43 I Meet an Amazing Gunsmith

Author: Bishamon Mine
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n0664js/46/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

After a while I recovered quite a bit and, putting in fighting spirit with “alright,” I stood. Then.
The radio I was listening to started a new corner.

“This is ‘Radio Highlane Day Station’! Announcing 15:00 noon. Next corner, Highlane Day News Time!”

Here a jingle, “Ha, ha, ha, Highlane, Highlane Day News,” entered.
I held the impression “even in the future, entertainment of only hearing doesn’t disappear, huh,” and started walking the shop parking lot while listening to the radio.

“——Now, follow-up on yesterday’s incident of MoB appearing in Nevercity. It appears the MoB was successfully repelled. And amazingly, those who performed the repelling this time were not the military. A single player, they say. Information has come in that they are an Einsta person. Further a Special-Authority Strider or…… my, at last a Special-Authority Strider appeared. Who would have imagined they would truly appear.——They might even be walking our side’s streets right now, ahaha! Oh,——additional information just came in. The player’s ID is apparently called Suu. Why, the person who also performed in the Atlas great offensive the other day!——That such a person is cooperating with us as an Einsta is very reassuring! Oops,——further information came in…… why, sad news. The player called Suu was apparently shot with a gun by a resident of this side…… Fortunately it did not become serious, and they are currently healthy, but——”

Eh!? ……What’s this!!

“——Somehow I’m becoming news. Or rather Einsta!?”
“An MoB raid that a primary planet’s regular army cannot beat is a major incident, so it cannot be helped.”

At Ill-san’s words, just as I was seriously thinking “I’ll hide my identity on this side,” running footsteps came from behind.

“C-customer! The customer who kindly purchased many guns!”

It was the clerk-san who had explained when I bought guns earlier. She stopped behind me and talked, out of breath.
I properly turned around while she was out of breath.

“Um——”

She said——and suddenly came close to me and went quiet.

[——Is it true you’re Suu-san who saved Nevercity!?]
“Eh——t, well……”
“I knew it! Grandmother’s hometown is Nevercity! Thank you so much!”
“Th……that. I’m glad they were safe.”
“Yes!——And…… actually the gun craftsman I introduced earlier is actually my grandfather——”
“So that’s how it was.”
“If it isn’t presumptuous, may I guide you?”
“Ah, yes, that helps.——But is your work okay?”
“It’s lunch break, so in that time.”

Come to think of it, the radio said noon.

“———Then, please.”

Thus I came to go to the gun craftsman-san’s shop.

The shop had an old-fashioned storefront like medieval Europe.
But there’s no sign.

“Here.”

Told that, she pushed the door for me, so I timidly went inside.
This, if I hadn’t been guided I probably would have been too scared to go in. Or rather I might not have found it.

“———Excuse me.”

A bit nervous, I put only my neck in the shop and looked around, and a sour, bitter smell mixed with metal and gunpowder hit my nose.
On the walls, lots of guns are hung. Lots from long to short.
Only, no price tags——are these really for sale?
When I stepped in, 〖Sixth Sense〗 reacted like tinnitus.
Looking up, the tinnitus got stronger and stronger.
Then it became strongest at one gun.
I was glued to its beauty——a New Game shining silver-white.
From the gun I also feel an aura that’s not just anyone.

“That, that’s probably an amazing gun, right?”

When I murmured looking up, the clerk-san nodded looking happy.

“You can tell! That’s the gun Grandfather is most skilled at. That New Game 1110 is the first gun equipped with a recoil damper, a named gun with thousands of years of history that still continues to be used. I really want you to use Grandfather’s gun!”

If possible I want this gun, I’m a bit scared but I want to try negotiating.
Okay, let’s call the craftsman-san.

“Excuse me~”
“Shut up, get out———!!”
“Y-yeeees!”

Yelled at with an outrageous loud voice from the back of the shop——a place I couldn’t see, I tried to fly out of the shop teary-eyed.
But I was grabbed by the scruff by the home-center onee-san and brought back.
While I was trembling like a newborn fawn, the home-center onee-san yelled back with an even louder voice.

“Grandpa, shut up! Come out already!!”

So much I think a shockwave even happened——so much I think it’s the king of beasts’ roar, a fearsome loud voice.
From the back, an awkward voice was heard.

“O……ou…… Lila, huh……”

After a bit, from the back——a grandpa with no hair on his forehead and crown, wearing a monocle magnifier, came out.
Grandpa looks a little teary-eyed.
Incidentally I am completely teary-eyed.
A little leaked from below too.

“Grandpa, a customer.”

Me, thrust in front of Grandpa like a pinched cat.
The clerk-san called Lila, super strength.
Seems like a Datanoid-san, though.

“What’s this onago——no…… this old man doesn’t want customers———”
“Lately the athletes using Grandpa’s guns have decreased, right. Sell this person that New Game 1110!”
“Wha——, that one’s no good. That’s a masterpiece even recently! Even if it’s my cute granddaughter’s request, I can’t sell it to some onago of unknown origin!”

The clerk-san called Lila sighed.

“Do you know this person?”
“I don’t know such a thing.”
“It’s Suu-san, famous lately.”
“Who.”
“A player.”
“A player!? Why is a player here———I’ll contact the military right now……”
“What nonsense are you saying, without permission they couldn’t enter this side! This person is a Special-Authority Strider!”
“S-Special-Authority Strider…… you say!? There really was a player who could become that!?”
“Yes, an amazing person. And an Einsta.”
“Einsta……——but I can’t see anything?”

Grandpa looked at pinched me from toe-tips to head-tips.
Lila-san let go of me and said.
I rolled on the floor.

“They got shot by a resident of this side so I think the Mother Computer is concealing the information.”
“Shot……? What did this onago do, surely nothing good——” “She beat the MoB that attacked Nevercity. And then a citizen of this side shot Suu-san——someone who does nothing good wouldn’t be called an Einsta!”

Really, what is that Einsta, someone please tell me.
Earlier too, I feel like I was vaguely dodged by Ill-san.
For now I understood Einsta is a person who doesn’t do nothing-good, though.

“———Nevercity…… yesterday’s incident, huh……”
“As expected, you know because it’s Grandma’s hometown’s incident.”

How do Datanoid blood relations work. I don’t really get it.
Not an atmosphere I can ask, though.

“I see——nostalgic, that one’s hometown, huh…… that one’s data doesn’t remain, so they can’t be made a Datanoid——”

I see———a partner from when they were human, huh.

“——You called Suu-san.”

Grandpa turned back to me.
His eyes had become very kind.

“Y-yes.”
“Can you wait a little?”
“Um, yes.”

When I answered, Grandpa went into the back of the shop.
After waiting a while, he came back.
Grandpa was holding a small trunk-like case with both hands.

“How about this one. Lately it’s all easy-to-handle latest-model 249X. But this old man thinks the original 1110 is a masterpiece——it picks its user, but if you master it it answers.”

When Grandpa opened the trunk, what came out from inside was a dull-colored gun.

“……This is”

——Overall gray, with dark wood used on the grip, an elegant, calm-feeling New Game 1110.
Lila-san furrowed her brows looking at the New Game 1110 that came out.

“No, what’s this drab one——that one’s better.”

She said, about to point at the wall.

“W-wait please!”

I stared hard at the gun.
This, somehow I feel a tremendous aura.
〖Sixth Sense〗 is also reacting intensely. Tinnitus so much my ears hurt. It’s saying “———this one is amazing!”
How to put it, like Tachibana Mizuki-san, I guess——a crystallization of technique feel.

“Want to take it in your hand and look?”

Grandpa recommended.
I’m just a high-school girl.——I like guns, but I only understand guns as knowledge.
I thought “I have to experience it.”

“I-if you’d be so kind.”

Grandpa moved the trunk toward me, so I took the dully shining gun and observed.
Holding the gun there was a sense of security.——A response like just holding it made the unease go away.
I tried pulling the top of the gun——a slide with no catch at all. The New Game I’m using now had a zari zari metal-rubbing response.

“May I pull the trigger?”

When I asked, Grandpa nodded deeply.
I carefully confirmed there were no bullets in it.
Grandpa, watching my action, nodded looking satisfied.

Having finished confirming, I tried pulling the trigger.
———Light.
Trigger weight affects accuracy too, you know, I already feel this.
From here it’s subculture knowledge, though.
The words showing the trick when pulling a gun’s trigger, what many say is, without thinking anything you align the sights, and the finger moving naturally is important.
——In other words, after aligning the sights with no-mind, after that relaxing and pulling the trigger is important, apparently.

And this gun doesn’t make you feel the trigger’s weight or the depth of the press.
But conversely it’s scary it might go off from a slight vibration.
I cocked the hammer with a finger and tried checking the trigger.
This time I felt sufficient weight.
When shooting it feels light, but unless you try to shoot you can’t pull the trigger.
Then I don’t think it’ll go off easily.

“But why?”

Grandpa’s face became happy at my action.

“That’s what I’m proud of.——Eliminate all play in the trigger, the hammer, and the sear holding the hammer, and mesh them firmly. Then you just make it so a little trigger action releases the hammer.”

he said. I see, so parts don’t shift from impact?
A gun that fires when you don’t want to fire is a bad gun, you know.

I also try inserting and removing the magazine.
Super smooth, then reloads could be quick too.
I wonder, there are videos of fitting metal to metal so perfectly the join can’t be seen. That kind of perfect adjustment feels like it extends through the whole gun——and they’re surely doing that by hand.

“Want to test-fire?”
“Please, by all means!”

I was guided to an underground range.
Then I was lent earmuffs with fluff in a headphone-like shape and put them on my ears.
Fluff fluff fluffy.

When I put a magazine into a vending-machine-like machine, it was automatically loaded and came back.

“This is the future, huh.”

I loaded the magazine into New Game 1110, pulled the slide, cocked the hammer——at last test-fire.

FateLege pistols have more range than Earth’s, so aiming at the center of a somewhat far 100-meter target———I shoot.
Recoil is stronger than New Game 249X.
But looking at the result punched into the target, I am surprised.

“Yes??”

No way, really?
I shoot again.

“N-no way.”

I understood Grandpa and Lila-san were grinning.

Next the upper-right target, next the upper-left target.
All the results are too crazy.
I cannot help looking at the dull-colored gun in my hands.

“Something like this really exists!?”
“Surprised.”
“What’s with this gun, it properly ‘flies as aimed’!”
“I told you, it’s this old man’s greatest masterpiece.”

Flying as aimed——something I understood doing FateLege, it was actually an amazing thing.
Guns, when you get 100 meters away, they don’t fly to the center of the sights equipped on the gun.
They do group (bullets fly to the same place), but the place they group has a habit per gun. Biasing in various directions like upper right or lower left is normal.
So you attach sights and finely adjust the sight direction to the habit, or if electronic sights, the screen.
——Or memorize the habit by human power. (When using iron sights and such.)

This gun overwhelmingly has no habit.
If you aim, it gets sucked into the aimed place.

I faced the target again and tried shooting dead center.
Looking at that result, Grandpa laughed.
Because the bullet I just shot went through the already-open bullet-hole. This is a pinhole shot, you know.

“Jou-chan, good arm.”
“Grandpa’s gun is too amazing———I just aligned the sights……”
“Hohhohho.”
“As expected our grandpa’s skill is good, huh. Personality aside.”

Lila-san with a bitter smile.

Once I had experienced the performance through, Grandpa asked.

“Now, how about it, jou-chan.”
“I already, how should I put it.——I’m not that familiar with real guns, but I can’t express it in words, or it’s a different thing from what I’ve used until now.”
“You understand.”
“I was made to understand.——This, is it okay if you sell it to me?”
“No.”
“A-ah.”

He won’t sell.
He just showed it?

“I’ll give that one to you. Free.”
“Eh——f-free———!?”
“That’s right.”
“No, that’s too much!!”
“No, I don’t need money. I never intended to sell that one to anyone anyway. So I can’t put a price on it. Then I want to give it to you, a benefactor.”
“Th-that’s……”

Then Lila-san came close, lightly touched my wrist, and shook her head.

“It’s a request from Grandfather.”

Grandpa quietly nodded and said to me.

“Yes. We are asking you to take it. This is a wish from this old man to you. We are requesting it. You called Suu, I want you to use the gun this old man made.”

Grandpa’s serious eyes were peering into me.
I confirmed the gun’s feel that even had warmth, and dropped my eyes from Grandpa’s pupils to the dull-colored gun.
An item that conveys Grandpa’s seriousness as a gun craftsman, his single-mindedness.
The performance of this gun born from that is likely truly super first-class.
And——originally this gun isn’t something that shoots people, it’s something that competes in technique in competition.
If I use it it’ll become for shooting MoB, though.

“Is it okay if I…… use the greatest masterpiece? And if I use it I won’t use it in competition, it’ll become shooting MoB.”
“Mm. A strange fate, this old man’s greatest masterpiece being used that way also makes the heart leap——”

While I was staring at the dull-colored gun, I felt Grandpa take off the monocle.

“——Make it your power. And protect us and the things precious to us.——Special-Authority Strider-san.”

When I lifted my face, Grandpa’s pair of eyes were smiling, looking at me softly.
I resolved to use this gun only to protect Grandpa and their world’s, and nodded to Grandpa.

“———It’s a small power, but.”

To my unconfident answer, however Grandpa nodded looking satisfied.
When I put the gun in the case, Grandpa closed the bag and handed it to me.

“That one has a selfish side too, if you neglect maintenance it immediately gets in a bad mood. After using it, clean it. Do you know how?”
“Ah, no…… in detail……”
“I see, then I’ll teach you. And occasionally bring it to this old man. This old man will maintain it directly. This old man’s name is Lloyd.”
“Lloyd-san, that helps! Thank you so much! I’m called Suu——my real name is Suzuhi. But this side is a secret.”
“I see, then I’ll call you Suu jou-chan.”
“I’ll call you Suu-san too.”
“Thank you——!”

Thus I came to be given an outrageous gun.

“——Um, I’ll take the New Game, but it seems Lloyd-san’s guns haven’t been selling lately? Onee-san is worrying, so please let me buy maintenance tools and such.”

Lloyd-san laughed holding his slightly protruding belly.

“Hahaha, truly a good kid.——Right, please.”

Then Lila-san gripped my right hand.

“Suu-san, thank you.”

I scratched my head with my left hand.

“No, I’m really grateful.”
“Right, then Grandpa. Suu-san bought lots of guns at the home center earlier so maintain those for her.”
“Hohoh, you bought at a store like that. Fine, this old man will make them into decent goods.”
“Eh, really?! That helps!! Then please that too, I’ll pay!”

This shop, because they make competition ones, doesn’t have guns like what I bought at the home center, but even industrial goods if this Lloyd-san maintains them they seem like they’d be reborn.

“Ah, there are some I want to use two-handed.”
“With those thin arms?”
“I have a skill called 〖Super Strength〗.”
“Hohhoh!——Unexpectedly this looks like interesting work. You, tell this old man all the skills you have. I’ll adjust matching those.”
“Thank you! And, can you make the New Game into a pistol-carbine? If it can become a carbine too——if I can use it in various situations, it’ll be even more reliable and help.”

A pistol-carbine is what you call a pistol carbine-ized by attaching attachments and such.
A carbine, in one word, is a somewhat short rifle.
A pistol-carbine’s look, I think, becomes like a modern submachine gun.
The advantage of carbine-izing a pistol is raising the bullet’s muzzle velocity and accuracy by extending the barrel.
And even putting a large sight on the extended barrel is stable.
Even enlarging the magazine (to an extended magazine) and increasing bullets is stable.
You can suppress recoil with a stock. You can suppress with weight too.
The demerit is about enlarging.
But if you take off the attachments you can return it to a pistol.
If it’s a pistol that looks this reliable, I want to use it in every situation.

(I’m not thinking it’s cool like combining mecha, okay?)

“Hoh, you’re well-informed——I see, I hadn’t thought of such operation.——Indeed if fighting MoB it would be necessary. Fine, I’ll make an exceptional stock and barrel.——While at it I’ll attach a rapid-fire mechanism too. I’ll make an exceptional piece.——The magazine, double the normal, around 50 rounds is good. An enlarged magazine is essential too.”
“Eh, you can attach rapid-fire too!?”
“Making it rapid-fire itself is easy.”
“Th-thank you! Then recoil hitting the shoulder in a straight line, and the stock——”
“Mm, keep telling me requests. I’ll draw a blueprint that incorporates all of Suu jou-chan’s requests and can switch quickly with one touch.”
“Really! Thank you!”
“I want to thank you if anything. My arms are ringing, ringing!——What fun work. Jou-chan——humans like this old man, matching and making for humans who have power like you, is truly fun!”

Lloyd-san laughing, hitting his belly, bending his back.
Then Lila-san laughed too.

“First time in a while I’ve seen Grandpa’s face looking that fun.”
“Kakkakka! Lila, you really brought a good girl. A filial-to-grandpa one.”

Thus I, excited, entrusted the guns I bought to Lloyd-san who was looking like he was having fun.