Chapter 743: Side Path, Detour, Lost Road
"As expected, when it comes to times like this, deciding the order of things is just a hassle in the first place, so you end up completely starting a different task altogether."
"I completely understand that feeling... I often run away to other tasks because meetings and stuff are a pain too, you know."
"Hey, are you okay, President?"
"I'm Yashirobird here, okay? In this place, I'm just a simple Pioneer."
Gacha-kon, gashan, vrrrm.
"Yeah, yeah......... Ah, Yashirobird, what's the ideal percentage to increase or decrease the bullet speed from the minimum base value?"
"Is that a handgun type? If you're cutting bullet speed, 76%, if you're raising it, 113%. Anything above or below that is either fatally trash or doesn't make much of a difference."
Gacha-kon, pi, pi-pi-pi-pi-pi-pi, vrrrm, gashuun.
"Well, I'm planning to make dual-wield pistols, but I want to make the gun types feel completely different; I want one to be a revolver and the other to be a rapid-fire type."
"Full-auto? Full-auto and handguns don't have that great of a synergy in this game, though... Should we make them paintballs or something?"
"Isn't that just a bean gun? Wait, if you think about it as crushing their vision and sense of smell, isn't that actually pretty viable...?"
"Actually, since you can set the bullet type in the magazine, a pre-charged detachable magazine type has a higher application capability than an integrated magazine mana-reload type, you know."
"Heeh."
Gashuun, gashuun, gashuun, kyuiiiiiiiiiii!
"And with that, it's completed: the Bird-san Series Cluster Smoke Grenade Launcher 'Fogrosso' Type II."
"Isn't that a treaty violation?"
"No, no, it's a cluster-type smoke grenade, you see, perfectly harmless, perfectly harmless."
"Just by changing the composition from smoke to gas, that's a wide-area indiscriminate lethal weapon..."
"In this game, status ailments basically only apply once or twice, so it's relatively safe."
"Don't AoE attack your personal opinions."
Chikikiki, kashun, kasha, kachi, pushushushushushuuuuuuu, ping-pong.
"Yay, completiooooon."
"Ah, you already finished it? I was thinking of giving you a blueprint since we were at it."
"Nah, I'm not really looking for decisive firepower, so this is fine. The name is......... hey, Yo-Gun Maniac, got any good names?"
"Instead of a standalone name, why not make it a manufacturer name? Like Something-100 or something along those lines."
"Sunraku-25 or something?"
"Why 25?"
"The magazine capacity."
"Damn cheap, 25 points. 'Isana', you got any ideas?"
『Equipped with a Knockback Bullet, low-power, Full-Auto......... I propose the 'FF-45'.』
"Flick Finger?"
"It means Forehead Flick."
"......Isn't that actually pretty good?"
"Ah, you actually like it........."
◆
Right now, I had thrown absolutely everything else to the side and was crafting guns in the Leviathan. No, it's just, everything else is such a hassle right now, so I figured maybe I'd just upgrade my weapons around here.........
And just as expected, or rather, exactly as one would assume, I was making two guns using new molding and reinforced molding while receiving advice from Yashirobird, who had been gleefully continuing to develop guns. One is the Flick Finger 45 I just made, and the other one is...
"Wouldn't it be better to just make it with new molding? That thing isn't even that strong against human opponents, you know."
"Even if a hundred people abandon it, I've decided I'll never abandon this Avocado-kun."
That's right, the firearm available in the first layer of the Leviathan, which serves as the very first firearm the modern humanity of this world gets their hands on. And......... it's a disappointing weapon with such utterly pitiful firepower that even if you land a clean hit on a human's head, it doesn't do much damage; one of the Civilian Auxiliary Device mocked as the "Vegetable Series," the "Aguacate"-kun.
"Man, I don't know about that; the bullet speed is fixed, and since it's a magic warhead, if the opponent has high magic resistance it'll just get deflected anyway. I even asked some people in my clan to verify it, but it only puts out damage below that of low-tier magic, you know?"
"Let's see, enhance, enhance..."
I see, so this weapon category is designed so that raising the Amberjack Pass allows you to enhance it into the next rank of weapon. From Civilian to Army, from Army to General, and then VIP...
"Well, sure, earning Score wouldn't be difficult for you since it's just grinding work, Sunraku, but if that's the case, wouldn't it be better to just increase the magazine types for the FF-45 you just made? Even if the firepower is a bit low, if it's a soft-bodied monster, you can just give it piercing properties."
"Heeh, so it can branch out into various things like Army-use or VIP-use..."
"Ah, no good, no good, the Army-use one is a landmine. They put too much emphasis on ease of use, so the firepower is seriously pathetic. I don't even know what it means that the VIP-use one actually has higher firepower, but the VIP-use one has absurdly high maintenance costs in its own right... And the General-use one is seriously underwhelming; it's not garbage, but it's just so mediocre. Well, I made all of them once just to see, though."
"Hey, 'Isana', what is this 'SP Duty'?"
"Ah, that? That is......................... wait a minute, what did you just say?"
Oh? Yashirobird-kun's face just changed color???
『Allow me to explain! The SP Duty Execu-Device is a made-to-order, custom-tuned device conceived by Dr. Setsuna Amatsuki, issued to soldiers of the Special Duty Class who possess enough combat power to stand alone as an exceptional military force!』
"..............."
"I see? It seems it doesn't appear through normal methods, but can you tell me the conditions or something?"
『If you so desire. The Special Duty Execution Device references the usage history of devices belonging to the Civilian, Army, General, and VIP categories, and is unlocked for individuals who meet the Special Duty Regulations standard. To explain it simply, it is intended to serve as a support tool to establish a distinct "Individual" based on the Setsuna Theory for an individual who possesses the true strength befitting Special Duty.』
"Hmm............ And? Let's hear the performance of this 'Guacamole' thing."
『Before that, acquiring and operating a Special Duty Execution Device requires the acquisition of a Special Duty License as a prerequisite. That license is.........』
Someone taps my shoulder. When I look back with a dubious gaze, there stands Yashirobird, sporting a refreshingly bright smile, with a Civilian Sub-Device slung over his shoulder. Seeing him so completely geared up as if he were about to head out on a massive expedition right this second, I also floated a bright smile.
"We're friends, right?"
"Well, we are old gaming buddies, yeah."
"Wanna go on an adventure to the ends of the earth for a bit?"
"Go by yourself, you scrub."
"Daaaaaaamn iiiiitttttttttttt!! I didn't hear anything about a Special Duty usseeeeeeeeeeee!!!!"
Author's Afterword
・SP Duty Execu-Device
In short, it's a made-to-order custom item issued under a plan to gather the Hollywood-action-warrior types slumbering within the disciplined, uniform, and mass-produced human forces—not quite on Wethermon's level, but enough to form a Special A-Team.
Strictly speaking, "Guacamole" (salsa mixed with avocado and various other things) is not the name of the gun itself, but means it is a Guacamole Type. By layering even more customizations on top of this and giving it an original name, it is completed (meaning the official designation becomes Special Duty Execution Device Type: Guacamole "[Name]").
This is done with the intention of counteracting the world's degradation processing against uniform mass production; the system is so thorough that a warning is issued at the time of manufacture if the name overlaps or the appearance is extremely similar to another.
Type: Guacamole is a category that encompasses handgun types in general, and it allows for customizations born from the trial and error of the Gunsmiths of that era......... And, what evolved from this Special Duty use and took shape just before the end of the Divine Age was the very obsession of the Gunsmiths: the seven special magazines, the "Samiel Bullet" series.
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