214 交渉の前提条件
仮設基地の食堂で大勢のハンターが暇を潰している。不測の事態に備えた待機要員達で、大まかに2種類の者達に分かれている。大規模遺跡探索への参加を希望したが定員等の都合で許可が下りず、遺跡探索側で追加の人手が
「ねえエレナ。本当に待機組で良かったの?」
エレナが少し不思議そうな顔をする。
「ん? サラは参加したかったの? どうしてもって言うのなら、今からでも掛け合ってみるけど」
「うーん。起こるかどうかも分からないことを、黙って待っているよりはね。でもどうしてもって程じゃないわ。ただ、座っているだけで収入になるとはいえ、特に何もせずに待機しているってのは、エレナはあんまり好きじゃなかったはず、と思っただけよ」
親友の疑問にエレナが少し複雑な笑顔を浮かべる。
れたことを言うとね、私達が未調査区域の探索に参加している時に何かが起きた場合、アキラは私達を探して撤退を遅らせると思うの。逆に私達が参加していなければさっさと撤退すると思うのよ」
サラも少し複雑な笑顔を浮かべる。
エレナ達は今もアキラに好かれているとは思っている。だがアキラとの関係が一度絶縁手前にまで至ったのも事実だ。かつての好感を、危険なミハゾノ街遺跡に損得度外視で来てくれたほどの好印象を取り戻せているかと問われれば、余り自信がなかった。
それでも一緒に食事に行った時の様子なら、関係を十分に改善できたと思いたかった。そう期待するように、その慢心を
その時、エレナ達の貸出端末に通知が届いた。エレナが通知内容を確認して表情を少し険しくする。
「......その何かが起きた訳ね」
「アキラはその手の何かに巻き込まれる変な運でも持っているのかしら。こんなことを言うのも悪いけど、あんまり意外じゃなかったわ」
「アキラはそれでも生き残ってきた。強くなる訳だわ」
エレナ達はそう言って苦笑を浮かべた後、すぐに気を切り替えて真面目な顔で動き始めた。通知内容は遺跡奥部の部隊からの通信が途絶したことと、その状況確認用の新たな部隊の派遣指示だった。
クズスハラ街遺跡の外周部と奥部の境目辺りでは、警備のハンター達がイナベの担当区画に勝手に入ろうとする者を食い止める任に就いていた。
警備といっても侵入者を武力で食い止めるのではなく、高性能な広域索敵機器で警備区域を監視するのが主な仕事だ。不審者と思われる者を見付けた場合は、汎用通信で注意し、警告し、仮設基地に連絡する。可能なら追い払う。その程度の仕事だった。遺跡奥部の未到達地域への侵入を試みる者は当然相応に武装している。依頼元もそのような者達と戦えるような実力者を警備に配置できるほど金も人も余ってはいないのだ。
トガミとレイナもその警備の仕事を受けていた。それぞれの警備区域はかなり広く設定されているので、周辺にいるのはレイナ達だけだ。
警備とはいえ久々のハンター稼業。レイナはそう思って意気込んでいたのだが、何も起こらないので暇を持て余し始めていた。
ハンター稼業に戻ったのに、本当に暇ね」
「警備なんだ。暇なのは良いことだ」
「そうだけど......。ねえ、ちょっとその辺で遺物収集でもしない? ちょっとぐらい離れても索敵機器との通信範囲だから、離れていても監視は出来るでしょう?」
レイナが行くのは構わないが自分は行かない。暗にそう答えたトガミの返事を聞いて、レイナは少し不服そうな表情を浮かべた。だが文句は言わず、遺物収集にも行かなかった。
トガミはそのレイナの様子に少し不思議そうにしていた。だがそれだけで、それ以上の反応もなかった。しかしカナエは笑いを堪えるように口に手を当てると、表情を
シオリがレイナ達の思考を推察して口を挟む。
「お嬢様。トガミ様が許可を出したとはいえ、私達はトガミ様の依頼に割り込んでいる立場で御座います。本来の仕事を
「わ、分かってるわ。だから止めたでしょう?」
「思い付きを口に出す前に、少し考えることをお勧めいたします」
「分かったって。気を付けるわ」
トガミはやはりそうかと思い、レイナは少し焦ってごまかし、カナエはいろいろ気付いて苦笑し、シオリはそ知らぬ顔を通した。
レイナが場の空気を押し流して
「カナエ。今度は何?」
「何でもないっす、......と答えても良いっすけど、そうっすね、最近はお嬢も頑張っているし、ハンターとして独り立ちする可能性に期待を込めて、
レイナが戸惑いながらシオリに視線を向ける。
「......シオリ。何か隠してるの?」
「お嬢。世の中には取り扱いの難しい情報なんて山ほどあるっす。問題は、お嬢にその情報を取り扱える能力があるかどうか、それだけっすよ。情報管理もハンターの資質っす。下手に知ると命に
カナエは楽しげに笑いながら、警告を兼ねた脅しを混ぜていた。レイナがたじろいで困惑を強める。
「さあ、お嬢! その情報を聞くのが正解か、聞かないのが正解か、お嬢のハンターとしての才覚が問われているっすよ! ......たっぷり悩んで暇を潰して下さいっす」
レイナはシオリとカナエに視線を
さんに代わって、お嬢に情報の取り扱いについて助言しただけっすよ」
「それは私の仕事よ」
「お嬢に情報の取り扱い方を教える。若しくはお嬢に代わって管理する。どっちのことを言っているのかは知らないっすけど、どっちにしても
さん死亡時の行動指示書は破棄して良いっすね?」
少し真面目な表情で聞き返すカナエの態度に、シオリが軽い驚きを見せる。だがレイナは軽く驚いた程度では済まなかった。
「シ、シオリ、死亡時の指示書って......」
少し慌ててごまかそうとするシオリに割り込むように、カナエが真面目な声で
さんが過保護を止められない訳っす。トガミ少年だって、いつまでもお嬢の世話を焼いてくれるわけじゃないっす。まあ、トガミ少年に自分の面倒を見させたり構わせたりするのも恋の駆け引きかもしれないっすけど、限度を超えると嫌われるだけっすよ?」
レイナよりも先にトガミが吹き出した。それでレイナが更に慌て出す。
めなかった。カナエの意図に気付いているからだ。
自分達も死ぬ時は死ぬ。その後の状況に自力で対処できる能力を身に付けなければ、レイナの将来は暗いものになる。シオリの忠誠を否定する気はないが、その忠義が自身の死を許容させているのならば、レイナにシオリの死後の状況への対応能力を身に付けさせるのもその忠義の内だ。カナエはそう考えていた。
シオリもそれは分かっている。だが今は自分が対処すれば済む話であり、その
がりを感じさせる光景の横で、トガミが妙な疎外感を覚えながら一応口を挟む。
「何を話すつもりなのかは知らないけど、部外者がここに1人いることを忘れないでくれよ? 俺が聞いちゃ
らせる。シオリの態度には少し脅かしただけという冗談めいたものはない。そこにはありふれた事実を告げる十分な真実味が存在していた。
「そこまでするほどに知られたくないことって、例えば何?」
そこで仮設基地から連絡が入る。トガミが少し不思議に思いながら応答する。
「こちら65番。異常なし。定時連絡にしては早くないか?」
本部からの話を聞いたトガミが表情を少し険しくする。
「了解。何かあれば連絡する」
「トガミ。何かあったの?」
で、敵味方の識別も曖昧だ。ハンター同士でも、人型兵器同士でも、モンスター同士でも殺し合っている。大規模な火力を伴った混乱が存在していた。
ヤナギサワの部隊が一斉に空中に銃を向けて乱射する。空中で着弾音が響き、まるで空間に穴を開けたように被弾の穴だけが空中に現れる。少し遅れて着弾の衝撃で迷彩を剥がされた機械系モンスターが姿を現し、飛行機能の損傷で落下していく。
「音信不通のままだ。12時間以上連絡がない場合、俺は死んだと
に俺達には事前に教えてくれても良さそうだがな。俺達の通信機器にまで障害が出ている。しかも色無しの霧の影響によるものではない。主任の仕業にしろ、違うにしろ、何が起きているんだか」
ヤナギサワの部隊と地上のハンター達の戦力差は歴然だ。だが事態を把握できていないという点において、彼らもこの混戦の構成要素にすぎなかった。
ツバキと人型兵器部隊の戦闘が続いている。戦況は一方的だ。数十体の機体でたった1体の自動人形を取り囲んでいるのにも
機体の中でその光景を見た部隊員達が険しい表情を浮かべる。焦りの混ざった通信が飛び交う。
「またか! 畜生! どういう防御手段だ!?
「知るか! 何らかのバリア系ならその維持にエネルギーを消費しているはずだ! 今は無駄じゃねえと信じて撃つしかねえぞ! 増援はどうなってるんだ!」
「長距離通信が死んでる! 短距離通信が
ツバキがそのまま腕を振るうと、近接装備を握っていた機体はその勢いで腕を千切られ、放り投げられた人形のように大きく吹き飛ばされた。更にツバキに投げ付けられた近接装備を空中で食らい、機体を乗員ごと上下に両断されながら遠くまで飛ばされて消えていった。
突っ立っていただけのツバキに行動を促した一撃は、人型兵器部隊の者達に更なる衝撃を与えた。
「何なんだあれは!? 旧世界製自動人形とはいえ限度があるだろう!? いや、あれこそが本来の旧世界製なのか!?」
「......軍事用、なのだろうな。あんな外見だが、そこらの遺跡で見付かる警備用や愛玩用とは基本性能が根本的に違うのだろう。......離脱する! 散開し、十分な距離を取れ!」
現場の戦力では勝ち目はない。隊長機のその判断で部隊が下がっていく。ツバキの足止めを兼ねて周辺のビル群を銃撃して倒壊させながら離れていった。
「取りあえず、ここに群がる雑兵は追い返した。後は行動可能範囲のゴミを潰していくか」
可能であればクガマヤマ都市まで歩いて行きたいのだが、ツバキにそこまでの権限はない。今ここにいることでさえ、通常の権限からかなり逸脱している。非常時を根拠とした規約の拡大解釈を駆使して
次の瞬間、弾丸は弾道上の物体を削り取った分も含めてその質量を非常に効率良くエネルギーに変化させ、大爆発した。
一帯の全てを消滅させるかのような大爆発の衝撃波が周囲の大気を極限まで圧縮する。一時的に超高密度の色無しの霧が生成される。すると超高密度の色無しの霧に特有の事象が発生し、本来なら周囲に広範囲に四散する衝撃波をエネルギーとして吸収し、距離による威力の減衰を指数関数的に増加させた。
ツバキは体の7割程を失った状態でその場の近くに立っていた。そして残りの3割も糸が切れたように崩れ落ちた。
ツバキを攻撃した男はヤナギサワだった。ヤナギサワは旧世界製の特殊強化服を着用し、対滅弾頭対応の特殊銃を構え、高度な迷彩機能で身を隠して、ずっと機会を
「初めまして。私はヤナギサワという者だ。この区域の管理人格だな? そちらと交渉したい」
「交渉相手をまずは銃撃するのがそちらの文化か? 交渉が成立するとはとても思えないな」
な交渉をするつもりはないだろう? 頑張れば殺せるが、面倒臭い。最低でもその程度の認識を持ってもらわないと、こちらの話を聞きすらしない。その前提条件が必要だ。違うかな?」
ヤナギサワが軽く飛び
ヤナギサワが浮かべる笑顔に若干虚勢が混ざる。だがまだ余裕を保っている。
「思っていない。だが、礼儀に欠ける者を交渉のテーブルに着かせる程度の効力はある。そうだろう?」
ツバキの顔から不機嫌さが消える。だがその表情は冷たいままだ。
「では、武器を捨ててもらおう。
はしたものの、覚悟を決めて銃を地面に捨てた。そして不敵な笑みを浮かべた。
ヤナギサワとツバキの間に数秒の沈黙が流れる。同じ時間だが、両者の体感時間には著しい隔たりが存在していた。そしてヤナギサワの顔に流れる汗が少し増した頃、ツバキが愛想良く
「良いでしょう。では、こちらへ。交渉の場まで御案内します」
「ここじゃ駄目なのか?」
(これで同程度の性能の機体が4機か。予備機はあと何体残っている? 10か? 100か? 1000か? 坂下重工が割に合わないとクズスハラ街遺跡から手を引く訳だ)
(だがそれもあれを知らないからだ。知っていれば探索を強行していただろう。俺は知っている。手に入れるのは、俺だ。この交渉が成功すれば後方連絡線の延長に問題はほぼ無くなる。危険な
Ch 214
There were a lot of Hunters killing time inside the cafeteria of the forward base. They were put on standby in case of an emergency. They were basically made of two kinds of Hunters, one was those who applied to join the expedition but got rejected for some reason, so now they were waiting there in case anyone requested reinforcement. While the other half was the people who were deliberately left there as a reserve in case of an emergency. The former paid to be there, while the latter were paid to be there, both of them waited there, preparing for any emergencies.
"Say, Elena, are you really okay staying only as a reserve?"
Elena tilted her head.
"Hm? Do you want to join the expedition instead? If you really want to go no matter what, I can try to negotiate with them again."
"Hmmm, it is at least better than just sitting here, waiting for something that we don't even know will happen or not. But it's not like it is a must. It's just that, although it's great that we're getting paid just to sit and wait, I know that you don't really like this either, right Elena?"
Elena made a conflicted smile after her best friend pointed it out.
"...This might sound a bit ridiculous. I feel that should something happen while we participate in the expedition, Akira would try his best to look for us. He would prioritize us instead of himself. But if we don't participate, he would have peace of mind and could just immediately withdraw."
Sara gave out a similar wry smile.
Elena and Sara believed that Akira currently liked them. But there was that one time when Akira almost completely cut off relations with them. So if they were asked if they had regained their original trust just like back then when they explored the Mihazono ruin together, they could not give a definitive yes.
But even so, he was still willing to go to dinner together with them, so it could be said that their relationship had mended although it was only a little. Elena tried to voice that out as if she wished for it or maybe even to hang on to it. To which, Sara also reacted with an agreement.
That was when a notice reached their information terminal. Elena checked the content of the notice and frowned.
"...Well, it seems that something has happened."
"I wonder if Akira has some kind of weird bad luck that indiscriminately gets everyone around him involved in it. I do feel bad for saying this, but I somehow saw this coming."
"And he survived everything up till now, no wonder he's that strong."
Elena and Sara exchanged wry smiles, then immediately turned solemn and prepared to move out. The content of the notice included, 'HQ has lost contact with the Hunters sent to the deeper part of the ruin. We request for an urgent dispatch of Hunters to check up on them'.
Hunters who were posted to the border, which denoted the inner part of the ruin, were assigned to stop anyone who tried to enter the area. Only those under Inabe's jurisdiction with permission were allowed to enter.
However, their actual job was not to stop intruders by force. They were equipped with powerful information-gathering devices and were tasked to watch their surroundings. If they spotted anyone suspicious, they were instructed to warn that person and to contact HQ. Of course, they could also get rid of that intruder on their own if they could. After all, it was expected that those who tried to enter the inner part of the ruin would be fully armed. The requester did not have enough spare resources to pay the guards who could always deal with that kind of intruder.
Togami and Reina had accepted that job. Since the area that they were assigned to was vast, there was basically no one else in the area.
Although it was only a guard job, it was their first Hunter job after a while. That was why Reina was extremely pumped for this request, but since nothing was happening, she started to feel bored.
"Although we did get back to taking Hunter job, this is rather boring."
"We're on guard duty, so having nothing in particular happening is good news."
"That's true, but still... By the way, do you want to try looking for relics around here? We're still inside the assigned area even if we look around, so we can look out for intruders while searching for relics, right?"
Togami was basically saying that he did not mind Reina going, but he himself would stay. Reina understood that and pouted. She did not say anything back and chose to stay.
Togami found that a bit unexpected. But that was all, he did not pursue the subject any further. But Kanae was forcing her hand over her mouth, holding herself back from laughing. Seeing that, Togami started to frown. Reina, who noticed that, jabbed at her.
Shiori made a guess as to what they were talking about and interjected.
"Milady, although Togami-sama gave his permission, we basically got ourselves this request by butting into Togami-sama's request. Thus it would be unwise to neglect our main duty."
"I-I know. That's why I'm not going, can't you see?"
"Milady, it's better to think things through first before saying anything."
"Yeah yeah, I know, I will be careful."
Togami thought that his guess was correct, Reina started to fluster, Kanae noticed a few other things and just smiled bitterly, while Shiori was standing there with a neutral face, playing dumb.
Feeling awkwardness wafting in the air, Reina decided to bring up a change in subject.
"Kanae, what is it now?"
"It's not really something big, but, let's see... Well, Milady has been working hard lately, so I guess it's a good idea to give a hint from time to time, hoping that Milady would be able to become an independent Hunter one day."
Reina seemed a bit confused and turned toward Shiori.
"...Shiori, are you hiding something?"
"Milady, there is too much sensitive information in the world that are difficult to handle. The main problem would be whether Milady has the ability to properly deal with it. Information management is also an important skill for a Hunter. Milady, do you have the resolve to know information that might kill you? Moreover, having the resolve alone is hardly enough. After all, it is still not okay to let someone jump to his death just because he has made that resolve. It is also important to know the limitation, to keep oneself from learning about forbidden knowledge. It's just as people say, 'curiosity killed the cat'. There are many who ended up on the fugitive list simply because they somehow inadvertently learned some forbidden secret of the Corporate Government."
Kanae said with a smile. She still had her eyes on the surroundings while exerting a level of intimidation. Reina flinched back and got even more confused.
"Well then, Milady, which one is the right choice? Is it to ask? Or not to ask? This is a test of Milady's skill as a Hunter, you know!! So go ahead and use all this free time to think about it."
Reina looked at Kanae and Shiori in turns. Shiori let out a huge sigh and frowned.
"I'm just giving advice to Milady about information management in place of the overprotective Ane-san."
"That's my job."
"I don't know what you're talking about. Which one is your job? The one about teaching Milady how to handle information, or the one about managing information in place of Milady? Either way, it would all be in vain if Ane-san dies though."
"In that case, it's okay for me to destroy that will which Ane-san wrote in case Ane-san dies, right?"
Shiori raised her eyebrows in reaction to Kanae, who said something like that in a slightly serious manner. Meanwhile, for Reina, it came as a huge surprise.
"S-Shiori, what is this will are you talking about..."
As Shiori was flusteredly looking for an excuse, Kanae suddenly gave a warning with a serious look.
"Well, it seems that is indeed the case here. No wonder why Ane-san can't help but get overprotective. After all, there's no guarantee how far Togami would volunteer to babysit you. But well, being needy from time to time might be a love strategy to get Togami, but he will hate you if you do it too much you know, Milady?"
Even before Reina could react to that, Togami choked and coughed. Reina then flusteredly denied that.
Since Kanae returned to her usual self trying to poke fun at the whole team, the awkward tense mood from just before was completely dispelled. But Shiori did not proceed to scold Kanae since she understood what Kanae was trying to say.
If Shiori and Kanae died, then Reina would only follow afterwards. Unless she learned how to deal with such a situation herself, Reina's future was not that bright. Although she did not wish to deny Shiori's devotion, if that devotion became the reason she died, then making sure Reina learns how to handle the situation herself after that was a part of that devotion, or at least, that was what Kanae thought.
Shiori understood that as well, but at the moment, she could just handle everything herself. Therefore, it gave her a hard time on what to do. If she had the resolve to live beside Reina forever, then Kanae would not say anything about her being too overprotective. She also understood that Kanae was basically indirectly asking her 'are you sure you are alright with dying?' If that was the case, Shiori needed to put in more preparations to make sure that everything would be fine after she died, what she was doing right now was just a half-baked resolution. Nonetheless, it was a completely different matter on whether she could pull it off. The more willing she was to throw away her own life for Reina, the harder it was to make that decision.
Togami, who was listening next to them, could feel that it was a conversation that should only be between them, so he felt a strange sensation of alienation as he spoke up.
"I don't know what you guys are going to talk about, but don't forget that there's a single outsider here, okay? If it's something that I shouldn't hear, I can leave now..."
Reina frowned. It was obvious that Shiori was not joking. The way she said it fully demonstrated that she was being serious.
"So they really don't want anyone to know, huh? I wonder why that is the case?"
That was when a call reached them from HQ. Togami found that bit weird as he picked up that call.
"This is number 65. Nothing out of the ordinary over here. By the way, isn't it a bit too early for the regular check up call?"
After listening to the explanation from HQ, Togami frowned and replied.
"Roger that. I'll call again if we notice anything."
"Togami, did something happen?"
There was no clear line of command, the IFF was also in a mess. Both the Hunters, the powered suits, and even the monsters, were killing each other regardless of friend or foe. It was pure chaos and their powerful weaponries did not help the situation at all.
Yanagisawa's men aimed their rifles upward and released a barrage. The bullets made a ricocheting sound in the air as if they pierced through something. Not too long after that, mechanical monsters with non-functioning optical camouflage started to rain down.
"Still nothing. Ever since that last order, to treat him as dead if we can not contact him for 12 hours, and that we can do anything we want afterwards, no one have heard anything from him or seen him. I bet he's somewhere nearby doing something in secret though"
"Probably. Can't say for sure though. Though, if it's really his doing, it would be great if he could warn us beforehand. That jamming got our communication devices as well. Moreover, this is not the same effect from the colourless mist. Either way, it doesn't really matter whether it is his doing or someone else's doing, one thing for sure, something is going on right now"
There was an obvious difference in strength between the Hunters on the ground and Yanagisawa's squad. But both of them were equally clueless as to what was going on.
The battle between Tsubaki and the powered suit squad continued. The fight was entirely one-sided. Although it was multiple black powered suits against a single automaton, the ground that was riddled with destroyed powered suits and the undamaged automaton body spoke for itself.
The squad could not help but frown after seeing what just happened. A desperate voice soared through the speaker.
"Again! Dammit! What the heck is that defense!? It didn't even produce any flashes of light! All force field armours generate light from energy conversion, you know?!"
"Like hell if I know!! If it's some kind of barrier, that should at least shave away some of her energy! Just keep shooting and hope that it's not useless!! Where are the reinforcements!?"
"Long-range communication is dead!! We have no other choice but to get closer back to base to call for reinforcements! And that's what's taking them so long!!"
Tsubaki then swung her arm and threw the powered suit as if it was a lifeless doll, ripping off the powered suit's arm in the process. That powered suit then took the chainsaw to the face. Its pilot was split in two and the severed body vanished into the distance.
The scene showed just how powerless the powered suits were in front of Tsubaki, which caused great shock to those in the squad.
"What the heck was that?! I know that it is an old-world automaton, but there's a limit on just how powerful It can be, right?! Or is that the normal power of an old-world automata?!"
"...I bet it's a military automaton or something like that. Although it looks like that, it has different specs compared to the other common drones and service automata... Spread out! Keep your distance from it!!"
Judging that they had no chance of winning, the squad leader ordered the squad to withdraw. They started moving away from Tsubaki while shooting the buildings around her to create obstacles between them.
"That should at least be enough to shoo off the incoming squad for now, then I just need to clean up the trash inside the area, where I can move freely"
She wanted to go to Kugamayama city herself if she could, but Tsubaki could not go out that far. Even being able to stand here required her to request permission first since it was outside her original allowed space. She was only able to gain permission since it was an emergency.
Right at the next moment, the bullet turned all the mass that it had absorbed in its path into pure energy,  releasing a huge explosion.
The shock wave from the explosion was so large that it could blast the whole area to smithereens. Thankfully, the explosion compressed the air around the area to its utmost limit, temporarily creating a layer of dense colourless mist. This layer served as a strong dampener, restricting the shockwave from spreading out too far and destroying the whole place.
Even after being enveloped in that explosion, Tsubaki still stood there with the remaining 30% of her body. But it did not take long before her body started to crumble as well.
The one who sniped Tsubaki was Yanagisawa. He had been using a special old-world augmented suit, special annihilator bullet, and special camouflaging suit to hide while looking for a chance to strike. Then, using an annihilator bullet that he was barely able to obtain using his connections, sniped at Tsubaki.
"Nice to meet you, I am Yanagisawa. You're the manager of this area, right? If possible, I want to negotiate with you"
"Is this the culture of yours? To attack the people you want to negotiate with? I don't see any possibility of us forming a deal."
"It's just an introduction to let you know of our might. That's all there is to it. After all, I'm sure you have no wish to negotiate with a bunch of ants that you can just squash, right? I at least want to let you know that while you might be able to kill us, it won't be easy. Otherwise, you won't even listen to what I have to say. That's the most basic requirement for stepping into the negotiation phase, no?"
Yanagisawa lightly jumped back to open up some distance. Cold sweat ran down his back as he pulled out a black card from his pocket.
Yanagisawa's smile was mixed with false bravado, but even so, he still somehow managed to stay calm.
"Of course, but, it at least means that you would have to take our negotiation seriously, right?"
Tsubaki's expression immediately returned back to normal, but of course, it still had a tint of coldness.
"In that case, throw your weapons down. That is, if you're really wishing to negotiate with us."
Yanagisawa managed to keep his smile. After a short hesitation, he made his resolve and let go of his weapons. He then smiled confidently at Tsubaki.
There was a few seconds of silence between Tsubaki and Yanagisawa. But those few seconds felt different for both of them. Right about when Yanagisawa started sweating, Tsubaki smiled amicably and guided.
"Very well, follow me then, I'll guide you to a better place for negotiation."
"Is this place not good enough?"
[That would make it 4 automata in total, huh. I wonder just how many more she has, 10? 100? 1000? No wonder Sakashita Heavy Industry decided that exploring the Kuzusuhara ruin wasn't worth the risk]
[But that's because they don't know about that thing, if they do, they would have forced their way into the ruin. But I know, and I will be the one to get that thing. If negotiations go well, we should have almost no obstruction in expanding the supply route. Though that was dangerous, I won the bet. In the first place, it's not something that I can get unless I'm willing to risk my life for]
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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