Chapter 200: CH 200

Akira was dipping himself inside the hot bath in his house to melt the exhaustion that had accumulated that day.

“…Today was too tiring, so many things happened. I hope that we still manage to get some money from it… it’ll be fine, right?”

Akira glanced at Alpha, who was taking a bath together with him, seeking her agreement. But Alpha instead smiled teasingly and said.

“I wonder about that.”

“Just say yes, will you?”

“It’s not like I can guarantee what Reina and Togami would do. In the first place, you’re the one who left the relics and the broken automata with Reina and Togami to sell them. It’s indeed a troublesome subject, so it can’t be helped.”

“Well, it’s not like I can bring the broken automata to Katsuragi, I feel like Katsuragi won’t buy them after all. So I thought leaving that to Reina, who seems to have connections, will be able to sell them at a much better price.”

“It’s not like I’m blaming you. It’s just that I can’t guarantee that it would be alright.”

“I know, but still…”

Akira lightly sighed, he then relaxed back as if to have given up on that matter and said to himself.

“It’s alright, it’ll be fine. Shiori also said that she’ll take responsibility if it doesn’t work out. So I’m sure she also believes today’s loot can sell for quite a lot of money. It should be alright.”

“Well, in the worst-case scenario, we can go to give our complaint to them after you get your new equipment.”

“That’s a good idea… Equipment, huh.”

Although Akira seemed to have moved on once before from that subject, he once again made a difficult face.

“What’s wrong?”

“…No, it’s nothing.”

After Akira again lost most of his equipment, he went to Shizuka to get new equipment with the current money that he had. First of all, he prioritized rifles and put in an order for 3 fully modified SSB rifles. Shizuka’s expression when he placed that order left an impression in his mind.

Akira had decided to be honest and told Shizuka everything in case she inquired, but she accepted his order without saying anything. But in place of that, Shizuka looked slightly surprised and exasperated at the same time. She then smiled as if she had given up, but there was pity mixed in her smile.

Akira thought that Shizuka would at least say something about him already breaking his rifles in such a short time, but she instead continued talking without even touching on that subject. He felt something was not right about it.

“…Shizuka-san did not say anything, so it should be alright, yep.”

“Let’s just hope that it’s not a smile of exasperation since she had worked so hard to get the equipment that was originally already outside the range of the shop’s products but you keep breaking them in no time and you don’t show any remorse at all when you place an order for replacements. But as a weapon merchant, she doesn’t have a good reason to stop you since it contributes well to the shop’s revenue.”

“If you don’t know for sure, then stop scaring me!”

“I only said that because you seem too stuck on that matter. You should just move on, if you keep yourself bothered by it and it ends up making you use your equipment too carefully, you might end up hurting yourself which would defeat the reason why you got them in the first place, you know?”

“I know, but still…”

“It doesn’t matter if your equipment is broken as long as you, yourself are safe. It does contribute to her shop’s revenue and it’s not like you are breaking them intentionally anyway. That’s why it doesn’t matter. If Shizuka is worried, it is either because you use your equipment without care or because you keep getting yourself in a situation where you have no choice but to do something that destroys your equipment. This is not something for you to worry about, or more like, it’s way too late for you to start worrying about this, right?”

“…You have a point there.”

Akira smiled wryly as he asked himself if deep inside, he wanted Shizuka to worry about him. Which in that case, he might have been intentionally going to dangerous places wishing that Shizuka would worry for him. He told himself that desire was too greedy and smiled wryly, he himself knew that very well. He then decided to talk about something else to move on from that subject.

“…By the way, about that white card though, what exactly was it?”

“That is a business card. You can use that card to contact that Olivia automaton. If you’re someone who can connect to the old-world domain, you can use it to directly get in contact with Olivia, and if you can’t do that, you can use an old-world communication device instead. I bet it left that to you hoping that you would hire it.”

Akira immediately turned to Alpha.

“Alpha, you knew all of that?”

“Yep.”

“…Why didn’t you tell me back then?”

“Can you keep that a secret?”

Alpha smiled as usual. Although Akira understood that she had a good point there and agreed with her, he was not exactly happy to admit it.

“Was that thing actually a very expensive object?”

“That depends on how much price you would place on a method to contact the old-world’s side in a friendly manner.”

“In that case, that should be a pretty pricy thing… and I ended up giving it away thinking that it wasn’t worth that much. I guess that was a big blunder, huh?”

“It’s the opposite. You did great getting that object away from you as fast as possible. In order to be able to use that card, you at least need to have the knowledge on how to connect to the old-world domain. If you try to keep it for yourself, in the worst-case scenario, others might get suspicious thinking that you might know. That’s why I didn’t tell you back there. Like I said before, I don’t think you can keep it a secret, right?”

“…Yeah, I don’t think I can.”

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Shiori obviously noticed when he had a small reaction the moment she mentioned the name ‘Lion Steel’. If he had known just how valuable that card was, Akira did not think that he would be able to let that card go.

“Thought so. Let me at least tell you this though, make sure not to get too hung up on that. Instead, think of it as pushing that problem to them. If you insist on keeping it, people might get suspicious.”

“You have a point there, I have no plans on getting captured after all.”

Having suspicion of being someone who could connect to the old-world domain was enough for the Hunter Office to dispatch a capture warrant. Since Akira was really someone who could connect to the old-world domain, even if that suspicion came from something completely unrelated, he could not afford to get captured by them no matter what. With this, any regrets that he had regarding that card was completely gone.

“In the first place, you don’t have any chrome with you anyway, so it’s not like you can hire Olivia. The only people who could do that are the super-rich or huge corporations who have chrome.”

“Exactly. That’s just way out of my reach. I guess this means I have no connection with them right from the start, huh… Wait, this is just my guess, but it felt like Shiori knew about that card though. I wonder if she has any connections with that world.”

“Well, she’s exploring ruins in a maid uniform and she calls Reina, Milady, it won’t be strange if she does have some connections with that world. She might know just how valuable that card is, and just maybe, she might even be actively involved in that world.”

“Now that you mention it, that does make sense. I wonder who they actually are. To be honest, from my point of view, they look like nothing but a bunch of rich people from the inner wall who do Hunter work as a hobby…”

Akira thought about Reina’s team and its background while enjoying the warm bath. But since he could not come up with any good answer, that question eventually melted into the warm water too.

On the next day. Inside a high-class hotel in the lower district of Kugamayama city, Togami, Shikarabe, Reina and Shiori gathered inside one of the rooms.

Togami placed 1 million Aurum in front of Shikarabe. Shikarabe took it and put it inside his chest pocket. Seeing that, Togami smiled happily and pridefully.

“There, I finally made you take all the 30 million Aurum.”

“Indeed.”

Seeing how Shikarabe smiled amusedly there, Togami felt a strong feeling of accomplishment. Seeing that, Reina could not help but tilt her head.

“Togami, what is it?”

“It’s nothing.”

After that, Shikarabe’s expression turned serious as he said.

“Togami, today will be your last training, let’s start now.”

“Now? Aren’t we here to talk about what to do with the relics that we gathered yesterday and how to divide the money from that?”

“That’s exactly your last training. Being able to divide the money at the end of a ruin exploration without any problem at all is one of the important skills for a Hunter. And you need to learn half of that from real experience. Togami, this time, you asked for Akira’s help. You asked for help from a Hunter who is better than you although you don’t know him well. On top of that, you didn’t make an agreement on how to divide the loot upfront. So don’t expect him to give away the loot that you have risked your life for free out of kindness, as a matter of fact, I bet he would come at you without holding back.”

As if to continue Shikarabe’s warning, Shiori then said with a serious face.

“Milady, this is also training for Milady. Shikarabe-sama and I will come at both of you as if we’re Akira-sama trying to take all the loot. Togami-sama and Milady should work together to prevent it.”

“I’ll let you know this, also consider the worst-case scenario where Akira would come at you with force, and make sure to avoid that no matter what. It’s important to make sure not to pick a fight with someone that you have no chance of winning against.”

“Akira-sama immediately demanded to pay for the expenses from the last expedition. Rifle, bike, vehicle, augmented suit, ammo and medicine. Some of them might be able to be repaired while some might need replacements, either way, they would add more to the expenses. The total expense is predicted to be about 1 billion Aurum. If you take your time selling the relics, you won’t be able to pay that money immediately.”

“Think carefully before you decide whether to try to explain that to Akira or to take on debt to pay him back for the time being. Make sure to keep it in your mind, just how long a Hunter who has no aversion to killing others, would be willing to wait for his 1 billion Aurum.”

“Remember that you can’t just say that you would divide the loot equally. Everyone would want their lives to be priced highly. You need to make sure to think about how to still receive a profit when you’re up against someone who you can’t win against in a real fight and doesn’t bend during a negotiation. If you worsen his mood, it might turn into a fight at a drop of a hat.”

“There’s also an option of asking for the Hunter Office’s help. But of course, that won’t be free and it’s not like it would convince him, I bet he would still have some grudge left if you do that. Although it’s not a good choice, sometimes, you have no other option but to do it.”

“Do remember that it might not even be needed at all in the first place. It’s not a method to guarantee your safety. So please be careful.”

“Now then, let’s start.”

“We shall start now.”

Shikarabe and Shiori seemed to be serious, Togami and Reina looked at each other with worried smiles.

Dividing the loot was the last step before a team of Hunters finally disbanded. Togami and Reina did their best to face that final step with their own abilities. It made them understand why Hunters would hire negotiators and how much Drankam had been helping them in that regard.

The real reason why Drankam was formed in the first place was simply for the sake of helping injured and retired Hunters. After all, even a careful Hunter would be able to rely on things that needed trust if it was between Hunters that he or she knew very well. Although it was significantly changed since its founding, that part of the organization stayed the same.

Togami and Reina had a hard negotiation practice as they only reached a deal around the end of the day. Of course, both of them were literally spent at that point. In the end, the deal was for the loot to be divided equally after subtracting the battle expense and that there was no rush in paying for that money. So in short, it really was nothing but training which did not mean anything toward the real deal that they still had to face. When they knew that, Togami and Reina could not help but complain.

—*—*—*—

In the headquarters of a certain company inside the inner wall, the officers from the upper echelon of that company gathered in a huge meeting room.

Inside that meeting room, Yanagisawa did not look happy at all as he said.

“What do you mean you’re going to stop extending the supply route?!”

As Yanagisawa’s anger was clearly expressed, in contrast to his usual lack-of-emotion expression, the other people inside the room started to tense up. Yanagisawa was responsible for the operation to extend the supply route from the Kuzusuhara ruin’s frontier base into the deeper part of the ruin. And now, he had received an order that not only interfered with his job but even obstructed its continuation. It was not strange for Yanagisawa to take it personally. It would not end up with only mere bruises when someone who was merely an administrator over a piece of land picked a fight against someone who was under the Corporate Government.

A mid-rank officer from the City Management tried to calm Yanagisawa down.

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“We’re not stopping it completely. It’s just a temporary thing in order to lighten the worries expressed by some of our customers. They thought that the recent incident was caused by the aggressive expansion of the supply route deep into the ruin.”

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“There’s no evidence connecting the expansion and that incident. And even if that’s true, that’s still within our predictions, we did expect something like that to happen when we started this project. So there’s no reason for us to stop the expansion now. This is also for the sake of the frontier base, which is under construction right now. Even during that incident, we also obtained good results. If that was not enough for you, you should increase the budget just like I suggested last time, although, someone rejected that suggestion.”

Yanagisawa’s mood worsened even more. There was no one present to stop him, even among those who were above him position-wise, no one was willing to become the martyr to overrule his opinion.

“Calm down. We were attacked twice in such a short span of time. It is not strange that our sponsors got worried.”

Among those present, few people knew that the first swarm was because of Yanagisawa’s doing. So Yanagisawa lowered his shoulders.

“…The reason why we’re expanding the supply route is to create a secured route through the ruin. So that we can excavate the expensive relics more easily. Rather than the voice of those cowards cowering within the inner wall, isn’t it more important to prioritize our original goal?”

“I know. We also don’t want to stop the expansion. In the end, this is nothing but a temporary pause. The sponsors are afraid of a third attack, and that worry also stems from the lack of power in the city defence squad. If the city defence squad could repel those swarms with no problem at all, they would not care how many times those swarms might come. Moreover, you want to get that new equipment out, right? This is the perfect chance for that, we can dispatch that new equipment to the frontier base for securing the supply route. It will take some time until they can completely dispatch the new equipment. So, in the meantime, we can take a break from expanding the supply route until then. We agreed to dispatch them just like you had asked, I hope you can make a compromise with this. If the third attack happens after that and the new equipment can easily repel the swarm, then it would be attributed to the dispatching of the new equipment for the city defence squad. Is that good enough for you?”

Yanagisawa did not give an immediate reply. The silence in the room continued.

“…Just because we stop expanding the supply route, I won’t accept any budget cut. And I’ll have the original budget for the new equipment.”

“If it’s fine to use the new equipment for exploring the inner part of the ruin too, then I shall allow it.”

Yanagisawa’s tense expression finally relaxed. His voice also turned back to its usual flippant tone.

“If you’re willing to go that far, it can’t be helped then. We’ll stop extending the supply route.”

Sighs of relief echoed in the meeting room.

After that, they continued their meeting to talk about several other matters. That was when a small ruffle between area administrators happened.

“For the next subject, we’ve received a report regarding the difference between the real worth of land and those reported on paper. We’ll start with the person who brought this up.”

As the person who had been working as the leader of that meeting said so, Udajima stood up and smiled at Inabe.

“I’m Udajima. As everyone knows well, the inner part of the Kuzusuhara ruin is divided into smaller sections and each section is assigned to a different administrator. Each administrator will survey the section that they’re assigned to and the result from that survey, which includes the type of relics that you can find there, will decide on the priority for a further survey and the budget for the same.”

Udajima took a short pause and glanced at Inabe. Inabe curled his lips in reply.

“Everyone here is busy, just cut the chase and get to it.”

“Very well then. Inabe, it seems that the report from your place says that you’ve found an old-world terminal in the area that you’re responsible for, is that true?”

“It is the truth. What of it?”

“In that case, I’ll take this chance to declare that it is fake!”

“What!?”

As murmur propagated through the room, Inabe finally processed what Udajima had said and raised his voice.

“Are you kidding me!? That report has even gone through a formal appraiser from Kugamayama city, you know!! Are you seriously saying that I’m faking that report!? Those relics are really old-world terminals! This is a slander!!”

“I’m not saying that they are not old-world terminals.”

“So what’s your problem then?”

“The problem is where you found them… There’s a good chance you got them from another place outside your section!! And you brought them there in order to increase the value of your section!!”

“W-what are you even talking about!?”

Inabe showed a slight panic. But in order to hide it, he immediately raised his voice.

“That’s a baseless accusation!! Where’s the evidence!?”

“Of course, I have some with me.”

“I bet you just faked them too!! You’re planning to pull down the value of my section by causing fictitious trouble, aren’t you!? If you only have vague pieces of evidence that might as well be fake, you can excuse yourself by using that as a reason to run away from the repercussions after all!!”

“Well, I know you would say that.”

Seeing how Udajima was smiling as if he had already won, Inabe felt unease. But even so, he retained anger on his face.

[The operation should have been perfect! There’s no way he can see through that…! Wait, don’t tell me… Is it that girl!?]

Inabe started to doubt Viola’s intention in having given him those relics. In short, it was nothing more than a strategy to trap him. But Inabe made sure not to show that on his face. He told himself that since those relics were really old-world terminals, he should be able to win the argument as he slowly got rid of panic from his face.

But Udajima then smiled as if he knew that would happen.

“Even if both of us present our data here, it would be difficult to judge which one is correct. There’s also a good chance that we both don’t have enough evidence to support our respective claims. That’s why let’s focus on what we know for sure. Although the results from the appraisal say that all of those relics are really old-world terminals, I went ahead and submitted a request to the appraisal companies union to check the origin of all those relics!! And, I’ve asked to put the result from that request here and now!!”

Inabe froze, he then said with a shaking voice.

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“Y-You… You even went that far, huh!? Just how much do you think that would cost you!?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t cheap at all. I know you know that too. But if it’s the appraisal companies union, although there might be some discrepancies, they should be able to pinpoint and track relics found in the Kuzusuhara ruin. Well then, let’s put up the result now.”

Seeing how Inabe’s bluff was crumbling down, Udajima smiled triumphantly as he operated the terminal. Then, a picture of a man was displayed in the middle of that room.

“Good afternoon, I am from the appraisal companies union. We will send a full report later, but since we were requested to give a direct report, we’ll keep this short. After our investigation, the relics in question…”

Inabe had completely given up. Deep inside his heart, he kept cursing Viola, who might have planned this and Udajima who might have been the one who asked Viola to do that in the first place. Udajima was smiling triumphantly, at least, that was the case until he heard the continuation of the report.

“…Is highly likely to be found in the reported location.”

“…Hah?”

“…Wha-?”

Udajima and Inabe could not hide their surprise.

“If there’s no other question, we shall take our excuse here.”

Udajima finally returned back to reality as he immediately shouted.

“No way!! That can’t be right!! It must be some kind of mistake!!”

“It’s the real result from an investigation done by the union. Please check the report for further detail. The billed fee will not be reimbursed even if you find the result unsatisfactory. So please keep that in mind. Are there any other questions? …Very well, please excuse me then.”

The display vanished. Udajima mumbled as if he just saw something that he could not believe.

“No way… That’s impossible… Those relics should have come from the Higaraka residence ruin… Even if it’s not, one thing for sure is they can’t be from Inabe’s area!…!? Inabe!! Don’t tell me, you… You actually found them in your area and took them out first before bringing them back in!? Did you do all of this just to trick me!?”

Inabe reeled back from that accusation, he then smiled while hiding his own thoughts as he said to Udajima.

“What are you even talking about? That’s obviously not true, just cut it out already.”

“Then, why were you so panicked?”

“Anyone would panic when they find out someone is trying to frame them. Well, although, it seems that you’ve blown yourself up this time.”

Inabe and Udajima’s positions were reversed. Inabe was smiling triumphantly while Udajima was badly flustered. It showed who had won and who had lost the argument.

The leader of the meeting tried to calm the situation down.

“Both of you, get back to your seat. Inabe, make sure not to do anything suspicious from here on out.”

“I don’t remember ever doing anything suspicious though. But it seems that some people just can’t leave me alone, huh. I’ll be more careful next time.”

Inabe calmly sat back on his seat.

“Udajima, this should clear up your suspicions. Keep in mind not to do something like this again.”

Udajima did not reply as he meekly sat back.

“Well then, let’s move to the next subject. It seems that there’s a report saying someone has claimed to have gotten in contact with the ruin’s manager. Yanagisawa will give the detail…”

The meeting continued just like that as if they were ignoring what just happened between Udajima and Inabe.

—*—*—*—

After the meeting, Inabe, who had returned back to his private quarters, smiled and said.

“I didn’t see that coming at all, but I got through it just fine! That girl didn’t get in contact with me in order to frame me, it’s in order to frame Udajima, huh? Well, that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t change the fact that it got rid of that guy.”

After he laughed in relief and regained his calm, he looked at the report from the appraisal companies union and started thinking about what to do next.

[But still, to think that they actually came from my area. I didn’t expect it at all… To be honest, it’s only near the borders of my area that we haven’t explored. But that Udajima, I bet he thought that it was fine as long as it was outside the Kuzusuhara ruin and set the investigation area range a bit too big.]

Now that Inabe had regained his calm, he started to string together the information that he currently had.

[That Hunter… Akira, was it again? If I’m not mistaken, he’s strong enough to even make the City Management force him to take a Rank-up request. It won’t be strange for someone as strong as him to return back from unexplored ruins in the future. And if he had found a secret passage to an unexplored warehouse, it wouldn’t be strange that he would be hiding that too. After all, if the location of that hidden passage leaked and Hunters start to flood the area, there’s a good chance someone would find that hidden passage too.]

Inabe then remembered something about Akira and opened his information terminal.

[If I’m not mistaken, during that ruin exploration in my area, it seemed that the humanoid monsters focused on this Hunter. If this was because his face got recorded by the ruin’s security system the moment he took those relics from that undiscovered location and if this is the reason why he was treated differently compared to the other Hunters whom the ruin management only views as suspicious armed individuals, then it would mean the location where he found those relics should be somewhere nearby. The union also said there’s a good chance those relics really came from this area according to their investigation. Although, since Udajima did not pay the full fee, the method that the union used to confirm it was not written in the report and I have no idea how the union did that. But that doesn’t matter, the most important thing is the result, not the method.]

Inabe then remembered the powered suit that Yanagisawa requested.

[If I remember correctly, that powered suit is pretty strong. I heard that it was able to kill a building-sized monster with a melee weapon. And now it’s approved for ruin exploration too… It doesn’t matter how dangerous that unexplored place is, it should be alright if I bring a couple of that powered suit with me. After all, I need to find relics in my area, and if that unexplored place still has a lot of relics… Then, if I can get Akira involved too… And those people from Drankam too… I should have enough manpower to explore it…]

Inabe combined all kinds of information in his head.

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“…Wait for a sec, doesn’t this mean… That it’s my time to shine?”

Inabe smiled widely, it was a deep greedy smile.

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