Nagumo Sian's Request
“Nice to meet you! I’m Sawayanagi Azuma, President of Seryu Military Company!”
Just a few minutes ago I’d been rubbing my tired eyes after getting off the plane, yet here was Sawayanagi Azuma speaking in a bright, clear voice. Maybe it was because this was the largest employer I’d met so far? The tension rolling off her was palpable. In contrast, Mimata Chieri wore a completely relaxed expression.
“I’m Mimata Chieri from East Weapon. President, you’re so beautiful~!”
I’d told her to greet properly, but all she could do was spout nonsense. Nagumo Sian looked at the two women—one tense, one laid-back—and smiled softly.
“It’s lovely to meet you both. For now, let’s talk on the way.”
Following Nagumo Sian’s lead, we climbed into a sturdy-looking luxury vehicle. The moment we were inside, she handed contract documents to both Mimata Chieri and Sawayanagi Azuma.
“These are the contracts prepared by our respective staff. Just read them over and sign.”
Inside the car, the only sound was the soft rustle of pages turning. While the two women reviewed the documents, Nagumo Sian turned to me with a warm smile.
“Already securing a PMC for yourself? Impressive. Well done.”
“I made some money on stocks. I also received a favor token from my grandfather and used it to get his permission.”
“Oh? A favor token? Danjo rarely grants those.”
She had called him Chairman earlier, but in private she referred to him as Brother Danjo. Since Nagumo Sian seemed curious, I told her about the Human Resources Institute incident where a Minamoto spy had infiltrated, which led to me receiving the favor token.
“Good heavens! So you personally broke into the spy’s house?”
“At the time I thought he was connected to Second Uncle’s faction. But once I got inside, it turned out he was a Minamoto spy.”
“Brother Danjo absolutely loathes anything to do with Minamoto, so that explains why he gave you the token. Jiro must have been scolded terribly. Tsk tsk tsk.”
Because Nagumo Sian listened to my story with genuine interest, I ended up telling it with real enthusiasm. Sawayanagi Azuma and Mimata Chieri must have been listening too, because they kept flipping back to the same page of the contract.
As I spoke, a question suddenly occurred to me and I asked Nagumo Sian.
“By the way, why does Grandfather hate the Minamoto Group so much?”
“Hmm…”
Nagumo Sian let out a small hum at my question. She glanced at the two women who were only half-heartedly looking at the contracts, then spoke again.
“I’ll tell you next time when it’s just the two of us.”
“Ah, I understand.”
It seemed like something other people shouldn’t hear. Since she promised to tell me later, I’d make sure to ask. Of course the companies were rivals, but from the way Grandfather Danjo spoke, it felt like there was a deeper hatred. I’d been curious for a while about exactly why he despised them so much.
“I’ve signed.”
“Me too.”
Both women finished reading and signed the documents before handing them back to Nagumo Sian. She nodded and added her own signature to the final line.
“Now that the contracts are complete, we can talk business. First, I’ll entrust the defense of Akita City to East Weapon. Along with Daisen City, it’s one of the most important locations in Akita Prefecture, so I’m counting on you.”
Akita City was the largest core city in Akita Prefecture, but from Taira Food’s perspective, Daisen City—where their factories were concentrated—was far more critical. That was probably why they were handing Akita City over to an outside PMC like East Weapon.
“Since Seryu Military Company has fewer personnel, I plan to assign you to strike smaller strongholds. I’ve marked the reward amounts for each point on this city map, so when there are no other requests, you can file an attack report and strike freely.”
Nagumo Sian handed Sawayanagi Azuma a tablet displaying a map app with marked points across Akita Prefecture.
Unlike East Weapon, which received payment per contract period, Seryu Military Company had signed a contract that included an upfront fee plus per-mission compensation. Therefore, attacking more points on the map was the fastest way to earn money.
“The red points are quite high difficulty and dangerous, so you don’t have to touch them. We’ll handle those ourselves.”
Looking at the tablet, the red points clearly offered the highest rewards. Sawayanagi Azuma seemed to have only seen the compensation for the red points and completely missed the part about them being dangerous. Hmm… She was definitely going to challenge those red points.
“By the way, while Taira Food is fighting against Kurotsukidoo like this, what is the police doing?”
“The other side are armed thugs. How could the police possibly handle them? So officially, the police hire our Taira Food, and we conduct the proxy war on their behalf. We can’t let Kurotsukidoo establish a foothold in Akita Prefecture either, so we need to resolve this. The police lack the manpower, so it’s a win-win. Of course, the police aren’t just sitting idle—they’re conducting various operations as well.”
Listening to her, it seemed like Taira Food was the only one benefiting… But from Taira Food’s perspective, they had to eliminate Kurotsukidoo anyway. If they were officially hired by the police, they would surely bill the police an enormous amount. In the end, citizens would view the police as incompetent while Taira Food’s image would rise. As long as they didn’t lose to Kurotsukidoo, the only real losses for Taira Food would be personnel casualties from their own PMC and temporary disruptions to factory operations. For an individual that would be devastating, but for a corporation it wasn’t significant damage. It was simply the burden one had to bear when going to war.
Of course, for the losses to remain small from Taira Food’s perspective, they had to win against Kurotsukidoo. Defeat would bring catastrophic damage.
“When will the main forces of East Weapon arrive?”
“It’s about seven hours to Akita City… so they should arrive around two or three o’clock.”
“Seryu’s side will set up camp in Daisen City, so we’ll arrive about thirty minutes earlier than East Weapon.”
It seemed the drive from Kawaguchi City—where both East Weapon and Seryu Military Company were headquartered—to Akita Prefecture took quite a while. Seven hours to Akita City, and roughly six and a half hours to Daisen City.
“I’m sorry, but the moment you arrive you’ll need to begin operations immediately. Those Kurotsukidoo bastards have gone mad and are pouring in an insane amount of manpower…”
I couldn’t understand why they were committing so much force to Akita Prefecture. If it were Tokyo or its vicinity, maybe, but what could possibly be worth this much effort in Akita? Was there some hidden mine or something…?
Ah! That’s right. A mine. In the game, there had definitely been a special mineral trade available in Akita. If Kurotsukidoo had discovered the existence of that mine first, their decision to move on Akita made perfect sense.
In the game’s setting, a metal had been suddenly discovered around the time of World War III. The discoverer had been a huge Lord of the Rings fan, so he named it Mithril. It was an exceptionally superior metal—lightweight, highly conductive, hard, tough, and highly resistant to corrosion. It gave off a faint blue glow. Mithril, said to be worth as much as silver of the same weight, had definitely come from Akita Prefecture.
I needed to talk with Nagumo Sian about this later and make sure I got a piece of it. If I hadn’t remembered, I would have let it slide, but now that I knew, I had to secure it. Even if it was difficult, I had to try.
“We’ve arrived, President.”
While I was thinking about the Mithril mine, the car seemed to have reached our destination. When I stepped out, we were in the parking lot of a restaurant.
“You haven’t eaten breakfast yet, have you?”
I hadn’t been able to eat properly because I’d taken the first flight. Checking the time, it was seven o’clock. We had landed at Akita Airport around six-thirty, so we’d driven for about thirty minutes.
“This place makes excellent porridge with kiratanpo.”
“Wow! I love kiratanpo!”
As expected of a food enthusiast, Mimata Chieri responded excitedly to Nagumo Sian’s words. Escorted by bodyguards, we entered the restaurant. Since it was a restaurant, the surroundings were exposed, making the bodyguards necessary. Someone could attempt a long-range sniper shot, or if our information had been leaked, enemies could be waiting inside. Besides, our opponent was Kurotsukidoo, whose specialty was assassination. If we weren’t careful, it would be the same as asking them to kill me.
I felt strangely tense and kept Master’s Senses sharpened to the maximum. Sawayanagi Azuma was also scanning the surroundings. She had used her precognition this morning and said there wouldn’t be any major incidents, but precognition wasn’t omnipotent. Something could happen during a time she hadn’t foreseen, so she was staying vigilant too.
“It seems safe.”
After the bodyguard finished checking inside the restaurant, we entered. Our meal had already been prepared, probably because of a prior reservation. We sat down and began eating.
Even while eating, I kept my nerves razor-sharp, so I couldn’t even tell if the food tasted good or not. I was just mechanically putting it in my mouth. Then suddenly, I felt something.
The veteran assassin Mimata Chieri, who had been eating with her head down, lifted her gaze with cold eyes. Sawayanagi Azuma, leader of Seryu, also seemed to sense something and looked at me. Thanks to my high Nerve stat and Master’s Senses, I could feel it too.
It was a thread of killing intent.
That thread led straight to the chest of Nagumo Sian, who was sitting across from me eating. Without a moment to think, I threw myself over Nagumo Sian. Only after the bullet—traveling far beyond the speed of sound—struck my back did the sharp bang of the gunshot finally reach my ears.