episode_0048

Daily recommended calorie intake meal pack.

Soy meatloaf, chlorella salad, and even genetically modified hydra chicken – it tastes terrible, but it’s still better than human kibble; at least it looks much more like actual food.

The downside, however, is that to satisfy such a sensibility, you have to pay three times more credits for this junk compared to kibble.

Martina and I hurriedly ate several meal packs to meet our necessary calorie intake.

“Wow. You really gobble down that tasteless stuff…”

“It’s not like I enjoy eating it, you know?”

Chic Katana-girl Wade watched Martina and me stuffing the warmed meal packs that Kathleen had brought into our mouths to fill our stomachs, expressing admiration.

Her eyes looked as if she were watching food fighters in a tasteless food eating contest.

A bland, choking hotdog, with just a sausage in a hotdog bun and no ketchup or mustard, would be a hundred times more delicious than these damn meal packs.

Even little Martina has to consume two meal packs for her daily intake to expect assistance from nanoware, and considering I have to eat twice that much, it’s nothing short of torture.

It’s not for nothing that I spend about 30% of the money I earn from requests on fresh food.

“Phew, that was a good meal.”

“Bleh…”

Martina, who always enjoyed delicious meals with fresh food at home, shuddered as she tasted the malevolent essence of advanced food engineering.

I casually tossed the empty meal pack trash into a corner.

Since it’s an abandoned ranch in a deserted village where no one lives anyway, it’s not really separated from a garbage dump, so you could say it’s being used as intended.

“Have you finished eating?”

“Ah, yes, thank you for the meal. I was so hungry that I kept you waiting.”

Kathleen, the mother of the drug mama’s boy and arguably the real client of this job, was in hiding, having concealed a corporate transport trailer truck in a large abandoned warehouse.

The transport truck clearly bore the trade name ‘Extreme Military,’ confirming that the story we’d heard on the way was true.

We sat around makeshift seats roughly fashioned from scattered wooden boxes and rebar, serving as substitutes for tables and chairs.

The slight crumbling sound of rotten wood as soon as we sat down was a bit unsettling, but it seemed to hold a person’s weight somehow.

“So, isn’t it about time we talked about money?”

Chic Katana-girl Wade rubbed her fingers together, giving Kathleen a subtle hint.

Indeed, Aaron had only asked us to safely bring him to his mother, meaning the request would conclude here.

“I see. I’m certainly grateful to all of you for safely bringing Aaron here.”

Even though people tend to get sensitive when money is mentioned, Kathleen, who had escaped all the way to the outpoint, quietly affirmed Wade.

As if she had already thought it through, she placed a blue crystal chipset down.

“It’s not properly prepared because it’s sudden, but this is an account where I’ve saved credits from my time as a senior researcher.”

“Oh?”

“You’re not saying you’ll give us all of it without dividing it, are you?”

“Yes. However, there’s a condition. Please accept one more request from me.”

I don’t know how much is saved inside, but her confidence suggested it was worth it.

Wade’s eyebrows twitched and Patton adjusted his glasses at the added condition, but they seemed to have decided to hear out her bold demand.

“More importantly, this account is locked from the start, so it’s unusable.”

“Wait… what did you say?”

“You need to request an unfreeze from the Eclipse Main Bank in the Upper City.”

Somehow, I felt I could anticipate the content of the request she wanted to make of us.

“Coming here was easy, but I’m not sure about going back.”

***

The credits in her account amounted to approximately 200,000 credits.

Indeed, perhaps because she was a key figure in a corporation, even if not a megacorp, it was a generous sum, comparable to the remuneration the former director of EPSB offered when I accompanied Luna on my first request.

Moreover, this time, we could even split it without any fees.

For ordinary mercenaries, it would be an amount that would make their eyes roll back as they did somersaults, but Wade and Patton, unlike such riff-raff, had serious expressions and were deep in thought.

This was because there was a high probability of a violent clash with Fifty-Star, a massive criminal organization targeting her.

“Tsk… If we just back out and go our separate ways, the time we spent being kidnapped here would be wasted, but if we accept, Fifty-Star is an issue, so what should we do…?”

“Thanks. Thanks to you, we’ve gotten ourselves involved in troublesome matters.”

“You don’t have to be so grateful, it’s embarrassing.”

“Damn it. That wasn’t a compliment.”

They racked their brains, deep in thought.

“I’d like to know more. Why is Fifty-Star chasing you and the child? Is it, as expected, because of that cyberware?”

In any case, I decided to let those two agonize.

I decided to hear the detailed inside story of the situation from the client, Kathleen Rossmore, who was sitting opposite me.

And Kathleen nodded her head decisively, affirming my question.

“Fifty-Star. The reason they’re after us is exactly what you’re thinking, John-ssi. It’s because of this.”

*Thump* A cyber spine was placed onto the makeshift table.

The rotten wooden box creaked under its heavy weight.

“I heard it’s a prototype from Extreme Military. Of course, it would be a corporate secret, so I understand why hyenas would covet it, but shouldn’t it have been sold off during the liquidation process?”

“Oppa didn’t want that. Besides, Extreme Military’s ‘liquidation process’ wasn’t a conventional method.”

“Oppa?” Curiosity sparked at the title that came from her lips, and when I looked at her, a brief explanation followed.

“Extreme Military is a company founded because of Oppa’s dream. I was working at another megacorp and only transferred to help Oppa.”

“Ah, so you were a senior researcher at a megacorp too?”

“Yes. I used to work at Ayakashi.”

“…”

I felt a drop of cold sweat trickle down my cheek.

This damn company is so massive that its name pops up in the most unexpected places.

‘Didn’t you know?’

‘This AI does not have access rights to all of Ayakashi’s databases, making it impossible to identify retirees.’

‘Oh dear.’

Still, since she’s a retiree, she probably won’t know what Martina and I are if I don’t explain in detail.

“This ‘Cerberus’ is a cyberware developed with the goal of being a 6th-generation operating system.”

“Cerberus, you say?”

It sounds like a very powerful name.

And indeed, despite being a prototype, the three-headed dog was exquisitely engraved on the outer casing of the spine.

“It’s a triple-composite operating system that interferes with the nervous system to provide reaction speed and kinetic vision beyond limits. It stimulates the muscular system to draw out all potential strength and performance proportionate to physical endurance. It temporarily enhances the endocrine and circulatory systems to grant the user reduced pain, aggression, and a reprieve from death.”

“…It seems like you’ve gathered only those things that are rumored to be severely taxing even on their own.”

Speedware, Potentialware, Berserkware.

Unlike external programs or substances like cyberdecks, Mindclear, or Immuneguard, these directly stimulate various organ systems of the body, so they are famous for quickly wearing down the body if used carelessly.

However, their effect of providing superhuman performance in an instant is irresistibly attractive to mercenaries; everyone drools over them.

They’re also expensive, you know.

A chimera-tech cyberware that combines three such things into one.

“It sounds extremely unstable just hearing about it.”

“That’s right. The burden on the user is so severe that it wasn’t actually made with anyone’s use in mind. Thanks to that, it became a monster that far surpasses existing military operating systems, but in the end, it’s just an ornament to be displayed in a wealthy person’s cabinet.”

“Usually, researchers are said to have an attachment to projects they’ve directly participated in, but you’re quite cutting.”

“Because Extreme Military’s company motto was, ‘Don’t consider the user. Limits are unnecessary.’”

“You’re tough.”

Kathleen agreed to my words without any hesitation, even though it was an item from the company her Oppa founded and something her hands, as a senior researcher, must have touched.

By the way, how much of a macho man is Kathleen’s Oppa, the CEO of Extreme Military, anyway?

“But at the same time, the reason they want Cerberus is its unique stability.”

“…?”

“What does it mean that they managed to make three types of operating systems—Speedware, Potentialware, and Berserkware—’usable,’ even if they cause extreme burden?”

“Ah…”

Even with highly advanced ergonomics, the stability of devices that inevitably impose a burden on the body decreases as more functions are added, and naturally, their size also increases.

The reason corporate soldiers, who desperately desire such enhancement effects, wear much heavier and cumbersome skeletons instead of composite cyber spines is precisely for stability.

“So, it wasn’t made for human use, but it turned out to be such a masterpiece that they’re trying to secure it before it disappears due to liquidation?”

“Something like that. Fifty-Star, those who haven’t forgotten their past glory, are probably acting on behalf of some megacorp in the end. They ‘force liquidate’ a small company with modest profits compared to its reputation, and then swallow up its research results to save massive research time and budget.”

That’s a terrible business.

Even so, to completely destroy a perfectly fine company like this, steal its products, and then extract data through reverse engineering…

Ultimately, corporations too are beings that cannot escape the cold, hard sea of the law of the jungle.

“But then, why not just give it to them? If they only want this item, you could make a deal and get enough money to live off for life. You’re even capable enough to be a researcher at Ayakashi, so transferring should be easy.”

“John-ssi… you seem very interested in your client.”

Only then did it strike me.

Isn’t it an unspoken rule of mercenaries that, unless it’s necessary for the mission, you don’t meddle with the client, you just quietly complete the job, receive your payment, and go your way with a wave?

“I apologize if I made you uncomfortable.”

“No, not at all. It’s just a little different from the mercenaries I usually encounter. At most, they were just men trying to flirt with me.”

Certainly, there was no way rude mercenaries wouldn’t try to flirt with a MILF like her.

Usually, they would at least try to curry favor with the client to properly receive their payment.

“It’s not bad to feel like I’m being worried about.”

*Softly* Her hand rested on my head, moving with a gentle flow, stroking my hair.

It wasn’t heavy, but the weight on my head made me look at her with an awkward gaze.

“Unfortunately, I’m past the age to be patted like a child.”

“How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-nine.”

“You’re a baby.”

“…”

By her appearance, there doesn’t seem to be much age difference, though.

Damn it. In this era, it’s hellishly difficult to tell someone’s age just by their appearance.

With that, Kathleen stroked my head a few more times as if praising a proud child, then withdrew her hand.

“Still, if I can return to the Upper City, I can handle things myself. Until then, can you, John-ssi, keep Aaron and me safe from them?”

“…”

Even as I felt the lingering softness of her withdrawn hand, I took a deep breath to recompose myself and confidently curved my lips into a smile.

“I’ll deliver you safely, on Rune’s Bar’s name.”