Chapter 109: Son-in-Law

“Hey, Father. That technology is useless.”

Xena, dressed in work clothes, said that with her cheeks puffed out.

“…Which technology?”

“That barrier.”

“Ah, that.”

“Yes. The finals are tomorrow, right? I thought maybe we could somehow work it in, but no. The energy consumption is far too high. At this rate, one wrong move and the Monoz could die.”

She was assigned to Howard-san’s machine.

Whether because of the driver or the machine, she apparently could not accept that he had ended up being the first on our team to retire in both the preliminaries and the semifinals. So whenever she found the time, she devoted herself to improving it.

In a way, places like this were exhibitions for technology. People from the technical side, like Akito and Karys, were asking and answering questions as if this were their moment.

Even so,

“I’m surprised they let you see it.”

Primula-san has such a rotten personality, after all.

“…”

“What’s wrong?”

Why did she freeze?

Why was she looking away from me?

“Yes. Well. I saw it.”

At her words, I glanced toward Primula-san’s pit without really meaning to.

I saw Primula-san in full fury. She was declaring to a technician trying to ask her a question, “There is no technology here to teach to low-level people like you!”

Getting information out of that would be impossible.

Which meant,

“…Please keep it within reason.”

I decided not to notice the subtle difference.

I understood very well now that the ultimate form of security was not connecting to the network at all.

***

Since the finals were tomorrow, Team Shinzo called it a day.

There was an inn nearby, so we could all take it easy there.

“Shinzo’s group gets to go home. Howard’s group gets to go home. But too bad! Touji’s group gets overtime! The reason? Ahaha, the reason? Because Touji broke everything!”

“…”

So yes.

We could take it easy. Some restrictions applied.

Well, if that was how it was, I would stay too. We were a team, after all. All for one, and one for all.

“I’ll help too.”

“No, just the thought is enough.”

“Just the Monoz.”

“Touji-san is a little…”

They treated me terribly.

“Touji!”

As I sank into depression, Akito called out to me with a smile. Still smiling, he gave me a sharp thumbs-up and said, “You can leave the Monoz and go somewhere else.”

“…”

He said something very cruel.

But unfortunately, he was right. Regrettably, I had no technical knowledge. On top of that, I was fairly sloppy. They had no use for someone who built plastic models and did not care if the burrs were still there.

So I had no choice. I operated my terminal and ordered the Monoz who had not handled weapons today to assist with the work. That meant everyone except Rat Unit, Dragon Unit, Snake Unit, Horse Unit, Rooster Unit, Dog Unit, and Boar Unit. With Sheep Unit and Monkey Unit, two dexterous units, among them, it should be fine.

“Oh, Horse Unit and Boar Unit, stay here too. Your bodies need repairs.”

I waved in acknowledgment at Akito’s words.

The useless one would hurry off and prepare some refreshments.

***

After changing into field clothes and pulling a Double C cap low over my eyes, people were surprisingly bad at noticing me.

“That race just now was amazing.”

“I want Hound’s autograph.”

“A cap signed by Hound himself! Just three thousand C right now!”

I had been hearing things like that for a while, but no one came to ask me for an autograph directly.

For the time being, I lightly tapped the shoulder of the old man selling autographed caps I did not remember signing.

“Hey there, young man! Want to buy one?”

He answered with a smile, so I decided to smile back.

Naturally, it would be rude to keep my hat on when speaking to someone older, so I took it off.

“U-hih!”

The man backed away with a hiccup-like shriek. I held him in place and whispered in his ear.

“Lately, I’ve been forgetting all sorts of things. I can’t remember whether I signed this cap or not. So, old man, what do you think? If this number went up, I feel like I might remember something good.”

I said that while showing him the wallet app on my terminal.

“Oh, and be careful with the number. After all, quite literally…”

It was the price of his life.

As I spoke, I stepped on the man’s foot with my mechanical left leg.

“!!!”

Of course. I understand. The man nodded with a pale face.

My terminal reacted. The number displayed was thirty thousand C.

…Well, fine.

“I remember now, old man. This is my signature.”

“Y-yes, of course! Ah, um, yes, thank you very much for your help back then!”

“No, no. Do your best to sell them. Ah, I forgot to mention. The hats here have my signature on them, but I don’t plan to sign any more. So please pray I don’t find any others.”

I waved goodbye with my right hand to the man as he sank limply to the ground like his legs had given out.

My Monoz looked up at me as if they had something to say, so as hush money, I transferred half the amount into their shared account. My eyes met Dog Unit’s, so I gave him a hand signal.

Keep it secret.

After confirming his nod, I looked up.

“…How about the food stalls? My treat.”

“That will be enough to forgive you!”

Eevee stood there with Rudo and the three little girls, grinning.

“Cotton candy.”

“Castella.”

“Buttered potatoes.”

The little children, having grasped the situation, tugged freely at the edges of my clothes.

I was afraid I would kick them if I walked.

I wished they would keep a little distance.

***

There were quite a few children at the campsite.

Fifty-three children had come to this Crash Race: the technical team, plus a few combat-team members like Kirie and Touka.

It felt wrong to favor only the three little ones, so under the pretext of “pocket money,” I sent five hundred C to each of them.

The amount I had extorted from the old man: thirty thousand C.

Hush money for the Monoz: fifteen thousand C.

Pocket money for the children: twenty-six thousand five hundred C total.

Entertainment expenses for Eevee: one thousand C.

Jerky for Rudo: three hundred C.

Damage to my wallet: twelve thousand eight hundred C.

“…”

But the memories I bought with it were priceless.

You could not put a price on the memories of a wonderful day like this.

That was how it was.

“…That said, could you give back the hush money?”

The Monoz all looked away at once.

Apparently not.

“Want some?”

One of the little girls offered me cotton candy while I was depressed. She had probably gotten tired of eating it. Seeing Eevee wipe the sticky mess around the girl’s mouth with a wry smile made me feel strangely complicated.

Because this looked almost like..

“Oh? When did you have children, Tou-nyan?”

“…I am aware that it looks that way, but that is not what this is, Ed-yan.”

A gentleman appeared as if parting the crowd and laughed. “Haha!”

Looking closer, I saw Mr. Edrum Arawn, president of Arawn Company, accompanied by his bespectacled guard and his daughter and son-in-law.

Done with it?

Somehow.

I exchanged glances with Shinzo. He was still wearing his Centipede, having come straight from the race, and beside him was his wife in work clothes, clearly having come straight from the site as well.

The husband of Arawn Company’s president’s daughter.

The person directly involved in the Sheepherd Dog exam being held behind the scenes of this tournament.

And the man who had earned a ticket to the finals.

With all that lined up, he could earn a thank-you fee just by dealing with the press.

Since we are here anyway, Karys had dragged Shinzo off right after the match and made him hold a press conference.

“Good work.”

“…I never wanna do that again.”

“Well, give up.”

Think of it as a tax for marrying into a powerful family.

“But, well, I got paid pretty well for it, so you can look forward to dinner.”

“Well, well. By the way, Shinzo, how many children are at the campsite right now?”

“? Around five hundred, I think.”

I see. So there were that many now. The pocket money I had handed out had not even reached ten percent of them.

…I should have made it three hundred C.

“I gave pocket money to the children who came here earlier.”

“…”

“Five hundred C each.”

“…I’ll hand it out when we get back.”

“Please do.”

Shinzo’s head slumped.

“Oh my, what happened to Shinzo-kun?”

“He is depressed because the money he just earned has vanished.”

And what about you? I sent that look toward my much older friend.

“Work! This tournament involves our company too, for one thing, and this time, the participants are who they are.”

Participants?

Ah, right.

“Come to think of it, two of your sons-in-law are participating.”

Shinzo and Julius-san.

“Hm? Two? …Ah, I see.”

Ed-yan seemed to understand something and nodded deeply.

He clapped me familiarly on the shoulder and looked at me with kind eyes.

“So you have finally decided to join us, Tou-nyan. No, my son.”

“Not. Your. Son.”

So stop that. Eevee, stop. Stop smiling while holding a little girl and stepping on my foot.

“…I’ll become your enemy.”

“Please don’t…”

Please stay on my side. I soothed Eevee and told Edyan “no” again.

“I meant Julius-san.”

“Hm? Who is that?”

“He is apparently Primula-san’s husband.”

“…”

Perhaps it was the habit of those who stood at the top not to pretend they understood in moments like this. Edlam-san raised one eyebrow in a full expression of Who was that again?

His glasses-wearing guard whispered in his ear and showed him a terminal, and an “Ah” slipped out.

Apparently, he had just remembered.

“…Did he pass the preliminaries?”

“He did. He fought us just now and lost. I heard he entered with Arawn Company’s technical team backing him.”

Was that not true?

“To be precise, one of my daughters commandeered part of our technical team and entered the tournament.”

“Is that so? But that barrier was impressive.”

It seemed difficult to put into practical use at present, but once it reached that stage, it would be quite troublesome. The data Xena had obtained through hacki… through methods I did not really understand had already been shared with Akito. After the tournament, he was apparently going to start developing weapons unaffected by it, or at least able to ignore it. But right now, our effective options were extremely limited.

“When do you think that thing will be ready for practical use…? Is something wrong?”

I could not help asking.

Edrum Arawn was one of the most powerful people in this era.

His eyes were cold enough to remind me of that.

Seeing her father like that, Karys had the look of someone thinking, Ah, this is bad.

“Sorry, Tou-nyan. Something has come up. Shinzo-kun, I look forward to the finals.”

Ed-yan walked away, and there was unmistakable anger in his back.

“Was that technology something they were allowed to reveal?”

“Judging by that…”

“Definitely not. …Will your sister be all right?”

“I will try to cover for her.” Karys answered my question, then added, “Though I doubt it will help.”

As for the result… well, it seemed best not to look into it.