Chapter 98

Chapter 98 \nWith this, my position in this negotiation has now changed.\n

The target is at the end of the courtyard so there’s no fear of accident due to the shells, penetration nor bullets as everyone has taken a sufficient distance from the shooting site and piled up in the back.

The distance to the target is approximately 50 yards. It’s too close for shooting a rifle, but I won’t be stubborn about it.

 

And there’s also a wooden table at the shooting stand which I will use it for firing the gun while resting it on top.

My body is small and in proportion to that, my palm is also small too. I also have no stamina and physical strength. In addition, this time, I will be using an old-type gun made in US, hence it’s too big and too heavy for me.

No, it’s not as if the gun will be bad. Well, there are various drawbacks if we compare it with present time, but at the time when the gun system was adopted, it was a quite excellent gun. It’s just me who doesn’t suit with it.

It’s a bit difficult for me to hold it in my arms normally, so the gun accuracy will likely drop. Therefore, I chose 『firing the gun while resting it on top of something』 as a way to increase the successful hit rate.

Well, I wouldn’t say that it’s an impressive thing. It’s just that I will be shaking when aiming it while holding it in my hand, thus I need to have a support for the gun. If it’s like this, it will be very easy to get a good hit. ……It’s a basic fact, though.

 

And while I was drawing everyone’s attention, I took out the gun from the case that I had put it down before.

M1 Garand.

(TL Note: Here you go go)

Yes, it is a semi-auto rifle that the US proud of, which was active in World War II.

 

M1 Garand has several features. Both advantages and disadvantages.

The biggest advantage is that it was a semi-automatic rifle with a high degree of perfection at that time. The biggest drawback is that the difficulty of loading the ammunition clip halfway through and cannot reload if the remaining bullets were not used as it will remain inside unless it is shot wastefully.

Well, that kind of shortcoming was probably not a big problem in the US military as they could transport the ammunition as many as they like.\n

 

And the reason of why I choose this gun for this demonstration is because the gun is made from wood and iron, it’s massive, dignified, beautiful, reliable, and can shoot bullets one at a time. It can be used just like a 『breech loading single shot rifle』.

It is just a story of what would we do if we demonstrate with the present semi-auto and full-auto weapons.

 

Her Highness Princess, the Earl and the others, and also the spectators were about three meters away from my right side. Sabine-chan and Colette-chan are on my rear diagonally at about one meter away.

I placed the gun barrel on the wooden table, and then put my right hand on the bolt and pulled it. Even though it’s a bolt, it doesn’t mean that I need to pull it every time like the bolt-action infantry rifle, Arisaka Type 38. It’s a small but important process to pull the gun’s bolt, and if I pull it too many times, my palm will turn red and hurt as I need some power to pull it.

And if I use a blank gun ammo or the like, the gas pressure will be insufficient and I cannot reload the empty cartridge, hence I need to pull it with my hand each time and die. It’s nothing but an impossible thing to do with my own strength. Well, I don’t have to worry about shooting a real bullet, though.

(TL Note: Tenno Heika Banzai!! Type 38)

 

When the bolt is pulled, the breechblock portion retracts and the chamber is locked in an open state. Normally, you will insert an ammunition clip with a set of 8 7.62mm NATO bullets from the top, but this time, as an irregular way, one bullet was taken out from my pocket, inserted it into the chamber with my hand, and then pulled the bolt slightly while pushing the magazine follower with my thumb. The lock will be released, so I’m careful not to crush my own thumb and close the breechblock. This completes the ammunition loading for a breech loading single shot rifle.

(TL Note: Garand Thumb by Asther. Fun fact: It is indeed very hurt.)

 

And, even if I’m going to shoot immediately, as what the captain has taught, the gun was temporarily on safety.

Set my footing to get the position to shoot, set my posture and aim. With this, I released the safety device.

The rear sight adjustment had already been done at the mercenary base.

Set the horizontal wheel to the zero position, and once the vertical wheel has been lowered to the bottom, raise it to 12 clicks, and from there on it will be fixed according to the three-point regulation. The shooting won’t be precise and the trajectory will shift slightly as the actual shooting starts with a cold gun-barrel, but it’s going to be fine if I could get a shot on the armor at a 50-yard demonstration, hence there’s no problem!

 \nSlowly breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out….

I stopped my breathing immediately after changing it into another inhale. It is not in a state of exhaling all of the air, nor in a state of inhaling it a lot.

Gently, I put some force on my finger and unconsciously pull the trigger, gently and softly, I don’t even know when will it be fired, gently, like a fallen snow in a dark night……

 

*Paaann!*

 

A narrow 7.62 mm bullet had came out of the muzzle just before the barrel was affected with the recoil and bounced back.

The *Dokyuuuuuun…..* sound echoed inside the shooting range. Though, It can also be heard as a light pop sound from outside as the gun sound was that loud.

Because there’s no bullet left, the breechblock is retracted and locked, and the chamber remains open. I insert the second bullet from my pocket, do the ammo loading in the same way as before, and then fire it without overly careful aiming.

This is in order to show that the first shot absolutely hit the key part and doesn’t take so much time for the next shot. I shot with the intention of 『I could aim anywhere, so it’s already good if I hit a part of the armor』.

I had expected that the three-point regulation could go 50 yards from this kind of distance, so maybe it’s right. After all, the gun practice was conducted at 200 yards at that time, so 5 out of 8 shots would have hit it regardless of hitting the right spot or not.

 

After firing the second shot, I looked to the right and saw that everyone in the audience was surprised by the loud gunshot. All of them opened their mouths and widened their eyes in shock.

Oh, they were surprised with only the sound, instead of the gun power. It will be after this! I’m sure!

(Mitsuha) 「Now then, everyone, let’s go check the result!」

And then, everyone went towards the doll in a crowd.

 

(Everyone) 「「「「「Eh…………?」」」」」\n\n 

When supported by the manual labor and taxes from such a large number of citizen, when the soldiers who took many years of training confront the enemy, when this weapon was held in the enemy’s hand.

And if the other party is not only a soldier but also the whole nation, including everyone from female children to elderly, and if all of them are equipped with this weapon.

 

It is an impossible scene in practice, but now, everyone who had actually saw it probably couldn’t believe in such nightmare whereas above all things, a little girl of little girls can demonstrate it and that little girl was me.

It would probably be better if this was done by a formidable soldier….

And furthermore, I can’t say anything else as there are still more powerful weapons…….

 

(Audyst) 「The purpose of this treaty is to join together and develop a weapon that outperforms the enemy in order to fight the invaders who possess such weapons, and also to work together to protect ourselves too.

The formal treaty signing will be made later as this is just a preliminary meeting……

Please note that if you do not participate in the treaty, please protect your ownself from the invaders. 」

(Remia) 「T-that’s…」

Her Highness Princess squeezed out her voice that seemed to be in pain and a bit shocked.

That’s a given. It’s no different than saying that they will perish if they do not join the treaty.

Even if the invaders do not come, what will you do if the armed forces that use swords, armor, bows and arrows as their main arms are surrounded by the treaty member states that have these new weapons?

This is no longer a suggestion nor an interview, but instead it’s already regarded as a threat. It’s no wonder the princess’ voice was shaking.

However, diplomacy in this kind of era is like that. Either battleship diplomacy, threat diplomacy, or even something else. This has also been done many times in the Earth’s history.