Translator: “Hakou”                             Editor: “Weasalopes”

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The hangar of Old lady in the eastern gate of the Royal capital.
When I entered the building, the herbivorous mechanic who called out to me after noticing my presence.

「The preparation is ready, Tauro-san」

Today’s my sortie after a long time, but everything seems to be ready.
He works fast, or rather, he probably always kept it maintained so it would be ready to go out anytime.
I take off my hat to him.

(Monster subjugation huh.
I feel nostalgic somehow)

My job in the merchant guild has finally resumed.
With the loss of the key city of Land barn in the west, the highway to the north and south are becoming more important.
It seems that I can’t rest forever to ensure the safety of the trade route.

「Just please don’t be careless, okay?」

He says so, but he doesn’t seem to worry that much.
The target of subjugation this time is Gray Tiger.
It has an appearance like a tiger with gray color, it also has sharp, long tusks, and what’s more, those tusks are warped in thunder.
It has the highest threat level as a medium-sized monster.
There are relatively many requests for subduing gray tiger, and this guy is a familiar opponent that I have defeated many times.
It’s no wonder that herbivore mechanics doesn’t seem that worried.
Thinking that the Old lady will leave soon, he begins to clean up the tools that were lined up around him.
However, I stopped such herbivore mechanic and asked for a favor.

「Haa… the tool to adjust the rifle’s iron sight, is it?」

What a faint reaction.

「Yeah, I’m thinking of doing the minute adjustment myself」

To my explanation, he answered, “I don’t mind” as he tilted his head

「Practice range for long-distance magic attacks.
I would gladly help if you go there though?」

A training ground for Knights on the north side of the Royal capital.
I used to go there with herbivore mechanic when I was riding the Old lady for the first time.

「I would like to, but no thanks」

I gently declined.
Certainly, it would be easier if someone could confirm the point of impact.
The adjustments will also be accurate and prompt.
However, that is the case of normal long-range attack magic.
What I’m trying to do this time is precise aiming at a very long distance.
It won’t be visible with the binoculars herbivore mechanic owned.
The herbivore mechanic, who was convinced, immediately prepared the tools.

「I’ll be borrowing this, okay?」

I gently stowed it into the small luggage compartment on the old lady’s waist and set off.
I headed north to the mountainous areas.
Following through the highway to the north.
Soon the surroundings become quiet and the roads continue to climb uphill.
When I entered the mountainous area completely, I could no longer see any houses.

(It was also around here when I fought against heavy stone golem huh)

It was full of snow then, but it’s all gone now.
Only the ones on top of the mountain remained.
By the way, stone golems and clay golems around here seem to have been hunted by the Knights of the adventurer guild.
It’s also a losing battle this time.
It seems the price jumps of resources will continue for some time.

(Subjugation is easier than hunting since you don’t have to search for it)

While thinking of such a thing, I took up the hill with a good overview and scanned the area self importantly.
However, I couldn’t find any of them.

(Well… that being said, I guess it’s not that easy to spot one huh)

I increased the visual magnification of the Old lady and observed the surface of the mountain far away.
And then I found a shade with a different color from the surroundings.

(That will do, I think)

The distance I have never aimed at.
I magnified the visual sense of Old lady to the maximum.

(The air is shaking)

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What is projected on my mind is the image of a dark rock that fluctuates freely beyond the iron sight.

(A haze huh)

There might be a temperature difference in the air between this place and the target.
The greater the distance, the greater it is.
The appearance of the shade fluctuates greatly.
It’s like an image projected on a fluttering curtain.
It is a problem before the accuracy of the iron sight.

(Is this the limit of optical sight?)

Even if the magic attack reaches the target, there’s no point if it doesn’t hit.
What I have in mind is something like a sniper that keeps my position hidden from a great distance.

(My magic capacity and magic operation ability can’t do anything to the heat haze)

I took some minutes to think about measures.
the slim face of herbivorous mechanic appeared in my mind.

(If I can’t do anything about it myself, then should I just as someone to do it for me?)

Herbivore mechanic has vast knowledge about Knights and weapons compared to me.
An actual expert.

(Let’s consult this problem to herbivore mechanic later)

Without wasting any more time, I moved on to the next subject.

(How much magic power would be suitable to put into)

It was the examination for that.
I have set the required prerequisite.
That is a very long shooting range that won’t uncover the shooter location, or where even if discovered, the enemy can’t do anything about it since it’s far away.
Also, the power required to make an A-class Knight night incapable of fighting in a single blow.
These two.

(Let’s try with the amount equals to one E rank magic for now)

I activated the magic and poured it into the cane rifle as it is.
Shooting without any adjustments, the magic missile dissipated in the air before it reached its target, the dark rock.

(It didn’t reach)

This is the first time I experienced this.
This time, using magic operation, I focused on the distance rather than power and poured in my magic power.
The once again launched magic missile landed at a great distance from the target and created a small amount of dust around it.

(Now it lacked power)

Unfortunately, the E rank magic does not seem to have enough magic strength.
I squinted my eyes and made up my mind.

(This isn’t a situation where I can be stingy.
Let’s pour the maximum capacity of magic I can pour at the moment)

I activated D-rank magic and poured it into the cane rifle as it is.
At the level of utility, then this is the limit.
If I use C-rank magic, it will be too much to control and cause the hell diver bee’s nest incident.

(First is the shooting range.
I want to know what happens if it’s shaken with maximum power)

I manipulated the flow of magic power and distributed it as unbalanced as I could.
With a rough aim, magic missile was launched.
A small crater appeared on the rock surface that was largely off the dark outcrop which was my initial target.

(…Well, something like this, I guess.
Next is the firepower)

This time, the range and power, I adjusted the ratio to about 50:50 and poured the magic.
I don’t know the details about A-class Knight defense capabilities.
If I was allowed to recreate hell diver bee’s nest tragedy, I can easily do it using C-rank magic.
However, such a mean is absolutely rejected.

(If a knight of the merchant guild can blow away all of the Knights of the Empire along with their encampment in one shot, I won’t be able to live a peaceful life)

My purpose is to maintain my current life.
Overdoing things is no good, is what I learned from the incidents that caused my ban from entering stores

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(Let’s call it a day then shall we)

After trying to balance the power and range to some extent, I set the ratio used for actual battle.
All that’s left was to return to the Royal capital.
By the way, the request has been completed.
Surprised by the long-range magic attack, the gray tiger appeared.
Of course, I didn’t let it escape.
I turned the Old lady and headed for the highway.
After going out on the highway, I checked the roadside.

(Carriage that passing by is… none huh)

I started running south on the highway with the Old Lady’s hovering movement.
In this season from spring to early summer, the sun took a long time to fall.
During winter, the sky didn’t turn red even though it’s time when the day should’ve gone dark.
When the sunset finally began to appear, the Old lady returned to the royal capital.
After giving a report at the merchant guild, I immediately went to herbivore mechanic to bring the talk from before.

「It’s Tauro-san only way to attack after all」

The herbivore mechanic nodded.
He knew well that long-range magic attacks are my lifeline.
And this is a problem concerning the important aspect of it, the aim.

「If I remember correctly, I think there is a magic that could interfere with light spirits.
The problem is, what kind of instructions that would be given to the spirit」

After that, he began to mumble and talk to himself.
It is the usual appearance of herbivore mechanic.

「I’m going to think about it for a moment」

He must have remembered that I was still standing in front of him.
He said while laughing shyly, after showing expression of realization.

「I’m sorry for troubling you with this」

「No, it’s fine.
I’m having stuck with other things anyway.
Besides, it’s the mechanic’s responsibility to respond technically to the pilot’s request」

I feel nothing but thankful to him.
I left the matter to him and left the hangar quietly.

 

Translator: “Hakou”                             Editor: “Weasalopes”

This is something that happened a few days later, in a place far northwest of the Royal capital.
There, a change was about to occur.
The spirit forest in the north of the Ost continent.
There is a big lake in the northern part of the forest.
If you look south from the lake, you can see a huge tree that exceeds the height of a thousand meters, and a large branch with a radius of 2,000 meters spread partially over the lake.
Just below the branch is an elegant small castle with a tower.
And from the castle to the elf’s village, the water of the lake forms a long arch, flowing trough in the air due to magic.
Some amounts of water are scattered from the bridge of water.
Hence, on sunny days, the castle was always covered with a rainbow.

(……)

A small island near the center of the lake.
Trees grow on the island, which is about 200 meters from end to end, and there’s a ruin of a fort buried in it.
The owner of that island was like always, enjoying peaceful time whilst watching the rainbow.
No, calling it “owner” might be misleading.
Because its existence is the island itself.
This island-like thing has lived for a long time.
And different from the current world tree, it existed through multiple different eras.

(……?)

The island-like thing budge.
Ripples appeared on the surface of the lake, and washed the stone wall of the elegant castle that stands on the water’s edge.
The lake near the village of elves.
This is an important water jug for the elven village.
However, the elves didn’t try to remove the island-like thing that lived there.
This island-like thing is a high-ranking beast and has immense power.
However, it has a calm nature.
In addition to that, its range of activity was only limited to the lake.
And above all, it has the property of keeping the lake clean.
So rather than saying it’s not in the way, it was even seen as the guardian of the lake.

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On the other hand, this island-like thing doesn’t have the consciousness to care what the elves are thinking or doing.

(….Mu?)

Right now, a change is about to come for this island-like thing that has lived and gone through the same daily life for hundreds of years.
Something has made his heart feel excited from moments ago.
It was the scent of a certain fruit that he had tasted a long time ago.
The scent was faint, but that was enough for this thing that did nothing but to stay still all day to sense it.

(Muu)

The fruit seems to be far from here.
It has no particular complaint about that.
Should I go until I can change that? Such straightforward thinking dominated its mind.
This island-like thing liked the fruit.
At one point in time, it grew up by the lake.
But almost all of them were harvested by humanoid creatures living in the forest.
It was regretful, but it didn’t want to go to such lengths as picking up a fight only to obtain it.
Just, if the time for it to bear fruit again ever comes, the island-like thing thought that it would be nice to talk to them if they would leave some of the fruits without harvesting it.
It has been hundreds of years since it decided so.
But the fruit never grows again, and so the opportunity to call out to them never came.

(……Oh no)

Its heart is screaming.
The scent of the fruit conveyed that it is already ripped and ready to eat.
In other meaning, it would go bad if it didn’t harvest them now.
The island-like thing felt a sense of impatience that it never felt for hundreds of years.

(Mumu)

After a moment of contemplation, small waves raised around the small island.
It has no dissatisfaction with its current unchanging life.
However, in this long life, it might be good to try and move to eat what you want to eat for once
Suddenly, a huge magic circle with a diameter of several hundred meters appeared on the bottom of the water.
And it begins to rotate slowly while shining blue.
And the island-like thing began to quietly sink.
Its body is buried in the magic circle at the bottom of the lake.
When it was completely submerged, the magic circle lost its light and disappeared.

***

Rewinding the time a little, with the Royal capital as the stage.
In the hangar for merchant guild Knights near the eastern gate of the Royal capital.
It’s been three days since I talked to herbivore mechanic about the cane rifle’s iron sight.
There was a call from herbivore mechanic.
He said there’s new equipment installed on the Old Lady, so he wants me to try it out.

(Uwaa…)

I, who immediately headed to the hangar groaned.
There were very dark circles under the eyes of herbivore mechanic.
His cheeks are hollow, and when I looked closely, his body was swaying left and right

「A-Are you alright? It looks like you doesn’t have enough sleep」

「I’m okay.
I properly took a sleep four days ago」

He smiled as if there’s nothing wrong.
He probably hasn’t gotten any sleep since the day I asked him a favor.
The herbivore mechanic urged me who still dazed to sit in the cockpit of the Old lady.

「I put in an auxiliary magic circle that works around visualization.
Now try to start the machine」

After switching my gears, I sent magic power to every corner of the Old lady.
Certainly, I was able to confirm an auxiliary magic circle that wasn’t there before.
There aren’t many auxiliary magic circles on Old Lady, so I can tell right away.
At first, it was loaded in the same manner as the other average Knights, but after the battle with heavy stone golem, most of the drive system was removed.
Rather than calling it unnecessary, it’s more like an obstacle to me.
What’s left is wind magic to hover, environment maintenance inside the cockpit, and external sound system.

「Ohh! This is……」

A small magic circle appeared in front of the Old lady while spinning slowly.
The herbivore mechanic started explaining it proudly.

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「By continuously observing the spirit of light, you can infer the amount of shimmering.
And you can keep observing the result while slowly negating the average amount of it.
By repeating that――」

I couldn’t even understand ten percent of what he talked about, but I feel like he’s talking like my grandfather who loved cameras.

(I don’t quite understand, but maybe it’s something like optical correction or adaptive optics)

That was really impressive of him to be able to give answers in just a few days, as expected from an excellent person with passion.
As long as he doesn’t make a mistake in his direction, he will get brilliant results.
Though, I feel like he’s too passionate.

「Thank you very much.
I’ll test it right away」

After having a talk with herbivore mechanics on the spot, I looked for a job in the same northern mountainous area as the other day.
Since Knight is a powerful military force, it requires a warrant to mobilize.
Fortunately, there was a similar request, so I took it and headed out straight away.
I want to try it as soon as possible.
And that feeling was the same for herbivore mechanics.

「Please don’t pour too much magic power in it, since it will burn out.
But if you want to raise the output regardless, please use magic operation to separate it」

Roger that.
Herbivore mechanic smiled and slumped to the floor.
A nearby security guard caught him in his arms.

(He fell asleep huh)

The guards informed me that it’s okay.
I made the Old lady nod and headed north.

(He had worked hard on it to this extent.
I’ve to make sure I tested this properly)

As I restrained my excitement and headed north, I arrived at the same place as the other day.
I looked for the dark rock and held the cane rifle.
Then I start to shoot immediately.

(Wow…)

Following the result of the firing, I complimented the herbivore mechanic once again.
Although it’s not completely, the haze has largely gone.
And even though it still fluctuates slightly, it’s not to the point it lost the overall picture as it did the last time.
I also don’t have to worry about burning out.
If I concentrated enough on magic power operation, it was possible to continue supplying a small amount of magic power to the optical correction magic circle.

(With this, I should be able to hit them)

I aimed at the same black outcrop on the same hill.
It didn’t greatly deviate from the target like last time.
With a few shots, a clear tendency appeared in the direction of deviation.

(This should be the misalignment of the iron sight)

I took out the tool and made adjustments using the fingers of the Old lady.
I repeated the action several times.
And the uneven distribution has disappeared.
After a few more fine adjustments, the aim is set.
All the impacts were concentrated in a narrow area around the outcrop.
The black outcrops that were already crushed into a hole with depth enough to make me worry whether it penetrated the other side of the mountain.

(I might be the one to say this but… it’s terrifying to be able to hit it from this distance)

With satisfactory results in hand, I decided to go home.
It’s because my D-rank magic has been used up.

(For D-rank potion making… Well, it doesn’t have to be tonight I guess)

Tomorrow is not the date to make delivery to the merchant guild.
I made it before going to bed every day just because I feel it’s a waste to not use the remaining magic.
By the way, the target for the request has long been the target for my shooting practice.

(Yosh! Let’s go all out with herbivore mechanic next time)

Let’s take him to a luxury store instead of a cheap store like the End of the century.
Of course, it would be my treat.

(Cione’s sideline)

Let’s have him polish his sensibility by looking at beautiful girls of the nation there.
I’m sorry to say this but, the end of the century brothel is a lower-class brothel.

(National beauty contest with both of us as the judge.
Judging is not just about appearance, but also their contents or interior)

Let’s force a request at them that would make their cheeks become red in embarrassment from our judge seat.
And enjoy how they would respond to it while being embarrassed.

(I’m looking forward to it)

I keep advancing down the highway while suppressing the temptation to speed up.

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