Taking full advantage of the basement’s perfect soundproofing, Chihaya was enjoying a solo karaoke session.
No audience to perform for, yet her singing voice was needlessly good — though she stumbled spectacularly on a rap verse and went completely off the rails. She still pumped her fist in satisfaction.
The solo karaoke had started as pure escapism.
After repeated combats and selling off captured units, a full ninety-nine percent of the jobs showing up on Chihaya’s account were combat assignments.
Escaping reality because there’s nothing she can actually take.
The fact that the same jobs are showing up even on her new account suggests the priority weighting isn’t tied to individual accounts but to the Actor themselves.
“somebody help me——!”
She was just singing lyrics as written, but the anguish in her voice was thoroughly heartfelt.
She finishes with a score of ninety-eight from the karaoke app’s scoring function and collapses onto the built-in sofa bed, satisfied.
“exhausted……”
Three hours of belting will do that to you.
She lies there in graceless repose, drinking water through a straw from a plastic bottle, and pulls out her phone.
Maybe if she waits a little, new jobs will appear. That was the hope.
“……oh!”
Right on cue, a large-scale recruitment posting appeared on the board.
Client: Amashiro Agricultural Development Group. They’re conducting a survey to lay a road between the Korogeiwa Garage and a location to the north called the Akane Forest.
Combat with New Frontier animals is possible, but primarily this involves surveying a wide area — hence the broad recruitment. The sheer number of slots is apparently why it showed up on Chihaya’s board despite the combat-heavy weighting.
The individual payout is low, but with so many participants, even if wildlife encounters break out, there’s no reason Chihaya has to be the one dealing with them. And if bandit Actors happen to show up, numbers alone solve that problem.
A very appealing job.
Chihaya immediately puts in an application.
“heh, with this, I can become a peaceful Actor”
The singing paid off. Help really did come.
On top of that, the civilian clan New World Tree Housing is participating in this job — to compile the survey results and coordinate overall operations.
New World Tree Housing is well-known. Half-rate bandit Actors won’t want a piece of that.
This one has a different feeling of security entirely.
Just to be safe, she’s applying under the new account. She doesn’t want her old record flagging her as a combat-capable Actor and getting her assigned wildlife patrol duty.
For extra caution, she fills out several questionnaire prompts asking about her surveying experience and skills.
“no fighting, no fighting……”
She’s desperate. With ninety-nine percent of her board already combat jobs, contributing through combat any further risks contaminating her recommendations beyond any hope of recovery.
Application submitted. Chihaya takes a breath.
“oh, it’s a loaner so I might miss out”
The nearest garage to the site is the Korogeiwa Garage — opened by Amashiro Agricultural Development Group, with a limited loaner fleet.
She checks: every unit already reserved. Apparently everyone had the same idea.
Chihaya immediately searches the nearby Wakagawa Garage’s loaner inventory. Availability still open there.
She puts in a reservation, which confirms in about five minutes. She’s reserved before her application has even been approved, but cancellation fees are low enough. In a situation like this, a job posting to transport a loaner unit separately to the Korogeiwa Garage wouldn’t be surprising either — worth watching for.
She frets and waits for an hour, picks up the microphone again and starts belting anime songs, and the acceptance message arrives.
“……y-yes!”
Things going exactly as planned, Chihaya laughs her small nervous laugh.
“i-if I can complete the survey accurately and quickly, maybe someone from the clan will notice me, and they might reach out……”
If she could join New World Tree Housing, she might be able to keep taking survey jobs while avoiding combat going forward. Counting chickens before they hatch, she lets her smile grow.
“s-so if that’s the plan, I need to get the unit to the Korogeiwa Garage”
Motivated, she sets up her equipment and installs the surveying app on her computer.
Leaving the Wakagawa Garage, Chihaya’s Allrounder isn’t the only one heading out. Along the way, Cyclones and Leaf Sprinters are also running toward the Korogeiwa Garage.
Nearly all of them are going to be her teammates.
“wow, I’m filled with a sense of security……. heheh”
This job is going to be a breeze, she thinks, raising a flag on herself, while testing the behavior of the newly installed app.
Starting from the Wakagawa Garage might actually have been the right call. The surveying app takes a little getting used to.
Apparently it works by taking photos and feeding the image data in for the app to process into a survey. Since Actanoids can hold a camera at precisely set heights and angles, apps like this are viable.
That said, a single image doesn’t make an accurate map. Photographing from multiple angles to fill in blind spots is also necessary.
The Cyclone’s wide field of vision means it doesn’t need any special equipment — just moving while recording video is enough to generate a map.
Slightly regretting that she’d borrowed an Allrounder instead of a Cyclone, Chihaya’s unit pulls into the Korogeiwa Garage.