NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9: 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 masse.
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 shifts 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.
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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 assault rifle.
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After finishing lunch, I returned to the boys’ room.
It was in order to prepare the things I need for making an assault 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 assault rifle in the orphanage, even if Elle-sensei thinks it’s inexcusable, everyday after finishing my chores 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 passing through the backyard, the students had already gathered for magician’s basic class.
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 attitude 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 shirts that can’t be used anymore, and seems to have been smelling it to sleep ever since.
She complained that I was being noisy with the “ticklish” thing and wanted to do it no matter what.
When I persuaded her to stop sniffing my stuff at night, her face looked as if the world was going to end, her ears flopped closed, and her tail hung dejectedly.
Not wanting to see her like that, I compromised and said “sniff quietly so you don’t bother anyone”.
I’m being too sweet to Snow.
This is my own convenient guess, but Snow was originally unaware that she was holding favor towards me.
Then starting with the incident, she became aware of it.
Having this cute, good-natured childhood friend fall for me.
I was glad to have been reincarnated into this world.
If there are any problems, it’s that……
“Lute-kun where are you going ?”
“To the test firing range, I want to experiment to see if I can make a new gun”
“Can I come along?”
“You obviously can’t, right. Snow has to go to magician’s basic classes now.”
“Uuuu, that’s right, but……”
If Snow stays with me, then she is simply getting her priorities backwards.
Just a little bit more and she’ll turn into an idiot kid.
“I’ll be at the test firing range until evening, so come over once you’re done with classes.”
“……. Okay. Once I’m there, can I shoot Lute-kun’s revolver?”
“Of course. So do your lessons properly, ‘kay?”
Snow took an interest in the revolver after the incident.
In order to dispel her fear of guns, I proactively taught her how to shoot. It was in order to protect herself at the time it would matter the most, like when she runs out of magic power.
I was planning on making a gun for Snow’s own personal defense in the near future.
Elle-sensei showed up in the backyard.
“Well then everyone, now we shall begin magician’s basic class”
“Look, Snow. Elle-sensei’s starting class.”
“A little more, I want to tickle you a little more.”
“You can’t be like that, everyone’s waiting. See, go along.”
“Uuuuu……. Lute-kun is mean.”
She reluctantly let go of me while uttering complaints.
“Well, see you again then. Don’t make trouble for Elle-sensei and the others.”
“Okay, see you later.”
“…… Snow-kun, your words and actions don’t match. Let go of me.”
Snow pinched the edge of my shirt in futile resistance.
Her face went timid when I pointed it out, but in the end she let go of her hands with a smile and ran back towards Elle-sensei.
I picked up the cask and went towards the test firing range.
I arrived at the test firing range.
I held my stuff, except for the cask, under my arms to keep them out of the way.
I opened the cask’s lid, and put my hands in. I felt the cold touch of metal on my skin.
Relishing the cold feel, I once again thought of the gun I was going to make.
The gun I was going to make now was an “AK-47” assault rifle, a masterpiece created in the Soviet Union.
Though there are lots of improved variations like AKM, for now let’s just call it an AK-47 for convenience.
Why did I choose the AK-47 out of the many assault rifles? It’s because it had the simplest structure.
Moreover, it was, generally speaking, sturdy, being able to pound away perfectly in the freezing cold of the Arctic circle, the deserts of Africa, or the jungles of Southeast Asia, and even without going through maintenance after being soaked in muddy water.
Some even think that rusted and dirty AK-47s that had been buried in a wet rice field and dug out again after half a year can be fired without a problem. Such dirt and rust resistance, terrible firepower that can shoot 600 rounds per minute, a structure that made it hard to get jammed, and able to fire even when it hasn’t been maintained in decades, it was that kind of tough assault rifle.
Because of these advantages, in the world of my previous life, it was often copied and would pop up in all corners of the earth.
Appearing in national flags and banknotes of several countries, it was a weapon that redrew the geopolitical map of the world after the cold war, falling in to the hands of guerilla and anti-government forces around the world.
It is said that several hundreds of thousands of people each year lost their lives because of this weapon.
Because of that it was also called the “little WMD“.
That is the reason why I can say that this is the most appropriate assault rifle for this underdeveloped alternate world.
But there are two problems.
Number one: although the structure is simple, it’s still an automatic.
It uses what is called a gas-operated system, where the next round is loaded using the gas that is produced when the first round is fired.
In the case of the AK-47, it is done by using a gas piston located on top of the barrel.
This is called a gas-operated system.
Whether I can make something that works by this system or not…..
I learned this the hard way while making the revolver, but although I have the know-how, the difference between theory and practice is like heaven and earth.
Problem number two: the cartridges.
Rifle cartridges are very different in appearance and contents to handgun cartridges.
First, the outer shape of the cartridges is long and narrow, with a neck like a wine bottle along the way.
The powder inside the rifle bullets burn slower than that of handguns (although only by some 1000ths of a second).
Because the combustion speed is slower, the pressure in the airtight compartment inside the case and barrel increases, so it can fire bullets at a higher velocity and energy.
To reproduce such a powder, it is necessary to do extraordinary experiments.
“Well, I know the final form though. Since there is no need to do trial and error to get the answer, it’s still easy.”
The design of the bullet is way more complicated than the gun body itself.
It even raised heated discussions between ballistics experts.
Small changes in the bullets’ weight, shape of the tip, and powder quantity will make them into entirely different weapons.
“…… If I could make it, it seems it’s going to be a reliable weapon.”
I exhaled lightly once again, and closed my eyes.
I used the power of imagination I cultivated while making the revolver to the utmost.
“The first part I should make is ……”
I gently put my hands into the cold liquid metal.