Chapter 18: Reaction
[Edited By: Arthur300000]
[Proofread By: ArchmageNaoki]
[Deathbricks outta nowhere]
We recover the devices from those bandit corpses without any problem. Well, taking things from their cold dead grasp wasn’t a pretty scene. However, life's hard; it's harder if you're stupid. I wouldn’t deny free money in front of me even if the process of getting it is a bit gruesome. Since it’s a team effort, we decided to split the loot evenly. There are some broken devices, but most of them are still intact. The total usable devices from the 14 bandit corpses are 20 combat devices, five communication devices, and four storage devices. No one wanted to keep any of those broken devices, so I decided to keep it all. Well, you know, glue and polish stuff. It’s my plan to turn my pink and fluffy filled room into something more normal. By the way, it’s an unspoken rule among adventures that the equipment of the enemy belongs to the one who killed them so we can't salvage the bandits that were killed by the security team.
Usually, my teammates divided device by what they use; My brother takes gun type devices, my sister gets the close combat type devices, and Sophia the auxiliary type devices. So, logically, I would be a cause of the problem in splitting the loot since my needs would eventually overlap with one of theirs. However, they don't seem to mind of what I choose. My sister was even visibly happier when I picked close combat devices while my brother also suggested one of the gun type devices to me. Sophia was also helpful in helping me choosing one of the auxiliary type devices. Here is what I chose.
(Unidentified) Blue double edge sword
(Unidentified) Falcata (Sickle-shaped sword)
(Unidentified) Round metal shield
(Unidentified) Futuristic looking pistol
(Unidentified) Grey wand
As you may have already noticed, I prefer swords. Hammers, Clubs, and Maces are also had their advantage, but here the sword is more suitable that them. Since people in this world doesn’t wear armor much, the ability to cut is vital. If I need to bash something hard, my fist would be more than enough. Well, I could also do it with [half-sword] technique. The blue sword was the perfect length for me, although it’s a bit longer than the wakizashi, it was still short enough for me to equip it without any problems. It also has a perfect weight, balance, and sharpness. The falcata and round shield look like the ones that the ancient Spartans used. I felt somewhat manlier when holding them. Just a metal helmet and red cape then I can cosplay as a Spartan warrior. Well, sadly, I couldn’t run shirtless and screaming like Spartan does anymore. Maybe if I attached a fake beard … No, it still wouldn't work, people would see my boobs bouncing instead of firm six pack. I don’t know the exact specifications of those devices yet, so I rely on the experience of my teammates which mostly consisted of guesswork. There are more than a million variations of those devices on the market, so even my nerd brother could only identify a few of those gun type devices we salvaged. The one I chose he doesn’t remember its model, but he said it should have some slots to program a few spells into it.
“If they are adventurer grade or military grade, can I use it?” I remember my sister said that I should have a certificate of each level before I can buy the respective class of devices. So, I grew worried when my brother suspected that most of them were adventurer grade and maybe few of them are even military grade.
“Legally? No. Practically? Yes. Those laws are only to enforce the device shop not to sell those devices to a customer who doesn’t have appropriate certification. Thus, you can even use the higher tier devices even in front of the police officer without a problem, but you can’t use those higher class device in the official competition. Moreover, the auxiliary device that Sophia is using is also a military grade device.” What!? That love scepter is a military grade device!? This revelation made me promise myself not to join any army of this world. Just imagining myself in a Mahou Shoujo army full of rainbow and frills made me want to bury my head in the ground like an ostrich.
“By the way, why don’t they have any ID cards on them?” I tried to search for their ID cards, but none of these bandit corpses had any on them.
“No, outlaws don’t have one. Moreover, no one can use an ID card except its owner. So that means those bandits were robbing people for their belongings and their … bodies. Then they trade that thing for what they need at the black market.” So, the legendary black market existed? Do they have a cat ear girl slaves for sale there?
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“It’s too dangerous for a girl to go there!” My sister sternly refuses the idea about me visiting black market when I pressed further. Oh well, there's always another way to get the cat-eared girl slave…
We moved on to divide the communication devices. I got the one which my brother chose for me as he said it’s the best model while everyone just took what they thought was better than what they already had. The rest will be sold, and the money split between ourselves later. The communication device that I selected looks like a smartphone from my former world. Well, I lived alone for a long time and had no one to contact so I kind of forgot about its existence. I could ask my siblings for their contact info later, so I ask Sophia for her address. She gave me her business card.
Sophia Holst
President of Yaoi Appreciation Club
Contact: [email protected]
Her business card made my brain stop working for a few seconds. It even came with an obscene yaoi watermark. “I have my reputation to maintain.” Is what she said when I look at her with lukewarm eyes. Anyway, I store her business card in my bracelet so I can add her address later. I found that there are a lot of devices and monster cores inside my bracelet.
“Aren't we filthy rich now?” I asked my teammates, but they just reply with a happy laugh and said: “It’s thanks to you Kuro.” I don’t know how much the items in those storage devices have because we need to tune them to one of our energy patterns to look inside first. But I suspect that there must be something valuable in at least one of them. Maybe I should begin to plan what I want to spend my money on. Goodbye, poverty, Viva la luxurious life!
While we’re laughing happily, I heard footsteps walking toward us, about nine people. But I already know they're Vicky’s and Marcus's team, so I don't need to warn my teammates. When they arrived most of them starts cooking and building the camps as usual. However, Vicky walked straight to us and started scolding my brother. She looks outraged.
“You should've just reported it to the security team, but nooo, you have to put your cute little sister through danger. Is the money that important to you!? What if-” I’m sorry brother, right now she is too scary for me to stand up for you. And please stop calling me cute. See? I'm even holding a Spartan weapon.
She went raging on for a long time as she lectured each one of us one by one. Luckily, I was somehow exempted from her lecture. However, it seems rude to just leave my teammates like that, so I stay with them as moral support. Well, in a sense she is right. But didn't she cross the line a little there? While Sophia just recovers fast, my siblings seemed a bit down after her lecture. There is something amiss about my siblings’ reaction, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. They appear to feel more guilty than normal. I try to cheer them up, but it’s no use. We use the battle site as a campground because the bright sunlight after a long day of walking in the dark is quite refreshing. After the sun set, we began chatting happily at the dinner table like always. Without the tree branches acting as a roof made the area a bit colder in the night. However, the sea of stars in the sky over our heads is mesmerizing. The light from those fireflies also looks a bit brighter than normal. It’s like they’re trying to compete with those stars. Do your best Mr. Fireflies.
The organizing of night watch became problematic. Luckily, tomorrow is the time to go back. Everyone insisted that I must be exempt from night watch because I don't have a close combat device anymore. Well, I might be vulnerable to ranged spells but considering those traps that Marcus's team put down I should be perfectly safe. In the end, it turned out that my brother will do the early shift alone, followed by Mr. Professional Adventurer, then my sister and Sophia. I’m worried because my brother had pulled an all-nighter yesterday, had a fierce battle with bandits and still had to listen to the long lecture from Vicky. So if he falls asleep on his shift from his exhaustion, then he could put us all in danger.
After my sister had fallen asleep, she mumbled something like “Sorry Kuro-chan.” I sneakily remove myself from my sister's embrace and get out of my tent.
“If you're going to sit here, sit closer, so I can protect you.” It seems my brother’s still bothered by Vicky’s lecture. Well, let’s try not to agitate a sleep deprived person. So, I sat a bit closer to him.
“Why do you bother about it so much? Haven't we all agreed to do this?” I ask my brother while tossing a can of soda at him. He caught the soda can and sighed.
“You see, Kuro, what we have done today is reckless. Calling the security team would be the proper course of action, and I would have done that if you weren't on our team. With you here, I thought it would be easy, but I was too conceited about our team’s abilities. Especially I'm conceited when I saw your power. There are moments that ... I thought that, even if something unexpected were to happen, I could rely on ... No, I could use your ability to get through it. Do you understand, Kuro? I was using you. We were all just using you. I thought I was better than them, but in the end, I’m not different from any of them. The government, my family, my twin sister, we’re all the same.” Oi, why are you dragging my sister into your self-loathing? And what is this about the government? Are you a part of some suspicious anti-government faction? Ahh, maybe it’s just symptoms of sleep deprivation. But it annoys me quite a bit when he said something like I’m not one of them.
“What do you mean using me? Aren’t we a team? Isn’t it normal that we should help each other out? Your people are so kind to me while in my world no one was ever nice to me. What’s wrong with relying on me a little bit? I don’t understand your reaction at all. I don't get it why you have a face full of shame. Ahh, forget it, your forehead is all wrinkled.” I pointed between his eyebrows.
“You're a good girl.” He patted my head and turned his face away. Well, in the end, I still don’t know what’s wrong with this idiot brother of mine. I don’t know what to say to console him anymore. I try to pat his head, but I couldn’t reach his head while I am sitting here. And standing to pat his head is a bit awkward. Hug him? Forget it. So I settled with just patting his back. We sat like that until the end of his shift. I don’t know what to do or say so I just drank poroporo juice beside him while looking around in my duck pajamas. Oops, now I had to brush my teeth again.