Chapter 44 (1/2)

Index

Editor: Silavin

Proofreader: p4553r

Reina refused to back down as she obstinately followed Akira, but she found it strange that Akira was moving slowly even for someone who was exploring an extremely dangerous underground city.

“Shiori, why is he moving so slowly?”

“Every person has a different speed, principle and judgement during a ruin exploration. I believe that he’s the kind of person who prefers to make a full check even if it slows him down.”

“But even so, he’s still way too slow, isn’t he? There are 3 people monitoring the area here, you know?”

Reina actually understood the importance of scanning the area. The underground city hallway was filled with wreckages and rubbles, places where monsters might hide. Not to mention, Yarata Scorpions could camouflage itself and blend with the wreckages. Thus, she could understand why Akira would want to proceed very carefully.

But even with that in mind, if Akira’s skill was the same as what she heard, there should be no problem even if he moved faster. Or at least, with 3 people here keeping watch, Akira was moving way too slow and she found it vexing.

Shiori hesitated to answer that question. After all, she knew that the real reason was something which might annoy Reina. But again, keeping that as secret would be against her duty, thus she tried to explain the reason to Reina in her own way.

“It’s not 3 people, but 1 person.”

“Eh? There are 3 of us here, right?”

“He doesn’t expect nor rely for our support, and that’s also the case for scanning the area too. He always rescans the places that we’ve scanned. Not to mention, he always proceeds carefully while taking positions where he will be able to deal with the enemies using his own firepower in case we are ambushed by a swarm of Yarata Scorpions. In short, he’s exploring the area as if he’s still alone.”

Shiori’s guess was correct. Akira was doing that as his training and he did it with the assumption that Shiori and Reina would leave him as a decoy in case they were overrun by monsters.

Reina’s face twitched in anger, she thought that Akira was looking down at her. It was as if she was just a total amateur Hunter and a dead weight to him. She was about to yell but was somehow able to hold herself back. After all, if she yelled, that would not only be her admitting that she had forced herself onto Akira, she would also be attracting the monsters. It would just be her admitting she was nothing other than dead weight.

Reina was trying to hold herself back. Although she whispered in a calm voice, it was obvious that she was angry and was even trembling slightly out of said anger.

“…Are we really that bad, to the point that he doesn’t even trust us?”

Shiori answered back with a soft voice in order to calm Reina down.

“He just doesn’t know our ability yet. For someone who does not judge another Hunter’s ability by his or her Rank, his actions are understandable. Just think of it as he’s trying to remove the risk coming from trusting his life to someone that he doesn’t know well. It’s very difficult to judge someone’s abilities. Even someone as strong as Katsuya-sama is still looked down upon as a young Hunter. Thus, it’s doubly true for us.”

“That might be true, but still…”

The Hunter Rank is supposed to show the ability of a Hunter. But it is rated using accomplishments, thus it cannot be used as proof of one’s ability when it came to fighting against monsters. There were Hunters who got high rank because of their combat skills despite being terrible when it came to collecting relics or exploring ruins. And of course, it was also true for the opposite case. In the end, those two types of Hunters would have the same Hunter Rank as if they produced the same result.

After Shiori’s explanation, Reina calmed down for a bit and thought that if what she heard back in the station about Akira was true, that would mean he might be a Hunter who focused on hunting monsters. He might also have seen other Hunters with higher rank despite being weaker than him. If that was the case, then it was only to be expected for him to treat her and Shiori like he did.

Reina was able to calm down after she thought about it, but it was not like it could completely erase her displeasure.

“Milady, as I thought, we should return back. Even if were to accompany him, I don’t think it would bring any benefit for us.”

“…No, I refuse!”

Reina felt that if she turned back here, it would only mean that she came all the way there just to bother Akira before turning back and returning without producing any results. She simply could not stand the thought of that so she refused Shiori’s suggestion. But more than that, Reina was hoping to find something that could make her proud of her own skill, something like a trigger, a chance, anything.

Shiori reassessed the situation. Even if Reina persistently wanted to stay here, it did not seem like Akira would count her as his ally. If they got ambushed by a swarm of Yarata Scorpions, in the worst-case scenario, Akira might even see her as his enemy. He might even shoot her and use her as a diversion in order to save himself.

Shiori understood that if Reina would not change her mind, then she must try to change Akira’s mind. At the very least, she needed to make sure that he would help them if they were in a pinch. As Shiori decided on that option, she started thinking about how to approach Akira.

Akira suddenly stopped and made a long “Hmmmm”. He had ventured quite far while keeping watch for any traces from the Yarata Scorpions that just attacked the defensive point number 15, but even so, he could not find any noticeable traces.

At this rate, he would reach the defensive point number 15 without finding anything. He wondered if he missed anything on his way here, so he asked Alpha to confirm it.

“Alpha, I know that I’m in the middle of training to look for signs and traces. That’s why I’m trying my best to be careful not to miss anything, but in case if there’s something that I miss, be sure to tell me, okay? We’re here for a job, after all.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll properly inform you. After all, it would be really bad for me too if you get ambushed by a swarm of Yarata Scorpions because of that.”

As Alpha smiled at Akira, he returned back with a bitter smile.

“Well, thank you for that, but that would mean that there were really no traces that I missed, huh… If I don’t find anything worth noting, I feel like the HQ would complain again about me taking too long.”

Akira frowned a bit. Alpha who saw that understood that he did not say that to whine about the HQ, but he was actually complaining about his own lack of ability. She then smiled gently at him.

“When that happens, just let them say everything they want to say. If they wanted to make a proper search of the area, they should have dispatched an exploration team instead. So it’s only to be expected for someone from the defense team to take longer when exploring the area. There’s nothing for you to worry about, so let’s not rush ourselves and continue exploring the area carefully.”

In a sense, Alpha was also Akira’s employer. She was really happy that he took his job very seriously, but it would be bad if he got killed by that virtue even before he could finish her request. Thus she really wished that he would not take this job too seriously, for her sake.

“…Well, that’s true. Alright then, I understand.”

After saying that, Akira renewed his resolve and was about to continue the exploration. But Shiori suddenly called him.

“Akira-sama, I have something I want to talk about, could you please listen for a moment?”

Akira was thinking of ignoring her, but her next words made him inadvertently turn around.

“I want to make a request for Akira-sama to act as Milady’s bodyguard. I want to negotiate about the details and the rewards for the request.”

It was really out of the blue and Akira could not immediately process what Shiori just said. It took some time before he came back to his senses. He was totally dumbfounded and looked confused as he instinctively said.

“…Hah?”

Shiori knew that at least Akira was not ignoring her, so she immediately proceeded to explain what she just said to clear up his confusion.

“Please let me explain the details of the request. The period of the request is until we’re finished with this Yarata Scorpions extermination request, during this time, I want you to stay in the range where you can protect Milady. The reward will be 5,000,000 Aurum that will be paid once you’ve finished the request. This reward will not be reduced if the HQ assigns you with a job that would make it impossible for you to stay around Milady, but if you ask for such a job by your own volition or lead Milady into danger, we’ll have to negotiate the amount of the reward deduction…”

Reina was also shocked and frozen, just like Akira when she heard that sudden suggestion from Shiori. But when she was back to her senses, she immediately protested.

“W-wait for sec!! What the heck are you saying out of the blue?!!”

“I’m requesting for Milady’s bodyguard. If Milady has no wish of returning back to defensive point 14, I have to look for another way to guarantee Milady’s safety. But if Milady decides to return back, then I shall take back my request.”

“B-but, even if you want to employ an outsider, there’s no way Drankam would let us pay him 5,000,000 Aurum!?”

“Please don’t worry, I’ll pay him with my own money. It might be a huge sum, but Milady’s safety takes the utmost importance.”

Reina understood from Shiori’s serious expression that she was really planning to pay that using her own money.

Reina also understood well that it would be futile even if she told Shiori to rethink about it. After all, it would be the same as telling Shiori to rethink about her own safety, which obviously, she would not take any chances on.

Of course, even for Reina, she felt bad making Shiori go that far for her own selfishness. She knew that everything would be resolved if she decided to go back, but she really wanted to stay there until she could leave a notable achievement, and not to mention, she had a stubborn personality. Because of that, Reina was confused and did not know what to do.

An unwavering heart and a wavering heart, Reina and Shiori looked at each other with gazes full of meaning, their respective wills contradicted with the available options.

Akira was unconsciously sucked into the mood while still being stunned, but Alpha suddenly spoke to him.

“Akira, if you leave them alone, you would not be able to rectify whether you are going to take that request or not, you know?”

Akira quickly snapped back and said in a panic.

“Wait for a sec. Leaving aside whether you’ll return back or not, I can’t take that request.”

“…I’m willing to negotiate if the reward is not enough.”

Shiori was thinking of increasing the reward, but Akira just shook his head.

“No, I’m not saying that the reward is not enough, the real problem is my ability. I have my hands full protecting myself, so I don’t think I can guarantee other’s safety. That’s why even if you increase the reward, I still can’t accept your request.”

Reina was surprised.

“But you have saved a group of Hunters from a swarm of Yarata Scorpions all by yourself, right? The HQ staff said that himself, you know. But even then, you’re still saying that you don’t have enough skill?”

“I barely survived that, you know. I even exhausted all of my ammo and was so close to getting killed back then. I’m definitely not going to do that again even if someone told me to.”

“Then why did you do that?”

“It was because the Hunters who I saved didn’t convey the right information to the HQ. At that time, it seems that they only told HQ they were ambushed by insect-like monsters. I only knew that they were stuck inside a Yarata Scorpion nest after arriving there. What happened after that was nothing more than me trying to deal with what I was facing.”

“If it was really that bad, then why did you take this request to eliminate the Yarata Scorpion nest?”

Akira started getting annoyed, it was not like he took this request because he wanted to.

“There’s no way I can just refuse a request from the Kugamayama city Long-term Strategic Division, you know!! Of course, I would have refused this request if I could!!”

“I-I see, I’m sorry to hear that.”

Reina was taken aback when Akira yelled at her, but she tried to hide it with a smile. She then pushed her courage to ask the last thing that was still bothering her.

“…S-so in short, you’re actually not that strong, am I right?”

“Yeah.”

After hearing the explanation from HQ, Shiori and Reina imagined Akira as a very skilled Hunter who charged right into a Yarata Scorpion’s nest alone, saved a group of Hunters, and protected them all the way back to the HQ without getting anyone injured. But Akira just denied that so straightforwardly that it crushed their image of him into dust. As they looked at him again, he just looked like a normal young Hunter to them now.

There was an awkward silence between them, all of them were dumbfounded.

Shiori looked a bit fl.u.s.tered as she was looking at Reina and made a new suggestion to Akira.

“In that case, please let me change the details of the request. I want to ask you to provide support to Milady. The duration of the request is until Milady returns back to the defensive point, the reward will be 100,000 Aurum. So, will you accept it?”

“Shiori?”

Reina could not understand what Shiori was trying to convey as she was making a puzzled face, but Shiori returned it with a gentle gaze as if she was trying to calm her down. It was like a gaze from an older sister who was worried because of her troublesome little sister.

“I’ll retract that request if Milady decides to return back, but Milady has no wish of doing so, right?”

“…Ughh.”

Reina stubbornly followed Akira thinking that he was a very skilled Hunter. It would be pathetic if she immediately decided to go back the moment she knew that her assumption was not true. She would go back if she was told to, but she really did not want to say that herself.

Shiori understood Reina’s thoughts and decided to make a new suggestion to Akira instead. If Akira refused that request, Shiori was planning to use that as an excuse to return back. And if Akira took that request, she would pay him some money for roping him into this awkward situation and build a good relationship with him. Both outcomes were not bad so Shiori decided to make that request.

Shiori looked back at Akira and waited for his answer. Akira was at loss on what to do, but Alpha suddenly said to him.

“It would be troublesome if it caused another fight if you refuse it, so how about you accept their request instead? This request can also be used as an excuse so that we won’t be fighting against each other while we’re exploring the ruin together, and it was not like you have to proactively protect them. So let’s just accept the request and end this argument here. But of course, you can say no too, if you want.”

“…You’re right, I guess I’ll do that.”

Akira thought that it was not like Shiori and Reina were expecting something from his ability, he could just provide them with some help while still focusing on his exploration. He thought that if it was only that much, then it might be okay to take their request.

“Alright, I’ll take that request. My name is Akira.”

“I’m Shiori. Over here please.”

Shiori handed out 10 sheets of 10,000 Aurum notes to Akira. With this, their negotiation had come into a conclusion.

Akira put that money into his pocket and turned to Reina.