“I want to know everything that happened while I was away. What’s the vehicle’s status?”
“Why, everything is as your shopping list demanded. Tank full, tire pressure optimal, all systems are go. Since we’ve got a job coming up, I also took the pleasure of ensuring it was cleaned inside and out, and I’ve even included a little drink for when this is over.”
“Weapons?”
“A fully stocked short-range sniper rifle in the trunk. However, as requested, there’s only one magazine.”
“And how are things going with F. Ober Industries?”
As Kaname inquired further, Tselika rolled about on the hood of the car—from her front to her back. She was crushing her wings or bending them out of shape, but it didn’t seem to hurt her. As she answered his questions, she continued to show off her body.
Among the strings of characters crawling over her pit-babe outfit, which included a pair of thigh-length boots, F. Ober became particularly prominent. Numbers scrolled horizontally across her. Even the odd graph would surface. Although these logos belonged to companies, they weren’t her sponsors. Her clothes were displaying all kinds of information pertaining to the prices of various products and commodities from every company, alongside the trading names of notable stocks and securities, in real time.
Tracing from her chest down to her thigh with her finger, Tselika pointed out one graph that moved across the curve of her body.
“As you can see, they’ve been in the red for some time now, owing to the sharp increase in the price of rare-earth elements. But if somebody was to give their stalled research a little push in the right direction, I daresay things could change quite suddenly.”
“All right,” muttered Kaname to himself.
His basketball shoes hit the asphalt as he marched to the rear of the mint-green coupe and raised the trunk door. Just as the demon had said, the weapon was there. Kaname took it out. The short-range sniper rifle Short Spear. Kaname ran his eyes over the characteristic red rubber covering both its grip and collapsible stock.
It would be more accurate to describe it as a large handgun with an added stock and extended barrel, rather than an assault rifle with its best components accentuated. It was even chambered in .45-caliber ammunition instead of rifle rounds. The muzzle velocity was subsonic, so the weapon prioritized stealth over range. The magazine was not located within the grip like a handgun but had a separate slot, like a rifle, and loading a fresh magazine would automatically chamber the first round.
“Get in the car, Tselika,” ordered Kaname.
“As you wish, My Lord,” she replied.
The two sat down in the coupe, with Kaname taking the driver’s seat on the right. As if by magic, the wings on Tselika’s back neatly folded themselves away, revealing the smooth skin of her back through her cropped short-sleeve jacket. Since it would be difficult to drive with the weapon, Kaname tossed it into Tselika’s lap. After inserting the key and depressing the clutch, he thumbed down the ignition button, and the engine flared to life.
The vehicle roared like some terrible beast. Releasing the hand brake and putting the car into first gear, Kaname nudged the accelerator with his right foot while smoothly taking his left off the clutch. The transmission engaged cleanly, and despite the horsepower of the sports car in which the pair sat, it set off quite gently down the left-hand lane of the road, like a needle settling into the groove of a record.
Tokonatsu City was made up of a peninsula shaped like a shark’s tooth, a bunch of islands that extended off the coast, several artificial islands created using industrial flotation systems, and a coral reef, all connected by a huge circular bridge. Kaname and Tselika were currently on the enormous Mega-Float II, which stretched for several kilometers in all directions. Yet even amid this gray world of pipes and factories, other Dealers had noticed him and drew secretly closer.
Here’s a question: How can you guarantee a return on investment without taking any risks? There are many ways to do this. One example would be insider trading, where you trade securities with advance knowledge of some large upcoming event between the companies involved. Another would be threatening the director or some big investors to stage a hostile takeover. You could lower a company’s value by spreading false rumors or stealing technical information through cyberattacks. If you wanted, you could even choose to induce technological innovation yourself by uploading diagrams of new technologies in an internet video, like a puzzle to be solved, or even blow up trucks and trains containing your rival’s newest product.
Of course, some might object to such behaviors in the real world. But here, that wasn’t the case. Money (Game) Master was a place cut off from the rules of reality, after all.
“Several publications have reported that Asgard Motors, known under brands like Hunts and Arhen, has branched into the defense industry, producing tanks and other armored vehicles. Their AI press secretary has said…”
“The Rainy Girl Study, widely touted as an efficient way to combat poverty and increase production of edible insects, has been called into question recently by information revealing that it has barely any management or regulations…”
“The rumors of internal discord within the management of Rush General Trading Co. was allegedly confirmed several days ago, as the board of directors announced their decision to remove the current sitting president. This has prompted the president to bolster his ranks by recruiting PMCs and Dealers, which has aggravated the…”
In-game broadcasts. All you could hear on the radio was Western music or economic news like this. It signaled the beginning of an event. You could choose to go with the flow or against it, make money sucking up to the big AI companies or even go so far as to destroy them. It was an open-world game with no wrong way to play.