FPS 227

Discord and Patreon links are now on the front page of the website. May or may not fix FPS page as well. dunno.

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The banquet celebrating Prince Ark’s birth and coming of age was attended by Eternal Honorary Chancellor Zephanell, who appeared on the public stage for the first time in more than ten years, and he always fought against the disease that undermined his body because he had too much internal magic. With the participation of Prince Khan, who was present, it continued without end until late into the night.

Some people, including Prince Kilik, had left the venue, but most of the Nobles and merchants remained at the venue, enjoying the banquet, which will never come again. I also enjoyed eating with Ashley, enjoying chatting, and enjoying the music played by the band.

However, the dinner party was only enjoyed so far.

Ashley sat on a chair for rest prepared by the wall, and I stood in front of it and looked around.

The name of Daikokuya must have spread quite a bit at tonight’s dinner party. As Chancellor Zephanell intended, this averted everyone’s attention from the fact that the seat of Ashley’s spouse was blank, and captured the awareness of the participants with their interest in Daikokuya. Of course, the visitors were most interested in Prince Ark and his wife, Lapitirica-sama, but the sound collection sensor was picking up the sounds of new visitors who were interested in a different way.

Beyond the delivery entrance for food――this is the place we stopped by before the dinner party started. A waiting room where the Nobles and merchants who came one after another left gifts for Prince Ark. From there, I could hear something that doesn’t seem to be a work sound――When you change the scale of the map floating in your field of vision and project the waiting room, there is one red dot in that room.

Is this person doing something wrong in the waiting room?

“Schwartz, what’s wrong?”

Perhaps noticing my change, Ashley’s left hand grabbed my right hand and called out to me. While putting the dot reflected on the map at the edge of my field of view, I turned to Ashley――.

“Something… might happen.”

“Eh?”

“Let’s go to Chancellor Zephanell. If anything happens――the aim is most likely the Royalty or the Chancellor.”

“Huh?! I, I understand.”

I took Ashley’s hand and headed to the VIP seat where Chancellor Zephanell sat.

“Wait, Schwartz! Why are you even holding hands with my sister!”

When we approached the sofa where the Chancellor was sitting, the first person who noticed us was Sharle-san. Even after the greetings from the Aristocrats and influential merchants were over, Sharle-san must have been quite nervous at the momentum of the Aristocrats and merchants who continued to call out to him.

Contrary to her tone, she seems to be moving her body as if to say that we should come this way as soon as possible.

“What’s wrong, Schwartz, Ashley. Is there still something delicious?”

“No, Your Excellency Chancellor. I saw some movements that were a little worrisome, so just in case, I’ll be by your side――”

The moment I said that, five dots lit up in the waiting room that had been projected in my field of vision, and rapidly approached the venue.

and――.

“Kyaaaa!”

“What is this――”

“E-enemy――”

A scream that seemed to come from a female waiter could be heard throughout the venue, followed by a man’s scream.

[What?]

The Chancellor, the Princes, the Nobles and merchants who were enjoying chatting at the venue noticed something unusual, and all eyes were focused on the loading entrance.

With a violent blow, the loading entrance door blew into the venue.

“Kyaaaa!”

“What’s going on!”

“Knights! Make sure the venue is safe――”

The moment the male waiter who was in charge of security in the hall tried to summon the Knights, the man’s head was instantly melted by the gushing red light, and before the blood was blown off, his neck was burned and he fell down.

Wait, it’s a laser?!

It was a beam of light that could not be thought of as magic――it looked like a laser weapon fired by a sci-fi robot. And I was instantly convinced that my intuition was correct. A cyborg humanoid weapon entered the venue from the back of the loading entrance. Its height is much taller than that of a human, and it is about the height of an adult male. There were five of them

Its entire body is covered in a sharp, scale-like metal suit, and the helmet on its head has two horns.

Its overall form makes you think of a demon, but it holds a rokushaku stick with a handle in the center. I don’t know the material of the stick that extends from both ends of the handle, but if you look at the slightly reddish part—.

When I changed my vision to FLIR mode, I could see that the club part had heat, and that the heat source of the five humanoid weapons that came in one after another showed a bias that was completely different from that of humans. 

After all, it’s neither a human nor a demi-human, nor a magical beast.

When I regained my sight, I could see a man with a strong physique dressed in black standing behind the five humanoid weapons.

At first glance at the black robes, you realize what they really are――Cactus.

The black-clothed man slowly thrusted his right hand forward and could be heard muttering something to the five humanoid weapons.

“Demon Steel Soldier Minions, kill the Crown Prince and Ark, capture Zephanell alive. Kill everyone who gets in your way—Go!”

A familiar tone of voice that I heard somewhere――but rather than its true identity――.

Before thinking about the meaning of the words I barely heard, my body moved――. In order to respond to the two demon steel soldiers who jumped out at the same time as the command of the black costumed man, I jumped in front of the Prince with a slide jump from in front of the Chancellor, instantly conscious of the inventory and summoned it at hand.

Prince Ark was stunned by the sudden intruder and the appearance of a man who had lost his head, and was completely unable to react to the movements of the Demon Steel Soldiers heading towards him. Even if I was able to react, there may have been no way to prevent the attack, but my eyes were glued to the trajectory of the six-foot staff that was swung straight down, and the sound of my back blocking it and the sound of the impact regained my sanity.

“Da,Daikokuya…”

It was the Ballistic Shield that I summoned on the spot that blocked the Demon Steel Soldier’s six-foot club.

[Prince Ark, please step down!]

As soon as I yelled that without looking back, I immediately focused my mind on the next response――summoning a firearm in my right hand to drive away the enemies.

The incoming Demon Steel Soldier jumped over me, who was standing in front of its target, Crown Prince Khan. I aimed my crosshair towards the incoming Demon Steel Soldier, and pulled the trigger the moment it was passing directly above me. An explosion that was completely different from the sound that blew away the delivery port resounded throughout the venue, and I could hear the woman’s scream reflexively, but I ignored it for now.

A 33-30 live ammunition fired from the Winchester M94 held in my right hand caught the Demon Steel Soldier’s abdomen, and the impact pierced the ceiling of the venue and blew it away.

This firearm that was summoned on the spur of the moment, the Winchester M94, A model developed by Winchester, can be considered a masterpiece of lever-action rifles. At the beginning of development, only low-power pistol bullets could be used, but this model made it possible to use powerful rifle bullets..

Its greatest feature is the lever action that ejects the shell and loads the next bullet by moving the ring-shaped loop lever integrated with the trigger guard back and forth. Rotate the gun body around the loop lever to perform cocking――this spin cocking action was quite famous back in my original world.

VMB players all practiced lever action with this spin cocking and operated the Winchester series with only one hand. And it’s the same for me. In order to successfully spin cock while performing VMB’s high trajectory move, we prepared a shorter type M94 called Sawed-off where the barrel is cut short.

The ammo capacity might be low at 7, but with the fully automatic SMG submachine gun and ARF assault rifle, there is the possibility of accidentally shooting at the guests. In this kind of situation, a low-powered handgun wouldn’t even be an option――so naturally, I had no choice but to choose from the semi-auto rifle system.

I rotated the M94 while paying attention to the angle so as not to hit the ballistic shield, spin-load, and immediately push the muzzle to the side of the demon steel soldier who is gathering strength within its rokushaku club in front of me and pulled the trigger.

The moment I saw the Demon Steel Soldier knocked away followed by the sound of gunfire again, I turned around――Prince Ark hadn’t backed down yet. Lapitirica-sama was also slow to move because of the dress. However, contrary to the movements of the merchants fleeing the sudden attack, the Nobles at the venue rushed to the VIP seats.

“Protect the Crown Prince and the Prince!”

“The Knights are still here!”

Duke Barga and Earl Crude spoke up. And then there were the appearances of the young Nobles as well. I let go of the Ballistic Shield, grabbed Lapitirica’s right arm and pulled her off the sofa. If it’s Prince Ark’s clothes, there should be no problem as long as he starts moving.

“Hurry down!”

I shouted while my right hand spun, cocking the rifle. I then turned back to the attackers, aimed at the center of the three bodies that had not yet started to move, and pulled the trigger. However, the Demon Steel Soldier standing in the center jumped up at that moment, dodging the gunfire and at the same time jumping at me.

“Vee!”

Did Duke Barga’s words come first, or did Duke Barga’s exclusive bodyguard, Vee, who was dressed in black leather armor and hid her face with an eye mask and face veil, cut down the Demon Steel Soldier in the air first? I don’t know. But the moment I heard the voice, the Demon Steel Soldier was slammed to the floor.

And then, the guard Knights rush in from the doors in the venue. I thought that the situation had turned around, but on the MAP in my field of vision, I also caught red dots that seemed to be black-costumed man’s reinforcements.

“The venue is― is completely surrounded?”

The man in black seemed to smile as if he heard me mutter.

“There’s no escape, map seller. Any pebbles—all of you and that female fox that gets in the way of our supremacy will be ground to dust.”