Rebuild World – Chapter 171, Tsubaki’s Decision

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Translator: Athena13

Editor: Silavin

Proofreader: p4553r

 

Akira was still fighting the weapons dogs which chased him in the middle of the Kuzusuhara ruin filled with half-destroyed buildings.

 

The weapon dog’s firepower was overwhelmingly above Akira. They kept spewing bullets, missiles, and warheads that easily blew the buildings around them to smithereens.

 

Alpha used the full mobility of Akira’s bike to evade the incoming warheads and bullets. Akira could feel explosive wind scraping off his skin, he sometimes had to dive into the smoke while shooting down the weapon dogs that seemed to be endless.

 

The numerous weapon dogs had more firepower, more stamina than him. Both Akira and Alpha were desperately holding on against that fierce onslaught. Akira slipped past the raining bullets, warheads, and missiles with the help of Alpha’s advanced computational ability and by using the environment around them. At the same time, he was sniping the weapon dogs’ weak points while Alpha was shooting down the incoming missiles.

 

The fierce fight that was even changing the contour of the ground in that area was finally coming to an end. Both sides were starting to run out of ammo and that led to Akira gaining the upper hand.

 

The weapon dogs were using ammo that they produced with their organs. After shooting all of those missiles and warheads, even with the automatic resupplying organ and advanced old-world technology, they still needed some time to refresh their ammo. Not to mention, Akira was prioritizing shooting down the weapon dogs that were carrying a lot of ammo.

 

Even if those weapon dogs that had exhausted their ammo ran as fast as they could to chomp at Akira, they could not catch him on his bike. And with the fewer weapon dogs shooting at him, Akira did not need to do too much evading. Alpha utilized the full power of the bike to accelerate forward in a straight line to widen the gap between them.

 

Now that it had come to this, it was impossible for them to catch up. Akira did not slow down as he left the weapon dogs as well as Kuzusuhara ruin behind him.

 

Once Akira left the outskirts of the ruin and stepped into the wide wasteland again, he stopped his bike, turned around, and looked at the ruin behind him while still sitting on his bike.

 

“…Did we get away?”

 

Alpha smiled to reassure him.

 

“Yup, we completely got away from that swarm. They originated from the inner part of the ruin, after all, even if they widen their activity range, they won’t go outside the ruin’s outskirts. So I’m sure they won’t chase you outside the ruin. And even if they do, the City Management would definitely dispatch the defense squad to clean them up.”

 

Akira leaned on his bike as he was pretty tired after what he had gone through. He then sighed in relief and said.

 

“…That was tiring. But we were able to somehow get away from them. Well, that was really something.”

 

“Good work there, or so I want to say, but we can’t exactly relax yet before we get back to the city, okay?”

 

“I know, but still, at least let me take a short break here.”

 

“Geez, just a short break, alright?”

 

Akira lightly nodded and sighed as if to expel all the tiredness from his body. He was leaning on his bike, using the bike to fully support his body, and looked around, that was when his gaze wandered at all the relics on his bike.

 

Those were the relics that he was able to bring back from that magnificent city. Although they were expired articles, Alpha told him that there was no problem with those relics. If that was true, they should be able to fetch him quite a lot of money. As he thought so, he inadvertently raised his expectation and could not help but smile.

 

But then his bike suddenly accelerated. Its wheels, which could spin individually from each other, spun as fast as they could. The wheels gripped the ground strongly and immediately accelerated the bike to the side.

 

At the same time, Akira’s augmented suit moved on its own to grab on his bike so as not to get thrown off. His augmented suit helped him against the assault on his body from the high-G manoeuvre as he quickly accelerated away from that place.

 

Akira activated his time compression by pure reflex and asked Alpha in panic.

 

“Alpha, what’s going on?!”

 

“The break is over!! We have an incoming enemy!”

 

Something exploded behind him. The shockwave from that explosion spread around and swallowed Akira, who was trying to run away from that explosion.

 

Akira jumped out from the smoke of that explosion. Thanks to his forcefield armour coat, he was able to get away just fine. His bike was also undamaged. But unfortunately, one of his rucksacks was blown away due to the shockwave and was thrown into the air.

 

Akira could not help but glance at the flying rucksack. It eventually landed on the ground and was badly bent.

 

“My loot!? Although I’ve worked so hard to carry them all the way here!??”

 

“You can save that for later!!”

 

Alpha yelled and pointed her finger at the wasteland. Akira glanced in the direction that Alpha was pointing with a stern face. But he could not see any monsters over there.

 

“I don’t see anything though!! Are they shooting from so far away that I can’t see them?”

 

Right after he said so, his face suddenly turned surprised. A part of the wasteland scene in front of him was blurred, and from there, a huge mechanical monster appeared. Although it looked like a weapon dog, its dog-shaped body had no visible organic parts. It was fully mechanical and a big cannon was perching on its back.

 

“Optical camouflaging, huh?! Wait for a sec, why is that thing here? We’re already outside the ruin, you know?”

 

“That’s a pretty powerful optical camouflaging. And it’s from the wasteland, not from the ruin.”

 

“How can you tell?”

 

“If it’s from the ruin, I should have been able to detect it. I’m using your information-gathering device to detect enemies while we’re outside the ruin, that’s why I was  late to detect that monster.”

 

Alpha paced the bike straight in that big monster’s direction. Akira understood that she had decided to fight that monster rather than running away from it, so he immediately reached out for his CWH anti-material rifle.

 

“Akira, use anti-force field ammo.”

 

Akira smiled bitterly as he changed magazine. He bought that ammo as a trump card for emergency only, he did not expect to use it again this quickly.

 

“…Geez, I only bought this ammo as a lucky charm, you know.”

 

Alpha smiled at Akira to cheer him up.

 

“Oh my, it’s exactly thanks to that ammo that we can get out of this place alive, you know? So here is where you should seriously feel thankful for it, right?”

 

“That’s just a play on words… It just happened to be like this, I’ll leave it as that.”

 

Akira lightly smiled and took aim with his CWH anti-material rifle. His bike accelerated even more. In order to avoid the monster’s aim, it approached the big monster in a zigzag path. A big warhead flew past Akira and exploded right behind him.

 

Every time the bike made a sharp turn to evade the incoming warhead, his body was whipped to the side together with his bike. Alpha was also in control of the bike’s force field armour, so she used that to make a turn that would have been impossible to execute at that speed. Akira used his augmented suit to force his body against the inertia while aiming his rifle.

 

“Akira, let’s use your blade, so get ready.”

 

“Is that monster that strong? Why is a monster this strong here? Isn’t it just strange?”

 

“Since it’s there in front of you right now, it doesn’t really matter. You should be thankful that we are lucky enough to at least have the chance to put up a fight.”

 

“You have a point there.”

 

Akira smiled bitterly, he still had his CWH anti-material rifle in his left hand while his right hand reached for a blade in his breast pocket. It was nothing but a handle, he gripped it firmly and pointed it away from his body. Silver metallic liquid extended out from that handle and formed a long blade, 3 meters to be exact. It was not something that people would use against other people. Once it reached its full length, it started to glow with a faint blue light.

 

Akira still had his blade extended on his side as he slipped under the incoming warhead. He then gathered all of his focus and aimed his CWH anti-material rifle.

 

“Now!”

 

The anti-force field ammo flew out the CWH anti-material rifle’s muzzle. It hit the monster’s head and released a flash of blinding light.

 

The monster quickly calculated the trajectory of the incoming bullet and focused its force field armour to protect its head. Thanks to that, it was able to withstand that shot which would have been able to easily destroy a tank. Although the backlash threw its huge body off-balance, it sustained no damage. But of course, it lost its force field armour protection temporarily after receiving that shot.

 

While that monster lost its footing, Akira quickly closed the distance between them. He went past besides that big monster as he swung his blade at it. The blade buried its sharp edge into the monster’s metallic body and the bike immediately accelerated to push the blade through the monster’s body, fire sparks burst around the cutting edge of the blade together with a sharp stinging sound of metals being sliced.

 

The bike drove past the mechanical monster, it then made a U-turn and stopped. The blade in Akira’s hand turned into dust and was carried away by the wind.

 

“Did that do it?!”

 

Akira looked at that metallic monster with a stern face. The monster that had lost its control centre slowly fell to the ground.

 

Alpha smiled victoriously and said.

 

“Yep, that should do it. Once again, you did well.”

 

Akira let out a big sigh. He looked at the blade, of which only its handle remained, and smiled bitterly before throwing it away.

 

“One expensive anti-force field ammo and one old-world blade. I even had to use two of my trump cards and was only barely able to defeat that thing, huh.”

 

Akira once again let out a big sigh. That blade was one of the relics that he got from the Tsubakihara building. He had decided to save it for his own use instead of selling it, that was why he put it inside his breast pocket instead of his rucksack. Although he still had some spares, it did not change the fact that he had used one so quickly.

 

Alpha smiled and said in a bright tone to cheer up Akira who looked slightly bummed out.

 

“A win is a win. So cheer up, okay? Let’s pick up that rucksack and go back home.”

 

Akira raised his eyebrows in surprise.

 

“Pick up that rucksack? The relics in it are not broken after it got blown away and landed on the ground that hard?”

 

“Like I said before, although they’re expired articles, they’re not faulty or broken. Old-world relics are pretty robust, you know. So I bet they’re just fine. Moreover, even if they’re slightly damaged, they are still precious old-world relics, they’ll still fetch you some money.”

 

Akira beamed up. He thought that those relics were gone for good after being smacked into the ground like that. So he happily went to pick those relics up.

 

Akira picked up his rucksack as well as the relics that were scattered on the ground when that rucksack was blown away. After that, he climbed on his bike while carrying that rucksack on his arm. He left the driving fully to Alpha as he focused on keeping the rucksack under his arm. Although it was not easy, he held on in that position while heading back to Kugamayama city, leaving the corpse of that big monster behind.

 

—*—*—*—

 

Inside the Tsubakihara building, the automaton Tsubaki, the AI manager of that building, was mumbling.

 

“He took it down, huh.”

 

Tsubaki was watching Akira’s fights closely, both when he fought the weapon dog swarm and when he fought the big monster. She was observing Akira through the network connection with the monsters that attacked him.

 

“Although it’s not enough to fully grasp his real strength, I believe that he’s good enough to consider.”

 

Alpha had made a deal with Tsubaki to let Akira take the expired articles. During that negotiation, although it was mostly affected by the difference in power between Alpha and Tsubaki, Tsubaki mostly made her decision by considering the amount of damage that it might cause inside the area under her supervision in case a fight occurred.

 

If letting him take the expired articles was enough to send him back, then there was no need to cause any unnecessary fight. That was the biggest reason why Tsubaki accepted that deal. But seeing that from a different light, it also meant that if Akira was weak and if Tsubaki could kill him without sustaining much damage, then she would have done that.

 

Putting aside the difference in their ranks, if Alpha had the gut to threaten her by claiming that Akira was stronger than he actually was, Tsubaki was thinking of answering that with a rather extreme action. The weapon dog swarm and that big mechanical monster were sent to fight Akira for the sake of checking Alpha’s claim.

 

Judging from the result, including the info that she gained from Alpha, Tsubaki decided that at least for now, Akira was worth considering, both for the better and for the worse.

 

—*—*—*—

 

Akira originally planned to immediately sell the relics that he got from the Tsubakihara building. But Alpha stopped him. She told him to be careful about it in order to avoid getting strange rumour out, or if he could not avoid making rumour, at least to keep that rumour to a minimum. After he returned home, Akira put all the relics that he carried back in the warehouse and made sure to finish the usual maintenance for his equipment before finally taking a rest.

 

On the next day, Akira put some relics that were relatively in good condition into his rucksack and headed to the wasteland on his bike. He first went to Higaraka residence ruin and spent some time training there before taking a long detour back to Kugamayama city and finally went to Katsuragi to sell those relics.

 

That day, just like usual, Katsuragi was waiting in his trailer that doubled as his shop. When he spotted Akira coming on a bike, he obviously had a rather displeased look on his face and said.

 

“Akira, huh? Are you here for medicines and ammo again? What’s going on with your Hunter job? To be honest, I really hope you would come to me to sell relics sometime soon, you know.”

 

Katsuragi obviously sounded disappointed, but even after hearing that, Akira casually replied as if it did not bother him at all.

 

“That’s exactly why I’m here today.”

 

Katsuragi’s displeased face immediately brightened up with a merchant smile.

 

“Oh!! Really?! Finally!!”

 

But he immediately frowned.

 

“…So, where are the relics?”

 

Akira took out a small rucksack and showed it to Katsuragi, whose face immediately returned to disappointment as he sighed.

 

The last time Akira visited Katsuragi to sell relics, he brought a big rucksack filled with relics to the point that it would be hard to carry that rucksack without the help of an augmented suit. That was why Katsuragi was expecting at least the same amount of relics again this time, but contrary to his expectation, Akira brought a rather small rucksack and it was far from being filled with relics. So he could not help but feel disappointed.

 

“Is that everything…? Well, it doesn’t matter then, come in.”

 

Akira and Katsuragi went into the trailer and into the break room reserved for staff. They sat face to face with a table between them. Katsuragi then said in a rather unmotivated manner.

 

“Well now, let’s take a look. Bring out the relics.”

 

Akira casually pulled out relics from inside his rucksack and lined them on the table in front of him. It was six transparent box cases with a spherical object inside them that looked like they were made of metal or rubber. They were old-world information terminals.

 

Katsuragi who seemed to be not interested at all up until now froze up. His eyes then widened in shock before he squinted his eyes with suspicion.

 

“T-these are… No, wait, can it be…? Akira, where did you get these from?”

 

“Where? Old-world ruin of course.”

 

“That’s not it, I mean which ruin to be more precise?”

 

“That’s a secret.”

 

“A secret…?”

 

Katsuragi was surprised by that reply and had a conflicted look on his face. Seeing that, Akira lightly frowned and looked displeased.

 

“If you say you can’t buy them unless I tell you where I found them, I’ll just sell them somewhere else. I did take these relics to you first as I promised, so I won’t take any complaint from you.”

 

Seeing Akira start putting those relics back into his rucksack, Katsuragi stopped him in panic.

 

“Wait wait wait wait wait! Wait there, okay?! Don’t put them back! I’ll get them checked first, so just leave them there! I’ll bring you some coffee too! So just enjoy the coffee while you wait!!”

 

Katsuragi went to make coffee and placed it in front of Akira. He then brought out a special device for inspecting relics and started inspecting the relics in front of him closely. Akira was trying to look calm while sipping his coffee and observing Katsuragi.

 

Katsuragi put on a monocular magnifying glass on one of his eyes and looked closely at the relics, while doing that, he casually threw a question at Akira.

 

“Akira, what do you think these relics are?”

 

“Expensive-looking relics.”

 

“Expensive, huh? Just how expensive do you think these are?”

 

That was when Alpha interjected.

 

“Akira, no need to hold back.”

 

“1 billion Aurum.”

 

Hearing that, Katsuragi could not help but laugh.

 

“No no no, although these are indeed old-world information terminals, 1 billion Aurum is just too big no matter how you think about it, you know? There’s no way they cost that mu-“

 

Katsuragi stopped midway when he realized Akira was staring at him. There was a slight suspicion and contempt in his stare.

 

“You were planning to buy them cheaply if I had said a low price, weren’t you?”

 

Katsuragi smiled as if to play ignorant, but he could not completely fool Akira. Normally, Katsuragi would never make such a mistake. The price that Akira suggested was too high that it threw him off-beat.

 

“Of course not. It’s just that we can’t get a good deal that we both can accept unless both of us have at least some knowledge about these relics that you’re trying to sell, you see. That’s why I was just trying to make sure you know a few things about these relics.”

 

“Really now?”

 

“Geez, don’t be like that, if I offer to buy these relics with a price that’s way above your guess, that in itself would be suspicious for you too, right?”

 

“To be honest, I have no complaint if you’re going to buy them at a higher price than I expected though. So then, are you done inspecting them yet?”

 

“Be patient. These might be worth more than I expected, you see. My main job is not inspecting relics, so I can’t really say for sure how much they are worth without inspecting them closely. To be honest, it would be great if you would leave them here for a few days, is that okay with you?”

 

“No, that’s not okay.”

 

Katsuragi slightly frowned, he then said as if to calm Akira down.

 

“Just a few days should be fine, you know? It’s not like we’re strangers after all, right? I can assure you that it’s better if you get these relics properly inspected. I can even use my connections with a relics inspector acquaintance to have him write an inspection certificate for these relics, you know? As I said before, inspecting relics is not my main job, so it’s definitely better to have a real pro check them, don’t you think so too?”

 

But Akira shook his head.

 

“Still no. Sorry to say this, but I don’t trust you that far yet. I want to avoid the problem in case you replace them with cheaper relics after I leave them with you just to get you to tell me later that they are actually cheap relics.”

 

“Geez, what a worry-wart, it will be fine, I tell you.”

 

“It’s your own fault for frequently doing or saying something untrustworthy, like what you did just now.”

 

Katsuragi lightly laughed and looked away. Seeing that, Akira lightly sighed.

 

“Well, personally speaking, I don’t think you would do something like that though. But with that being said, I can’t really tell where these relics would go once I leave them to someone else. It’s just that I simply can’t really trust a friend of a friend of a friend, you see. But of course, if you can promise me to take responsibility and pay me 1 billion Aurum in case if anything bad were to happen, I won’t mind leaving them with you.”

 

Katsuragi smiled wryly. As a merchant who often traded with Hunters, he could understand where Akira’s attitude came from.

 

“As expected, I can’t go that far, but still…”

 

Katsuragi hummed. It was true that his main job was a merchant, not a relic inspector. So of course, he lacked the knowledge and devices to do a proper relic inspection. After thinking for a while, he then came up with a suggestion.

 

“How about if I call a relic inspector whom I know to come here?”

 

“If you’re going to inspect these relics in front of me, you can do whatever you want.”

 

“Alright!! Just wait for a bit here then!!”

 

Katsuragi pulled out his information terminal and immediately started preparing.

 

Not too long afterwards, multiple relic inspectors came to the trailer, all of them were the relic inspectors that Katsuragi called. They then used their inspection devices, which looked exaggeratedly huge with a huge link to each device as they immediately started their inspection.

 

Akira was sipping his coffee with a calm face, although, to be honest, he was a bit surprised by what was going on.

 

“For some reason, it seems it’s being blown out of proportion though. They seem to be taking a very close look at those relics, well, those are mechanical relics, after all. I wonder if it got broken when it got blown off back then.”

 

Alpha replied with her usual smile.

 

“It’ll be fine. Just keep calm and show some confidence that those relics are really worth that much. If you show weakness here, they might rip you off, you know?”

 

“A-alright!”

 

Akira sipped his coffee while trying to calm himself down, he was doing his best to show confidence there.

 

While the other people inside that room were still inspecting the relics, Katsuragi and another guy stepped back and went to the deeper part of the trailer. They then started conversing while whispering to make sure that Akira could not eavesdrop on them.

 

“Katsuragi, is that boy the one who brought in those relics?”

 

“That doesn’t really matter. Just make sure to do a proper inspection of those relics. So, how is it? Are they not fake?”

 

“I can’t really say for sure since I can only carry relatively low accuracy inspection devices with me, but from the result up until now, I think they’re not fake and they are in a pretty good condition too. If I’m being strict here, the cases are a little bit bent, but that should not affect the articles inside them. So then, where did that boy get those relics?”

 

“Geez, give it up, will you? Can’t you just open the case and take a closer look at them?”

 

“Some of those cases will break its content when not opened with the right method, you see, and that’s doubly true for articles that can only be contained inside a container. For example, those articles in the form of powder. I don’t want to be held responsible if we open them and break their contents. That aside, why won’t that boy tell you where he got them from? Is it because he’s just a carrier from another shop or something and those relics were actually found by another Hunter? Do you have any good guess where he might have got those relics?”

 

“Just drop it already. I only asked you to inspect the relics that one of my customers brought in. Isn’t that enough already? If you keep pestering me with unnecessary questions, I’ll have you leave, you know?”

 

Katsuragi said so and glared at the other guy. So the other guy clicked his tongue and decided to stop pursuing that subject.

 

After that, they continued talking in secret about the result of the relic inspection. Once they reached a conclusion, Katsuragi sent the people that he called in to inspect the relics out. He then sat facing Akira with the relics lined between them and smiled at Akira with a merchant’s smile.

 

“Sorry for the wait, the inspection is done. So, about the price though, I know that you want me to pay you on the spot. But even if you bring relics to the Hunter Office, they sometimes only transfer the money the day after, or in some cases, it might even take a few weeks. So just keep that in mind and listen to me, okay?”

 

“Alright, so then, how much is it?”

 

Katsuragi smiled and said.

 

“60 million Aurum, what do you think?”

 

Akira’s face slightly turned stern. He then frowned and stared at the relics in front of him.

 

“Don’t just fall silent, tell me if you’re okay with that price or not.”

 

Akira was actually trying his best not to show his surprise on his face, he did not expect those relics to be worth that much. That stern gaze on those relics was actually because he was so surprised that he inadvertently looked at them with a mix of suspicion.

 

But for some reason, maybe because he was slightly desperate, Katsuragi who saw that thought that Akira was doing calculations if that was a good price or not. Akira suddenly extended his hand, in reality, Akira was just going to take a closer look at the relics, but Katsuragi thought that Akira was going to stuff them back into his rucksack.

 

“Whoah there! Wait, let’s think carefully about this, okay? It’s 60 million Aurum, you know?! 60 Million!! I’ll at least let you know this, even if you bring them to the Hunter Office, at most, they’ll only pay you 50 million Aurum. I’m sure it won’t go close to 60 million! Although in place of that your Hunter Rank would go up, I know that you don’t really care about that, right? If you’re looking for money, just sell them to me.”

 

Akira did not say anything. He only looked at the relics in his hand and Katsuragi alternately.

 

“Moreover, if you bring them to the Hunter Office, they’ll pester you about where you got those relics and whatnot. That’s the same if you try to sell them somewhere else. You don’t want to tell anyone where you got these relics, right? If it’s me, I’m willing to buy them from you without asking where you got them, and I can guarantee you that I won’t leak anything to anyone. I know that this is a good deal for you, so just sell them to me, yeah?”

 

Akira still would not say anything. Katsuragi started to get even more desperate.

 

“Alright alright!! I’ll buy them for 70 million Aurum but with one condition! As expected even I can’t offer you more money than that!! If this is not good enough for you, I’ll drop this deal, you know!!”

 

“One condition?”

 

Katsuragi was slightly relieved seeing that Akira finally gave a positive reply. Although he calmed down, he still had a mix of desperation in his merchant smile.

 

“Although I’ll buy them for 70 million Aurum, I can only pay you 30 million Aurum. So for the rest, I’ll give you 40 million Aurum store credit. After all, I know that you would just use all of them for medicines, right? So I’m sure that it’s a good deal for you too. I don’t mind if you want to use it for my other goods, and if you need something else, I can also put an order for you. Of course, you’ll have to store some money for that order though. And also, if you ever find similar relics again, make sure to bring them to me first. That’s the condition.”

 

Akira was pretending to be thinking when he was actually trying to calm himself down. Katsuragi was nervously waiting for Akira’s reply. In the middle of that strangely tense mood, Akira opened his mouth and finally said.

 

“…Alright, I’ll take that deal.”

 

“Nice!! I’ll transfer the money right away, so you should check if it properly reaches you.”

 

Katsuragi immediately finished the transfer before Akira changed his mind. Akira checked the transfer and confirmed that it indeed reached his account.

 

“I received the money, that’s it then.”

 

Katsuragi sighed with a big smile on his face. He quickly brought out a strong-looking case and carefully transferred the relics into that case before handing it over to the relic inspectors that he sent outside the trailer. When he returned, he had a wide smile on his face, it seemed that he also got a good deal with those relic inspectors.

 

“That was a good deal. Now then, it’s my turn now. What do you need? Is it more medicines? Wait for a bit here, I’ll bring it out.”

 

Katsuragi went to the warehouse and returned back with a box of medicines and placed it on top of the table. The box also contained not the usual 2 million Aurum per box medicine that Akira usually bought from Katsuragi.

 

“This is my recommended medicine. I ordered these expensive medicines especially for you. It’s 5 million Aurum per box.”

 

“5 million, huh? Isn’t that a little too expensive?”

 

Akira frowned, but Katsuragi smiled as if it did not bother him at all.

 

“Well, it’s originally for Hunters who usually work further to the east after all. So that price is pretty normal out there. But I can guarantee it, it’s a high-quality medicine. Like I said, I ordered them especially for you. To be honest, as someone who’s selling medicines to you, I’m a bit worried about how you spent your money only on medicines, you know? I’m sure you can understand that, right?”

 

“…Well, can’t really say I don’t.”

 

Akira occasionally used a lot of medicines to the point that some people thought he was trying to be a superhuman. Although he also had started taking drugs to clean up the nanomachine residue in his body, he still had not done that yet. He was planning to take one after his next ruin expedition.

 

Katsuragi nodded to affirm Akira’s guess.

 

“Thought so. So that’s where this medicine comes in. These are specially made for Hunters and its producer put extra effort into keeping the nanomachine residue to a minimum. So even if you consume a lot of them in a short span of time, it should only leave a small amount of nanomachines in your body. Not to mention that it’s highly effective. So you don’t have to consume too much of it in one go and the nanomachine from this medicine can stay active for a relatively long time. It’s the perfect medicine for you. This time I only ordered 2 boxes, but you should buy them. You have 40 million store credit, so there’s no need for you to be overly frugal about this kind of thing that might save your life.”

 

“Alright, I’ll take them.”

 

“Certainly!! I knew that you would buy them!”

 

“By the way, what were you going to do with them if I did not buy them? It’s not like anyone would buy that 5 million Aurum per box medicine around this place, right?”

 

“But of course, there’s you, no? Well, what can I say, my merchant instinct is telling me that you’ll definitely grow powerful enough to be able to buy this kind of medicine just fine.”

 

“I wonder about that.”

 

Katsuragi said so smugly and Akira just sent a gaze at him with suspicion.

 

Katsuragi was not lying. But it was not like he had no plans at all, he had already prepared plan B to send those medicines to another city through his connection in case Akira would not buy them. This was one of the results of his talent as a merchant.

 

In the end, Akira bought 2 boxes of 5 million per box medicine and 5 boxes of 2 million per box medicine. On top of that, he also placed an order for 2 boxes of that 5 million per box medicine. So he was left with 10 million store credits that he saved in case he was going to buy something later from Katsuragi.

 

Once he was done with his business there, Akira returned back to his bike and drove away. Katsuragi saw him off and mumbled.

 

“To be honest, I was thinking of cutting my ties with him and Sheryl’s gang if he wasn’t going to bring me relics soon. But still, I didn’t expect him to bring something like that. Not to mention, Sheryl seems to be turning into a rather prospective customer too. Is it that my luck as a merchant is getting better lately? I guess this is a good time to take a risky gamble, huh?”

 

Katsuragi had a big dream to join the ranks of the Corporate Government and issue a currency under his name for the territory he ruled. And finally, he felt like he spotted a way to make his dream come true as he smiled widely.

 

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