WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
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◈ Cyberpunk Chivalry ◈
Chapter 20: UPGRADE COMPLETE!
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The rooftop of Santa's Rest Stop.
Ash sat upright beside a giant ventilation fan.
His gaze rested on the view of Sanctum, its many districts tangled together in a complex web. It was like looking inside an enormous machine.
A dizzying sea of lights.
Every one of them hurried toward its own destination.
The city's nightscape was chaotic, but from a step back, nothing could have been more beautiful.
With the occasional hip-hop or rock song playing in the background, he replayed a voice recording.
It was his conversation with Ifrit in the Halloween Entertainment lounge earlier that day.
[DATA RECALL: VOICE_MEMO_014]
[DATA RESEARCH. . . NOW<<<]
//*
▶ASH: Tell me more.
▶IFRIT: It's simple. We reach the Nexus Port before anyone else in Halloween and extract the technology. We beat the crap out of anyone who picks a fight. Once the extraction's done, we run like hell.
▶ASH: No. That is not what I wished to know.
▶IFRIT: Then what?
▶ASH: The risks. And...
▶AKINA: The reward!
▶IFRIT: Risks and rewards, huh? All right. Let's start with the risks. You saw the video, so you know the place is crawling with Sentinels. Which makes sense, since there's a Nexus Port. But there's actually something more important than that.
▶ASH: ...The idols.
▶IFRIT: Right. We're not the only ones after the Nexus Port. Most of the idols will probably join in. There's a lot at stake.
▶ASH: It will be dangerous.
▶IFRIT: Haha. The Outer's always dangerous. Always.
▶ASH: ...That is also true.
▶IFRIT: Now, shall we talk about the reward?
▶AKINA: Yes, please!
▶IFRIT: I'll say this up front. Whatever technology we extract from the Nexus belongs to Halloween. You two are just mercenaries. Let's be clear about that.
▶AKINA: I thought that would be the case.
▶IFRIT: In return, we've prepared something you need more than anything right now.
▶AKINA: Huh? Something we need? Not credits?
▶IFRIT: We can pay you in credits if you want. But I think you'll like what we've prepared better. Hehehe. It's...
*//
"Ash."
At the sound of Akina's voice, Ash stopped the recording and turned his head.
"Young lady."
She came over and sat beside him.
Sanctum's wildly blinking lights were reflected in her blue eyes.
"I've made up my mind."
After a brief pause, Akina continued.
"I want to do it. The Nexus retaking operation."
Ash turned his optical sensors toward her.
"It will be dangerous."
"I know. But you know what, Ash?"
Akina gave a faint smile. Somehow, there was something self-deprecating about it.
"There's nowhere safe for us."
Her voice was so quiet that it could have been lost in the wind, but the weight it carried was anything but light.
Ash found himself nodding.
Safety.
Was there a more empty word in Sanctum?
Especially for rookie Pathfinders like them, who had only just begun exploring.
They had to keep running if they wanted to stay alive.
Even if they were heading in the wrong direction.
That was the kind of world this was.
Ifrit's offer was certainly dangerous.
Countless risks flashed through Ash's main core.
But it was also an opportunity.
The terms Ifrit had offered were that extraordinary.
"It was called the Revenant, right?"
Akina stood and leaned against the rooftop railing. Her figure, seen from behind, and the nightscape came together in a single frame.
"That was its name."
"It really was amazing."
"I agree."
The reward Ifrit had offered was a vehicle.
Its name was the Revenant.
It was an armored vehicle that had undergone an enormous amount of custom work.
Earlier that day, Ash and Akina had followed Dullahan to an armory, where they had seen the Revenant for the first time.
With a little exaggeration, it had been love at first sight for both of them.
True to its name, a ghost from the past, the Revenant had a heavy, chilling presence.
Its armor plates still bore the scars of its long years roaming the Outer. If anything, those marks made the vehicle look even more reliable.
It might have been an old, retired model, but that did not mean it had lost all its value.
Comparing it to a Skeleton Buggy or some limousine with nothing but extra seats would have been an insult.
It was quite literally a fortress on wheels.
"They said it used to belong to Dullahan, right?"
"To be precise, they said it belonged to ROA."
"ROA... I'd heard every Society had a team that specialized in transport. I never imagined that was Dullahan's team."
Rider Of Apocalypse.
ROA for short.
True to their name as riders of the apocalypse, they were a Pathfinder group specializing in transport, travel, and rescue.
They were a team of specialists that had emerged as people lost trust in REST-MANs.
The Revenant was a vehicle that ROA had used.
In other words, it was no ordinary machine.
"Honestly, who could see that and turn it down? The Revenant has to be worth well over ten million credits, at the very least!"
"Ten million...! That much?"
"Of course! It's a little old, but it's fully customized, isn't it? I skimmed the data logs earlier, and it had all sorts of features!"
Akina smiled brightly.
Ash could not.
The reward was too generous.
That meant the danger would also be beyond anything they could imagine.
A venture with a top-class armored vehicle, possibly worth over ten million credits, offered as payment.
What dangers could possibly be waiting there?
Perhaps even Ifrit could not predict every variable and was taking a reckless gamble of her own.
'But what of it?'
This was Sanctum.
In this world, anyone who cowered in fear would end up empty-handed.
There had never been any reason to hesitate, nor did they have the luxury.
Without a word, Ash stood and joined her. Leaning against the railing, he found himself that many steps closer to Sanctum's nightscape.
"Young lady. I have a favor to ask."
Akina turned at his quiet words.
"What is it?"
"Please find me a data card."
"Huh? On what?"
"Driving."
The girl's eyes widened.
Realizing what he meant, Akina let out a bright laugh.
"You're going to drive?"
"Should I not learn, at least? The Revenant will soon be ours, after all."
"Hehe! You're right!"
After a good laugh, the two fell quiet as they looked out at the city. A little later, Akina spoke.
"So we've got three days left, right?"
Her voice cut through the still night air.
Ash nodded silently.
"Indeed."
Three days.
That was how long remained until the Nexus retaking operation.
Akina stared somewhere into the darkness beyond the city lights. A little anxiety and fear lingered in her blue eyes, but anticipation lay over them both.
"We'll need to prepare."
The words sounded like a vow. She slowly reached inside her clothes and brought out her Pathfinder license.
"Ash."
Akina turned to look at him.
Her gaze was firmer than ever before.
"Ready for an upgrade?"
Ash was silent for a moment.
Then he slowly nodded.
"Completely."
Blue-green optical sensors met blue eyes.
Neither gaze held the nightscape anymore.
They looked only at each other.
* * *
Something big was coming.
To take part, they would have to be fully prepared.
Then what did they need to prepare?
The answer was simple.
They had to maximize Ash's combat power.
They would invest all the money they had in upgrading him.
As it happened, they knew just the merchant. An old man who smoked like a chimney and would insist he was a "bartender" even with his dying breath.
"660,000, huh? And you're hoping to do something with that?"
The 100,000 left after paying off their debt, the 500,000 from Ifrit, and Akina's emergency savings.
A total of 660,000 credits.
That was all the financial ammunition they had. Whether Santa knew it or not, he simply kept grinning.
"Take your time and look around, dear 'customers.'"
The search began.
Akina moved among the cyberware parts, scrutinizing everything. The interesting thing was that, unlike before, Ash was doing the same.
He carefully surveyed the shop.
Gleaming chrome arms, optical sensors supposedly useful in combat, mechanical legs left lying around, and even a bizarre tentacle-shaped prosthetic arm of unknown origin.
Santa's shop was pure chaos, as always, but there had to be some useful treasure hidden within it.
The problem was the sheer quantity. If they examined everything one by one, three days might pass before they knew it.
Ash and Akina gathered for a brief discussion.
"What do you need most, Ash? Your right arm, right? Isn't it so old that it barely moves?"
"It serves me well enough."
"Hmm... Then your legs?"
The legs interested him a little.
In fact, Ash currently stood at a slight tilt because his two legs were different sizes.
But that was an inconvenience, not a pressing need. Their output differed, but they still moved as he wished.
"What about optical sensors? This one says it has a combat correction system. It divides your view into a grid and tells you the distance to things!"
Rather than answer, Ash turned his gaze to a torso sitting in one corner of a shelf. He had had his eye on it since returning from their first expedition.
It had a rather rough design, with a large battery pack bulging from its back like a turtle shell.
The description said it could store more than twice as much power as his current torso.
'If I am to replace a part, power capacity must come first.'
In truth, Ash had been after only one thing from the moment he decided to upgrade.
Power capacity.
The biggest problem he had discovered on their last expedition was, without a doubt, his maximum power capacity.
Even setting aside the use of martial arts through the Neuro Mind Art, Ash's current battery pack could barely last more than two days.
That was unavoidable, given that his torso had been patched together from parts picked up at a waste disposal site.
But things were different now.
They had 660,000 credits and three guaranteed days. That should have been more than enough to replace his torso.
He looked around in case there was a better one, but this model had the highest power capacity.
Ash pointed at the torso he had been examining.
"Elder San. Could you tell me about this part?"
Perched on the counter, Santa lowered his sunglasses slightly and looked their way. Then he grinned.
"I wouldn't recommend it. The battery capacity's high, but it's seriously heavy. A lot of people say its Neuro Matrix system is unstable too."
"What of the price?"
"450,000."
The price was within their budget.
But the shopkeeper himself was advising against it.
After a moment's thought, Ash turned.
"Then what of this one?"
It was another torso.
The body had a neat design, painted dark red, with the striking words "CHAKA CHAKA" printed diagonally across it.
Santa lowered his sunglasses to look again, then shook his head.
"Ash. You don't buy CHAKA CHAKA products."
"Why is that?"
"The specs look good, right? But they're all bullshit. For starters, the durability's garbage, so you never know when it'll stop working. Don't you remember that pistol you brought in last time? That was CHAKA CHAKA too."
He seemed to mean the pistol Ifrit had originally used. Just as Santa said, it had also been damaged badly enough to need repairs.
Ash continued picking out products after that. But every time, Santa shook his head.
Apparently unhappy with this, Akina flushed with anger before she finally yelled.
"Ugh! So it's all complete junk!"
"What was that, brat?"
"Is this crap all you've got in your shop, old man? Why put it all on display if none of it's any good?"
"To sell it, obviously!"
"But you said it was all bad!"
"There's good stuff too, brat!"
"Then recommend something yourself!"
Santa chuckled at Akina's bold demand.
"A recommendation? You really want my recommendation? It won't be cheap. Can you even afford it?"
"Hmph! I've got money, you know! So recommend the best thing for Ash!"
Santa seemed to find her shouting amusing, and he kept laughing for a while. Then he suddenly turned to Ash.
"Ash. You need something with a high power capacity, right?"
"...How did you know?"
"Look at what you've been picking. You've only been going for things with ridiculously big batteries. I take it you were a little short on power during your last expedition?"
Ash answered with a nod.
"Okay. So power capacity's all you need? I do have one very special item that's perfect for you."
"Then bring it out! Right now!"
"...Ugh. Listen to this brat's manners."
Grumbling for a moment, Santa went behind the counter and disappeared through a curtain into the gloom beyond.
A little later, he returned carrying an ink-black torso.
As he set it on the workbench, it gave off a distinctly different air from the cyberware on display.
The logo set in the middle of its back was especially eye-catching.
It was a swirling design, like a whirlpool. Beneath it was a short, simple name.
[Vortex]
"Huh? Vortex Energy?"
Akina recognized it at once and murmured the name. Santa took out a cigarette and lit it.
He breathed out a long cloud of thick smoke, tapped the part's smooth surface, and grinned.
"That's right. Made by Vortex Energy. Their very latest prototype model, packed with new technology."
His eyes gleamed playfully.
"This thing's real value isn't just its battery capacity. Have you two heard of KERS... the Kinetic Energy Recovery System?"
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