Chapter 49 - Elena’s Judgement (2/2)

“He’s right.”

s.h.i.+karabe looked a bit surprised when he heard Elena’s answer.

“Roger that… That’s weird, here I thought that he lowered his guard, but it seems that he’s doing his job properly, huh. I guess my intuition has dulled.”

Of course, Akira was only repeating what Alpha said to him. Although he tried his best to hide his shock and keep calm, there was still a trace of shock on his face.

[…That was a close call.]

s.h.i.+karabe was able to accurately grasp the fact that Akira lowered his guard. As Akira caught a glimpse of the skill of a real veteran Hunter, he gritted his teeth to stop himself from making a bitter smile. But on the other hand, his face turned stiff because of that.

It was not like s.h.i.+karabe asked Akira that question in order to warn him. Akira was added to that team as extra firepower in the first place. So even if he lacked surveillance skills, Elena could cover him just fine.

If it bothered him, s.h.i.+karabe could just watch his right side too, it was only a question to help him judge whether he should do that or not.

Sara and Elena were surprised by how proficient Akira was. After all, that level of area scan was close to Elena’s level who specialized in that skill. Sara and Elena did not think that Akira’s searching ability was that good, but of course, their prediction was correct. After all, in reality, it was Alpha who was scanning the area.

s.h.i.+karabe suddenly said gleefully.

“What a jackpot, to think that not only he’s good with fighting, he’s also good with surveillance too. I’m glad we decided to bring him rather than Katsuya.”

Elena jabbed, she sounded a bit annoyed.

“But I really hope you stop roping us into your gang’s problem, you know?”

“Don’t say that, I did volunteer myself to be in the front as an exchange for my selfishness, right? And in the end, you being the leader of the group also approved it, didn’t you?”

Akira turned to Elena in surprise, and that remark by s.h.i.+karabe meant that she decided to bring s.h.i.+karabe alone rather than bringing 5 people in Katsuya’s team.

Akira did not think that Katsuya was that weak and he also did not think that s.h.i.+karabe was so strong. Elena could catch Akira’s line of thinking from his expression.

So she decided to explain it to Akira.

“…Well, it’s not like I was taking s.h.i.+karabe’s side. I decided that based on all the advantages and disadvantages that we would get if we replaced s.h.i.+karabe with Katsuya’s team. For example, in a small narrow underground hallway or room, it’ll diminish the advantage of bringing more people. In that case, it’s better to bring one skilled person who can deal with various situations. Moreover, it’s hard to move fast when you bring a big team. Then also…”

Elena hesitated.

“…I’m not sure if they would listen to my command in case if we’re in a pinch, you see.”

It seemed that Elena knew that she made a difficult choice.

Sara smiled bitterly and joined their conversation.

“Well, Elena is a worrywart after all, but you decided to take that option thinking that it was the best option for our safety. This team was formed on the spot, so it might be a bad idea to suddenly form a big team. So please don’t think bad of her, okay?”

Akira smiled as he answered back.

“Of course not, it’s just that because of my inexperience, I thought that more people would definitely mean it would be safer, that was why I found it a little strange. It’s not like I’m doubting Elena-san’s decision. If Elena-san thinks so, I’m sure that it’s the correct decision.”

s.h.i.+karabe then said in a good mood.

“I agree with that. I can a.s.sure you that it was the correct decision. I used to work together with them, you see. So I know a lot of things about them. Katsuya often takes action without approval thinking that he’s absolutely correct. Yumina and Airi are only there to support him, so they obey whatever he says. Reina is impulsive and hot-tempered. While s.h.i.+ori is only there prioritizing Reina’s safety. All of them are full of problems. Especially that Katsuya, if he finds something that he doesn’t like, he’ll always go with voting and take over the command. Since the other 4 are always backing him, his opinion will always come out on top. He would not even notice that and insist that it’s a decision they made together. I can guarantee that. If they do something like that in the uncharted area of the underground city, it’ll definitely break the team. In the worst-case scenario, it might even cause the whole team to get wiped out. That’s why it would be a big mistake to bring them here.”

Although he still did not know for sure whether that was correct or not, Akira at least knew that s.h.i.+karabe really hated Katsuya’s guts after listening to what s.h.i.+karabe just said.

Elena sighed.

“…Leaving aside whether that information is accurate or not, I wanted to cut off the need to worry for something like that and that’s the biggest reason why I decided not to bring them here. I’ll be very careful not to give any bad orders, so Akira, be sure to obey my orders, okay? If you want to know why I give you a certain order, you can just ask me and I’ll explain it to you.”

“I understand, don’t worry, even if you make a bad decision, I’m sure that it’s still better than if I were to make the decision myself. And when I ask you about your reason, that’s not because I want to complain, please think of it that I only ask the reason just in order to learn.”

Akira was being honest when he said that, he did not think even for a second that his judging ability was better than Elena. Moreover, Alpha herself also recognized Elena’s skill. So he had no reason to doubt her decision.

Elena blushed as she replied back.

“I’ll give my best to answer your trust.”

Sara was smiling mischievously when she saw how Elena was acting. Elena noticed her and returned with an intimidating smile, so Sara quickly turned her face back to watching the hallway.

They continued their exploration without any trouble. The underground city had a very complex design in the first place, and on top of that, the crumbled rubbles blocked some hallways and there were shutters that sealed some areas. Because of that, the underground city felt like a labyrinth.

The only reason why they could venture safely deep into the underground city without getting lost was because of Elena’s information a.n.a.lysis skill. She used the gathered topological information of the area to create a rough map and used the special features of the area around them in tandem with the direction and distance they travelled to accurately ascertain their position. She was also avoiding areas with monsters and any other dangerous areas where other Hunters had encountered monsters, to pick the safest route.

They encountered some monsters during their exploration. Most of the time, s.h.i.+karabe who was in the front would take them out all by himself, and when the monsters were too many for him, 4 of them would work together to repel the monsters. Most of the monsters that they met were Yarata Scorpions, but their numbers were not huge. They continued exploring the underground city without facing much trouble.

Among all 4 of them, s.h.i.+karabe was the one who worked the hardest since he was in the lead position. Just like he said, he took Katsuya’s team’s worth of work too, that was why he had the biggest workload.

Of course, it put s.h.i.+karabe under more stress, it shaved his physical and psychical stamina as well as his ammo reserve faster.

Elena thought that it was time to rotate the position as she said to Sara.

“Sara, can you take the lead now?”

“Sure.”

“I’m not that tired yet, I can still go on.”

Although s.h.i.+karabe said that, Elena immediately rejected his suggestion.

“Even if you have the stamina, it’s not like you have an unlimited amount of ammo, right? It’s better to rotate when we have the chance. Not only can you take a rest, but it’ll also conserve your ammo too.”

“I see, alright… In that case, how about Akira takes the lead?”

Elena looked puzzled when s.h.i.+karabe made that suggestion.

“Akira?”

“I want to confirm his ability. Since we’re not in a relatively dangerous area, we can handle the situation even if he misses something and gets ambushed by surprise. So what do you think? Well, I won’t force it if Akira doesn’t want to do it though.”

It was true that it was a good idea to confirm whether Akira would handle well during a real fight or would drag them down. Akira also thought so as he said to Elena.

“I don’t mind.”

In the end, Elena had the final say in that team. Even if she judged that he did not have the skill to do that job, Akira did not mind at all.

Elena looked at Akira’s face, she planned to reject that suggestion if there was even the slightest annoyance or nervousness in his expression.

There was no nervousness in Akira’s expression even if he was about to be put in the lead position. But on the other hand, there was also no trace of excitement either. So Elena thought that he really did not mind whether he was put at the front or not.

Elena also agreed with s.h.i.+karabe’s suggestion, so she decided to rotate Akira’s position to the front.

“Alright then. Akira, exchange position with s.h.i.+karabe and take the point. Be sure not to do anything reckless, okay? Also, Sara and s.h.i.+karabe, if you think that Akira is in danger, there’s no need to wait for my orders to help him, okay?”

Akira: “I understand.”

Sara: “Okay.”

s.h.i.+karabe: “Roger that.”

Akira was completely neutral, Sara and Elena smiled gently to rea.s.sure him, while s.h.i.+karabe sounded as if he was looking forward to it.

Alpha then asked Akira before he changed position.

“Let me ask you this while we still have the chance, how much support do you want from me?”

Akira did not understand why Alpha asked that question. He looked puzzled as he answered back.

“…How much, you ask? Full support, please.”

“This is just an idea, if you want, you can lower your performance so you might get a.s.signed to the defense team next time. On the other hand, if you do too well, they might send you to a more dangerous place next time. So, with that in mind, what do you want?”

Akira finally understood why Alpha asked that question after listening to her explanation. He realized that he had such an option after he understood what Alpha actually meant, he then said.

“…Hmmm, it’s true that I can do that, but if I do that, I’ll be causing more trouble for the others. So give me full support, just like usual.”

“Well, I knew you would say that. Alright then, just leave it to me.”

Alpha smiled as she said. She now understood bit by bit how Akira’s thought process worked.

Silavin: Yo, Finally, we hit the Goal!

There will be two chapters this week. Naturally, it is all in accordance to the goal. So, if the goal dips, we will be returning back to normal.

At this time of posting, the goal has dipped but I thought it was fair to have 2 chapter this week since we hit it last week.

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