episode_0079

Outside, Nebel Garcia Zenom, wearing an open-faced helmet with a faceplate that looked like a gag, struggled out of a limousine unsuited to his body and was waiting for us.

Though fame often leads to wealth, receiving a greeting first from such a monstrosity wasn’t exactly pleasant.

“Wow…”

Yuki and Kana, seeing him for the first time, were horrified at his grotesque appearance.

Indifferent to their reactions, Nebel, as if accustomed to it, continued speaking to me in a familiar manner.

“Where is Blake? I haven’t seen his skills in a long time, and he’s not around.”

“He’s still working. We just finished quickly.”

“That’s a shame.”

The fox sisters’ faces subtly contorted in disgust that the gag-faced monstrosity was looking for the bald black man in the cute maid outfit with the muscular build, but there was nothing I could do, so I left them be.

“To have to take this many people, the Doctor will scold me.”

The Shape Shifter, having accepted Johann’s proposal, rolled his wrist and naturally passed by Zenell, boarding the limousine.

Seeing that he had no intention of escaping, everyone else boarded the limousine, and Nebel squeezed himself back into the driver’s seat; only then did we depart for the Shape Shifter’s hideout.

For security, Nebel drove along a complex and laborious route that was detoured several times.

-“It takes this long to get somewhere in this small city?” -“It’s unavoidable to evade observation.”

From the sound of it, we wouldn’t be arriving anytime soon.

Of course, when we visit later, Martina will be able to reinterpret the detoured route and find the shortest path, so it doesn’t really matter.

“Do you guys ride around in stuff like this?”

“Ahaha. Well, not really, unless we’re all traveling together?”

The limousine was a top-tier model, the kind you’d only see on shows where celebrities ride around.

The seats were arranged facing each other, and the interior was heavily padded with high-end materials like natural leather, and high levels of heat, bullet, and blast resistance. It also had a simple wine bar, snacks, and quite a bit of other equipment, presumably for work.

The ride comfort was exceptional; even while driving, it was as comfortable and stable as if riding in an AV.

“Indeed, they’re the type to readily donate 100 million Credits, so how much of a burden could this be…?”

“It was about 100,000 Credits, right? It’s not much~ Though the insurance costs about 20,000 annually, this much isn’t a burden for you either, is it?”

“We already have an excellent rigger, so there’s no real need to buy luxury items like this; we just don’t.”

Luna, mentioning Jay Q, casually took a bottle of wine from the wine bar.

Indeed, when that guy already pours all the money he earns into modifying his car, what need is there for a luxury limousine like this?

During missions, his van would probably fly much better.

Still, wouldn’t we need one when venturing into the upper city? I thought to myself.

“100,000…? Should I buy it?”

“Kana, we should be saving money right now…?”

Kana, who was looking around the limousine’s interior, seemed to surprisingly have such taste, and her hands looked itching to buy it.

Yuki, who had been sipping wine from Luna, was startled by that murmur and lunged at Kana, starting a fight to protect her wallet.

Hmm. It’s a good sight.

“By the way, you guys are already Seven High, and now you’re increasing your influence by recruiting even the Shape Shifter… What are you aiming for?”

“Hmm~ Does it look that strange to aim higher?”

I took the wine bottle Luna handed me, and struck the neck of the bottle with the edge of my hand.

The top of the wine bottle was cleanly severed.

Then I lifted the bottle and chugged, chugged – instead of savoring the aroma of the clearly expensive wine, I demonstrated the bizarre act of drinking straight from the bottle, and stared straight at the grinning Johann.

The Shape Shifter I had faced was a monster capable of easily slaughtering corporate soldiers.

He had the skill to shut down small corporations just by walking openly through their front gates alone, and while not to that extent, if he put his mind to it, he could inflict immense damage on a megacorp.

Such a person was taken in by Vanishment, who were associated with Seven High.

Despite already possessing the capability to handle anything that happens in Eclipse Point without issue, a mere mercenary group, not even a corporation, increasing their power beyond necessity is a threat by its very existence, and would surely be an inefficient act that would draw pressure from various sides.

‘The organizations running mercenary communities are effectively corporations themselves, after all.’

“State your objective clearly. Don’t try to carelessly drag us in later.”

As I glared intensely at him, Johann clicked his tongue and raised both hands.

“Sharp.”

“Rather, it’s impossible not to know.”

Just as Nebel coveted Blake, and he coveted me, they, like Luna, had a great desire for talented individuals.

In Eclipse Point, those typically in power tend to seek out pawns they can use and discard, rather than great talents who might challenge them and bring about new changes. Thus, this was quite a rare trait here, making them unusual.

“Tell me the dream you’re chasing.”

A certain cool katana girl once said that for mercenaries, a dream is a thread of madness to keep from losing oneself in this chaotic world.

I thought her words were truly correct.

“…” Johann, who was always smiling, wiped the smile from his face and began to look at me with silent eyes.

“Freedom from restraint.”

Restraint? Freedom? Those words were typically shouted by Neo-Luddite activists advocating for liberation from machines, so my mouth twisted.

Unlike strike movements that only broke machines and didn’t harm laborers, these crazy anti-technologists claimed that only by being liberated from human mechanization could one truly live as a human, and routinely committed atrocities, not only against ordinary citizens who had replaced their bodies with machinery for fashion or mercenaries with combat implants, but also by kidnapping filter-lung implant recipients living in Tonyboni and tearing out their filter lungs, or snapping the spines of salarymen who had artificial spines installed; they were a group of psychopaths.

Due to their utterly rigid and insane acts, disregarding victims’ identities or professions, corporations investing in bioware began a lawsuit war, claiming that cyberware companies were gathering to attack and damage their corporate image, but the Neo-Luddite activists absorbed even the purists and rampaged as if they wouldn’t tolerate bioware either.

Even if one possessed a gun, given that they would mob-lynch augmented individuals and leave them half-crippled, they were people with nothing to lose, so it was a fact that getting involved with Neo-Luddism would ruin one’s life.

As if knowing what I was thinking in response to my reaction, Johann shook his head.

“Whatever you’re thinking, it’s at least different from that. This ‘freedom from restraint’ is a statement more aligned with individual goals.”

“Mr. Johann is right.”

Seira, who had been quietly eating the sweet snacks provided, and watching Yuki and Kana’s desperate wallet defense battle, opened her mouth.

“We are Vanishment… True to our name, we are a group formed by exiles.”

“Exiles, huh.”

“Yes. From states… more precisely, people who had to flee corporations, groups, or organizations.”

Since the role of states is usually held by the strongest megacorps now, they are probably people who defied the rules set by those megacorps or fell out of favor with the high-ranking officials.

“My grandfather was the captain of Ayakashi’s War Special Operations Unit 1. During the Corporate Wars, he achieved numerous feats for Ayakashi.”

“He…”

Luna twitched her eyebrows, as if knowing who he was, then quickly put down the wine she was holding and focused on Seira’s words with serious eyes.

“After the Corporate Wars, a department called Enforcers was newly established, and he worked as an instructor and deputy head of the Enforcers, but a katana gifted to my grandfather by Ayakashi was the problem.”

More than the various titles Seira uttered, the mention of Ayakashi directly bestowing something made me realize how important his position had been.

Receiving something from a megacorp was a possibility even lower than astronomical odds, reserved only for victims who won their cases in court, or key figures in top-tier positions.

“After receiving that katana, my grandfather changed. His wise and benevolent demeanor disappeared, and he simply turned into a killing doll.”

‘To think a wise and benevolent old man still existed in this world.’ All that remained of old men in this world were wizened monsters. I figured it was probably a romanticized description, a ‘family buff’ from childhood.

“My dream is… to kill my grandfather.”

In her indifferent eyes, which had shown no will to live, a single color of light shimmered.

And only then did I understand what kind of liberation they were speaking of.

A resolution with the past.