Chapter 193 Togami’s Training (1/2)

Not too long after the incident in Seranthal Building, Shikarbae was enjoying his drink in a pub with his friends, that was when Togami suddenly came with a sturdy-looking case.

Shikarabe frowned and looked obviously annoyed.

“This is not a place for a brat like you.”

Although Shikaraba had a better opinion about Togami after that battle in Mihazono Ruin, it still did not change the fact that he did not exactly like him. The mix of the alcohol in his blood and the fact that Togami was interrupting his drinking made Shiakarabe’s voice harsher than usual.

But Togami was not affected at all, he looked at Shikarabe with a serious face.

“I heard that you had called Akira to this place for negotiation.”

“He’s fine. It was a negotiation regarding a job as fellow Hunters in the first place, and being a Hunter has nothing to do with age.”

“But I’m a Hunter too.”

Shikarabe snorted.

“You’re just a brat. Do you really think you’re a full-blown Hunter now after getting quite a lot of money during that request in Mihazono ruin? That only put you in the starting line, you know.”

But even so, Togami still had a sharp and serious look on his face, he did not show any reaction toward that mockery. Seeing that, Shikarabe sobered up a bit and lightly sighed.

“So, what is it? Just tell me what you have to say and leave. I’m in the middle of drinking here and I have no plans to share it with you.”

“I’m here with a request.”

“A request? I heard nothing from Drankam though…”

Shikarabe opened his information terminal to check again, and as he expected, there was no message regarding that subject.

“…In the first place, you can just call me instead of coming to me yourself, you know? Well, it doesn’t really matter right now. So, what is it?”

Togami gathered his resolve and said.

“It has nothing to do with Drankam. This is an individual request from me to you, and it’s not a formal request through the Hunter Office either.”

Togami placed the sturdy-looking case on top of the table and opened its contents to show it to Shikarabe, who still seemed slightly confused. As a Hunter, Shikarabe seemed mildly surprised, but the waitress girls were all stunned. The case was filled with currency notes.

“The reward is 30 million Aurum and it’s all paid upfront.”

Shikarabe’s gaze shifted to the case, then to Togami. He understood that Togami was being serious which made him hesitate.

“…Well, I’ll at least listen to what this request is about.”

“I want you to train me. At least until you would accept me as a Hunter, and even beyond that if it’s possible.”

Shikarabe did not expect that at all as he raised his eyebrows.

During that incident in the Seranthal building, Togami had a good look at his real strength, the fact that he was weak, but he accepted it as fact and wished to be stronger. The strength that he was seeking was not the strength from his equipment, but the real strength coming from himself that he could be proud of. After fumbling around for an answer to how he could reach that goal, he finally made a decision.

To be honest, Togami hated Shikarabe’s guts. But he could not deny that Shikarabe was a strong Hunter, strong enough to rightfully mock him. So his conclusion was to ask Shikarabe to train him.

Togami closed the case.

“Just tell me if you won’t do it, I’ll try asking someone else.”

Togami did not even try to soften his words, it showed just how serious he was. So Shikarabe’s face turned serious and he replied.

“This 30 million Aurum, it’s the whole reward from that request in Mihazono Ruin, right? You do know that I can just take the money and report it to the Hunter Office since I’m sure you took them out without their approval first, right?”

“Then it’s my fault for offering this to you.”

Togami did not make that offer without much thought, he understood well that he might be throwing the money that he got through hard work down the drain when he decided to make that offer. Shikarabe understood that very well from Togami’s answer as he started laughing. He then smiled sharply and looked at Togami with an amused face.

“Very well, but I won’t take that reward as you proposed.”

“Sorry but this is all I can offer, so I can’t pay you more than this.”

“No, it’s the opposite.”

Togami frowned and seemed confused, Shikarabe pulled the case and opened it. He then took a bundle and pushed the case back to Togami.

“I’ll take only 1 million Aurum first and train you correspondingly to that amount of money. As a Hunter, I always do all of my requests seriously. After all, it would hurt my reputation if I take 30 million Aurum and don’t show the result after training you.”

Togami frowned, but Shikarabe then casually continued.

“You might be questioning if I’m being serious here, if you want to show that you are serious and that you’re not making this offer because you’re drunk or something, then show it with your actions. Show your resolve and your talent, show it to me. That you’re worthy of being trained, make me take the rest of the reward, that is, if you can.”

Togami firmly received the case that was pushed back to him, it symbolized his lack of worth to be trained. But he swallowed that bitter pill and looked sharply at Shikarabe.

“…Alright, we have a deal then.”

“Indeed we do… Your training starts tomorrow. I’ll contact you, so just go back for today.”

Togami then left. Shikarabe kept his eyes on Togami as he left. Once Togami was out of his sight, he once again smiled amusedly and started enjoying his drink with his newly received 1 million Aurum.

“…He’s really changed, huh?”

Shikarabe mumbled, so no one could hear him.

Just like he said, Shikarabe did seriously train Togami. Thanks to that, Togami had to go through gruelling training.

Shooting until fainting to only be woken up and continue the training. The harder the training went, the longer it felt for Togami.

Not only did Shikarabe train him in practical skills, but he also taught Togami about common monsters around Kugamayama city, including the area where they usually roamed, their movement patterns, and their weak points regardless if they were biological or mechanical monsters. Then to top it off, Shikarabe also taught him an effective method to kill each of them.

Togami was also often brought to an area that was way too dangerous for his skill and was sent to fight to the death against those powerful monsters. He fought those monsters desperately and somehow managed to stay alive although he had no winning chance in the first place with his current equipment and skill.

The information of that battle was recorded and then he would look back at that battle record through a non-transparent goggle together with Shikarabe, of course, Shikarabe would be pointing out Togami’s mistakes while doing so. The majority of his opinions were shot down, and when he asked for advice, Shikarabe would point out his wrong moves.

Both his practical and theoretical training was extremely hard. Even when he coughed out blood, he would swallow that blood together with medicines to make sure that his body would keep up. He had spent a lot of money on those medicines and he was burning through them pretty quickly, adding more salt to his injury.

Shikarabe kept telling Togami that he was welcome to stop anytime. So Togami had to squeeze his willpower to fight back against that temptation.

While Togami was going through that gruelling training from Shikarabe, Shikarabe suddenly told him to go with Reina. Although Togami was surprised by that, he then grouped up with Reina as he was told and went out to do Hunter work with her.

Since then, he started working with Reina, who more or less had the same fighting prowess as him. They sometimes barked orders to each other, followed each other’s instructions, complained about each other’s actions, and gave advice to each other. They were working with each other while regularly swapping the leader’s seat. Thanks to that, Togami did not have to go through Shikarabe’s gruelling training anymore and he had the chance to compare his skill with Reina’s.

Even during the time Togami was working with Reina, Shikarabe still tracked his battle record and gave his evaluation to Togami. Right when Shikaraba did not have much to criticize anymore, he gave Togami the information about that old-world automaton and told him to handle that information. He made sure to tell Togami to think carefully about the meaning of handling that information before making any decision.

This had happened after Shikarabe received 29 million Aurum from him.

Togami returned his focus toward Akira, who was driving the APC. After all the gruelling training, he was more or less able to accurately predict someone else’s skill. But as expected, Akira was still as mysterious as usual.

[…One thing is for sure, he has gotten better equipment. But putting that aside, I feel like he’s stronger than before… Wait, it’s not like I know how strong he exactly was. It might be that he simply looks stronger now since I can more or less predict someone else’s skills now, or is it because I simply can’t accurately predict his skill? I really don’t understand…]

Togami frowned, he was wondering if he was closer now or if the gap between him and Akira was bigger now. Akira noticed him and asked.

“What?”

“Uh, it’s nothing. By the way, I’m the leader at the moment. I won’t tell you to obey me or anything and I’m open to any complaints or critiques, but if it won’t cause the team any trouble, it would be helpful if you would follow my commands.”

“Sure.”

Now that they were on the same team, they had to work together. So Akira thought that it was understandable that it would cause the team trouble if he acted too independently, so he agreed with Togami’s opinion.

Togami frowned even more due to Akira’s response. As the team leader, he had the duty to command Akira too. If he could lead Akira and make the exploration a success, he was sure that he would be able to accept himself and be confident that he had grown stronger.

Togami steeled his resolve to go beyond his past self.

As the team approached the ruin, they started to see greeneries around them. The ruin was practically blanketed in moss including its floor and the walls of the abandoned buildings inside it. They could see a semi-spherical body completely blanketed in green colour.

Togami then said.

“We’re closing in on the Lida commercial district of the ruin. Reina, prepare the enhanced information-gathering device. If you can get it to receive the signal, search for the dome. Ah, is it better if I go back to that side?”

“It’s fine either way, or is it that you can’t scan the signal from there? I know that you don’t have the equipment, but if Akira has one, it would be great if he helps out too.”

“Akira, can you do that?”

“Even if you ask me so, it’s not like I know what you’re talking about without telling me first.”

“Ahh, right, sorry, well…”

In order to clear up the lack of shared information there, Togami started explaining, including his own personal interpretation.

The Lida commercial district ruin was a huge gathering of old-world commercial facilities. The semi-spherical objects scattered there were the commercial facilities. Although it looked like a ball of plants now, they were filled with products and items.