Chapter 192 An invitation to explore the ruin (1/2)

Akira was driving his APC aimlessly through the wasteland. Although he accepted a monster-hunting request, it was not like he was expecting to earn money from it. If someone asked him what he was doing, he would answer that he was just taking a casual drive through the wasteland to get himself used to his new vehicle and equipment.

Although Akira returned back to hunting for relics, he was actually not sure which ruin to go to. There were too many things that happened in Kuzusuhara ruin lately, so he had no plans to go there anytime soon.

He did consider continuing to look for the other Lion Steel Corporation facilities from the information that he had extracted from the corporation’s terminal last time, but there was a chance for him to find an old-world communication device like the rumoured Hunter. In the worst-case scenario, some corporations might send people to investigate the place which might be traced back to Akira, thus he decided not to do that.

It would be a waste of time doing nothing but pondering on this back at home, so Akira decided to go out to the wasteland. After all, he might get some idea out there. But unfortunately, he still had no good idea even now. It showed just how haphazard Akira was.

Akira was driving while thinking where to go next. Alpha watched him from his side while sitting on the driver’s assistant seat and smiled at him.

“What should I do now?“

“Akira, that would be the 15th time.”

“Are you seriously counting?”

“Not really, it’s just stored in my temporary record. It’s just like how you remember what you did 10 seconds ago, it’s not like you remember it because it has any special meaning to you, right?”

“Is that so?”

“Yup.”

Akira did not seem to be fully convinced by that answer, but his focus immediately shifted to the monster signal that suddenly appeared on his radar. He stopped his APC and stepped off from the driver seat. He focused his information-gathering device to scan the direction of that monster.

The monster was a 6 legged beast, but instead of fur, its body was covered by reptile-like scales. An amalgamation of mechanical parts that looked like a machine gun was perching on top of its back.

“That’s a huge monster. Is it the leftover after that day? It seems that nothing is special about it except its size.”

“Its long-range weapon has already been destroyed. There are also leftovers from gunpowder on its body. Judging from the already dried liquid flowing out from its wounds, it might have run from a nearby battle.”

“Wait, does that mean that I’ll be snatching someone else’s prey if I kill it? Well, it doesn’t really matter, huh.”

Larger sized monsters were assigned with a special reward, so there were many Hunters who were focused on hunting these big monsters. Akira remembered about that and hesitated, but he then decided to just kill it anyway. Even if there were Hunters who were chasing that monster after injuring it that far, it was not enough of a reason to just leave it alone when it was coming towards him. After all, being a Hunter was a dangerous job and no one could guarantee their survival.

Akira aimed his SSB rifle in his right hand at the monster. He then looked away and pulled the trigger, the first bullet ripped through the air and landed straight at the monster’s head. The same thing also happened for the rest of the bullets that he shot.

Thanks to all the training and all the battles that he had gone through, as long as he properly aimed his rifle and there was nothing disrupting him, Akira could accurately shoot his target. So his training moved on to the next stage.

The view from the rifle’s scope was displayed into a small window in his sight, Akira was to accurately aim at his target without directly looking at it. He had to accurately shoot his target using the signal from his information-gathering device. Up until now, he did that with the help of Alpha, but this time he was training to do that on his own.

The result until now was not that bad. So in short, Akira was able to do that on some occasions, this gave him a glimpse of hope that he would be able to accomplish things that he had originally thought to be impossible.

Alpha did once say to him that she would eventually have him do the things, which he could only do with her help, on his own.

If Alpha said so, it meant that it was possible for him to do it. But at the same time, Akira also thought that he was still very far away from that point. And then, although it was thanks to his new equipment, he was able to reach that point. Akira could feel that he had truly become stronger.

The monster finally slumped down after a barrage of bullets. Although the bullets were nothing but normal bullets with no extra firepower, which could not deal fatal injury to the monster, it was compensated by Akira’s accurate shooting. Akira himself smiled with satisfaction from the result which was rather rare for him.

“Didn’t expect that I would be able to do that using normal bullets. Well, I did that at a rather close range and emptied one huge magazine though.“

“You’re paying for your ammo again now, so it’s better to use normal bullets when you can. It’s not like your high-rank Hunter discount can get you free bullets after all.”

“You’re absolutely right. Although I don’t have to pay that much money thanks to the discount, I need to pay for my bullets again now. I really need to get used to this again.”

Akira brought along with him a lot of reserve ammo thanks to the huge storage area in his APC. He did not shy away from filling his storage with the expensive extended magazine. He was going to use those magazines when he had to go into the inner part of the ruin where he could not bring his APC along with him. For the sake of his training as well, instead of using a bullet that could kill his opponent in one shot, Akira was using normal bullets with relatively low firepower.

As Akira was about to head back, he suddenly stopped. His information-gathering device detected a vehicle heading in his direction.

That vehicle was actually chasing the huge monster that it fought not too long ago in order to deliver the final killing blow. Reina was sitting on the driver’s assistant seat next to Togami, who was driving the vehicle.

“Hurry up!! Otherwise, other Hunters might snatch that monster!!”

“It wasn’t easy destroying its weapon!! It can’t be helped, you know?!”

“As I thought, we should have shot its legs first.”

“No! Destroying its weapon comes first! It is thanks to that we can drive straight at it safely like this!!”

“Sure, but it’s meaningless if it gets away from us!!”

“But you’re the one who said to prioritize safety first!!”

“And you said that it won’t get away and we would be able to kill it!!”

Reina and Togami were bickering, but it was not intense, it was more like a friendly exchange kind of bickering.

Kanae, who was sitting in the back seat, smiled teasingly at their exchange and said.

“You guys are as close as usual.”

Reina and Togami immediately paused for a bit, then looked at each other and stopped bickering. The last time that happened, they ended up giving the exact same reaction which proved that they were indeed close to each other.

“…Putting that aside, we need to hurry up.”

“I know, we’re almost there.”

Kanae smiled amusedly and thought that although they gave a different response this time, it still showed that they were close to each other.

In contrast to that, Shiori, who was also sitting in the back seat, looked rather displeased. From her point of view, Togami was a bit too rude toward Reina and it seemed that Reina was influenced by those words and replied in a rather unladylike manner.

“Milady, Togami-sama. I understand that both of you are in high tension from the battle and it’s important to maintain your calm, but it’s just as important to watch your words to make sure not to disrupt your focus toward the fight. As such, I don’t recommend raising your voice unnecessarily. In the worst-case scenario, it might affect the escort after all.”

“Ah, right, sorry.”

“Ah, yes, sorry.”

Reina and Togami awkwardly apologized. Then after an audible sigh from Shiori from behind, their faces turned slightly serious as they focused back on the job at hand.

They then checked the sensor in the vehicle for the monster that they were chasing. But from the information displayed in the sensor, they were able to immediately infer that another Hunter had already taken out that monster and they hung their head low.

“Aaah, we were too late. Sorry, I didn’t make it in time.”

“It can’t be helped. If we had prioritized more on killing that monster instead of our own safety, the result might have been worse than this. So let’s just take this positively.”

Although they were bickering that much just now, they were able to immediately accept that disappointing result without blaming each other. It showed that they really had grown as Hunters.

“…So, what do you want to do? It was originally our target and we did fight it first, so if we point that out, the other party might at least share the achievement.”

“You’re the leader for today, so I leave that to your decision. But if you want to talk with them, you do the negotiation too, okay?”

“Alright alright… Hmmm, I guess I’ll at least give it a try… Hm?”

Since Togami focused his vision on the Hunter in front of him, his information-gathering device automatically analyzed the data and identified the other Hunter, and it was a Hunter whom he knew. It was Akira.

Akira accepted Togami’s proposal without much negotiation at all, or more like, it was not even a negotiation. Reina’s party was surprised thanks to that.

“Uhhh, is that really okay with you?”

“Well, we’re thankful that you would do that, but…”

“Yeah, I don’t mind at all so you can do anything you want with that monster.”

“Uhhh, but…”

Akira was so cooperative this time that Reina and Togami did not know how to react to it. But when they were about to pursue the reason, Shiori noticed that Akira really did not care about that monster at all. So pursuing that subject would be a bad decision, thus she interjected before Reina and Togami could prolong the negotiation.

“Akira-sama. We will take your kind offer. Milady, Togami-sama, let’s not bother Akira-sama any further and process the kill registration.”

“Eh? Ah, alright, Akira, thank you.”

Reina and Togami split the administration job to register the kill and started processing the report. It was a special target with a special reward, so it needed a special report. Although it was not as troublesome as the report for bounty monster, it was still more work than the usual report.

They used their Hunter ID and Hunter code to register the contributor in the report. They then sent the information from their radar and information-gathering device as well as the information of the defeated monster by scanning it. If there was a need to divide the reward, they would also send that together with the report. After they sent the report to the Hunter Office, a staff member would check the data before sending a confirmation, and that would be the end of the reporting process.

Akira left that process to Togami and Reina. If the report emphasized more on Reina’s party’s contribution, both the achievement and the reward would mostly go to them. Akira left the process to them not because he trusted them, it was more because it was too much work for him.

Kanae stood next to Akira and smiled at him.

“Well well, wasn’t that so kind of you, Akira?”

“…It’s just that I have no plans to get into an endless argument with any of you.”

Considering the endless bickering that it might cause if they lost the chance of getting the special reward, and how they were in the middle of the lawless wasteland with Kanae and Shiori, both of whom couldn’t be taken lightly. Although they did not exchange words, their glances and awkwardly shared understanding of the situation were enough to convey their respective opinions.

“By the way, Akira, what is your Hunter Rank right now?”

“I have no obligation to answer that question.”

“Geez, it’s not like you’ll lose anything anyway, in exchange, I’ll tell you my rank, right now I am-”

“Not interested. I don’t care if you want to tell yours, I won’t tell mine.”

“That’s so mean. Well, I know your Hunter code, so I can just look at it on the Hunter Office site.”

Kanae pulled out her information terminal and opened the Hunter Office site and entered Akira’s Hunter code. She then seemed rather surprised as she browsed Akira’s information with an amused yet sly smile and sent meaningful glances at him from time to time.

“Ohhh, hmm, I see I see. You’re that kind of Hunter, huh. Hmmm.”

Akira did not show any reaction at all since he felt he would lose if he did and just ignored Kanae’s mumbling.