62. agreement
Leonard made good on his promise.
As promised with Max, I taught driving, and as promised with Sigma, I took six days off.
I restarted my brain chip, minimized my internet connection, and slept for 5 hours a day. I thought it was okay for a while, but it seems that it wasn’t okay. His ability to think improved and his arithmetic became faster, and his physical condition returned to normal.
But taking a break wasn’t so good. This was especially true if the debt owed was 280,000 credits.
“I’ll rest until today and start looking for work tomorrow.”
It was a phrase that came up often even 100 years ago, but then and now, the person concerned was desperate.
Still, I did not starve because I had the talent I had. It was time to leave the steering wheel to Max and drive through Junk Town, where I had no responsibility even if there was an accident. I got a call from Jake, the ‘broker’.
“I told you not to contact me for a while.”
-For a while, how long? Wouldn’t it be nice to take a week off?
The broker was always right. Even if it didn’t fill the week.
-It’s a new job.
“Is the comment the same for 7 years?”
-It’s noisy, and it’s about finding people. It seems that the client is not from here and needs directions.
“If you are not from here? white town? Is it another city?”
Brokers who got to the point didn’t get small talk.
– It won’t be that difficult. That’s why the commission fee is so high.
“If it’s easy and salty, find another solution.”
– If you don’t want to do it, do it. I was thinking of you and contacted you. can you take it easy?
Work has been scarce these days, and even the requests that were available were all harsh because Wild Kid and Psycho Cyborg were intertwined. It was right to arrange an easy job for Leonard, who was resting.
Leonard was about to ask Max’s opinion about working with him, but his nerves were focused on the steering wheel and he didn’t even look. As always, I had to decide for myself.
“Send the materials.”
@
The client requested an in-person interview.
It wasn’t particularly strange if you weren’t a business man who values personal information. The meeting place was No. 1 North of Head Town, so he wasn’t rich.
with my daughter-
The wind chime of the tavern made a clear sound. It’s an old-fashioned pub that feels nostalgic before the war, but there weren’t many customers looking for it because it was an abandoned mining town that had run out of resources a long time ago. Even the customers who occupied their seats were old people, old people, and old people who had nowhere else to go.
The appearance of Leonard, who is tall and well-dressed, focused on the old implant eyes. However, that was all. Perhaps he had escaped from worldly affairs, or if he felt sorry for the few remaining organs in cheap ethanol, he made himself a part of the scenery.
As Leonard and Max approached the bar, the bartender, who had not forgotten his duty, smiled.
“What would you like?”
“coffee. And juices that living humans can drink.”
“This is a bar.”
“If you don’t have coffee, just give me water.”
It was a place where regular customers were mainly engaged in business. So water was free.
“I don’t think you’re a guest coming to a place like this. What’s going on?”
“Oh, does it really look like that?”
Leonard oddly liked it. The bartender looked at me strangely, but didn’t bother asking. Soon after, the second guest came, and the first guest’s reason for coming to this place was revealed.
“A tall man with a kid next to him. Are you Leonard Walker?”
Muldae and the kid looked back at the same time. And like the other guests, I was embarrassed.
“What is it, a bandit?”
“uh? uh huh How did know!”
“Where else is there a person who walks around like that other than Bandit?”
Like the gangs, the bandits had their own unique outfits. It was a rough leather outfit with various iron plates attached to it. Even if it was an iron plate, the remnants of the ruined city were skillfully cut and pasted.
This bandit was no exception, so he had a car hood cut into an iron shape attached to his chest and an iron pipe with screws attached to his shoulder. It was an outfit that stood out even in Junk Town, where fashion was missing. Bandit started looking back and forth to see if his outfit was too strange. Max whispered curiously.
“Can you stop bullets with something like that?”
“Because humans aren’t the only threats in the wasteland.”
“Ah, a mutant monster?”
“And, well, it might be able to stop at least a shotgun or bomb shrapnel.”
Leonard, wearing a high-tech bulletproof coat, was proud. However, the pleasant thing was Leonard alone. The bartender hid something from the shelf under the bar, and some of the patrons who claimed to have screens got up and walked out.
“Just leave it alone. Because you are my client.”
Leonard tapped the bar and warned. I don’t know if it’s a pistol or a shotgun, but the bartender who took out ‘that’ flinched.
“Were you a fixer? But what about the client? Aren’t you the target?”
“All bandits are not cannibalistic monsters.”
I’m not sure, but I insisted that the client would be hurt by gunfire. The bartender, too, could not ignore the gunplay expert’s warning and withdrew his hand.
“Take that off too. If this is the case, why did you ask to see me here?”
Bandit didn’t intend to be defeated, so he took out an ax made of steel and held it. Gun vs axe but fighting implant cyborg will hurt both sides.
As the bartender raised his hands up, Bandit also hooked the ax to the leather ring. Leonard offered a seat next to him, but Bandit did not.
“I really wanted to visit a place called a bar.”
“Did you grow up in the wasteland?”
“Then did I grow up in heaven?”
Not everyone fled underground after the Great War. There were also people who remained on the ground and persisted in their lives. This bandit was a descendant of such an earthly person.
“I heard you’re looking for someone, are you from the same clan?”
Although the size is small compared to the gang, the bandit group had an organization as well, as the pack animal habits did not go anywhere. Bandit said faintly, not like a bandit.
“You killed a clanmate.”
“If you are looking for a traitor, it will be difficult. I don’t accept contract killings.”
“traitor? no. It is not a betrayal.”
Bandit made an angry expression. It was scary because it had knife marks, teeth marks, melt marks, etc., but the solver who did the really scary thing didn’t even snort. But at the next line, I couldn’t help laughing.
“My first love.”
“Pooh-”
@
Leonard got a tissue from the bartender, handed it to Bandit, and sincerely apologized.
“Sorry about that.”
“……”
The bandit plugged its blood-flowing nostrils and glared fiercely. First I threw a fist, then a counter punch one-two-three knocked me out for about 20 seconds. That made me even more angry. Leonard began making excuses, a common mistake apologetic people make.
“Stop staring. You started first. I’m sorry I laughed, but when a bandit man who is well over 40 talks about his first love, you have to laugh so you can’t cry.”
“Twenty-two.”
“Who laughed? Who is lucky?”
“My age is twenty-two.”
“……”
I couldn’t help but laugh at this. Leonard apologized even more politely.
“I’m sorry.”
“done.”
The bartender covered his laugh with a clearing of his throat and poured me a drink. It seems to be disinfected, but the wasteland tough guy bandit poured it into his stomach. It’s the first time I’ve been to a bar, but it seems like I’ve been drinking alcohol often.
“Well, that’s good. It’s cheesy, but love is better than grudge.”
After a drink, the atmosphere calmed down.
“Looking at the request from Jake, it looks like A-044 City Woman, but if you are a non-citizen, it will take some time. Do you have a video record? no? photos too? Shit!”
However, unlike the atmosphere, things did not go well. Leonard turned on the notepad on the brain chip and proceeded as expected.
“Call me what you know, such as name, age, race, and other characteristics of implants.”
“My name… My name is Jessica.”
“Even the name is common. What is your last name?”
“I don’t know the last name. I was just called Jessie, Jessica.”
There was a sound. The sound of the quest difficulty rising loudly.
“He is the same age as me.”
“20’s? 40s?”
“You said you were 22!”
Max shook his head. The wasteland was also a scary place. I should live in the city
“I don’t know the race. Her skin is white and her hair is yellow.”
“Is it the northern European side? Oh, never mind. It’s going to be mixed-blood anyway, and having a full-body implant means nothing. Just getting to know the appearance.”
The question and answer continued for some time. ‘What’s your job?’, ‘I don’t know’, ‘I don’t think there’s a place I first met’, ‘It was under the Valley of the Big Snake’, ‘Where else is that?’, ‘If you go north for three days from here…’, ‘Street’ ! Speak to the streets! When was the metric system applied to the Third Continent!’
It was an investigation unsuitable in this day and age. There are tens of thousands of cameras on the streets, and dogs and cows carry implanted eyeballs. How can there be no video recording? At this point, I should have been suspicious.
“Is this really your first love?”
“Well, then what is it? Did I call you out of boredom with all my possessions?”
It was a bit pity that all property was 1,500 credits. No, am I rich for a bandit?
“My name is Jessica. Age mid 20’s. European base implant cyborg. The final destination is the Valley of the Serpents. At a glance, it looks like Jacob’s Pass…”
As I put the puzzle pieces together, I got a vague outline.
“Jacob Pass?”
“It’s about 300 kilometers from here. Remember New Bleeton City? It’s not far from there.”
“What would a Junktown resident do in such a remote place?”
Scavengers do not have freedom of movement, but in general, poor junk town residents rarely leave the city. Leonard backed up the organized data on a memory chip and fixed Max’s errors.
“This is not Junk Town.”
“Then is it White Town? Love between a rich girl and a wasteland bandit? The antique old man will like it. The appearance of the main character needs to be modified with the writer’s authority, but…”
“I’m rich, but I’m not going to be a lady.”
“Then a man? Mm, of course you can! I respect sexual orientation…”
“Stay still.”
Leonard took out a map of the northeastern part of the Third Continent stored in the memory chip and unfolded it. Even so, Max couldn’t see it, but he needed certainty for an accurate explanation.
“The reason why Jacob Pass Road is famous is because it is a federal highway that goes from A-07 City. You have to cross the valley road there to avoid the contaminated area and come to A-038, A-040, and A-044 cities.”
Max frowned and fumbled for the map in his memory. A living human without a chip in the brain was inconvenient in many ways. Either way, Leonard’s reasoning continued.
“Considering the time and place the group of bandits encountered, and the attitude of the client who not only knows nothing, but also keeps hiding something, there is only one answer.”
I have never met my grandfather, so I can’t bet his grandfather’s honor, but I said it confidently.
“I’m an employee of a company’s armed convoy.”
A turn-of-the-century romance could be just as compelling as a classic romance. Even if the old man in the antique store disagreed.