WeTried Translations
Translator: Botanica
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◈ I Became a Generation Zero Hunter ◈
Chapter 18
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Train Journey (3)
Ian wondered for a moment what on earth his friends had been up to.
First there was the one who'd scattered a universal auto-translator across the world, one that applied equally to everyone, and now it turned out they'd left behind an inheritance that even the leading conglomerates of the Age of Constellations would covet.
He hid his tangled feelings and wrote out a line.
『An inheritance, huh. Money?』
『Wow. Mister, you're such a textbook Generation Zero.』
When Ian asked what that meant, the kid fidgeted and wrote out a rather long reply.
『I mean you put hunting monsters ahead of what's going on in the world right now. Your old city gave you a C-rank license and sent you off with "the prey you want is at the front line," didn't they?』
Ian didn't bother to correct the misunderstanding on the spot with a "Sorry, I'm only E-rank. Your constellation seems to have a hobby of not explaining things properly."
Besides, the kid was writing at a furious pace and never even handed the notepad over.
『Our family's Founder, Pirini Argon, gathered a lot of relics for later generations.』
Pirini Argon. One of the Six Founders. Ian pictured Pirini's face. Of mixed Native American blood, Pirini had been among the wealthiest hunters of that day.
'Ranked as a heavyweight lobbyist for the American gun groups....'
『The tradition was that the treasury opened every time a new head of the family took over. Like a celebration party for the succession. But Father kept putting off opening the treasury for some reason, and then....』
Just a few days ago, he'd made a completely out-of-the-blue announcement.
『That just this once, the right to enter the treasury could be transferred and traded.』
The moment he saw those words, Ian let out a bitter laugh. Transfer and trade, they called it, but most of it would be closer to extortion.
『What's in the treasury to make that worth it?』
『Who knows. Something that brokers contracts with the constellation our family has had for generations? Or primordial relics handed down from before the Great Cataclysm? There are tons of rumors, but I've never been inside, so I don't know.』
『Didn't you hear anything from your family?』
『Ugh, seriously. I'm just one of the many, many kids Dad pumped out, you know? Do you think I'd know what the other grown-ups in the family are up to?』
Ian nodded. Still, since the kid didn't say anything like "I think the whole thing about a treasure is a lie," there really did seem to be something the family had guarded for generations.
He seriously considered the possibility that Pirini had actually left nothing behind and that the real treasure was "the prosperity and unity of the family that brought you this far."
The Pirini Ian knew was the kind of person who'd cheerfully pull a stunt like that, saying "Look. Isn't it fun?"
The current head of the family might have seen the real contents of the treasury and then pulled some strange stunt of their own, saying "Hah. I suppose I should follow our ancestor's example and teach the family a lesson?"
'So you haven't even heard that kind of rumor?'
Ian wondered whether his old friend's personality had changed over the course of the Great Cataclysm.
『Still, something's a little odd.』
『What is?』
『You said there might be a magic tool in the treasury that brokers contracts with constellations, didn't you? Then what's the constellation that gave you the revelation just now?』
For a long while, no new words appeared on the paper.
『Be careful, kid. Generation Zero hunters usually don't trust people who hide things like this.』
『What about you?』
『Me? Depends on the pay.』
Ian borrowed a line from a story he'd read long ago.
『How much will you pay?』
* * *
Barnett wrote, flustered. Generation Zero hunters tended to be like this, but this one in particular seemed to have a rather unusual way of thinking.
『No. Shouldn't you ask what my goal is first?』
The Generation Zero hunter in front of the fugitive shrugged and tapped his own forehead.
『Are you after something other than escape?』
It was a gesture that reminded Barnett of the headband they were wearing. This strange tool was surely a relic handed down from before the Great Cataclysm. With the headband, escaping itself shouldn't be hard.
『Fair enough, it would make more sense to hear the destination first. Where do you want to go?』
『To where the Pendragon house is.』
Taking into account that Generation Zero hunters were behind the times, or more precisely, uninterested in the times, Barnett added an explanation of why they had to meet the Pendragon house.
『The Pendragons are the blade that enforces discipline for the Agency. At least if I put myself under their protection, I won't get my wrist cut off by a relative I've never met before.』
『Wrist?』
Just as Ian wrote the question.
[An obstruction presumed to be a creature escaped from a Gate has been detected on the railway ahead. Estimated rank: below A. The train will accelerate. Passengers, please brace for impact.]
A machine voice in a kindly tone announced a decidedly unkind situation. Not "there's an obstruction on the tracks, so we will slow down," but the insane warning that they were going to plow straight into it and smash it to pieces.
Ian immediately pretended to cover his mouth. Barnett understood the meaning, put one hand to their mouth, and gripped the seat with the other.
Boom!
A heavy impact rolled through the entire train. Even though the body had been designed with exactly this kind of situation in mind, the shock was strong enough that the people inside the car floated briefly into the air and then fell back down.
[Obstruction cleared.]
The train seemed to have either ground the monster that had fallen onto the tracks into paste, or simply punched straight through it.
No wonder the train had looked so strangely vicious. It seemed to have been built on the extreme design philosophy that if a monster dropped onto the tracks, you just smashed through and kept going.
'What kind of lunatic designed a train like this?'
It was a form of transport where you had to be ready to die if your body wasn't tough enough. It failed as public transportation.
"Ngh...."
Even though Ian had warned them, Barnett couldn't bear the shock and let out a faint groan. The moment he heard that sound, Ian thought the collision might have been the intent of the people chasing Barnett.
It was a good thing the kid was inside his compartment right now. If they'd been hiding somewhere outside, they would certainly have been properly injured.
And wounds bleed.
Blood was a very easy clue to track. Especially for hunters.
The moment Ian found the notepad that had fallen to the floor from the impact, he started writing.
『Exactly who is chasing you?』
Barnett swayed for a moment, unable to steady their body, then raised an arm weakly.
『Most of the Argon family's direct line?』
『I mean the one behind the people who've been let loose disguised as crew just now.』
『They're not disguised. The Argon Group is also the holding company of the intercity railway. Probably one of the Group's directors....』
Ian let the rest of the explanation wash past him. The story was getting rather complicated.
Whether there had really been a monster on the tracks just now didn't matter. Either way, the pursuers would have tried to use the shock of the acceleration to find Barnett.
Ian realized he had to get out of the station while dealing with people who held supervisory authority over the train.
He sighed quietly. He checked the time. There was still a long way to go until the arrival time at Moonbai, where he'd originally been headed, but it seemed he'd have to get off at the next station.
『We'll negotiate the pay in a bit.』
『Huh?』
『We're getting off at the next station.』
The longer this kind of thing dragged on, the worse it got for them. All the more so if the other side held legitimate authority.
They'd probably find some excuse at the next station to stall, then bring in people specialized in tracking.
'In the Common Era they'd have sent hounds. In this age, would they use something like spirits?'
『Right now?』
『More people will join the ones chasing you at the next station. We have to get off before that.』
Sure enough, it happened just as he'd predicted.
[This stop is Tintagel, Tintagel Station. For mana crystal supply and engine charging, our train is scheduled to stop at this station for ten minutes.]
Ian made up his mind to get away from his seat at once.
『Get on my back.』
He regretted that the dokkaebi headband he owned wasn't a dokkaebi cap. A cap, which took more materials and labor, would have made one person carried by the wearer invisible along with the wearer.
He decided to leave the bag he'd put in the compartment. It held the ironware and such that he'd used in Sheol to hunt the blanket monsters.
If a passenger who was supposed to ride all the way to Moonbai suddenly vanished, the pursuers would sense something was off. This was the minimum smokescreen to prevent that.
Wiping out that sense of wrongness entirely was out of reach, but delaying when they noticed it should be possible.
After spraying deodorizer on the bag as a finishing touch, Ian stood up from his seat.
'I'd like to prepare a bit more properly, though.'
Unfortunately, he was short on both time and tools. Settling here was the better choice.
From here on, it was a race against time.
* * *
The hunters under Trudian Argon, the Third Director of the Argon Group and manager of the intercity railway, were waiting at Tintagel Station disguised as magitech engineers.
It was hard to understand why the Director wanted a mere illegitimate brat brought in, but a tool doesn't ask its master's intentions.
Everything they needed to know was written in the orders. Trudian had instructed the private soldiers to handle this as quietly as possible, without letting the Argon Group's other directors find out.
So Trudian's private soldiers caused no commotion, waited for the passengers to get off, and boarded the train.
In the middle of the passing stream of passengers, one hunter in rather old-fashioned clothes was mixed in.
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