CLICK—.
The door closed, and the workshop owner adjusted her mask back into place.
"The boss is terminally ill."
The sudden statement caught me slightly off guard, but I kept my expression dry as I asked.
"What caused it?"
"......A bullet lodged in her neck."
Come to think of it, there had been a large scar beside that mechanical device.
"The bullet was removed, but fragments are still embedded in her neck."
So that was why she couldn't speak for long or clearly.
"That device is pushing the fragments away."
"Is the device nearing the end of its lifespan?"
"Yes."
And because of that, they wanted me to kill a Pentatech Android?
"How long do I have to bring it back?"
"The sooner, the better......."
"Exactly how long?"
"......One week."
"And if that deadline passes?"
"The boss dies."
The masked woman lowered her head and simply listened.
"Why are you asking me to do this?"
"We didn't have anyone trustworthy."
Could I actually pull it off if I used the Nanomachine's Hacking System?
The thought crossed my mind.
"......."
When I remained silent, the masked woman hurriedly spoke.
"85 Gold. Pilgrim information. Procedure, free."
"Forget the procedure. Just do me one favor later."
"Hm."
The masked woman nodded, accepting my condition.
"I'm definitely going to succeed, so have the Pilgrim information ready."
"I sincerely hope you succeed."
The employee spoke with a desperate expression.
I rose from my seat.
"Then I'm off."
"Yes, please. We're counting on you!"
"Thank, you."
The two gave short farewells, and I answered with a casual wave.
'Pilgrims, huh.'
Now I had a reason I absolutely had to succeed.
All right, then.
How should I clear this?
***
The sun of Eternal Sky had reached its midpoint.
It was lunchtime, so I returned to the inn and ate with the others.
"Going out again?"
The old man asked while clearing the table, watching me gather my things.
"I still haven't stopped by the Quest House."
"Hm, I see."
"Oh, right. Want to come on a request with me?"
"If there is a request, then of course I should."
"Then I'll register us together."
With that, I left the inn.
"Have a good trip!"
This time, Berry saw me off.
'A safe request with a Pentatech D-Grade Android accompanying it.'
I didn't know whether there would be anything that easy.
Still, I headed toward the Market.
"All kinds of chips for sale! Martial Arts Chips, Shooting Chips, everything! Cheap, cheap!"
"Modifications and Compression, all available!"
"Fresh monster corpses just came in!"
The Market, in one phrase, was.
'It's a complete madhouse.'
The crowd was enormous.
Probably because it was a holiday and everyone had come at the same time.
"Hey, handsome! Want to take a little break?"
"Ah, come on."
I shook off the person grabbing at me and kept walking.
My destination was the enormous building at the very center of the Market.
The Quest House.
'It's been a while since I've seen this place too.'
In the game, I used it a lot in the early and middle stages.
Later on, the efficiency was terrible, so I stopped going.
I arrived at the five-story Quest House.
HUM—.
The automatic entrance doors opened to welcome me.
Inside, there were just as many people as outside.
"Need porters! Any three people!"
"Anyone up for a Pillager subjugation?!"
The first floor was where people freely formed parties and went out on requests, so it was noisy and chaotic.
'I should go to the second floor.'
The second floor handled official requests, so there were relatively fewer people.
"Welcome."
"I'm here to register for a request."
"You can use the kiosk over there."
After the employee's brief explanation.
I stood in front of the kiosk.
[Request Registration and Application]
[Identity Registration and Grade Verification]
[Other Services]
The kiosk had a simple interface.
'First, let's see what requests are available.'
I turned my head toward the enormous hologram labeled Request Board.
[Pillager Settlement Subjugation / Grade : E]
[Mole Cricket Heart Collection / Grade : C]
There were simple subjugation and collection requests.
[Surface Special Zone Reconnaissance]
['Crystal Garden' Reconnaissance and Information Collection]
There were various reconnaissance requests too.
But that wasn't what I was looking for, so I turned away.
SWISH—.
Even after scrolling down the list of missions on the board, none of them satisfied me.
'There's nothing suitable.'
Some came with Androids, but from other organizations.
Others had Pentatech Androids, but they were C-Grade and far too strong.
Various other conditions made things difficult.
'Nothing good comes up when I sort by newest.'
I went all the way down to page ten, but they were all more or less the same.
I sighed and adjusted the board settings.
[Filter : Pentatech, D-Grade Android.]
At this rate, I might have to take a request posted a long time ago that no one had accepted.
It would obviously be dangerous, but I didn't have a choice.
I set the filter just to see what was there.
[Search Results : 1]
Exactly one result.
A request that had been posted several months ago appeared.
After reading the contents, I couldn't help but snort.
'As expected of this garbage game. Look at this difficulty.'
The difficulty was practically demanding a pointless death.
But for a veteran, that still wasn't a problem.
[Apply for this request?]
[Y / N]
"Of course I am."
I took the paper printed by the kiosk and returned to the inn.
"Wow! Mister's back!"
"I brought dinner too."
I tossed dinner to Berry, called the old man over, and sat down at the table.
"I took a request."
"Hm, I see. What is it?"
The old man answered casually.
"The request is from Pentatech."
"......!"
At my words, the old man's eyes shook violently before quickly returning to normal.
'Looks like he has some connection to Pentatech.'
I spoke as though nothing had happened.
"Are requests from them uncomfortable for you?"
"It does not matter."
The old man answered coldly.
His gaze had shaken at the name Pentatech just now.
He'd also let things slip before about his former affiliation.
This man was hiding something.
Something with an ugly connection to Pentatech.
"Are you sure it doesn't matter? Back when Pentatech......."
"Enough!"
BANG—!
The old man kicked his chair back and shot to his feet.
His face was red with anger.
"I do not want to hear any more."
He immediately stormed outside.
I stared blankly after him.
'What the hell happened?'
I'd only vaguely said "back when" to test the waters.
I didn't actually know what had happened.
CLICK—.
I opened the door and followed him.
"Sir."
The old man was leaning against a nearby alley wall and seemed calmer than before.
"......How much do you know?"
"I can't tell you the details, but I can swear I'm not with Pentatech......."
"Did I not tell you that last time too......."
Stagger—.
He suddenly stumbled mid-sentence, and I caught him before he fell.
'A syringe?'
As I supported him, I looked at his hand.
He hurriedly hid his right hand, which was holding a square injector.
"Thank you."
"That thing in your hand......."
His fingers covered most of its surface, so I couldn't see all of it.
'That's a suppressant-type drug.'
It was a Suppressant, something used when the body developed a serious abnormality.
Of course, there were countless varieties of Suppressants.
Immune-system types, potion-addiction types, monsterization types, and more.
But using a drug like that regularly at all was proof that something in his body was broken.
"......Keep this a secret from Berry."
Feeling my gaze, he spoke quietly.
"Phew...... all right, for now."
As soon as my short answer ended, a long silence fell between us.
"For now, all I can tell you is that I used to belong to Pentatech."
I nodded instead of answering.
"I do not know how much you know about me, but I will explain everything later."
"All right."
"And leave Berry and me out of this request."
"Understood."
As I helped him back toward the inn, the old man slowly opened his mouth.
"So what kind of request is it?"
"Exploration of an abandoned subway with a Pentatech D-Grade Android accompanying us."
***
Deep in the night, while everyone in Paradise slept.
The old man was speaking with someone over a call.
"Do you know anything about ARK?"
A youthful voice came through the receiver.
-ARK? I only know that their commander died twenty years ago and the unit was disbanded.
"Do you know who served in the unit?"
-That'll take some time to dig up.
"Could you look into it for me? I am asking a favor."
The voice on the line hesitated for a moment.
Then it spoke clearly, as though coming to a decision.
-Between us, you don't need to ask. I'll just do it.
"Thank you."
-Don't mention it. By the way, how are the Suppressants?
"I can still hold out."
-Want me to end the call?
"Ah. There is one last thing I need to say."
-You're hesitating this much? Guess this is the real reason you called.
The owner of the voice let out a peculiar laugh.
"There is someone I truly want to introduce you to. A talent who may be useful for terrorism."
-Really? Bring him by sometime. To the Octagon.
"I will. Ending the call."
CLICK—.
The old man ended the communication and set the receiver down before looking up at the sky.
The bright moonlight of Eternal Sky brushed across him.
It was nothing more than fake light from LEDs.
Yet somehow, it seemed to carry warmth.
It was a night that made him think of someone he desperately missed.
***
I leaned beside the surface entrance, yawning repeatedly as I waited for the Android.
'An Android is actually late.'
Androids.
What you'd commonly call combat machines.
In crude terms, something like a Terminator?
Their combat power varied wildly by Grade.
From S-Grade down to F-Grade.
Except for E- and F-Grade units, most were used for combat.
There were two companies in Paradise that were especially good at producing Androids.
Pentatech (Penta-Tech).
Unreal-Tech.
The two megacorporations competed like mad, pumping out Androids.
The difference between them?
Pentatech was part of the opposition that wanted the Paradise government and monarchy dismantled.
Unreal-Tech was pro-royalist.
'They're both the same kind of bastards, though.'
To ordinary citizens, there wasn't much difference.
Both were equally shady.
It wasn't as if Paradise's Central Government was exactly clean either.
'Paradise really is just a den of lunatics.'
It hit me all over again what kind of game I'd spent all those years playing.
"Yaaawn......."
I didn't know how long I'd been waiting.
Then I saw someone approaching me.
SWISH—.
I wiped away the tears that had gathered in my eyes from yawning and looked again.
"Sir?"
"It is me."
It was the old man, who had said he wouldn't take part in the request.
"What brings you here?"
"I said I would take the mission and then changed my mind. I should take responsibility, should I not?"
"Hm. Thank you."
"It is nothing."
The old man waved off my thanks, then sensed someone approaching and turned his head at the same time I did.
[Subway Exploration Mission]
In the distance, an Android holding a sign with those words stood out.
"Over here!"
I raised my hand and waved.
The Android noticed and approached.
"Registered request personnel?"
A stiff mechanical voice sounded.
If it hadn't been for that voice, I might've mistaken it for an ordinary person.
It looked exactly like one.
"Yeah, that's us. One of the three dropped out."
I corrected the Android.
"Reporting change in request personnel to superiors."
The Android immediately continued.
"Pentatech D-Grade Android, D-8573."
"Right. Looking forward to working with you."
I held out my hand.
The Android stared at it for a moment, then shook it.
GRIP—.
Smile, you bastard.
That way you'll have a good funeral.
***
[Surveillance Program and Firewall active.]
[Hacking without triggering surveillance is impossible.]
[Attempt hacking anyway?]
'Cancel.'
Hacking itself looked doable.
But the Surveillance Program would activate immediately.
'Then Pentatech would come running.'
They weren't the kind of people who'd sit still while company property was being hacked.
More importantly.
'Are they not going to tell us the details of the request?'
If you're going to carry out a request, you're supposed to share information.
I tapped the Android walking ahead of me on the shoulder and asked.
"What exactly are we supposed to do?"
"Explore a closed subway on the surface."
"Be specific."
"Unable to disclose due to confidentiality."
Was telling me that one thing really so difficult?
"No, if we're carrying out the request....... ah, forget it."
There was no point asking when I already knew I'd get the same answer again.
Then, from behind me.
GRIND—.
I heard teeth grinding.
It was the old man.
What was his problem now?
TAP—.
I lightly touched the old man's shoulder as he glared at the Android as though he were about to fire lasers from his eyes.
'Ease up on the glare.'
I mouthed the words.
Only then did some of the force leave his gaze.
Though he was still clearly hostile.
"......What should I call you?"
"Anything."
"D-85...... I'll just call you D-Pal."
"Confirmed."
What an ill-mannered jerk.
I wanted to smack the back of its head, but barely held myself back.
"So how much longer?"
"Excluding special contingencies, 48 minutes remaining."
"Any monsters detected?"
"None."
At least it had its uses.
For now.
"Wait."
I stopped the group.
Rumble, rumble—.
I felt a faint vibration through my feet.
"It's a mole cricket."
Of course.
We were on the surface.
A monster showed up right away.