Hollow

A pitiful life.

As Hiro moved with hurried steps, he thought about how pitiful his life had been.

He had been born to a farmer's family in a countryside village. It could not be considered a happy life by any stretch of the word.

The fruits of their hard labor were taken away as a form of taxation. If they took sixty percent of their harvest, it might still be bearable. They could still live on the remaining forty percent, albeit in poverty. However, if they took eighty percent of their harvest, they would be in big trouble. It was hard enough to survive on forty percent of the crops. If they only had twenty percent left, their lives would be extremely difficult.

During that year when they had only been allowed to keep twenty percent of their harvest, Hiro returned home, exhausted from a day of hard fieldwork, and found that his little sister was missing.

At that time, Hiro was young and did not know what was going on. His beloved little sister had disappeared, yet his parents had not gone looking for her. Hiro understood now that she had probably been sold off. Slavery was now outlawed through the efforts of multiple international organisations but at that time it had been quite widespread throughout the country as there were immense human right abuses after the war ended.

Therefore, whenever Hiro went whoring and passed a hooker, he could not help but look at the girl's face. Of course, he did not think he would actually be able to find his little sister, and even if he did find her, he did not know what he would say to her. Even so, he could not help but keep looking.

One day, He went out to a city to sell some produce. But, instead of returning to his village, would it not be better to choose a different way of life?

Still, Hiro was a mere farmer with just a bit of basic training. He had little choice in what sort of new life he could lead.

He did not possess exceptional physical abilities, nor did he possess any implants. His learning was largely related to farming — when to sow which seeds and so on.

What Hiro decided to do pertained to the sole trump card he possessed; in other words, running away with the land documents of his village house and his parents properties. He had not considered the difficulties it would cause for his parents because they had sold off his little sister — even if it was to keep the rest of the family alive — and thus he did not love his parents.

But how could someone who did not know the land or have any backers desert so easily? In the end, he managed to find people to help him, which was fortunate, in a sense.

The people who aided him in deserting were a band of mercenaries.

Of course, a farmer like Hiro was hardly of any use to a mercenary band.

However, the band had lost many of its members during one of the fairy common corporate war's, and their aim was to replenish their numbers as soon as possible.

This was the reason why the mercenary band let him join so easily. However, they were not a proper, law-abiding organization. While they fought as mercenaries in wartime, during peacetime they were essentially bandits.

After that, Hiro led a life filled with unspeakable deeds.

Having was better than not having. Taking was better than being taken from.

Making others weep was better than weeping himself.

This was the life Hiro lived.

He did not feel it was wrong, nor did he regret it.

His faith in that grew ever deeper every time he heard the wails of the oppressed.

Hiro ran through the run down district. He ran toward a world that was a deeper red than the setting sun.

Having run continuously ever since leaving the resturant, he was panting heavily and his forehead was covered in sweat. His building fatigue made him want to stop, and he wondered if he should take a break. However, time was tight, and so Hiro spurred his tired body forward and continued running.

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Just then, as Hiro took a sharp turn—

"That was close." mumbled the figure on the other side of the corner as it somersaulted away, accompanied by the clattering of metal.

A startled Hiro looked at the black shape which had leapt clear. He was an ugly man. He wore a black cape which made him seem to blend into the shadows, but his crimson red eyes covered by lenses, filled with curiosity, were looking straight at Hiro.

Tired and out of patience, Hiro yelled at him.

"That's my line! It's dangerous! Watch where you're going!"

The man did not seem afraid of Hiro's ranting. Instead, he smiled coldly.

That spine-chilling smile made Hiro retreat instinctively, without the courage to so much as draw his weapon. It was like a lion glaring at a mouse.

Perhaps the sound of metal he heard when the man had leapt back came from the armor he was wearing.

An armed and armored man — perhaps he was an mercenary from the merc company.

He had picked the wrong person to antagonize. Danger sirens blared through Hiro's head, and at the same time he thought of something. Hiro might have been a mercenary, but he was one of the weakest members of their fighting men. This was why he had been given a job like this.

He was covered in sweat from running, and as Hiro began regretting what he had done, it quickly became another type of sweat altogether.

Just as a look of fear completely covered Hiro's face, the man's smile lost its frightening quality.

"Hm. Ah well, forget it. I don't have time for this. still, you look like a peice of fuckable meat, don't you?"

The man went around him, leaving those words behind. Interested, Hiro turned to watch as he left. He mused that the place in front of him was an uninhabited part of the slum district.

What was a mercenary doing out here so late? The thought piqued his curiosity, but he had something more important waiting for him, so he cut his introspection short and moved on.

Soon, he arrived in the slum district, at a corner which was filled with many run-down houses. He looked around to see if anyone was following him.

The sun slowly sank beneath the horizon, painting the world in shades of black, so Hiro focused on whether anyone was hiding in dark corners. He had already checked several times before now, but just to be safe, he took one last look.

Hiro nodded in satisfaction, and as he got his breathing under control, he knocked thrice on a door. After waiting five seconds, he knocked four more times.

After giving the prearranged signal, he received an immediate response. The creaking of wood came from the other side of the door, and the wooden shutter which blocked the peephole slid out of the way. Hiro could see a man's eyes on the other side of the door, looking him up and down and verifying his identity.

"It's you. Ah, wait a minute."

Without waiting for Hiro reply, the man slid the peephole shut, and that sound was followed by that of a heavy lock disengaging. The door cracked open slightly.

"Come in."

There was a faint scent of rot coming from within the room, which was as far removed from the place Hiro had been as the heavens were from the earth.

Hoping that his nose could get used to the smell, Hiro nimbly wriggled into the room.

Once the door shut, he saw that the interior was tiny and dark. The door led directly to the kitchen and dining room, which was furnished with a table. There was a small lightbulb on the table, whose feeble light somewhat dispelled the darkness of the room.

A filthy man who looked like he dealt in violence for a living pulled up a nearby chair and took a seat. The chair creaked as he sat on it, as though moaning in pain. The man was heavily muscled and had a barrel chest, and the exposed parts of his arms and his face were lightly scarred. The chair looked like it was going to give way under his weight.

"Oh, Hiro. What's wrong, what happened?"

"There's been a change in the situation… The prey is preparing to move."

"Ah — so we'll have to make our move as well."

Hiro nodded silently. The man quietly grumbled, "Why now… can't they think of us a little?" as he reached up to scratch his messy hair.

"Can't you delay them somehow?"

"That'll be difficult, because it was that man's request."

The man had already heard Hiro talk about that guy several times, and he frowned deeply.

"That girl should use her brains a little and try to talk him down. The roads at night are nasty places to be, with scary bandits showing up and all. Give me a break… even an idiot knows about that sort of thing. Ah, how about sabotaging their car and dragging out the departure until tomorrow?"

"That won't work — she's already loading the luggage. It would be better to act quickly, right?"

"Mm, that's true…"

The man stared into the air as he thought.

"Then, when are they moving out?"

"In about two hours."

"That'll be cutting it really close. Ah — what should I do. I'll need to contact the others after this… with only two hours… it'll be hard, but they're prize catches…"

The man twiddled his thumbs as he considered how much time the entire process would take. Hiro simply listened to his musings in silence, looking down at his hands.

"Rich people like that piss you off, right…"

Hiro thought of the delicate, dainty hands of the girl who was addressed as the maid.

Nobody who worked on a farm would have hands as pretty as that. Their skin was split from icy water and thickened by swinging a hoe, and even their nails grew gnarled. A farmer's hands were like that.

He knew well that the world was unfair. However—

The corner of Hiro's mouth twisted up in a lewd smile that bared his teeth as he throught of how her bare body would look like.

"Can I have some fun with that woman?"

"You'll have to wait for us to finish first, and since we're going to ransom her and the man off, you can't go too far! Don't hurt her too badly."

The man sneered in lasciviously. Perhaps it was because of his rising desire, but he suddenly got to his feet.

"All right, we'll do it. I'll contact the chief."

"Got it."

"We'll send about ten guys ahead to the usual place to ambush them. You should move too and get them there in about four hours' time. If you haven't arrived by then, we'll make the first move. So keep the prey obedient and lower their guard."