Chapter 149: Training Erio and Other Children (1/2)

Akira spent his day in Sheryl’s private room again.

They decided to stop selling relics for the time being. The room that they used to sell relics was in ruins after the fight, so they were in no situation to sell relics anyway. Not to mention, many of the relics were destroyed during the fight, it might take some time before they reopened the shop.

Akira had been visiting the base regularly lately, but it was originally in order to guard the shop. And now that the shop was closed, he actually had no real reason to come to the base.

But even so, that day, Akira was in Sheryl’s private room, he was there to calm her down. Sheryl was still traumatized after the shoot out inside her base.

Akira was alone in Sheryl’s room, Sheryl herself was in another room, teaching some of the members how to read and write.

But it was not like he was not doing anything, Alpha was teaching him stuff and he sometimes played that game from before, which also served as training too.

Someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

The door opened, it was Alicia and Erio.

“If you’re looking for Sheryl, she’s not here. I think she’s teaching in the other room.”

Erio and Alicia looked at each other, their expressions were saying that they had made their resolve. After that, Erio firmly said to Akira.

“No, we have something we want to ask you.”

“Me? What is it?”

Erio then said to Akira with a serious face.

“Can you please train us?”

After talking about the details, it seemed that Erio wanted Akira to train them so that if another fight happened in the base just like last time, they could at least put up some resistance.

Erio and Alicia believed that training others would be an easy thing for someone as strong as Akira.

But of course, that was not exactly the case for Akira. Right when he thought about refusing it thinking that it was too much of work for him, Alpha suddenly interjected.

“I won’t force you, but if you’re okay either way, it might be a good idea to accept it, you know?”

Akira assumed that Alpha would be against it, so it was strange for Alpha to say that.

“…I don’t mind if you say so, but why?”

“If these guys can protect themselves, there won’t be any need for you to be here anymore.”

Although it was very unlikely, it was a precautionary step. In case Akira decided to come there regularly because he’s worried about Sheryl.

If Sheryl’s gang got stronger, it would reduce the burden on Akira. If they learned how to fight, Akira might be able to find a use for them. And with them under control, it would reduce the possibility of them affecting his decision like Sara and Elena, and he would not always need to accompany them to hunt for relics. That way, Alpha thought if something were to happen, it would be easier for Akira to just abandon them when needed.

“Moreover, it’ll be good training for you too. You did something similar before, remember?”

Akira remembered the time when he was in Higaraka residence ruin and replied.

“Are you sure it’ll be okay? It’s not like something bad will happen again like last time, right…?”

“It’ll be alright. We’ll not go that far away from the city anyway. Not to mention, your skill will get rusty if you keep spending your time inside like this. Considering that fight not too long ago, it might be a good idea to get you used to fighting other people.”

“I might sound a bit arrogant, but will fighting these guys really help me train in fighting against humans?”

“I’ll do something about that, so don’t worry. It’ll need a little bit of preparation for that though.”

“Well, if you say so, then okay.”

“It seems that it’s decided then.”

Akira listened to Alpha’s explanation for what he needed to prepare before replying to Erio.

“Alright. But I’ll need to prepare a few things first, is that okay?”

Erio was surprised, but he immediately thanked Akira.

“Really!? T-thank you!!”

“Thank you very much!”

Alicia also thanked Akira before she looked at Erio and smiled happily.

Akira who saw that found it a little weird.

“I’ll go out for a bit then. If Sheryl returns back, just tell her that I have some business with Katsuragi, and do tell her about the training too. You can tell me how many people will join the training later.”

“Of course!!”

Alicia replied happily.

Akira tilted his head, he still could not understand why Alicia and Erio were so happy. But he decided to just forget about it and left the room.

Erio and Alicia were left behind inside the room as they hugged each other.

Akira was a Hunter who was able to win against 8 armed people all by himself, he then even went and sold those robbers that he spared, and he did not hesitate when he killed the guy who did not want to get sold. This time, Erio and Alicia were able to get their request accepted without angering such a Hunter. It was great news for both Alicia and Erio.

Akira was indeed strong. If they could learn some of his fighting skills, Erio and the other children might become as strong as Akira.

Of course, there was also the difference between their equipment. But even back then when Akira did not have his powerful equipment yet, he was strong enough to be able to return back alive even after he dragged a dead gang member of a prominent gang in the slum city to that gang’s base. So even if they had different equipment, Erio thought that they might, to some extent, get as strong as Akira.

Erio and Alicia were still hugging each other as Erio said to her.

“… I… I’ll work hard and get stronger so that I can protect you myself.”

Alicia smiled happily.

“Erio, thank you.”

Erio was almost killed in the previous shootout. Back then, he had better equipment than the other children as he and the other children in the fighting squad tried to fight back the robbers. But the result was terrible, he got injured pretty badly. The robbers were able to neutralize them without much trouble. The reason why Erio did not get killed immediately like some of his friends was simply because of luck.

Fortunately, Akira gave Alicia an expensive medicine and she used some of that medicine for Erio, Erio’s life was spared thanks to that. In the end, Sheryl lost 8 people. If Alicia did not prioritize her lover, she might have been able to save one more life. Alicia did feel guilty about it, but she did not regret her choice.

When Erio was about to die and thought that there was no way he would be saved, he thought of Alicia in his fading consciousness. When his consciousness finally returned back, he found Alicia crying really badly while hugging him, that was when he made his decision.

Alicia understood that Erio made his decision not because he was close to getting killed, but it was because he did not want her to go through something similar again. She felt happy about that and made her resolve just like Erio did.

Both of them forgot where they were hugging each other out of happiness to the point that Sheryl, who had returned back to that room, was weirded out by them.

Akira went to Katsuragi’s trailer and was talking with him.

Katsuragi was a bit surprised when Akira put in his order.

“I get what you want to buy. It’s not exactly what I’m usually selling, but well, I don’t really mind. It’s not like we’re strangers anyway.”

“I’ll be counting on you. As for the payment, just put it on Sheryl’s tab.”

Katsuragi sounded a bit dissatisfied when he heard that.

“Wait for a sec, that money is not for something like this, isn’t it?”

“They’re training equipment for Sheryl’s gang.”

“Even if you say so…”

Katsuragi seemed to have some objections. Akira then asked him a question.

“By the way, how much money do you think you’ll get from those robbers?”

“Alright, I’ll put it on Sheryl’s tab, I’ll tell them to hurry up with the delivery too, it was a good deal after all.”

Katsuragi did not miss a beat when he said that, it seemed that he actually did not want to tell Akira the number. Akira question might have sounded like a threat to Katsuragi.

Akira then exasperatedly said.

“…I don’t really care how much profit you get from selling those robbers, but make sure to earn the same amount of money from selling equipment, alright?”

“But of course, I’m a merchant first and foremost, you see. I won’t do anything as despicable as tricking you and keeping some of the money from selling the robbers for myself. Plus, after that one incident there, I feel like Sheryl would finally become a proper customer for my shop. Trust is number one for merchants, so don’t worry… I won’t do something as nasty as tricking your lover. I don’t want you to chase me to the end of the world after all.”

Depending on how you interpreted it, it also meant that he would do that if Akira stopped supporting Sheryl. Akira looked suspiciously at Katsuragi.

Katsuragi decided to change the subject as not to worsen Akira’s mood any further.

“By the way, I really hope you would start bringing relics to me, you know? So what’s going on lately with that?”

“I’m in the middle of renewing my equipment with the money that I got from my last request. I’ll be looking for relics again after I get my new equipment.”

Katsuragi annoyedly said.

“That’s why I’m telling you to buy that from me.”

But Akira replied back casually.

“In that case, get good equipment for Sheryl’s gang. If you get something good enough to make me want to change shop, I might as well think about it.”

Akira thought that although he would consider it, there was a good chance that he would not change shop. Katsuragi also noticed that it was highly unlikely for Akira to change shop unless something big happened.

“I really wonder if you’ll properly bring relics that you’ll get next to me.”

“It depends on what kind of relics that I’ll get next time. Just hope that it would be something that would sell better in your shop.”

“Make sure to bring them to me, yeah? Don’t do anything cheap like selling them in Sheryl’s place first and only bringing them to me if they don’t sell well.”

“As long as it’s faster and I can get better money by selling them to you, I won’t do something like that.”

Katsuragi sighed.

“…Haaah, you were just a strong boy not too long ago, but you’ve been turning more and more like a real Hunter lately.”

“Thanks for the compliment!”

In contrast to Katsuragi, Akira seemed a bit happy.

Erio and some other children from Sheryl’s gang were waiting for Akira not too far from slum city. That day they were planning to go for training with Akira. Erio plus the other 8 children were waiting nervously for Akira.

One of the boys asked.

“Say, what are we exactly going to do for today’s training?”

The other children looked at Erio, who said.

“I have no idea either.”

That boy looked a bit surprised at Erio’s reply.

“You don’t know? But you’re the one who asked Akira-san to train us, right? Why don’t you know?”

“Shut up! There’s nothing I can do about it, I really don’t know. I was indeed the one who asked Akira-san, but it’s not like we talked about the details. I only heard from the boss later that Akira-san wants us to wait for him here.”

Another boy asked Erio another question.

“I heard that you and Alicia went to ask Akira-san directly. You guys did that without asking for permission from the boss, right? Is boss okay with this?”

“It’s alright. Akira-san is okay with it, and since it was Alicia and me who asked Akira-san, I’m sure Sheryl won’t get that angry. After all, both I and Alicia are pretty close to her. So it should be alright… maybe.”

Erio sounded a bit unsure there, so the boy could not help but panic a bit.

“Maybe?! This better be alright, okay? I don’t want to be dumped in the middle of the wasteland, you know?!!”

Erio got a little bit worked up as he replied.

“Oh shut up! If you don’t want the boss to get angry, then you better take this training seriously!! If you don’t take the training seriously although I and Alicia went out of our way to ask Akira-san, this time for sure Sheryl and Akira-san would get angry at you!”

“Y-you’re right.”

Erio got a bit worked up because of his nervousness and lashed out, which caused the young boy to wince back.

Erio did realize it himself that he was a bit more strung up than usual. He had made his resolve in all kinds of meaning, so it was understandable that he was not in his usual state.

When Alicia and Erio explained the situation to Sheryl, she seemed to be thinking about something with a serious face. Erio thought it was great that Akira accepted their request without any trouble, but if that was not the case, they would have been in deep trouble.