Chapter 104 (1/2)

Chapter 104

Translator: Athena13

Editor: Silavin

Proofreader: p4553r

Akira was standing at the front gate of a tall building . The name of that building was written on a huge metal nameplate near it .

“So this building is Seranthal building, huh?”

“There’s a map of the floors too . The Lion Steel Corp branch is on the 57th floor . This one . ”

“Let’s go then . It would be great if we can find a lot of old-world relics there, I’m in a deep red right now . ”

Akira had not found anything that could bring him money that day yet . If he could not find anything to cover for his ammo expense, he would have risked his life for nothing and end up with a loss .

Akira tried to calm his worry by telling himself that since he had to take out all of those powerful autonomous weapons just to get there, there must be expensive relics inside that building .

Alpha suddenly made a suggestion to him .

“You should be able to get some money if you submit the record for that general monster-hunting request . So, do you want to do that?”

“No . If I do that, I would need to submit a full battle record too, right? If I give that battle record to the Hunter Office, it would be troublesome if they start sending difficult requests to me . ”

It might be just him overthinking it, but he remembered that he might have tried too hard when he helped out the Hunters in the Kuzusuhara underground ruin which ended up getting him sent into the Yarata Scorpion nest in the underground city .

No one could tell what kind of difficult request would get sent to him if the Hunter Office judged his skill based on that fight against the autonomous weapons . He had no wish to jump over a high building and run on its wall while shooting at the enemies again for the second time . Or at least, he had no wish to do that again unless it was really necessary .

Alpha smiled teasingly .

“Is that so? Honestly speaking, if you give it to that Kibayas.h.i.+ guy, I’m sure he’ll get a good laugh out of it and you can get an extra bonus on top of your reward . ”

“No thanks!”

Akira reacted almost immediately, it was not like he was working as a Hunter just to amuse Kibayas.h.i.+ .

“Let’s just go in and head to the 57th floor for now . There might be some mechanical monsters inside but I’m sure they’re not as powerful as the ones that we fought outside . ”

Akira changed gear and headed inside the building .

—*—*—*—

Reina and her 2 maids were hunting for monsters in the Mihazono ruin . Due to s.h.i.+ori’s suggestion, they focused more on hunting monsters rather than hunting relics in order to familiarize themselves with the danger level of Mihazono ruin .

As long as they stayed near the Hunter Office branch, they would be able to almost immediately send an emergency request in case anything bad happened . Due to s.h.i.+ori’s suggestion, they were being careful while doing their best hunting for monsters instead of relics .

But to be more precise, Reina was the only one who was trying really hard there . s.h.i.+ori was only there to accompany Reina, so she was there to match Reina’s movements . So in short, she was holding back . She actually could just quickly dispose of all of the monsters and explore the area but avoided doing so . s.h.i.+ori’s goal was to help Reina overcome her self-contempt, and realize that she was not a useless burden .

As for Kanae, she did not even contribute to the fight . She just stood there next to Reina, looking bored .

Reina fixed her aim to ball-like mechanical monsters with legs and arms . Although it was just a maintenance drone that was cleaning up the city area from rubbles and wreckage, it would still attack Hunters when it spotted them . Thus, their kind were still considered as mechanical monsters . There were occasions where they even used the rifles that the Hunters dropped, they were pretty bothersome mechanical monsters .

Reina pulled the trigger . She used piercing bullets to destroy the monsters’ limbs first before aiming for its torsos and proceeded to finish it off . It was a rather safe way to fight . s.h.i.+ori then evaluated her performance .

Reina smiled, there was a shred of bitterness in her smile .

“That was a good shot . ”

“…Yeah, thank you . ”

Reina knew well that it was not just empty lip service from s.h.i.+ori . But since she was in self-deprecating mode, when someone as strong as s.h.i.+ori complimented her, it sounded as if she was so weak to the point that doing something like that was enough to make s.h.i.+ori compliment her .

In reality, if Reina’s skill was indeed that low, there was no way s.h.i.+ori would bring her to Mihazono ruin in the first place . After all, Mihazono ruin was a rather dangerous ruin filled with mechanical monsters . Reina was actually stronger than most of the other Hunters of the same Hunter Rank, she was basically stronger than common Hunters .

But not only was she surrounded by powerful people like s.h.i.+ori and Kanae, who received proper training, the scene when Akira, who was more or less of the same age as her, fought evenly against s.h.i.+ori was still on her mind . Because of that, Reina could not help but be disappointed in her own skills .

Looking at Reina, s.h.i.+ori felt a pang of pain . She realized that her compliment was counter-effective, so she stopped herself there .

Reina then moved the leftover wreckage of the monsters that she defeated to a cart with help from s.h.i.+ori . Kanae did not even offer her help . Reina looked a bit annoyed as she said to Kanae .

“You really won’t give me any help, huh?”

Even when Reina was glaring at her, Kanae did not seem to care much as she smiled and replied .

“Milady, like I said so many times before . My duty is to ensure your safety, not helping out whenhunting monsters or carrying monsters . To be honest, Ane-san is also not obligated to do that, you know?”

“…Well, that’s true, but still…”

“My duty is to get Milady away from danger in case anything bad happens . So, I hope you won’t count me to always help you in all fights . And I also won’t help to carry the dead mechanical monsters . I have my hands full with guarding you so I don’t have any leeway to do something like that . ”

Reina understood Kanae’s argument although she was not fully convinced by it . She directed a bit of that anger onto herself, for not being able to do her Hunter work without bodyguards . She made a conflicted face as she looked at Kanae . Kanae just lightly smiled while looking back at her .

s.h.i.+ori suppressed her desire to defend Reina, instead, she expressed her opinion about Kanae .

“Milady, Kanae is someone skilled enough to be sent as Milady’s bodyguard . Think of her as a s.h.i.+eld or a lifeline in a dangerous situation . And just because that s.h.i.+eld or lifeline is a very rea.s.suring one, that does not mean that we can put Milady in needless danger . When she looks like she has nothing to do like that, it also means that we’re in a rather safe situation where she can just relax . ”

“That’s so cruel . I’ll properly do my duty for which I’m paid for, you know?”

s.h.i.+ori looked at Kanae with a serious face .

“Of course, if you’re not, I would dice you to small pieces after all . ”

s.h.i.+ori grabbed the sword that she was carrying, it seemed that she was being serious there .

But even so, Kanae was still smiling like usual . It was because she knew s.h.i.+ori would not actually pull out her sword there, and even if she did, that in itself would be interesting too . Moreover, the possibility of the latter one was pretty high .

s.h.i.+ori sighed exasperatedly, her expression returned back to normal as she turned to Reina .

“Milady . The cart is almost full . Let’s head back to the Hunter Office first . ”

“Alright… Hm?”

Reina saw a cloud of smoke rising from afar . It originated from a tall building in the deeper part of Mihazono ruin .

s.h.i.+ori also noticed smoke from watching Reina’s reaction . She quickly pulled out her information terminal and checked the area that she guessed around where she saw that smoke . If it was some kind of dangerous anomaly, she would need to evacuate Reina from there as soon as possible . After all, anything could happen in an old-world ruin .

s.h.i.+ori finished confirming the information and explained it to Reina .

“It’s from an area near the Seranthal building . I bet there are some Hunters trying to seize that building . It should be alright as long as we steer clear from that area . ”

“It seems that they’re having a pretty big fight there . Is the inner part of this ruin really that dangerous?”

“No, it seems that the monsters near the Seranthal building are much stronger compared to the other monsters in the ruin . They might be a part of the security system dedicated to protecting that building . Since the monsters guarding that building will always get replenished after some time, there are not that many Hunters who can challenge that area . There are also rumours saying that we can find a lot of expensive relics inside that building . ”

After hearing s.h.i.+ori’s explanation, Kanae just smiled amusedly as she tried to provoke Reina .

“That sounds interesting, If the Hunters win, there won’t be any monsters left around that area, and even if they lose, they would have inflicted a lot of damage on those monsters too . So no matter which one it is, it should be easy to go to that building right now . Milady, how about we take a look there later?”

s.h.i.+ori glared at Kanae .

“Kanae, just shut up . Milady, even if there are no monsters left around that building, I can’t recommend going there . ”

s.h.i.+ori stopped Reina while making a serious face . Reina felt that there was another reason other than her lack of skill as to why s.h.i.+ori said that . So she curiously asked s.h.i.+ori a question .

“Well, if you say that, I don’t mind not going there . But why? If there are a lot of expensive relics there and there are no monsters around it, it should at least be worth a check, right?”

“Milady, have you ever heard about the old-world ghost?

“It’s about that story of ghosts that roam the old-world ruin, right? They say that they only roam around famous ruins . There are a lot of different patterns about its story though . Some say that they’re ghosts of the Hunters who died in the ruin and they would attack other Hunters . Or that they control monsters in the ruins to kill other Hunters . Or that they would guide Hunters who get lost inside a ruin to an exit . I heard that there’s one in the Kuzusuhara ruin too, the beguiling ghost, was it again? If I’m not mistaken, it would lure Hunters into a dangerous area by baiting them with information of a secret place filled with relics just to get those Hunters killed, right…?”

s.h.i.+ori then added to that .

“That’s correct . Sometimes it causes a big ruckus that prevents the Hunters from exploring the ruins, there are even times when the Hunter Office dispatched a formal investigation . Most of the investigation results were made public, some of them said that it’s just the Hunters trying to kill each other over relics, or it’s caused by the still-active facilities inside a building . Basically, it’s not a big mystery once the cause has been made clear . ”

“Well, that kind of story is not rare . So, what’s with it?”

“There’s a similar ghost story in this Mihazono ruin, and that story centres around that Seranthal building . Putting the cause aside, it’s true that there are a lot of Hunters who died around that place and no explanation has been found even right now . As such, it still stays as a ghost story . We can’t afford to let Milady go to such a dangerous place . ”

Reina started to get scared and curious at the same time, she then asked s.h.i.+ori .

“Okay, let’s not go there then . So, about that ghost story though, what kind of story is it?”

s.h.i.+ori then started explaining about that ghost story to Reina with a serious face . Reina, who listened to that story, looked slightly scared .

—*—*—*—

Akira, who was standing on the first floor, looked surprised when he took a quick look around the first floor of the Seranthal building . There was a receptionist counter and the interior of that building looked clean . It was obvious that it was properly maintained, there was not even a speck of dust on its floor as it perfectly reflected the light that was s.h.i.+ning on it . He also spotted some undamaged chairs, which might be put there for guests .

When Akira looked at that receptionist counter, he thought that it must have been owned by a giant corporation . He had the same impression when he entered that big building sticking to the inner wall of the Kugamayama city, but at the same time, he felt that it was strange for him to feel like that in such a place . Akira scanned the big atrium while having such a conflicted feeling .

“This place is pretty clean . ”

Akira was a bit overwhelmed by that contrast between the interior of that building and the area outside . Alpha then warned him to keep his wit .

“It seems that this building is still functioning well, so I bet the maintenance robots regularly clean this place . There might be some security robots too, so be careful . ”

“Understood . ”

Suddenly Akira spotted a girl, he quickly reacted by pointing his rifle at that girl . Although he did not instantly shoot, he had his finger ready on the trigger .

Akira’s expression looked stern . He spotted that girl standing in a place that he had already checked beforehand . His information-gathering device also did not detect her at all, there should be no one over there .

Even when Akira pointed his rifle at that girl, she only smiled at him . She was wearing an old-world dress that might have been used to welcome guests as a receptionist, one thing for sure, it was not for battle .

But it was normal for old-world dresses to have completely different qualities compared to their outlooks . It was really dangerous to judge based only on their appearances . Thus although that girl was unarmed, Akira did not lower his guard at all .

Alpha then explained to Akira .

“Akira, that’s just a hologram . It’s not real . ”

Akira looked a bit surprised as he asked Alpha .

“It’s not real? So like, she’s the same as you? Wait, is it closer to that hologram from the Higaraka residence ruin, huh?”

“My image is created by information projected into your vision, so I’m closer to augmented reality and not the same as that hologram . That hologram is projecting its image on a fixed s.p.a.ce . So a normal human should be able to see her just fine . But even if people can see her, she’s not real . Even if the information-gathering device detected her, it’s nothing but optical data . ”