Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 179 38. Sense of Mission

"Everything you heard today will rot in your stomach."

In the elevator going downstairs, listening to Kenichi Shiro's words, Carl nodded: "Of course I won't say much, after all."

Karl smiled and said, "At least I have reached a funding agreement with you."

"I don't know why the lady values ​​you, but I hope you won't disappoint me and do something irrational."

Kenichi Shiro did not make any move, but his eyes had a vague sense of oppression: "Compared to letting the young lady know that someone she trusted betrayed her, I think the accidental death of someone she trusted would be easier for the young lady to accept."

"Yeah."

Carl said calmly, but his eyes were looking back at Kenichi Shiro, his wrist slightly raised: "But now, I have to ask you the question, Mr. Kenichi Shiro."

"ask me?"

"Who are you loyal to, the leader of the dove faction or the lady you mentioned?"

Kenichi Shiro was stunned by what Carl said. This was something he had never thought about since he took over Kenichi Saburo's responsibilities fourteen years ago and acted like a half-father to protect Haruko Arasaka, who was growing up in Japan.

Because conceptually, how could father and son, mother and daughter not be in the same faction?

"Of course I am."

Halfway through his speech, he no longer knew what to say.

He said that he was loyal to Miss Haruko, but the order for him to protect Haruko was from Haruko's mother, Michiko Arasaka. But if he was loyal to Michiko Arasaka, then why didn't he tell her about what Miss Haruko was hiding, and why did he condone Miss Haruko's secret actions?
"I don't need someone who hasn't thought about loyalty to teach me this. Instead of interrogating me, a trusted person, shouldn't you, as a more trusted bodyguard, be responsible for the lady's security?"

"Ding."

The elevator reached the first floor. Carl glanced at Kenichi Shiro and started walking:
"Protect Arasaka Haruko, Mr. Kenichi Shiro. I don't want to see my sponsor die because of an inexplicable little thing before I arrive. You are a more capable person than I am now, so please fulfill your security duties well."

Kenichi Shiro listened to Carl's words and looked at Carl's back. His expression changed for a moment, then he regained his calm.

His eyes were deep and thoughtful.

As a bodyguard, he doesn't need to think a lot, but now, he is thinking a lot.

'You see something, Carl?'

"Or do you really understand the lady's ambition better than I do?"

The elevator is closed.

Kenichi Shiro, after all, did not call out Carl to ask him what he was thinking.

It is ridiculous for a servant who has not figured out who he is loyal to to ask an outsider about his loyalty.

"Internal fighting, internal fighting, internal fighting every day, internal fighting to the point that even the people who are loyal to them can't tell who they are loyal to. I have completely understood Arasaka's style."

Carl on the other side was muttering to himself but smiling.

"But it's rare that I have an interesting idea."

Climb to the top of Arasaka and reshape it according to your own wishes. That's really ambitious.

"How can I not be interested in this kind of infighting?"

It's interesting to think about the weakling who has little support but is delusional and tries to reach the top of Arasaka, and the mercenary she chooses who starts to climb to the top of Night City.

It's just looking for death.

But why would I agree?

Carl saw why.

Maybe it's just like what Jack and Oliver asked, what is your dream.

Reaching the top of Night City is just one step ahead, just the beginning.

What we really need to do is to change.

Changing Night City is too niche and not enough.

If you have ambition, you have to take the world as your stage.

Karl's heart was a little excited.

Why do I keep pursuing constant fun, why do I keep challenging various tasks, why do I set myself desperate difficulties, why do I have the heart to challenge strong men like Adam Hammer and Kenichi Shiro. It turns out that from the very beginning, when I held the gun, I thought that I should not be ordinary, I should not be numb.

The heart can become numb, and people can keep looking down at the earth, but as long as I am still here, as long as I, a person from the past, am still here, I cannot say that times have passed.

It’s time for people of this era to look at the sky.

Look at the clear sky, unobstructed by the light.

Carl is a man from the past, what is this world worth to him?
worthless.

But that's also what makes it so incomparable.

"Decided."

Carl took big strides and walked out of the Ganbi Building.

"Let's make sweet and sour pork for lunch today."

Kenichi Shiro took the elevator back to the suite on the 100th floor and saw Carl's figure on the big screen in the suite.

Opposite the figure striding forward was Arasaka Haruko, who was sitting outside the screen, sipping matcha.

Kenichi Shiro looked at Carl, whose face was clearly visible in the surveillance cameras around the Kanbi Building and who had a bright smile on his face, and couldn't help but walk over.

"Miss, have you really decided to trust him? Now we need to erase him to prevent information leakage. We can also activate the emergency preparedness procedure."

"I believe in him."

Without any hesitation, Arasaka Haruko turned her head and said softly to Kenichi Shiro: "It's like believing in Mr. Kenichi Shiro who takes care of me like a father."

Her words made Kenichi Shiro freeze in place again.

This was the second time he was stunned today.

Once it was Carl, and once it was Haruko.

Both of them were beyond his expectations.

"I"

Kenichi Shiro wanted to say something but didn't know what to say. After forcing his face to tremble, he sighed and sat down in the seat to the left of Haruko Arasaka.

He now understands his loyalty.

That guy really saw something.

Kenichi Shiro sat there feeling awkward and depressed, looking at Arasaka Haruko, and then at Carl who was smiling on the screen. He didn't know why, but Kenichi Shiro could not feel the slightest bit of good impression towards Carl, the person whose thoughts were understood.

On the contrary, there is an inexplicable sense of emptiness and loss.

Kenichi Shiro watched Arasaka Haruko's gaze return to the screen and couldn't help but say, "He looks sunny and cheerful. Looking at him like this, he doesn't feel like he has undertaken a mission at all."

Arasaka Haruko listened, chuckled, and handed over another cup of prepared matcha.

“That’s how I feel about my mission.”

It is incredible that someone can smile brightly in Night City.

Kenichi Shiro took the matcha in silence, and Arasaka Haruko turned her head and stared at the screen.

The young lady should be reminded that looking at the screen for a long time may cause vision loss in her native eyes.

Pick up the tea cup.

Take a sip.

so bitter.

The lady's craftsmanship is still not that outstanding.
'Asshole.'

Kenichi Shiro, who was not very good at swearing and was well-educated, just cursed silently in his heart in the end.

"You'd better not let me know that you have any feelings for the lady!"

　p.s. My parents both have tea art certificates, and they wanted me to take the exam, but my tea-making skills are very poor.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)