The Imperial Hunter Chapter 68 - The Hunters (3)

After finishing our meal, we took a short break and headed out a little early. If takeoff was at 10 o’clock, we needed to get ready starting at 9 for it to be ideal.

Richfield was a city with two agricultural waterways flowing north and south, and the county office that provided part of its large public land as a helipad was located on the outer edge of the southern canal that corresponded to the city limit.

「No unauthorized camping allowed」

「The county authorities take no responsibility for any accidents or thefts occurring on public land and event sites, and all risks are to be assumed by the individuals using the site.」

On the other side of the fence-like sliding door with these warning signs, a noisy group of protesters were vigorously waving large flags.

“Animal lives are precious! Hunters must stop slaughtering wild boars!”

“Stop it! Stop it!”

“Animals have spirituality too! Humans and animals are equal lives! The government must abolish policies that encourage slaughter and guarantee animals’ right to survival!”

“Guarantee it! Guarantee it!”

When I heard that self-proclaimed fairies were appearing in this city, I expected they would probably be here too. The inseparable companion of the “Earth Liberation Front” and a notorious arsonist group with a reputation on par with them, an illegal militia established under the banner of protecting animal rights, the “Animal Liberation Front (ALF)”. Seeing them pick up and chant about spirituality and what not, it seemed like these humans were also going through a period of storm and fury like their friends.

‘I wonder if their belief in vegetarianism has changed.’ 

If the fanatical vegetarians who set fire to meat processing plants while claiming that eating meat was evil were now facing a dilemma due to the existence of the Trembling Giant, it would have been quite an amusing farce. Considering humans’ tendency to believe only what they want to believe, there was also a possibility they were not pondering such dilemmas at all.

Right next to the front gate were police officers leaning against patrol cars with bored expressions on their faces. Over the waist-high fence, armed militia and hunters could be seen conversing. They would occasionally glance at the protesters and smirk at them condescendingly.

It wasn’t difficult to find the militia “Pioneer Hunters’ team” that Kyung-tae had made an appointment with.

“Look over there, you can see their flag and banner.”

The location where the hunting brigade’s flag was planted was a snowfield with a crude fence of wood and wire separating it from the parking lot and road. The snowfield, originally someone’s private pastureland, was now like the public land, accommodating landed helicopters. Judging by the fence posts broken or knocked over here and there, it seems T-hogs had also rampaged through this area. The hunters were taking advantage of the breached fences as entrances and exits for the makeshift helipad.

One of the hunters belonging to the brigade saw Kyung-tae and waved at him cheerfully.

“Oh, Mr. Kim! You’re early!”

He exchanged greetings with me, Suyeon, and one subordinate from the security department. The reason my party numbered only four was so as not to attract too much attention with a large group. We didn’t even carry any weapons.

Kyung-tae exaggeratedly admired the militia’s helicopter.

“Wow, the equipment is really excellent as I heard, Jack. Is that equipped with a supercharger?”

“Haha! You recognized it, that’s some keen insight you’ve got there.”

Jack, the militia member, nodded proudly.

“That’s right. Being in this region, the basic elevation is high, you know. With mountainous areas exceeding 10,000 feet scattered around near the Forest of Giants, it’s practically impossible to properly fly around without a pretty powerful engine. So engine tuning is a given.”

The supercharger was a type of turbocharger that forces air into the engine, allocating a portion of the engine’s power to the intake to enhance maximum output. Although fuel efficiency decreases in proportion to the increasing output, as explained by the civilian hunters, it was an inevitable modification to operate an ordinary civilian helicopter at an altitude of 10,000 feet.

Kyung-tae continued with his expert admiration.

“You’re using some high-end thermal imaging gear too. Looks like the basic model has a wide-angle lens and laser rangefinder included, no? That’s gotta be like $6,500 or so?”

“Hahaha! To provide the best experience for the hunters joining us, this much investment is necessary.”

“This is an M210 V2 drone set! Man, this is killer, just killer. Isn’t this the top-of-the-line item in this field aside from military gear? You guys are really determined to wipe out those pigs, huh.”

“Hahahahaha!”

“Oh, is that rifle a SIG MCX? Of course the ammo’s .300 Blackout, right?”

“Hahahahahaha! Naturally! Putting 5.56 mm on something like an MCX is something only gays would do! How great the Blackout is for exotic game hunting, with this thing it just goes right through a human body but for bears, boars, and the like….”

“Right, right! The projectile’s gotta be over 100 grains just to get a bit of penetration- “

As Jack’s laughter grew longer and louder, interested comrades gathered around, laughing and chattering as they clapped loudly, combining into a single mass. Kyung-tae’s friendliness was truly outstanding as always.

“There’s a reason expensive stuff is expensive and cheap stuff is cheap, right? When I first heard it was $800 an hour even with 50% government subsidies I had some doubts, but coming here and seeing it in person, my conclusion is that Pioneer Hunters’ team deserves this rate.”

With these words wrapping up the praise from Kyung-tae, Jack squeezed his lips shut with an almost moved expression, nodding his head. Another member beside him answered.

“Our brigade always aims for the best. We’re very happy to have a client who understands that as the person in charge.”

“The person in charge, you say? Your name is?”

“I’m the brigade commander of this team, Ryan Christopher Neilson. Please call me Neilson.”

Neilson shook hands with each of us in turn. If the medal on his chest was real and not fake, he must have been quite an active soldier in the past. And he was currently a fairly capable awakener with his natural circuits opened in good form.

At that time, the edges of the temporary helipad became noisy. What showed up with the slight disorder was three pickup trucks with 4-wheel drive entering bumper to bumper. Each truck had a Walmart logo on the side. A man who got out of the lead vehicle shouted into a mic connected to a speaker.

“Weapon and ammo delivery here! People who ordered please come get your stuff!”

It seemed some here had placed orders too, as Neilson directed members to go receive the goods. The ammo crates they brought also had Walmart logos. I grabbed an advertising flyer blowing around in the wind.

「The best hunting gear delivery service for the best hunters! Walmart’s ‘Lastmile for Hunters’! We’ll directly deliver all the supplies a hunter needs, including firearms and ammunition, right to your hunting ground of choice! Sign up for our monthly membership and you can order the ammunition types listed below at 5% off standard pricing, with purchase limits per ammo type depending on your membership tier-」

…….

Well. No need for a separate black market, I see.

I returned the flyer to the wind and quietly observed as Kyung-tae and Neilson worked out the route details. Soon reaching a final agreement, Kyung-tae paid a total of $5,336, covering the two-hour flight fee for four people, temporary licensing issuance fee, additional fees for the hot spring trip and barbecue of prey, the militia’s included firearms rental and unlimited ammo use, and finally a 15 percent tip that the militia side didn’t even request.

Neilson accepted it gladly and issued a receipt.

“I promise an experience you absolutely won’t regret.”

After that, Kyung-tae continued to chat with various members in a friendly manner. From those conversations, I gathered that many of the members, before awakening their primitive magic, had been household heads who lost their jobs due to the economic depression. Hearing of the dire circumstances these members faced, Neilson had suggested transitioning the militia into a profit-seeking corporation and hunting highly dangerous game, and some dedicated executives had secured operating funds by liquidating assets and combining them with special government loans on the federal and state levels to establish the business foundation.

Kyung-tae, skilled in acting, listened to such stories and pretended to be moved to the point of tearing up.

In the midst of this, a young militia member brought over a tray with three steaming paper cups on it and approached where I was.

“Everyone, have some hot cocoa.”

He spoke to me but his wandering eyes were aimed at Suyeon by my side. Despite wearing a face mask covering his nose to nape as cold weather gear, for some Suyeon’s exposed eyes alone were sufficiently charming.

In any case, I accepted the cup and sipped the sweet hot liquid. Steam fogged up my dark sunglasses. Suyeon quietly refused with a wave of his hand, disappointing the young militia member, and lastly the security department subordinate briefly thanked him before tasting his share of the cocoa.

I spoke to the dejected militia member.

“I heard the gist already, but still, having the financial resources to purchase three helicopters is surprising. Unless my memory is mistaken, even buying used ones should be a minimum of $1 million each, no?”

“Ah, yes.”

The young militia member shrugged.

“We invested to get two. So the one we actually paid money to purchase is just that small guy parked over there. But we still have to pay $8,000 a month for 10 years to cover the balance.”

“Invested, you say? In helicopters?”

“Yes. The big one the leader used was originally going to be demilitarized for civilian use by the military, but the government lent it to us for the high-risk hunt support project. And the other one was provided by a local tycoon named Thomas Piner on the condition we split profits. We were really lucky.”

“Certainly seems so. Having three crafts lets you form a perimeter.”

“Huh?”

The militia member was taken aback.

“You’re saying the exact same thing as our captain?”

“It’s obvious if you think about it a little.”

“Is that so…?”

Two points could only make a line, but three points allowed the creation of a plane in the form of a triangle, the minimum requirement. The difference between two and three was tremendously huge when trying to enclose or surround something. Especially when each of those points was a highly mobile helicopter.

In short, it meant the Pioneer Hunters’ team could efficiently conduct drove hunts on their own without cooperating with other hunter groups.

‘Light helicopter models will make good investment commodities too.’

This was a prediction of increasing demand in the legal, not black market. The problems caused by awakened wildlife have only just begun. So there would come a day in the future when placing orders with helicopter manufacturers resulted in insufficient production volume to fulfill delivery.

Therefore, by splitting ownership and placing orders for around 100 units with multiple companies, then later when demand for light helicopters exploded in earnest, tacking on a premium when selling off the orders themselves should allow the realization of considerable returns within 1-2 years. It would also be wise to take as many demilitarized government assets as possible.

There were many such money-making avenues, but much consideration was required regarding which investment would be the most prudent.

The militia member looked in another direction and spoke.

“The other guests are arriving.”

With three helicopters and one militia member assigned per passenger, the total number of seats available to guests was six. Though the member had referred to the large craft the leader used as the flagship with more seats, Neilson had loaded that space up with extra supplies and emergency gear to prepare for unexpected trouble. Quite admirable prudence.

Therefore, excluding the four seats we were occupying, two seats remained.

Those who joined 20 minutes before takeoff were a pair of one man and a woman wearing sunglasses. Jack and Neilson’s manner toward them was noticeably cooler than when dealing with us.

“It’s a secret, but…”

Before returning to his spot, the young militia member whispered by my ear.

“The chopper those folks are riding is assigned the most boring herding role. Though it normally rotates between the crafts, those cheapskates were super annoying. Not considering the equipment differences at all, just stubbornly demanding it be cheaper than the others… You wouldn’t believe the headache dealing with them.”

“Why not just tell them to go somewhere else if it’s cheaper?”

“Of course we did.”

“So…?”

“They made a fuss, saying is this how an organization receiving government support should act, threatening to file complaints and make sure we face penalties… Ugh. I almost shot them in the heat of the moment. Since we just started the business, I didn’t want to jinx it even a tiny bit, so we had no choice but to accept.”

Gutsy folks. To kick up that much fuss in front of armed militia members.

On further reflection, the ability to recognize danger as danger was a brain activity proportional to intelligence.