The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 121

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 121

“Taking measurements for a mage gun?”

“Yeah.”

Rita extended her hand obediently while hiding her excitement. Olivia continued her nagging throughout the process of meticulously measuring and recording the dimensions of various parts of her hand.

“After Gid cleaned up the situation and told me about your condition, I was really going crazy. How long has it been since you died and returned like that, and you’re already putting holes in your body? There’s a limit to being reckless, you really…”

“Sorry… I’ll be more careful from now on, really.”

“Yeah right, as if you would. You heard that Sera is coming for National Foundation Day, right? You better prepare yourself, she’s going to give you a proper lecture for my share too.”

The question of whether there was more nagging to be done when she was already in the middle of it rose to the tip of her tongue, but Lillieta kept her mouth shut and humbly accepted Olivia’s criticisms.

Still, after talking with Gid and reflecting on what happened after her return, she had realized some things, so it felt less unfair now.

Olivia’s profanity-laced criticism only ended after the measurements were finished. She opened her notebook and scribbled something while asking Rita.

“Should I make the mage gun similar to your old one? Are there any additional functions you need?”

“Since my Oath aptitude has increased, could you boost the output?”

“That’s a given. Anything else?”

“Hmm…”

Rita pulled out Silvergrass from her bracelet and looked it over from various angles before extending it toward Oli, grip first.

“Could you possibly make the appearance as similar to this as possible?”

“In revolver shape? Why?”

“It’s Dad’s collectible, and he really loved seeing me use this. Plus, Grace’s name was derived from this gun’s name too. Since Grace first dwelled in this, I think this form would be familiar to her.”

“Hmm… In short, you’ve grown attached to it.”

“Functionally, the revolver had unexpected advantages too. Since the structure is simple, it’s easy to modify in the field, and it fires well even when the bullets are processed to slightly different sizes. Since mage gunners have almost no bullet restrictions, the revolver’s biggest drawback of limited ammunition capacity isn’t a problem either.”

“True, since you can process and load bullets directly into the chamber, you’d hardly feel the revolver’s disadvantages. Actually, for a mage gunner of your level, a simple revolver that you can handle and modify as you please might be better than a precise and sensitive pistol with many functions…”

Olivia, who had been turning Silvergrass around in her hands, suddenly raised the corner of her mouth with interest.

“Rita, how about I just modify this into a mage gun?”

“Huh? Is that possible?”

“It’s not easy, but… it would be similar difficulty to moving Grace, who recognizes this as her body, to a new gun and getting her settled. Instead of the labor of moving Grace, I’d bear the hardship of modification.”

“Ah.”

“If I maintain the basic revolver structure and just add mage gun functions… I’d only need to engrave magic circles, so it would be much faster than making a mage gun from scratch. This era lacks metal processing technology, so producing mage gun bodies takes a long time. Would you believe it took 2 years to supply ten mage guns to Tritoma?”

“Ten guns in 2 years? That’s pretty extreme.”

“The production process is more established now so it’s not quite that bad, but custom orders instead of standard specs take at least 3 months even when fast. But if I’m modifying this, I just need to grind myself engraving magic circles, so it could be done in as little as 2 weeks, or within a month at most. Faster would be better, right?”

“Of course! You really are the best, Oli.”

“The problem is you won’t be able to use this in the meantime. You caused all that trouble even with Grace, but without even the trouble-prevention device, Rita, you…”

Olivia’s eyes narrowed. Rita swore with a serious expression.

“I absolutely won’t cause any trouble and will stay put quietly. I can’t go anywhere anyway with my leg like this. I can’t even walk for a week and running is forbidden for at least 3 weeks.”

“…Come to think of it, now when our crazy matan who threw away survival instincts is tied to a bed instead of running around everywhere might indeed be the best time for modification.”

Olivia snorted and put away Silvergrass, then pulled out a blackish pistol from her basket and handed it to Rita.

“This is a Tritoma standard mage gun I brought as a sample. Use this at least while you don’t have Silvergrass.”

“Wow, thanks!”

“It’s a regulated product with output limited to safe levels, so don’t even think about doing crazy things with this.”

“I won’t, I said I won’t. I’m just going to rest in bed.”

“How can I believe you’ll rest quietly?”

Olivia let out an obvious sigh.

Even though she said her mindset had changed somewhat, Rita knew she couldn’t be trusted due to the karma she’d built up, so she just laughed it off.

Oli, who had been looking at her with displeasure, pulled out a hand mirror from her pocket and offered it.

“Take this too. Since you don’t have Grace, you should at least have a communicator.”

“Isn’t this yours? What about you?”

“I have another one at home.”

She spoke curtly and put the basket on her lap, then rummaged through it.

“And since our troublemaker matan might have useless thoughts from boredom, I’ll give you homework while you’re recovering.”

“Homework all of a sudden?”

“Ta-da.”

Olivia pulled out a bundle of papers and waved them around with a bright smile.

“This is homework that came about thanks to you spectacularly landing Twilight on that Crawler. What do you think it is?”

“…Battle result report? Or damage compensation claim?”

“Your imagination is quite bleak, friend. These are letters from Tritoma’s mage gunners.”

“Huh? What letters?”

“I taught all the current Special Military Order mage gunner kids. But I’m not a mage gunner, I’m a mage, right? As a mage gun creator, and having experience watching you, I know basic theory… but how would I know what actual combat is like for mage gunners? It’s all superficial.”

She clicked her tongue and looked at Rita with an expression like a cat seeing fish.

“So our mage gunner kids have been quite starved all this time… but oh my, a matan who shoots Twilight appeared before their eyes? Good heavens, they found out such a mage gunner exists? And that person is going to be their commanding Beacon? Now all the Tritoma mage gunners are in a frenzy. The 3rd squad kids got so excited they spilled everything.”

“Ah…”

“When I stopped by Beacon Garden to get the sample mage gun, they swarmed like ants and grabbed me asking if there was any way to meet you, or if I could at least ask you something for them, making all sorts of fuss. Since it wasn’t just one or two, I told them to organize their questions on paper and I’d deliver them all together. So they wrote what looked like fan letters? That’s this.”

She plopped the bundle of letters on top of the blanket Rita was covered with.

“They all seem very curious about you. You’ll be bored lying around, so look at these and write replies, friend.”

Letters from juniors. She never expected to receive something like this when it wasn’t even the Ash-covered Era. Rita looked down at the bundle of letters with curious eyes and nodded.

“Yeah, I will. It’ll be interesting homework.”

“Oh, but there’s something I couldn’t mention before…”

Oli hesitated and trailed off, then rummaged through the bundle of letters. Then she picked out two or three and held them up so the names on the envelope fronts were clearly visible.

Lillieta flinched as soon as she read those names. Olivia gave a bitter smile.

“How about it, are there names that naturally come to mind?”

“…No way.”

Like Olivia and Oli, there were names that automatically came to mind upon reading them.

Pascal’s Children who had flocked to Beacon Autonomous Unit like finding a lighthouse in fog. The newcomers she had personally trained and taught.

Names she had carved one by one on tombstones she made herself after the Kraken subjugation. Names of those who were once part of Beacon.

Rita’s face went blank. Oli stroked the names written on the letter envelopes with slow fingers and said.

“They didn’t return like us.”

“Then?”

“These kids weren’t missing like you, and they never became blank like me, Gid, or Ethan, and they weren’t asleep for years like Sera, Is, or Luca.”

“You mean these kids weren’t summoned by Pascal at all?”

“Right, but these kids are definitely the ones we knew during the ash era. Their faces are very similar, and their personalities, abilities, and habits are exactly the same. There were records of each of them in the hero chronicles too.”

Olivia lowered her eyes.

“While searching for you and looking for other returnees, we scoured the entire continent and found them. People who were ‘Pascal’s Children’ in the future.”

“…!”

“Rita, actually there are many such people among Tritoma’s special agents. You didn’t have a chance to look closely so you didn’t know, but there are ‘Pascals’ you’d recognize immediately if you met them. We recruited them whenever we found them.”

Lillieta opened her mouth. Oli sighed quietly and hesitantly added.

“Among them, um, well, there’s Max too. Max Pascal, I mean.”

At that name, Rita froze completely.

Around age 13, a new Pascal’s Child who joined the squad with Oli. The name of a blonde boy who was quick and kind.

The blonde hair she saw at age 14, rolling around inside a Mimic’s mouth.

Rita Pascal doesn’t properly remember the period from after returning alone from that battle until Gid lost his right eye.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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