v1c9 (1/2)

Chapter 009  AK-47

Lute, age 7.

After repelling the goblins, Elle-sensei checked us for injuries.

There was only a cut on the little girl when she fainted, so with Elle-sensei’s healing magic she recovered in the blink of an eye.

After that sensei led us back to the orphanage.

A party of guards were called from town to serve as lookouts.

During that time, Elle-sensei went inside the forest alone and killed the 2 goblins that ran away.

Moving easily around the forest, she looked for other monsters that might be a threat, then went back.

It seems she didn’t find anything besides the goblins.

That night, a meeting was convened at the mayor’s house.

The agenda was this evening’s “Goblin Attack Incident”.

There are cases where monsters individually attacked towns, but it’s the first time they did so en ma.s.se.

To start with, ferocious monsters like goblins had never been found in these forests.

It’s the first case ever since the town was founded.

A villager jokingly said “Isn’t this the revival of a demon king?”.

The mayor admonished him for indiscretion, and he went quiet.

On the bright side, through my and Snow’s efforts there are no casualties, though some did get injured.

It was a rather fortunate outcome.

But we can’t expect good luck to happen every time.

At the meeting it was decided that once every 30 days, the guard party and Elle-sensei would come together and look around the forest, patrolling to make sure there are no dangerous monsters.

Tonight, the guard party will take s.h.i.+fts standing watch on the outskirts of town just in case.

Everyone’s words of thanks to me and Snow kept on coming until the next day.

After the goblin attack incident, people’s opinion of me underwent a complete change.

Originally among the townspeople I had gained a bad reputation—I was the creepy kid who, even though I became the orphanage’s #1 contributor through my earnings from reversi and other toys, spent the money doing suspicious research with magic liquid metal.

As for myself, because I had immersed myself in handgun making, I never noticed that I had a bad reputation.

Through this incident, the public opinion of me became that of a “Genius who had no talent as a magician, but compensated for it with magic devices”.

Really, a complete change…….

The mayor’s complete change was particularly severe.

The girl that Snow and I saved was the mayor’s daughter, and she was taken at first sight by me.

Via the mayor, she pressed to have me as her husband.

The mayor also eagerly suggested that I marry her and stay and protect this town.

Of course, I declined.

I like this town, but protecting this town for the rest of my life is something I could not do.

Also, I was happy to be praised, but in terms of actual combat experience, there are a lot of points where I was lacking.

I could control my magic power as I wanted during practice, and yet control became sloppy in actual combat.

Because of that I spent magic power uselessly.

Also, I realized that the revolver’s reload speed, number of rounds, and power are insufficient.

It turned out okay since the number of opponents was small, but if next time there is more of them, I don’t think I’ll be able to fully protect Snow and the others.

I still get cold sweat now when I think back on it.

Before the incident, the “S&W M10” was to be the prototype for a “S&W M19 Combat Magnum” chambered for the more potent .357 Magnum round.that could fire magnum bullets.

I woke up to the fact that now it’s no longer a matter of pursuing a hobby.

I postponed the M19 temporarily, and decided to start working on an a.s.sault rifle.

After finis.h.i.+ng lunch, I returned to the boys’ room.

It was in order to prepare the things I need for making an a.s.sault rifle at the test firing range.

Since the goblin attack incident, by the mayor’s decree, kids are not to go to the river without adults.

But only I was allowed, for the sake of magic device experimenting.

Having a somewhat overprotective tendency, Elle-sensei made a sour face, but in the end, it was me who defeated the goblins so she gave her tacit consent.

Surely there is no way I was going to be making an a.s.sault rifle in the orphanage, even if Elle-sensei thinks it’s inexcusable, everyday after finis.h.i.+ng my ch.o.r.es I went to the test firing range.

Today too, I took out the cask containing magic liquid metal from the corner of the room.

The revolver for self-defense has also been loaded with ammo, and is hanging from my gun belt.

Just in case, I took a wooden box packed full of .38 Special9×29.5mmR bullets from the metal ammo case in one hand.

I put the wooden box on top of the cask, and went to the firing range through the orphanage backyard

On the way, as I was pa.s.sing through the backyard, the students had already gathered for magician’s basic cla.s.s.

One of them, Snow, found me and came over, wagging her tail.

“Lute-kun!”

She clung to me without hesitation.

She made me drop the cask and wooden box in my hands.

“Snow! That was dangerous, didn’t I tell you not to cling to me so suddenly?”

“Okay, got it. I’ll be careful next time”

“That’s what you said yesterday…… hey, stop sniffing me. It tickles.”

“But Lute-kun’s smell is so good it made me feel calm.”

Not listening to my demands for self-control, Snow buried her face in my neck and sniffed.

Her dog ears, silky-smooth cheeks, and her breath felt really ticklish.

Snow is an abandoned child of the minority tribe called the White Wolf Tribe who lives in the North Continent.

As might be expected from a dog species, she seems to like sniffing smells.

Recently she had been clinging to me and sniffing like this.

I heaved a sigh of resignation, picked up the cask and wooden box, and patted Snow’s head rather roughly.

Far from showing signs of dislike, she seemed to feel good and smiled “Ehehehe”.

Snow’s att.i.tude also changed drastically since the goblin attack incident.

Previously she was at the distance of a best childhood friend, sometimes to the level of “Huh, did she just fall for me?”.

But ever since the incident, she’s been actively showing favor like this.

Always eating together with me, following me around, never leaving my side whenever there’s time.

Of course, she gave up when I asked if she wants to follow me to the toilet.

The frequency of body contact also increased to an absurd degree.

She clings to me like just now, of course, but she also held my hands, linked arms, and when I was doing revolver maintenance in the boys’ room, she clung to my head from behind.

At those times she was sniffing me, of course.

Snow likes my scent too much―I only heard this from the girls in the girls’ room, but she got her hands on one of my worn out s.h.i.+rts that can’t be used anymore, and seems to have been smelling it to sleep ever since.