Inside was a hall with dozen shooting lanes, many sandbags in far end of room. The entire room is made of reinforce metal and glass to prevent any accident.
“Oh my god I never see so many guns before” Josh said as he rushes to the gun booth with human staff standing.
“Sorry kid only a person who have gun license is allow to rent a gun. You are free to use your own MAM or magic but if you want to shoot magic Magus outdoor area would fit you better.” the staff speak knowing a bird that can’t pull a trigger can never get a gun license.
“Can I at least touch it?”
“No”
“What if...”
“No”
Bill who was hoping that he would just test a few glyphs and quicky left before anyone noticed is now assault with eye of 7 people here. One of them just happen to be from his class too.
“Deacon? What are you doing here?”
“I always go shooting to sharpen my sense. What are you doing here?” he points at 5 non-human behind Bill whom he remembers from class.
“I just come here to test my MAM and They want to watch”
“Cool I can’t wait to see too”
‘Great’
“winchester?” Calamity word surprise Deacon who is holding a rifle.
“Ooh, you know this gun? Calamity right?”
“model 88”
“That right, do you fire one before?”
“Yes, but I didn’t have a license.”
“That too bad, I would love to see how your aim but Danny would kill me if I let anyone who doesn’t have gun license hold a gun.” Deacon looks at a gun staff who is keeping an eye on everyone here.
“Well let’s do it Bill” Josh now turns to the only entertainment left since he is not allowed to touch anything in here.
‘Here goes nothing’
Bill put on the glove in his left hand and slide a glyph of fire into a slot at the wrist.
This glove was originally made by his father who used it as a weapon to fight in a war so unlike other MAM that is design just to convert magic to power electronic it also has a small barrel at the top hand to shoot a small pellet in case the MAM pistol run out of magic or enemy get in close combat.
‘I brought a BB to use as ammo hope it will work’
Bill standing in one of the lanes hold his hand out and aim at the sandbag head. He clutches his hand to trigger a release.
In that moment a path inside the glyph is complete and energy from a core rush to gather around one BB that in firing position, it forms into a fire element according to glyph at the center. All of this happen in less than a second as a BB is fire out into a small fireball at the sandbag.
The BB hit the sandbag and pierces right through and hit the wall behind and fall out of sight into a hole where they trap bullet that might bounce back. The fire then starts to spread from the spot as it engulfs the entire sandbag.
Bill hand froze midair at the sight of burning sandbag.
‘It works...so this is power.’
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“Can MAM do that?” said Biscuit.
“The fire seems more powerful than normal what did you do to the glyph?” Calamity asked.
“Glyph? Nah this guy has a B class core that why the pellet was so powerful.” said Deacon.
Calamity looks unsatisfied with the answer but didn’t ask further.
The gun staff is the only one who doesn’t seem to care as he glances up to check everyone before go back to read his magazine.
Maybe other reason that people are surprise is because a sandbag that on fire is not one from Bill’s Lane.
The panel above the fire then open as a white gas blast out and snuff it out.
“Your MAM is ever better than I thought but you could really use some work on your aim” Deacon hit Bill with his elbow.
“In my defend this thing does not have a front sight to begin with. It wasn’t supposed to be use in long range any way.”
“Can I try it?”
Calamity got a MAM from Bill and found his hand is a little too big for human glove still he takes aim and hit the mark right at the head.
“...nice shot” Bill compliment to evade the smile Deacon is aiming his way.
“If you want, I can teach you how to shoot, after you get a gun license that is.”
“I think I’ll stick being just a mechanic”
Bill looks at the price tag of a guns in showcase, most are over 30,000 nil. Bullet are sold separately.
‘Third class citizen have no right to bear arm. Beside who have money to waste when one could spend on food. I’ll adjust my glyph so it's not a fire hazard later’
Eirian and Amy keep their silence at the power of human tool that they thought were mere toy when compare to real magic while Biscuit ear jump every time other gun is shot nearby.
For Eirian he must now reconsider Bill role in a team since he can now contribute more than just help with knowledge of MAM and glyph.
“Do you want to try too?” Bill turns to Eirian who is the only one left in the group who have a hand to wear it.
‘I don’t like the arrogance way he sees the world but it is properly better to stay on his good side since I’ll have to study with him for a few more years.’
“Thank you Bill” Eirian accepts a glove from Bill and inspect a glyph circle on the palm before put it on and shoot.
He didn’t hit any sandbag.
“If you want, I can show you how to shoot one of these” Deacon holds up his rifle and aim at the sandbag.
“Thank for the offer but I’ll have to decline. I don’t really like gun or any weapons of war really.”
“Oh ok” Deacon taken back a bit.
“No offended you know I’m just had bad memory with it” said Eirian but he didn’t explain further.
“No no I understand. You are an Amiel, magic is properly way better than these guns anyway.” Deacon taps his gun.
“Something like that.”
after awkward silent Eirian offer “So... who hungry? My treat.” he still didn’t get a chance to treat everyone for a dinner yet.
Bill shamelessly raises his hand.
Everyone struggles to hold their smile at Bill as they head out together.
*****
At Mercurius shop Sagax brings a cart of paper back to Bernays after a long day of being interrogate since a lot of their staff present at stadium when the bomb go off.
“You done well getting those questionnaire back” said Bernays looking over some of the paper.
“One more thing” said Sagax after everyone walk out.
“What is it”
“There was this one wolf, Calamity. He is Bill’s friend”
Bernays look up with surprise when Bill name come up.
“He is not normal...maybe even dangerous. We might need to keep an eye on him.”
“Someone caught an eye of my Sagax?”
Sagax narrow his eyes but Bernays don’t hide how much he enjoy teasing his loyal wolf.
“You worry too much about everything. I can't even fly alone if I listen to you but he must be quite special to caught your attention.”
“I can’t gauge how deep his Ki is. He is intentionally hiding it...if he didn’t raise his hand to get the questionnaire I might not even noticed there is something wrong.”
“So he strong? So what?”
“He didn’t participate in Numenus” Sagax give serious answer.
“...maybe he don’t like to fight?” Bernays feel like he have this conversation before.
“A wolf that train himself so hard he have Ki at that age and doesn’t like to fight? Even know how to control it? Do you have any idea how rare Ki is?”
“Son of some great clan luck out with Ki since birth?”
“You are not listening I said he is hiding it. He can control his Ki. This is not some lazy noble pup.”
“Fine keep an eye on him if you want but I think I’ll just ask Bill about him if there is any sign of problem” Bernays choose to ignore Calamity for now. There are other people who worry him more.
“...very well.”
“You are not thinking of abandon your post now that a scary puppy show up?” Bernays extend his wing to cast long shadow.
“I’ll always honor my contact even if you trick me into it”
“Come on you know that was a fair contact”
Sagax shut a door behind him.