Read Online Mercenary Road by Hideyuki Kikuchi - Free Book Online Page B

backs, which managed to protect them.
    As soon as the blast and the threat of falling debris had passed, Strider and Stanza picked themselves up. Shielding their eyes against the still-eddying dust and wind, they looked for D and the motorcar. Off in the distance, the hem of the Hunter’s black coat fluttered. D was already beside the toppled vehicle.
    “He got the drop on us again? I hate it when that happens!” Strider growled.
    Glancing at the factory that’d been reduced to flaming wreckage as they broke into a run, they finally reached D just as the girl was crawling out from under the toppled vehicle. Though the face framed by her golden hair had gone pale and a trickle of blood came from her left temple, there was no disguising her youthful vigor.
    The first thing Stanza asked was, “Are you okay?”
    “Yeah,” the girl answered in a faint voice, staring at the three of them. The emotions coloring her face were hardly suited to someone who’d just been rescued. They showed distrust and suspicion.
    “You folks—are you Hunters?” This was the second thing she said.
    “The smirking bastard behind me and I are both warriors. But the guy in black’s a Hunter.”
    “Thank you—I’m glad I came back.” Though she’d finally gotten around to thanking them, she didn’t sound particularly grateful. “You came from Bossage, didn’t you? Get me back there as quick as you can.”
    “Well, aren’t you the impatient little lady! Fill us in first. You know, you’re not the only one we came out here to rescue.”
    “That’s right,” Strider said, grinning at the girl whose expression had turned to stone. “I’m Strider, and this scary lady is Miss Stanza.”
    He noticed a change come over the girl. Her blue eyes opened wide, and her expression seemed to melt with rapture. It went without saying that it was the young man in black that was reflected in her glazed eyes.
    “And you’re . . . ?” she asked in a voice that sounded as if she could weep.
    “D,” he simply replied. “Tell us everything you know. Then you can head back to town.”
    “Okay . . . if it’s for you .”
    “Hey!” Strider snapped. “I’ll have you know he wasn’t the only one involved in rescuing you, missy!”
    Grabbing his arm to restrain him, Stanza said, “You’re wasting your breath. He didn’t use hypnotism or anything, but the girl’s soul belongs to him. You’ve got us beat there, D. But you’d better share her intel with us.”
    “Not a chance.”
    “ What did you say?”
    “We’re not partners.”
    “Hey, wait a minute!”
    “Yeah—don’t push your luck, D!”
    The Hunter told the flustered pair, “Right now, the two of you have formed an alliance. But you’re not allied with me. That’s all there is to it.”
    The pair fell silent, and D didn’t seem to even see them anymore.
    “Get on,” he said, indicating his cyborg horse.
    The girl gave a meek nod. Apparently staying with the gorgeous Hunter would be even better than going back to town.
    “Just a second!” Stanza said, making the girl halt in her tracks. “You’re not even going to tell the people who saved your life what your name is?”
    The warrior’s hands hung easily by her sides. But it went without saying that she had deadly darts concealed behind her extended fingers.
    “We’re not going to let you hog all the glory, D!”
    “Damned straight!” Strider added, circling around behind D. As the warrior reached for his longsword, his face was filled with a dark and unconcealable will to kill.
    They were both ready to follow through. If D responded in kind, there would certainly be a breathtaking battle to the death. And D was almost certain to respond.
    In a part of the wasteland where winds of death gusted clouds of dust, all the figures were frozen solid by an overwhelming killing lust. But it was one unexpected word that brought them back to the world of normalcy. “Okay,” someone had said. And that someone was D.
    Stanza