C148: The Festival Begins (2)
"What…?"
The owner of the shooting range was embarrassed and couldn't speak properly.
'I couldn't see the posture properly!'
When he first saw him, he thought it was a pretentious man. Of course, he had to admit that Rudger had charisma compared to others. However, as soon as he saw a beautiful woman next to him, such thoughts disappeared as if they had been washed away.
He is…the enemy of men.
'Honestly, I didn't expect it.'
It was a shooting experience center made for fun, but it felt like his stomach was twisted when he saw people who didn't know how to hold the gun say it's easy.
Especially for a magic teacher, aren't they the kind of people who sit in front of the desk and stick to their pens?
He heard that he was a soldier, but even if he was a wizard from the military, he would only serve comfortably as an officer for about a year or two. At least most of the wizards he saw when he was active were those who couldn't do field work.
Looking at his face, he had white skin and a sharp jawline, just from that it looked like Rudger had never done any hard work.
The owner of the shooting range judged so but what happened after surprised him.
'What the hell is it?'
He couldn't believe it or maybe he didn't want to believe it, actually.
When he saw him standing leisurely after hitting the target, he was filled with anger.
"For a teacher, you have a good posture, but it's a coincidence that you got it right. Will you be able to get all of these?"
Rudger glanced at the owner, who shouted proudly, and then took another posture. This time, it was not a grip with one hand, but a proper posture and the owner was perplexed at the very natural behavior.
'That's a proper posture.'
Shortly thereafter, Rudger pulled the trigger.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The rubber bullets were shot in an instant and properly popped the balloons one at a time. Since it was made by remodeling a bolt-action gun, Rudger naturally pulled the bolt every time he fired the gun and pulled out the model shell.
"Click! Click! Pang!"
Shoot, pull the hook, load it, and shoot again.
Not only the owner but also Selina and the students watched the scene without breathing.
In an instant, Rudger, who ran out of bullets, handed the gun to the owner staring at him with a blank face.
"There's nothing left to shoot."
"How can a wizard……."
"Just."
Rudger did in a moderate amount. Of course, he was able to unfold it because he had experience using a rifle. When he was a mercenary in the kingdom of Utah, his main weapons were guns.
'But my skills aren't rusty.'
Rudger, who had revived his old sense for the first time in a long time, was proud of his skills.
The owner shouted.
"Not yet! Not yet! This is the beginner's section! If you really know how to shoot, you should be able to do the veteran section!"
At the same time, isn't it just opening the door next to the experience center and guiding them to a large place?
Unlike bursting balloons in a narrow space for beginners, the veteran shooting range boasted a fairly large size.
The owner salivated and shouted.
"50m to the target! It's a distance that's hard for a regular person to hit! Will you be able to do it?"
In the target area, there were disks marked in red, which were smaller than human fists and since they were 50 meters away only dots could be seen.
Selina shouted, "This is unfair," but the owner did not step down. Rather, he even threw a provocation with his arms folded.
"Hahaha! If you're scared, you can leave!"
The owner smiled cheerfully with confidence that he would never succeed.
Rudger looked at several firearms on one wall and chose one of them. Compared to the bolt action rifle used a while ago, the headboard and gun line were shorter.
"Lever action? Are you going to use that?"
"I like this."
"Hmm. Whatever you want! After all, this is by no means a comfortable place!"
The owner was confident that Rudger would not succeed this time but Rudger didn't feel the need to indulge in that attitude.
'I came all the way here, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to give it a shot.'
Rudger took a gun and prepared himself while other people passing by were curious and started to look.
Rudger's standing still with a gun was more like a soldier than a magic teacher. Nevertheless, the combination of sophisticated clothes and long black hair created a strange atmosphere.
Rudger moved.
"Bang!"
The gun was pointed at the target at some point but it was faster to hear the sound of air bursting in the ears than to check the target with the eyes and when they looked the scene of the target 50m away falling was playing.
"You hit it!"
50m may feel short, but in fact, a target as small as a human fist at 50m away looks like a dot. He didn't even aim at it for a long time but shot it right away, so it was a shooting skill that was close to a miracle.
Rudger did not stop there. He immediately reloaded the lever action rifle he was holding with one hand.
Spin cocking was a technique to hold the lever and turn the gun to load the gun with only the weight of the gun.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The trigger was pulled immediately after the reload and every time the sound rang out, the distant targets fell one by one. The interval was so short that people thought the targets fell almost at the same time.
When the last target collapsed and there was nothing left to shoot, Rudger lowered the gun. The people who gathered and watched took a breath that stopped then.
"Wow! That's amazing! Did you just see that?!"
"Is he really a teacher? Are teachers usually picked based on their shooting skills?"
"It's also Mr. Rudger!"
The owner closed his eyes tightly at the cheers of the people and couldn't help but admit it.
'Amazing.'
At first, he couldn't believe it, but the moment he saw Rudger shooting, those thoughts disappeared as if they were washed away. Rather, he fell in love with his perfect shooting posture and reloading.
He was absolutely flawless.
"I admit it."
The owner bowed his head. Rudger was qualitatively different from the wizards he had ignored so far.
The charisma he exuded was not just an imitation to capture the atmosphere, but the natural appearance of a predator.
"I guess I've been off the scene for too long. I can't believe I didn't recognized such a talented person."
"It was fun after a long time."
"I'm glad you liked it. I met a talented person after a long time, and you got the maximum score so take the prize."
Saying so, what the owner gave Rudger was a huge stuffed doll close to the size of a real person. The doll resembled a dog with black fur, and Rudger thought he'd seen it somewhere.
"Our store's special product! It's a super-sized doll! This is a limited edition stuffed toy handmade by a famous designer from a large doll maker in the Empire!"
When the owner handed over the doll, Rudger accidentally received it. He thought it was quite big when the owner was holding a doll, but when he hugged it, he was bigger than he imagined.
Still, the owner's words that it is the best product were not false, and the texture was quite good.
'No, more than that, this doll…….'
Rudger asked the owner just in case.
"What's the model of this doll?"
"Oh, that? It was made after the Beast of Gévaudan who was active in the past in the Kingdom of Durman."
The Beast of Gévaudan? Hearing that, Rudger wondered if he was serious. However, when checked the doll in his hands he thought it looked like it.
'I thought I've seen you somewhere before, and you look similar to Hans.'
By the way, did he say that he was modeled after the Beast of Gévaudan? Can they make something like that into a doll?
When Rudger gave such a questioning look, the owner nodded as if he understood.
"The doll maker is a geek. When he visited the museum of the Kingdom of Durman once, he said that he was inspired to make it by seeing the body of a monster stuffed there.
"So he made this? How many?"
"No, that's the only one. He said he was proud of it as his masterpiece, but people said they hated it and they passed it on to each other until it got here."
That is why it has now become the first prize at the festival.
They put up a doll that others don't want as a prize?
Rudger asked just in case.
"Then, isn't this practically just passing over now?"
"Oh! It was a fair game! You deserve it!"
"No, I mean……."
"This is yours now! Take it! You can give it to someone else!"
It's right to pass it on.
"Wow, that's great! It's a really cute doll!"
Just in time, Selina shouted when she saw the monster doll held by Rudger.
It's cute? Rudger was seriously concerned that Selina's standard of cuteness might have been severely damaged.
Of course, the doll did not imitate the Beast of Gévaudan, but it was more like a moderately round form. Even so, isn't it a little strange to say that the monster that terrorized a country is cute?
Aidan approached with his eyes shining as Rudger seriously agonized inside.
"Wow! Teacher, you're amazing! You hit all those targets!"
"Is it Aidan? Come to think of it, you were going to shoot, too. What kind of prize did you aim for?"
"The one you're holding."
This one? Rudger was quite embarrassed to see the Beast of Gévaudan doll he was holding.
At that gaze, Aidan smiled awkwardly and said.
"Tracy, who happened to find the doll while passing by, looked like she really wanted it."
"Hey, Aidan! When did I do that?"
Tracy blushed as she was embarrassed and shouted!
Rudger felt a certain sense of crisis since Tessie wanted this but just at that moment, Rudger's sight saw Rene and Erendir, who had discovered this place.
'I can ask those two.'
Rudger approached the two with the doll in his hand.
Rene and Erendir saw Rudger's amazing shooting until a while ago, and felt a strange pressure seeing Rudger who was slowly approached them with a huge doll in its arms.
"Rene, Erendir."
"What?"
"What's the matter?"
"Does this doll really looks cute?"
Rudger asked with a serious expression on his face and the two also answered seriously.
"Yes, it's so cute!"
"Maybe it looks a little cute? But what kind of doll is it? I don't know why, but my body feels cold.…."
Rudger was quite shocked to hear the two's reaction.
"That……"
Most people who have seen this doll so far said it was cute. At this point, Rudger was worried that his aesthetic sense might actually be wrong.
"……I see."
"……?"
He suddenly approached them and asked if the doll was cute, they said yes and he left. What is it? Was he trying to show off his doll?
Rudger, who actually held the doll, forced it to Aidan.
"Huh? Teacher?"
"Take it, Aidan."
"Oh, are you giving this to me?"
"I don't need it so you can have it."
It was an unnecessary interaction for Rudger, but Aidan shouted with joy.
"Tracy, look at this! I got the doll! You'll finally be able to hug you when you sleep at night!"
"You idiot! Speak quietly! Do you have to tell everyone that?!"
Looking at the two people who were already noisy, Rudger thought to himself that this was youth.
"Oh, that's too bad. I wanted that doll, too."
Selina wiggled her fingers regretfully at the doll that fell into Tracy's hands.
"I should have given it to Miss Selina."
"No, I'm afraid I can't help it. I think it met a good owner because the students were so happy."
Tracy blushed and screamed at Aidan. Considering that she was angry at Aidan, she was hugging the monster doll Aidan gave her like a precious object.
Selina was watching the scene with a pleased eye.
"Do you like it that much?"
"Isn't that enough to see the children smiling?"
"Because the children are smiling……."
She was too young to call them kids, in fact their age gap with Selina wasn't big. But to Selina, even her grown-up students may look as cute as her children.
Rudger looked at Selina and thought she was really different from him. She is sentimental, smiles well, and is kind to everyone so she was a good teacher unlike himself, who couldn't protect the children's laughter.
"Then let's move on."
He opened my mouth with the intention of resuming the patrol before I was immersed in useless sentiments but someone approached Rudger.
'Who is it?'
It wasn't just a passerby, but the person who approached him clearly knew him.
It was an old man in his 60s with short gray hair. Although he was old, he had few wrinkles on his skin, so he actually looked younger than if he dyed his hair.
"Haha. When I heard the name at first I thought it was a person with the same name, but I saw from a distance and knew at first glance that it was you."
His hand, which naturally touched his shoulder, showed a caring or affectionate feeling toward the other person.
"Yeah. How long has it been?"
He's been pretending to know someone he has never seen before.