Day 501-510/Day 501

Day 501 / 31th day
By building relationships with others, obtaining local funds, and establishing a base of operations, I was able to build a foundation for my life.
It's thin, unstable, and unreliable, but it's an important stepping stone for us to overcome the current situation where we have lost my memory and have no friends we can truly rely on - the anthill boy is under protection.
The first thing I would do, of course, was to gather more in-depth and detailed information.
As an old great man once said, "If you know him and know yourself, you will never be defeated in a hundred battles".
We gathered information not only from the informants we knew, but also from infiltration surveys of enemy bases by surveillance golems, remote surveys of ourselves by various abilities, subscriptions to published information magazines, and interviews with prisoners of war who had been secretly brought to the store.
And since we had just started in earnest, we hadn't been able to cover all the details, but we had already done some research, and we had obtained the information we wanted, although it was a bit sketchy.
Starting with the face of the enemy leader, information on the main members such as the executives, the structure of the enemy facilities, the general human relations such as the factions within the organization, and the rescued people who were in the same situation as the anthill boy.
Roughly calculating from the information gathered, there seemed to be no particular problem in destroying the back organization "la Depardos".
It seems that there are a certain number of fierce fighters who have been strengthened by modification surgery, but they are all weaker than the Minotaur King. If they were highly coordinated, there would be no problem, but there was no one to pay that much attention to.
In addition, they've been moving in a hurry lately due to my killing of their members and destruction of their bases, and since they're scattered all over the place, it's easier to destroy them individually.
Unless something unexpected happens, things should go as planned.
We have a pretty good idea of how to proceed, but of course, that doesn't mean there are no problems.
This is because the hands of the underworld organization "Ia Depardos" were wider than expected, and the number of people who needed rescuing was greater than expected.
The rescuers can be categorized into three groups.
The first is a group of people with high commercial value, such as those with good looks or special skills.
This group is not in a bad situation, as they are given relatively safe operations to modify them.
They are treated with care because they are traded at a high price.
The second group is just ordinary people.
This group is treated as a major commodity, so even though some of the modifications are experimental, most of them are fairly basic.
Their circumstances are not good, but not too bad either.
The third group is those who are rebellious, have some kind of physical or mental disability or injury, or are judged to have low commercial value because of their appearance.
The treatment of this group is inferior to that of livestock.
They are consumed as guinea pigs for dangerous modification operations, and they are replaced very frequently.
And even if they are lucky enough to succeed, they are often mentally bankrupt and rarely survive in a normal state.
Just as different products are treated differently if they differ in quality, these three groups are sorted into different categories and housed in different facilities.
It would be easier to rescue them if they were all in one place, but in this case, we would have to open them all up at once.
If we crush them one by one, the other side will know what we are trying to do, and there is a high possibility that this will have a negative impact on the people who need rescuing.
Even if I'm taken hostage, I'm the priority.
If I can't help myself, how can I help others?
So in the worst case scenario, abandoning them was an option, but I wanted to make an effort to avoid that.
It would be more work, but it was unavoidable.
But the more time and effort we spent, the more we gained.
As part of our intelligence gathering, we were able to get some information about the surrounding area, as well as some basic information about this continent.
In addition to information about the enemy, I also succeeded in extracting from my captors the knowledge and techniques of a safe and useful surgery to enhance my physical abilities.
Originally, I myself did not have any aversion to undergoing modification surgery.
I was originally an enhanced soldier who underwent bio-enhancement surgery - I'm not sure if I still am. This is because, although my physical abilities and senses remain unchanged, I cannot deny the possibility that I have been replaced by something else in this world.
As a reinforced soldier, I had my skeleton and muscles replaced with bio-metals and reinforced muscles, and through the administration of multifunctional nanomachines that could also replace nerves and blood, I had gained physical abilities beyond those of a normal human being.
Even so, he was tackling a tough job with a high risk of dying quickly, but that's beside the point.
In the sense of having undergone a modification operation, the anthropoid boys and I are the same.
But that's probably why I feel so much sympathy for the victims of poorly performed surgery.
I underwent a safe modification surgery of my own volition, established by a long history and sophisticated technology.
In contrast, the anthropoid boys were forced by others who looked down on them to undergo a trial-and-error, highly dangerous modification operation.
It is obvious that there is a huge difference between the two.
That's why I'm going to cooperate with the anthropoid boys and at least help them to live a normal life.
I was so busy and tired that I had a drink and went to bed.
Labyrinth beer is my favorite these days.
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PLACE TRANSLATIONS ABOVE THE BAR. THESE ARE THE RAWS, LEAVE THEM HERE. CLICK EXPAND TO VIEW THEM.
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“三十一日目”　／　“五■一■目”
他者との関係を構築し、現地の資金を得て、活動拠点を作った事でとりあえずの生活基盤が少し出来た。
か細く不安定で頼りないが、記憶を失い、心から頼れる仲間が不在――蟻人少年は保護対象――な現状を打開する今後の大事な足がかりである。
それが崩されても面倒だし、色々な約束も出来たので、さっさと裏組織≪イア・デパルドス≫を壊滅させるべく本格的に動き始める事にした。
まず最初にするのは、当然ながらより深く詳細な情報収集だ。
彼を知り己を知れば百戦殆うからず、と昔の偉人も言っている。
情報収集は顔見知りの情報屋からはもちろん、監視ゴーレムによる敵拠点潜入調査や各種アビリティによる自分自身の遠隔調査、発行される情報誌の購読、それから店舗まで密かに運び込んでいた捕虜からの聞き取りなど多岐に及ぶ。
そして本格的に動き出したばかりなので細かい所までは完全に網羅できていないが、先に幾らか調べていた事もあり、とりあえず大雑把ながら欲しい情報は得られた。
敵首領の顔などを始め、幹部など主要な構成員の情報や敵施設の構造、組織内派閥など大雑把な人間関係、蟻人少年と同じ境遇にある要救助者などについてである。
集めた情報から大雑把に計算しても、裏組織≪イア・デパルドス≫を壊滅させるのに特に問題は無さそうだった。
改造手術によって強化された猛者も一定数居るようだが、単純にミノタウロス・キングよりは全員弱い。高度な連携があればその限りではないものの、そこまで注意すべき者もいない。
それに最近は俺による構成員殺害や拠点破壊の影響で慌ただしく動き、各地に分散されているので各個撃破も狙いやすくなっている。
よほどの想定外が無い限り、予定通りに事は進むだろう。
こちらにかなり優位に進められる目処が立ったが、もちろん、問題が全く無いわけでも無い。
それは裏組織≪イア・デパルドス≫の手が予想よりも広く、要救助者が予想を越えて多かった事だ。
要救助者は三つのグループに大きく分類できる。
一つ目は容姿が優れていたり、特殊な技能を持つ者など、商品価値が高い者達のグループだ。
このグループは比較的安全な改造手術が施されるだけで、境遇は悪くない。
高額で取引される為、扱いは丁寧だ。
二つ目はただの一般人だ。
この辺りが主要な商品扱いされるので、改造手術も実験的なモノがあるにしろ、そこそこ基本的なのが多い。
境遇は良くも無いが悪すぎる事も無い。
そして三つ目が、反抗的だったり心身に何か障害や怪我がある、または外見などから商品価値が低いと判断された者達だ。
このグループの扱いは劣悪の一言で、家畜扱いである。
危険な改造手術のモルモットとして消費され、非常に入れ替わりが激しい。
そして運よく改造手術が成功したとしても精神的に破綻している事が多く、正常な状態で生存できる事は稀である。
商品の品質に差があれば扱いも変わるように、そんな三つのグループはそれぞれに仕分けされて幾つかの施設に収容されている。
一ヶ所に固まっているのであれば救助は簡単だが、こうなってくると、一度に全てを開放する必要が出て来る。
一つ一つ潰していてはコチラの狙いが相手にも分かり、それが切っ掛けで要救助者達に悪影響が及ぶ可能性が高い。
例え人質にされたとしても、俺は俺を優先する。
自分を助けられない者が他人を助けられる筈も無い。
だから最悪の場合見捨てる事も選択肢に入る訳だが、そうならないように努力はしておきたかった。
手間は増えるが、仕方の無い事だ。
ただ手間が増えた分だけ得たモノも多い。
情報収集の一環で周辺情報も手に入ったし、この大陸についても基本的な情報を得る事が出来た。
それに捕虜から敵の情報だけでなく、安全性の確認された身体能力強化など有用な改造手術についての知識と技術を引き出す事に成功している。
元々、俺自身は改造手術を受ける事には忌避感は無かった。
と言うのも、元々俺は生体強化手術を受けただった――現在もそうかは不明。身体の能力や感覚自体は変わらないが、この世界の別の何かに置換されている可能性が否定できない――からだ。
強化兵となった俺は骨格や筋肉を生体金属や強化筋肉に置換し、神経や血液の代わりにもなる多機能なナノマシンの投与などによって普通の人間を超えた身体能力を得ていた。
それでもアッサリと死ぬ危険性が高い過酷な仕事に取り組んでいた訳だが、それはさて置き。
改造手術受けたという意味では蟻人少年達と俺は同じである。
しかしだからこそ、拙い技術で行われた改造手術の被害者については強く同情している部分も大きいのだろう。
俺は長い歴史と洗練された高い技術によって確立された安全な改造手術を、自分自身の意思で受けた。
対して蟻人少年達は試行錯誤中で危険性の大きい改造手術を、自身を見下す他者に強要された。
両者の間には隔絶とした差があるのは明白だろう。
だから俺は蟻人少年達には協力し、せめて普通の生活が出来るように手助けするつもりである。
そうして何やかんやと忙しくて疲れたので、今日は酒を飲んで寝た。
最近は迷宮ビールがお気に入りである。
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Category:Novel
Category:Re:Monster ~ The Dark Continent ~ Vol. 3