Chapter 147: Reached a Boiling Point
A Key West shelter alliance.
Coral Cave Shelter, Coral World Shelter, and even the other small shelters scattered across Key West.
Gordon’s goal was to build an alliance among all the shelters to respond to emergencies.
"Chief Elma seems to have recognized how serious things have become lately as well, and she readily accepted the proposal. Though she did attach one condition."
"What condition?"
"She wants to relocate one thousand of Coral World Shelter’s non-Awakened to our shelter."
Relocating one thousand non-Awakened.
Considering that Coral Cave’s entire membership stood at 980, that was a considerable number.
But why go that far?
When Walfred asked, the answer came promptly.
"The official reason is the food shortage."
Gordon let out a sigh.
"But when I looked over the roster of the group slated for relocation, most of them turned out to be children under sixteen and elderly folks over sixty."
At those words, it dawned on Walfred.
The South Key West shelter was using the food shortage as a pretext to push its non-productive population, the people who contributed little to keeping the shelter running, off onto Coral Cave.
’What a bunch of lowlifes.’
A truly shameless scheme.
Walfred’s brow furrowed.
Then he quietly recalled the state of Coral Cave Shelter, which he’d inspected in person that very day.
’Looking purely at habitable space, they could take in a thousand people with room to spare, but...’
The problem, as always, was food.
Given the age range of the group slated for relocation, expecting much labor out of them seemed unrealistic.
In other words, production would barely rise while consumption of food and supplies doubled.
Gordon continued.
"Of course, our shelter’s food situation is on the comfortable side. But not comfortable enough to absorb a thousand non-working members."
Sighing again and again.
Gordon held up three fingers.
"So for now, I’ve drawn the line at taking around three hundred. Though after further negotiations, I expect we’ll probably settle somewhere around five hundred."
"I see."
Walfred nodded.
As if to say he understood the situation.
And then he immediately asked.
"But what does any of that have to do with my niece?"
"Ah, well, the truth is..."
The question had barely left his mouth.
When Gordon answered as if he’d been waiting for it.
"In exchange for agreeing to take in a somewhat larger number, I secured the authority for our side to personally select the relocatees."
Gordon’s eyes sparkled.
"And I intend to use it to bring every last one of the Brooklyn Girls’ Academy students still at Coral World Shelter over to ours."
"...!"
"Your niece will no doubt be among them, Hunter Walfred, so I arranged this conversation to ask for your permission in advance."
After he finished speaking.
Walfred quietly closed his mouth.
Now that he’d heard the whole story, he finally had a rough grasp of what Gordon was really after.
’He probably figures that if he brings Jenna here, the odds of me staying go way up.’
A clever play, no doubt about it.
And from Walfred’s standpoint, it wasn’t a bad proposal at all.
’As things stand, I don’t have anywhere better to go.’
Early on, he’d considered joining the Lower Manhattan Tech District Hall Shelter, but that place had long since frozen solid.
Philadelphia was in disarray preparing for a shelter relocation of its own, and the Savannah Wine Cave, where he’d stayed most recently, was a harsh environment compared to Coral Cave.
’The only real possibility left is...’
The shelter that protected scores of children.
The Trenton underground shopping arcade, more or less. But he had no particular reason to go out of his way to get there either.
The moment his thoughts reached this point.
He realized there was no reason to turn down Gordon’s proposal. And just as he was about to give his answer, Gordon spoke up again.
"Ah! And this next part is for your ears only, Hunter Walfred..."
"...?"
"There have been reports of unsettling movements inside Coral World Shelter recently."
Unsettling movements?
When Walfred tilted his head, Gordon continued his explanation in a low, sunken voice.
"According to an acquaintance of mine living in that shelter, the conflict between the Hunters and the non-Awakened over food rations has reached a boiling point."
Slashing the ration ratio to extremes.
Failing to maintain the temperature inside the shelter. Through methods like these, there had already been casualties.
At that, Walfred’s face twisted into a scowl.
If the non-Awakened were being discriminated against so one-sidedly, it meant Jenna might well be caught up in it and suffering too.
And that wasn’t the only problem.
"There are even rumors going around that the Hunters classified as the hardline faction might rise up against Chief Elma."
"...Rise up against her?"
Elma was an S-rank Hunter.
By simple math alone, she was a powerhouse equivalent to at least ten A-rank Hunters.
’And they’re going to rebel against that?’
Did Coral World Shelter really have that many Hunters at A-rank or above? When he asked, incredulity plain in his voice, Gordon’s answer soon followed.
"Those rumors are probably circulating because Chief Elma isn’t in normal condition right now."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Do you know why Hunter Elma wasn’t deployed to the Antarctica Gate raid?"
"I heard she was recuperating from an injury... Ah!"
Walfred’s eyes went round. Gordon nodded and added further explanation.
"Exactly. Hunter Elma still hasn’t recovered from her injury. As a result, she can’t bring her full capabilities as an S-rank Hunter to bear."
Gordon’s expression darkened.
"For this reason, it’s no exaggeration to say that Coral World Shelter is currently a powder keg, with no telling when or what might go off."
"..."
"I imagined you wouldn’t rest easy leaving your niece in such a dangerous place, Hunter Walfred, which is why I brought this up."
It was a reasonable point.
If this was a matter directly tied to Jenna’s safety, then profit and loss calculations could go hang. Getting Jenna out of Coral World Shelter came first, period.
Adding this to the reasons he’d already considered, Walfred made up his mind. He looked at Gordon and slowly nodded.
"All right. Let’s do it."
"...! Th-then that means...!"
"Yes. I look forward to working with you."
"Of course! The pleasure is all mine."
Gordon’s face lit up.
He wore the expression of a man whose long-standing worry had finally been resolved. Facing him, Walfred spoke in a firm tone.
"That said, I have no intention of canceling my plans."
"Pardon? Meaning...?"
"I won’t be able to relax until I confirm my niece is safe, and every day counts. So as planned, I intend to set out for South Key West tomorrow morning."
He would bring Jenna back himself, no matter what.
Watching Walfred state it like a formal notice, Gordon burst into a hearty laugh.
"Haha, of course you should. I’ll send my student along to make the journey there and back easier."
"Your student?"
"He means me."
A cheerful voice chimed in.
Turning his head, Walfred found Aria, who had approached at some point without him noticing. She gave a small shrug and briefly explained her relationship with Gordon.
"I once decided my training as a Hunter was lacking, so I enrolled in the Hunter Academy for a while. The teacher who taught me back then was him."
"Ah..."
He’d been wondering what their relationship was.
So they were teacher and student.
Just as he was nodding along with a look of understanding, Gordon’s explanation continued.
"Hunter Aria has a skill that lightens the feet and another that boosts movement speed. You should be able to reach your destination quickly."
Ah, that’s right, she did say she was a supporter.
Recalling the fact he’d forgotten, Walfred calmly accepted Gordon’s goodwill. If it boosted his mobility, there was no reason to refuse.
Once the conversation wrapped up.
"My apologies for keeping you so late. Please, get some good rest."
With that courteous farewell.
Gordon departed. Then Aria pointed toward the cave on the opposite side and said.
"I’ll show you to where you’ll be sleeping, then."
Walfred followed without a word.
As he walked alongside her, his gaze lingered on the direction of the cave entrance.
’When day breaks tomorrow...’
Please let the Leviathan be gone.
So that he could go see Jenna without a hitch. With that earnest wish, the long day came to a close.