174 エリオ達の副業
翌日、アキラはまたヒガラカ住宅街遺跡に来ていた。そしてバイクに
『確かに、ちょっと多いわね』
多数のハンターが遺跡の中で遺物収集を進めている。車両も多数
にアキラもアルファが自分を数日間ここで訓練させた理由に気付いていた。遺物の入手元をクズスハラ街遺跡の奥部にあるツバキハラビルではなく、ヒガラカ住宅街遺跡のどこかだと、それを探ろうとする者に勘違いさせる要因を積み上げていたのだ。
遺跡への往復でわざわざ遠回りしたのも、ここで遺物収集訓練を繰り返したのも、遺物を少量ずつ買取に出したのも、遺物を買い取りに出せばほぼ確実に発生するであろう入手元の
『......正確な情報って、大切なんだな』
アルファは
『アキラが気に病む必要はないわ。ハンターには正しい情報を入手する技術も大切で、彼らにはそれがなかった。それだけよ。それにこれだけの人数で探せば、誰か一人ぐらい本当にそれなりの遺物を見つけ出すかもしれないしね』
『そうなのか? でもこの遺跡って高価な遺物はもう見付からないから寂れてるんだろう? ありえるのか?』
『見落としている場所が残っている可能性はあるわ。寂れているのは仮にあったとしても探す労力に見合わないからよ。これだけの人数で一斉に探せば見付かる可能性は上がるでしょう。
『アルファならそれを簡単に見付け出したりはできないのか?』
『前にも説明したけれど、クズスハラ街遺跡以外の場所では、探索や索敵にそこまでの精度は出せないのよ。どうしてもやりたかったら、
アキラはそう答えながら別のことも考えていた。
(アルファと出会ったのもクズスハラ街遺跡だ。その奥部にあるツバキハラビルの管理人格と、遺物を譲ってもらえるように交渉をしたとも言っていた。やっぱりクズスハラ街遺跡とアルファには、何か関係があるんだろうな......)
『そうね。今日はもう帰りましょうか』
アキラが都市へ引き返していく。その様子を見ていた者達がいたが、遺跡の状況に大して影響は出なかった。
を呼び、遺物を探しに来た者達は今も増え続けている。ヒガラカ住宅街遺跡の騒ぎは当面収まりそうになかった。
クガマヤマ都市に戻ったアキラは、そのままシェリルの拠点に向かった。都市へ帰る途中にコルベからテキストメッセージが届いていたのだ。暇で近くにいるなら少し話があるから顔を出してほしい。その程度の内容で、文面からもアキラが実際に顔を出すことを大して期待していない雰囲気が漂っていた。
無視しても良かったのだが、ヒガラカ住宅街遺跡での予定を切り上げたので時間に余裕はあった。そして偶然シェリルの拠点に近い場所にいた。アキラは何となく拠点に顔を出すことにした。
シェリルに用事もないのに会いに行く気も、会いに行くためにわざわざ自分から用事を作る気もないが、暇と機会があれば顔ぐらいは出すか。アキラの思考はその程度のものだ。しかしほんの僅かだがその意思決定にシェリルの都合や望みを反映させていた。それは自覚すらできない僅かな偏りだが、自覚すればアキラ自身をかなり驚かせるものだった。
アキラが拠点の一室に通される。部屋の中にはコルベとレビン、そしてエリオとその部下達がいた。コルベはアキラを見てかなり驚いていた。
「来たのかって、俺を呼んだのはそっちだろう」
「呼びはしたが、返信すらなかったし、多分来ないと思ってたんだよ。まあ、怒るなよ。賭けに負けたのは俺達の方なんだからな」
「賭け?」
コルベが苦笑しながらテーブルの上に置かれていた金をエリオの方へ移動させた。コルベとレビンの賭け金だ。来る方に賭けていたエリオの総取りだった。
実はエリオも本当はアキラが来ない方に賭けたかった。だがレビンからアキラとシェリルの関係を持ち出されて、来ない方に賭けると二人の仲を疑っているようなものだと言われると、立場上来る方に賭けざるを得なくなっていた。
レビンが軽く頭を抱えている。賭け金は現在のレビンの稼ぎから考えれば大した額ではない。だが借金持ちの身で、勝てると思っていた賭けに負けるのは少々心を
「それで、用事って何だ?」
「ああ、暇ならそいつの手伝いでも頼めないかと思ってな」
コルベはエリオを指差してから、アキラに詳しい説明を始めた。エリオは微妙に居心地が悪そうにしていた。
ここ数日のエリオ達はコルベの仕事の手伝いをしていた。一応コルベがシェリルに仕事を頼み、シェリルがエリオ達を貸し出している形式になっている。
エリオ達の仕事は主に債務者の捜索だ。スラム街のそれなりの範囲、エゾントファミリーの拠点を中心にした先日の交戦範囲には、先日の大抗争で死亡した者達の死体が大量に転がっている。その死体の顔を情報端末で撮影して債務者かどうかを確認した後に、債務者ならば所持品や装備品ごと死体袋に詰めて、引き取る金融業者の
エリオ達はコルベから債務者の捜索、回収を請け負い、転がっている死体の所持品に手を付けないことで、誤解を避け安全を保っていた。
そこまで聞いたアキラがコルベ達の説明に口を挟む。
「俺にそれを手伝えってことか? 何か面倒臭そうだし、別に俺が要るような内容にも思えないけど。今までもエリオ達だけでできてたんだろう?」
「エゾントファミリーの拠点の外側ならな。内側はちょっと事情が異なる。外側はそこらの徒党の構成員や、周辺を住み
エゾントファミリーは一帯を支配下に置いていた大規模な徒党だった。館内には保有していた物資が大量に存在しており、破壊された車両や戦車、人型兵器なども多数放置されている。交戦して死んだ者達も多く、その装備も比較的高価な物が多い。どれも持ち帰ればスラム街の落とし物とは桁の違う金になる。
つまりスラム街の近くに旧世界の遺跡が突然現れたようなものなのだ。しかもモンスターも生息していないため比較的安全で、死体の装備品や残っている物資など、落ちている獲物はそれなりの価値が見込める稼ぎやすい遺跡だ。多くのハンターやハンター崩れが獲物の収集に動き出していた。
「あの場の雰囲気や感覚、交戦回避の流儀とかは、どちらかと言えばもうスラム街より旧世界の遺跡に近い。外側の債務者捜索も一段落ついた。だから次は内側を探す予定なんだが、あの場に俺とレビンだけでエリオ達をぞろぞろ連れて行くのはちょっと危ない。それでアキラが暇なら手伝ってもらおうと思ってな」
「アキラが嫌だって言うのならその予定だ。ただしその場合はエリオ達を連れていかないからシェリルに渡す報酬もなしだ。だがエリオ達もいつまでもお前の小遣いで食っていく訳にもいかないだろう。自立を促すためにも、稼げる時には稼がせてやった方が良いんじゃないか? そのために訓練も付けてやってるんだろう?」
「俺が手伝う場合、俺への報酬は?」
「悪いが、俺と同様の歩合給しか払えない。俺も雇われの身なんでね。もっと欲しいのなら、エリオ達に渡す分から自分で交渉して取り分を増やしてくれ。比率は俺、レビン、アキラ、エリオ達で1ずつだ。これは債権回収分であって、現場で何だかんだ拾ってきた分は各自で処理する。止めはしないが本来の仕事を
そうな表情を浮かべる。するとコルベがエリオ達を指差した。アキラはエリオ達を改めて見てみるが、やはり意味は分からなかった。
アルファが苦笑しながら補足する。
『アキラ。エリオ達の格好をよく見て。全く同じではないけれど、アキラの格好と色合いや大まかな装いとかが結構似ているでしょう?』
『言われてみれば確かにそうだな。それがどうかしたのか?』
「失敗したなー。いや、部分的には成功してるんだけどなー」
表示装置には実験用患者の部屋からの脱出を試みているティオルの姿が映っている。ティオルは拘束具を食い千切り両手足を自由な状態に戻した後、ゆっくりと壁まで歩き、左手を壁に押し当てたまま
その後突然爆発が起こり壁に大穴が開いた。左腕が肘の上まで吹き飛んでいるが、ティオルは全く気にせずに開けた穴から部屋の外へ出て行った。
ヤツバヤシはその映像を何度も操作して、繰り返して表示したり一部を拡大して流したりして、脱出の様子を詳しく確認している。
(恐らく生体爆薬を使用した砲撃。砲弾は食い千切った拘束具から生成したのか? あの拘束具は身体強化拡張者の拘束にも使用する強度だ。フォークを食い千切るのとは訳が違う。一体どうやって......)
「ティオル君。君はそこで何をやってるんだ?」
ティオルの位置を示す反応は、一昨日からずっとスラム街の外れを示し続けていた。
アキラ達は準備を済ませてエゾントファミリーの拠点跡地に向かった。敷地内の庭には前日の凄惨な抗争の跡が色濃く残っているが、多少変化も起きていた。
アキラがその光景を見て不思議そうにしていると、コルベが索敵等に妙に鋭い様子を見せるアキラのその態度を気にして声を掛ける。
「いや、人型兵器や戦車とかの残骸が見当たらないと思って」
コルベが軽く
「よし。始めるぞ」
アキラ達は拠点跡地の中に進んで債務者捜索回収作業を開始した。
地道な作業が続いていく。アキラ、コルベ、レビンの3人が散らばっている死体を情報収集機器で探し出す。エリオ達は見付かった死体を調べて債務者なら死体袋に詰めて運ぶ。死体がある程度
「なあエリオ。アキラさんもこの場にいたんだよな?」
「ああ。ボスを助けるために乗り込んだって話だ。よくは知らないけど、結構派手に暴れたらしい」
「そうかもな。それがどうかしたのか?」
「......いや、ほら、アキラさんから銃を借りてるだろ? 相手をこんな酷え死に様にする銃を借りていると思うと、ちょっとな。持ってるだけでも怖えよ」
エリオ達にはアキラからCWH対物突撃銃、DVTSミニガン、A4WM自動擲弾銃が貸し出されている。それらをアキラだけが装備していると、どうしてもその存在が目立ってしまい、偽アキラであるエリオ達の中に
どれもかなりの重量があるが、エリオ達でも何とか持ち運んで構えるぐらいはできた。それは装備している補助外骨格のおかげだ。義体者やサイボーグの死体を生身のエリオ達で運ぶのは困難なので、カツラギを通して事前に用意していたのだ。
補助外骨格はハンター達には強化服未満の扱いを受けている。事実素早い動作にも不向きで戦闘には適さない。飽く
エリオが気持ちは分かると言いたげな表情を浮かべる。
「実はさ、アキラさんの訓練を受け続けていれば、俺もいつかは旧世界の遺跡に稼ぎにいけるようになると思ってたんだ。でも遺跡にはこんな銃でもないと殺せないようなモンスターがうようよしてるんだろう? 正直、自信がなくなってきた」
め息を吐いた。エリオが励ますように軽く笑う。
「アキラさんが稼ぎに行くような高難度の遺跡じゃなければ大丈夫なんじゃないか?」
「ヒガラカ住宅街遺跡とかは
めた。脳裏にはアキラと一緒にヒガラカ住宅街遺跡に行き、モンスターの群れに襲われた記憶が浮かんでいた。
エリオが自分に言い聞かせるように続ける。
「......いや、あれは例外だ。普通はあんなことはないって。それに駆け出しハンター向けの巡回依頼とか汎用討伐依頼とかもあるって話だ。そういう簡単なやつから慣らしていけば良いんだ。
「これが彼女持ちの強さか。あー、俺も彼女が欲しい」
エリオ達は暗い雰囲気を馬鹿な話で吹き飛ばして作業を続けた。
Ch 174
The next day, Akira went to Higaraka residence ruins yet again. He was sitting on top of his bike as he looked over the surprising current situation of the ruin. To be more precise, he did expect that to happen, but he did not expect it to be this big.
"That's true. There are quite a lot of them today."
That day, many Hunters gathered in that ruin. Some of them brought their vehicles and even huge trucks too. There was even some heavy machinery on-site.
Of course, at that point, Akira understood why Alpha made him train in that ruin for these past few days. It was to make sure that those Hunters would think those relics that Akira gathered from the inner part of Kuzushara ruin's Tsubakihara building were originally from Higaraka residence ruin.
The reason why he kept taking a long detour to and from the ruin as well as why he had been doing training to look for relics in that ruin and why he was only selling relics little by little, all of them were for the sake of twisting the rumour in case if the rumour of where Akira got his relics came up.
"...Getting correct information is really important."
Alpha did not seem to be bothered by that at all as she smiled amusedly and said.
"It's nothing for you to worry about. The ability to gain the correct information is a very important skill for a Hunter and they don't have that, that's all there is to it. Moreover, with this many people looking around, maybe one or two of them will really find some valuable relics."
"Is that so? But this ruin is already exhausted of any valuable relics, right? So like, is that even possible?"
"There might be places that no one has checked yet. When they say that this place is already depleted, it does not mean that there are no longer any valuable relics in this place, it only means that looking for relics in this place isn't worth the trouble. And with this many people here, they might really find something. Also, those guys are carrying high-quality information-gathering devices, so that will also increase the chance for them to actually find valuable relics. But with that being said, of course, even if some of them find valuable relics, I'm pretty sure that they'll still end up in the red."
"Then how about you, Alpha? Can you easily find that kind of relic in this ruin?"
"I'm sure I've said this before, my detection ability is greatly reduced when I'm outside Kuzusuhara ruin. If you still want to give it a try, you should buy a very expensive information-gathering device first. Though I'm sure you still can't expect too much even if you do so."
After he said so, Akira started thinking about something else.
[Now that I think about it, I met Alpha back in Kuzusuhara ruin, and back then she said that I was able to gather those relics from the Tsubakihara building because she made a deal with the AI manager of that building. As I thought, there must be some kind of connection between Alpha and Kuzusuhara ruin...]
"You're right, let's just head back home for today."
Akira made a U-turn with his bike and headed back to the city. Although some of the Hunters there saw that, it did not stop them from searching the ruin. As a matter of fact, some of them even started looking more diligently since they thought that the rumoured person decided to head back home because he could not afford to get close to the location where he found those expensive relics with this many Hunters around.
As the rumours spread further, more and more Hunters came to that ruin and it did not seem that it would slow down anytime soon.
When Akira arrived back at Kugamayama city, he went straight to Sheryl's base. He received a text message from Colbert on his way back saying that Colbert was looking to meet him in case he was free and was around. Though judging from that message, it did not seem that Colbert was expecting Akira to really come.
Though he could just ignore it, since he decided to cancel his training in Higaraka residence ruin, Akira had some free time now and by coincidence, he was also somewhere close to Sheryl's base. So Akira decided to visit the base.
In his mind, he had no reason to go to meet Sheryl unless she had business with him and he would not go as far as to readjust his schedule just to go to meet her. He went to Sheryl's base only when he had some free time. For Akira, Sheryl only mattered that much. But lately, that line of thinking had been slightly affected by Sheryl pleading with him. Though he had not realized it yet, there was no mistaking that he would be shocked if he noticed this change.
Akira was guided to a room inside Sheryl's base. Colbert, Revin, Erio, and some of the other children from the gang were already inside that room. Colbert was so surprised when he saw Akira enter the room.
"What are you even talking about? You're the one who asked me to come, didn't you?"
"I did. But you didn't even reply at all, so I thought that you wouldn't come, you know. Well, just calm down for now. It's my loss, you see."
"Your loss?"
Colbert smiled wryly there as he pushed the money on top of the table to Erio's side. Those were the money that Colbert and Revin bet, and since Akira actually came, Erio and the other children won the bet.
To be honest, Erio also wanted to put his bet on Akira not coming. But when Revin brought up Akira's relation with Sheryl, people would get suspicious of him and it would damage his position if he also put his bet on Akira not coming. So he ended up putting his bet that Akira would come.
Revin seemed really frustrated. Although it was not a huge amount of money compared to the amount of money that he was regularly earning, for someone who had a debt to pay, losing a bet that he thought he would win still hurt.
"So then, what is it?"
"I'm just wondering if you can help them if you have some free time."
Colbert pointed his finger at Erio and the other gang children as he started his explanation. Erio felt a bit awkward there.
For the past few days, Colbert had sought help from Erio and the other children in that gang for a certain job. To be more precise, Colbert made a request to Sheryl and Sheryl was lending Erio and his friends to Colbert.
The job that they were talking about was to find dead Hunters who still had debts. The slum extended across a pretty large area, the battle in Ezont Family's base the other day had left the area filled with dead bodies. Their job was to take a picture of the dead bodies using their information terminal to check if they still have debts left or not. And if they found dead Hunters with debt, they would need to put that dead body inside a body bag and bring them to the creditor companies.
Erio and his friends had accepted that job from Colbert to look for dead debtors while trying to keep themselves from harm by not touching the dead bodies' belongings.
After Akira listened to Colbert's explanation up until that point, he suddenly asked Colbert a question.
"So you want me to help them do that, huh? It sounds like too much work and it's not like you need me for that job, right? I'm sure Erio and the other children are enough to do that job, no?"
"That's true for those dead bodies outside Ezont Family's base, but that's not the case for inside the base. For those dead bodies outside the base, we don't have any trouble as long as we don't get into a fight with the other gangs or the people who live around the area. But when we want to get inside the base, there's a good chance that we have to deal with the other Hunters who are aiming for the loot inside. After all, the quality and the amount of loots left inside that base is on a different level compared to outside the base."
Ezont Family was a huge gang. So of course, they left a lot of valuable items in their warehouses. Not to mention, there were destroyed vehicles, tanks, and powered suits scattered inside the base too. Many were killed in that base from that battle and the equipment that they left were mostly high-quality equipment. All of them could fetch a lot of money from the point of view of slum residents.
So, in short, it was as if an old-world ruin suddenly appeared right next to the slum, and to top it off, that ruin was relatively safer since it was not guarded by monsters. All the equipment that was left scattered inside that base were like relics that were free for the taking. There was no surprise that some Hunters and ex-Hunters immediately made their moves to secure those loot.
"The air in that place is completely different, including the skillset and knowledge needed to avoid fighting there. I would say that place was much closer to an old-world ruin rather than a part of the slum city. We're mostly done with checking the dead bodies outside Ezont Family's base. That's why we're planning to go inside the base next, but it's not safe for Revin and me to bring Erio and the other children into that base. That's why I'm wondering if you might give us a hand."
"Well, that's the plan if you won't come. But of course, if we can't bring Erio and the other children, then I can't pay any reward to Sheryl's gang. I'm sure you know that you can't let them keep relying on your money. It's better to get as much money as they could when they have the chance to make sure that they'll be able to be independent of you, don't you think so too? Isn't that why you're training them too, no?"
"If I help you, then how about my reward?"
"Sorry, but I can only pay you the same amount of money. I'm actually doing this because I'm getting paid by someone else, you see. If you want more, you should discuss it with Sheryl's gang and see if they would share some of the money that they get with you. Basically, you, I, Revin and Sheryl's gang will get the same amount of money for taking the job. You can keep anything that you pick, but just remember not to forget your real job."
Akira looked confused, it seemed that he did not understand what Colbert was talking about. Seeing that, Colbert pointed at Erio. Akira also looked at Erio but he still could not understand.
Alpha then jumped in to explain.
"Akira, look closely at them. Although they don't look exactly like you, don't you think they look similar?"
"Now that you mention, that's kinda true. So, what about it?"
"Another failure, huh. Wait, not really, it's not a complete failure."
The display device in front of him showed the video of Tiol escaping his experiment room. Tiol ate his restrains to free himself, walked slowly towards the door, and tried pushing the wall with his left hand.
After that, suddenly, something exploded, leaving a big hole in that wall. Though his left arm was blown off too, Tiol did not seem to be bothered at all as he left the room through that hole.
Yatsubayashi watched that video multiple times, zooming and replaying some parts of the video to check it closely.
[If my guess is correct, it seems that his gunpowder producing organ is working fine. Did he produce the gunpowder from the restrain that he ate? I used robust restrains that is used to restrain people with enhanced body. It's not the same as eating a fork, so how exactly did he do that...?]
"Tiol-kun, what are you exactly doing there?"
Tiol's tracking device was showing that he was roaming around the same area that was not too far from the slum since yesterday.
Akira finished his preparation and headed to Ezont Family's base. The garden of the base was still laden with the leftover of the battles from the other day, except for a small change.
Akira looked slightly surprised as he saw the scene in front of him. Colbert noticed that Akira had a sharp stern look as if he was looking at his enemies.
"No, it's just that I don't see the tanks and the powered suits from that battle."
Colbert sighed in relief.
"Alright then, let's go."
They then entered the base and started checking the dead bodies.
They continued their work. Akira, Colbert, and Revin searched for the dead bodies using their information-gathering device. Erio and the other children then checked those dead bodies. If any of them had any outstanding debts, they were put in a body bag and carried outside to the people from the credit companies who were waiting not too far outside the base.
"Say, Erio. Akira-san was here, right?"
"Yeah, I heard that he came here to rescue boss. Though I don't know the details, I heard that he fought pretty fiercely."
"Probably, yes. What's wrong with that?"
"...No, it's just that, we're borrowing these rifles from that Akira-san right now, right? When I think that these rifles are powerful enough to create these dead bodies, it's just that, you know, carrying them around like this is pretty scary."
Akira lent his CWH anti-material rifle, DVTS minigun, and A4WM automatic grenade launcher to Erio and the other children. If Akira was carrying all of those alone, it would definitely make him stick out from the rest and render the other children who were disguising as him useless.
Although those rifles were pretty heavy, Erio and the other children at least figured how to carry them thanks to the exoskeletons that they were wearing. Naturally, they wore those because they thought that it would be hard for them to carry the cyborg corpses. So they had decided to get some exoskeletons from Katsuragi beforehand.
Hunters regarded exoskeletons as something inferior to augmented suits. After all, it was not designed for high-speed manoeuvre during combat. At most, it was only used for carrying heavy goods. Because of that, they were sold at a relatively cheap price and Sheryl's gang was able to buy multiple of them.
Erio made a face saying that he could understand the other boy's feelings.
"To be honest, I always thought that we could explore the old-world ruins one day if we keep taking that training from Akira-san. But it's filled with monsters that we can't defeat unless we have these kinds of rifles, right? So like, I can't be so sure anymore now..."
The young boy sighed and looked discouraged. Erio tried to cheer him up with a light smile.
"Shouldn't it be fine if we just go to the ruins with less danger?"
"Like Higaraka residence ruin, for example. It's already pretty deserted and there are not that many monsters there..."
Erio suddenly stopped there, the young boy frowned and found it weird. Erio remembered the last time they accompanied Akira to Higaraka residence ruin, they were attacked by a swarm of monsters.
Erio then said as if to convince himself.
"...No, that was a special case. Normally, something like that would not happen. Not to mention, there are those general-purpose requests for new Hunters too. It should be alright if we start from those relatively easy Hunter jobs, and then we can gather better equipment from there. That Revin guy did say that it's much easier to explore dangerous ruins when we have new and better equipment after all..."
"So this is the power of a guy with a girlfriend, huh? I want one too."
Erio and the other children tried to shoo the dark mood there with silly talks as they continued their job.
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