WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
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◈ Cyberpunk Chivalry ◈
Chapter 18: Halloween Society
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The bargaining between the two went on for two whole days.
Akina wanted every last credit she could get, while Santa was determined to pay as little as possible. To Ash, it looked just like a contest between a spear and a shield.
In the end, Akina won.
"All right! 220,000! Now let me get some sleep!"
"Yes!"
And so, Ash and Akina earned the considerable sum of 220,000 credits from their first expedition. Adding the 50,000 credits for the mapping request brought their total to 270,000.
Even after paying back their debt to Santa and covering Akina's breathing fee, they would have 100,000 credits left.
It was an impressive profit for a pair of rookie Pathfinders.
That alone was surprising enough, but they still had one more source of money waiting for them.
The biggest payout of all.
"Wait a second, mister!"
While they were getting ready to leave, Akina hurried upstairs as though she had forgotten something.
A brief silence followed.
Santa took out a cigarette, lit it, and looked at Ash.
"Ash."
The smoke from his mouth drifted apart in the air.
"Ever been to an area run by a corporation?"
Ash shook his head.
"This will be my first time."
"I see."
Tap. Santa knocked the ash off his cigarette.
"Sanctum, you see, is like a stuffed doll stitched together from pieces of cloth in different colors."
At Santa's puzzling words, Ash lowered his head for a moment. Then a faint light shone from his optical sensors.
"Are you perhaps speaking of the Societies?"
A Society.
The term referred to a particular autonomous district governed by a megacorporation.
Santa gave a small nod.
"It might look like a single city from the outside, but the reality's completely different. You could call it a collection of fiefdoms, with all their different desires tangled together."
Ash silently waited for him to continue.
At the same time, he recorded their conversation.
Santa's advice always helped him navigate life in Sanctum. Surely these words would be no different.
Santa went on.
"Society doesn't just mean an area under corporate control. To be more precise... Yes. It's better to think of it as a community bound together by a single 'value.'"
"A value?"
"Let me give you an example. You know Apex Arms, right?"
"Of course."
There was no way Ash could be unfamiliar with that name.
His left arm had been built using Apex Arms technology.
"Apex's core value is 'evolution.' Maybe that's why Apex Society despises the human body. They treat it like garbage. They're lunatics who believe cybernetic modification is the only path to perfection."
"Good heavens. Is that not rather extreme?"
"That's how all the Societies are."
Santa stubbed out his cigarette and continued.
"Vortex Energy's the same. Their core value is 'efficiency.' They see emotions and desires as inefficient, so they cut them out completely. The funny thing is, living such controlled, efficient lives gives them an almost religious air."
At this point in the conversation, Ash, who had been listening quietly, asked a question.
"...Then what is Halloween's core value?"
Santa's lips curled up, as though he found the question amusing.
"What do you think?"
His smile seemed to say, 'Go and see for yourself.'
A moment later, noisy footsteps rang out.
Akina had come down from the second floor.
"Shall we go now? To Halloween Society!"
* * *
What separated Halloween Society from the other districts of Sanctum was neither a massive steel gate nor a strict security system.
Its boundaries were marked by color and sound.
Unlike the Gateway District, where Santa's Rest Stop stood, Halloween Society flashed with brilliant colors from its very entrance.
And that was not all.
Music of every genre kept pouring out from somewhere, loud enough to tear at their eardrums.
Rather than a city, this place felt more like a giant open-air club and a studio set that never stopped running.
Strangely shaped buildings that had grown without any order covered themselves in dazzling neon signs and media facades, as though competing to see which could draw the most attention.
Holographic displays mounted on the outer walls played spectacular battle scenes featuring popular idols. Now and then, the idols offered cute, affectionate words of thanks to their fans.
The people on the streets were just as colorful.
Hair dyed in glowing fluorescent colors.
Bodies enhanced with cyberware.
Bold, bizarre fashions.
No one was ordinary, and no one was afraid to stand out.
It truly was another world.
It felt more like a dream or a hallucination than reality.
That was precisely why Ash and Akina stood out so much. They wore practical clothes in plain, neutral colors, like a black-and-white photograph placed on a color screen by mistake.
They did not blend in at all.
"Hehe. I knew this would happen, so I brought something!"
Muttering to herself, Akina pulled something from inside her clothes. It was a bright red lip tint.
Without even using a mirror, she dabbed it thickly over her lips.
"How do I look, mister?"
Blood-red lips against a pale white face.
And the color was smeared all around them, too.
Ash reached out with one hand and carefully wiped away the tint.
"It was a fine attempt."
"What? What's that supposed to mean?"
"That it was a fine attempt."
She was just about to reply when a voice rang out.
"Happy! Halloween!"
Suddenly, all the music echoing through the city stopped, replaced by a cheerful but flippant male voice.
"Hello, everyone! Your talkative friend, Chatterbox, is back!"
Had his voice been a signal?
All the noise in the city died down as if by magic. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at the tallest building, Halloween Entertainment's headquarters.
"Now, now! It's that moment of truth again! Who will be Halloween's brightest star today? Today's Best! Let's find out right now!"
At Chatterbox's shout, one entire side of the building turned into a giant ranking board. A brilliant hologram appeared over its relatively plain outer wall.
[TODAY BEST 100]
Starting at 100th place, the rankings rapidly climbed toward the top.
Whenever a name appeared, the idol's face and a performance video flashed briefly in the hologram. Cheers rose from all over the streets in response.
Ash and Akina also looked up to watch.
"Where do you think Ifrit will rank?"
"Hmm. Would Lady Ifrit not rank rather high? She is a veteran Pathfinder with a long career, after all."
"Hehe. Right?"
From then on, the two watched the rankings a little more closely.
90th.
70th.
50th.
The rankings kept climbing, but Ifrit's name never appeared.
Eventually, only one place remained.
First place.
"Who will take today's number one spot?"
Before Chatterbox had even finished shouting, the people filling the city roared in unison.
"Siren! Siren! Siren!"
Their cries swept over the city.
At last, the first-place winner's name and face appeared at the very top of the ranking board.
[Witchcraft - SIREN]
"Wooooo!"
The woman in the hologram looked down at the crowd with unreadable black eyes.
Long, jet-black hair, snow-white skin, and a sword gripped in one hand.
She was Siren, the leader of the popular idol group Witchcraft.
"...No way."
Akina's voice came out in a small murmur.
She seemed stunned that Ifrit had not even made the top 100.
Even then, the plaza was still packed with people chanting Siren's name.
Amid that sea of madness, Ash thought.
He considered Siren on the ranking board, the people shouting her name, and finally Ifrit, whose name had not appeared at all.
"What do you think?"
Santa's words came back to him.
Ash thought he understood now.
'Halloween's core value is popularity.'
Ifrit was certainly an experienced Pathfinder.
Her unerring marksmanship, the way she had used smoke to divert the Sentinel's attention, and how well she had done her part even with an unfamiliar sword all proved that.
But so what?
Here, skill and experience were secondary.
The value of a person's existence depended on just one thing: how many people wanted them.
Ash stopped looking at the ranking board.
"Young lady, let us head inside."
At his quiet words, Akina nodded, looking rather displeased.
The building's interior was just as lavish as the streets.
It simply felt a little colder and more refined.
Screens throughout the building endlessly played videos of Siren, who had just taken first place.
"How may I help you?"
The female-form android at the reception desk smiled warmly.
"We're here to see Ifrit."
The android searched through some data, then answered with the same gentle smile.
"Do you have an appointment?"
"Um... We don't, but she told us to ask for her when we got here!"
"Understood. I'll contact Ifrit now. Would you please wait in the lounge?"
The android pointed to a luxurious waiting area in one corner.
"Thank you!"
Following her directions, the two settled onto a sofa in the lounge.
Neither seemed quite comfortable leaning back against the soft cushions, leaving them sitting rather awkwardly.
"Wow. How much did all this cost?"
Akina began chattering, as if trying to shake off her discomfort. Ash merely nodded from time to time.
How much time had passed?
Suddenly, Ash stood up.
"Huh? What is it, mister?"
Despite Akina's puzzled question, Ash walked without hesitation toward a woman sitting alone at the next table.
Her hat was pulled low, and she wore a mask. Only her eyes were visible.
As Ash approached, she hurriedly put away the PDA she had been holding.
Ignoring that, Ash stopped in front of her and activated his voice module.
"Hello."
The woman gave a small shudder at his quiet greeting.
"Uh, yes?"
Her reply was hesitant.
But Ash paid it no mind.
"Excuse me, but may I ask you a question?"
At his polite words, the woman gave a small nod.
"Ah, yes. What is it you..."
"Why are you moving closer to us?"
At Ash's question, the woman seemed to choke on her breath, unable to speak.
In fact, Ash had noticed her watching them ever since they entered the building.
There was only one reason he had acted now.
Quietly, but unmistakably, the distance between them had been shrinking.
At first, she had been sitting in the farthest corner of the lounge.
Then she ordered a drink and casually moved to a sofa closer to them.
Before long, she got up again, seemingly to clear away her empty glass. When she returned, she sat right beside the sofa where Ash and Akina were seated.
She was too close now for him to dismiss it as a coincidence.
"Well... This seat is more comfortable..."
It was an excuse that would convince no one.
But Ash nodded.
"I see. My apologies for troubling you."
Then he spoke to Akina.
"Young lady, shall we move elsewhere?"
Perhaps sensing that something was wrong, Akina quickly stood up. Then she gave the deeply suspicious woman a sharp glance.
"Sounds good."
Just as the two were about to leave, an urgent voice rang out.
"Wait!"
They turned around to find the woman hastily taking out her PDA and holding up its screen.
It was playing the video of Ash's battle that Ifrit had uploaded a few days earlier.
"Are you the one in this video, by any chance?"
Ash gave a brief nod.
The woman let out a long sigh. Then she stood and bowed her head to them.
"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I'm very sorry."
It was a very polite gesture, but Ash dismissed her at once.
"Enough."
His words were polite but cold.
"What reason have I to listen to someone who hides her face?"
"Oh, I only covered my face because..."
"I said enough."
The woman hesitated, then lowered her head. At last, as though she had made up her mind, she took off her mask and hat.
Black hair cascaded down like a waterfall.
At the same time, Akina's eyes widened in shock.
"...Huh?"
The woman was Halloween's top-ranked idol.
Siren.
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