Devyat' North Section 3: Sinclair's Story

Devyat' Association's warehouse is, as always, brimming with beeps of electronics and harsh noises of metal.

The child's heart swells with excitement as he returns from the delivery mission.

The obvious elation made some of his coworkers wonder if something good's happened to the child, but...

... what he was really excited about was the payout for this delivery.

[Shipping fee calculated. Please confirm the balance and sign here.]

He was just returning from delivering a fairly valuable item.

There was a little mistake in calculating the delivery schedule, but that mistake came around to be a pretty nice boon for the child as it motivated him to make the delivery a day before the deadline.

Besides, he had to cover a rather long distance, even though he never strayed from Poludnitsa's route.

This is gonna be good...

Yet... one must never count their chickens before they hatch.

W-wait a minute, this figure doesn't make sense.

It has to be like twice this number -

[Verifying balance.]

…….

[Verification complete. The given shipping fee is correct.]

Poludnitsa's calculations were right, despite the child's reservations.

For humans, the urban geography of the City is so complicated to the point where measuring the real distance between two points is very difficult. For humans, that is.

Because calculations done by AIs are rarely incorrect.

[Please note that the cost of activating decay particles and mode conversion has been reflected in this final balance.]

Wh-what? Really?

But the Courier Trunk I used last time didn't charge me this much! And I used that one at a much higher output level!

[Return process initiated.]

And other Poludnitsas too, like... I don't think I've ever been charged this much...

[Courier Trunk return accepted. We here at the Devyat' Association always appreciate the hard work of our Fixers.]

Come on, a-at least answer my question!

Some other Fixers of the Devyat' Association began crowding around the child as he began to raise his voice out of frustration.

One of them, who was munching on an energy bar, approached him and looked at the monitor and his Courier Trunk.

Heyo~ What's up with all the racket, huh?

Miss Rodya! It's -

... The payout was really small this time, for some reason...

Ohh, messin' with your payout? Now that's a big deal. Let's see~

Oh? What'd ya encounter here that forced ya to bring out the big guns like the hammer mode?

Uh, it's a bit of a long story...

[Syndicate strife detected on the current route. Rerouting.]

W-wait! How are we doing on time, then?

[Prediction: three-hour delay. This route change leaves twenty-four - ]

BOOM!

Agh, aaagh! Jeez...

[... ten minutes.]

... Ten minutes!? T-that can't be right. Yesterday, I had -

[Re-assessing analysis. Please note that this AI's navigation system has already passed the system integrity verification process.]

Th - Wh - Actually, nevermind. There's no time...!

Reset to the previous route! I'm gonna go straight through the Syndicate strife!

[Forcing route reset as per the user's request.]

Changing back to the previous route would leave the child twenty-four hours and ten minutes.

But the explosion going off in the distance buried the "twenty-four hours" part of Poludnitsa's voice.

The child only heard the second half - "ten minutes".

It might be more than enough time for a certain someone to even grab a snack on the way, but... for this child, this was enough to convince him to jump headfirst into a strife between Syndicates.

... Which he did with no hesitation.

Clear the way, please!

Unidentified Fixer on the rooftops, there!

That bag he's carryin'... that's gotta be a Devyat' Fixer!

You... you shitheads, you dragged a goddamn Association into this?!

I-I have no idea what you're talking abou - Agh, nevermind all that! Just clear the way, please!

Put that bag down! Back off!

The hell's an Association Fixer doin' in a strife?! What, did those assholes hire you or somethin'?!

Both Syndicates appeared to be rather disturbed by the child's sudden intrusion into this battle.

But the child was even more disturbed than either of them.

Agh...! Don't say I didn't warn you!

Poludnitsa, r-raise the output threshold...!

[Output threshold raised. Multiple hostiles detected in the surrounding area. Mode conversion recommended.]

Ugh... do I really need to do that?

[Engaging in combat without mode conversion reduces the chance of victory by 10.2% - ]

Fine, I'll use it! I'll use it, okay?! Engage m-mode conversion!

The Syndicates both jumped the child, but he was much stronger than he looked.

His body was enhanced with augmentations purchased with the money he made as a Fixer.

This meant that he could easily control even the Courier Trunk's high output mode.

He'd swing the trunk in somewhat amateurish moves, but every enemy struck by the Courier Trunk flopped to the ground, horribly mangled.

The child's face grew pale at the gruesome sight, and he began to gag. But he still had enough sense to break through walls and doors standing in his way.

His goal wasn't to win this fight, after all. It was to safely make it through the strife to get to his destination.

... and that's what happened... Whew.

Wow... And here I was, thinkin' you were some smartass kid from a rich fam. Didn't know ya could be like that~

Ugh, don't tease me...

Can ya tell me more about the Courier Trunk you used for the contract?

A bit different from the one I used last time, but it was very strong.

I guess that's what got me through this delivery so fast.

Boy, oh boy... I think I know what went wrong, Sinc.

Huh?

That Polu ya just returned...? Activating it covers its large surface area with decay energy.

Which means that the energy efficiency is a bit... What am I saying? It's a real energy hog, y'know?

No way, that's why the payout was so...

The child looks back at the balance with a despondent expression.

It wasn't anything to scoff at, but... it was much less than the rosy image of the balance he imagined on his way back.

Perhaps she felt bad for the child.

The other child with an energy bar in her mouth slapped his back with an open palm.

It was a strike that came out of nowhere for him; the child jolted and whipped around to give her a reproachful look.

O-ow!

Hey, that ain't nothing to scoff at, y'know? What's done is done, you still got paid at the end of the day, so chin up, okay?

Heh, some days I end up with no money at all 'cuz I used it all up on the trip~

... I guess it can't be helped. Thank you for cheering me up, though.

Well, now that you've made some dough, wanna go out for a meal together?

Uh... I was going to pick up my next contract.

That's all fine and good, but don't skip meals to do 'em, 'kay? Hey, look! It's lunchtime anyway!

Any good places around to grab some tasty grub, Polu~?

[Search complete. Navigating.]

Huuh?! I had no idea Poludnitsa could do that, too!

Eh, some of 'em do, some of 'em don't. Most of 'em are the latter, but looks like we got lucky this time~

But I've never gotten a Poludnitsa that...

Maybe the oddly kinder tone of her Poludnitsa made him feel a bit left out.

The entire time they walked to the eatery, sat down, and ate their meal... he incessantly complained to his coworker about the Poludnitsa that returned itself without even asking him.

Even worse, the place suggested by his coworker's Poludnitsa was absolutely delectable.