Chapter 114: Backroom of the Awards Ceremony

“Hound! I—I thought you were a man who understood quality! That was why I said I’d even let you ride Clarissa… So why would you do this?!”

“Well, technically, this is a battlefield.”

“You idiot! You absolute idiot! Listen, Hound. It is on the battlefield that one appreciates flowers. That is what makes a first-rate mercenary!”

“I’m afraid I’m not familiar with any culture that classifies tanks as flowers…”

As I said that, I fiddled with my terminal, trying to catch a signal. I wanted to watch the live broadcast of the Crash Race finals, which was currently enjoying rave reviews.

The hot sand of the wasteland threw heat back up at us, unpleasant enough that simply standing there was a trial. Now that I was officially out, I would have liked to hurry back to the pit and drink some cold water, but that was not happening.

Because Tank Dog, who got eliminated as if to keep me company, was lecturing me with tremendous enthusiasm.

“Are you listening, Hound?”

“Not really, Tank. …More importantly, was it really all right for you to quit?”

You can still run, can’t you? I asked.

What the Hellhound had torn through was the muzzle. It did nothing to keep Clarissa from driving.

“Miss Henrietta seems to have quit, but your team can still win, can’t it?”

“How could I possibly do something so cruel to Clarissa when she’s wounded?!”

He yelled at me very seriously.

“…Right.”

I gave a vague answer and sighed. Just then, the Monoz who had been dismantling Jagd returned, so I took off my head armor and handed it to them. When I put on the hat they gave me in exchange, it seemed the match had been decided.

A cheer went up from the terminal and from all around me.

***

I left the podium and the interviews to Shinzo and Mr. Howard.

Since I had technically been in an accident where my vehicle flipped over, I was sent to the first-aid room prepared by the tournament organizers for a quick examination.

That said, I had a reinforced exoskeleton—Centipede—literally attached to the outside of my body, and my insides had been modified too, with my spine replaced by reinforced plastic. I did not think a crash on that level was going to do anything to me.

I did go to the mobile first-aid room, a converted truck, but after a brief questionnaire, a first-aid Monoz marked with a red cross scanned me, and that was that. 

“All right, go home.”

I fitted the Centipede I had taken off back into my artificial spinal cord, then slung it over my shoulder like the centipede it was named for. It was fairly heavy, but Monos were not allowed inside the clinic, so there was nothing to be done about it.

Just in case, I received the examination results as data to show Dr. Yabu later. 

“Thank you,” I said, and stepped outside.

Medicine was weak against heat.

That was why the first-aid room had been well air-conditioned.

Which meant the wasteland outside—sunlight baking the ground, hot sand dancing in the wind—was its own little hell.

“…Shouldn’t you be accepting the runner-up award?”

Especially with a woman wrapped in a bright-red Centipede standing there.

Could she not have gone with a slightly cooler-looking color? The fact that my brain had room for a thought that pointless was proof it was not working properly.

Without moving my eyes or my hands, I focused on the automatic pistol in my hip holster. I pictured the quick draw. Well, even in the worst case, I could probably make it work. I had the image.

“I sent Banri over there! What I wanted was the name of Shepherd Dog. I have no use for some paltry prize money!”

Henrietta Scroote.

Maybe they were acting as bodyguards. The woman in red was waiting for me outside, accompanied by several Monoz.

What was this? Was she a fan?

—No, right. She was a fan.

“Is this about the autograph I promised?”

In that case, please give me a marker.

“That too. But—this is a recruitment offer.”

“No, thank you.”

One of her Monoz, apparently reading the room, brought over a shikishi board and a marker. So I signed, and signed, and signed—

Hard to write like this.

I did not need a table, exactly, but was there nothing I could use for support? I did not want to crawl on the ground. I would like to think I still had that much dignity. I looked around.

Ah, this would do.

I pressed the shikishi against the wall of the first-aid room I had just come out of and wrote 『Touji』 in a deliberately loose hand. Thanks to E.B. Produce, the dakuten marks on the 『ji』 had been turned into dog paw prints.

Ah, right—

“Would you like me to add ‘To the Underdog’?”

“I’ll pass.”

Miss Henrietta accepted my autograph with a look that suggested she had several complaints.

“Yes?”

“Surely you do not have to refuse before even hearing the terms?”

“That was meant to show I have no intention of listening, no matter what the terms are.”

“You are a failure as a merchant.”

“Unfortunately, I’m a mercenary.”

My way of fighting was different from hers. My battlefield was different from hers.

If fighting with words was called negotiation, then I had no chance of winning on that battlefield. So I would not step onto it in the first place. That was my policy.

“I don’t know how I look in your eyes, but I fight for humanity too.”

“Then it really is impossible. I fight for myself. We’re at an impasse,” I said with a shrug.

Miss Henrietta looked at me and let out a long, heavy sigh.

“When you run a business, there are times when you can see how the world is moving.”

“…? And that has what to do with anything?”

“The flow of military supplies is strange. They’re being bought up, then vanishing as if they’ve melted away. After that, they can’t be traced.”

“…”

“That sort of thing happens often enough, but this time the volume is abnormal. I made a tidy profit off the scraps, mind you.” The young lady laughed, low and wicked. “Abacus. I want to make contact with them. That is why I set my sights on becoming a Dog. —Oh, and spare me the act. No pretending you don’t know. No pretending you misunderstood. To keep a secret society secret, you need people in power. Which means—”

“Corporate executives. Old families. People around that level know about them, is that it?”

“Precisely.”

I scratched hard at my head. What to do, what to do? I looked up at the sky.

Blue.

“…And what do you intend to do after making contact?”

You really shouldn’t trust those people, I said.

I had thought so for a while, but after showing Dragon Unit to Akito for this race, that feeling had only grown stronger.

They were not even gray.

They were black all the way through.

“I intend to catch one of my gears in the movement of theirs.”

“…And what would be the point of that?”

“Profit.”

“…”

“Hmm. Judging from that look on your face—the one that says, 『That’s all?』—you really are a soldier, Hound. Those are the eyes of a man who can never be a noble, much less a king. Listen well. Money is the blood of the people. Their lives. With money, people can be saved. With money, they can prosper. That is what money is. If Abacus is gathering military supplies, then money will be needed all the more. I earn money for my people.”

“It looks to me like you wasted plenty of it on this tournament.”

At my point, Miss Henrietta looked at me with another wicked smile.

“Hound, I am your fan, and I recognize that your sniping skill is nothing short of extraordinary. Do you go around boasting of it to others?”

“I’m aware I’m more than decent.”

“In the same way, I happen to be more than decent at making money. A bit of spending on that level does not hurt me in the slightest. The value of a thing changes depending on who is looking at it. Your sniping seems nothing but abnormal to me, yet to you it is only more than decent, is it not?”

“…I see.”

Was that how it worked?

I did not really know.

This was bad, I thought. Talking to her had been a mistake. I had already been dragged onto her battlefield, and now I was under attack.

The best way to reduce the damage was to run.

I operated my terminal, selected a number, and made the call.

Thanks to the influence of the Tree Crystal, wireless calls were unstable even within the same city. But this number, and this number alone, connected from anywhere.

It was technology on an entirely different level. I see. Used properly, this alone could make money.

『Do you require something, Lord Touji?』

The other party picked up after three rings.

“Let’s talk business, Suen.”

I introduced Henrietta to Abacus.

Had I sold Henrietta to Abacus?

Or had I sold Abacus to Henrietta?

I would like the merchants to settle that on their own battlefield.

“You have my thanks, Hound.”

I gave no answer to Henrietta’s thanks. I simply waved my right hand in farewell.

There was still time to make the awards ceremony.

I would watch from the stands, as if it had nothing to do with me.