Chapter 140: Suitable Reward (1/2)

Akira was waiting for Carol in the lower district of Kugamayama city.

Right after the reward from the request in Mihazono ruin was transferred to Akira’s bank account, he called Carol, it was about how to divide the reward.

The money that was transferred to Akira’s bank account was the reward portion for his team, and since Carol was working in his team, Akira needed to pay her share of the reward. Money was a sensitive thing after all. In order to avoid having to fight Carol, Akira had to properly discuss with her and pay her.

Akira actually wanted to finish the discussion on how to divide the reward through the call, but Carol wished to meet directly with him. So, they decided on a time and place to meet.

Akira was waiting for Carol in the shopping district near the wall. Most of the areas in the lower district were relatively safe, so people who lived there were mostly peaceful people who could not fight. Of course, there were some guards patrolling the area too, but in order not to arouse any unnecessary ruckus and to give a more peaceful feeling, they were dispatched in civilian attires. Other than those guards, the rest of the people there were peaceful people.

But because of that, Akira gathered a lot of attention there. He was donning an augmented suit and carrying AAH and A2D assault rifles. He was basically a Hunter who could jump into a fight any second. If he was carrying DVTS minigun and A4WM automatic grenade launchers too, the guards would definitely escort him out of the area.

Alpha smiled and said.

“You’re really sticking out, aren’t you?”

“It’s not my fault, it’s Carol’s fault for asking me to meet her in this place.”

Although Akira was gathering a lot of attention, it was only on a level when someone came to a place with an attire not suitable for the location. It was not like the people around him were looking at him scared since he was an armed Hunter, it was simply because they knew that the guards in that area would be able to deal with that level of a Hunter with no problem at all in case if anything happened. They knew that Akira would face real trouble if he started making trouble in that area.

Alpha looked at the people around Akira and compared them to him.

“I don’t really mind it, but if you don’t like sticking out, maybe you should think more carefully about your outlook. It might be a good idea to buy some casual clothes that you won’t use when you have Hunter work.”

“It’s not like I’m planning to go somewhere that needs me to look sleek, and it’s not like I want something like that either, I really don’t need it. It’s true that I’m sticking out here, but I just need to not let it bother me that much. Not to mention, good clothes are expensive, right? So there’s no need to go out of my way to buy them.”

“Well, that’s true. Shiori and Kanae are also always using their maid outfits. If you really are not bothered by it, there’s no need to try to match the people around you.”

Akira looked rather annoyed and said.

“…Do I really look similar to Kanae and Shiori right now?”

“If you’re talking about wearing an outlook that doesn’t match the place, then yes.”

“…I guess I’ll think about buying some casual clothes then.”

Alpha smiled as she saw Akira’s resolve waver.

Carol appeared a bit sooner than the appointment time. When she saw Akira, she waved at him and walked toward him. Carol was wearing a high-class looking dress that gave her a graceful look. It was the exact opposite of the design of her usual augmented suit. It properly hid most of her skin while still letting her beautiful figure be perceivable from the outside, people who were familiar with fashion could easily recognize that she was wearing an expensive dress.

Akira was a bit surprised seeing how Carol was wearing a dress that was the exact opposite of how she dressed when she was out in the old-world ruin. After all, he did not expect Carol to wear a dress like that at all.

While at the same time, Carol was also surprised when she saw Akira’s attire. Although she was smiling, there was a trace of displeasure in her smile. She sighed a bit and said.

“I really didn’t expect you to come in that attire when you’re about to have lunch with a girl, you know?”

Akira decided to just shelve his thoughts for now and casually replied.

“I’m a Hunter, who is here as a Hunter and we’re about to talk about Hunter stuff. So I don’t think I’m doing anything weird here.”

Carol watched Akira’s reaction closely, it did not seem like he was trying to hide his embarrassment.

“Ah, right, if I’m not mistaken, you’re still in the middle of learning how to properly escort a girl, right? It seems that you still have a lot to learn.”

“Did I really say that?”

“You did. I remember it very well even though it was just a silly talk. Now then, shall we go?”

Carol was actually planning to take Akira to a high-class restaurant not too far from where they met up. But it was not a suitable place to eat when you were using an augmented suit.

Although it was not like the restaurant would not accept them, it did not change the fact that Akira would look strange there. As Carol thought so, she also thought that she was glad she did not put in an early reservation, she smiled bitterly while hiding that smile from Akira.

They entered another restaurant together, sat on a table for 4 facing each other, and scanned the menu for what to order. Carol looked at Akira who was looking at the menu with a serious face and thought that it was cute. She then thought about how to start the discussion there, or more like, how to use this chance to get Akira fixated on her.

After they placed their orders, they chatted for a bit before the meals arrived. That was when Carol started talking about the reward.

“Well, the foods are here, so let’s start talking about the main reason why we’re here.”

“About the reward, right?”

“Yep. Let’s just omit the bargaining part and go to the main problem. Akira, how much are you planning to pay me?”

Carol smiled confidently and waited for Akira’s reply.

Akira seemed troubled, he instead asked Carol a question.

“How much do you think I should pay you?”

Carol replied confidently with her smile.

“Oh my, you do know that I omitted the bargaining part for your sake, right? Or is it that you prefer it the other way? I don’t mind accepting your challenge, but just so you know, I’m not an easy opponent.”

Akira hesitated as he said.

“Uhh, that’s not the problem here, to be honest, it’s more like I don’t know the right reward for Hunters, you see. That’s why I’m asking you, you’re familiar with this kind of thing, right?”

Even for Akira, he knew that it was a bad thing to reveal that he was bad with negotiation. While on the other hand, Akira understood that he did not have the knowledge to even pretend that he knew. So he was sure that Carol who was familiar with that kind of thing would see through him in no time even if he tried.

But from the other point of view, it could be said that Akira took his chance for something bigger. He knew what he did not know, so he was prepared to lose money in order to gain that knowledge.

Carol looked at Akira for a while, she then thought for a bit before starting to talk while carefully observing his reaction.

“As someone who is more experienced in negotiation about rewards, I’ll at least say this to you, your move now was a bad move. Even if you don’t know the right number, as long as both of us did not agree on a certain number beforehand, you ought to firmly state the number that you have in mind, it doesn’t matter even if it was a bad bluff or even if you ask for an unreasonable huge amount of money. Since you’re the one with the money here, you should’ve used that position to come out stronger against your opponent. After all, if the negotiation breaks down, the one who will not get paid is me. And if you do that to me, I would be really troubled. So if you do that, I might decide to make a compromise to avoid any trouble later. Of course, with the less money you pay me, you will get a bigger portion of the reward.”

Akira listened to Carol’s explanation closely, he agreed with what Carol said.

“Hmm, you’re right about that. So then, how much do you want me to pay you?”

Although that reply did not make Carol’s smile waver from the outside, she actually felt troubled inside. It did not seem that Akira would try to bargain at all no matter how much Carol might ask. Even after she told him that he had the upper hand there, Akira did not seem trying to use it at all.

[To be honest, I’m not really interested in my portion of reward though. I was actually planning to accept a small amount of reward and get him indebted to me instead…]

Carol thought for a bit, she then decided to just say something to check Akira’s reaction.

“The amount of reward that I want, huh. To be honest, I don’t want to sell my skill cheaply and I have the confidence that I can convince other people to pay me a big reward. That’s why I usually start the negotiation with relatively high reward money. Hypothetically speaking, if I tell you to give me all the reward, will you do that? You did tell me that you have no knowledge about how to negotiate for your reward, so what will you do if I’m using my skill to convince you to give me all the reward? To be honest, I’m pretty sure that I can do that.”

Carol smiled confidently.

But then Akira just casually replied.

“Well, in that case, it can’t be helped, I’ll just give you all the reward.”

Carol’s smile finally wavered.

It was not like Akira was willing to give all the reward because he was in a situation where he had no other choice but to do that. He was willing to do that simply because he had listened to Carol’s explanation with his distorted sense of money.

Akira went to Mihazono ruin while bringing Carol with him in order to help Elena and Sara. Right from the start, his goal was not money.

Moreover, Akira was the one who hired Carol, so as the one who hired her, he unconsciously wanted to pay Carol the right amount of reward. Akira thought that Carol was a stronger Hunter than him and he roped her to a dangerous place for his own reason, so it was understandable that he had to pay a big amount of reward for her.

In the slum city, a one-sided negotiation where someone pointing his rifle at other people demanding everything that person had was a normal occurrence. Akira really did not want to be the one robbed, but he also did not want to be the one who did the robbing. Back then when he was the one on the other side, he wanted to at least be given a chance to negotiate, so he just wanted to remind himself that he was no longer in that situation any longer and there was no need for him to join the other side.

But with that being said, Akira did not know the right amount of money to pay Carol.

Of course, the suitable amount of money would differ from one person to another. Hunters risked their lives when they went out to the wasteland. And of course, they did not think that their own life was equal to the life of the other. That was why when it came to negotiation about reward, it tended to end up with a fight. It was not rare for Hunters to fight and kill each other right after they finished a job together.

Akira himself understood that very well. That was why he decided to ask someone who was knowledgeable about that thing. Which in this case, that would be Carol.

Carol realized that she had stopped smiling, but she immediately returned her face back to a smile. She was pretending as if it did not surprise her at all while checking on Akira. It did not seem that Akira said that because he had some kind of ulterior motive. He was only being honest.

[He got me good there. I was actually planning to start with a high price and then lowering it bit by bit during the negotiation while making sure that he would feel indebted to me, and then I should be able to use that to get closer to him, but in this case, if I ask for a big portion and he accepts it, he might use that as an excuse to cut his ties with me. This is not easy…]

One thing that Carol got wrong there was that Akira would not just give all the reward without fighting back if she really asked for all the reward. What he meant back then was that he was willing to give all the reward if she could give him a good reason to do so.

To be more precise, Akira was planning to fight back until the end. And if Carol was able to convince him after that, if she could make him agree that it was a suitable reward for her, then he would properly pay her that much. After all, that was the right thing to do if he agreed with that.

And to add one more detail to that, Akira actually underestimated his words because Alpha did not say anything. Alpha was always so noisy reminding Akira of anything, that was why he was sure Alpha would say something if he did something bad.

But the reason why Alpha did not say anything was because in case if Akira lost a lot of money there, she would use that as an excuse to encourage him to stop associating with other people. So after a lot of considerations, Alpha decided to just keep silent there.

After a lot of thinking, Carol decided to take the safe route. She at least needed to make sure that she did not leave any bad impression on Akira.

[…To be honest, I don’t want to do this, but… I guess I’ll have to imitate what Elena and Sara would do in this situation.]

Carol had decided on her plan and restarted the negotiation.

“It seems that you’ve worked with Elena and Sara multiple times before, right? When you did that, how did you distribute the reward? Who decided on how to divide the reward and what indicator was used?”

“Hm? Elena-san would be the one deciding and I guess we just divided the reward normally just like usual.”

To be honest, Carol wanted to know what was ‘just like usual’ for Akira. But since he only gave her that much information, she decided to make a suggestion based on how Elena divided the reward with Akira in the last request.

“In that case, then let’s divide the reward 50-50 and not talk about whether it’s the right number considering how much we fought back in Mihazono ruin, right? After all, it’s not like we have a prior agreement on how to divide the reward anyway. This way, we can divide the reward without causing more trouble or leaving any side displeased. When it comes to a suitable amount of reward, nothing is better than the amount of reward that both parties agree to. And since I want to get along with you in the future, let’s just divide it 50-50 between us, what do you think?”

“Sure.”

Akira stopped eating, took out his information terminal, and finalized the transfer to Carol’s bank account.

“There, I’ve transferred it, can you check it?”

“Okay.”

Carol also took out her information terminal and checked her bank account.

“Yep, I’ve received it. With this, the request from you is officially finished without any hitch. Thank you. Did I satisfy your expectation? I do want to hear the opinion of my employer, you know.”

Carol was smiling mischievously at Akira when she said that.

Akira was a bit bothered by that, but he decided to reply back honestly.

“Yeah, you did well. I do feel glad that I brought you with me. Thank you.”

Akira lightly bowed, Carol then replied in a good mood.