雨は降り続けている。強くもならないが、弱くもならない。
アキラは定期的に部屋の外に出て周囲を警戒している。何かあればすぐに部屋に戻れる距離を保ちながら、周囲の状況を確認する。情報収集機器も室内なら正常に動作している。雨宿りに来たモンスターと鉢合わせることもなかった。
アキラが何となく思ったことを話す。
『このまま何も起こらなければ良いんだけどな』
アルファが苦笑して答える。
『アキラがそういうことを話すと、何かの前触れのような気がするわね』
『何も起こらない。楽勝だ。雨が
『分かったよ。黙っていれば良いんだな?』
楽しげに笑うアルファの横で、アキラは少し
ちのためか、その笑顔は少々ぎこちないものだった。
アキラはシェリルの隣に行く前に、近くにいたエリオに尋ねる。
「なあ、何かあったのか?」
エリオは横目でシェリルを見る。シェリルは笑顔でエリオを見ていた。余計なことを言うなと、その目が雄弁に語っていた。
エリオは先日シェリルの機嫌を損ねたばかりだ。これ以上シェリルの機嫌を損ねるわけにはいかない。しかしアキラの機嫌も損ねるわけにもいかないのだ。
がなく、殺した相手の拠点にその死体を持って乗り込む危険人物。敵対さえしなければ無害。そう自身に言い聞かせておかないと、話しかけるだけでもかなりの勇気が要る人物。それがエリオの知るアキラだ。シェリルが手綱を握っているので一応安全だと思ってはいるが、機嫌を損ねたくない相手には違いないのだ。
アキラの機嫌を損ねず、シェリルの機嫌も損ねないように、エリオは注意してアキラの質問に答える。
「ちょっとした
アキラはそれだけ言ってシェリルの隣に座った。
エリオはアキラの機嫌を損ねなかったことにまずは安心する。そしてシェリルの様子を横目で
まれているわけではない。だから機嫌を損ねてはいない。きっと大丈夫だ。エリオはそう考えて、取りあえず祈ることにした。
シェリルは自身の心の支えであり精神安定剤でもあるアキラが戻ってきたのですぐに機嫌を戻した。アキラはそのシェリルの様子を見て、大したことはなかったのだろうと判断して、
次の巡回まで休もうとしていたアキラの前にセブラがやって来る。シェリルの機嫌が再び悪くなる。
セブラがアキラに話しかける。
「ちょっと話があるんだけど......」
「ないわ。戻りなさい」
シェリルが話に割り込み、セブラを
「俺はアキラに話してるんだよ」
「徒党のボスは私よ。その私が戻れと言っているのよ。戻りなさい」
「そういうことになってるだけだろ? どう見てもボスはアキラじゃねえか」
シェリル達の中には、ボスであるシェリルを単なるアキラの代理だと考えている者もいる。後から徒党に加わった者ほどその考えが強い。また先に徒党に加わった者ほどシェリルよりもアキラを恐れて重要視している様子がその誤解を助長させていた。
つまり、アキラに話を通せばシェリルの意思は無視できる、そう考えてしまう者もいるのだ。それはある意味では正しいのだが、手段としては誤りだ。
アキラは基本的にシェリル個人を助けているだけであり、シェリルの徒党を助けているわけではない。よって誰かがシェリルを飛び越してアキラに
み付けたが大人しく引き下がった。アキラが話を聞こうとしているからだ。
セブラが話を続ける。
「だから、俺達の護衛だろ!?」
「違う。シェリル達の護衛だ。シェリル達ってのは、シェリルを指示系統のトップにして組織的に行動する人間のことだ。シェリルの意思を無視して勝手にどこかに行こうとするやつは対象外だ」
暗にお前を護衛する気はないと言われたセブラが表情を
「何だ、怖いのか? それとも自信がないのか?」
「怖いし、自信はないな」
セブラの挑発の言葉をアキラはあっさり肯定した。セブラがたじろぎ、横で聞いていたシェリルも驚きの表情を浮かべた。アキラが話を続ける。
「モンスターは怖いんだ。だからモンスターなんて呼ばれるんだ。そんなことも知らなかったのか? それと、護衛にも優先順位はあるんだ。まずは最優先でシェリルを守り、シェリル達を一緒に守る。そのシェリル達の安全を担保した上で、自分からモンスターに食われに行くようなやつまで守り切る自信は
「探索に行きたければ行けよ。俺は止めない。俺の仕事はシェリル達の護衛だ。そこにお前の自殺を力尽くで止めるなんてことは含まれていない。好きにしろよ」
全く脈のないアキラの返事を聞いて、セブラはアキラを護衛にしてこの
セブラは少し黙って考える。そして彼なりに要求を下げて、アキラが装備しているAAH突撃銃を指差して話す。
セブラも武器無しで
「何言っているんだ? 貸すわけないだろ?」
「使ってないじゃないか!」
「本気で言ってるのか? それが俺がお前に武器を渡す理由になると、本気で思ってるのか? 大丈夫か? 実は錯乱してないか?」
アキラにはセブラに武器を貸す理由など
れを通り越して、セブラの正気を疑い始めていた。
「なあ、お前は一応まだぎりぎり辛うじて俺の護衛対象だ。大人しくしている限りはな。これ以上ごちゃごちゃ言うようなら、俺の仕事の邪魔をしていると判断して護衛対象から完全に外す。分かったら
アキラは最後に少し口調を強めて言うと、セブラから興味をなくしたように視線を外した。
セブラは悔しそうな表情で少しだけアキラを見た後、部屋の反対側に戻っていく。そして壁を背にして座り込むと、
雨は降り続いている。
アキラが再び部屋の周囲を巡回していると、アルファがアキラの前に回り込んで窓の外を指差した。
の外を見る。アルファによる視覚拡張により、アルファが指差す先にあるものが強調表示される。そこにはこちらに近付いてくる車の姿があった。
『他のハンターか? 面倒なことにならないと良いけど......』
良い予感は外れ、嫌な予感は当たる。アキラはそれ以上予想するのを止めて、シェリル達に状況を伝えるために部屋に戻ることにした。
車には3人のハンターが乗っていた。後部座席に座るギューバとコルベ、運転席に座るデイルの3人だ。
ギューバがデイルに言う。
「なあ、やっぱり直接クガマヤマ都市に戻った方が良いんじゃねえの?」
「大丈夫だって。あの遺跡からは随分離れたし、あのやばいモンスターはもう
「考えすぎだろ」
ギューバはデイルの判断を考えすぎだとして一笑に付した。デイルは不機嫌になる自分を抑えた。
今度はコルベがデイルに尋ねる。
仲介が! ふざけたやつらを紹介しやがって! 絶対抗議してやる!)
デイルは心の中で自身の
デイル達3人は普段から組んでいるハンター達ではない。デイル達が登録している仲介業者を通して暫定的にチームを組んでいるだけだ。
東部にはハンター同士の仲介を生業にする業者が数多く存在する。攻略する遺跡の難易度、一緒に受ける依頼の内容、報酬の分配方法、装備、ハンターランク、経歴、年齢、性別、人柄、その他様々な条件で絞り込み、互いの希望に一致するハンターを紹介するのである。
多くのハンターが仲介業者を活用している。優良な仲介業者が紹介するハンターは、比較的信用できるからだ。素行の悪いハンターは、極端な例では組んだ相手が次々と行方不明になったり死亡したりするハンターは、仲介業者も登録や紹介を断る場合が多い。紹介後に多々問題を起こすハンターも同様だ。そのような過程で
企業が世間体を気にする依頼をする場合、素行の良いハンターに優先して依頼することもある。優良な紹介業者に登録されているハンターはその対象に選ばれやすい。既に実績があるからだ。
ハンターを強力な武装を持つ強盗に変えないための統企連の経営努力も有り、今では優良な紹介業者に登録されることはハンターの
デイルは基本的に個人で活動している。必要なら仲介業者を介して短期的に他のハンターと組むことにしている。
デイルはある筋から得たかなり稼げそうな遺跡を探索しようとしていた。その旧世界の遺跡の場所だけは伝で手に入れたのだが、生息しているモンスターの種類などの情報は得られなかった。その
結果論だが、デイル達の遺跡探索は失敗に終わった。大した遺物も手に入れられずに、急いで遺跡から脱出する羽目になった。しかもその過程で強力なモンスターと遭遇してしまい、遺跡から慌てて逃げてきたのだ。
デイルは遺跡探索に失敗した原因をギューバ達の所為だと考えている。
に索敵もせずに遺跡の中をふらついてモンスターに見つかりやがる! コルベは隠れもせずにぶっ放して状況を悪化させやがる! 俺一人で行った方がましだった! こいつらとは二度と組まん!)
それらはデイルの主観にすぎない。ギューバとコルベは、慎重すぎて機敏に動けなかったデイルの行動や判断こそが最大の失敗の原因と考えていた。
単に彼らの相性が悪かっただけかもしれないが、とにかく遺跡探索の失敗は3人に大きな不和を残していた。
「先客か。まあ、この雨だしな。考えることは同じか」
ギューバが迷彩シートに覆われている荷台を見て話す。
「随分積み込んでるな。どこの遺跡の遺物だ?」
荷台には旧世界の遺物らしいものが大量に積まれているが、迷彩シートに覆われているので正確な内容までは分からない。
「ここにはもうゴミみたいな遺物しか残ってねえよ。そんな物を
の中に入り周囲を探索する。少々モンスターの死骸が多いものの不審な点はない。そしてデイル達は通路の先にアキラの姿を見つけた。
アキラは部屋の入り口に立ち、CWH対物突撃銃とDVTSミニガンを持って周囲を警戒している。アキラもすぐにデイル達に気付いた。
に行ってくれ。この部屋は俺達が使ってるんだ」
「落ち着けって。俺達もハンターだ。遺跡からの帰り道に雨宿りに来ただけだ。お前達も遺跡探索の帰り道とかだろ? 敵対する気はないよ」
ギューバ達も銃を下ろす。アキラも銃を下ろしてデイル達に対する警戒を下げた。
「俺もハンターだけど、今日は依頼を受けて護衛としてここにいるんだ。用がないならここから離れてほしいんだけど......」
不確定要素を減らしたいアキラは、できればデイル達にここから離れてもらいたかった。
しかしデイルが食い下がる。
デイルは遺跡攻略などの話を、主にギューバ達に対する愚痴などを、いろいろと誰かに話してストレスの解消をしたかった。それに人脈はハンターにとっても重要だ。ハンターを遺物収集要員ではなく純粋な護衛として雇えるほどの人物ならば、可能なら縁を
ギューバが愛想良く笑って話す。
「遺物の交換でも構わないぞ。それに護衛に雇われているなら、俺達に会うかどうか決めるのはお前じゃなくて雇い主の方じゃないか?」
ギューバは荷台に積まれていた遺物の中身が気になっていた。持ち主に遺物の交換を持ちかければ、その中身を知ることができるかもしれない。ギューバはそう考えたのだ。
アキラは少し悩んだ後、一応シェリルに確認することにした。他のハンターとの縁はシェリル達にとっても重要だろう。アキラが勝手に決めることではない。そういう判断からだ。
アキラはそう言い残してシェリル達のいる部屋に入った。
シェリルはアキラから事情を聞き、デイル達と会うことにした。アキラとしては少々意外だったが、シェリルがそう決めたのなら別段文句もない。アキラはデイル達を部屋の中に入れた。
デイル達を部屋に入れた後、シェリルは軽い自己紹介を済ませてからデイル達と談笑を続けていた。アキラはCWH対物突撃銃とDVTSミニガンを握ったまま、警戒を
「それで、ええと、シェリルは何かの代表をやってるんだって?」
「はい。クガマヤマ都市の下位区画の、小さな区域の代表と言いますか、徒党の
いんだな。何て名前の徒党なんだ?」
「小さな徒党ですので、名前は付けておりません。名前を付けるとそれだけで目立つこともありますので。余計な不和の原因とならないように、慎みを持った活動を心がけております」
「いえ、危険な荒野で恐ろしいモンスターに立ち向かうハンターの皆様の苦労に比べれば、私の苦労など微々たるものですよ。モンスター討伐の報酬や、皆様が収集された遺物の価値に見合うものでは御座いません。最近はどのような遺物を見つけられたのですか?」
『シェリルは自分達の情報を不自然ではない程度に隠しつつ、相手の情報を根こそぎ聞き出そうとしている。それは私もアキラと同意見よ。多分意図的にやっているわ』
談笑の内容の大部分はデイル達に関することだ。
デイルはシェリルに様々なことを話している。例えば旧世界の遺跡の話ならば、遺跡の構造、遭遇したモンスター、発見した遺物の内容などだ。普通なら聞かれても答えないこと、他のハンターに教える場合は情報料を取っても不思議はないことまで、シェリルからの共感と称賛の言葉を求めて話し始めている。
そしてシェリルはデイルの期待に応えて共感と称賛の言葉を笑顔で返している。デイルの口はどんどん軽くなっていた。
『そうか。まあ、俺が知られて困ることなんて、アルファに関することぐらいだしな。大丈夫か』
『アキラが不意に私の方を見て、それをシェリルが目で追っていたことはあったわ。アキラには考え事をしていると変な方向を見る癖がある。その程度には思われているかもね』
『別にアキラの所為とは言っていないわ。それに変な格好とは失礼ね。そんなことを言うと、視線
アルファは揶揄うように不敵に笑ってそう答えた。
アキラはすぐに謝った。アキラの度肝を抜くような得体の知れない変な格好をしているアルファの姿など、アキラも見たくはないからだ。
自身の武勇伝を自慢げに語るデイルを横目に、ギューバは同じく一歩引いた形でシェリル達を観察していた。
部屋の中に入ったギューバは自分の予想とは大きく異なる光景に少し驚いていた。部屋の中でハンターのチームが休憩していると考えていたのだ。外に
他のハンターを武力要員として雇い、雇い主であるハンターが見つけた遺物を独り占めにする。そのような活動方針をとるハンターもいる。ギューバはアキラもそのような雇い主に雇われたハンターだと考えていた。
しかし部屋の中に入ったギューバが見たものは、アキラの雇い主らしい身形の良い少女と、貧相な服を着た子供達だった。アキラ以外のハンターの姿はない。それどころか戦力に換算できそうな人間すらいない。
ギューバはデイル達がシェリルと話している間も、部屋の中を見渡したり、他の子供達の様子を確認したり、アキラの様子を確認したり、会話内容からシェリル達の正体を推察したりしていた。
ギューバは断片的に手に入れた情報からある程度の推察を済ませると、デイル達とシェリルの会話に割り込む。
「ちょっと良いか? 先に提案したが、これも何かの縁だ。お互い遺物収集の帰りなんだ。遺物の交換でもしないか? 量は少ないが、俺達もそこそこ良い遺物を手に入れてきたんだ。どうだ?」
旧世界の遺跡で見つけた遺物を、何でもかんでもハンターオフィスの買い取り所に持ち込むハンターばかりではない。付き合いのある買取り業者が好む種類の遺物を効率よく集めるために、ハンター同士で遺物を交換することはよくある。ギューバの提案自体は、基本的に利益のある話だ。
しかしシェリルはギューバの提案を申し訳なさそうに断る。
「申し訳御座いません。私達が集めた遺物は価値の低いものばかりでして、皆様の遺物とは釣り合わないと思います」
「なに、買取り業者にも好みや癖がある。そっちの買取りルートでは低価値でも、こっちのルートでは良い値が付くかもしれない。価値なんか気にしないでくれ。絶対に交換しなければならないわけでもないしな」
「積込みの手間などもありますので」
「提案しているのはこっちだ。それぐらい手伝うって」
み次第すぐに出発する予定で、再度積み込む時間も惜しいぐらいでして......」
断るシェリルにギューバが食い下がっている。デイルは何とかして断ろうとしているシェリルを不思議に思いながらも、シェリルへの好感とギューバへの反感もあってシェリルの擁護に回る。
「おい、無理強いすることじゃないだろ」
デイルに説得されたギューバはあっさり引き下がった。
シェリルが遺物交換を嫌がった理由は、デイル達が低価値の遺物しか持っていないシェリル達を見て落胆するのを防ぐためだ。
シェリルはデイル達が自分を誤解していることに気付いている。恐らくデイル達は、シェリルをある程度大きな規模の徒党の
荷台に積まれている低価値の遺物を有り難がる程度の、スラム街に幾らでもいる力も金もないただの子供。デイル達がシェリルをそう認識した場合、シェリルへの態度を一変させて、最悪襲いかかってくる可能性は十分にある。少なくとも、シェリルはそう考えていた。
デイルの好感度を稼いでおいて良かったと、シェリルは
The rain continued, it was not getting worse, but it was not letting up either.
Akira regularly went outside the room and checked the surroundings. He was checking the situation around the mansion while keeping close distance to the main room so he could quickly return back to where Sheryl was in case he spotted anything. His information-gathering device was also working just fine as long as it was indoor. Up until now, he had not met any monsters looking for a shelter from the rain yet.
Akira then thought.
"I hope that this situation would continue."
Alpha smiled bitterly.
"When you say it like that, it sounds as if you're rising your death flag, you know."
"Nothing will happen. This is easy, we just need to wait for the rain to stop before going back home."
"Okay okay, I just need to shut up, right?"
In contrast to Alpha who was smiling teasingly there, Akira pouted.
It was rather obvious that Sheryl was in a bad mood, but the moment she noticed Akira, she immediately welcomed him with a smile. Maybe because she could not fully hide the displeasure inside her, her smile somehow looked slightly awkward.
As Akira was about to sit next to Sheryl, he asked Erio who was standing near him.
"Did something happen?"
Erio glanced at Sheryl. Sheryl looked back at Erio while smiling. But her eyes were telling Erio not to say anything unnecessary.
Erio did something that angered Sheryl a few days ago, so he couldn't afford to make it worse. While on the other hand, he also could not afford to worsen Akira's mood either.
Akira was a dangerous person who would kill without any hesitation. There was even an occasion when he dragged the corpse of the person that he killed to the base of the gang that person was affiliated with. But Akira was harmless as long as he was not hostile. Unless the children of Sheryl's gang told themselves that, they would need extra courage to even talk with Akira. That was the Akira that Erio knew. Although it should be fine for now since Sheryl was basically having him under control, Akira was still a dangerous person.
Erio carefully answered Akira's question as not to worsen both his and Sheryl's mood.
"There was a little dispute, but it's already over."
Akira only said that before he sat next to Sheryl.
Erio was relieved that he was at least able to avoid worsening Akira's mood. He then glanced at Sheryl, who was still smiling at him.
It was not like Sheryl was obviously glaring at him. So Erio thought that she was not angry and it should be fine, or at least, that was what Erio prayed.
Since Sheryl's heart leaned on Akira and as he was now back beside her, she returned to her normal self. Akira, who saw that change, thought that it was not something bad. So he just decided to stop thinking about it.
As Akira was taking a rest there before the next patrol, Sebla approached him. Sheryl's mood quickly turned sour again.
Sebla then said to Akira.
"I have something I want to talk with you..."
"No, you don't, now get back to your place."
Sheryl interjected and glared at Sebla.
"I'm talking with Akira here."
"I'm the boss of the gang and I'm telling you to get back to your place."
"You're just a proxy in the end, aren't you? No matter how you look at it, the real boss here is Akira."
There were some children in Sheryl's gang who thought that Sheryl was just a proxy for Akira. Most of the members who joined recently had a strong impression about it. While the senior members of the gang were much more afraid of Akira than Sheryl that they chose to carefully observe the situation as it developed. Thus prolonging the misunderstanding about Sheryl's actual position in the gang.
So in short, they thought that if they could appeal to Akira, then they could ignore Sheryl's opinion. Although that was true, there was no mistaking it that it was a bad choice of action.
Akira was basically just helping Sheryl as an individual. He was not helping Sheryl's gang in particular. As such, if anyone from Sheryl's gang came directly to Akira to appeal to him, Akira would flatly reject them.
Since it seemed that Akira was willing to hear what he had to say, Sebla snickered mockingly at Sheryl. Sheryl glared at Sebla even more as she stepped back, it was because Akira was saying that he was willing to listen to Sebla.
Sebla then continued.
"So you're basically our bodyguard, right?"
"That's not right. When I say other children, it means the children who view Sheryl as the head of the gang. So it doesn't include the children who won't listen to her."
Sebla's face twitched, Akira was basically saying that he wouldn't protect him. So Sebla quickly changed to provocation.
"What? Are you scared or something? Or like, you have no confidence at all?"
"Yeah yeah, I'm scared and I don't trust my own skill."
Akira just flatly took in Sebla's provocation as if it was nothing. Sebla was taken aback. Sheryl, who was also listening at that exchange, was surprised. Akira then continued.
"The monsters are scary, that's exactly why they're called 'monsters'. You don't even know that? And also, I have priority on who I'm going to protect. First of all, I need to make sure of Sheryl's safety before protecting the people who are with her. But even after I can be sure that Sheryl and her gang is safe, I have no plans to worry about the safety of the people who try to pick a fight against the monsters on their own volition."
"If you want to go search the mansion, you can just go ahead and do that. I won't stop you. My job is to protect Sheryl and her gang. So stopping you from killing yourself is not included in my job description. So yeah, you can go ahead and do whatever you want."
After he heard Akira's straight answer, Sebla gave up trying to have Akira protect him while he searched the mansion. But he still wanted to go search the mansion.
Sebla went silent and thought. He then lowered his request and pointed at Akira's AAH assault rifle.
Sebla himself had no plan to search the mansion unarmed. So putting it in another way, he would search the mansion if he could get himself a rifle. As far as he could recognize, other than Akira's equipment, he did not think there was that much difference between him and Akira.
"What the heck are you saying now? There's no way I would lend you my rifle."
"But it's not like you're using it right now."
"Are you for real? Do you really think that is enough of a reason to lend you my rifle? Are you sure you're okay in the head?"
There was no reason for Akira to lend Sebla his rifle. In his mind, lending his rifle to Sebla was equal to losing his rifle for nothing. Not to mention, Sebla might point that rifle at him, which was basically worse than simply losing his rifle.
When Akira got his calm back, he started to doubt Sebla's sanity.
"Listen here, you're basically still barely included as one of the people that I have to protect, that is if you don't do anything crazy. If you keep bugging me like this, I'll have no other choice but to think of you as an obstruction to my job and remove you from my escort target. If you understand, then get lost. You're bothering me."
After Akira gave him a strong rejection, he looked away from Sebla as if he had lost interest in him.
Sebla looked frustrated and stood staring at Akira for some time before he returned to the opposite side of the room. He then sat down leaning his back against the wall, bent his head down, and started mumbling.
The rain was still pouring down.
As Akira was patrolling the area, Alpha suddenly moved in front of him and pointed her finger outside the window.
Akira peeked outside the mansion. Thanks to the vision enhancement from Alpha, his vision zoomed into the direction where Alpha was pointing her finger. She was pointing at a vehicle that was heading in his direction.
"The other Hunters, huh? I just hope they won't cause any trouble but..."
Akira felt that his hope would get betrayed and his bad premonition would happen, that was why he stopped there. He then headed back to the room to inform Sheryl and her gang about the Hunters.
There were 3 Hunters in that vehicle. Guyver and Colbert were sitting on the backseats while Dale was driving the vehicle.
Guyver said to Dale.
"Say, isn't it better if we just head straight to Kugamayama city?"
"It would be fine. We've put some distance between us and that ruin, I'm sure that dangerous-looking monster must have lost us by now."
"You're just overthinking it."
When Guyver brushed Dale's worry as him overthinking it and laughed at him, Dale quickly turned at him with an annoyed face.
Then Colbert joined their conversation as he asked Dale.
[That damn mediator!! Picking these dumb guys for me!! I'll definitely file a complaint later!!]
Deep inside his heart, Dale kept cursing the mediator who introduced Guyver and Colbert to him.
Dale, Guyver, and Colbert did not go on an expedition together normally. They were all just registered under the same mediator and so they were just temporarily on the same team.
In the eastern district, there were several companies that acted as mediators between Hunters. They would introduce Hunters with other Hunters depending on the requirements set by those Hunters. These requirements included a lot of things such as the level of danger of the ruin that they wanted to explore, the type of request that they were willing to take together, the way to divide the reward, their equipments, Hunter Rank, battle record, and even age, gender and personality.
Most of the Hunters in the eastern district were utilising such mediator's service. It was because a good mediator company often only introduced reliable and trustworthy Hunters. After all, these mediators would not accept Hunters with bad records. For example, those Hunters who always lose their team members in the wasteland for some reason, or those Hunters who are known to increase the risk of the exploration for other Hunters in the team. These Hunters would get rejected when they tried to register their names in those mediator companies. It was the same for the Hunters who got a lot of complaints after they were introduced to the other Hunters. With such a process of elimination, the Hunters who were left were usually trustworthy and reliable ones.
In the case when the company was requested by the City Management to send Hunters for some requests that had something to do with public image, it would prioritize those Hunters who had good personalities due to their track record.
In order to prevent the Hunters with powerful weapons from turning into bandits, the Corporate Government usually put a requirement on certain requests that the Hunters had to be registered with a mediator company and must have a relatively good image.
Dale usually worked alone and only formed a team temporarily with the help of a mediator company.
He had a hint and was looking for a particular ruin that might earn him a lot of money. Although he was able to get the information about where that ruin was through his connection, he did not get the information about the monsters around that ruin. Because of that, he thought that it would be a bad idea to go there alone and ended up asking the mediator company to introduce him to some Hunters. And those Hunters were Guyver and Colbert.
Result-wise, Dale's expedition ended up as a failure this time. They were not able to get their hands on any expensive relics and when they decided to just go back home, they encountered a powerful monster and had to escape that ruin in a hurry.
Dale believed that it was Guyver's and Colbert's fault that they failed.
[This Guyver guy can't even properly scan the area for monsters, he was just loitering aimlessly in the ruin and got detected by monsters because of that!! And that Colbert didn't even try to hide it when he was about to abandon us!! It's would have been much better if I had come here alone!! I'll never work together with these two again!!]
But all this was from Dale's point of view. Both Guyver and Colbert thought that Dale was too scared to make any swift decision which made their expedition a total failure.
In all actuality, it might be just a matter of compatibility between their personalities, but putting that aside, all of them still felt awkward after that failure.
"Someone's here first, huh. Well, it's raining cats and dogs here, no wonder another Hunter would come up with the same idea."
Guyver glanced at Akira's vehicle as he was putting on a camouflaging sheet on their vehicle.
"It's packed with relics though. I wonder where all these relics came from?"
It was obvious that the tray was packed with a lot of relics, but because it was covered with a camouflaging sheet, Guyver could not really see how many relics were in it.
"There are only garbage relics left in this ruin, you know. There's no way someone would even go as far as preparing a detachable cart just to carry relics out from this ruin."
They then checked the area around that mansion. There were dead monsters around the area but there was nothing suspicious. They then noticed Akira by the end of a hallway.
Akira was standing near the entrance of one of the rooms, he was watching the surroundings with CWH anti-material rifle and DVTS minigun in his hands. He also noticed Dale and the other Hunters the moment they came in sight.
"I'm sorry to tell you this, but can you take any other room? We're using this room to take shelter from the rain."
"Calm down, we're also Hunters. We're only here to take shelter from the rain on our way back home from the ruins. Are you also on your way back from a ruin? Just so you know, I have no plans to cause any trouble."
Guyver and Colbert lowered their guns. When he saw that, Akira also lowered his guns.
"I'm also a Hunter, but I'm here today for an escort request. If you have no business with us, I hope that you would take shelter somewhere else..."
Since Akira wanted to reduce any unpredictable factors, he hoped that Dale would take his friends somewhere else.
But Dale did not step back.
Dale wanted to have someone to talk to about his expedition, or to be more precise, he wanted someone that could help him vent his stress by complaining about Guyver and Colbert. Moreover, making connections was essential for Hunters, and that was doubly true when it came to a Hunter like Akira who was nice enough to be there as an escort and not for hunting relics. Thus Dale wanted to make some connections with Akira if it was possible.
Guyver threw a friendly smile at Akira.
"I don't mind if you want to exchange relics too, you know? Moreover, if you're here as an escort, it's your employer who will decide to meet us or not, right?"
Guyver could not forget about the relic pile that was on Akira's cart. He thought that if he could somehow ask the owner of those relics to exchange some of it, he might be able to see what kind of relics were in that pile.
Akira hesitated for a bit, he then decided to ask Sheryl. After all, getting more connections with the other Hunters might be a good thing for Sheryl. That was why Akira decided to ask her rather than making his own decision.
After saying that, Akira went back to the room where Sheryl and her gang were.
Sheryl heard about the situation from Akira and decided to meet with Dale and his friends. Akira was a bit surprised by that, but since Sheryl decided to do so, he had no plan to criticize her at all. He then let Dale and his friends into the room.
After that, Dale and his friends introduced themselves to Sheryl and continued talking with her. While they were doing that, Akira was just standing silently next to Sheryl with both CWH anti-material rifle and DVTS minigun on his hands without lowering his guard at all.
"So then, uhmmm, are you some kind of representative or something?"
"Yes, I'm the representative of a small gang in the lower district of the Kugamayama city, or more like, I'm the head of that small gang."
"That's a pretty impressive feat considering that you're still so young, what's the name of your gang?"
"It's still a small gang, so we don't have a name yet. Not to mention that it'll attract more attention if we have a name and it might cause needless conflict. We're trying to lay low and avoid any problem right now."
"Not at all, compared to the hard time that the Hunters have when facing the monsters out in the dangerous wasteland, our problem is not that bad. We don't have anything that can be compared to the rewards that the Hunters get from hunting monsters or from selling relics. By the way, what kind of relics did you find lately?"
"Sheryl is trying to probe information out of those Hunters while keeping her own information a secret. I agree with you about that point, I think that she's doing it intentionally."
The conversation between Sheryl and Dale was mostly about Dale's team. Although the conversation shifted to about Sheryl from time to time, she was always able to subtly steer the topic back about Dale and his friends and it seemed that Dale did not notice that at all.
Dale and Sheryl talked about a lot of things. When the topic was about the ruin, they would talk about the monsters that Dale had encountered or about the relics that he had found in the past. Although all of them were information that a Hunter would not normally share with the other Hunters except when they were getting paid, thanks to Sheryl's sympathy and praises, Dale started blurting out those information for free.
And even after that, Sheryl would still occasionally show her sympathy or throw some praises exactly when he was expecting for them, thus Dale just could not stop himself.
"I see. Well, the only sensitive information that I have is about you, so I guess it should be okay, huh?"
"Well, Akira, you sometimes lowered your guard and turned at my direction. So she might think that you have a weird habit of looking at a random direction when you're deep in thought, but that's all."
"It's not like I'm saying that it's your fault. And also, it's so rude of you to say that. If you keep saying something like that, I'll start using even weirder clothing to train you."
Alpha was smiling invincibly and teasingly at Akira.
Akira quickly apologized. He did not want to see Alpha in any super strange clothing that would even take him by surprise.
As Dale was boasting about his 'adventurous' story to Sheryl, Guyver was keeping distance while silently observing them.
Guyver was surprised when he entered that room since the scene inside was so much different from what he was expecting. He thought he would find Hunters resting inside the room. Since there was only one vehicle with its cart filled with relics, judging from that, he expected to find at most 6 Hunters. He also thought that Akira was guarding the entrance since he was the weakest among those 6 Hunters.
Some Hunters preferred to work as a paid mercenary to accompany other Hunters to the wasteland while any relics that they found during their expedition would all be owned by their employers. Guyver thought that Akira was one of those Hunters.
But what he found inside that room was a beautiful young girl who employed Akira and the other small children in shoddy looking clothing. It did not seem that there was another Hunter except Akira inside that room. Those children did not even seem like they could handle a fight well.
While Dale was talking with Sheryl, Guyver scanned the room and lightly checked all the children in the room. He also kept his eyes on Akira whilst trying to figure out Sheryl's situation from what he heard from their conversation.
After Guyver finished checking everything there, he then interjected in Dale's and Sheryl's conversation.
"Can I say something for a bit here? I have a suggestion, this must be some kind of fate that we met each other here. We're both on our way back from hunting relics. So how about we exchange relics? Although we don't have that many, we got ourselves some good relics, you know?"
There were not that many Hunters who would sell all of the relics that they found in the ruins to the Hunter Office. So in order to adjust the relics that they collected according to the type of the relics preferred by the merchants that they sold those relics to, Hunters sometimes exchanged relics between each other. Usually, Guyver's suggestion was a profitable one for both sides.
But Sheryl looked apologetic as she declined that offer.
"I'm really sorry. The relics that we gathered are nothing more than cheap relics. I don't think we have anything worth exchanging."
"Don't worry, every merchant out there has a different preference. Your relics might not be worth much if you sell to the merchant that you frequent, but they might fetch a good price with the merchant that we frequent. Don't worry about the price, it's not like we have to exchange anything if we don't find anything worth exchanging."
"But it would take some time for us to unload the relics."
"I'm the one suggesting it, so we'll help out too."
"...We're planning to head back to the city as soon as the rain stops, so it might be a bit hard time-wise to unload them and load them again immediately afterwards..."
Although Sheryl was trying to decline his offer, Guyver kept pressuring her. Even though Dale found it weird that Sheryl was trying to decline the offer, because he liked her more than Guyver, he took Sheryl's side.
"Whoah there, it's not like you have to press her to do that, right?"
After Dale interjected, Guyver quickly apologized.
The reason why Sheryl refused the offer to exchange relics was to avoid having Dale and his friends looking down at her gang after seeing the cheap relics that her gang had gathered.
Sheryl noticed that Dale and his friends were misunderstanding her position. It seemed that they thought her to be the head of some kind of a big gang. Basically, they thought that Sheryl was someone with quite a load of money.
If Dale and his friends noticed that the pile of relics in the cart was nothing more than just cheap relics and Sheryl and her gang were nothing more than just powerless and penniless children of the slum city, they would treat her and her gang differently. In the worst-case scenario, they might even start attacking her gang. That was what she thought.
Sheryl was immensely relieved that she had coaxed Dale. Thanks to that, she was able to maintain the trio's misunderstanding.
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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