Chapter 227

Translator: Athena13

Editor: Silavin

Proofreader: p4553r

On the third day of his stay in the hospital, Akira finally went through the surgery, to stick his new arm to his body. Akira’s body was already fixed on the operating table, ready for the surgery. The doctor took the new arm out of the liquid tank and placed it on the operating table, he then cut the overgrown part and readjust the stump. After that, he proceeded to shave the stump on Akira’s shoulder before sticking both stumps together.

The surgery was done while Akira was conscious. When the doctor finished connecting some of the nerves, he then asked Akira to try to move it. Akira looked away from the cross-section of the cut as he tried to move his new arm.

“How is it? Do you feel any discomfort?”

“It’s okay.”

Due to the painkiller, Akira did not feel any pain at all. The still detached new arm also only had a numb sensation due to the drug. The surgery continued to connect the bone, the nerves, and then the flesh. Akira had to try to move his arms a few times in the middle of the surgery to check on the connection. In the end, the doctor wrapped it in a medical tape, and with that, the surgery was finished.

Akira tried to move around his new arm to give a final check. As expected of an expensive treatment, there was no discomfort, it was as if it was his original arm right from the start.

“Try not to do any heavy-lifting for the next 3 days. If it’s possible, I recommend using an augmented suit.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“By the way, about the multiple arms, in case you’re interested…”

“T-thank you for the offer, but no thanks.”

“I see…”

Akira felt a shiver down his spine from the disappointed doctor, so he quickly put on his augmented suit and left the hospital.

—*—*—*—

As Shizuka was waiting in her shop, she noticed Akira frightfully entering it. The moment their eyes met, Akira gave a rather stiff smile, so Shizuka simply smiled and waved at him to come over.

“It’s not like I’m angry, so you can just enter the shop normally.”

“Ah, yes.”

Shizuka left the counter and went to Akira, she then hugged Akira tightly and gently patted his head.

“…I don’t know what happened, but it seems that it was a rough one. I’m glad that you’re okay and that’s the most important thing. You’re okay, right?”

“Yes, I’m alright.”

“It’s all good then. I’m happy as long as you return and visit me in good health.”

Shizuka gave another squeeze before letting Akira go and returned back to the counter. She then returned to her usual business smile and asked.

“So then, I guess I should return back to my job as this shop’s manager. Akira, what can I do for you today?”

“Right, I actually want to order another set of equipment…”

Akira lost his bike, vehicle, and rifles, not to mention that his augmented suit was close to being unusable. So he needed to buy replacements for them. Shizuka was not that surprised. Especially when Akira was back in the same situation again. She could not help but smile bitterly.

“Well, that’s just so like you, or more like, it must have been rough.”

“It’s not like I’m doing this intentionally. Well, I’ve already partially given up on how things always end up like this. Fortunately, I have the money to buy good equipment, so I’ll at least buy my safety with money.”

Shizuka smiled mischievously.

“A lot of funds, frequent orders, and only buying expensive products. It seems that you’re turning into an excellent customer for me. Considering that I’m reaping profits as well, as a part of the special treatment for a loyal customer, I’ll prioritize your order.”

“Thank you very much!”

Seeing Akira smiling happily, Shizuka replied with a big smile.

“Ah, by the way, Akira, are you interested in augmented suits from Kiryou?”

“Kiryou?”

“Someone from that company came to my shop yesterday saying that they want to put their augmented suit in my shop. Since my shop doesn’t usually sell that kind of augmented suit, I refused. But they were so desperate that they even offered some special deals which make it actually sound suspicious instead, so I decided to just keep it for now. Although I can’t really tell you the details, basically Hunters that satisfy certain prerequisites should be able to buy this augmented suit with a special discount. You might be able to get that discount as well, so, what do you think?”

Shizuka only said so casually, but seeing Akira gave a rather weird response there, she then inquired.

“Oh, are you familiar with that name?”

“Uhh, well, actually…”

After listening to Akira’s story about Yodogawa, Shizuka nodded, looking convinced and a bit amazed.

“So that’s why. Basically, they’re hunting for a potential customer. Well, it’s true when a high ranking Hunter is using their product, they can use it as advertisement. I can understand wanting to secure a customer who often destroys their equipment and keeps coming back to buy expensive products.”

In reality, her intuition was telling that was not everything. But since it did not cause any inconvenience for both Akira and her, she decided not to inquire any further.

“So then, what are you going to do? If you don’t have anything against it, I’m thinking of accepting their offer. Of course, as long as it doesn’t have any strings attached. It’s a good offer both for you and me. If there’s anything to worry about, it might be that your equipment will lean toward what they manufacture from here on out. But as long as that discount applies and other companies don’t give you any discount, the cost-performance ratio of their product is great.”

“If it’s really a good offer for me and Shizuka-san, then please accept their offer.”

“Alright, I’ll discuss the details with them, so can you at least tell me your budget for now?”

“I’m thinking about 2 billion Aurum.”

Among the ammo and other expendables he had used up in that expedition, the hospitalization fee, the regeneration treatment, and the budget for his new equipment, Akira’s account, which was brimming with cash from selling the old-world automata, turned pitiful once more. He still had enough to get by, although the digits were reduced significantly.

Shizuka smiled amusedly and commented.

“Good grief, Akira, you’ve really grown up to be a great Hunter. No wonder even companies try to get you on their side.”

Akira smiled bitterly and replied.

“That seems to be indeed the case, huh?”

Shizuka raised her eyebrows. That reply just now showed no self-depreciation that Akira always had up until now. But she did think that this was a good change and was happy for him.

—*—*—*—

Yanagisawa was waiting inside a hideout in the lower district of Kugamayama city. It was a highly secretive place suitable for dangerous conversations and conspiracies. For example, a meeting with one of the nationalists. Although he had another hideout in the inner wall, smuggling a nationalist inside the wall was too much of a task even for Yanagisawa.

Yanagisawa was thinking inside that hideout as he mumbled.

“But still, to think Katsuya died.”

After making that deal with Tsubaki, Yanagisawa returned back to the city to deal with the clean-up and the aftermath. Once he was done, he then ordered one of his men to check up on Katsuya. That was when he received a report that Katsuya was already dead. Since that was completely unexpected, Yanagisawa ordered for a closer investigation. But the report regarding Katsuya’s death did not change much.

[So the reason why she didn’t ask for my help to deal with Katsuya was not because it violated their rules, but because she already knew Katsuya was dead…? No, I believe it’s the former. She needed to get him killed through a method that didn’t violate their rules. She basically used the jamming to cut off his support and then made use of the chaos. If Hunters fight each other, accidents are very likely to happen. I’m sure that’s the gist of it.]

It did not matter how many times Yanagisawa tried to rethink it, he could not differentiate if everything was all according to Tsubaki’s plan, or that everything lined up due to coincidence. But since he would be dealing with Tsubaki in the future, Yanagisawa assumed that the first guess was the correct one as he tried to rethink the whole incident.

[If I assume that this was all Tsubaki’s plan, then just how far does her scheme go? Was the large-scale expedition also part of her plan too? No, what about that attack on the forward base? Wait, no, is it from that huge humanoid monster’s attack? Can it be even earlier than that?]

Yanagisawa went through all the recent incidents in chronological order to pull out all possibilities.

[…Now that I think about it, there was a small commotion about old-world terminals. Was it from that time? Tsubaki might have transported those terminals here. I’ve already confirmed that she did something similar in the past to bait Hunters. That’s why City Management was able to quickly determine where those terminals came from. After all, the same thing happened in the past. She might have deliberately released those terminals out to encourage City Management to organize an expedition. Then all the incidents preceding the expedition, such as the attack on the forward base, were for the sake of thinning out City Management’s resources. Once that happened, City Management would send out a bigger army to ensure the success of the expedition. In such a manner, she would have basically manipulated the army. Taking that opportunity, she crushed the oncoming army, which resulted in plenty of deaths. To eliminate more people, the bigger the army, the more chaotic it was, the greater the death count…]

Yanagisawa’s smile turned sharp. Everything was nothing but his guess, he had no proof that it was the real truth. But he also did not have any argument to deny that guess as well.

[Well, it doesn’t really matter. It seems that we can get along well from here on out. I just need to always keep my guard up, that’s all there is to it.]

Although they were not allies, they were no longer enemies as well. Furthermore, they had the same objective as well. Excessive suspicion would only cause problems. Thus, Yanagisawa decided not to delve any further into this matter.

The security system of the hideout suddenly issued Yanagisawa a warning. There was a guest. Yanagisawa did grant passage for certain individuals to his hideout, but since some of them often changed their faces or bodies, the system could not account for them.

Because of that, Yanagisawa was no longer surprised when he met an entirely different person with the same name as his guest. But this time, he was surprised when he saw his guest’s face.

He was surprised to meet someone he recognised though, he knew that this person wearing that face was not one and the same.

“You’re… Katsuya? Shouldn’t you be dead? No, more than that, how did you get in here?”

The boy with Katsuya’s face replied cryptically.

“I’ve given up my name for the great cause, or so I want to say, but… You can just call me with my previous name.”

Yanagisawa came up with many guesses from that quick reply, his face then turned stern as he said.

“I know that followers of the great cause can change any of their body parts excluding the brain, but you, you even changed your brain, didn’t you?”

“Although it’s way more important than any other body part, the brain is nothing more than another part of our body that can be freely replaced.”

That young boy was Nergo. That head was gathered straight from its dead owner. There was still a mark leftover from where Akira split the head to two.

Yanagisawa tilted his head.

“What happened to Katsuya’s mind?”

“He’s already dead for good. Or at least, there’s no leftover of his personality in the brain. So, he no longer exists.”

“Is he really dead?”

“What is death? It is a difficult question to answer. Technology developments continue to blur the line between life and death. People can’t return back to life. If someone returns back to life, it means that they’re still alive right from the start. To put it differently, they’re not dead yet. Although it’s theoretically possible to resurrect someone, it’s still open to interpretation whether life after resurrection is still considered as dead or not.”

“I’m not talking about that.”

“You might already know about this. We had a separate deal with Tsubaki to help her cause more chaos during the expedition. At that time, she told us not to cause any harm to him. Even after I took the head off from his corpse, I did not receive any complaint from Tsubaki. So basically, according to the current standard, our standard, and the old-world standard, Katsuya is already dead.”

Yanagisawa was convinced by that argument, Katsuya was really dead for good.

“Hmmm, is that so? So then, How does it feel using Katsuya’s brain? Does it feel good?”

Nergo made an expression that was unlike Katsuya as he shook his head and explained.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t work out as I had hoped. I bet his death also cut off any of his connection to the old-world domain. Either that or we made a mistake while handling his brain, which caused some kind of incompatibility to the hardware. The reason doesn’t matter, in the end, I wasn’t able to recover his ability to connect to the old-world domain.”

“I see, that’s indeed unfortunate.”

Yanagisawa returned to his usual joking attitude as he smiled and said.

“So then, what do you need from me today? Ah, in case you want information about Katsuya in order to slip into Drankam, just to let you know, I don’t mind if you want to do that but everyone already knows that Katsuya is dead. I’m pretty sure it’s too late for you to do that now. But, do you still want to try?”

“No, there are too many people over there who were under his local network. They won’t recognize me as Katsuya even if I use his brain and face. I bet their personal identification system would identify me as a different person. Just to be safe, I won’t be going there as Nergo either. I’m planning to change face and work as a different person after this.”

“Hmmm, so, why are you here?”

“I just want to check something.”

“Check on something? If you want to ask me something, you could have just sent it to me through the usual line though.”

“No, there’s something that I want to confirm, and I was able to do so.”

“So then?”

“The reason why you’re looking for us is not for safe-keeping, but for eradication. I’ve confirmed that with absolute proof.”

Yanagisawa’s joking attitude vanished. His smile vanished. Only silent pressure and a pair of eyes that could pierce through one’s soul remained.

“So, now that you know, what are you going to do?”

Yanagisawa said that but he knew Nergo was not someone he could easily deal with.

“Nothing in particular. Unknown factors are a source of disruptions. If I really have to say it, then my objective is to remove these factors.”

“I see.”

After that, a short silence wafted between them. Both of them were trying to figure out what their opponent was thinking. Nergo was the first one to open his mouth.

“It’s completely unrelated, but isn’t it about time for you to tell us about your real plan? I do believe that both of us are moving for the sake of humanity. And I think that you share some of the same principles with us. After all, we were able to work together although only for a limited capacity. I think we can work together to realize our ideals.”

Yanagisawa seemed to hesitate for a bit, he then carefully said.

“…I have to refuse. I can’t tell you, or at least, not now. Although, if it’s after I have everything I need to reach my goal, I do think that we can be allies.”

“I see, that’s indeed regrettable. Now then, we shall wait patiently for the day that you have everything you need to reach your goal.”

Nergo only said so and left.

Yanagisawa relaxed his tense body and sighed.

“Give me a break already.”

Nergo did not fear death. But it was not because he could not die. It was because of the way he saw the worth of his life and his soul. It was for the sake of the great cause that he lived, murdered, and ultimately died for.

But that was exactly why Yanagisawa thought that he was a pain to deal with. If it was because of his immortality, Yanagisawa could still corner him by taking away his immortality. Even if it was only temporarily, he would be able to convince him that he had already lost. That would have been enough to scare him. But against those who laugh in the face of certain death, that method would be meaningless.

“What a huge pain in the neck.”

Inside the room where there was no one else but him, Yanagisawa started complaining and cursing.

After Nergo left Yanagisawa’s hideout, he then frowned and muttered.

“It doesn’t look like it would go well, huh?”

The reason why Yanagisawa refused the offer and decided to still stay in Kugamayama city, was for the sake of getting what he needed for his goal. The thing he needed most probably lay somewhere deep inside Kuzusuhara ruin, in the direction where the supply line was being pushed. The existence of an old-world connector that he could not control was an obstacle for him to reach the thing that he sought after.

Nergo noticed that from his last exchange with Yanagisawa. Yanagisawa himself might have deliberately done that as a form of compromise as well as a warning: ‘I would fight back if you get in my way’.

“As I thought, this isn’t going to be easy.”

Nergo understood well that it was a compromise as well as a warning. But even after knowing that, he was still trying to think of a way to get Yanagisawa on their side, unfortunately, no good idea came up.

—*—*—*—

Yumina was standing in the middle of a white room. Her consciousness was hazy, but she could recognize Katsuya, who was standing not too far away from her. She did not think much and immediately went toward Katsuya. But she suddenly stopped in front of him.

She was staring at that person that was obviously Katsuya from the outside. She then tilted her head and said.

“…You are not Katsuya. Who are you?”

“As I thought, you can tell, huh?”

That Katsuya vanished, and in its place, a girl appeared. She was an extraordinarily beautiful girl with a friendly smile. However, Yumina looked at her as if was a threat.

“I’m here with an offer, I hope you will hear me out.”

“An offer?”

“That’s right. It’s a very good offer for you and the rest who have lost Katsuya.”

The girl started explaining her offer with an amicable smile on her face.

Yumina woke up on the infirmary bed. Her consciousness was still hazy as she pushed herself up and looked around, confused. She felt like she just had a dream but she could not remember what it was. She could not remember who she was talking to and what she refused. As her hazy consciousness retreated, it also carried away that thought and vanished altogether.

“What was that…?”

Yumina looked confused for a few seconds. When she regained her calm, she then went through her memories. She remembered that she was busy preparing to retreat when she was inside the ruin, but nothing past that.

After that, Arabe came in and explained what had happened to Yumina.

“I see… So Katsuya is already…”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Yumina was very saddened by the news, but for some reason, she was not surprised. Although she did not know the reason why, she somehow already knew that Katsuya was dead.

“I know that you haven’t fully recovered yet and you might need time to reorganize your feelings. You can just take it easy for the time being.”

“…Yes, thank you very much.”

Arabe felt a slight pang of guilt seeing Yumina politely bow at him, but he then shook that feeling off and returned back to business.

“Ah, and also, I know that I should bring this after you have fully recovered, but it’s my job, you see. I have something that I need to talk to you about, so please just listen to it calmly, okay?”

Arabe awkwardly took out a peace treaty and gave it to Yumina as he started explaining its content. Yumina only listened silently, and when Arabe finished, she signed her name on the treaty and returned it back to Arabe.

Arabe was a bit surprised by that as he looked at Yumina with eyes full of questions. His biggest worry was that Yumina only accepted that in appearance while was scheming for revenge inside.

“Uhh, well, it might be weird for me to say this since I’m the one who came to you with this subject, but, are you really okay with this?”

Yumina still had a saddened expression on her face as she forced a smile.

“Yes, I honestly don’t want this conflict to escalate any further. Moreover, I think Katsuya wouldn’t want us to hold on to this grudge and cause even more deaths.”

Arabe sighed in relief, it seemed that there was nothing for him to worry about.

“Thanks, actually, there are quite a lot of people who have refused, you see. Although I’m sure that it’s not like they will try to kill Akira, considering our relationship with City Management, we need to do this properly. I’m sure that they will change their mind once they calm down after a few days. At that time, I plan to try and convince them as well. If they still insist on not signing the peace treaty, we have no other choice but to strip them of their equipment and kick them out of Drankam. To be honest, I’m really troubled by this.”

“Can you tell me who refused? I’ll try to convince them.”

“Really? Thank you.”

Arabe, who seemed exhausted, thanked Yumina with a serious expression.

“By the way, did Airi also refuse?”

Yumina actually asked that question purely out of curiosity. But seeing Arabe make a conflicted expression, she felt that something did not go well as her expression turned cloudy.

“Uhh, Airi is still alive, right? I heard that from someone else before…”

“…Yeah, we were able to save her, but… I guess I’ll tell you. You will get to know eventually. We did save her and treat her, her life was in no immediate danger. She woke up not too long before you. Once I received that report from the hospital, I came to her room with the peace treaty too, but… She was no longer there.”

“She’s gone?”

“Yeah, it seems like she had sneaked out of the hospital. We dispatched some of our guys to look for her, but we have not found her so far. I think she’s currently confused and panicking but…”

The worry in Yumina’s chest turned worse. The shock even caused her to feel dizzy. But right now, she remembered a portion of her dream.

[So only you alone refuse, huh?]

The girl inside Yumina’s dream said so, it meant that someone else accepted her offer.

Airi was traversing through the wasteland on a vehicle. She was well-armed. Both the vehicle and her equipments were not from Drankam. She had them ready beforehand just to be safe in case she got kicked out of Drankam. She had been slowly gathering these equipment in secret.

Not too long after she left the city, she found some monsters. Airi jumped off the vehicle and directed her rifle at them, she closed her eyes and did not even try to take aim as she pulled the trigger. After holding down the trigger for a few seconds, she opened her eyes. All her shots hit and all the monsters in front of her were already dead.

A voice came out from her information terminal. Airi looked at the display, there was the girl that Yumina saw in her dream.

“How was it?”

“…Yes, I’ve confirmed it, we have a deal… What should I call you?”

“You can call me anything.”

“…I can’t think of a name.”

“In that case, you can call me Alias. We’re just like the embodiment of that word after all.”

“Alright, Alias. I’ll be in your care.”

“Likewise.”

Airi returned back to her vehicle and set out into the wasteland. As she left Kugamayama city behind, her face was filled with determination.