The Villainess and I, her Zombie
chapter-183

After eating some bland-tasting rations, the group was led to the shooting range where recruits assigned to be the reserves for the gunners' squads were training.

There, one of the instructors showed them three basic types of guns that were used by the Sloth soldiers.

"...each handgun, assault rifle, and a shotgun works thanks to being constantly provided with mana by the user."

The female instructor pointed at the weapons put on display for the southerners to see, while bruiser 97-F was standing by her and observing in silence.

"Are you going to teach us how to use them?"

After listening to the explanation, and seeing the guns fired by the recruits destroying the targets in the distance, the white-haired Corvus asked with sparkling eyes.

"...!"

"..."

The Wraths' group seemed excited about the idea, but the Dandelions couldn't look less interested.

"No."

Still, the instructor simply shook her head from side to side and denied in a calm manner.

"What?! Why not?! Then why were we brought here in the first place?!"

Corvus scoffed and got angry, raising his voice at the calm female instructor.

"I was ordered to simply show you all how those weapons look so that you won't step in front of the gunner. You can look as much as you want but you can't touch anything."

The woman shrugged her shoulders looking down on the agitated white-haired man.

"That is ridiculous! We will need all the power we can get to complete the special quest and you just deny us the best weapons?!"

Corvus did not want to back down.

"...I wouldn't be so keen on trying to use those things..."

Surprisingly enough, the rat-faced man of the Dandelions group voiced his opinion, gathering the attention of the other southerners and even the instructor.

"And why is that?"

Corvus furrowed his brows and turned to the short man.

"You must have heard that some of the Sloth-made weapons are circulating around the whole kingdom, right?"

The rat-faced man sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

Corvus nodded and raised his brow waiting for the man to continue.

"Those things are well known for malfunctioning. When we were young, our village was attacked by monsters."

The rat-faced man squinted motioned at himself and his three companions.

"It just so happened that our village elder got his hands on a gun just like that one."

He said pointing at the shotgun in the middle of the display.

"He was quite proud of it too, even got a proficiency skill for it. But do you know what happened when he needed that piece of junk the most?"

The rat-faced man asked looking the white-haired young man in the eyes.

"That shit exploded, killing him and wounding four other people, causing a lot of panic and confusion that resulted in our village getting overran by the monsters."

The rat-faced man's expression got sharper and more serious, and the rest of the Dandelions clenched their fists after being reminded of the tragedy of the past.

Corvus, Mika, Ti, Cal, and Cri, all flinched and took a step back from the displayed guns even though just a few seconds ago they were all about the idea of trying them out.

"All the weapons from our territory that circulate around the rest of the kingdom, are stolen assets that have entered the market illegally, without any sort of approval, and are mostly faulty equipment smuggled out by insurgents, traitors, or deserters."

The female instructor sighed and explained, glaring at the rat-faced man.

"Not to mention that it's very easy for someone without proper training to overcharge any gun with mana resulting in the gun's malfunction."

She added coldly.

"Devastating, explosive malfunction."

The rat-faced man shrugged his shoulders and smirked.

"That happens only when guns are used by the unprepared common rabble."

Although the instructor tried to keep it together, there was clearly something about the short adventurer that was making her tilted.

"Is that so? Is that why the shooting positions of the recruits are spaced so far from one another? Aren't they better prepared than just some unprepared common rabble?"

The rat-faced man laughed pointing at the very young recruits practicing at safe distance.

"Why don't you tell us how many recruits you lose yearly because of the weapon malfunction during training?"

He asked mockingly.

*WHAM*

"YOU OF ALL PEOPLE HAVE NO RIGHT TO SPEAK ABOUT THAT, YOU DAMNED DESE...!"

"Ma'am...!"

"...!"

The instructor slammed her hands against the table and lashed out at the rat-faced man, but got interrupted and brought back to her senses by the buzzcut boy stepping in her line of sight.

"...ekhm... the order was for me to only show you the guns. Make sure to memorize how they look and never step in front of a Sloth soldier firing one of those at a monster - or you won't survive even a single bullet."

The instructor coughed, straightened her back, and continued as if she didn't just hurt her throat screaming at the short Dandelion.

Although the heated exchange between the two didn't really go anywhere, it did cool down Corvus's eagerness to pick up the new weapon for himself.

Even though the white-haired man was convinced that his LUC stat wouldn't allow for any sort of malfunction, walking around with something that was basically a bomb wasn't something that appealed to him.

"After you're done, bruiser 97-F will lead you to the next area. Until then, you can look, but don't touch ANYTHING."

The female instructor crossed her arms and repeated what she said before, glaring at the rat-faced letting her fury resurface at the end of her sentence.

"Fuck that."

The black-haired elf scoffed.

"No thanks, we've seen enough at our village."

The other male member of the Dandelions made a sour expression and waved his hand dismissively.

All four adventurers went ahead and walked around the displayed guns keeping more than enough distance from them, and lined up behind the buzzcut boy showing their readiness for leaving.

"I-it would be better if we hurry up, right? We only have thirty-two more hours to complete the training..."

The worried, ashen-haired Mika looked at her companions and said in a small voice.

"Yeah. Let's go to the next part."

Corvus agreed with her and approached bruiser 97-F.