「ここにはもう大した遺物は残ってないだろ?」
「良いんだよ。暇つぶしなんだから。それにモンスターの死骸も多かったし、そいつらに殺されたハンターの装備品ぐらいは転がっているかもしれないしな」
「......そうか。まあ好きにしろよ」
デイルが心の中で悪態を吐く。
(ケッ! ハイエナ野郎が!)
ハンター活動に対する品性の感覚は人それぞれだ。デイルは死んだハンターの装備品を
偶然見付けたのなら構わない。しかし自分から探しに行くようになると、旧世界の遺跡に遺物を探しに行くのではなく、死んだハンターの所持品を探しに行くようになり、その内に生きているハンターを狩りに行くようになる。デイルはそう考えていた。
デイルはギューバがそのまま部屋を出て行くと思っていた。しかしギューバは部屋の反対側の方向、シェリルの部下達の近くに向かう。そしてシェリルの部下達に、主にセブラに向かって話しかける。
を探索するんだが、良かったら一緒にどうだ?」
皆が驚きの表情でギューバを見る。デイルが非難に近い口調でギューバを止める。
「おい、何やってるんだ!」
ギューバが悪びれずに平然と答える。
「何って、探索に誘ってるだけだ」
「シェリルの連れを勝手に誘うなって言ってんだよ! 第一、そいつらが戦えるとでも思ってるのか!?」
「別に無理強いはしないさ。それに戦力としてじゃなくて、荷物持ちとして誘ってるんだよ。戦うのは俺がやるって。ああ、遺物の分配で
「本当にくれるのか?」
「ああ、やるよ。安値の遺物に興味はないからな」
そう答えて立ち上がったセブラを見て、ギューバが笑みを深めた。
自分の連れが勝手にシェリルの連れを誘っている。不機嫌そうなシェリルの表情を見て、デイルは必要なら止めようと思ってシェリルに尋ねる。
「止めはしません。責任も取りませんが」
シェリルはもうセブラを切り捨てる気でいる。セブラがギューバに同行して死んでもかまわないし、雨が
セブラがギューバに迷惑をかけても、そのことについてギューバがシェリルに文句を言ってきても、シェリルはその責任を取る気はないし、取り合う気もない。
ギューバとセブラが部屋から出て行く。シェリルはどこか清々したような表情を浮かべていた。
ギューバがいなくなったので、デイルは早速シェリルとの話題にギューバへの愚痴を付け加えた。
の探索をしたりはせずに、少し離れた別の部屋に移動した。そして空き部屋の中にセブラと一緒に入ると、僅かに外の様子を確認してからドアを閉めた。
ギューバは部屋にあったボロボロの椅子を引き寄せて逆方向に座る。そして背
「まあ、座れよ」
セブラは困惑しながらも大人しく椅子に座る。ギューバは薄笑いを浮かべながらセブラをじっと見ていた。
を探索して遺物を手に入れたい欲求と、自分一人ではそれができない不満、そしてアキラとシェリルに対する反発心から、セブラはギューバの誘いに乗った。
セブラは無意識にアキラとシェリルを軽んじている。幸運にも強力な武器を手に入れただけの少年と、その少年を
だからアキラとシェリルの近くにいても、機嫌を損ねても、セブラは大して怖いとは思わなかったのだ。たとえ相手がその気になれば簡単に自分を殺せる存在だとしても、相手への軽視と慣れが恐れを鈍らせていた。
そして今セブラの前にいるのは、簡単に自分を殺せる力を持つ誰かだ。ついさっき会ったばかりの、何も知らない誰かなのだ。
セブラは少し怖くなり、それを
「た、探索はしないのか?」
「まあ、落ち着けって」
ギューバは和やかに笑った。その笑みに、善意は感じられない。
の探索などする気はなかった。シェリル達に関する情報を得るために適当な人間を連れ出したかっただけなのだ。
ギューバは金に困っていた。より正確には、それなりに大きな額の借金があり、その返済日が迫っており、返済の当てもなかった。
厳密には、その返済の当てが今日なくなったのだ。ギューバは高値の遺物が手に入るという旧世界の遺跡の情報を手持ちの金を
遺跡の情報にはそこに生息するモンスターの情報が一切なかった。ギューバ達は強力なモンスター達と遭遇して撤退を余儀なくされたのだ。モンスター達が同じ情報で同じ遺跡に群がっていた他のハンター達を追って分散しなければ、遺跡から生還することはできなかっただろう。
ギューバ達が得たのは少量の遺物だけだ。分配すれば更に少なくなる。ギューバの返済額には全く足りていない。たとえ3人で持ち帰った遺物をギューバが独り占めにしたとしてもだ。
東部でハンター相手に金を貸すのは大変だ。ハンターの稼ぎは安定しておらず、いつ死んでも不思議ではなく、当然だが武装していて、時には開き直って暴れ出すことさえある。言い換えれば、ハンター相手に金を貸す業者は、そのハンターから金を強制的にありとあらゆる方法で取り立てられるだけの力を持っているのだ。
ギューバには金が必要だ。時に悪魔の所業と呼ばれるほどの取立てと返済方法から逃れるために。
の方法が二つある。信用のある者にしか教えない。そして、知った者には消えてもらう。この二つだ。
前者がアキラだ。ギューバはシェリルの話から、シェリルのアキラに対する信用と信頼を感じ取っていた。だからこそシェリルはアキラを自分の護衛にしているのだ。ギューバはそう判断していた。
そして後者が他の子供達だ。恐らくスラム街の者達で、高価な遺物を運ばせてもその価値など分からない者達だ。それは高価な遺物の運搬を
恐らくシェリルはこのヒガラカ住宅街遺跡を、高価な遺物や貴重品、特に秘密にしなければいけないほどの物の隠し場所や受渡し場所にしているのだろう。シェリルは安値の遺物に偽装しているそれらを取りにここまで来たのだ。ギューバはそう判断した。
セブラの話では、収集対象にする家もシェリルが選び、運び出す遺物もシェリルが指定したらしい。何を運んでいるか知られたら消すためにも、運搬にスラム街の子供を使用するのは
何より荷台に積まれているのが本当に安価な遺物ならば、絶対に採算が合わないのだ。ヒガラカ住宅街遺跡への往復及び遺物収集中の護衛料、そして運搬費や弾薬費の総計は、確実に荷台の遺物の売値を上回る。
装備も服装もアキラとシェリルだけが飛び抜けている。シェリルが身に着けているものは恐らく旧世界製だ。普通の服より格段に高価だ。つまりシェリルはそれを身に着けることができる力と金を持っている
そのシェリルが幾ら護衛付きとはいえ、自分から危険な荒野に出向いて採算の合わない危険を冒すとは、ギューバには到底思えなかった。
ギューバの経済感覚が、金に困っている心情が、荷台の遺物は高値であると確信させていた。
「なあ、セブラ......だっけ? ああ、俺はギューバだ。名乗ってなかったな。それで、セブラ」
アキラ達は何事もなく過ごしていた。シェリルはデイル達と談笑を続けている。アキラはシェリルの護衛に付いている。シェリルの部下達も思い思いに暇を潰している。
しかしそれは突然の爆発音と銃声で破られた。それは距離と雨音により大分小さくなったものだったが、部屋のハンター達は機敏に対応する。アキラはシェリルを
窓から外の光景を見たデイルが声を上げる。
「車が!? 俺達の車が!?」
「自動帰還機能か!? 馬鹿な! 装甲にはまだ余裕があったはずだ!」
デイルの疑問は正しい。しかし現実に車は
くしてギューバ達が部屋に戻ってきた。ギューバ達の荷物はかなり増えていた。
「ギューバ! 俺達の車が自動帰還機能で勝手に都市に戻りやがった!」
慌てるデイルとは対照的に、ギューバが随分落ち着いた様子で答える。
「ああ。知ってるよ。モンスターだ」
「モンスターが車に攻撃したからだ。その場にいたからな」
「どういうことだ! 説明しろ!」
ギューバがデイル達に事情を説明する。ギューバ達が車の近くにいた時、モンスターの襲撃に遭ったようだ。モンスターは撃退したが、その攻撃で車に大きな被害が出てしまい、レンタル車の自動帰還機能が動き出してしまった。止める間もなく車はギューバ達を置いて都市へ戻ってしまったという話だった。あの爆発音と銃声はギューバのものだったらしい。
ギューバが運んできた荷物を床に置いて話す。
「幸いにも車に積んでいた旧世界の遺物と予備の装備や弾薬は無事だ」
「お前は何をやってるんだ? それを車から運び出す余裕があれば、この辺のモンスターは十分撃退できるだろう?」
「それでも車を守るぐらいはできるだろうが!」
そうな表情で、セブラを横目で見ながら答える。
「......すみませんでした」
セブラに表情が見えないほど深く頭を下げられて、デイルもそれ以上強く言うことができなくなる。シェリルの前で彼女の部下を強く責めるのは
しかしデイル達が車を失ったことに変わりはない。デイルは不機嫌な表情を緩めることはできなかった。そしてその状態にもかかわらず随分落ち着いているギューバを見て
ちをぶつけるように話す。
「落ち着けよ。確かに俺達の車はなくなったが、幸運にも車はもう一台あるだろ?」
ギューバはそう言ってシェリルを見た。デイルとコルベも釣られてシェリルを見る。シェリルの表情が少し
「ハンターが3人も無償で護衛に付くんだ。悪い話じゃないだろ? 何なら俺が運転手をやってもいい。そっちのハンターは車の運転もしてモンスターの撃退もやってと、行きは大変だったみたいじゃないか」
シェリルも悪い話ではないと思うが、一応アキラの様子を
アキラが表情を変えないように注意しながら答える。
「仕方ないだろう。乗せよう」
シェリルがデイル達に軽く頭を下げる。
「分かりました。デイルさん、ギューバさん、コルベさん、帰りはお願いいたします」
「任せてくれ」
アキラがデイル達を観察する。本音を言えば、アキラはデイル達を一緒の車に乗せるのは反対だ。確かに戦力は増える。しかしそれ以上に不確定要素が増えるからだ。
だからといってアキラがデイル達の提案を断ってしまえば、荒野に置き去りにされることになるデイル達が暴挙に出かねない。事実上選択肢はなく、渋々デイル達の提案を受け入れることにした。
『アルファ。正直どう思う?』
良い予感は外れ、嫌な予感は当たる。アキラはそう思っている。ならば備えるしかないのだ。
嫌な予感が高確率で的中するのなら、備えることで被害を軽減できる。それならば嫌な予感がすることもそう悪いことではない。アキラはそう考えていた。どちらかと言えば、アキラ自身の精神安定のために。
雨が降り注ぐ荒野を無人の車が走っている。デイル達が乗っていたレンタル車だ。車体の一部の装甲が剥がれ落ちている。車の制御装置の診断装置は、その損傷からこのままだと車体が破壊されると判断した。制御装置が自動帰還機能を起動させたため、車は自動運転で都市を目指して走り続けている。
車の制御装置の表示部には診断装置による診断結果と、自動帰還機能を起動させるに至った原因、及び借主
てへの注意文が表示されていた。
「ないか? じゃあ車の中だな」
「持ち出したんじゃなかったのか?」
「全部持ち出したわけじゃない。あいつに見せる物から順に持ち出したんだ」
「......くそっ。あれ、高かったんだぞ」
デイルが後悔する。こんなことなら遺跡から逃げる時に全部使ってしまえば良かった。この雨の中でも全部一度に使ってしまえばある程度の効果は出るだろう。敵寄せ機を囮にすれば、雨宿りのために寄り道をする必要もなくなったはずだ。
デイルが悔やんでいると再びギューバ達が部屋から出ようとしていた。苛立ちをぶつけるようにギューバを呼び止める。
「おい、どこに行く気だ?」
「......お前がうろちょろしているからモンスターが寄ってきたんじゃないか? 俺達の車が襲われたのもその所為じゃないのか?」
ギューバが不用意に車の周辺をうろうろしていたのが悪い。デイルは暗にそう言っていた。
「そうは言っても、周辺にモンスターがいたんだ。警戒はしておいた方が良いだろう。大丈夫だって。シェリル達の車には近付かないよ。俺も歩いて都市まで帰るのは御免だからな」
ギューバはそう言って部屋から出ようとする。そのギューバの後にセブラも続く。デイルはそれを見て少し声を大きくする。
「おい、そいつも連れて行くのか!?」
「こいつなりに失態を取り戻そうとしてるんだ。止めてやるなよ。お前はシェリル達を護衛していてくれ。それぐらいはしておかないと、乗車を拒否されそうだからな。じゃあな」
アキラがギューバ達が出て行った部屋のドアを見ながら思案する。嫌な予感は消えていない。
『アルファ。ギューバ達の動向ってここから分かるか?』
『残念だけれど、私達の索敵範囲外に出て行っているわ。雨の所為で大分狭くなってしまっているからね』
『考えすぎかもしれないけど、あいつらが俺達の車に何か細工をしようとした場合、俺達には全く分からないか?』
『それなら大丈夫よ。アキラの車の制御ユニットは私が掌握しているからね。無駄にエネルギーを消費しないように車の索敵機能の索敵範囲を最小にしているけれど、誰かが近付いたり、何か細工でもしたりすればしっかり記録に残るわ。アキラの情報端末を介して記録を見るから、通信可能な距離まで近付かないと分からないけれどね』
『それなら大丈夫か......』
『彼らを疑っているの?』
『ああ。嫌な予感が消えてないからな。昔から嫌な予感は結構当たる方なんだ。それで助かったこともある。まあ、嫌な予感がしない時は大丈夫ってわけでもないから、全く油断はできないんだけどな』
アルファは思案する。アキラは旧領域接続者だ。本人も知覚できない何らかの情報を受信して、その情報を無意識に判断、解釈しているのかもしれない。その結論を勘として認識しているのかもしれない。たとえ何の根拠もなかったとしても、信じるに足る何か。それが勘だ。
注意と警戒が必要だ。アルファは
『ん? やっぱりアキラはちょっと気負い過ぎかなって思ったのよ。あらゆる可能性を考慮することは確かに大切だけれど、全ての可能性を検討することはそもそも不可能だし非効率よ。そういうのは私に任せなさい。演算能力には自信が有るからね』
アルファは優しく得意げに
"You do know that there are no expensive relics left around this place, right?"
"It's fine, I'm just going to search for relics to pass the time. Moreover, there are dead monsters around the area, so I might find some equipments left by the Hunters that those monsters killed."
"...I see. Well, it's up to you."
Although he said that, Dale cursed Guyver deep inside his heart.
[Geh! Damn hyena!!]
There were all kinds of Hunters out there. Dale was someone who thought that it was rude to salvage equipment from the dead corpses of the other Hunters.
It would be fine if it was something that he stumbled upon by pure chance. But if he started to go to the wasteland to intentionally salvage equipment from the dead Hunters, Dale believed that it would only be a matter of time before he started to hunt for equipment from the still alive Hunters too.
Dale thought that Guyver would leave the room right after that, but instead, he went to the other side of the room, to a group of Sheryl's gang's members. He then started speaking with them while mostly focused on Sebla.
"I'm going to search the mansion, you guys want to come?"
Everyone there looked surprised when Guyver said that to them. Dale quickly interjected.
"What the heck are you thinking you're doing?"
Guyver replied back flatly without a trace of hostility.
"What? I'm just inviting them to search for relics."
"I'm telling you that you shouldn't bring them with you without Sheryl's permission!! Or more like, do you think they can hold a fight in the first place?!!"
"It's not like I'm forcing them to come. Moreover, I don't expect them to help me fight monsters, I'm inviting them to help me carry relics. I'll do the fighting. Ahhh, are you worried that we might cause a dispute when dividing the loot? I'll just give them the relics if they're just cheap relics. Like I said before, I'm just looking for a way to spend time."
"Are you seriously going to give the relics to us?"
"Yeah, I have no interest in cheap relics after all."
As Sebla stood up, Guyver's smile widened.
Guyver was about to bring Sebla with him without Sheryl's permission, looking at that, Sheryl was making an unpleasant face. Dale was determined to stop Guyver if it was needed, so he asked Sheryl.
"I won't stop him, but I won't take responsibility either."
It was obvious that she had already given up on Sebla. She did not mind if Sebla died after going with Guyver, she also planned to leave him behind in case if the rain stopped and he had not returned. Of course, even if he returned back to the city after that, Sheryl planned to kick him out from the gang.
And if Sebla caused any trouble for Guyver, she had no plans to listen if Guyver came to her to complain nor she planned to apologize to him.
Guyver and Sebla then left that room. For some reason, Sheryl looked slightly relieved.
Now that Guyver was no longer in that room, Dale quickly vented his irritation about Guyver by complaining about him to Sheryl.
After Sebla and Guyver left that room, rather than starting to look for relics around that mansion, they quickly moved to another room away from where they were. After Sebla entered that room, Guyver checked his surroundings before closing the door.
Guyver then pulled a battered chair and sat on it with its backrest to his front. He then reached to his back and signalled Sebla with his head to take the other chair.
"Well, just take a seat."
Sebla looked confused as he obediently took a seat while Guyver just kept smiling at him.
Guyver actually invited Sebla to come with him since he knew that Sebla also wanted to look for relics in that mansion but did not have the ability to do so alone, and to top it off, he seemed to be displeased with Akira and Sheryl.
This was because Sebla was unconsciously looking down on Akira and Sheryl. He thought that Akira was only a boy who got a little lucky which allowed him to buy powerful weapons while Sheryl was only a girl who got ahead of herself after getting Akira's support.
That was why Sebla was not really scared even when Sheryl and Akira were next to him. And although Akira was someone who might kill him in a single snap of a finger without any hesitation, his hatred and prejudice toward them dulled his sense of danger.
While on the other hand, unlike Akira, Guyver, who was in front of him right now, was simply a stranger with enough strength to kill him. He was someone that Sebla just met, so he did not know anything about the other person.
That was why Sebla felt a little scared. But in order to hide his fear, he asked Guyver.
"A-aren't we going to look for relics?"
"Well, just calm down for now."
Guyver was still smiling at him, but that smile did not even have the slightest trace of good-will.
From the start, Guyver had no wish to search the mansion for relics at all. He was only interested in picking a random kid to gather more information about Sheryl and Akira.
He was actually having some problems with money. To be more precise, he had a huge debt. Although the deadline was closing in, he still had no idea how to pay his debt.
Today, he had actually lost his hope of repaying that debt. He had bought expensive information about a certain ruin where he might be able to discover expensive relics and so he was planning to find some expensive relics today to pay for his debt. Although that information came from a questionable source with questionable accuracy, it was enough for him to place his bet on that information.
The information that he bought did not mention anything about the monsters in that ruin. When they encountered a strong monster, they had no other choice but to run away. If it was not for the other Hunters, who did not expect to find those monsters and ended up dividing the attention of those monsters, they might not have been able to escape from that ruin alive.
In the end, they ended up bringing back only a small number of relics, and of course, they still had to divide those relics among themselves. Basically, it was not even close to enough for repaying his debt even if he took all of those relics for himself.
Lending money to the Hunters in the eastern district was a dirty business. After all, the Hunters did not have any stable income, they might even die anytime without notice. And since they were armed, there were cases where they even lashed back and refused to pay their debts. So in short, any companies in the eastern district that offered loans to those Hunters had prepared themselves with enough power to forcefully collect the money that the Hunters borrowed from them.
Guyver was desperate for money in order to avoid getting sent to the infamous hellish workplace to return his debt.
There were two ways to make sure that certain important information would not leak to the public-either only tell the people that one absolutely trusted, or make sure that other people who also knew that information are dead.
Guyver thought that it was the former case for Akira. According to what he heard from Sheryl, it seemed that she placed a lot of trust in Akira. That was why she only took Akira to escort her.
While the other children were the latter case. Guyver was sure that the other children were the children of the slum city who had no idea of the value of the relics that they gathered, and even if she killed those children once they did their job, it would not cause any ruckus at all. Basically, they were the perfect expendable pawns for secretly carrying out relics. That was why Guyver was sure that Sheryl was there to secretly carry out relics from an unexplored ruin.
He guessed that Sheryl used Higaraka Residence Ruin as a hidden stow or maybe a delivery place for sensitive relics that should be handled carefully. Guyver thought that Sheryl did that to disguise those relics as cheap relics.
According to Sebla, Sheryl was the one who decided which building to loot and what relics to take out from each building. And if she used slum city's children to help her and also prevented them from knowing what they were carrying, then everything would make sense.
Moreover, if the relics on the cart were really cheap relics, then there was no need to even put on a camouflaging sheet on top of it. So it must be those relics that would give Sheryl profit even after deducting the price of the escort, transportation, and the ammo expense.
Among all the children in that room, Akira and Sheryl had obviously better equipment than the rest of the children. Sheryl's dress also seemed to be an old-world dress which was way better than the common dress. So basically, she must be someone who had enough money to buy old-world dresses.
Even though Sheryl brought with her an escort, Guyver refused to believe that she would intentionally go out to the dangerous wasteland herself if it was not for something that was worth that risk.
Guyver's twisted money sense because of the debt that he was shouldering caused his guess to lean more towards the direction that the relics on Akira's cart were expensive relics.
"Say, Sebla... Was it again? Ahh, I'm Guyver, I forgot to tell you my name before. So then, Sebla."
Nothing in particular happened as Akira continued waiting for the rain to stop. Not too far from him, Sheryl was talking with Dale and Colbert. Akira was standing there as Sheryl bodyguard, while the children from Sheryl's gang were doing various things to pass the time.
Then suddenly there was an explosion followed by gunshots. Although those sounds were drowned in the rain, the Hunters inside that room quickly reacted to that faint noise. Akira quickly covered Sheryl and scanned his surroundings. While Dale and Colbert quickly went to the window to check the source of that sound.
The moment Dale saw what was happening outside, he immediately shouted.
"Our vehicle!?!!"
"The auto-drive home function, huh!? But that's impossible!! It should still have enough armour plating on it!!"
Dale's guess was correct, but it did not stop the vehicle from moving away from the mansion until it eventually vanished into the rain.
Not too long after that, Guyver returned back with more stuff than when he left the room.
"Guyver!! Our vehicle's auto-drive activated and it went back to the city!!"
In contrast to Dale who was panicking, Guyver looked completely calm.
"Yeah, I know, it was the monster."
"A monster attacked our vehicle, well, it's because we just left it there in the open after all."
"What do you mean?!"
According to Guyver's explanation, he encountered a monster when he was passing near their vehicle. Although he was able to repel the monster back, it caused enough damage to activate the auto-drive function on their rental vehicle and Guyver was too busy facing the monster to stop their vehicle. It seemed that the explosion and the gunshots were from him fighting that monster.
Guyver unloaded the stuff that he was carrying on the floor.
"Fortunately, I was able to save the relics and our ammo reserve and equipments."
"What exactly were you doing back then? If you could save all of this stuff from our vehicle, you should have had enough time to kill the monster, right?"
"But even so, you should have been able to protect our vehicle!!"
Sebla looked apologetic and said.
"...I'm sorry."
He then bent his neck so deep that no one there could see his face, because of that, Dale chose not to reprimand him any further. Since he thought that it was not a good thing to strongly blame Sebla in front of Sheryl, Dale just clicked his tongue and decided to hold himself from asking him to take responsibility.
But it did not change the fact that they lost their vehicle now. In that situation, in contrast to Dale, who was making a grim face, Guyver looked completely calm. It caused Dale to become even more annoyed.
Guyver smiled lightly and said in a relaxed tone as if he was trying to calm Dale down.
"Just calm down. It's true that we lost our vehicle. But fortunately, there's still one vehicle left in this place, remember?"
Guyver then turned to Sheryl. Dale and Colbert followed suit and looked at Sheryl too. Sheryl's expression stiffened.
"You'll basically get 3 more Hunters to escort you for free, so I think it's not a bad proposal, right? We can even drive the car for you if you want. It's hard to fight monsters while driving the vehicle for your Hunter there, right?"
That was not a bad offer for Sheryl, but she then glanced at Akira to check with him. Being the escort was Akira's job, if Akira seemed to have any objections, Sheryl would have to come up with some kind of explanation to reject that offer.
Akira did not change his expression as he carefully said to Sheryl.
"We don't have much choice, let's give them a ride."
Sheryl then lightly bowed to Dale and his friends.
"Very well, Dale-san, Guyver-san, Colbert-san, we'll be counting on you on our way back."
"Just leave it to us."
Akira kept his eyes on Dale and his friends, to be honest, he was against giving them a ride back to the city. Although it was true that they would have more Hunters to help in case they had to fight monsters, it would also increase the unpredictable factors that he would have to handle.
But with that being said, if Akira declined that offer and left them in the wasteland, they might even start a fight. So to be honest, it was not like he had any other choice as he reluctantly agreed with their offer.
"Alpha, what do you think?"
Akira also figured that all of his good predictions would betray him and any of his bad premonitions would come into reality. Which in that case, he had to prepare himself to face it.
If he knew that his bad premonitions were accurate, then he could reduce the possible loss by getting himself ready to brace for it. If he did that, he would not sustain much damage even if it really happened. That was what Akira was telling himself in order to sustain his mental stability.
In the middle of the rain outside the mansion, there was a vehicle that was traversing the wasteland without any driver inside it, it was Dale's vehicle. A part of its armour plating was crumbling down. Because of that, the control unit installed in that vehicle judged that the vehicle would be destroyed at this rate. As such the auto-drive function inside it activated and drove the vehicle back to the city on auto-pilot.
The display of that vehicle's control unit was showing the reason as to why the auto-drive function was activated. It based its results on the findings of the diagnostic device installed in the control unit of that vehicle.
The vehicle kept on heading towards the Kugamayama city while displaying that message which no one read.
"They're not there? They should be still in that vehicle then."
"You didn't take them out of the vehicle?"
"It's not like I took all the equipment out from the vehicle. I only picked out the equipments that boy wanted to see."
"...Dammit! Those are expensive, you know?"
Dale was extremely frustrated. If he knew this would happen, he would have used all the decoy devices when he escaped from that ruin. Even in the middle of that rain, they should at least still have some effects. If he had used the decoy devices to fool the monster back then, he would have had no need to take shelter from the rain in this mansion.
While Dale was still lamenting his loss, Guyver suddenly stood up and was about to leave the room again. But Dale annoyedly shouted at him.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"...Isn't it because you roam around aimlessly that the monsters easily spot you? Isn't that also the reason why our vehicle got attacked?"
Dale was basically blaming him for loitering around their vehicle and getting their vehicle attacked.
"Even if you say so, there might still be some monsters around, you know? So it's better if we keep our guards up, ain't I right? Don't worry, I won't go near Sheryl's vehicle. After all, I too don't want to have to walk back to Kugamayama city."
Guyver left the room after he said that. Sebla then followed behind him afterwards. When Dale saw that, he shouted at Guyver.
"Are you seriously going to bring that boy too!?"
"This boy also feels guilty about what happened and he's trying to make it up for that blunder. So just let him do it, will you? You just stay here and protect Sheryl and the other children. If you don't do at least that much, I feel like they won't give us a ride back home after all. Later then."
Akira kept looking at the door through which Guyver and Sebla exited the room. His bad feeling would not go away.
"Alpha, can you check what that Guyver guy is doing from here?"
"Unfortunately, they are outside my detection range. The rain really reduced my detection range after all."
"I might be overthinking this, but in case if they mess with our vehicle, would you be able to tell from here?"
"If that's the case, then there's no need to worry. I'm connected to the control unit in your vehicle. Although I set the detection range to the minimum to conserve the energy, it would leave a record if anyone tries to approach it. You can look at that record from your information terminal, although, you won't get the latest record unless you're within the data transfer range."
"Then it should be fine, huh..."
"Are you suspicious of them?"
"Yeah, I have a bad feeling about them. I always have a good sense when it comes to dangerous things, you see. There were times when I was saved thanks to that. Well, it's not like everything will be fine as long as I don't have any bad feelings, so I can't completely put my guard down too."
Alpha thought that since Akira could connect to the old-world domain, he might have been receiving some kind of information without him even realizing it. He then might have been analyzing and interpreting that information unconsciously and mistook it as his intuition. After all, if he could come up with something without any basis, that would be easily interpreted as an intuition.
Although it looked like Alpha was smiling like usual, she was telling herself that she needed to be careful about that. Akira noticed that Alpha was staring at him. So he tilted his head and asked her.
"Hm? I was just thinking that you are being a bit too paranoid. It's true that it's a good thing to be careful of any possibilities, but it's impossible to consider all kinds of possibilities in the first place, not to mention that it would be highly ineffective too. You can just leave that kind of things to me, I have confidence in my calculation ability after all!"
Alpha smiled invincibly but gently to Akira.
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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