Rebuild World

the dead bodies outside Ezont Family’s base.
That’s why we’re planning to go inside the base next, but it’s not safe for Revin and me to bring Erio and the other children into that base.
That’s why I’m wondering if you might give us a hand.”

 

“You can just leave the children behind and go there by yourself, no?”

 

“Well, that’s the plan if you won’t come.
But of course, if we can’t bring Erio and the other children, then I can’t pay any reward to Sheryl’s gang.
I’m sure you know that you can’t let them keep relying on your money.
It’s better to get as much money as they could when they have the chance to make sure that they’ll be able to be independent of you, don’t you think so too? Isn’t that why you’re training them too, no?”

 

Akira looked unsure.

 

“If I help you, then how about my reward?”

 

“Sorry, but I can only pay you the same amount of money.
I’m actually doing this because I’m getting paid by someone else, you see.
If you want more, you should discuss it with Sheryl’s gang and see if they would share some of the money that they get with you.
Basically, you, I, Revin and Sheryl’s gang will get the same amount of money for taking the job.
You can keep anything that you pick, but just remember not to forget your real job.”

 

Akira ‘hmmed’ again, Colbert looked slightly surprised there.

 

For a Hunter like Akira, the money that he could get from that job was nothing more than spare money.
If Colbert told Akira in detail how much he would earn from taking that job, there was a good chance Akira would refuse to take that job.
But contrary to his expectation, Akira seemed to be seriously considering taking on the job.

 

Though Colbert did not understand what was going on, it seemed that there was a chance Akira would take that job.
So he decided to give a little more push.
Although he was not expecting much when he called Akira to come, it would be helpful if Akira would actually come with them.

 

“Since you came here, it means that you’re free right now, right? You should come with us.
If we don’t get real Hunters among us, the other people might look down on Erio and the other children, you know.”

 

“Real Hunters?”

 

Akira looked confused, it seemed that he did not understand what Colbert was talking about.
Seeing that, Colbert pointed at Erio.
Akira also looked at Erio but he still could not understand.

 

Alpha then jumped in to explain.

 

“Akira, look closely at them.
Although they don’t look exactly like you, don’t you think they look similar?”

 

Erio and the other children were wearing black attire along with a black coat.

 

“Now that you mention, that’s kinda true.
So, what about it?”

 

Akira still did not get it, Alpha smiled bitterly as she exasperatedly said.

 

“…So in short, they’re trying to disguise themselves as you so that other people won’t mess with them.”

 

Erio and the other children were disguising themselves to be Akira since Akira could not come often ever since he restarted his Hunter job.
Fortunately, not many people knew Akira’s face, so from afar, people could easily mistake those children as Akira and that was enough to keep them safe.

 

Akira finally understood what Colbert was talking about.
But even so, he still found it weird.
So he then made a serious look as he said.

 

“Erio, I don’t mind going with you, but, I won’t be protecting you.
I’ll do my job properly but I won’t do anything more than that.
Since I have nothing else to do, if you’re okay with that, then I don’t mind going.”

 

“That’s more than enough, thank you very much.”

 

Although from their conversations it seemed like they asked Akira to come without asking for Sheryl’s permission first, it did not seem that Akira was angry about it.
So Erio sighed in relief.

 

—*—*—*—

 

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Back in Yatusbayashi clinic, Yatsubayashi was making a troubled face in his clinic room.

 

“Another failure, huh.
Wait, not really, it’s not a complete failure.”

 

The display device in front of him showed the video of Tiol escaping his experiment room.
Tiol ate his restrains to free himself, walked slowly towards the door, and tried pushing the wall with his left hand.

 

After that, suddenly, something exploded, leaving a big hole in that wall.
Though his left arm was blown off too, Tiol did not seem to be bothered at all as he left the room through that hole.

 

Yatsubayashi watched that video multiple times, zooming and replaying some parts of the video to check it closely.

 

[If my guess is correct, it seems that his gunpowder producing organ is working fine.
Did he produce the gunpowder from the restrain that he ate? I used robust restrains that is used to restrain people with enhanced body.
It’s not the same as eating a fork, so how exactly did he do that…?]

 

Yatsubayashi took some time making various guesses while looking at that video.
After he gathered his thoughts, he finally stopped the video and changed into a map of the lower district.
There were red dots displayed on that map.

 

[The trackers are working as they should.
But the bomb that I planted in his head would not explode.
Did the nanomachine that reached his brain also dismantle the bomb? Or is it that he dismantled the trigger? I have no idea at all.
I do want to check it, but it doesn’t seem that he’ll return back anytime soon.
He even tried to escape.
I’m not sure if he still has any shred of reasoning left, but it did not seem like he’s going back to Sheryl’s base either.
It seems that he’s just roaming around the same place.]

 

Yatsubayashi mumbled.

 

“Tiol-kun, what are you exactly doing there?”

 

Tiol’s tracking device was showing that he was roaming around the same area that was not too far from the slum since yesterday.

 

—*—*—*—

 

Akira finished his preparation and headed to Ezont Family’s base.
The garden of the base was still laden with the leftover of the battles from the other day, except for a small change.

 

Akira looked slightly surprised as he saw the scene in front of him.
Colbert noticed that Akira had a sharp stern look as if he was looking at his enemies.

 

“Akira, what’s wrong?”

 

“No, it’s just that I don’t see the tanks and the powered suits from that battle.”

 

During the battle, the Ezont family and Haurias sent out their powered suits.
When Akira escaped that place, it was still filled with destroyed powered suits and tanks.
But they were nowhere to be seen now.

 

Colbert sighed in relief.

 

“Don’t scare me like that.
Of course, people took them away first since they can be exchanged for money.”

 

“People who?”

 

“Maybe one of those Hunters.
I bet they took them away even if they had to rent some heavy machinery.
I heard that they even fought against each other over the loot, you know.
Well, it only took a few days for them to carry everything away, so I’m sure things have calmed down by now.
That’s also the reason why I can bring myself here.
After all, I would hate to get involved fighting over the loot.”

 

Akira nodded, he was amazed at how people actually did carry all of those big and heavy wreckages out from that place.

 

Colbert looked at the nervous Erio and the other children and warned them.

 

“We’ll be searching this place now, but let me remind you this.
Don’t shoot without our permission and refrain from even grabbing your rifles.
It might cause a fight.
Got it?”

 

“Y-Yes!”

 

“Alright then, let’s go.”

 

They then entered the base and started checking the dead bodies.

 

They continued their work.
Akira, Colbert, and Revin searched for the dead bodies using their information-gathering device.
Erio and the other children then checked those dead bodies.
If any of them had any outstanding debts, they were put in a body bag and carried outside to the people from the credit companies who were waiting not too far outside the base.

 

Erio and the other children were already used to seeing dead bodies, but couldn’t hold well when they looked at the badly dismembered corpses.
Every time they saw a mutilated corpse, they could not help but wince.

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“Say, Erio.
Akira-san was here, right?”

 

“Yeah, I heard that he came here to rescue boss.
Though I don’t know the details, I heard that he fought pretty fiercely.”

 

“So in short, some of these corpses might be the ones that Akira-san killed, right?”

 

“Probably, yes.
What’s wrong with that?”

 

“…No, it’s just that, we’re borrowing these rifles from that Akira-san right now, right? When I think that these rifles are powerful enough to create these dead bodies, it’s just that, you know, carrying them around like this is pretty scary.”

 

Akira lent his CWH anti-material rifle, DVTS minigun, and A4WM automatic grenade launcher to Erio and the other children.
If Akira was carrying all of those alone, it would definitely make him stick out from the rest and render the other children who were disguising as him useless.

 

Although those rifles were pretty heavy, Erio and the other children at least figured how to carry them thanks to the exoskeletons that they were wearing.
Naturally, they wore those because they thought that it would be hard for them to carry the cyborg corpses.
So they had decided to get some exoskeletons from Katsuragi beforehand.

 

Hunters regarded exoskeletons as something inferior to augmented suits.
After all, it was not designed for high-speed manoeuvre during combat.
At most, it was only used for carrying heavy goods.
Because of that, they were sold at a relatively cheap price and Sheryl’s gang was able to buy multiple of them.

 

Erio made a face saying that he could understand the other boy’s feelings.

 

“Those are anti-monster rifles for Hunters.
I guess this is what would happen when they’re used against normal humans.”

 

“To be honest, I always thought that we could explore the old-world ruins one day if we keep taking that training from Akira-san.
But it’s filled with monsters that we can’t defeat unless we have these kinds of rifles, right? So like, I can’t be so sure anymore now…”

 

The young boy sighed and looked discouraged.
Erio tried to cheer him up with a light smile.

 

“Shouldn’t it be fine if we just go to the ruins with less danger?”

 

“You might be right, but where exactly?”

 

“Like Higaraka residence ruin, for example.
It’s already pretty deserted and there are not that many monsters there…”

 

Erio suddenly stopped there, the young boy frowned and found it weird.
Erio remembered the last time they accompanied Akira to Higaraka residence ruin, they were attacked by a swarm of monsters.

 

Erio then said as if to convince himself.

 

“…No, that was a special case.
Normally, something like that would not happen.
Not to mention, there are those general-purpose requests for new Hunters too.
It should be alright if we start from those relatively easy Hunter jobs, and then we can gather better equipment from there.
That Revin guy did say that it’s much easier to explore dangerous ruins when we have new and better equipment after all…”

 

“Wait, isn’t that guy in big trouble from the debt that he’s racking from his equipment and ammo?”

 

“Aah, but Akira-san and Colbert-san are not having trouble with debt, right?”

 

“If I’m not mistaken, Colbert-san had both of his hands eaten by monsters and Akira-san once got sent to the hospital after almost getting killed though.
Something like he had to pay 60 million Aurum for the treatment…”

 

They went silent.
Although they had big dreams of becoming Hunters, when they thought about the Hunters around them, it reminded them of things that they did not want to go through as they sighed almost simultaneously.

 

Although the other children looked discouraged, Erio then said in a good mood as if it did not affect him at all.

 

“I won’t give up though.
I’ll get stronger, earn a lot of money, rent a house, and live with Alicia.”

 

The other boys smiled wryly and looked at him with a slight mockery.

 

“So this is the power of a guy with a girlfriend, huh? I want one too.”

 

Erio and the other children tried to shoo the dark mood there with silly talks as they continued their job.

 

Silavin: Isn’t that just normal? I mean… even without a girlfriend, you would want what is best for yourself no?