Chapter 75 - The Result of The Second Exploration (1/2)

After Elena finished giving Akira her warnings, she then changed to her serious negotiation face and said to him.

“I’m honestly delighted to hear that you would share with us such valuable information about the location of that unexplored ruin. But we’re still Hunters too, and it doesn’t feel right to just accept that information for free. Not to mention that s.h.i.+zuka would definitely scold us later if we do so. That’s why I have a suggestion here.”

“A suggestion?”

“Yep. How about we accompany you in exploring that ruin? We’ll also help you gather relics, sell them, and then we can share the money after subtracting the ammo expense. If there’s any relics that we want, we can buy them from each other and add the price to that person’s share. So, what do you think?”

Akira thought about it for a bit before replying.

“I don’t mind, but won’t I just slow Elena-san and Sara-san down?”

Sara smiled.

“Don’t worry, we didn’t have any trouble when we were together during the Kuzusuhara city underground ruin exploration. So I don’t think there’s any need for you to worry about it.”

Elena also smiled and added.

“I’m sure you’ll help us out rather than slowing us down, and even if you do slow us down. I’m sure we would be able to handle it just fine. So don’t worry.”

Akira knew that Elena and Sara would say that by judging his performance during the Kuzusuhara city underground exploration. But in reality, he was only able to do that well thanks to Alpha’s support, while the ruin they were going to explore was a place where he might lose that support.

If that happened, of course, Akira’s fighting capability would drop significantly. So he was worried if that might cause a significant inconvenience to Sara and Elena.

“Alpha, do you think it’ll be okay?”

“From my point of view, it’s a good thing that you get someone who can help you out when you lose my support. So I won’t stop you, this can be a good training for you too.”

It seemed that Alpha had no plans to stop him. So basically the possibility of Akira holding Sara and Elena back was not enough of a reason for her to stop him. She also judged that it would serve as proper training for the worst-case scenario, which was losing her support during an exploration.

Akira bowed to Sara and Elena.

“I understand, I’ll be in your care then.”

Sara smiled happily and said.

“We have a deal then. It has been quite a while since our last ruin exploration, and not to mention that it’s an unexplored ruin too. I can’t wait to start.”

Elena also sounded happy as she asked Akira.

“We’ll follow your schedule as to when we can go. So, when would be a good time for you?”

“I can go anytime.”

“Is that so? In that case, let’s go tomorrow. After all, We need to prepare ourselves too. We’ll finish our preparation tonight. Other than that, let’s talk more about that ruin, not to mention that I still have to tell you about the basics of selling relics too.”

After that, Akira talked with Sara and Elena to share the information about that ruin as well as to reconfirm their plan for tomorrow, and Elena taught Akira about the common knowledge of selling relics.

When he got used to Sara’s provocative appearance, Akira’s focus s.h.i.+fted to Elena.

Sara was wearing a white T-s.h.i.+rt while Elena was wearing a black T-s.h.i.+rt. When they sat together next to each other on the sofa, it boosted the contrast between them.

Elena donned calm-but-sleek and clean clothing that made her look like a smart girl. It even made her look like some kind of high-cla.s.s princess. Her skirt extended all the way to her ankles. Since she was sitting next to Sara, who was not even wearing a pant nor a skirt, Elena’s skirt looked unnecessarily long. And unlike Sara’s T-s.h.i.+rt that did not hide the valley of her chest, Elena’s T-s.h.i.+rt fit snugly up to her neck.

Akira inadvertently compared Sara’s appearance with Elena’s. They too noticed that. But for both of them, it was not something that bothered them since they were not wearing clothing that would embarra.s.s them when seen by Akira.

But with that being said, both of them were still interested in what Akira had to say after comparing their clothing, while at the same time, it was a rather embarra.s.sing thing to ask him directly about it. Both of them then glanced at each other before looking back at their own clothing.

If they used Elena’s appearance as the bottom line, then Sara’s clothing was rather provocative. Although it was not like Akira stared intently at her, it was also a fact that Akira’s gaze was sometimes sucked into the valley between Sara’s chest. Sara knew well that it was because of the clothing that she was wearing.

It was not that much of an issue if Akira was completely cool about it. But it was obvious that he was trying hard to avert his gaze from that particular part of Sara’s body and that he was not doing a good job at it. Every time his gaze inadvertently s.h.i.+fted there, Sara started to get embarra.s.sed too. But it would be even more awkward if she just came up with a random excuse to change her clothes, not to mention, Elena would definitely not let that slide later.

But if Sara’s appearance was used as the bottom line, then Elena’s clothing would be too straight-laced. It was true that Elena picked that clothing since they were having a guest. When they were not having a guest, she usually wore even worse clothing than Sara right now. There were many occasions where she was not wearing anything other than her bath towel while operating the information terminal perching on her shoulders. Elena herself was fully conscious about that fact, that was why she consciously picked a very reserved clothing to hide her usual unsightly appearance even though it might give a wrong impression about her.

But compared to Sara’s appearance, it could be said that Elena was overly conscious about her own appearance there. It was true that Elena did not find it amusing at all that Akira kept sending his gaze to Sara. Although she understood that it was because Sara’s voluptuous body was further p.r.o.nounced by her clothing, Elena, as someone who had confidence in her own body, found that rather vexing.

But it was not like she could just come up with a random excuse to show her legs and lower her T-s.h.i.+rt. After all, there was no way Sara would let that slide later.

Both Elena and Sara decided to pick their clothing more carefully tomorrow. Although they were in a completely opposite situation, they reached the same conclusion. They then carefully chose their words to make sure that Akira would not notice their real feelings.

Unfortunately, Akira noticed that they were acting weirdly. But of course, he did not know the reason behind it.

—*—*—*—

On the next day, Akira took his vehicle to the meeting place he had agreed upon with Sara and Elena. Their meeting place was an area between Kugamayama city and the wasteland.

Although Akira did not mind meeting up in the city or near the ruin, he decided to follow Elena’s decision. According to Elena, since there was a good chance that it was an unexplored ruin, she wanted to do the search carefully to make sure that this information would not leak to other Hunters.

Akira arrived earlier than their meeting time, so Elena and Sara were not there yet.

Alpha was sitting in the driver’s a.s.sistant seat, and just like always, she was wearing a dress that did not fit the wasteland at all. She then said to Akira with a serious expression.

“Akira, I’ll reconfirm about it again beforehand, you’re really okay with it, right?”

“Yeah, it’s about me going in supportless this time, right? I’m okay with it.”

Lately, Akira realized that he was being fully reliant on Alpha’s support. It made Alpha worry whether he would act calmly and rationally if he suddenly lost her support, thus she decided that it might be a good idea to train Akira so that he would still be able to stay calm even if he lost her support.

It would be a good thing if Akira could learn how to fight monsters while exploring that ruin with other Hunters who he trusted. And although he had visited that ruin once, since it was not fully explored yet, there was still a good chance that he would meet some monsters. Thus, it was a perfect chance for his training.

It was not like Akira himself was not worried at all. But he knew that resolve was his responsibility, so he replied back firmly to Alpha while hiding his nervousness.

“This is a good chance to figure out my current ability. Just let me do it.”

“Alright then. Let’s start, good luck.”

Alpha smiled gently at Akira. Then, at the next moment, her image disappeared from Akira’s view. At the same time, his augmented suit suddenly felt heavier and sluggish. It was because he had completely lost Alpha’s support.

Akira s.h.i.+fted the goggles on his forehead down and properly put it on his face. Those goggles were the same set that came together with his ERPS information-gathering devices integrated augmented suit, PWD Silence. Thus, those goggles were showing the data gathered by his information-gathering devices. It was also equipped with a simple far-sight function. If Akira focused his gaze on a certain point, he could use that function to enhance his vision and zoom into that particular point to get more accurate information.

Although it was an exceptional pair of goggles, it was nowhere near Alpha’s support. It did not take that long for him to appreciate Alpha’s support.

As Akira was adjusting his vision through a terminal, he suddenly found a signal coming his way. When he focused his information-gathering device to that angle, he was able to see that it was coming from a vehicle that was heading in his direction. It was Elena and Sara.

Akira waved at Elena and Sara. Sara, who was sitting on the a.s.sistant driver seat, waved back at him.

“They’re right on time. It would not be strange to get a little late if they had encountered some monsters on their way here, so it’s rather impressive that they’re right on time. I guess that’s because they’re skilled Hunters, huh. What do you think, Alpha?”

Alpha did not reply back at all, Akira quickly realized that he was in the middle of a training session.

“…Ahhh, that’s right… Dammit.”

Akira snapped back to hide the loneliness that he suddenly felt creeping.

After meeting up with Elena and Sara, Akira guided both of them to the ruin that he visited not too long ago.

But it was not like Akira was heading straight there. He took a big detour by heading to a completely different location on the wasteland and then turned towards the direction of Kugamayama city while heading to the ruin. It was so that other Hunters would not be able to easily trace his footprint. It could be said it was a big mistake when he directly returned to Kugamayama city from that ruin the other day.

Sara glanced at Elena who was sitting on the driver seat.

“Say, Elena.”

“Yes?”

“If I’m not mistaken, you don’t like that armour, right?”

The armour that Elena was using was a body-tight armour that p.r.o.nounced her body lines way more than her usual armour. Moreover, the part of her body that would draw the attention of the opposite gender was even more p.r.o.nounced by a belt. Although hers was not as big as Sara’s, it was at least bigger than the average size.

Elena answered back calmly.

“…It’s not like I hate it. It’s just that because of its material flexibility, it’s hard to move in it. So it quickly tires me when moving in this armour. Since that problem is solved by using an augmented suit under it, I decided to start using it again. After all, this armour is much stronger and more durable than my usual armour. And since we’re going to explore an unexplored ruin, I just thought that it’s better to use this armour.”

“Is that so?”

“Yep.”

There was a moment of silence between them.

This time, it was Elena’s turn to glance at Sara.

“Sara.”

“Yes?”

“That s.h.i.+rt under your armour, I thought you don’t use it since it has bad compatibility with the armour that you’re using right now?”

Sara was wearing a s.h.i.+rt under her armour. Although it was not an old-world relic, it was at least stronger than the usual s.h.i.+rt for Hunters, so it was more expensive than the usual s.h.i.+rt. But because it had bad compatibility with her armour, it would get ripped in no time. Because of that, she had stopped wearing that s.h.i.+rt lately, or at least when she did, she would loosen the fastener on her chest to reduce the strain on her s.h.i.+rt. But even so, this time, she completely closed the fastener. Elena bet that s.h.i.+rt would be ripped to pieces in no time.

“…I just thought that it would be such a waste to let them collect dust just because they have bad compatibility with this armour. Not to mention, we have started hunting for relics again, so I might be able to find some durable underclothing.”

“Is that so?”

“Yep.”

Once again, both of them suddenly went silent after that.

Sara who was wearing more reserved clothing than yesterday, and Elena who was wearing more p.r.o.nounced clothing than yesterday, both of them were just silently following Akira to their destination.

Akira, Sara, and Elena eventually arrived at their destination. They parked their vehicle under the shadow of the nearby wreckage. To make sure that no monsters would be able to find them, they also put a camouflaging sheet above their vehicles. Then they readied their equipment before venturing down the stairs.

Elena and Sara looked pretty excited as they kept moving deeper and deeper into the ruin. Sara herself looked hopeful to the point that she seemed way too excited, while on the other hand, Elena moved in carefully while keeping her surroundings in check.

Elena remembered Akira’s story from yesterday and thought.

[How exactly did Akira find this place? Was it really because of pure coincidence?]

Although it was true that the entrance was hidden in a rather concealed place, if it was only that much, the other Hunters would have been able to discover this place way sooner than Akira.

Moreover, if it was because monsters just opened the entrance and started coming out from this stair lately, then there should be more monsters loitering around near the entrance.

But according to Akira’s story, there were not that many monsters when he searched around the area. Elena was able to confirm that herself after she scanned the area. There were no monsters signals both from around the area and from inside the ruin.

Elena then gathered her a.s.sumptions together. The entrance to the ruin was originally hidden in a very concealed place where it would have been buried under the rubbles without anything that indicated its position. But even so, Akira was able to accurately acquire the exact location of that place and somehow locate it, and it was an information that even veteran Hunters and big companies did not have, this was clearly not normal. But Elena had a guess why Akira was able to do so.

[Akira is probably someone who can connect to the old-world domain. It might be an information that he got from the old-world domain.]

If that a.s.sumption was correct, then Akira might have a lot of valuable information with him at the moment. That was exactly the reason why big companies always try to get a hold of people who could connect to the old-world domain, some time to the point that they ignored the will of those people. The facts surrounding this ruin somehow confirmed Elena’s guess even further.

Elena glanced at Akira as he was watching the tunnel beside Sara.

[What if, we…]

The inner voice inside Elena screamed at her to stop that line of thinking there. But the calm and logical part inside her encouraged her to continue.

Hypothetically speaking, if she could seduce Akira, then she would be able to get the power of someone who could connect to the old-world domain and all the benefits that came with it. Even the information of the exact locations of all the undiscovered ruins in the eastern district alone would earn her a huge amount of money if she sold it to big companies. That is excluding the old-world warehouses filled with relics, or even labs and old-world factories that could produce those very relics. If she was able to seize them and sell them, she would get enough money to easily buy one or two cities in the eastern district.

Fortunately, it seemed that Akira trusted her and Sara. Looking at how he reacted when he saw Sara’s s.e.xy clothing from yesterday, she thought that there were a lot of possible choices that she could pick from in order to seduce Akira. Akira was still so young and inexperienced as a Hunter, if she kept feeding him with information that fit her needs and added some charm with it, she should be able to easily manipulate him. And so her thoughts kept going deeper and deeper.

Elena herself was no saint, she was a normal girl with a normal level of avarice. And her greed pushed her to keep thinking about that possibility.

“Elena, what’s wrong?”

Elena quickly snapped back from her deep thoughts when Sara called her. Akira and Sara looked at her worriedly.

She pulled herself together and smiled.