Lindbergh (5)
Lindbergh (5)
"Lena, where were you yesterday?"
During breakfast, Charlotte asked Lena.
Come to think of it, Lena hadn't been around even when Claire and Leo had been personally invited by Jake the day before. I wasn't even sure whether she'd received an invitation or not... and judging by the atmosphere, she didn't seem to know there had been one.
After we arrived at the hotel by bus, she'd vanished the moment free time started and hadn't been seen again until this morning, only now reappearing.
Actually, more to the point, who was Lena rooming with?
"Yesterday, I visited a weapons shop."
"A weapons shop? Were you there all day?"
When Charlotte asked, startled by Lena's statement, Lena nodded.
"Since they said this region has a climate completely opposite to the north, I was investigating and obtained information about unusual weapons I've never seen before. Yesterday, I went to confirm the utility of those weapons."
She'd been reading some booklet on the airship without exchanging a single word with anyone else. That was probably a firearms catalog or something.
"Did you find any decent weapons?"
Alice asked with an expression of resigned amusement.
Lena wore a look that said she didn't know whether to nod or tilt her head.
"To be honest, I'm uncertain."
Lena hesitated a moment, then said,
"There were several intriguing weapons specialized for the local climate or hunting beasts, but I'm not sure whether those could be adapted for military use."
Her voice was slightly hesitant.
Were there firearms specialized for particular climates?
Come to think of it, I once heard a story that in places like the former Soviet Union, the weather was so cold that firearms malfunctioned frequently. Because of that, they'd made the internals as simple as possible to reduce failure points and enlarged the trigger guard so you could shoot while wearing thick gloves.
But in a place like this where the temperature is fundamentally high, was there any need to put that much thought into it?
I wasn't an expert, so I didn't know the details, which was why my interest was piqued. In my past life, I'd had some casual interest in various firearms. Of course, it was a country where private gun ownership was almost entirely prohibited, so I'd never purchased one myself.
In the original, no matter which shop you went to, they only sold weapons of the types already available. Each character could only use assigned weapons, after all. Switching weapons didn't even change the character model.
My curiosity was stirred, but suggesting we go take a look felt somewhat awkward, so I was hesitating. Fortunately, someone said it for me.
"Is that so?"
Charlotte spoke offhandedly, but her eyes glinted slightly. More than because she had an interest in firearms... she seemed interested because they were "Imperial weapons." Even if they were civilian firearms, most military firearms were fundamentally improvements on civilian ones.
"Then shall we go take a look after the meal?"
"You have an interest in this sort of thing?"
At Lena's words, Charlotte shrugged and said,
"Well, Sylvia looks a little interested."
"......"
Seeing Charlotte smile at me, the gratitude I'd felt moments before evaporated completely.
Was she just pushing it onto me, or had Charlotte also started reading my expressions and gestures?
When I saw Alice's eyes widen a little in surprise, I felt the need to change the subject.
"By the way, Lena. Who are you rooming with?"
Changing the subject was one thing, but it had also suddenly occurred to me. The other girls were staying with classmates, after all.
I, who was arguably the closest to Lena, had ended up in a room with Alice, so who on earth was Lena with—
"I am sharing a room with Instructor Jennifer."
Ugh.
The three of us (me, Charlotte, and Alice) all froze, but Lena didn't seem to notice.
"The instructor is a splendid person. Last night as well, I was able to hear about a wide variety of practical experiences—"
Lena's expression as she said that proudly didn't look like she was forcing herself to make up a story.
Well, I mean. I understood that Jennifer was a decent person in her own way.
But coming all the way to a place like this and rooming with a teacher—wasn't that a bit much?
*
It was around the time we finished our meal that Claire, Leo, and Sophia returned.
It seemed the three of them had become reasonably friendly, caught between Claire and Leo at yesterday's banquet, and as a result, Sophia had gotten dragged along when the two of them went out at the crack of dawn to complete requests.
The way they shuffled in, limp and exhausted, was a little pitiful.
Seeing that the original story's depiction was nowhere in evidence, Leo and Claire's training regimen was apparently abnormal even in the eyes of a knight of the Holy State.
For the record, I'd already given up on tagging along with those two. Even though I'd learned meditation, mental fatigue didn't completely disappear. Above all, I simply could not get accustomed to the sensation of getting up at dawn to work.
"Have you eaten?"
At my question, Leo and Claire nodded immediately.
"Yeah. We ate before we left."
The thought that the hotel kitchen staff must have had a hard time crossed my mind, but I had enough tact not to say it out loud.
"Mia?"
"It seems she's still asleep in her room."
I answered Claire's question.
"Were you about to head somewhere?"
"To a nearby weapons shop. Apparently, there are unusual weapons sold only in this region."
This time, Sophia asked and Alice answered.
"Oh, really? Then could we come along too?"
"I don't mind if you follow us, but......"
When Claire asked with an excited expression, I glanced over at Sophia. The thought "I want to rest comfortably" was plainly written on Sophia's face. Anyone would feel the same. Even just what she'd done at dawn was probably enough to have completed all the requests scheduled for the next several days.
"I-I just remembered something I have to do!"
"Yeah?"
At Sophia's exclamation, Claire looked slightly disappointed. Seeing that face, Sophia, as if goosebumps had risen on her back, apologized several times, waved goodbye, and quickly ran off toward the elevator.
"...... Did we overwork her?"
No one bothered to answer Leo's question. Only Claire tilted her head.
*
Surprisingly, this world used both the Imperial system and international standards like the centimeter.
Thankfully, the units used more often in daily life were the international standard meters and grams. Though in the case of currency, they still used both base-12 and base-20.
The players' speculation was that the developers had tried to match the measurement system of the British Empire during the Industrial Revolution but got fed up with the damnable irregularity of the Imperial system and gave up.
Maybe because of that, a bizarre system had taken hold where daily life used the international standard, but the military used Imperial, which was exactly why firearm calibers were denoted in inches.
For example, the .600 Nitro Express I was looking at right then.
I had a rough idea why the 'Nitro Express' part was named that, but I couldn't understand why the front part was specifically '.600'. So it meant 0.6 inches, right? Was there really a reason it had to be written as 0.600 inches?
...... That was how idle a thought I was having, because the cartridge itself was absurdly large.
"A bullet with a 0.6-inch diameter, propelled by nitrocellulose packed tightly into this large casing, delivered express to the enemy's skull. The ultimate cartridge. Naturally, the firearms that use it are also extremely sturdy and reliable."
It didn't look like it was made to shoot people in the head, no matter who saw it.
"A cartridge fully capable of taking down an elephant or a rhinoceros. What do you think? Isn't it perfect for carrying out requests here? If you ladies find purchasing a firearm to be burdensome, we also have a rental service for the duration of your field practicum."
I tried recalling the elephants and rhinoceroses that appeared in the original game. In this world, elephants shot fire and lightning from their trunks, and rhinoceroses not only had horns, but their entire faces were encased in hard armor plates.
...... Using a bullet like this really did make sense.
Though I wondered what they'd think of just using an anti-tank rifle instead.
For the record, the gun the shop owner showed us was a revolver that, no matter how I looked at it, seemed like making it as a rifle would have been a better idea.
"Do you have one in a rifle form?"
"Of course!"
At my question, the owner's face brightened immediately, and he pulled a cardboard box out from under the counter.
The owner dusted it off with his hands and opened the box. Inside was a very simple-looking bolt-action rifle.
"A single-shot bolt-action rifle. Just one round! A single round is enough to neutralize your quarry, so there's no need for a follow-up shot!"
Letting that sales pitch go in one ear and out the other, I examined the firearm and then said,
"Could you use Marmaros as the bullet tip for that cartridge, by any chance?"
"Huh?"
At my question, the weapons shop owner's expression went blank for a moment.