Chapter 51: Excessive Kindness Without Reason — Hanu... wait, Hanabi?
『 The two followed the coordinates displayed on the tracker to Reverb Arena, where they immediately saw a Hollow Raider singing and dancing upon arrival.
Seed stepped forward and poked him on the shoulder.
"Who's there? Interrupting my good mood—" the Hollow Raider turned around impatiently.
Upon seeing who it was, the threat he was about to continue died in his throat. He took a big step back, terrified.
"Eek, EEEEEK!!!! It's you, that monster of a girl!"
Seed waved at the Hollow Raider and smiled, "Yah-hoh~ Mr. Hollow Raider, we meet again. But it's very rude to call a girl that, you know."
"How did you find me here?! D-don't tell me you've been following me all this time?!"
"I wouldn't call it following. I just happened to see the tracker you were carrying drop on the ground inside the Hollow, so I just happened to stick it onto your heel for you. I didn't expect it would actually help me find you~" Seed clapped her hands and laughed.
"W-what do you want?! That female officer already confiscated all the military machinery we stole, and my partners are basically all in the hospital now… You can't get anything out of me anymore!"
After saying this, the Hollow Raider shielded his body with his hands and backed away, saying, "I-I haven't done anything yet! You can't lay a hand on me. If you touch me, I'll scream for help!"
"Don't be nervous~ Although I do want to earn some military merit, you aren't the target I'm after~" Seed comforted the frightened man.
Belle spoke up and stated their purpose to the Hollow Raider.
"Sir, we are investigating a theft case involving confidential military supplies. I figured that as someone in the illicit trade, a Hollow Raider would be better informed… Do you have any leads you can provide?"
"The military investigating a theft… and coming to ask a Hollow Raider?!" The man exclaimed, "Who would ever believe that!"
"Besides, even if I don't say anything… what… are… you… going to… do… to… me?"
The man's voice grew lower and lower, and it took a lot of effort for Belle to make out what he was saying.
"Hmm?" Seed looked at the man with an innocent expression.
"Eek, EEEEEK!!! I'll talk, I'll tell you any leads I know!" The man immediately gave in.
"Just to be clear, this case you're investigating has absolutely nothing to do with us! Besides, little miss, you did save our lives… so I won't hide anything."
"Simply put, I have quite a network in the Hollow Raider circle…" The man stroked his chin in thought, then looked at the two, "But this so-called theft case, I really haven't heard a single crew mention it."
"Those are confidential military supplies. If anyone could pull that off, they'd definitely be bragging about it to other peers. Since I haven't heard a whisper… It's highly likely it wasn't done by a Hollow Raider."
The man offered his deduction.
"It's highly likely not the work of a Hollow Raider… then who else could it be? Could it be that the confidential supplies were snatched by rebels?"
"I don't know about that… that's all I know." The man shrugged.
"Let's change the subject, then~ Mr. Hollow Raider, why were you carrying so many locators on you last time?" Seed asked the man.
"Stop calling me 'Hollow Raider' all the time, people are starting to look at me strangely! My name is Heric!" Heric corrected Seed's way of addressing him.
"I carried those locators to install them on the batch of military machinery we stole!" Heric scratched his head and laughed.
"Let me tell you, in this line of work, backstabbing is common. If this batch of machinery got intercepted, we could use the trackers to find the people responsible later."
At this point, Heric seemed to recall something and looked at Belle and Seed, "However, there is something suspicious about this… After we returned that batch of machinery, they should have been transported back to the Defense Force camp…"
"But I checked the tracker earlier and found that they weren't transported back. Instead, they appeared on the edge of a Hollow, and then they vanished!" 』
『 ....』
〘Dan Heng〙: There are two possibilities. First, the machinery was intercepted. Second, Veronica kept the batch of machinery for herself.
〘Trigger〙: Combining these two possibilities with what Veronica said earlier about the plan to resurrect Seed Sr., the second possibility seems the most likely.
〘Seed〙: So, is this Veronica's plan? Stealing military machinery?
〘Magus〙: It seems so. But is there something special about that batch of machinery? Jeez, I guess we'll just have to keep watching. But there's no need to worry, Veronica has probably already been taken in for questioning.
〘Kiana Kaslana〙: Such a pathetic villain, her plan was exposed before it was even implemented.
....
『 "What's going on… do you mean the military didn't successfully recover the machinery you stole, and it has now fallen into someone else's hands?" Belle followed up on Heric's words.
Heric shrugged and laughed, "That's the only logical conclusion… You can't tell me the big shots in the Defense Force like to take their public property into the Hollow for fun, right?"
"Hmm, I see… Proxy, it's time to earn some military merit~" Seed looked at Belle and smiled.
"Huh? Didn't we say we were investigating the theft of confidential military supplies? Why do you suddenly want to look into this? Recovering ordinary machinery won't earn us much merit!"
"Maybe it's intuition… I feel like this matter, and that matter might just be the same thing~"
"W-what, you want to continue investigating that batch of military machinery?" Heric said excitedly after hearing them, "That's perfect, I have the locator in my hand, I can help you lock onto the machinery's location in the Hollow! Take me with you!" 』
『 ....』
〘Silver Wolf〙: Offering help without a reason.
〘Qingyi〙: Either a thief or a scoundrel.
....
『 "Why so eager all of a sudden? I have a feeling you have ulterior motives…" Belle looked Heric up and down, her eyes filled with suspicion.
"What are you saying! Can't I just be trying to repay you for saving my life…" Heric said cheekily.
After noticing Seed staring at him, Heric immediately showed his true colors.
"Eek, eeeeek!! Why are you suddenly staring at me?"
"Hmm… your reaction to me doesn't look like you're trying to repay a debt at all~"
After saying this, Seed shook her head and clapped her hands, "But it doesn't matter. Let's go~ As long as I can earn some merit, I don't care whose help I seek~"
The three followed the location from Heric's tracker into a Hollow. Following the path, they encountered quite a few military machines. The three finally arrived at the location, but before Seed and Belle could even begin their investigation, they were surrounded by a group of military machines.
Then, Veronica hurried out of the warehouse, standing in the middle of a large batch of machinery.
Looking in the direction she came from, in the massive warehouse, one could vaguely see a large number of mechanical bodies.
No, those were different from the enemies they had fought so far. They didn't belong to Machines… The appearance similar to Seed Sr., the massive frames, the lifeless silhouettes… All of this proved their identity.
It was a large batch of deceased military-grade intelligent constructs! 』
『 ....』
〘March 7th〙: Those are all intelligent constructs, my god, there are so many…
〘Magus〙: What exactly are you trying to do?
〘Veronica〙: Just keep watching, Magus. My plan will definitely succeed.
〘Hanabi〙: The last person to brag like that in the chat room was already chopped into mincemeat.
〘Stelle〙: Not a big enough piece.
....