Chapter 088 - Camouflage
I put the broken syringe into my now empty magazine pouch so that I could investigate things later.
“Nngh……”
“Lute-kun, are you okay?”
Once I relaxed, the pain took over my body.
Snow, Chrisse, and the saberwolf Lexy ran up to me.
Thanks to Snow’s healing magic, my wounds immediately disappeared.
“Thanks, Snow. Luna, too, you aren’t injured, are you?”
“There are cuff marks on my hands and legs, but aside from that, I’m okay. Since I wasn’t treated roughly.”
“I see, it’s good that you’re safe and sound.”
I sighed in relief.
From her appearances, it didn’t look like she got a.s.saulted, and she replied in her usual cheerful tone. There didn’t seem to be any problem mentally either, for now.
“Well, since we rescued Luna safely, let’s go back to the airship. After we returned to the airship, I will have Meiya remove the cuffs on your hands and legs, so until then, please bear with it.”
Luna and Chrisse would ride on the saberwolf Lexy’s back.
Snow and I would run back while using body enhancing technique.
After we returned to the airship, I will ask Meiya to remove the magic preventing cuffs.
Meanwhile, Snow, Chrisse and I would wait in the living room.
We would have Lexy sit in a corner of the room, too.
The destination of the airship was, of course, the High Elf Kingdom Enol.
There was a possibility that the barrier had been destroyed and the seal had become undone already.
We returned together with Luna, whose magic=preventing cuffs had been taken off by Meiya.
The first thing she did was express her grat.i.tude for the rescue, and she lowered her head.
“I, Luna Enol Meméa, the 3rd princess of High Elf Kingdom Enol, am truly thankful for the rescue. I will never forget this favor.”
She thanked us formally and lowered her head, like a real princess with etiquette.
‘Teehee actually I’m a fake’, she wouldn’t prank us like that or anything, would she?
“But, I’m really glad that you are safe. This is thanks to Chrisse stopping the wagon.”
[It was thanks to oniichan getting me inside the effective range without getting noticed.]
“Well then, it was thanks to the camo net made from magic liquid metal that you could successfully be camouflaged, right?”
Meiya joined her hands happily.
‘Camouflage’―was the technique to change your appearance to fool the enemy into thinking it was just something else.
It was also called disguise.
It was originally a French word that meant ‘to hide’.
It got adopted into English around the time of WW1.
In order to approach the wagon transporting Luna, I returned to the airship once.
Using the magic liquid metal on the airship, and with Meiya’s help, I made the metal net for disguise.
Then we went ahead of where the transporting wagon was going.
I pasted gra.s.s onto the metal net and let the camouflaged Chrisse lay in wait inside of the effective range.
It wasn’t just the net. The helmet that Chrisse dislike, and even the M700P, I stuck gra.s.s to them all. To make it doubly sure, I even thoroughly painted Chrisse’ face with face paint.
She had already wiped the paint off with a wet towel.
Luna hugged Chrisse.
“Thank you, Chrisse-chan, for saving me! You were really cool, just like a hero in the picture book! Chrisse-chan is Luna’s hero-sama!”
Chrisse was showered with Luna’s praise, but she looked somewhat dissatisfied.
[It’s good that Luna is safe. But as for me, I felt that I was lacking in power.]
Chrisse turned to me.
[Lute-oniichan, this M700P is a wonderful sniper rifle, but I want a bigger magazine. If I had a few more bullets, I’d have been able to cover Luna-chan better, and more safely.]
Isn’t that the train of thought of a sniper from the special forces, during a hostage rescue mission with multiple terrorists?
I’ve made the PKM, the general purpose machine gun and 7.62x54mmR rounds. Since Chrisse was asking, I might have to make the SVD (Dragunov sniper rifle) as well.
“Got it. After this incident is over, I’ll try making one.”
[Thank you! Lute-oniichan.]
Chrisse heard my answer and smiled happily.
We then rested until we arrived at High Elf Kingdom Enol.
I changed into plain clothes in the room I was given, and took out the broken pieces of the syringe.
I remembered the self-destructed Alcedo.
Rather than feeling a sense of accomplishment from paying him back, I was dominated by a bad feeling.
“Maybe in this world, aside from me, there are other people with memories carried from the previous world, from earth?”
If there were, then what were they planning to do?
I had a feeling that, in a place that we don’t know off, something big was moving.
I couldn’t get rid of the kind of icky feeling of unease that was stuck in my chest.
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
“Wha, what is that!?”
After we rescued Luna from the kidnappers, we returned to Enol in haste.
When we noticed something was wrong, we looked over the deck and saw smoke rising from Woodcastle, and the silhouette of something flying.
It was a monster with a lizard head, bird wings and dragon tail.
That was a Basilisk, according to what was written in the record book.
In other words, it seemed that the barrier stone had been destroyed like the prediction had said.
The birds resting by the lake were startled by the basilisk and scattered.
With just one glance, the basilisk turned the flock of birds into stones.
The petrified birds fell into the lake.
If we just let it go outside like that, the damage to the people living outside of the lake would be heavy.
We couldn’t let it go.
At first, we planned to land the airship outside the lake today.
Then we would go to Woodcastle and inform Lyss of Luna’s safety the next day.
However, since the barrier stone had been destroyed like the prediction stated, we decided to fly straight to the castle.
In that case, the basilisk would probably notice us.
If we didn’t somehow take it down, we couldn’t get close to the castle.
Lyss was probably in danger, so we couldn’t waste any time.
This was where Chrisse came into play.
She held the M700P in her hand and jammed in the magazine with 5 7.62x51mm high-explosive magic stone rounds.
She stood at the nose of the ship, letting the wind play with her hair.
“Chrisse, preparation complete?”
My wife nodded, and looked forward.
Dead ahead of the ship, the basilisk was about to charge in.
“Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!”
An ear ringing neigh.
Maybe the basilisk felt as if the ship was picking a fight with it, because it charged in at full speed.
It was so big that it could swallow Chrisse with ease.
Even though that basilisk was approaching at full speed, she didn’t look perturbed at all.
She heightened her focus and sang the Rifleman’s Creed that I had taught her.
『これぞ我がライフル。世に多くの似たものあれど、これぞ我唯一のもの《This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine》』
《This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.》
『我がライフルこそ、我が親友、そして我が命。我は己の命を統べるかのようにそれを意のままとする《My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life》』
《My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it, as I must master my life.》
『我がライフルは我無くしては無意味。ライフルを持たぬ我も無意味。我は正しくライフルを解き放つべし。我は我を殺めんとする敵よりも正しくその身を射貫くべし。我は敵を撃つべし、敵が我を討つその前に《My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will……》』
《My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy, who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will……》
『我がライフルと我は知る、この戦争にて大切なものは、我々が放った弾丸、我々が起こした爆発音、我々によって作られた煙、その何れでも無いことを。我々は理解する――それは数発の命中であるということを《My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit……》』
《My rifle and I know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, and the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit……》
『我がライフルは我と同じく人である。それは我が命そのもの、そして我が兄弟。我は、その弱さ、その強さ、その部品、その付属品、その照準器、そして銃身――それら全てを知るであろう。我は我自身をそうするように、ライフルを清潔にし万全に保ち、我らは互いにその一部となる《My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will》』
《My rifle is human, just like me, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn about it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights, and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will.》
『神の前に、我は我が信仰を誓う。我がライフルそして我は我が家の守護者なり。我々は敵を打ち倒す者、我が命の救済者なり《Before G.o.d, I swear this creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my family. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life》』
《Before G.o.d, I swear this creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my family. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life.》
『そう、勝利は我々のもの。そして我々の勝利の後、敵なき世界が訪れるであろう《So be it, until victory is ours and there is no enemy》』
《So be it, until victory is ours and there is no enemy.》
While standing at the nose of the ship in the night sky, hugging her deep black sniper rifle, Chrisse recited the creed with her angelic voice, her golden hair dancing in the air.
Her cheeks were flushed due to the cold air.
Everything was so beautiful, it was like a masterpiece of a painting.
“Suuu...”
The faint sound of her breathing in.
“Haaa…”
Chrisse readied her M700P.
The distance to the basilisk was probably under 500m.
―BANG!
The 7.62x51mm high-explosive magic stone round traced the line Chrisse had drawn in her mind and pierced the eye that the basilisk used to petrify.
The impacted bullet’s inertia caused the firing hammer to hit the detonator, thus destroying the magic stone, and made it explode!
“Piii!.........iiii”
The basilisk was killed by the explosion inside its skull, which made blood spurt out from its eyes, nose, and mouth.
Its wings stopped flapping, and it fell into the lake.
A large amount of water shot up.
“So coooooooooool! As expected of Luna’s hero-sama!”
Luna, struck with awe, ran over and hugged Chrisse.
Being praised and hugged by Luna, Chrisse blushed.
“Alright! Well then, we’re going straight to the castle, like this! Meiya, won’t you please carry out the preparation for the aforementioned insurance? Snow, please help Meiya out.”
“Got it, Lute-kun!”
“Fu, fu, fu! Finally, it’s time for THAT, which was mainly developed by me, to debut!”
After hearing my instruction, Snow replied cheerfully, but Meiya laughed ominously and went back inside the ship.
The ship just kept storming straight towards the castle.