Forced Training (1)
Forced Training (1)
It was spring.
The chilly weather had grown significantly warmer, enough to take off the coat I had been draping over my shoulders. No matter how much I wore it like a cape, the warm sunshine would heat the inside like a steamer.
Perhaps because the setting was created by a game company in Japan, a country with four distinct seasons, the weather turned hot the moment winter ended. Well, the country I used to live in was like that too. Just when you'd think, "When will it finally cool down?", it would suddenly become bitingly cold, forcing you to dig out the long padded coat you'd stashed deep in the closet without ever getting the chance to wear the autumn clothes you'd bought.
This was the opposite, though.
Admittedly, I was a bit hotter because I'd stubbornly kept the winter fur attached even though I didn't really need it. But... I had no choice. Because it looked cool. It also helped that it wasn't just any fur—it was high-quality leather from genuine animal pelt, so I left it on until the end.
It hadn't even been a month since I enrolled in the academy, but I'd adapted reasonably well.
Perhaps from seeing them so often in the game, they already felt like old friends even though it had been less than a month?
Then again, the characters I'd seen were literally 'characters' made of low-resolution textures and low-polygon models who only spat out pre-programmed lines. Maybe it was rude to compare those game characters to the real people around me.
Anyway.
Green blades of grass were already sprouting up in the meadows when I enrolled, but now they had become a much more vivid, lush green. The sight of colorful, nameless flowers blooming among them was truly beautiful.
And standing in the middle of that beautiful meadow, I...
"Hah."
...let out a deep sigh.
I had come outside to test the fire-attribute Marmaros I'd received from Jennifer as a reward two weeks ago.
The workshop near the academy that Jennifer had introduced me to was truly exceptional in its craftsmanship.
It was exceptional, but...
"You intend to use such high-grade Marmaros on a firearm?"
The workshop master looked at me as if I were a strange person and said that.
"Is that not allowed?"
I looked down at the Ergensen rifle placed on the table and asked.
It was a rifle I had used for quite a long time, but its condition wasn't bad. No, you could say it was actually good. I had fired tens of thousands of practice rounds with this gun, but I always rewound time after such training. Consequently, the rifle had only been used 'at absolutely necessary moments,' putting it in excellent condition.
You could say it was in such good shape that soldiers on the front lines would scoff at it.
"No... that's not what I mean."
The young man, whose thread-thin eyes made him look like his eyes were closed and who would have seemed like a Demon Lord's executive hiding his power if not for his craftsman's apron, scratched the back of his head with a gloved hand.
"It's just that it's a 'firearm.' There isn't really a need for this kind of modification, is there? Wouldn't it be more effective to strengthen the barrel and alter the powder charge instead? Normally, this kind of Marmaros is much more effective when attached to melee weapons like swords or spears."
In the game, it just had functions like 'Attack Power X% Increase' or 'Enables Specific Magic,' but reality seemed a little different.
From what I'd heard, it granted terrifying abilities, like creating flames that followed your sword aura or drastically lowering the temperature of the blade itself so the victim instantly suffered frostbite...
"Even if a bullet catches fire, how much damage could it really inflict on an opponent?"
"......"
Hmm...
"Is it impossible to make the bullet cause a small explosion upon impact?"
"... If such a bullet existed, wouldn't the military already be using it?"
He had a point.
Of course, this era did have large-caliber rifles. Back when tank armor was similar to armored vehicles, they'd use ridiculously huge rifles for 'anti-tank warfare.' I thought there had even been high-explosive incendiary rounds for machine guns... Ah, wasn't that more of a World War I thing? Well, I wasn't too familiar with the exact progression of firearm development. I wasn't even sure if they'd use such bullets for sniping in the first place.
"If you attach it, can it be removed?"
"Ah, that's possible, but..."
The young craftsman spoke while glancing at me cautiously.
"There's a separate removal fee. Would that be acceptable?"
"Yes, that's fine."
"In that case, I shall give it a try."
Though he tilted his head quizzically, the craftsman eventually took my rifle and the Marmaros into the workshop.
And as a result.
I came out to a nearly empty highway to test my shooting.
Thanks to the Marmaros mounted below the muzzle end, right where the wooden handguard ended, my rifle bullets were definitely ignited.
They weren't just physically on fire but magically lit, so the flaming bullets at least flew all the way.
Then they lodged deep into the target and caused burns.
That was it.
Well, it would be good for worsening wounds. A typical infantryman might consider it moderately useful.
The problem was that Marmaros was far too expensive to be just 'moderately useful.' Getting shot by a rifle bullet would be a life-or-death situation no matter where you got hit, and if you were hit in a non-fatal spot, couldn't a minor burn just be healed with magic? It might be terrifying for regular soldiers who couldn't easily get magical healing, but...
Given the nature of my abilities, I would likely be assigned high-value targets, which meant it would be pointless if the first shot didn't kill them instantly. Did I really need this kind of feature?
It wasn't like roasting an already-shattered brain would do anything.
... Now I understood why the military hadn't standardized Marmaros. And why the Emperor or my other siblings hadn't recommended such a thing to me.
I guessed that Whip Sword was probably made using Marmaros.
"Again."
With a strange sense of understanding, I rewound time.
*
A rifle only fired single bullets, so setting them on fire might have been meaningless, but a shotgun might have been a different story.
Incendiary shotgun shells actually did exist. A firearm spewing flames like a single-shot flamethrower seemed very useful.
At least in this world, where trench warfare was the norm.
"Are you perhaps headed to the front lines?"
The craftsman seemed to think so too, because he opened his narrow eyes wide and asked me that question.
"I might be."
In the original story, the plot leaned more towards preventing war itself behind the scenes rather than fighting in the middle of the battlefield.
But that didn't mean we never headed to the front.
"I see..."
The fame of my abilities wasn't widely known. In absolute numbers, I mean. It had spread by word-of-mouth among the nobility, but at least commoners outside the palace wouldn't know much.
Jennifer had already informed him that I was a 'Princess,' but that was all; the craftsman didn't truly know who I was.
"Are you thinking of applying for an officer's commission?"
This time, the craftsman picked up the shotgun and Marmaros I presented without any further complaints and asked.
"I don't know yet."
I could only give him an ambiguous answer.
*
"It's finished."
When I returned a few hours later, the craftsman placed the modified shotgun before me.
Just like with the rifle, the Marmaros was installed on the front part of the shotgun's distinctive tubular magazine. It didn't seem like it would interfere with disassembly and maintenance, as the part holding the Marmaros was designed to be detachable. Though you did have to unscrew it.
Still, it wasn't just crudely slapped on; it looked reasonably natural, as if it had been designed that way from the start. I liked it.
"Um... this might be an unnecessary remark."
As I held the completed custom shotgun, turning it over in my hands to check its condition, the craftsman carefully spoke up.
When I looked at him, he flinched slightly, then continued.
"The battlefield is a truly terrible place. If you are thinking of going there seeking honor or some other romantic notion, well... perhaps you should reconsider..."
the craftsman said.
I quietly studied the craftsman, then asked.
"Have you been to the battlefield?"
"Ah, yes."
I actually knew that. He was a person with a character card in the original game.
Though he walked quite naturally, one of his legs was a prosthetic. It was a very expensive item he could afford thanks to the patronage of Jennifer, who came from the same company. It was made of an immense number of gears and springs, moving by a mainspring that automatically wound itself according to his gait, if I recalled correctly. There was even a sub-quest related to this item later on.
"...I see."
I said, slinging the shotgun over my shoulder.
"I will take it to heart."
When I stood at attention as a courtesy to a veteran, the craftsman wore an incredibly uncomfortable expression.
Well, he wasn't a bad person.
The northern front had the justification of protecting civilians and assisting the legitimate government of the Riklant Autonomous State. In fact, the Autonomous State had even requested help. So it hadn't erupted into total war yet, which was why they could afford to treat retired soldiers like him well... but the war situation would change dramatically as time went on.
At the very least, most people currently on the battlefield had enlisted initially filled with romantic ideals, only to come back after seeing reality.
Leaving behind the retired soldier who was flustered by my standing at attention, I walked out of the workshop.
*
And so, back to that highway from before.
When I reached my spot, a few beasts were wandering around again, just like earlier.
A little while ago, I had shot from a distance, but now I was holding a shotgun. Since the shot itself had range, I could somewhat gauge the power of the Marmaros even from a bit away, but it wouldn't display its maximum performance. Because the muzzle blast wouldn't reach.
"Grrr..."
It wasn't as huge as the Elemental Dog I'd seen last time, but it wasn't the kind of beast an ordinary person should approach unarmed either.
It would probably come up to about my chest if it stood on its hind legs, though if you included the tips of its long ears, it might be taller than me.
It was quite bulky from side to side, and its body was reasonably muscular. If I fought it barehanded, I probably couldn't guarantee my safety.
It was a rabbit... if I had to call it something. Just a lot more ferocious-looking and a lot bigger.
... It was absurd that such a monster lived so close to a highway used by ordinary people. I should just be grateful it wasn't wandering blatantly in the middle of the road like it did in the game.
"Grrrrr..."
... Don't make that sound, you're a rabbit.
Clack.
I aimed the shotgun at the rabbit.
"Kyaaah!"
Letting out a sound that was utterly unrabbitlike, its muscular hind legs kicked off the ground—
I immediately pulled—
Bang!
"Gah!?"
—the trigger, and flinched in shock at the enormous blast of flame that erupted from the firearm.
The flames engulfed everything about three to four meters in front of me.
Thump.
The rabbit that had been charging at me simply dropped to the ground, having taken the twelve pellets of buckshot fired directly from the muzzle.
Its fur was charred black.
A smell like burnt meat drifted up.
"......"
Uh... hmm.
Yeah, I now understood why Marmaros wasn't used even on shotgun shells.