Sexroid
High pay meant high risk.
Even though the request itself seemed no different from their usual transport jobs, Draco prepared twice as thoroughly as usual.
It was the first time he had prepared so meticulously since the final battle of his mercenary days.
Philip and Lewis were the same.
Driven by Draco's relentless nagging, the two had also made thorough preparations.
The employees under them were no exception.
A total of seven employees, considered the elite of Regina, boarded the transport vehicles, geared up like soldiers heading to war.
There were three transport vehicles in total.
The employees split into groups of four and three in two of the cars, while Draco, Philip, and Lewis rode in the third.
Normally, they would have deployed anywhere from six to twelve vehicles to ensure the cargo's safety, but this time they decided to keep a low profile.
That, too, was a decision born of Draco's borderline obsessive caution.
No one objected.
Philip and Lewis also agreed that a small, elite team was the right choice for this job.
And so, the vehicle carrying Draco's group led the convoy, loaded with the client's cargo.
"Man, the weather's great, the road is clear, and there's no traffic. Right? It's like heaven itself is helping us get rich," Philip said with a chuckle as he stepped on the gas.
But no one agreed with him.
While it was true there was no traffic, the rain was pouring down like crazy. It was coming down so hard that the road was completely obscured; they couldn't even see the lane markers, let alone the state of the asphalt.
Thus, the only part of Philip's statement that held any truth was the lack of traffic.
"Stop talking nonsense and focus on driving. If we crash, we're all fucked," Draco warned.
"Who do you think I am? Philip, with thirty-six years of accident-free driving."
"How can a thirty-six-year-old have thirty-six years of accident-free driving?" Lewis chimed in.
"I've lived for thirty-six years and never been in a car crash. Doesn't that count as my entire life's experience?"
Lewis snorted at Philip's absurd logic. Draco, who was sitting next to Lewis checking his firearms, swallowed a dry laugh and nodded.
"Technically, I suppose that makes sense."
"See? So let the kids worry about crashing. Hey, guys! How's the drive back there? Managing alright?"
"It's hard to make out the road, but we can see your taillights clearly."
"Same as Alpha."
"Good, good. If you think we're going too slow, feel free to flash your high beams and pass us, alright? You know your big bro doesn't hold grudges."
It was a ridiculous thing to say while speeding at 200 kilometers per hour, but Alpha and Beta laughed and radioed back their understanding.
The employees knew Philip was joking. That was just how Regina Security Transport operated—the atmosphere was surprisingly relaxed compared to the nature of their work.
This was largely thanks to Philip's lighthearted, almost flippant attitude as he hummed behind the wheel.
Of course, Philip's demeanor wasn't always a positive. Because he was so easygoing, plenty of employees tried to push their boundaries.
Yet, Regina never fell out of sync.
Whenever the employees stepped out of line, Lewis would personally step in and discipline them with physical force. To put it nicely, they were a highly compatible team in many ways.
"Lewis, what's the status on the Eastheim tollgate? Looking at the ledger, it seems we greased a lot of palms."
"We got the clearance, but on a day with heavy rain like this, there's no telling what might happen."
On days with torrential downpours, it wasn't the corrupt, bribe-taking bottom-feeders on duty, but the honest officers of the ECPD.
When visibility was low due to the rain, the department had to deploy their competent officers. And since competent officers didn't need to rely on bribes, they were naturally much stricter.
For Regina, who usually bribed their way through tollgates, this was a troublesome variable.
Given the nature of security transport, they carried all sorts of highly sensitive cargo. If the officers decided to conduct a search at the tollgate, there was no telling what kind of disaster would unfold.
This was especially true for their current cargo.
During the briefing, they had been warned repeatedly that under no circumstances were they to open it.
"Damn it, what if those bastards stop us?" Philip muttered, his narrow eyes flickering toward the rearview mirror.
Sensing his anxiety, Draco shook his head to reassure him.
"Even if I have to put a bullet through their skulls, we're getting through. Just focus on driving for now."
"A bullet? Please. The biggest coward always barks the loudest. Right, Lewis?"
"Nothing new there," Lewis shrugged.
A muffled chuckle came through the radio. Draco glared at Philip, his eyes wide.
Only then did Philip slap his forehead, putting on a look of mock regret.
"Ah, my bad. Forgot to turn off the comms. You cheeky bastards... Since when do punks like you get to laugh when your elders are talking, huh?"
"...Philip. You and I are going to have a chat after this job," Draco said, his voice laced with irritation.
Philip winced and focused solely on the road.
Unlike the easygoing Philip, Draco held grudges like no other. Pushing him any further would guarantee a massive headache, so Philip decided to drop it.
Still, Philip was satisfied that the tension had eased.
On high-stakes jobs like this, tension was poison.
A healthy amount of tension was fine, but how could anyone stay moderately tense when the payout was this massive? Rather than freezing up from stress, it was better to treat it like a casual road trip.
Lewis and Draco knew this too. That was why they didn't truly try to shut Philip up.
They had been working together for over twenty years.
Their bond was so deep that such thoughts were understood without a single word.
"What's our ETA?" Draco asked.
"We have 220 kilometers left, so... probably a little over an hour."
An hour. A fairly long time to just kill.
Draco finished checking his weapon and glanced back at the cargo.
A trunk large enough to fit a small person, and a shard storage case. Naturally, he had no idea what was inside.
The client had explicitly warned them not to look, but they wouldn't have anyway.
Ever since Philip had caused a massive disaster out of curiosity when they first started the business, they had treated all cargo like the forbidden fruit.
Draco turned his gaze away from the cargo and looked down at the physical documents detailing the request.
Even this aspect of the job was different from their usual contracts.
Instead of being delivered via data shard, it had been handed over on paper. It was a testament to how tight the security surrounding it was.
"Hmm..."
Letting out a soft hum, Draco stared at the client information section, which remained completely blank.
Even if he asked Philip, he wouldn't get an answer. The one who had delivered the documents wasn't a human, but an android.
"Why the long face? We've already come this far, so let's just focus on how to handle the tollgate. If things get tight, we have the gear I made. No need to overthink it."
Had his expression darkened without him realizing? Draco looked up at Lewis.
Lewis was holding out his canteen. Naturally, it wasn't filled with water. It was cheap alcohol meant solely for getting drunk—Draco's favorite.
"Didn't I say? Even if we have to put bullets in their heads, we're getting through."
Draco took a swig of the strong liquor and chuckled.
"I'm not bluffing this time. I'd even bet my dagger on it. I'm going to see this job through, no matter what."
Philip and Lewis stared at him in surprise.
Draco's dagger was a keepsake left behind by his younger sister, who had died in agony.
Betting that dagger was equivalent to Draco declaring he would slaughter the ECPD if things went south.
"If this crazy bastard starts shooting, I'm running. ECPD is one thing, but Talos is out of the question," Philip muttered.
"But with ten of us, don't you think we stand a chance?" Lewis asked.
"Stand a chance? Are you kidding me?"
Philip shuddered at Lewis's question.
"Absolutely not. Even if all of Regina threw themselves at them, we wouldn't be able to scratch them."
"...I hear that all the time, but it's still hard to believe."
"Damn it, shouldn't you believe me by now? It's only because you haven't seen them, Lewis. Those bastards are literal monsters."
Philip was the only one among them who had experienced the might of Talos firsthand.
Though he sometimes exaggerated it for crude jokes, the fact that he had faced Talos remained true.
The numerous implants and chrome covering the right side of his body were proof of that.
"We don't even need to talk about their squad leaders. We couldn't even beat a single regular agent. They're just a different species entirely."
In the blink of an eye, the right half of his body had been obliterated.
He had only survived by a miracle because his heart was on the other side; had it been the left, he would have died instantly.
Philip shifted his aching body around and lit a cigarette.
A long silence followed.
Soon, it was time for the streetlights to flicker on. As the road suddenly lit up, the rain seemed to pour down even harder. The sound of water drumming against the hood of the car was so intense it might as well have been hail.
"...Ah, fuck... What the hell is that?"
Beyond the heavy curtain of rain, the logos of the ECPD and Zyrec glowed brightly at the tollgate.
"That's when everything went wrong..."
Draco, who had been speaking with his eyes closed, opened them and tilted his head in disbelief.
If he were in his original body, it would have been a menacing sight, but trapped in the body of a sexroid, he just looked adorable.
"...Swoo?"
"Yep."
"Were you just dozing off?"
"Nope."
"It looked like you were nodding off with your eyes closed just a second ago."
"I was just visualizing the scene in my head."
"...Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
He could have asked her to repeat what he had just said to be sure, but doing so felt too petty.
"Anyway, things went downhill the moment we reached the tollgate."
As the head of a company, Draco had his pride. Swallowing his skepticism, he nodded and continued his explanation.
At the same time, Swoo spoke up.
"Because the ECPD and Zyrec were camped out there?"
"Uh..."
Draco's eyes widened.
He could have sworn she was sleeping—he even thought he saw a bit of drool at the corner of her mouth—so he hadn't expected her to actually be listening.
"...Yes. For whatever reason, they had set up a blockade at the Eastheim tollgate."
Of course, Swoo actually had been dozing off.
Even so, she immediately figured out how Draco's team had run into trouble.
It was a conclusion that required very little thought.
The reason they were waiting there was simply to capture Thompson alive.
Although the IEP had been triggered in Zyrec's Kinetics division today, the CSIA must have been tracking Thompson long before that. They would have wanted to gather solid evidence before initiating the protocol.
In the process, they likely cited Eden's laws to mobilize the ECPD for extra manpower.
Thus, it was only natural for them to monitor Eastheim, Thompson's stronghold, as well as the tollgate leading into it.
Which meant...
Draco's team was essentially the innocent bystander caught in the crossfire of giants.
...Wait.
Then wasn't the root cause of Draco getting trapped in a sexroid actually our fault?
With that thought, Angela shifted her eyes to steal a glance at Swoo's expression.
She wondered if Swoo was thinking the same thing, but as expected, Swoo's face was unreadable.
Swoo was just smiling brightly, looking as innocent as could be.
It was absolutely clear that there wasn't a shred of guilt or responsibility in that smile.
And indeed, she felt none.
Swoo was simply glad for the chaos that had descended upon Eden.