[EN] Episode 8 - New Pinkssum Street 2

“Wingester, you said you wanted to see a specialist shop for hunting gear?”
“...Yes.”
“Why on earth would you want to stop at a place like that? We're mages, aren't we?”
“...I just wanted to see some things that might be useful for making magical tools.”


Romulus's gaze turned cold, as if he'd caught on to Wingester's answer.
That guy was clearly trying to further enhance that strange staff that had tormented Romulus himself.


“Is there anything among the hunters' gear that could be useful?”


The princess seemed to catch on too, looking up at Wingester with curiosity.
She didn't know what it was, but common knowledge suggested hunters' gear was generally limited to bows and arrows.


If anything else, maybe knives or axes.


“Arrows imbued with magic, perhaps…?”
“…….”


Wingester deliberately avoided answering, focusing instead on looking around.
As befitted a tourist spot, several souvenir shops existed among the stores, all selling merchandise related to the Brash Brigade without exception.


“Hey there! You folks over there! Look at this! With this, I can tell you about that vicious, violent group, the Brash Brigade…!”
“Look here! This is our shop's special Mad Dog Gang officer doll! Look! This Kaftin doll! We made it based on eyewitness accounts!”


Wingester and his group kept stopping and starting, their pace dictated by the princess's footsteps.


Starting with the souvenir shops, she'd spot something intriguing and immediately dash over to look, often forcing the group to tag along.


“What's this?”


The princess picked up a strangely shaped wooden staff and asked the merchant.


“Ah! You've picked well! That is a Totem Staff!”
“Totem…?”


The merchant smiled cheerfully, seemingly finding her cute as she tilted her head at the unfamiliar word, and began his explanation.


“Indeed! We acquired these staffs from the tribal shamans of the Savage Continent who joined the Brash Brigade! The carvings running along the top depict elementals!”
“Huh... How much?”


Leaving the princess completely absorbed in buying a strange wooden stick, Wingester looked around and finally found the shop he'd been searching for.


He spotted a sign reading ‘Hunter's Supply’ on a shop building in the next block, with stripped animal hides spread out in front.


“……!”
“So that's the hunting goods store.”


Romulus nodded beside him, having spotted the same thing.
The girl, who had just bought a bizarrely shaped wooden stick, promptly handed one to each of them.


“Here. Take these.”
“……?”
“P-Princess…!”


The princess, smug and self-important, handed them to the two who couldn't quite refuse.


“It's my gift to you, meant to help you two get along better from now on.”
“…….”
“Th-that is….”


The two, unable to meet each other's eyes and feeling awkward, soon informed the princess that there was a hunting goods store up ahead and asked for her understanding.


“Alright. I've wanted to see one myself sometime. Let's go in together.”


The princess, secretly curious about what exactly Wingester was interested in, readily agreed.
Wingester tried to refuse, his mouth moving as if to protest the princess's offer to come in, but she was the princess.
In the end, he could only groan and nod his head.


Squeak.


Slowly opening the slightly worn door revealed an interior filled with various animal skins and stuffed heads on display.


At the counter on one side of the shop, the owner—a burly man who looked like he'd done his share of hunting, clad in a bearskin—watched them with apparent interest.


“Well, who might we have here? What brings students from the Magic Kingdom to a place like this?”


Seeing the owner's interest, Wingester approached him as well.


“We're researching magic tools and wanted to see if there were any hunting tools here that might be useful for reference. Would it be okay if we looked around?”
“Hmm? Of course. But be careful—some items are dangerous. Don't touch them carelessly.”


With permission granted, Wingester led the group inside.


The princess marveled at the stuffed animal heads, while Romulus seemed largely uninterested, scanning the surroundings.


“Is this... a deer?”
“Yes. It's a deer.”


Wingester left the two behind and headed deeper into the shop.
What he was looking for was surely somewhere in there.
Suddenly spotting a passageway with a curtain drawn in one corner, he took a step closer.


“Hey there, young man. That area is only accessible to licensed professional hunters. Do you happen to have a hunting permit or something?”
“...No.”
“Then you can't go in there. This country has laws, you know.”


Wingester immediately caught on.
The tools he sought must be beyond that curtain.


Wingester looked up at the owner who was stopping him.


“How about... just letting me observe? It's fine if you watch from behind.”
“Why do you want to go in there so badly? It won't be fun for you, you know?”


Wingester quietly unwrapped the cloth tied behind his back, revealing the Barrett Staff.


“This is...!”
“...Please keep this from others.”
“......”


Seeing such desperation, evident in his willingness to show such a dangerous item, the shopkeeper seemed moved. He nodded silently.


“Hmm. Boy. You seem to have some backbone. I like that. Though you have no license, you appear to have both the purpose and the spirit to enter there... Follow me.”


Guided by the owner, he drew back the curtain and stepped inside. The walls and display cases were packed with bows and arrows, and then...


“This is what you wanted to see, right?”


What he pulled out was a long rifle, slightly shorter than Wingester's height.


“It's a flintlock musket. A model capable of firing large-caliber bullets for hunting.”


He readily handed it to Wingester and let him examine it, so he carefully inspected the entire barrel, including the muzzle.


“Is this the operating mechanism?”


A device with a flint stone attached caught Wingester's eye on the rear side of the gun.


“Yes. When that hammer strikes the flint, the resulting spark ignites the gunpowder inside... propelling the lead ball forward.”


Wingester's mind was vividly picturing how this tool worked.
The powder ignites, and with a deafening boom, the heavy lead projectile races forward on the flames.


It was faster and more powerful than he could have imagined.
More than enough to take down mages who hadn't managed to cast powerful defensive spells in time, from a distance.


“...Indeed. It's quite the remarkable piece.”
“Isn't it...? Still, it's not without its flaws.”
“......?”


After saying that, the owner let Wingester examine the gun.


“......”


After examining it from various angles for a moment, Wingester finally offered his conclusion.


“...Reloading, huh.”


The rear section of the musket's mechanism contained almost no components besides the hammer.
That meant reloading had to be done from the front end of that long barrel, the muzzle.


“Yeah. It's pretty inconvenient. That's why it's a niche weapon, only used by certain hunters.”


Wingester now began focusing on examining the overall shape.
The sample in Grandfather's materials was quite an old piece, so it looked quite different from the one he was looking at now.


“What's this flared part at the back?”
“...It's the buttstock. It acts like a pillar to brace your body when you take your shooting stance.”
“Huh...”


Wingester, who had been lost in thought for a moment, feeling the wood's texture, soon expressed his gratitude and returned the rifle to him.


“Thank you very much. It was a valuable experience.”
“Heh. Special service. If you ever decide to become a hunter later... I recommend becoming a regular at our shop.”
“...I'll keep it in mind.”


Having obtained what he'd long desired, Wingester returned to the shop through the curtain.


"...? Wingester. Where did you go?“
”……."


After a moment's hesitation on how to answer the curious princess, he lied about going to the restroom and then pretended to look at the bows and arrows for a moment.


*


When it was time to leave the shop, the owner, who had been watching the princess, handed her a dagger used by hunters as a service, calling it a self-defense item.


She carefully concealed it within her robes as she walked behind the two men.


“...Romulus.”
“Why?”
“...Where do you plan to go now? My business here is finished.”
“......”


The two men, though hesitant, managed to carry on a conversation with the princess between them.


“I'm starting to get hungry. Shall we head to a restaurant?”
“...I suppose so.”
“......”


Seeing the slight improvement in the two men's relationship, the princess walking between them softened her expression.


“Then let's go. I was actually starting to feel a bit peckish myself.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”


Just as the group began moving toward their meal.
An undercover agent standing guard atop a commercial building collapsed.


“...Good. The perimeter's breached.”


As the masked man wielding a curved blade signaled, others like him, hidden on nearby rooftops, began revealing themselves one by one.


The mark of the Desert Eagles, one of the mercenary kingdoms' renowned assassination units, was emblazoned large on their backs.


“All units. The target is one princess. Avoid unnecessary conflict or casualties at all costs. Our targets are escorted by battle-specialized mages.”


“Understood.”


The assassins scattered in all directions with a chorus of acknowledgements.
The man who pulled his mask deeper over his face stroked his curved dagger and smiled.
In a few minutes, a delightful situation would unfold where this blade would come dangerously close to the girl's throat.


Suppressed screams echoed from all directions.
The assassins clashed with the guards, swiftly overpowering them.


*


The situation shifted abruptly.
A guard mage escorting the princess staggered out of the alleyway, blood streaming from his abdomen.


“……?!”
“That's…?!”
“……!”


Unlike the two startled figures, Wingester immediately grasped the situation and drew the Barrett Staff from his back.


“Romulus! Draw your staff!”
“Uh, ah… ah!”


Only then did Romulus snap out of it and pull the staff from his robe.


“Start chanting!”
“What, what should I do?!”
“Shut up and just do it! Whatever it takes! If the guard mage is like that, the enemy is a pro! What we can do is…!”
“…Wingester-kun…!”


Wingester frowned, reciting calmly yet softly, yet powerfully.


“With death in mind, buy time…!”
“Is that even possible…?!”
“If it fails, the princess dies!”
"…Guh…!“
”The honor of the Seiz family is at stake! Get your act together, Romulus!“
”I know that!"


Assassins silently encircling them.
Wingester aimed his staff at them with the resolve of a death squad.


-To be continued-