Cyberpunk Orc (2)
Cyberpunk Orc (2)
A flat male voice, vaguely familiar, spread from the hologram screen.
[The morning in Redwood is swift.]
The video started along with the narration subtitle.
The sun, shining brightly through the gray clouds, appeared hazy.
The drone camera slowly gained altitude.
Its angle tilted from the sky toward the ground, and the screen shifted from gray clouds to a vast forested area.
[The only green zone designated by Neon City's municipal law—this land is broadly covered in verdant vegetation.]
I wasn't so sure. Watching the video, the phrase "verdant vegetation" didn't seem to fit.
The word "vegetation" felt awkward, too.
Most of the trees had red leaves.
It wasn't like autumn foliage.
I recalled hearing that the landscape had been shaped over many long years by pollutants from Cloud Park, right next to Redwood.
It was far from a normal landscape.
The drone camera left the green zone.
A panoramic view of alleyways so chaotic they seemed to lack any rules appeared on the screen.
[As we move through the designated districts, the citizens of Redwood finally come into view.]
The forest shadow visible moments before had vanished without a trace, replaced by a tangled maze of alleyways spreading their roots chaotically.
[They are precisely the Orcs.]
An 'Orc' who had come out onto the street jabbed a finger at the drone flying overhead.
They shouted something, but the sound was muted, so I couldn't hear what was said.
[We conducted a survey among citizens with above-average socialization scores living in Neon City.]
Like soldier ants from an anthill, massive Orcs burst out of several buildings.
[When we asked citizens where the most closed-off district in Neon City was.]
A sharp gunshot tore through the narrator's voice.
The screen, filled with noise, spun wildly.
[Many people chose 'Redwood.']
The drone camera crashed onto one side of an alley.
A moment later.
Orcs holding firearms appeared on the fallen drone's screen.
The massive sole of a shoe was the last thing seen.
The hologram screen blacked out into darkness.
In the center of that black screen, the title of the documentary program appeared in white letters.
【Tears of Redwood】
Soon, the narrator's words flowed out.
[Today, we will take the time to learn about this place, Redwood—.]
"What are you watching so intently?"
Cutting off the narrator, Catherine asked.
I paused the hologram screen for a moment.
Knowing that if I turned my head, Catherine's nearly bare body would be plainly visible, I kept my posture and answered without looking back.
"When Mr. Smith came by the other day, he asked if I'd heard any news about Redwood. I got curious and was watching."
"Hmm."
Whether her curiosity was satisfied or not, the presence behind me vanished with a brief sniff.
Though that probably just meant she settled onto the sofa behind me.
I resumed playback.
24. Orc of Cyberpunk (2)
Smith's disappearance.
The first thought I had when hearing the news was this.
......There shouldn't have been any related sub-quests.
No, there definitely wouldn't have been.
It had already been well over ten years, but the major details were still intact in my memory.
[It's already been a week since he last showed up for work.]
From the other side of the hologram call screen, Natasha voiced her concerns.
[I'm looking into it personally..., I was just wondering if you might have heard any news.]
She was a truly sincere boss, a rarity in this cyberpunk world.
Because normally, in such a cold-blooded, ruthless city, a person going missing wasn't strange.
But seeing her ask me like this,
it seemed she hadn't yet heard the story about Redwood from Smith.
"If it's been a week..., I did meet with Mr. Smith once back then when he came looking for me."
I explained the situation I knew to Natasha.
That his 'brothers' in Redwood weren't answering his calls.
[...Really?]
Natasha tilted her head as if puzzled.
She seemed to be wondering why he hadn't told her.
Since I couldn't figure out the reason either, I tilted my head to the side as well.
Hmm, why?
Maybe he didn't want to worry his Boss. It was all speculation; there was no way to know unless he told us himself.
Natasha let out a short sigh.
[Anyway, if you find out anything, let me know. Even if you have contacts in Redwood, they all just disappear, so news is slow to reach even me.]
It was a rare sight to see the Boss of No Answer sighing, so the seriousness of the situation felt a little more pronounced.
"I'll look into it too, so don't worry too much. He's not the type to go and get himself hurt."
[...Thanks.]
Maybe my reassurance had lifted her spirits a bit.
Natasha answered in a noticeably brighter tone.
We ended the call with brief farewells.
I briefly recalled the situation from a week ago.
When Smith had come to find me,
his expression hadn't been that serious.
No matter how bad I was at reading Orc facial expressions, I remembered that his face held nothing beyond worry.
And so I had prematurely assumed it wasn't an urgent situation.
If there was one thing bothering me....
It was that this might be a problem involving 'Redwood.'
I had visited every other district at least once, but Redwood was the one place I had never been to.
Usually, missions going into Redwood used mercenaries of the 'Orc' race.
It wasn't that other races couldn't take those requests—it just felt like everyone was careful around each other.
That would likely apply to Drex and Andrea, too, and it went without saying for Catherine, who started mercenary work with me at the garbage landfill.
For a moment,
I thought about whether I had any Orc connections among the people I knew.
Smith was....
Excluded from the start, since he was the one missing.
The guy with the glasses....
He was an Orc living underground at the garbage landfill, so there was no way he had relevant information. And going to meet him was hard in the first place.
"......."
Hmm.
There really is no one.
If I'd known this would happen, I should have at least gotten the number of that Orc terrorist who showed up at the café back in the day.
I never imagined my Orc connections would be this scarce.
It was lamentable.
Anyway.
In that case, I had no choice but to investigate personally.
With the feeling of Nobita looking for Doraemon, I called out one person's name.
"Eve."
"Standing by."
I asked Eve.
"Can you figure out Smith's current location by any chance? The Orc guard who was watching the entrance to No Answer."
"Please wait a moment."
Eve's eyes glowed with a round light.
As if she was hacking through Net Space, the movement of her prosthetic body halted.
"The location of the Orc 'Smith' has been confirmed to currently be in 'Redwood.'"
"He's alive, right?"
"His biosignal is normal."
Well, that was a relief.
No matter how much even the Scavengers avoided the Orcs, there would always be eccentrics wherever you went.
I was relieved that Smith hadn't been split into S/mi/th.
"Can you tell what he's doing right now?"
At my words, Eve hesitated for a moment.
As if making an excuse, Eve spoke.
"...The number of surveillance cameras in Redwood is far fewer than in other districts, so it's difficult to know the exact state of the Orc 'Smith' at this moment."
"How few are there to make you say that?"
"Compared to other districts, the number averages between 0% and 1%."
That meant there were practically none.
Just what was the state of that neighborhood for it to be like that?
He was definitely alive.
But how he was alive was impossible to know.
I briefly pondered what to do.
But right then.
Suddenly, Catherine pulled out an outdoor coat, draped it over her shoulders, and walked this way.
"?"
Seeing my puzzled expression, Catherine asked me instead.
"Aren't we going out?"
Excuse me?
"Weren't we going to Redwood to find that Orc? Then of course I'm coming along too."
"...We were going to go, but."
Could she have not gone out?
A light curiosity arose as to how Catherine could predict my actions so easily.
I had intended to look at Catherine while harboring that curiosity, but since she was still in her tank top and dolphin pants, my head naturally turned away.
That outfit was simply too devastating up close.
Catherine continued nonchalantly.
"Coincidentally, Andrea went out because of her schedule too..., so 'there's no helping it,' just the two of us—no, the three of us will have to go together."
.......
I couldn't answer.
No..., but I had been planning on bringing everyone else along.
I, who had been planning on bringing Drex and Andrea along for my safety, cautiously offered my opinion to Catherine.
"Well, since Redwood is such a dangerous place and all, wouldn't it be better to go together with other colleagues?"
"No, no."
Catherine shook her head firmly.
"If he's already been missing for a whole week, the critical window has long since passed. Every second counts, so we have to hurry and depart."
That somehow sounded plausible....
No, wait. Since we're already late anyway, common sense says we should go in with thorough preparations.
"I will prepare for going out."
Eve stood up and spoke.
Once things had progressed that far,
the mood wasn't right for me to suggest calling other people.
"...Alright, let's go."
Anyway, I was just as worried about Smith.
My already narrow circle of connections.
A crisis that could make it even narrower.
If I had known it would turn out like this a week ago,
when I first heard the story from Smith, I should have suggested we go check it out together.
No, but back then, Smith probably would have refused.
Anyway, 'Redwood,' huh.
It was a district with a lot of notoriously ominous rumors.
Representatively, there was a rumor that if you were a race other than Orc and got shot walking down the street, you had no right to feel wronged about it.
* * *
- Taang!
Half of the rumors were false.
And half were true.
This was a place where not only other races,
but even Orcs had to worry about getting shot.
Watching the gang power struggle unfolding in broad daylight, I let out a sigh.