Chapter 43 : The Investigation of Performance Starting From One

I was guided to the underground firing range by Smith-san. In there, was a carelessly left out gun on top of the table with bullets scattered here and there.

My father once told me that a craftsman who didn"t keep their things neat and tidy was not a good craftsman. Are you okay with this, Smith-san? No, I suppose I can"t bring in ethics from reality into this virtual world. But still…

「Sou-kun, are you also an expert in gun technology in real life?」

「No, I still have a long way to go. I was trained to use it at the very least, but I don"t think I know more than people who bought guns because they liked them.」

「I see.」

Though I just answered normally, it seems that Smith-san is thinking that the「Use」here is in the virtual world, he didn"t even consider me ever having used a real gun in real life. Well that"s normal.

「Well then, please use this first.」

The gun he gave to me was the initial weapon of the gunner job. It was my favourite gun, till a while ago that is.

「The bullets inside aren"t tempered at all. It"s just a handgun.」

Believing his words, I fired the bullets toward the target, human shaped targets that look really nice despite being targets. The shooting mark is distributed uniformly on the head or the torso. Every place that got hit by bullets showed a nice mark.

「This is amazing. Did he use shooting arts just now? His. .h.i.t rate is terrifying!」

No I"m not using arts, I think… Better to keep silent about this. Aoi-san who knew the truth had a slightly cramped smile on her face.

「Now, please use this bullet. As for how, it"ll be loaded as long as you say『Reload』.」

「Understood.」

I headed toward the new target and shot the new bullets with similar position as the last shooting test. Different from before, the place that was struck by the bullet was gouged in slightly.

「This is…」

Smith-san raised a smile upon hearing my words.

「So you noticed huh?」

Aoi-san was confused upon seeing our exchange.

「What was different just now Sou-kun? 」

「Uhm Blue, do you know about “Full metal jacket”? 」

「Sorry, I don"t.」

「Well, it"s okay. Normal girls shouldn"t know about such a dangerous term like that. Full metal jacket is a kind of bullet that focuses on its penetrating power, and also gives the least amount of pain to the enemy.」

「But it still hurts when you get shot right? In that case, shouldn"t you not shoot from the very beginning?」

Uhm, she"s right. I can"t counter her argument. If Aoi-san tells me about how d.a.m.nable I am, my heart will bleed.

「Ah! Sorry, I"m saying too much!」

「Well, it"s okay. As the one who personally fired this bullet with the gun, I"m sure that the nature of this bullet is infinitely close to the full metal jacket. Maybe all the automatically reloading bullets are this kind of bullet.」

In fact when I tested firing the weapon in the Uruma city, all bullet used was this type. I thought that it"s the difference in the initial setting between the bullet that fired from high powered gun or special bullet but then, at the very least I have yet to meet such a gun.

「On the contrary, the bullet I fired just now was made in order for it to easily remain inside the body of the target in exchange for its low penetrating power. Since it"ll widen the injured area, this kind of bullet is highly effective against armored opponent as long as they can pierce through.」

Naturally, there are various kinds of bullets like this in the real world and many other types as well. But having to explain that here will ruin the mood.

「Quite knowledgeable aren"t you? Did you find out about all of these from books and the internet too?」

「Yeah… Somewhere along those lines.」

I even learned how to use them!

「Then the next item is this. There are several types here, so please try them all.」

Thus, Smith-san showed a large amount of bullets which he kept inside a box. What a nice guy.

「That"s the last one…」

I managed to finish testing all the things around 2 hours later. I feel really sorry for Aoi-san who was reading a book in the room above while waiting for me. At first, I told her that she could go do her own things, but got struck speechless when she said that she would be waiting for me in another room with a smile on her face. I should probably record that smile into a permanent folder in my brain.

「Thank you very much, Sou-kun. Thanks to you, I"ve found out that I still have a long way to go!」

In fact, when I tried his trial bullets, many had excellent firepower if we"re only speaking about firepower alone. Unfortunately, those excellent bullets have their own problems. While the majority of them will cause clogging or misfire, and damaging the gun.

Naturally they will have various problem since they are player-made bullets. That was for sure. But, I never thought that a gun could break in this world.

I really panicked when that happened, but Smith-san didn"t seem to care and gave me a new one. Then I was told that it"s okay since weapon craftsmen can learn the skill to fix a weapon.

Come to think of it, even though Shinji"s shield became ragged during our first boss fight, it was completely fixed the next day. Maybe it wasn"t automatically repairing itself but got fixed this way.

「The bullets aren"t on practical level yet but, please take this with you. Since I choose the least problematic bullet mentioned by you, I think it won"t wreck your gun. If your gun got wrecked due to this bullets, feel free to come since I"ll fix your gun for free」

「Eh, I"m going to feel bad if I"m not paying though. I mean this is your best created bullets」

「Don"t worry about that, this is my grat.i.tude. Moreover, it"s also for my own good in case you become a famous player, that also serve double as an advertising for me. This is my prior investment」

He"s saying similar thing with Hanzou-san. Why are you putting that kind of value in me.

「If you said so, then I"ll take it. I"ll make the full use of this bullet」

「Please take care of this then, Sou-kun」

Geez, this is why craftmans are wonderful.

「Yes, thank you very much」

After that I"m meeting back with Aoi-san who was waiting for me in the room above and went back to h.e.l.loWork again. The quest has yet to end even when we completed it. I have to report the completion to get the remuneration. Though it"s become excursion till we back at h.e.l.loWork, it"s a short excursion anyway.

「Well, we spend quite a lot of time aren"t we. It"s just the right time to leave the game」

Anymore than this will affect our sleeping time. Though they say that lack of sleep is the nemesis of beauty, if it were me, I absolutely won"t allow anything that will affect the beauty of this  beautiful warship cla.s.s of a beauty in front of me.  [TL : Referring to Azur lane, or that mobile game of beautiful ship] No, I can say that her beauty is already on the level of humanity treasure. I absolutely won"t allow such sin  toward majority of humanity.

「That"s …….. right.  Geez, what time it is now」

EH？　Did I mistake something just now. I was certain that her face darkened for a moment.

「Well, let"s log out then」

It"s just my imagination I guess. I mean, what a beautiful smile she showed me. My HP bar feels like restored automatically in seeing her smile. I"m all healed.

「Good night, Sou-kun. You can"t forget to submit your homework tomorrow okay? 」

After saying so, her figure vanished in front of me. The last line she said is equivalent to Zaraki《Spell of Death》 to me. [TL : Dragon quest stuff I guess]

After separating with Aoi-san, I, who managed to somehow finish my homework was brushing my teeth in the washroom before I hit the bed. And there,

「Onii~~Chan! 」

「UWAAA! ? 」

I received an angel tackle from behind. Angel tackle, Your brother―― Die―― In agony.

「I"ve said to you before to stop doing that while I"m brushing my teeth right, Ruri」

「Ye~ah」

Does this angel really understand that. It seems she understands it a little. But, she was standing right behind me. If Ruri"s dream in the future is to become an a.s.sa.s.sin, she"s long since equipped with necessary skill.

「Why are you still awake at this time?　Mom gonna scold you right? 」

「It"s okay. I was playing with mom till just a while ago」

That mom of mine is playing together with such innocent angel till this time huh. How enviou―― I mean, how outrageous.

「What are you doing with mom till this late? 」

「Ehehehe, it"s s-e-c-r-e-t」

「Will you tell me then. Your oniichan is…….. Lonely you know」

The angel seems to be troubled with my praiseworthy action of squatting down in sorrow at that place. G.o.dAMMIT, WHY THE h.e.l.l I CAN"T RECORD THIS INTO A VIDEO.

「Uhm, mom is………. You know. She said that oniichan acting is waay too obvious」

Oops, so you can cast a Zaraki too. [TL : Death spell, just reminder]