Chapter 8
[8] Hunter and Cat Thief (2)
Leona has committed two murders in Zado City. One was a robber, one a rapist. But Leona shrugs as if it was nothing.
“Well, that’s not why I’m locked up.”
“Then what are you stuck for?”
“The guard commander took all my chips for fines. What a fine in the free city. You’re being ridiculous.”
Leona mutters, grinding her teeth as if she was still angry. Then he smiled with a sly look.
“So I robbed the vault here. It was a pity.”
Gene nods, making sense of everything. Leona was caught trying to rob the city vault. There were bruises on Leona’s body that were still not healed, and it was a wound from being beaten.
“I hung myself and asked where you took the chip. Am I crazy? Why would you tell me that? That’s why I kept my mouth shut. Hey, you see that out there? I was hanging there. I thought I was dying.”
What Leona pointed to was an old flagpole, and Leona said she was tied to a rope and hung in the air.
“The guard commander locked me in the vault because a monster broke in. That’s it.”
If Leona dies, we won’t know the whereabouts of the missing chip, so we put it in a safe deposit box first. The guard commander probably didn’t think the city would collapse.
‘So the dead bodies at the door were not trying to rob the vault, they were trying to escape to the vault.’
Eventually, I couldn’t rule out the possibility of a dead body trying to escape to the vault where the city would collapse and be safest. But that’s not the point. After all, the dead are the dead. Gene raises questions.
“You robbing the vault means you can open it. Then why were you locked in the vault? Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?”
“Are you an amateur?”
Leona tilts her head as if to ask Jean a silly question.
“Would you let me know if I asked the technician to teach you a skill?”
Maybe it was because Leona’s expression seemed serious enough that Jin burst into laughter.
“An engineer…. Haha, yes. I see. Excuse me.”
“Excuse me, be careful.”
“I’ll do that.”
“Hmmm… Well, it’s no big secret.”
Leona whispers something big.
“The guard guard put a hole in his house, stole the guard’s house key, and then took it away. After my turn, he froze my foot and blocked the hole.”
“Oh-ho.”
“If you try to kill me, you’ll die brawling about what you dug.” And then he didn’t kill her. I almost starved to death. ”
Leona was quite the clever cat thief. Death is the biggest disadvantage. The guard commander’s weakness is that he holds it tightly like a lifeline without revealing it.
‘This is more than clever… Survival instincts.’
Instinct is not knowing how to survive, but thinking about how to say and act is the best choice, but instinctively noticing. Nothing is more important than this instinct to survive in the wilderness. In Gene’s eyes, Leona was neither from the city nor from the city, and would have wandered around and arrived here.
It’s usually impossible for a boy like this to wander in the wilderness, with his evil, his cane, and his noticeably. The mystery about the group of Giant Wolf remains unsolved, but Gene seems to have heard enough testimony.
And Gene came up with the most important point.
“Now let’s talk about the chip you stole.”
Leona’s expression hardened.
“That’s mine.”
“Stolen goods. In short, it’s called a merchandise.”
“Whatever was stolen is in my hands.”
“Then I can steal it from you. Then it’s mine, isn’t it?”
“Stealing is not stealing.”
“Stealing is called stealing. Stealing is called stealing in front of your eyes.” Actually, it makes no difference. ”
After all, Leona was unable to conquer the camp because she had lived a different time. If it’s mine to steal, I’ll steal it from you.
“Are you Slater?”
“There’s nothing you can’t do if you need to.”
Leona pulls back cautiously, and Gene grins as he looks at her.
“But you’re lucky I don’t like it that way.”
If you were going to run the heist, you wouldn’t have to hunt. There are several principles for hunters, and Gene has been trying to keep them for a long time, even if not perfectly.
If not by proper request, do not kill for the chip.
In the wilderness, a hunter and a slater are clearly different, even if they kill to survive. You’re not a hunter who lives to take it.
“How much chips did you take?”
“…… about 2,000.”
“That’s a lot of money.”
An amount of that can ensure a life span of at least 2,000 hours and considerable.
“Dead hunters live around here. I don’t know if you know this, but corpse hunters don’t attack humans lightly. But in your case, it’s a different story.”
Hunters usually take quests, but they also offer quests.
“Monsters tend to pick on weak-looking opponents as if the beast were aiming for their young, and you are quite vulnerable.”
“…….”
It is clear that if Leona goes out now, she will still be attacked by a hungry corpse hunter.
“I’ll get you to Adpoint in one piece. Instead, I’ll take half your chips.”
“You said you needed me anyway, so shouldn’t you take her anyway? And you’re willing to take money?”
“You’re an amateur.”
Gene shrugs and smiles bloody.
“Technicians don’t do things for free.”
After taking back what she had said, Leona was dumbfounded.
The cost of the quest is variable and can change in any way depending on the client’s desperation. Just because it’s what has to be done doesn’t mean it’s free.
A hunter is more like a slater than a slater.
“Isn’t this a total fraud?”
Of course, Leona was staring at Jean with a stupefied look on her face.
“Better a con man than a robber in your position.”
“Tsk…”
Gene was pretty bad at not saying anything wrong. Leona notices a clumsy, evil hunter.
If this man has a bad heart, all the chips he has will be robbed and killed. You can flip half as much as you want. As soon as we get to the location where the chip is hidden, the hunter has every chance of attacking Leona.
Under the circumstances, Leona is troubled.
“I think I know what you’re thinking.”
Tuk
Then Gin threw a metal box the size of Leona’s palm.
“Keep in mind that hunters also take into account the anxiety of their clients.”
“What is this?”
“It’s called a chipbox.”
“Chipbox?”
“Hunters use it to store chips. If you don’t enter the specified password, it won’t open. If you try to force it to open, it explodes.”
“Password?”
“You decide how to open this box, and if you don’t open it that way, the moment you try to hijack the chip, all the internal chips will explode.”
Gene kindly taught Leona how to set, open and store the chipbox’s password. This is a rare item in the territory, but when you go out to the continent, the raging hunters will have it.
The chipbox was both a wallet and protection against Slater. The more chips in the chip box, the more powerful the box becomes, so slatters don’t ‘dirty’ the hunters. You mess with the hunter, you blow yourself up, the chips fly, your life goes with them.
It is also used by security clients to reassure suspicious clients.
“Keep your money here and pay your commission when you arrive. There’s nothing to be nervous about.”
“What if it doesn’t explode? What if you knew how to force it open?”
“Suspicious attitude is commendable, but that’s the box I’ve been using. If you can open it by force or it won’t explode, I’m in trouble. It’s not like there’s no way to get it to open by force, but it has to go where the box factory is.”
“Where’s the factory?”
“Half a year on foot.”
“Oh…”
Leona admired that she walked for half a year instead of being surprised. The fact that there was a world so far was surprising. Leona stared at the chipbox and touched things. None of the chips in the box were empty, but the clicking box was ready to explode at any time.
“I feel cheated, but I can’t help it. I’ll accept the quest since you’re no longer likely to eat. Protect me.”
“It’s a quick choice for what you’re thinking about. Don’t you feel nervous?”
“You have to gamble to survive. Remember that.”
Leona puts her hands on her waist and laughs because Jean is ridiculous. A kid who teaches himself how to survive.
Of course Leona’s right. Sometimes you have to choose one of the traps from both sides, and then you have to leave it to chance. Leona was a kid with the guts to choose one of those traps.
Gene has lived a long time, but so have I.
It’s a matter of a long life.
Leona laughs.
“Also, I’m pretty good at gambling.”
It was more of a nasty smile than a sunny smile. Leona wakes up quite refreshed for having been hungry for a long time.
“Sir, can I tell you something interesting?”
“What is it?”
Leona gets up and searches the dark side of the vault.
“The people who got something stolen can search the whole world, but not just one place.” Profit! Profit! ”
Yuck! Yuck!
Leona howls and moves a cabinet used as a vault. After that, bare soil emerges from the crumbling walls. Leona squirms through the narrow cracks like a mole, and you hear something sweeping away. Soon, Leona, who was covered in dirt, laughed and escaped the cave.
“Stolen place.”
The chips that were stolen were in the city vault as well. It’s just that the location has changed. Gene acknowledged that this little boy was really, really unusual. Instead of sneaking into the vault and hiding it little by little, he hid it through a hole in the vault. He would have wanted to get a big sack and drink it overnight.
Gin bursts into laughter because she’s incredibly smart.
Of course, this kid is smart enough to bore me to death.
“Let’s go. You know we have to protect her, right?”
“No, I forgot one thing.”
“What?”
“Advances. Only half.”
“…….”
Leona pulls the chip out of the box, chewing the meat raw.
Kid’s clever, but…
Gin is experienced.