Matan’s Shooter

Chapter 221

Chapter 221

“Knock. knock, knock.”

Go away! Please just go away!

When they heard the knocking sound, the people inside the forge stopped what they were doing.  Bottleneck and the Beard Brothers knew it was Leeha even without hearing his voice. The shutter for the Bottleneck’s blacksmith was firmly lowered.

“Huh, how did you know it was me? Please open the door. Are you done making what I requested of you last time?”

Don’t know, go away! How could you ask us to make something like this?

“Hurry up and open it! I have all the money to pay you.”

The inside of the forge quieted down for a while and druuut, the shutter went up.

Even a dwarf could not help but be in need of money  in a society filled with infinite competition.

It was impossible to ignore Leeha as a client.

“……Come in.”

They were not covered in soot like last time, but they still looked emaciated every time they took on one of his commissions, Leeha felt sympathy for them for a moment as he saw them losing weight.

But only for a moment.

“What about the scope? 

“Oh! It’s done! By the way, why do you look like that-”

Bottleneck pointed at the table.

Including Leeha’s special scope boasting a smooth shape, bullets and various items were showing off their lustrous appearance.

Unlike Leeha who admired the items, Bottleneck was trembling.

“……My belly is smaller than my belly button now.”

“What?”

“Damn it! Everything was fine! But grafting Quiquero’s crystalline lens into that nonsensical object costs more than the commission fee! I-I’d rather lose my commission- if I had done that then I could have saved money-”

“B-Boss! But then, the boss’s name would be tarnished……”

“Uwaaaa, uwaaaaah!”

The Beard Brothers stopped Bottleneck as he roared and his beard trembled.

Judging from his words, the cost that was spent to craft the scope, including the experiment, was a greater amount than what they were commissioned for.

“That……. That’s sad. I’m really sorry, Bottleneck-ssi.”

Leeha did his best to apologize.

Of course, Leeha had no intention of paying excess expenses. (ed: You mean paying them for their work Leeha?)

The trio of dwarves, who had been rolling around for a long time, breathed heavily after consuming their stamina and went closer to Leeha.

“You have to handle it with care.”

“The performance is slightly better than what you requested. If we understood it correctly.”

The Beard Brothers took turns talking to Leeha. But Leeha could not help but be surprised by their words. The requested product required considerable technical skills, but they were able to make a product better than that.

“I want to try it out right away. Ah! Next time, can you make a night vision, and then-”

“Waahh, go away! I won’t accept any more requests from you right now! Bring me the salt! The saaalt!”

Bottleneck’s face started to turn red again.

Leeha placed the money bag on the table and quickly got out of there while the Beard Brothers went to stop Bottleneck.

“Anyway, thank you! Seriously thank you! Kuhahaha.”

Evil guy! He’s worse than Browless!!

As Bottleneck’s long roar echoed throughout the forge in the Adamantine Mountain.

“Haha, no matter what it is, I’m always satisfied.”

Leeha was only able to properly inspect the items he ordered after arrived in an alley next to Hell Anvil, where there were fewer people.

A fine-tuned device for horizontal and vertical adjustments, an objective lens larger than the 35mm main tube, and even the well-polished Quiquero’s lens.

‘I expected it to have 25 times magnification, but isn’t this better than that……?’

Leeha attached the rail he ordered along with the scope and mounted the scope on it.. 

He even handled the scope by adjusting the magnification.

He measured the distance between Hell Anvil and the side of the Adamantine mountain towards its peak.

‘I can’t see up to the peak, but is the distance to that rock about 600m? 650m is already the bare mountain range. There were so few trees in the way that he was able to see a distant rock.

‘Then lets zoom in- ah!’

As soon as he raised it to the maximum magnification towards 600m ahead, his eyes suddenly got dizzy. If the magnification exceeded 10x, the entire image shook even with the slightest of movements.

‘If it’s shaking like this……’ 

Taking his eyes off the scope, Leeha attached the bipod he ordered to the barrel of the Black Bass.

As a smithy specialized in small tools, the bipod and rail were made to be secured and perfectly installed according to Leeha’s orders, which made him satisfied.

And this time, on a wooden box of a suitable height, Leeha supported the Black Bass’s body.

The gun was completely fixed and there was no blurring of sight, so he looked at the large rock near the top of the Adamantine Mountains, which he aimed at earlier.

“Oh my……”

[Caution: Falling Rocks]

Leeha caught sight of the words that he didn’t even know were written on the rocks.

It felt like he was looking at something from 15 to 20 meters ahead. What did it mean to be able to see an object at a distance of 600m with a line of sight similar to 15 to 20m?

‘More than 30 times maximum magnification…’

It wasn’t an astronomical telescope.

Since it was small enough to be attached to the rifle, it should be enough to adjust the distance from the muzzle horizontally and vertically to provide a shooting distance. Of course, it was necessary to prepare for fog and dust.

Rather than simply observing the stars at high magnification, it meant that it was an item that was always attached and carried, and can be used in the battlefield! It was not that uncommon for a scope to have 30x maximum magnification.

‘R-really. It would be possible to see the surface of the moon with this scope.’

Leeha felt the performance of the scope to be ridiculous. Breaking the Seal for the [Black Bass] quest wouldn’t be a problem if he had this scope.

-What did you go to Hell Anvil for? I’ve come all the way to Siand!

‘Huh?’

It was around the time that Leeha was staring blankly at the scope that his messages suddenly pinged.

-Jin Gonggong-nim? What’s going on? Siand?

-Yes. I was in the process of raising my affinity nearby, when I heard a rumor about you, so I contacted you.

Siand Frontier was like a gateway to unexpected western areas.

For druids, who needed to increase their affinity by approaching animals and plants, it meant that unexplored areas had more significance.

In particular, unexplored areas were not yet marked on the map.

Because it was a place where one had to travel only with one’s own experiences and memories, they have to be more sensitive to small details and rumors when they occasionally encounter users or when they stop by a pioneering base.

-Well! I see. What was the rumor?

-Someone had a fight with the Midnight Circus and disappeared together with Lee Jiwon, and used a huge gun. Keke, when did you become close with Lee Jiwon? That’s great.

-Ah. That. We’re not friends, and I don’t know him that well. It’s just a coincidence that we met.

There was no need to bring up the story of the Soul Link skill, so Leeha just laughed and tried to let the subject pass.

– So, when will you come back to the frontier? I’m waiting for Leeha-nim.

– Me?

– I need your help. Haha.

Jin Gonggong asked Leeha with a mischievous laugh. Hearing his story, something came to Leeha’s mind.

-Okay. Let’s help each other then.

-What do you need?

-You know. Haha, Jin Gonggong-nim’s wings. What if he utilized the maneuverability of the Golden Eagle? What if he could quickly explore the frontier at the right height?

He didn’t even need to search thoroughly.

He needed to find the area where Kaztor’s crystal ball responds first, and then conduct an accurate search. That alone will shorten the exploration time of the unexplored regions that have to be explored on foot by more than 10 times.

– I see, you’re looking for something. Okay, deal!

– Deal! Then wait for me, I’ll be there soon.

Leeha immediately tore the scroll.

After visiting Lee Jiwon’s secret base, the Siand Frontier was already stored in his crystal ball. It was such a difficult place to get to the first time around, but now it would only take him 10 seconds.

“Leeha-nim!”

“Jin Gonggong! Oh, it looks like you changed your equipment again?”

“It’s nothing. I just finished a quest and got some new ones. Hehe. How are you doing? Didn’t Leeha-nim’s equipment also change a bit? I think your rifle has gotten thicker! It’s like there’s a bunch of stuff hanging around.”

“It’s okay. I just got a little bit stronger than before, I’ll just tell you what it is later.”

Jin Gonggong was quite the sharp guy. It was in the form of musket when he aimed at Czar members in the snowy mountains, but at that time, [Black Bass: SASR] did not have any bullets at the time, so it could not be used.

‘Even so, his eyesight is quite good. Muskets are originally longer than regular rifles. The Black Bass had turned into a modern sniper rifle so its length is similar… It wasn’t strange to notice the scope, but he was able to notice the difference in thickness between a musket and a sniper rifle?’

Leeha wondered if his eyesight improved as Jin Gonggong changed into animals such as eagles, swallows, and other animals. In any case, he was a user with superior skills compared to his level as expected.

Leeha was only able to get to the main topic after greeting Jin Gonggong and admiring each other.

“-So, would you like to kill some monster’s around you?”

“Yes. Normally, I would just avoid approaching them but…. It’s a bit too much this time.”

Jin Gonggong’s expression darkened. Jin Gonggong was strong enough to ‘fight’ with a snow rabbit barehanded, but it was difficult for him to explore unexplored areas alone.

“Actually, monsters in high-level areas are basically high-level users, aren’t they?”

“That’s right. So it’s even harder. I have to approach the target quietly, avoid the eyes of the monsters, but the target doesn’t just stay in one place-”

“Druids are having a hard time too. What is it this time? Is it a rabbit that calls its colleague again?”

“If it was a snow rabbit, it’s a fairly modest animal. But the thing I need to get acquainted with this time is a plant.”

“A plant?”

You can make acquaintances with plants? Leeha tilted his head, but Jin Gonggong just let out a big sigh.

“It’s a man-eating plant, you’ll know when you see it.”

“Ah…”

Leeha nodded. The fate of a druid is that he must approach without hesitation even if it’s something that you never want to be friends with. Leeha could clearly see Jin Gonggong’s suffering.

“Let’s go to the mountain first.”

Leeha and Jin Gonggong walked towards the mountain road which stretched from the Siand Frontier.

In order to fly, Jin Gonggong needed to ride the air currents from as high up as possible.