Chapter 27 Salamander and the Sniper
The newbie in training is called Keel, I hear.
He's 17, in his second year, and hasn't gotten his Arcanist license yet, but he has lots of magic power.
──"Aah! Stop! Don't come here!!"
──"No, no, no! Uwaa!?"
He's so loud.
I gotta make him stop, or it'll mess up the mission.
"But his sniping is good, you know?"
Keel sticks his upper body out of the front car's roof, screaming, but he's hitting the Salamanders one by one from the bumpy car.
Luka, driving the car Yuruyana and I are in, points at his junior and laughs.
"I see, you can use arcane guns even if you're not an Arcanist."
Yuruyana peeks out from the strong glass with defense magic on it, looking scared.
He said he'd wait in the town, but he came along because he might see my magic.
He's probably regretting it a little now.
Arcane guns have rules about who can own and use them, but soldiers, Hunters, Arcanists, and Arcane Engineers can use them against beasts.
So I'm okay too, in the law's eyes.
"It's good practice for controlling magic, so my squad uses them a lot."
It seems they're still following the teaching style I used with Luka and Thomas.
But for me, I just used what I learned from messing with Arcane Machinery with my grandfather, so I just used that.
"If he's that good at sniping, other squads would want him, right?"
"But he looked like he could be an Arcanist."
Salamanders have tough skin to survive the lava, so weak attacks just bounce off.
That means Keel, who's hitting them with bullets that stick, can definitely be a strong Arcanist.
He might be like Thomas, with strong firepower.
I get why those 2 are watching him.
"Boss, another bunch is coming from behind."
"Not boss. Got it."
Following Luka's order, I grabbed the borrowed arcane sniper gun, popped open the car roof, and checked behind us.
We still hadn't reached their real home yet, and even though Keel kept shooting like crazy, the numbers didn't drop at all.
Looks like hearing the warning shouts only brought more of them over; those hunters haven't been hunting for a long time.
No wonder magic gems are getting so expensive.
"Keel, keep an eye out, okay?"
'Huh!?'
Luka's voice came through the team comms with an order.
Right after, I locked onto the closest one and fired.
Just before the bullet hit the nose, Salamander opened its mouth like it meant to swallow it whole, and the shot pierced all the way through its neck.
"Luka, make sure you count how many I take down, okay?"
"Roger that!"
'Senior Tsukumo! What did you just do?!'
After firmly telling him he has to get paid for his work to make it worth it, a question came from Keel directly through the comms they gave me too for some reason.
Studious guy.
"Salamanders take a big breath right before they breathe fire, so at this range, if you aim when their nose and belly puff up, the bullet hits right as their mouth opens."
Their mouth insides are softer than their skin, so attacks go through easier.
Plus, you avoid getting hit by their fireball──2 birds with one stone.
'You watch that closely?!'
"Keel can do it too. Calm down a little and try watching your target."
'Okay...'
"If yelling helps you relax, that's fine today, but sometimes it can set the beasts off, so it's better to learn to shoot quietly."
'Okay...'
"No rush. If you miss any, I'll finish them off."
'Yes...!'
While wondering why I'm the one teaching, I kept picking off the chasing horde from the most aggressive ones first,
"Having you here really makes this easier, boss."
"I told you I'm not the boss."
Luka muttered, humming like he just wanted to slack off.
I'll squeeze him later for real.
Then, when we finally got to the habitat the local hunters told us about, the two vehicles were perfectly surrounded by a swarm of Salamanders.
"Isn't this way too many?"
"Yeah, maybe I'll complain a little later."
Thomas put up a protective wall around the car, so the fireballs haven't hit us yet, but there are too many now to take out one by one with a gun.
Keel, who had just calmed down, started screaming again, so I cut off the comms.
"Complain?"
Yuruyana asked, looking truly regretful now.
"To the town."
The magic gems will be collected and sold later anyway, but since the town asked for this, they're supposed to pay something for the beast hunting.
Maybe they lied about how many there were to keep costs down.
"But honestly, first we gotta survive and get back."
"We're just getting caught up in this. Is there any compensation?"
If it was just me and Yuruyana, we wouldn't have gone this deep; we'd just hunt a few near the surface and be done.
"Man, I'm glad the captain's here."
But Luka shows no guilt at all.
He actually expects me to keep working.
"Luka, you do it. The army's supposed to protect civilians, right?"
"Ehh──"
Don't hesitate.
"...If I do it, I get the whole payout, right? Aren't we supposed to turn it over to the army?"
"I don't personally get it, so honestly, whatever."
The guy who answered "good pay" immediately when asked why he joined the army has a different vibe.
If only he had half of Thomas's honesty, he'd be less annoying.
"Fine. I wanna be back before dark, so here goes..."
"Yes!"
Then I looked at Yuruyana who seemed worried.
"It's probably a pretty big magic, so keep your eyes open."
"Got it..."
I opened the door and stepped outside.
In the distance, I saw a river of glowing red lava.
It would've been a cool tourist spot if we weren't here for this.
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