The Author's POV

"I thought that it might come in handy to you."

After having witnessed the prowess of the dwarves with their gun-like artifacts, I thought that it would've been a perfect fit for Leopold, who usually always helped out from the back.

This way, he wouldn't need to join the fights when commanding the others directly.

Aiming the gun around, Leopold asked.

"What are the requirements for using this little thing?"

"Just inject some mana, and it'll work. It's a ranked artifact."

The artifact was something that only dwarves could create and essentially worked as a gun.

Upon injecting mana into the device, the artifact would activate, releasing the bullets that were loaded inside.

Well, that's how it should work. Never used it, so I didn't know.

"Take good care of it; it cost me quite a lot."

Aiming the gun towards the distance, Leopold put his finger on the trigger.

"Sounds easy enough."

"Well, I still think you need time to get used to it."

Just like any weapon, it needed time to be mastered, and although Leopold was already good with the sword, at the end of the day, his talent did not lay in swordsmanship but in commanding.

Plus, just because he was now using a gun, it didn't mean that he couldn't use a sword.

He could very well use it during short-range fights and then replace it when he's helping out from the back; after all, the gun would be more useful when he's commanding a lot of people at once.

Looking through the status of the gun, Leopold suddenly asked.

"How's the recoil on this thing?"

"…how about you try?"

I also was curious about this.

Raising his brow and looking around, Leopold picked his ear to ensure he didn't hear wrongly.

"Try? Here?"

"I don't think anyone would mind being honest. Just shoot the air."

We were in the open, and most likely, the sound that would come out from shooting the weapon would get drowned out by the sound of the rain.

Furthermore, I don't think the dwarfs would mind this.

"Guess you're right."

Leopold was a simple person. At my words, he stopped thinking too much and put a bullet inside of the gun-like artifact.

Chi Chak—

Loading the artifact, Leopold aimed towards the distance with one hand.

His semi-long hair was already wet from the rain.

Closing one of his eyes and aiming towards the barrier in the distance, he softly muttered.

"I'm going."

Looking at him and taken aback by the fact that he was only using one hand, I blurted out.

"Wait, why are you using only one hand?"

"...just cause."

As soon as his words faded, a gentle hue shrouded his hand, directly entering the artifact.

Click—!

Leopold then pressed on the trigger.

—Booom!

Accompanied by a thunderous sound, a blue ball of energy shot out from the gun, directly aiming for the barrier in the distance. Travelling at incredible speeds, the blue energy travelled through the air, splitting the rain apart.

Before long, it appeared right before the barrier.

However, right as the energy was about to hit the barrier, something miraculous happened; the blue ball stopped mid-air before suddenly disappearing out of thin hair.

On the other hand, while the energy ball shot out from the gun, Leopold, the one responsible for the shot, was sent a couple of steps back.

"Uukkk..."

out a groan. Once he managed to rebalance himself, staring at the gun in his hand, he couldn't help but curse out

"Bloody hell!"

wrist, the one that held onto

recoil on this

we can go ask the dwarves for things that can be added to reduce

expert with guns, I do think that the way that Leopold held

he took a shot, his hand flung all the way up

try using both hands next time and keep your feet planted

using the gun properly. If every time he shot this happened, there was no use in him keeping

wrist, Leopold nodded his head

I need to

"...Mhm."

barrier that had now enveloped the

the dwarfs are planning on using the barrier, you've got some time

dwarves were planning on keeping the barrier, I estimated that we had at least a day to

until the weather cleared

wrong, the dwarves have chosen to erect the barrier because of the weather. So we've got till

"…Thought so too."

in Leopold's direction, I

don't carelessly treat the bullets as though they are as easy to get as water. They

expensive that if converted into U,

expensive, but there was a

to Malvil, the cores gained from beasts and monsters could be turned into powder which would in turn

lot of bullets on me was because I traded them for the core of the Baron ranked

of giving it to Angelica, but at the mere mention of it, she threw me a

enough, though; after all, even I wouldn't be very excited at the

be created by the dwarves as humans were incapable of creating them. At

humans didn't have

bows or other relatively

such as guns didn't only require a skilled blacksmith but also advanced engineering

though. After all, humanity had only been exposed to mana

the

"Take good care o—Ukkk."

an electric current suddenly ran through my body and head. My knees buckled, and I almost tripped

next to me, caught

"Wow, Ren, you okay?"

He worriedly asked.

him, I couldn't

"Ugh..."

"Ren? Ren?!"

my teeth, Leopold's voice was faint

blurred

my luck, this did not last for long

a moment to rebalance myself, I reassured Leopold

"Ren, are you okay?"

I'm

head,

head suddenly started to hurt.

away and carefully

have some time, you should probably get

"Yeah..."

"You okay, now?"

"Yeah, no problem."

a smile

pain left as fast

Leopold no longer asked about my

the entrance

on

"...got it."

need anything,

nod, Leopold soon walked

on my face disappeared as my brows knit

'What was that?'

was still messed up due to what had happened at the

Though I couldn't explain it, it felt as though I had a similar

in the

more I thought about it, the

wrong with me? Or was this really something

sure hoped that it was the latter and that this was just

—Booom!

was then that an explosion suddenly sounded. Following this, the

sound originated from, I saw a faint ripple appear on the enormous barrier enveloping the entire

waves appeared on the

appeared to me that the barrier

direction of where the ripple centered,

"They've started the siege…"

***