Mercenaries

Ren looked around; he was in a place called Tokyo. It was a vibrant city, vastly different from Enzo City. Neon lights illuminated the metropolitan streets, accompanied by the bustling noise of the metropolis. Magnificent skyscrapers and an efficient railway network adorned the city.

It was a city he had seen many times in his dreams. Since the age of 5, Ren had experienced peculiar dreams. He dreamed of leading a peaceful life as someone with the same name. The difference was that the Ren in the dream world was an adult working as an electronic engineer at a company called Bony.

The dream continued; first, he experienced life as an intern, and each time he slept, he would continue the dream. This persisted until now, and Ren began to consider the dream world as his second life.

The dream world was the reason Ren could be more mature than most people. It also served as the source of his knowledge about electronics.

Sunlight broke through his eyelids, and Ren woke up, sitting up and observing Kiyoshi still sleeping beside him.

The workers were only provided with mats for sleeping, old radios, and mosquito repellent.

Two weeks had passed, and Ren had grown accustomed to his new life. Everything went smoothly. Ren could handle the job without difficulty. Meanwhile, his friendship with Kiyoshi had also improved, and he began communicating more with other workers.

Compared to his time in Komorebi Kuyo, Ren felt content with his life here.

However, he knew he was the only one not feeling the pressure. For the other workers, they had to work beyond their limits, eat bland and nutrient-deficient food, and sleep on hard mats, plagued by mosquitoes.

Clearly, it wasn't a satisfying life for them. However, they had no other choice. Getting a job was extremely challenging.

While others slept, Ren decided to exercise for a bit. He jogged slowly, enjoying the scenery around him. The area around the tracks was rice paddies. The clean river flow served as excellent irrigation for these fields. The still-green rice looked beautiful with the cool water streaming through.

"Such a beautiful place is often destroyed by monster attacks; it's truly unfortunate," Ren murmured, shaking his head.

The southern region of Enzo City was relatively flat, suitable for farming but also vulnerable to attacks. This made Naraki Fortress as the fortress with the heaviest workload.

On the positive side, this led to a surge in genomancers residing in Naraki Fortress to hunt monsters.

"But why do the railway tracks often suffer severe damage?" Ren couldn't understand it.

Although there were frequent large-scale monster attacks in the southern region, the railway tracks weren't something conspicuous or obstructive to monster movement. At most, track damage should only be caused by large monsters stepping on them until they bent. However, every time a monster attack occurred, the tracks were severely damaged.

"That's because some monsters are intelligent beings; they understand the importance of railway tracks for humans. So, they cause severe damage every time a major attack happens," someone answered not far from Ren.

Ren turned to find the source of the voice. He then spotted Sasaki Enjiro smoking on a large rock.

"Supervisor Sasaki!" Ren exclaimed, surprised by Sasaki's presence.

"You're quite energetic this morning. I've been observing you for the past few days, and you can complete your tasks well without the slightest fatigue, even having enough energy for exercise. It's very rare to find a child with such physical abilities."

Ren's performance at work and the fact that he was still a child caught Sasaki's attention, leading him to observe Ren for the past few days.

"Umm, thank you," Ren replied, bowing slightly.

Sasaki jumped from the rock he was sitting on and walked towards Ren. "Do you have any plans or perhaps ambitions for your future?"

He then stopped right in front of Ren.

Sasaki's tall and muscular figure exerted pressure on Ren, but the boy clenched his hands, resisting the unseen pressure. He then raised his head, looking into Sasaki's eyes.

"I want to become a genomancer," a strong determination embedded in those words.

"Is that so? However, you won't achieve that dream by just working as a construction worker."

Sasaki patted Ren's shoulder and leaned close to the boy's ear. "I'm giving you a good offer. Join my mercenaries, and you can get closer to your dream."

After saying that, he walked away, adding, "I'll be waiting for you until payday. By the way, you better head back to camp."

Ren returned to the camp with a confused mind. When work started, he took the opportunity to ask Kiyoshi about the mercenaries.

"Mercenaries? As you know, it's challenging to mass-produce genomancers. Although genomancers are the frontline against monsters, their numbers are too small, and regular humans are still needed, especially against low-level monsters in large quantities," Kiyoshi explained what he knew to Ren.

Ren furrowed his brow. "So why doesn't the government build an army? Why use mercenaries?"

"Ah, the government basically doesn't have money; most middle and lower-class people don't have money to pay taxes. The financial resources are in the hands of big business owners. Hence, the government prefers to grant permission for the establishment of mercenaries. You could say the government gives legal privileges to those business owners while large business owners also have an obligation to help defend the city."

Kiyoshi's lengthy explanation helped Ren grasp the concept a bit. According to Kiyoshi, capitalists were essentially the rulers of Enzo City; they not only controlled the economy but also the military and were entities with special legal privileges.

If that was the case, Sasaki's mercenaries should belong to the Yamaguchi Corporation.

"What about the Yamaguchi Corporation?" Ren, curious, asked again.

Kiyoshi didn't know why his friend suddenly became interested in such matters, but he still answered, "I'm not sure, but I heard that Yamaguchi, involved in construction, and Handa, involved in railways, are part of the Zoya Group. The Zoya Group was formed about 15 years ago, relatively new compared to other conglomerates."

"You know a lot, Kiyoshi," praised Ren.

"Although my father is a small trader,

he has big aspirations. He has studied these things and taught them to me."