかのようにアキラの
『アキラ。今すぐに右の窓から双眼鏡で外を確認して』
再び態度を変えたアルファの様子から、アキラがすぐに警戒と緊張を高める。急いで前と同じように双眼鏡を情報端末に
「......カツラギ。あのモンスターの群れはあんた達が連れてきたんだよな?」
カツラギが苦笑いを浮かべてごまかそうとする。
「誰が連れてきたのかなんてどうでも良いんだ。教えてくれ。あれは、群れの一部だったのか?」
カツラギがアキラの様子から事態を察して、表情を一気に険しくする。
「ダリス! 車の索敵機器の索敵範囲を最大まで広げろ!」
「そこまで広げると、小粒なモンスターを見つけ
「良いからやれ!」
ダリスもカツラギ達の様子から不穏な状況を察し始めると、索敵機器の設定を急いで指示通りに変更した。その索敵結果を凝視したカツラギの表情が更に険しくなる。
「索敵範囲を2時の方角に60度まで狭めろ!」
アキラが非常に険しい表情で返答を催促する。
「忙しそうなところ悪いけど、俺の質問に答えてくれ。......あんた達が連れてきたモンスターの群れは、後どれだけ残ってるんだ!?」
東の荒野からカツラギ達を延々と追い続けていたモンスターの群れは、種類や個体ごとの移動速度の差から徐々に幾つかの集団に分かれていき、以降はその集団の単位で移動していた。先ほどアキラ達を襲ったのはその先頭集団だ。足の遅い後方の集団は途中で追跡を諦めて元の生息地に戻るなどしており、引き剥がしに成功していた。
カツラギ達が険しい表情で対応を話し合う。
「カツラギ。このまま都市に進んだらどうなる? 間に合うか?」
「駄目だ。間に合わない。俺達が群れを連れてきたと判断される。これ以上進むと、俺達も都市の防衛隊にあの群れごと殺される。......あの群れの速さを索敵反応の移動速度から予想すると、トレーラーを全速力で走らせれば、恐らく俺達の方が少し速い。逃げ回って時間を稼ぐってのはどうだ? 群れとの距離を十分取ってから都市に入るんだ」
「無理だ。長距離移動でトレーラーのエネルギー残量はぎりぎりだ。逃げ回っている途中で切れる」
互いの案を互いに却下したカツラギ達が
アキラは、実際の案内役はアルファ、という点を除けば自分でも良い案だと思っていた。だがカツラギが強い拒絶を示す。
驚くアキラの態度を見てカツラギが我に返る。そしてどこか重苦しい険しい表情で理由を付け足す。
「......遺跡にはさっき殺したモンスターが山ほど散らばってる。それらの血臭やら何やらが、もう他のモンスターを大量に
しみ、その真偽を尋ねる視線をアルファに送った。それを受けて、アルファが真面目な表情で答える。
『トレーラーを捨てたくないごまかしが含まれているのは確かよ。でも説明した内容に
「無理だ。強化服は個人用の調整をしないと使えない。最短でも4時間掛かる。銃器類の方は対応する特殊な弾薬が必要で、それは積んでない。弾薬類の運搬は別ルートだからな。......クソッ!」
この場で迎え撃つのが最善手。アキラ達は全員そう理解した。理解と把握の程度に多少の差異はあり、それがそれぞれの表情の微妙な違いに表れていたが、楽観視の気配など
に立っていた。アキラはその様子に不安と心強さの両方を覚えながら、少し開き直ったような態度で尋ねる。
『アルファ。正直に答えてくれ。勝てそう......、いや、勝ち目はあるか?』
質問は、勝てそうか、と聞いた場合、負けそう、と返ってくる気がして、途中で変えられていた。
『勝率はあるわよ。私もサポートするから頑張りなさい』
そのアルファのどこか挑発気味な楽しげな笑顔を見て、アキラが苦笑した。
『そうだった。意思とやる気と覚悟は、俺の担当だったな。それじゃあ、まあ、こんな状況だけど、しっかり世話を焼いてくれ』
アルファが満面の笑みを浮かべて自信たっぷりに答える。
『任せなさい』
アキラも軽く笑って返した。心に湧いていた僅かな諦めが完全に消え
アキラは覚悟を決めた。これでアキラの準備は全て整った。
カツラギはモンスターの群れを既にトレーラーの機銃の射程内に収めている。だが撃たない。接近の阻止を目的とした
アキラ達はその恐怖に十分に耐えた。確実に致命傷を与えられる距離まで引き付けた群れに、機銃が掃射を開始する。大量の銃弾が群れの前面の個体に着弾し、目標の原形を四散させ、その血肉を後方のモンスターに飛び散らせる。
その血煙の中から、後続のモンスターが仲間の血肉を浴びながらも
銃を支える腕の痛みから効果切れを悟ると、口に含んだままの回復薬を少しずつ飲み込んでいく。回復薬の効能が体にじわじわと回っていく。回復薬無しならば、既に身体への負荷に耐えきれず倒れている。戦闘に支障が出ないように、だが苦痛に負けて残りの回復薬を全て飲み込んでしまわないように、服用量を微妙に調整しながら、歯を食い縛って引き金を引き続けていた。
アルファの指示はほぼ完璧だった。モンスターの個体差による移動速度の差異まで把握して、敵の接近を可能な限り遅延させるように攻撃対象を指示し続けている。先に倒した死体が他の個体の進行路を塞ぐように、
ただしアキラがその指示通りに動けるかどうかは別だ。アキラの技量の低さに加え、緊張、焦り、疲労、様々な要素が動きを鈍らせていく。指示通りに動けているのは指示全体の半分にも満たない。アルファはその結果を含めて逐次変化する状況に即座に対応し、次の指示を出し続けていた。
状況に転機が生まれた。他の個体より格段に素早いモンスターがアキラの前に飛び出してきたのだ。当然アキラはそのモンスターを集中的に狙った。複数の銃弾がしっかり命中したのを見て、それで倒したと判断して、すぐに他のモンスターを狙おうとする。アルファが次の対象を指定する前に。
アキラの頭部を狙ったその一撃が辛うじて外れたのは、モンスターが被弾の衝撃で体勢を僅かに崩していたからだ。そのおかげでアキラは辛うじて死を免れた。だがその命も風前の
だ。モンスターはアキラを押し倒しながら再び頭部に食らい付こうと大口を開けている。
口内から発射された無数の銃弾がモンスターの頭部に撃ち込まれる。頭部を破壊されたモンスターは後頭部から弾丸を吐きながら絶命した。
アキラがモンスターの死体を脇に避ける。勝利の喜びは右脚の激痛で中断された。飛びかかられた時の攻撃で右脚が大きく引き裂かれていた。
『早く治療しなさい! ポケットに回復薬があるでしょう!』
アキラは激痛に耐えながら、ポケットに入れておいたカプセルの内容物を傷口に直接塗り込んだ。更なる激痛がアキラを襲う。
『気絶しては駄目よ! 気を失ったら死ぬだけよ! しっかりしなさい!』
回復薬に含まれている治療用ナノマシンが使用者の痛覚を感知して傷口に集まり即座に治療を開始する。治りかけの傷口が無理な動作によって悪化し、負傷と治療を繰り返していく。アキラはその状態のまま、激痛に耐えながら銃撃を再開した。倒れている間に他のモンスター達はかなりの近距離まで近付いていた。一度の判断の誤りは状況を相応に悪化させていた。
アキラ達は必死の抵抗を続けていたが、状況は悪化の
「......そうだな」
『助かったわ』
に吹き飛ばした。更に大量の対物弾頭がアキラ達の近くの群れに浴びせられ、群れの構成要素を粉砕してトレーラーの周囲の安全を確保していく。
突然の事態に混乱するアキラが、笑って荒野を指差しているアルファに気付く。慌ててその方向を見ると、見覚えのある女性ハンター達を乗せた車が、モンスターの群れに激しい砲火を浴びせながら近付いてきていた。それはエレナとサラだった。
サラは車上でその体格とは不釣り合いなほどに大きい銃火器を構えていた。大口径の銃口から
「エレナ! 予定の場所とは随分違うけど、救出対象はあれでいいのよね!」
エレナも車両の機銃を操作して大量の弾丸を豪快に撃ち出している。
「あってるわ。緊急依頼にはクズスハラ街遺跡と記してあったけど、ここまで逃げてきたんでしょうね。そのまま粉砕して」
「了解! 弾薬費は依頼者持ち! 引き続き派手にやりましょう!」
そのまま一方的な攻撃が続く。資金面の余裕を取り戻したエレナ達がモンスターの群れの駆除用に用意した高額高威力の弾薬は、その価格に見合った働きを見せていた。嵐のように撃ち込まれる弾丸に、雨のように降り注ぐ
移動店舗を兼ねたトレーラーの中は意外に広い。カツラギ達はエレナ達と合流すると、すぐにクガマヤマ都市には向かわずに、トレーラーの中で緊急依頼の後処理を進めていた。両グループの交渉役であるカツラギとエレナが話を進める中、邪魔をしないように離れているアキラがサラに改めて深々と頭を下げる。
「助けていただいて、本当にありがとう御座いました。おかげで死なずに済みました」
「いいのよ。これも仕事。気にしないで。アキラ達が頑張ったおかげで数が減ってたから、予想より楽に片付けられたしね」
サラは機嫌良く笑っている。アキラの前にある豊満な胸が、実際にサラに掛かった負担がごく僅かだったことを示していた。
「はい。本当に、本気でそう思っているところです。......少しでも運を良くする
サラはそう言って防護服の前ファスナーを開けると、身に着けていたペンダントのペンダントトップ、装飾用に加工された弾丸を胸の谷間から取り出した。
「ちょっと前に死にかけた時に、偶然助けてくれた人から
カツラギがエレナの威圧にたじろいで焦りながら答える。
「いや、無い訳じゃない。それは誤解だ。支払う意思はある。ただ、ちょっと、今すぐに支払う金が無いってだけの話だ」
『アキラも早くこういう装備を使えるようになってほしいのよね』
『その辺は気長に待ってくれ。例えばどれを使えるようになれば良いんだ?』
『ここにある装備から選ぶのなら、これかしら』
アルファが指差したのは、普通の人間が持つのには無理がありそうな大型の銃だった。黒い金属製で口径も人型兵器の装備品並みに大きい。見るからに頑丈そうな銃身には製造元の刻印が記されていた。
『そこは強化服とかを使用して何とかするのよ。まずはそちらの装備を
サラがアキラに釣られて同じ銃に視線を向ける。そして驚きの声を上げる。
「エレナ見て!
呼ばれてきたエレナもその銃を見て驚く。
「......本当にあるわね。これって対滅弾頭対応のやつよね?」
「ああ。今回の目玉商品だ。これを仕入れるのにどれだけ苦労したか......、待て、何を考えてる?」
カツラギが銃を見るエレナの表情に不穏な気配を感じ始めた。そこでエレナが駆け引き用の笑みを浮かべて
「......サラならぎりぎり装備できるかしら?」
途端にカツラギが慌て始める。
「でも金は払えないんでしょう? だったら物納にしてもらうしかないじゃない」
「無理を言っているのはどっちよ。緊急依頼の報酬も弾薬費も支払わず、いつ支払えるか分からない、いや本当に支払うかどうかも分からない報酬を黙って待ってろって言うの? 私達にも生活があるのよ?」
エレナが表情を厳しいものに変えて、カツラギに向ける視線を強めた。これも駆け引きだ。カツラギがそれを分かった上で言葉に詰まる。カツラギも商売人だ。金を支払えない非は自分にあると理解している。カツラギ自身も今まで商品を受け取っておいて金を支払えない者からいろいろと取り立ててきたのだ。
困ったカツラギは、アキラとエレナが知り合いであることを察して、援護を求めてアキラに視線を送った。アキラは先ほどエレナ達に命を助けてもらったこともあり、どちらかと言えばエレナ達の
エレナとカツラギがその交渉の詳細を詰めている横で、不意にアキラの視界がぼやけていく。同時に全身から力が抜けて、その場に崩れ落ちた。
立ち上がる力も無く、次第に暗くなっていく視界の中に、駆け寄ってくるエレナ達の姿が映る。何か言っているようだったが、聞き取れなかった。
Akira, Darris and Katsuragi were traversing the wasteland in Katsuragi's trailer. Kuzusuhara ruin was not that far from Kugamayama city, but it would still take them some time to reach Kugamayama city. Akira usually covered the distance by running, but most people would prefer riding a car.
Darris and Katsuragi were in a really good mood after their victory in the last battle. They were zealous since they dealt with all the monsters that had been chasing them for most of their journey. They could not help but smile jubilantly as they were talking to Akira about all the problems that they faced on their journey and the situation on the Frontline.
Akira, who spent most of his time in the Slum city, had almost no chance of listening to this kind of story, so he listened closely.
"Ohh. So that's what it's like in the eastern region, huh?"
"Yep. After all, we're talking about the Frontline here, the boundary separating the unknown territory. It's normal for Hunters in that place to own tanks, you know. They bring their tank around like us carrying our guns. But well, it's also because the monsters there are so strong that you would have no chance against them without a tank."
"So you're transporting goods from such a dangerous place, huh? I can't even imagine how dangerous it would be to stock up goods. Being a merchant is not easy, right?"
"Well, you can say that. And not just stocking, there're a lot of things that we need to do like making connections, finding business deals. All of them are just as hard as stocking goods."
Looking at Akira, who was genuinely amazed, Katsuragi could only smile bitterly.
"But well, I can't deny that today's stocking was way harder than usual. So don't think that it's normal for us to face something this hard. If you try, you might find that it's not really hard, you know?"
Akira tried to imagine himself working as a merchant, but he could not see himself being a successful merchant. His thoughts were visible on his face, Katsuragi laughed as he noticed it.
"There are a lot of ways to be successful. You can just be a successful Hunter while we'll be successful merchants. That's all there is to it. I might be going around selling goods in a trailer like this at the moment, but I'll use today's revenue as a stepping stone and make my business bigger. Then one day, I'll join the Corporate Government and be one of the 5 greatest companies."
"One of the 5 greatest companies, huh. That's a pretty big dream."
"Once I join the Corporate Government, I'll issue money coins and its name will be Katsuragi coins. Then I'll make people update their catalogue using Katsuragi currency."
After Katsuragi laughed as he talked about his dream, his face changed to a more serious expression.
"...And this job is my first step towards my dream. That's why I'm really thankful to you, you know? It's because of you that we're able to survive without abandoning my goods."
"Is that so? In that case, just consider that you owe me a favour. After all, you can help me in a lot of ways if your work goes well."
"Of course, but go easy on me on the discounts, okay? Just like I said, I really need money right now."
Although they were taking different routes, both of them were aiming to achieve success in the Eastern district. They were having a good time talking to each other. In the middle of their talk, Alpha who was also enjoying their chat suddenly made a serious face and said to Akira.
"Akira, quickly look through the right window with your binocular."
Looking at how Alpha's mood changed so suddenly, Akira immediately tensed up. He quickly grabbed his binoculars and connected it to his information terminal. He then checked his surroundings with Alpha's vision support. In that direction, he could see a dust cloud in the middle of the vast wasteland.
"...Katsuragi, you're the one who brought those monsters here, right?"
Katsuragi smiled bitterly and tried to evade the question.
"I don't care who brought those monsters here. But tell me something, were those monsters just a fraction of a bigger group?"
Katsuragi immediately understood what was going on from Akira's behaviour. As such, his face immediately turned grim.
"Darris! Put the searching device on the trailer to the Maximum Area Search setting!!"
"If we do that, it's sensitivity in detecting monsters will reduce, you know?"
"Just do it!"
Darris noticed that Akira and Katsuragi looked disturbed, so he quickly changed the setting of the detection device just like he was told to. Katsuragi's face turned grimmer as he looked at the information shown on the detection device.
"Focus it to the 2 o'clock direction and zoom in 60 times."
Akira then pressed them for an answer while making a very serious face.
"Sorry to ask you this while you're busy, but answer me... How many more monsters are left from that group that was chasing you?!"
The swarm of monsters that were chasing Katsuragi from the eastern wasteland was naturally divided into several groups depending on their type and moving speed, and those groups were moving separately from each other. The group that attacked Akira and Katsuragi sometime ago were the frontrunners of the main group. As for the groups that consisted of slow monsters, they gave up midway and returned to their original territory. Now, the group with moderate speed finally caught up with them.
Katsuragi and Darris looked very tense as they talked to each other.
"Katsuragi, can we reach the city at this rate? Can we make it?"
"Nope, we won't make it. They'll think that we brought the monsters and the city's defense force will kill us together with all those monsters... Looking at how fast that group is moving, we might be a little bit faster if I push the trailer to its maximum speed. So how about buying time until we can run from them, we'll head to the city once we put some distance from them."
"That's impossible. We only have little energy left inside the trailer from the long journey. The trailer will run out of energy if we take a detour."
They rejected each other's suggestions and let out a sigh not talking anymore, silence prevailed. Since no one was giving anymore suggestion, Akira gave his.
In reality, Alpha would be the one guiding them. He hid this fact as he gave his suggestion. But Katsuragi flat out rejected his suggestion.
Looking at how Akira was shocked by his reply, Katsuragi regained his composure. He then told Akira his reason.
"...We just left piles of monsters corpses in the ruin. The blood, meat and bones there should've attracted other monsters by now. In the worst-case scenario, it might even attract strong monsters from the deeper part of the ruins. There's no way we can win against those monsters."
Akira doubted that reason as he looked at Alpha, asking for a confirmation. Alpha then answered back with a serious face.
"While his reasoning is true, he also doesn't want to leave the trailer behind. Also, the situation will only worsen if you go back to the ruins now."
"No, you can't use those weapons unless you're using an augmented cloth adjusted for handling those weapons, and it'll take at least 4 hours to make preparations. We'll also need the corresponding special ammo that we don't have right now. We normally procure ammo from a different route after all... Dammit!!"
Fighting back in this place was their only option. Everyone in the trailer understood this. They accepted this fact on different levels which was shown on their face, none of them looked relaxed at all.
Alpha was standing beside Akira just like usual. He was feeling nervous but he had a sense of reassurance from making all the necessary preparations, he then asked Alpha.
"Alpha, answer me honestly. Can I win... Or more like, do I even have any chance to win?"
He felt like Alpha would say that there was a good chance he would lose if he asked whether he could win. Thus he changed his question midway.
"You do have a chance to win since I'm giving you my support. So give it your best too, okay?"
Alpha smiled while teasing Akira and he could only smile bitterly in return.
"You're right, motivation and resolve, both are my responsibility. So then, well, since we're in this situation, I'll be relying on your help."
Alpha smiled proudly and answered back with full confidence.
"Just leave it to me."
Akira laughed lightly. He already threw out the feeling of wanting to give up and his will to fight back started growing.
Akira resolved himself, with this, he was finally truly ready.
The monsters were already within the shooting range of Katsuragi's machine gun, but he did not start shooting. After all, there was no point in making a pre-emptive attack in this situation. He also wanted to save his ammo, thus he waited till those monsters were close enough for the machine gun to inflict maximum damage. There was a need to draw the enemy close enough, Akira and Darris also understood that. Thus they only held their guns ready while waiting for the monsters to get close range.
Once they got close enough for the machine gun to inflict mortal wounds on them, the machine gun started spewing bullets. Those bullets tore the monsters on the front of the flock and splattered their blood and meat onto the monsters behind them.
Although the monsters behind them were showering under their companions' blood and meat, they kept charging at Akira and others without even slowing down. Akira took his aim and pulled the trigger on his gun. The bullet that came out from his gun tore right through his target's forehead and instantly killed the monster. Then he shot the monsters that jumped over that corpse and killed those monsters too.
Every time he felt pain in the arm that supported his gun, Akira would swallow the medicine in his mouth bit by bit. The medicine would recover his body, without it, he would've already lay limp on the ground by now. He paced himself so he would not run out of medicine quickly while maintaining his optimal fighting strength. He gritted his teeth and kept shooting as he adjusted the dosage of the medicine he was taking.
Alpha's orders were near perfect. She considered the speed of each monster as she gave out orders. She tried to prevent the monsters from approaching Akira by telling him to target the front row so that its corpse would block the monsters behind it. She gave out orders to maximize everything that might help Akira.
But it was a completely different matter as to whether Akira was able to follow her orders. Not only was his ability still amateurish, but he was also nervous, agitated and tired. Thus his movements were becoming duller as time passed. He could not perfectly follow half of the orders that Alpha gave him. But she would immediately adjust her instructions depending on the previous result.
Then there was a twist of event. A monster that was faster than any other suddenly jumped towards Akira. Of course, Akira focused his shots at that monster, after unleashing a barrage of bullets and confirming that they hit that monster, he thought that the monster was already dead and shifted his focus towards another monsters. Because he was in a panicked state and tired, and had seen monsters dying after getting shot like that, he made a wrong assumption.
The reason why it missed to bite Akira was because it had lost its original form after getting shot several times. Thanks to that, Akira was able to narrowly escape death. But it did not change the fact that his life was hanging by a thread as that monster opened its jaw again and was getting ready to take another bite.
As the gun reached the deepest part of the monster, it stopped for a second due to the pain. During that opening, right before its fangs sunk into Akira's arm, Akira grinned and pulled the trigger.
The bullets that spewed out from the gun destroyed its head. It then fell down to the ground with bullets flowing out from behind its head.
Akira shoved the corpse aside. The excitement of his victory was dampened by the stinging pain on his right arm. His right arm was injured when that monster jumped on him.
"Quickly take some medicine!! You should still have some in your pocket!"
Akira immediately reached out to the capsules inside his pocket while trying to withstand the pain and spread the contents of the capsule directly onto his wound. Thus another intense pain assaulted him immediately.
"You can't faint here! You'll definitely die if you faint here! Get a hold of yourself!"
The healing nanomachines inside the medicine detected that Akira was in pain as it immediately gathered on his wound and started healing it. Since Akira pushed himself to keep moving, his open wound only got worse which was immediately healed by the nanomachines. This cycle continued as he started shooting again while enduring the pain. Most of the monsters were able to come close to Akira while he was lying on the ground, one misstep was enough to turn the situation worse.
Akira, Katsuragi and Darris were trying hard to fight back. But the situation was getting worse. The monsters were already close enough that it would be nigh impossible to fix the situation.
"...You're right."
"We're saved."
Akira was surprised after hearing what Alpha said. Then the next moment, explosive projectiles rained down on the monsters around them. Explosions turned most of the monsters into minced meat as blood and meat splattered around the area. Then the area near Akira and the trailer were swarmed with anti-monster bullets, thus further making sure of their safety.
The sudden change of events left Akira confused as Alpha pointed her finger towards the wasteland while still smiling. He tried to stand as fast as he could and looked towards the direction Alpha was pointing. There he saw familiar faces of 2 female Hunters riding a vehicle while unleashing countless bullets on the monsters in the area. They were Elena and Sara.
Sara was standing on the vehicle while carrying a huge gun that did not suit her size. The gun on her hand kept launching explosive projectiles from its muzzle.
"Elena! The location is a bit different from the request, but those people are from the SOS request, right?"
Elena was also shooting at the monsters using a machine gun from the vehicle, it looked like she was enjoying it.
"That's correct. The SOS request said that they're in the Kuzusuhara ruins but I bet they arrived in this place after running away from those monsters. Let's eliminate them all!"
"Roger that! The requester will pay for the bullets! So let's not hold anything back!!"
From there on, the battle was overwhelmingly one-sided. Sara and Elena who had surplus money from the last time brought expensive but powerful ammo with them for cleaning the monsters. And their ammo seemed to be working splendidly, worthy of their cost. The explosive bullets that kept spouting out from her gun were like a storm that rained down on those monsters and left the ground clean. Akira was looking at this scene with his jaw dropped on the ground.
The insides of the trailer that also functioned as a moving shop was wider than it looked. Elena and Sara then met up with Katsuragi and finished processing the SOS request without heading back to Kugamayama City. As Katsuragi and Elena were negotiating with each other, Akira talked to Sara who was not too far. He bowed deeply to Sara while saying his thanks.
"Thank you very much for your help. You really helped us in escaping death back there."
"Don't mention it. It's also one of our jobs. It was also thanks to you fighting back desperately and cutting their numbers down, that it was not hard cleaning them up."
Sara laughed in a good mood. It was obvious that her plump chest did not weigh too much as they jingled when she laughed.
"You can say that again. I honestly think the same too... I wonder if I should get myself some kind of charm to increase my luck."
As she said that, Sara opened the front fastener of her armour and took out a pendant, it was a bullet that was repurposed into a decorative pendant.
"When I almost got killed, someone came and saved us by pure coincidence and gave us this bullet, then I remade it into a pendant like this. It's to remind me of our gratitude and good luck from back then."
Katsuragi nervously replied back as he was overwhelmed by Elena's pressure.
"Well, it's not like I don't have money, it's a big misunderstanding. I do plan to pay you. But I can't pay you right now at this moment."
"I really wish you can start using these kinds of equipment soon, Akira."
"Please wait patiently if it's about that thing. By the way, which one that you wish for me to be able to use?"
"If I have to pick one from this place, then it will be this one."
Alpha was pointing at a huge gun that in no way a normal human would be able to use. It was made of black metal and was as big as a person with the manufacturer's logo carved on its body.
"Of course you can once you get an augmented cloth. So you should get one of those first. But well, no need to hurry, we'll get there eventually."
Looking at how Akira was staring at that gun, Sara could not help but look at that gun too. But then she shouted in surprise.
"Elena!! Look at this!! It's amazing! They have Ragnarok too!!"
Elena who was called by Sara then came there, looked at that gun, and was also surprised.
"...Whoah, they really have one. This is the gun that can shoot Annihilator Warhead, right?"
"Yeah, that's one of my best goods. It was really hard to get my hands on one, you see... Wait, what are you thinking?"
Katsuragi started having a bad feeling as he saw Elena's expression when she was looking at that gun. Elena was smiling since she found something that she could use for negotiation as she mumbled.
"...I wonder if Sara can use this gun."
Katsuragi immediately went into panic mode.
"But you can't pay us with cash, right? In that case, you have no choice but to pay us with your goods."
"I wonder which one of us is asking for the impossible. You can't even pay our rewards and ammo from that SOS request and you don't even know when you might be able to pay us. Are you telling us to wait for the reward that we don't even know if you would even really pay us or not? We also need money to live, you know?"
Elena's expression turned intimidating as she glared to Katsuragi. That was also a gamble. Katsuragi understood that, but he could not say anything. Katsuragi was a merchant. He could not deny the fact that he could not pay them with cash. Even Katsuragi himself was actually carrying goods that he had not paid yet.
Katsuragi who in trouble then guessed that Akira and Elena knew each other as he looked at Akira, seeking for his help. But since Akira was also saved by Elena and Sara, it was more like he was in Sara and Elena's side. As such, he could only look away when Katsuragi stared at him.
As Elena and Katsuragi were talking about the details of their contract. Akira's vision suddenly blurred and he lost all of his power in his body as he fell to the ground.
He did not even have the power to get up. As his vision went dark, he could see Elena and Katsuragi ran to him. It looked like they were saying something, but Akira could not hear it. But he understood that they looked panicked stricken.
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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