Chapter 76 (1/2)

Index

Editor: Silavin

Proofreader: p4553r

Sheryl was doing her job inside her private room when suddenly a call came in from her information terminal.

When she heard that particular ringtone, she quickly grabbed her information terminal and answered that call as fast as she could as if she was trying not to make the caller wait for her at all.

“It’s Sheryl.”

“Akira here, do you have some time now?”

“Of course. No matter whether it’s early in the morning or in the middle of the night, feel free to call me anytime.”

Sheryl answered back with a big smile and high spirit. Akira was obviously weirded out by that.

“I-I see.”

“Yes. There’s no need to hold back. So, how can I help you?”

If only Akira said that he just wanted to hear her voice, Sheryl would immediately ascend to heaven, but she knew well that was not possible. It was nothing more than a pipe dream, and as expected, Akira did not call her just because he wanted to hear her voice.

“Well, let’s say that if I’m offering to escort some of your gang members to Higaraka Residence Ruin. What would you do?”

Sheryl tried to process that sudden invitation from Akira. She tried to think if there was any other meaning or any hidden signals behind Akira’s words, and if there were any, then how she should react in that situation. If that was a demand or a command, then Sheryl would have to reply back with a yes. But that was an offer.

“If there’s no need to give a quick answer, is it okay if I ask you the details?”

“Well, even if you say so, it’s exactly like what you just heard… Ahhh, it’s really fine if you don’t want to go. If you have no wish to go at all, I have no wish to force you either. After all, even though I’ll be escorting you, we’re still going to the dangerous wasteland. So it’s not like I’m going to force you or anything…”

“Ah, that’s not what I meant…”

Sheryl then asked Akira a lot of questions and finally understood the situation. To summarize, it was just an offer from Akira to explore Higaraka Residence Ruin.

Akira was planning to take and escort some children from Sheryl’s gang to Higaraka Residence Ruin in order to collect relics there. There should still be a lot of valuable relics for Sheryl and her gang members in that ruin. If they could bring those relics back, it would earn them quite a lot of money.

Although it was somehow still suspicious, that was a very tempting offer for Sheryl. So she decided to take up that offer in the end.

“I understand. If that’s the case, then I’ll be taking that offer if it’s really okay with you, Akira.”

Akira sounded a bit surprised as he replied.

“Are you sure? Although I’ll be your escort, it’s still the wasteland. It’s dangerous, you know?”

“I think that the possible benefit of going outweighs the danger. Not to mention this kind of offer is a rare chance and we do need money too. So I can’t afford to pass such a rare chance to earn money.”

“…I see, you’re right. Alright then.”

Sheryl noticed that there was a slightly weird change in Akira’s voice. Her gang needed money, thus she decided to go to the wasteland even though she knew of the dangers. Although Akira felt like there was another reason why Sheryl decided to accept his offer, he chose not to ask any further.

After Sheryl confirmed when and where to meet, and the number of the people that she would bring, she thanked Akira.

“…Well then, we’ll be in your care. Thank you very much for giving us this precious chance.”

“I’m the one who came up with the offer, so there’s no need to be that grateful. Later then.”

“Later then.”

Akira then ended the call. The moment he did that, Sheryl’s happy face immediately turned serious. She then asked herself the question that she put aside back then, but even so, she still could not answer that question even now.

[So in the end, why exactly did Akira give me this offer? Is there any kind of profit that he could get from us accepting this offer? I don’t understand at all…]

No matter how much Sheryl tried to think about it, she always ended up with the same conclusion, this offer would only bring Akira a huge loss. Escorting Sheryl and her gang to that ruin without accepting any payment would incur him a huge loss in the first place. For Hunters like Akira who could pay 10,000,000 Aurum like it was nothing, even just staying at home for a whole day doing nothing would need them to spend more money than what Sheryl and her gang could afford. Thus, those Hunters would only accept a request to take a lot of slum children, who knew nothing about living in the wasteland, only if that request offered a huge amount of reward money.

A Hunter on the level similar to Akira would have explored Higaraka Residence Ruin before. And any relics left in that ruin would be those that were not worth the expense for him. Even if he carried as many relics as possible from that place with the help of her gang, and even if Akira could sell those relics at a good price, the money would not even be close to enough to pay a Hunter like him to escort those children.

[…Is it some kind of training? Or maybe a practice run? Is he planning to see how useful we are in the case when he needs our help in the wasteland? But if that’s the case, he could just tell it to me straight, right…? I really have no idea what Akira is thinking.]

Even after that, Sheryl still spent some time trying to figure out the reason behind Akira’s offer. But in the end, she could not come up with any good guesses. It was because she actually noticed, albeit vaguely, the real reason behind that offer in the middle of her conversation with Akira.

Although Akira didn’t explicitly tell her not to ask him that question, it was enough to stop Sheryl from digging any deeper.

It was not like she could do anything about things that she did not understand. But it was true that it was a tempting offer for Sheryl. As such, she thought that she had to try her best to get the most out of this opportunity.

Sheryl then decided to push aside all her questions for now and moved on to decide who she would take with her to Higaraka ruin.

—*—*—*—

Eventually, the day when Akira escorted Sheryl and her gang to the Higaraka Residence Ruin to gather relics came. Sheryl brought her subordinates to their meeting place that was located on the border between the slum city and the wasteland; they were waiting for Akira there.

As the meeting time came closer, all the children that Sheryl brought with her to go to the wasteland started having mixed feelings.

Sheryl looked excited as she was thinking of her plans for the day with a big smile.

[What should we do about the relics that we’ll gather? Should I look for someplace to sell them? Or should we open a stand to sell them ourselves? After all, I don’t think we’ll find any relics that Katsuragi-san would buy in that ruin, I need to find another way to exchange them into money. Even if we get lucky and end up finding some expensive relics, it’s not like we can just keep the money without sharing them with Akira. I need to find a way to exchange those relics for a good price even if we only find cheap relics there…]

Sheryl mostly thought about what she should do after coming back from that ruin. She did not worry about going out to the dangerous wasteland or exploring the dangerous old-world ruin at all. It was because she was simply happy to be able to go out with Akira even if it was to the wasteland.

In contrast to that, Erio’s expression was filled with fear and worry.

[It’s not like Sheryl is sending me to gather relics because I saw her n.a.k.e.d back then, right? My assumption is not wrong, right? It’s not like she is just sending me to die, right? Please someone tell me that I’m right!!!]

As one of the armed children from Sheryl’s gang, Erio had a gun with him. But it was just a cheap handgun bought from Katsuragi-san and he did not have much ammo in his reserve either. It was not a weapon that people would normally use to fight against monsters.

Erio was almost killed in the wasteland before. Thus, he actually did not want to go out to the wasteland again if it could be helped, while on the other hand, he could not go against the command of the boss of the gang. As well as for the sake of his girlfriend, Alicia, he could not afford to go against Sheryl’s order and get kicked out of the gang.

Even if Akira did say that he would escort them, Erio had no idea how far Akira would go to protect the gang’s members. But one thing was for sure, Akira would prioritize protecting Sheryl more than him. Thus, when the push came to shove, he would have to do something about his situation himself. But again, when it even came to that point, then he would be in a situation where he could do nothing about it anymore.

Erio could not clear his worries. For the sake of his girlfriend, Alicia, he resolved himself to go out and swore to return back alive. So he decided to ward off his fear of going to the wasteland by telling himself that it would be okay with Akira escorting him.

Nasha looked around her and checked how the other children were doing. The only person who was relaxed in that situation was Sheryl. Although each kid was showing a different level of anxiousness, it was obvious that all of them were worried. Leaving Sheryl aside, none of them had come to that place out of their own volition.

[Although I know that they would push the jobs that they don’t want to do to me since I’m a new member, to think that they’ll send me to the old-world ruin to gather relics right off the bat. But again, what’s going on here? Even the boss and the other gang’s high officers are here too. I just don’t understand what’s going on with this gang, I at least need to gather more information before I contact Alna…]

There were a lot of peculiar things about Sheryl’s gang, but even so, it was a good enough gang for Nasha to put her hopes on. She thought that she had to get on Sheryl’s good side so it would be easier for her to help Alna join this gang. That was why she resolved herself to come.

Akira arrived there in his vehicle a bit sooner than the meeting time. He then finished simple greetings with Sheryl’s gang before heading to Higaraka Residence Ruin.

He attached a pull cart behind his vehicle and was sitting on the driver seat. Sheryl sat next to him, while the rest of the children were on that cart.

Although the back seats were empty, Akira did not allow anyone to sit there. It was because it would be a hindrance when he wanted to use the CWH anti-material rifle or the DVTS mini gun that were mounted on his vehicle. There was someone who was about to sit there but Akira sent him to the back cart.

Akira had bought that cart after seeing how useful it was during the ruin exploration with Elena and Sara. Since he was planning to carry a lot of relics in the future, he decided to buy a big cart. Because of that, there was still a lot of space even after all the children from Sheryl’s gang got on that cart. But still, sitting in that cart was nowhere near comfortable.

A boy by the name of Sebla, who was sitting next to Nasha, voiced out his complaints.

“Seriously though, he doesn’t let anyone else sit there other than Boss Sheryl, huh. Is he saying that the cart is enough for us? Dammit, that damn boy getting ahead of himself although he was just another slum kid like us not too long ago.”

It was not like Akira explained anything when he sent the other kids to the cart, that was why Sebla interpreted his order as a disparaging treatment to show them their difference in position.

“Say, do you know that Akira guy?”

When Nasha asked him that, Sebla’s annoyed expression loosened. It was because he realized that she was a new member who did not know much about Akira. So in short, she was someone who might join him in bad-mouthing Akira.

Sebla answered back as if he had found a good place to vent his displeasure.

“Well, it’s not like I know him on a personal level, but I have seen him during the days when he was still living in the slum city back alley. Since he was living near where I was, I sometimes saw him when he went to the food distribution place. So I somehow remember his face.”

“He went to the food distribution place although he was a Hunter?”

“He just started working as a Hunter recently. Up until that point, he was more or less the same as us. I bet he just found some expensive relics out of luck that allowed him to get good equipment and that he’s just doing well lately thanks to his luck.”

“Is that so? I heard that he’s a very strong Hunter though…”

“I’m sure it’s just a bluff. He just got lucky and got himself a powerful weapon. Anyone can be strong if they have a powerful weapon. Even for that incident with Shijima’s gang, I’m sure he just used his gun to threaten the underling that Shijima sent here. Seriously speaking, does he look that strong to you without his gun?”

Nasha took another look at Akira and tried to reconfirm it. It was indeed true that Akira looked strong when he was with his weapons, but when she imagined him without those guns, he did not look that strong at all.

“…Now that you mention it, that’s kind of true.”

“Right?”

Sebla smiled, but his face quickly returned back to being annoyed.

Sebla looked at Akira and all of his equipment. An augmented suit to enhance his physical power, a strong looking vehicle to explore the wasteland, the powerful-looking CWH anti-material rifle and DVTS minigun, and finally the 2,000,000 Aurum per box medicine inside the rucksack on the back seat of his vehicle. They were all the equipment that supported Akira.

He looked at those weapons that made Akira appear strong, equipment that made others envious and jealous.

“…Dammit. How much money do I need to get those guns? If only I can get them too, I’ll be able to become a strong Hunter just like him. If I become one, then the boss would fawn over me too and I’ll be able to do anything I want with her body… Dammit, I bet he has done all kinds of stuff with the boss. He did take a bath with her the other day too after all. I still remember those guys that got kicked out of the gang just because they took a peek when Sheryl was in the bath. Why is he that special although he just got a little lucky…”

Sebla’s complaints somehow sounded as if he was chanting a curse which could be easily interpreted as picking a fight with Akira and Sheryl.

[…Yikes, I asked the wrong person.]

Nasha slowly moved away from Sebla when he was not watching. After all, she did not want to get roped into trouble.

Akira was driving slowly so as not to rock the cart too much. He also picked a level route to Higaraka Residence Ruin to reduce the rocking. But because of that, he took more time going to that ruin than usual which of course increased the possibility of encountering monsters on their way to the ruin.

While driving his vehicle, Akira was constantly checking the data on his goggles. Suddenly he turned on the auto-drive function of the vehicle’s control unit and pointed his rifle outside the vehicle.