Chapter 21 - Unnecessary Things (2/2)

Alpha had warned Akira not to overreact. So he just calmly took the money and placed it into his rucksack and closed it.

Looking at how Akira and Katsuragi conversed, Erio realized the big chasm between him and Akira. 8,000,000 Aurum was a huge amount of money to the children from the slum city. Erio thought that even Akira would be shocked, but Akira proved his expectations wrong and received the money calmly without any emotional fluctuations.

Akira noticed that Erio was looking at him with a complicated look. But he could not understand why. Akira was at a loss whether to send Erio home now since he had finished with carrying the rucksack and had no further business with him? Or should he give Erio a portion of the money? Akira did not even know if it was a good idea to ask Erio about that. But then he said.

“That’s it then, I have no other business with you. You can go back home now. I’ve saved you back there so you get nothing from me. Later then.”

Watching Akira as he picked up his rucksack and was about to return on his way, Erio realized that it was his only chance to ask Akira to help him in getting back to Sheryl’s gang. But if he asked him poorly, Akira might think that he was trying to ask for a share of the money and get angry at him instead. Thus he desperately tried to be careful as he asked Akira.

“Can you please ask Sheryl to let me return back to her gang? I was banished because of what I did back then. You might have saved me, but without the gang, I would get killed sooner or later! So please help me!! I even helped you carry that heavy rucksack, you know!! So I’m at least helpful to you, right?!! Please help me!!”

Akira looked back at Erio with an expressionless face. It was him trying to act calmly to hide the fact that he was carrying a huge amount of money. But Erio did not understand that and he began sweating in a panic thinking that he had made Akira angry.

Erio realized that he was a bit too forceful when he requested Akira’s help, but if Akira refused to help him now, then it would really be the end for him. If Akira thought that he was being rude, it would mean he would have zero chance to return to Sheryl’s gang. But on the other hand, he had no confidence if he could live by himself in the back alley of the slum city and he did not have the courage to go to the ruins once again. Thus he prayed hard so that Akira would help him.

“Well, we can go to Sheryl’s place right now.”

Watching Akira as he immediately turned and started walking towards Sheryl’s base, Erio was dumbfounded as he followed Akira. He was still dazed from what he just heard. It seemed that his plea was heard and he now hoped that he would not get scolded by Sheryl later.

Katsuragi who watched this scene unfold in front of him thought that Akira did a great job in taming Erio.

***

Sheryl’s gang was doing good. After all, her gang members were basically the same gang members that were in Sibea’s gang. And the information that Akira who killed Sibea was supporting the gang was already well known among the people of the slum. Not to mention that the gang was able to get a steady flow of money and guns from Katsuragi. Adding up all of those factors together, people of the slum city already recognized that Sheryl’s gang was not just a gathering of slum kids, but a proper gang albeit a small and weak one.

When a small but weak gang appeared in the slum city, it was normal to expect that there would be people who wanted to join that gang. People like those who could not join any other gang because of some particular reasons or those people who were treated coldly in their current gang.

But there was also the fact that the boss, Sheryl, and the members who were running the gang, and even Akira, the one who was supporting the gang were all small children. Because of that, there was no adult who wanted to join Sheryl’s gang. As such, Sheryl’s gang became a unique gang in the slum city where all its members were small children.

Inside the base, Sheryl was talking with Alicia in a private room.

“How’s the cleanup in our territory? Is it going well? Did our gang get into any fights? After all, our territory should be a bit dirty right now, so it’s to be expected for some people to be displeased with us.”

All the gangs in the slum city had one extra job, and that was to clean up their territory with any trash and garbage.

Cleaning up one’s territory was very important in the slum city. Not only because it was an unwritten rule in the slum city, but also everything that a gang picked up during their clean up became that gang’s property. Although those were trash for the people who dumped them, most of them could still bring money for the people who lived in the slum city.

Anything that still could be of use would be kept, while any metal object found would be gathered together and sold as wreckages. Then anything that looked like repairable would be repaired and used or sold to other people. And the leftover would be dumped in the wasteland.

More than anything, cleaning up one’s territory showed everyone that you owned the territory.

Alicia begrudgingly recalled her conversation with her other friends that were on clean up duty.

“Hmmm. There’s quite a lot of people who complained about the number of corpses lying around. That’s all, I guess.”

“Well, that’s to be expected. After all, no one cleaned up around this area until recently.”

The slum city was riddled with robbers. Thus, it was common to find corpses of either the victims or the robbers or even both. Of course, if no one took care of those corpses, they would just be left there to rot. It was the job of the gang who owned that territory to clean up those corpses together with their personal belongings.

When Sibea was killed and the gang was disbanded. The territory was left unmanaged for a while. Thus, corpses piled up in the area since there was no one to clean up those corpses.

Sheryl then gave out orders just like usual.

“Just get rid of the bodies like usual. Clear them up from any personal belongings and store their stuff in the warehouse, then dump the rest in the wasteland. Also, give extra guns to the people who’re on duty to go to the wasteland.”

Carrying dead bodies to the wasteland was not an easy job. Since there was a chance for them to encounter monsters, it was important to arm them with proper equipment. Thanks to Katsuragi, Sheryl was able to obtain the minimum required equipment for traversing the wasteland.

Keeping one’s territory clean from any corpses also brought benefits to the gang. After all, the government only picked a clean area to distribute their free food rations. So keeping the area clean increased the chance for the area to be picked as the distribution place.

On the other hand, if corpses kept piling up in an area. The area would turn unhealthy and the government might decide to sterilize the area with fire. In order to prevent the unhealthy environment from spreading around and affecting the lower district, they would literally set the area on fire. They would burn down everything, the people, the building, simply everything without leaving anything behind.

Although the government always said that they had no other choice but to burn the area since such an environment would attract monsters, there were rumours that it was only an excuse that they used for pruning the population in the slum. Basically, a dirty territory was a likely target for this pruning.

Because of this, all the gangs in the slum city put their complete effort to keep their territory clean.

Alicia then carefully asked Sheryl.

“…Uhmm, Sheryl. About the number of the gang’s members, we got a lot of new members, right?”

“Is that so? I don’t think we have got enough members since we still can’t keep our territory properly cleaned though. But if you mean to say that it’s harder to take care of the gang compared to before, well, yeah, you’re right, we have got a lot of new members.”

It was her first time managing a gang. Although she slowly got used to it, she was not confident if she was doing it well.

“I’m thinking of selecting you and few other people to help me manage the gang, you know. But I’m still evaluating who to pick. I know that it won’t be easy, but do your best, okay?”

It would be impossible for Sheryl to directly manage everything in the gang and it would only get worse as her gang grew in size. But even so, she still needed more people to join her gang. So considering that fact, Sheryl thought that she should hurry up and decide the group of people that would help her manage the gang. And since she was good at managing a group, she did not worry about the problems that might arise from creating such a group.

But Alicia then continued in a vague way.

“Of course I’ll give my best in that too, but… That’s not what I meant… Uhh…”

“What?”

“…Sheryl, do you think it’s okay to let Erio rejoin once we get some more members?”

Alicia was worried about Erio. She did try to stop him back then but Erio said that he did not have any other choice as he set off to the Kuzusuhara ruins.

Although Alicia understood that Sheryl might even banish her if Sheryl came to know that she gave one of the gang’s gun to Erio without permission, Alicia still gave it to Erio, hoping that he would be able to return back safely.

The reason why Alicia volunteered herself to help Sheryl manage the gang was also because it would make it easier for her to give some of the gang’s guns to Erio. Moreover, she thought that if she became useful to Sheryl, she might be able to change Sheryl’s opinion bit by bit.

But Sheryl’s face turned sour.

“No.”

Although Alicia was staring at Sheryl with pleading eyes, Sheryl did not soften back at all as she continued.

“Just no, it hasn’t even been a month since that happened, you know? There’s no way I would let him join back in such a short time! Akira would visit this place regularly from now on, you know. So if he catches the sight of Erio, it might end up worse than having to banish him. And he might even get angry at the other kids too. Don’t you even understand that?!”

There was silence between them. Although she said that, both of them did not yield back. Sheryl then said coldly.

“If that’s all, then get back to work and cool your head off.”

“…Alright.”

Alicia then exited the room while hanging her head low.

Sheryl let out a sigh and stood up as she was about to head back to her work, but suddenly Alicia came running back to her.

“Sheryl! Erio is here.”

Sheryl glared at Alicia and said coldly.

“Kick him out. Alicia, you’re so obstinate. Just give it a rest already or…”

But then Alicia added to her report.

“…He has come here with Akira.”

Sheryl suddenly stiffened.

She then hurried to the room where Akira was waiting for her, but before she entered the room, she stopped near the door to check Akira’s mood. She then hid her sour feelings and entered the room. As she stepped into the room, she smiled at Akira while ignoring Erio who was sitting beside Akira and awkwardly looking at her.

“Welcome. Thank you very much for visiting us again today… Uhh, did Erio bother you again? Umm, please let me say this beforehand, Erio was banished from the gang since that happened. So if he did something to you, we have nothing to do with him anymore…”

In contrast to Sheryl who was trying to be as polite as possible in order not to ruin Akira’s mood, Akira replied to her casually.

“Yeah, that’s what I heard too. If it’s okay with you, can you let him rejoin the gang? Although, I’m totally fine if you’re not okay with it. After all, you’re the boss here.”

Sheryl was surprised when she heard Akira.

“Well… I don’t really mind if you say so, but… Are you really okay with that?”

“Yeah, after all, he helped me a bit with my work today.”

Sheryl was in no position to reject Akira. If Akira told her to banish someone, she would do it without any hesitation. It also meant that she would accept anyone to her gang if Akira told her to do so. Even if she found it strange or shocking, or even if she actually had some qualms in doing so, she would not do anything to ruin Akira’s mood. Sheryl then smiled fondly at Akira as she said.

“I understand. If that is the case, then I’ll accept him.”

Erio looked relieved as he let out a sigh. Alicia looked very happy when she heard that. While Sheryl was at a loss as to whether or not she should ask for the details. Akira then turned to Erio and said with a serious look.

“Erio, don’t say anything unnecessary to Sheryl. And Sheryl, don’t ask anything unnecessary to Erio. Okay?”

“I-I understand.”

“Okay.”

After hearing Erio answer back nervously and Sheryl who was smiling, Akira lightly nodded and said.

“That’s all for today. Later then.”

Akira then left the building.

Sheryl who was smiling all the time immediately changed to a puzzled look as she turned to Erio.

“So, what happened?”

Erio thought of telling Sheryl what happened, but he knew that he had to be careful not to tell her the complete details of the story. So Erio tried to be very careful with his words.

“…Things happened and Akira ended up saving my life. Then after that… Well, I had to help Akira… After I helped him, I begged him to help me talk with you to rejoin the gang. That’s all.”

Erio then recalled back what he just said to make sure that he did not say anything unnecessary.

“He saved your life, huh… How exactly did he…?”

Sheryl was about to ask for further details but stopped midway as she saw Erio desperately shaking his head.

“Please stop here. I don’t know what I should not reveal when Akira told me not to say anything unnecessary. If you ask me to tell you everything, I’ll just tell you everything from the start. But if Akira comes to know of it, I’ll tell him that you coerced me into telling the details, you know.”

Erio looked scared when he said that. It was so different compared to when he was trying to punch Akira.

Sheryl then asked Erio with a serious look.

“At least tell me this, Akira is not angry at you anymore, right?”

Erio went silent for a while as he seriously thought about the answer before opening his mouth.

“…I think it’s okay. If he wanted me dead, he would have left me to die.”

“I see. In that case, I’ll have you work right away. Make sure to watch over other kids so that they won’t do anything stupid like you. We have guns this time, so if that event repeats again, I’m afraid it won’t just end with Akira punching back.”

Erio replied back with a nod and a serious face.

“Roger that. After all, I don’t want to get into any more trouble too.”

Looking at how Erio’s behaviour changed 180 degrees, Sheryl really wanted to know what happened, but she just shut that feeling off for now. Alicia was so happy that Erio was back in the gang. And with Erio watching around, it was unlikely for anyone to do anything stupid like what he did back then. He could also be useful for telling the new members of his experience as he was someone who did it. That was what Sheryl thought as she stopped herself from digging any deeper into Erio’s story.

Sheryl thought that the same thing happened to Erio back then might also happen to her if she tried to pry further, so she closed the lid tightly on this matter.

Alicia smiled happily as she walked beside Erio.

“I’m really glad that you came back alive, Erio. Not to mention that you got to return back to the gang too. I don’t really understand what happened, but it’s all thanks to Akira, right?”

“Yeah, you’re right, he saved me back in the ruins.”

“I have to thank him properly myself later…”

As Erio looked at Alicia who was talking in such a happy mood, he remembered what happened to him back in the ruins. He was puzzled and thought.

[Now that I think about it, Akira was fighting the monsters back then as if he knew the location of those monsters from the start. He also sometimes turned to a direction where nothing was present… as if someone was beside him…]

Erio then remembered that Akira told him not to say anything unnecessary. Right when he remembered that, he suddenly felt an unknown terror as he s.h.i.+vered and froze.

Alicia looked puzzled when she saw that Erio suddenly stopped walking.

“Erio, what’s wrong?”

“Nah, it’s nothing.”

“Are you sure? Well, if you say so. By the way, you said that Akira saved you, so you were in danger, right? As I thought, did you get attacked by monsters and then get saved by Akira or something like-“

“Alicia.”

Erio cut her mid-way then looked at her with a serious face. While looking genuinely scared of something, he begged to Alicia who was surprised by his behaviour.

“I beg you. Please don’t ask me anything about that.”

“O-okay.”

Alicia flinched as she answered back and nodded firmly.

Erio finally realized what Akira meant when Akira warned him not to say anything unnecessary.

Erio s.h.i.+vered as he thought about the consequences if he said anything about that to other people. Then he thought about what would happen to Alicia if he told her about Akira. But just thinking about that made a chill run down his spine.

Looking at how Erio was behaving, Alicia worriedly asked him.

“Erio, are you really okay?”

Erio smiled to clear up Alicia’s worry as he replied back.

“…I’m okay.”

Erio then swore to himself to never reveal anything about Akira.

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