Chapter 105 (1/2)

Index

Editor: Silavin

Proofreader: p4553r

Akira filled his relic rucksack up to the brim, he then once again headed to the Lion Steel Corp branch office on 57th floor. This time, since he was carrying a rucksack filled with relics, it was hard for him to walk through the small hallway with that rucksack on his back.

On his way there, he saw all kinds of things; some of the floors were properly maintained while some of the floors seemed abandoned. Akira seemed to be a bit bothered by those scenes and he asked Alpha.

“Alpha, why aren’t all of them in the same condition?”

“I think it’s because of the cleaning drone, or to be more precise, because it depends on whether the maintenance drone is still active or not.”

“So basically, the floors are decrepit because the maintenance drones in those floors are inactive, huh. But there were some shops that looked clean yet there were no relics inside though. I guess that means the drones won’t go as far as to replenish the relics. But then again, some shops are still filled with relics, so why is that?”

“Those shops might have a self-replenish function.”

“And who would replenish those relics?”

“I bet some drones carry them from a still-active factory somewhere.”

“No no no, if there’s a factory nearby, someone would have discovered it by now, right? It would definitely cause a big ruckus when the companies or the Hunters flood that place…”

“That factory might be located somewhere very far away, even somewhere near the frontline and no one has found it yet. Either that, or it’s located somewhere near but the security is so powerful that they can’t seize that place. There are many possible explanations.”

“Hmmm. If that’s the case, I bet the Hunters would attack those drones on their way here though.”

“They might be guarded by some special escorts. Or they might be using the underground train to carry the relics. Or might even be flying through the sky.”

“Underground train, huh. That sounds plausible. The Hunters would not be able to attack them in the underground tunnel after all.”

Excluding some special transportations, the main transportation used in the Eastern district was all above ground. That’s why Akira naturally thought that they would have used above-ground transportation. After all, even Katsuragi frequented the frontline using his trailer. But those drones should be able to use other types of transportation with the help of the old-world technology, as such, Akira did not further question that possibility.

As Akira was spending time talking with Alpha while climbing the stairs, he was once again greeted by a reinforced door leading to the 26th floor. So just like last time, he went to look for another stair on the 25th floor. But this time, there was something different.

“Akira, be careful. Someone is here.”

Alpha pointed her finger toward the hallway, Akira’s goggle that was showing the information from his information-gathering device also indicated that it detected something over there.

As Akira moved forward carefully, that person finally noticed Akira too. It was not rare to meet another Hunter inside the old-world ruin, but the real problem was whether that Hunter was friendly or not.

If that Hunter decided to steer clear and kept his or her distance, then there was no need to get bothered by that. But as Akira thought so, that Hunter was instead coming toward him.

The 25th floor was a pretty decrepit floor, there were wreckages and rubbles scattered around the place and someone was using those rubbles to hide themselves while approaching Akira. When Akira pointed his rifle at that person, that person suddenly spoke from behind the rubble.

“I have no wish to fight you. My name is Carol, I’m a Hunter. I’m not a monster, so don’t shoot, okay?”

Akira was receiving Alpha’s support at that moment, so he thought that there was no need to be overly cautious since it might cause them to quickly become enemies. So, he slowly lowered his rifle.

“Alright.”

Right after Akira said that, a girl who introduced herself as Carol came out from behind a pile of rubble.

She was wearing a bodysuit customised for women. A huge hand-held cannon was dangling on her holster, she was not carrying anything in both of her hands at the moment, not even a knife.

Compared to Akira, who was carrying CWH anti-material rifle and DVTS minigun, Carol was very lightly armed and looked rather careless about her own safety.

Looking at Carol’s behaviour, it could be inferred that she was either so strong that she could be casual or that she was just a careless fool. Akira thought that she was the former. After all, she was inside a building that had given him a hard time just to get in. Akira had no plans to underestimate her, but looking at how she approached him empty-handed, Akira also lowered his guard.

Carol smiled as she walked toward Akira. She then scanned Akira’s equipment from his augmented suit, CWH anti-material rifle, and his whole appearance before returning her gaze back to his face.

“I’ve given my name, so like, can you at least tell me yours?”

“It’s Akira. So then, why are you talking to me?”

“Well, there’s no particular reason. I’m just here to say hello to another Hunter inside the same building and on the same floor. After all, you don’t want either of us to shoot at each other thinking that the other person is a monster, right?”

“Well, you’re right about that.”

Akira agreed with that opinion and it was the right answer for those who wanted to avoid fighting. He unconsciously lowered his guard further. Carol noticed that and took another step closer to him.

“Well, since we’ve met here, how about we talk for a bit? I want to do some information exchange too after all.”

Carol smiled at Akira as she made that suggestion.

Akira and Carol then did a light introduction to each other. It seemed that Carol was a Hunter who frequented the Mihazono ruin and she had visited this building a couple of times before.

Akira then asked about the hologram girl that he met on the first floor. If Carol had really explored that building for numerous times, she might know something that he did not know.

But Carol just casually said.

“Oh, you’re talking about Seranthal, huh? You can just ignore her. Although she says a lot of things to you, she can’t do anything else than that.”

“Seranthal? Isn’t that the name of this building…?”

“She’s an artificial intelligence in charge of this building. She will warn you to get out of the building, but in the end, she’s just a hologram, so she won’t be able to hurt you at all. The most she could do is just stopping the elevator.”

“Wait, so it’s her fault that I can’t use the elevator?”

“Maybe, yep. Although, honestly, it would be a huge help to explore this building with still-active facilities if we can use that elevator. But since it doesn’t seem that Seranthal would accept any negotiations, that would be impossible. Well, it’s true that from her point of view, we are nothing but robbers, so I guess it can’t be helped.”

Carol then smiled, Akira smiled bitterly back at her.

“You’re right about that. By the way, how did you get in here? The entrance of this building is guarded by those bothersome powerful monsters, so like, you shouldn’t be able to get in here without defeating them first, right?”

Akira thought that there might be another safer route that he could take to avoid fighting those monsters, or it might be just because of his usual bad luck.

Carol made a rather smug expression, she then smiled at Akira as if she was teasing him and said.

“Since you asked me that question, it means that you defeated those monsters, right? You’re pretty good, aren’t you? You’re quite strong, and I do like strong Hunters.”

“Well, thanks. So then, how did you get in here?”

“This building actually has a backdoor, you see. And I used that to get in here, do you want to know?”

Carol smiled mischievously at Akira.

Akira was relieved to know that he did not waste his ammo only because of his bad luck. He then said.

“Yeah, if you would tell me.”

Carol smiled bewitchingly.

“It won’t be free, you know. Let’s see, how about 5,000,000 Aurum? I think it’s pretty cheap for a piece of information that would let you get in here without fighting those powerful monsters, right?”

Akira thought for a bit, it was true that it was a cheap price considering that he would not have to fight those powerful monsters every time he wanted to visit that building.

But Akira might not be visiting that building ever again. After all, the only reason why he came there was for the Lion Steel Corporation’s information terminal and not for gathering relics.

In the first place, if he had trouble getting to that place, it simply meant that he was not ready to go there, that was all there was to it. Thus he refused that offer.

“Thank you for the offer, but no.”

Carol’s smile did not vanish.

“Oh my, you don’t like the price? Or you can’t trust me?”

“At least, I don’t think it’s the amount of money that you would normally pay to a Hunter whom you just met in an old-world ruin.”

“That’s true. But I won’t give you any information unless you pay me. After all, there are people who try to run away after getting information out from me, you see.”

“Yeah, I bet there are people who would do that.”

Every person had a different way of judging the price of a piece of information. And there were a lot of factors that decided whether 2 people could make a deal or not, the trust between each other was one of them.

If that information from Carol could really help Akira getting inside the Seranthal building without fighting the powerful autonomous weapons, 5,000,000 Aurum was actually not a huge sum of money. But there were chances that Carol was lying or the backdoor was too small for him to carry relics out from that building.

Moreover, Akira had no reason to trust Carol nor to make a deal with her.

It was obvious to Carol too that Akira had no plans to accept that offer. She kept her smile up as she said to him.

“But I guess that applies to me too, huh. I can understand that you’re hesitating to pay me money. So, in order to deepen our trust for each other, how about we make another deal before talking about buying that information again?”

“Another deal? If it’s about relics, I’m gathering them myself, so I won’t buy any from you. I’ve also properly explored the other floors, so I won’t buy any information about hidden rooms too.”

Carol smiled bewitchingly.

“That’s not it, I did say that it’s to deepen our trust, right?

She then grabbed her bodysuit’s fastener, which ran from under her neck down to her stomach, and lowered it down while smiling at Akira.

“I’m selling myself, what do you think? This must be some kind of fate to meet here, so I’ll only ask a cheap price.”

Akira could see Carol’s skin through a small opening in her bodysuit that wrapped her whole body, She was showing her skin to Akira while smiling at him, trying to seduce him.

Akira was a bit surprised by that sudden unexpected turn of events, but that was all. He did not get embarrassed nor fl.u.s.tered. He just casually refused Carol’s offer.

“No thanks. That aside, it won’t be strange to find a monster somewhere near, you know? Are you really okay in the head?”

“If that’s what you’re worried about, it’s alright. There won’t be any monsters here normally. Either it’s because this place is outside the mechanical monsters’ patrol area or that they already abandoned this building, as for the biological monsters, the mechanical monsters out there guarding this place would kill them before they can get in here. There’s no way I would do something like this in the first place if that’s not the case, you know.”

“Even if you say so, we’re still in the middle of an old-world ruin. There might be another Hunter around.”

Carol, who already unfastened the fastener on her bodysuit all the way down, sat on a table near her and tried to seduce Akira.

“There are people who get more excited about doing it in places like this. I myself don’t really mind, but if you’re bothered by it, we can go to a small room somewhere. Moreover, if we become comfortable with each other, it might help me loosen my mouth, you know. And if you’re seriously thinking of actually buying that information, I might give you a taste for free.”

Since Carol kept putting out better and better offers, Akira actually started to get suspicious of her.

“You seem to be pretty motivated doing this. If my intention is to deceive you and not buy that information, you would lose quite a lot, you know?”

“I did tell you, remember? I like strong Hunters. So I’ll at least do this much to invite a Hunter who can defeat those powerful monsters outside all by himself.”

“Why do you assume I did that alone? I might have done that with the help of other Hunters.”

“That’s just my guess. It’s highly unlikely for you to explore this ruin that you don’t know much all alone. If you came here with someone else, although it might not be as strong as those monsters guarding outside, you should’ve been exploring this ruin with the assumption that there are powerful monsters inside this building, right? But even so, you’re here alone, that’s why I assume that you’ve defeated those monsters outside alone too, was I mistaken? Is it that you actually came here with a team of 10 Hunters or so and the leader told you to go ahead and explore this building, that’s why you’re here although you don’t want to be? If that’s the case, then it won’t be free. After all, that would mean that you’re not a strong Hunter. So, what is your answer?”

Carol was smiling while waiting for Akira’s answer. Akira thought that it would be pointless trying to lie.

“No, I came here alone.”

“I knew it. I have confidence in my deduction skill, you see. So, if you’re still bothered by me offering myself for free, you don’t need to worry about that. Once you have a taste, I’m sure you’ll be back for more. And don’t worry, I’ll help you squeeze out a lot of things from you for a long time.”

Carol smiled seductively when she said that.

Akira more or less understood her reasoning, but for some reason, there was something that was still bothering him. So he turned to Alpha.