The Girl Breadwinner (2)
The sandstorm was howling.
A sudden explosion had sent the laborers running, and in the emptied worksite, someone quietly made their presence known.
"The workers fled as planned. I'll recover the target on schedule and return."
There was no one in sight. A person was there—you simply couldn't see them.
Through the raging sand he walked at an unhurried pace, and stopped before the corpse of a giant sprawled across the ground. It stood a little under twenty meters tall. Its hide was tougher and harder than steel, and yet a hole two meters in radius had been punched straight through its abdomen.
That was the work of the Golden Witch, one of only five S-Rank heroes in all of Hero City, done with nothing more than a flick of her finger.
"...What a monster. The other specimens aside, this thing was an A-Rank beast, and it died in a single blow."
To put down so easily a creature that ordinary bullets and bombs couldn't even scratch—that was a monster worse than any monster. And if you had watched it happen from a mere kilometer away, the strength of an S-Rank hero became something you could feel in your bones.
"That's why we sent you. Even an A-Rank awakener or better couldn't pick you out in that sandstorm. That one would be the exception—but she isn't about to stir herself for a mere beast."
"Understood. Signing off."
He cut the comms with his colleague and turned his attention back to the job. Given the distance between the worksite and Hero City, it would take the heroes a full hour to notice something was wrong and arrive. The sandstorm had Hero City's electronics misfiring besides. Factor in the time it would take the workers who'd fled by truck to report it themselves, and he had roughly another thirty minutes of grace.
"...Good luck."
That was more than enough time to recover the materials. What he was after was the giant's heart. The blood, flesh, bone, and major organs of beasts were used to make equipment and drugs, and they fetched a high price. Every so often, villains made a habit of stealing Hero City's materials.
Shunk—!
His blade opened the giant's chest. Blue blood sprayed out, but the droplets that struck him lost their color at once, turning clear as glass.
His identity was the B-Rank villain Outsider—a troublesome type who could render transparent any substance that touched his body, living creatures excluded. He was no great fighter, but an ability that even thermal cameras couldn't catch was a genuine advantage. In the end, though, it only erased his appearance. Presence and sound were another matter.
Whooooosh—
In a sandstorm like this, he could hide almost perfectly. Without a special detection ability, finding him was close to impossible.
Thunk!
"What the—?!"
A Phillips screwdriver came flying out of nowhere and buried itself in the beast's corpse. Startled, Outsider dropped the knife he'd been using to cut out the heart.
"Found you..."
"Who's there!"
Into eyes that reflected no color at all, irises red as blood bled into view. A woman's crimson gaze locked his entire body rigid. In a single instant, Outsider's thoughts went numb.
She looked like she was enjoying herself. Whatever she found so amusing, she was smiling a smile even the mask couldn't quite hide.
"C-could you be a hero?!"
He tried to react as fast as he could, but the moment his body froze—even for a second—the ending had already been written.
Wham—!
This time the blood that sprayed was red. Outsider went down without a shred of color on him.
"You just haven't seen the real thing."
Every tool on the worksite was charged with mana for processing beast corpses. That included the crowbar that had just caved in Outsider's skull.
"Shame it wasn't an A-Rank villain."
Before anyone showed up, I hauled the B-Rank villain Outsider over to the exchange. I am a bounty hunter. Bounty hunters are people who hunt heroes, villains, and other unusual awakeners. This cursed world is full of rich men with a taste for awakeners, so any villain or hero with a name worth knowing has a fortune riding on their head. That was how I'd been making my money: catching bounty villains and turning them in.
Heroes and ordinary awakeners, I left alone. Villains only. If you went by the numbers, hero bounties were generally higher—but if you put a hand on a hero, they branded you a villain and had the gall to call their friends. As long as I stayed on the right side of the law, villain hunting was the way to go. No reason to get piled on and make my life harder.
"Still, this should hold me for a while."
Looked at a certain way, people might even take me for a hero. If I ran across a decent villain on the street, I hunted them. Sometimes, like today, I staked out a place a villain was likely to show. But I was no hero. I wasn't cultivating a sense of justice, or anything of the sort. Then again, maybe the other heroes weren't either.
Heroes, from what I'd heard, would summarily execute a villain or throw them in prison, depending on the mood. I just handed mine straight to the exchange. Hero City did pay a reward for bringing villains in, but they carved a fat slice off in taxes, and the gap between a bounty and a civic reward was night and day. Why bother?
"Got today's wages too, so I've got plenty of pocket money."
Bounty hunting wasn't even illegal, and the payouts ran two or three times higher, so the bounty was simply more efficient. On top of that, if an awakener who wasn't a hero kept bagging villains, the scout offers started rolling in, and that was exhausting. All in all, I preferred to make money without being seen.
As for the villains sold to the exchange... they probably ended up with the mafia or in some lab, and either way they died or they didn't. They'd earned it. Not my problem. Right now the payday was fat enough that a smile came unbidden.
"...I sent the money. Still—bringing in Outsider. Impressive. How'd you catch him? That concealment of his doesn't make him easy to bag."
The Bartender at the exchange sounded genuinely interested. The exchange and the deposit were already done. I checked; the money had gone through. Time to get back to the worksite.
"None of your business. Trade secret."
The guy behind the mask was a broker for what people called the black market. Reliable enough—but not someone you let your guard down around. I didn't particularly want to chat.
"A shame. I was curious how a little brat like you has been hunting villains for ten years."
"Spare me the nonsense. Just send me the newly updated villain list later. Stick to B through A."
"Understood. A VIP deserves at least that much."
The truth was, B-Rank villain Outsider had shown up in the original game, so I already knew how to deal with him, and Capella's senses were sharp enough that I could pin his location even without seeing him. Of course, the biggest factor had been Capella's own ability.
"...Tell them to have a good Christmas."
"You too."
I made sure no one was outside, then left the exchange. If I didn't head back soon, I'd start looking suspicious. By now they would have figured out the explosion hadn't been caused by the beast, and since I'd already dealt with Outsider—the real culprit—they wouldn't be able to pin down what had set it off. The work would run a little late, but given people's circumstances, it would get back on track. That much was certain.
"Good work, miss. Thanks to you it wrapped up smoothly, so I made sure to look after you."
"...Thank you. Have a wonderful Christmas with your family."
I offered the greeting with my cap pulled down over my eyes.
"You too, miss."
The envelope the foreman handed me was thicker than I'd expected. The delay from the explosion hadn't been my fault, but he'd felt bad about it, and between that and the extra effort I'd put in, we'd finished without running much past the original schedule.
Before I knew it, evening had come, and the winter moon was pouring a beautiful light across the sky. White breath drifted from my mouth. My sweat-soaked body was screaming to get home and into a hot shower, and I was right there with it.
The streets were packed, so I ran the rooftops instead. Once I got home I showered in warm water and changed as fast as I could, afraid I'd be late. Then I headed out on foot toward my destination.
"...I'll take that."
I stopped at a gift shop along the way. Christmas Day itself I was going to be too busy to come, so I needed to buy presents in advance. After that I ducked into a bookstore, then a handful of other places, and at the end I bought a Christmas cake. I'd taken a bounty today and a generous day's wages besides, so this much spending was allowed. If not on a day like this, when else was I going to buy things? The bonus had been fat, Christmas was close, and there was plenty worth looking at. In my own small way, it actually felt like shopping, and I liked that.
"Ah—I'm going to be late."
I couldn't forget what I'd actually come out for. I'd gotten absorbed in buying this and that, and if I kept going like this the timing was going to be razor-thin. I needed to move.
Running would have been faster than a car, but the cake might get crushed, so I called a taxi.
"Floor D, Eins Hospital. Full speed, please."
I even invoked a Hero Taxi's forbidden phrase, and a stretch that should have taken thirty minutes was over in ten. His rank was nothing special, but the driver was an awakener too; his judgment and dynamic vision put ordinary cabbies to shame. A good thirty minutes of road, and we'd covered it in a mere thirteen. Limited to driving, that man might have been a cut above most superheroes. Or maybe he had a short-range leap. Either way, I made it by a hair.
I went into the hospital and headed for a certain room. This was why I could never become a hero, or a villain.
"Sorry! I'm not late, am I?"
I knocked and hurried inside, set the gifts on the table, and hung my coat on the rack.
This was the greatest difference between the original Capella and me. Family.
"...Yeah. You made it right on time, sis."
The white-haired girl lying in the bed greeted me with a smile. Seeing it, the day's fatigue seemed to lift all at once.
"Thank goodness. I promised I'd watch the fireworks with you, Lena. I was worried I'd be late."
Her name was Elena. She'd been born with a rare illness and spent more time in hospitals than any child should, but she never let it cow her. She studied hard, she was sharp, and she was a good kid.
In the original story, Elena died with their parents when they were murdered—Capella's little sister, gone in the same night. At the time she had been a two-year-old baby. I had miraculously managed to save her.
Please... save my little sister.
...No. More precisely, I had had to save her.