Isis leaned closer. "This feels like an important mission."
Naziya curled her lips. "It's just a routine task, nothing special. For the past month, our guild has been sending a few hunters over every few days to 'clean up' the area. This time it just happened to be our turn.
The point is to make the Monsters nearby realize this area has become human territory, and they'll get beaten up if they don't leave.
That way, when caravans start passing through later, they won't encounter any danger."
"Sounds somewhat like guard patrol duty? If that's the case, is there any difference between sending two people versus four?" Altaïr asked uncertainly after hearing this.
"How could there be no difference?" Jara slapped the table, taking a bite of his steamed bun. "With more people, we can complete the reconnaissance faster, deal with invading Monsters quicker, and return sooner!"
"And get assigned another mission faster, right?" Naziya added weakly.
Jara's plump double chin trembled. "Ahem, maybe you two shouldn't come with us after all. We'll take our time by ourselves."
Altaïr: "..."
"Don't listen to these two old hands spouting nonsense, meow." Chef Meow brought over another steamer basket of steamed buns. "If you want to help, after eating, have them take you two to the district supervisor and let him assign you tasks, meow."
Isis, holding a steamed bun in her mouth, nodded vigorously. She was happy to follow Chef Meow's advice because Chef Meow was an elder she respected.
—--
On the Airship, Altaïr, Isis, Jara, Naziya, four people, plus Sajji the Felyne, five pairs of eyes exchanged silent glances.
After enjoying a full meal at Chef Meow's place earlier, they had gone to find the district supervisor.
Whether it was because the supervisor was too busy with current work to think much about it, worried that Altaïr and Isis were too young and unfamiliar with the work as outsiders prone to causing trouble, or for some other reason,
the supervisor didn't assign them new tasks. Instead, he had Jara and Naziya, the "local old hands" as Chef Meow called them, lead them, forming a temporary team to carry out the reconnaissance mission together.
He also urged them to go quickly and return soon, even arranging a small Airship for them. A trip that would normally take at least three to four days could now be completed overnight.
They would rest on the Airship at night, land during the day, and begin the reconnaissance mission immediately, without wasting any time.
This made Jara and Naziya miserable. According to their original plan, wasting some time on the round trip and taking it slow during reconnaissance would have stretched this mission to about ten days.
By then, Val Habar's migration would have been halfway through, and they'd most likely be assigned relatively easier tasks like escort duty or scouting.
But now, with four people plus a cat, it would take less than two or three days to cover the entire target area. Combined with Airship transport both ways and traveling at night, they could return in at most three days.
At that point, it would be strange if the district supervisor didn't hastily assign them another mission.
Thus, the two looked at Altaïr and the others with some resentment. "Ahem, so..." Feeling somewhat awkward, Altaïr searched for a topic. "Sajji, what's that you're carrying? Is it your new creation?"
"This meow?" Sajji had actually been waiting for someone to ask. Seeing Altaïr speak up, he happily pushed the large wooden barrel in front of him and was about to begin his explanation.
"That thing is called the 'Rathalos Model-01.' You could think of it as a sort of portable artillery piece... little Sajji's labor of love.
Originally, he wanted to make it into a tank and even drew up blueprints for it. But since he couldn't produce the tracks or the drive engine for a tank yet, he started with the weapon part first."
"Meow...!" Sajji cried out angrily. He had been keeping it a secret to surprise everyone and had barely held back until now, only to have Naziya spill the beans.
This was even more frustrating than a screw stripping while tightening it, meow!
Seeing Sajji on the verge of tears, Naziya, realizing she had spoken out of turn, quickly tried to smooth things over. "Ah! But I remember your prototype was supposed to be in a case, right? How did it end up as a barrel?"
Of course, she knew the reason; Sajji had explained his concept to her, but this was her way of giving him a chance to speak.
Noticing the others looking over, Sajji sniffled and composed himself. "It was originally in a case for easy transport and storage, meow.
But if we're taking it into the field for combat, a case isn't practical, meow. Combined with an oak barrel like this, it can be rolled along on the road and deployed easily when it's time to fight, meow."
"What does it look like when deployed? Show us quickly!" Isis appeared curious and excited.
Compared to Altaïr's slight smile, Jara's distracted gaze, and Naziya's indifferent expression, Isis's genuine curiosity provided Sajji with the emotional validation he needed.
He couldn't be bothered with the others now. He stood the large barrel upright and pushed it in front of Isis. "Watch closely, meow!"
With that, Sajji unlatched the lock on the top of the barrel. The barrel split vertically down the middle, with the front section remaining upright like a gun shield, while the rear part fell to the ground, seemingly serving as a spade or stabilizer.
He retrieved the barrel from inside, screwed it into place, and made a few clicking adjustments. In less than fifteen seconds, a portable artillery platform was fully assembled.
"Wow!" Isis ran her hand over the gleaming barrel, looking utterly fascinated.
But what Sajji didn't know was that she was thinking, My barrel is still bigger, after all!
Altaïr also moved closer, measuring the thickness of the barrel with his fingers and examining the threaded connection. Curiously, he asked, "A segmented barrel? Won't that cause it to explode?"
Naziya instinctively started to explain but was cut off by Sajji's sharp "Meow!"
"This isn't a traditional artillery piece, meow. Its firing mechanism is actually closer to a ballista or a mortar, meow.
The range isn't very long, and the kinetic energy isn't that powerful either. It mainly relies on explosive shells for damage, meow!"
"Explosive shells...?"
"Here it is, meow!" Sajji pulled a shell about thirty centimeters long from his pack. The shell was streamlined in shape, and its casing appeared to be made from some kind of nut. "The shell is made from Blastnuts and gunpowder, meow. The projectile speed might not be that fast, but its power should be something to look forward to, meow!"
Naziya chimed in with a laugh, "It's essentially similar to the Sticky Ammo used by Gunners, though the standard Sticky Ammo isn't loaded with this much gunpowder.
Sajji was worried his Rathalos prototype wasn't sturdy enough, so he reduced the amount of propellant. That would lower the shell's kinetic energy, so to make up for the power loss, he increased the explosive charge."
Clearly, as a teacher, Naziya held Sajji's creation in quite high regard.
Sajji put his hands on his hips, "Calling it a prototype, but it's really still a trial version, meow. We didn't bring too many shells this time, meow.
After field testing, I'll make improvements to gradually turn it into a proper tank cannon, meow! Then, by adding an engine and tracks, it'll become a real tank, meow!
Through this process, I'll slowly gain experience and step by step add components like airbags for flight. One day, it'll evolve into a Battle Airship, meow!"
Altaïr was somewhat stunned.
If before coming to Val Habar, Sajji's declaration about building a Battle Airship could only be seen as a child's lofty ambition, now he had a clear and definite development path. This path might change and adjust as he grew, but at least it was no longer a vague fantasy.
In the foreseeable future, perhaps we really would see this guy piloting a Battle Airship, bombarding Monsters with relentless fire.
-------------------
TL note: Hey everyone,
Sorry for the inconsistent updates lately. I'm swamped with a project right now, so I have less time to read ahead and make sure the translation quality is where I want it.
Once the project's done, I'll bump it up to 5 chapters a day to make up for it.
Thanks for your patience!