s question .

“That map is actually from me . ”

Shikarabe looked a bit surprised .

“...Are you sure you’re okay with that? If it’s originally from you, it means that it’s from one of that information protected with a named license, so that you can’t share it freely, right? Don’t tell me that you’re planning to take everyone’s share of reward for yourself using this . ”

Carol replied with an expression saying that she was offended by that remark .

“Oh my, that’s so rude of you to say that although I gave that data for free for the sake of everyone’s safety . Don’t you think so too, Akira?”

Akira was surprised when Carol suddenly roped him into that conversation .

“Eh? Ahh, well, it’s true that it’s great to have this map . Thanks . ”

Shikarabe was still looking at Carol with a distrusting gaze as he said .

“My bad, I didn’t grow up in an environment where I can just trust free things given out of “pure kindness” . Moreover, I know just how precious the map of Seranthal building is and it’s not something that you can call cheap . Since when did you turn into a kind person?”

Akira also grew up in such an environment . So when Shikarabe pointed that out, he started to get suspicious too .

Carol noticed that slight change, so she immediately tried to explain her reasons to Shikarabe .

“Geez, that’s so rude of you . I’ll do at least that much to help someone who helped me to get out from a deadly situation in the past as well as his trusted friends too, you know . Well, if I really need to say something to convince you, it’s basically a map from when the ruin was still in a normal state . Not to mention, the old-world ruin often changes so suddenly in such a short time span . And even if the interior of the Seranthal building has not changed that much, it would not be strange that the interior of the building is changed after all the battles between the Hunters and the monsters that happened inside this building, you know . That’s why the price of that map from before the state in the ruin changed should have significantly lowered by now . Moreover, once the main squad that will come after us secures this building, I’m sure that they’ll release the latest version of the map . And when that happens, the value of this map will be lowered even more . That’s why I decided to just share it for free, do you understand it now?”

Carol was not speaking to Shikarabe in order to convince him, even Shikarabe knew that much . While on the other hand, Shikarabe also understood from there that no matter what she was scheming, Carol would not cause any trouble during that request .

Shikarabe basically had no interest as long as it would not cause any trouble for him . Thus, he signalled to Carol that he had no plans to pursue that question any further .

“... I see, I get it now, sorry for suspecting you . ”

“It’s fine as long as you get it now . ”

Shikarabe and Carol then smiled at each other as if they were talking through telepathy with each other and ended their conversation there .

The reason why Carol shared the map data was not only to make sure of her own safety, it was also for selling a favour to Elena and Sara as well as to win Akira’s trust . Thus, she could not afford to have Shikarabe messing up her scheme . That was why she said that to Shikarabe .

Carol then glanced at Akira, and as she planned, Akira did not seem to be suspicious of her any longer .

Elena then said to everyone, especially to Shikarabe .

“If you guys are done with the preparation, should we go now? And also, hold yourself from causing any unnecessary fight . ”

“Sorry about that . I’m ready here, let’s go . ”

Elena then looked at the other Hunters, Akira lightly nodded and signalled that he was ready too .

Akira renewed his resolve and tensed up his whole body . With Alpha still not around, he had no other choice but to rely on his own skill to follow Elena and the other veteran Hunters . He reminded himself to do his best as not to slow down the other Hunters .

“I’m back, were you missing me?”

Akira’s resolve was immediately wasted . Alpha appeared back in his view as she smiled mischievously at him .

If Akira had to be honest, he would have to answer Alpha’s question with a yes . So in order to avoid that, he instead asked Alpha a question .

“Where were you gone?”

“It’s nothing big, just a small thing that I needed to do . It’s nothing to worry about . ”

“If it’s really not that important, don’t do that again . Where do you think I’m right now?”

“That’s not what I meant when I said that . It was at least something that demanded me to leave you for a while just to do it . I don’t mind telling you the detail, but in order to do that, I need to tell you all the applied conditions which will take about 30 hours of oral explanations, then I need to make sure that you understand it, then I’ll still need your permission after that . So, do you still want to know?”

“No thanks . ”

“Thought so . ”

Alpha smiled amusedly after getting the reaction that she already predicted from Akira .

Silavin: Such an obvious lie . Applied conditions? Why would you need all of that? He could just make it a ping pong conversation and ask only what he wants to know .