Ritsuka saw a gun laying on ground and took it.
"Wait! Now I see it. Master Chan, it's a flintlock pistol?."
"Yeah, pretty old model."
"Isn't it was too old model to use?"
Firearms are not popular here because they fell short to kill monsters and at a higher level, one could even dodge bullets.
Though one can take the risk of using guns against lower levels, monsters and beasts generally have a tough outer layer that blocks much of the damage.
So people mostly use mana and aura to sharpen their weapons and kill the monster.
"I remember reading somewhere that flintlock pistols have 5 shots. I don't know whether this applies here." Aoko says as Ritsuka Analysing it.
"It's shame people aren't using guns or developing them correctly to use them" Ritsuka says as he knows how powerful guns are.
"Well, people believe more in faith of goddess blessings in fight than guns" jalter point out the problem.
It wasn't main cause but most people would receive blessings from church to fight on their own as a warrior.
The problem is bullets or bullet powder. Which aren't powerful in fight against demons or beasts.
Ofcourse it can change in future once they know the value of real gun which can do damage.
No one in past years tried to improve guns. If someone did , many villages and innocent lives could be saved in past.
They heard the clattering of grooves and saw five people coming towards him riding on the horse. He could discern their identity with a single glance.
Seeing them Ritsuka put his pistol back.
'Whether the police in his previous world or the Public Safety officer of this world, all of them enter the crime scene after everything is over.'
'The only thing they rescue is dead bodies.'
Jalter Cursed them as she hated those guys.
One of them, noticing current situation, jumped off the horse and disappeared.
Ritsuka eyes widened seeing the man disappearing out of nowhere.
Suddenly hot air crashed into his ear and Ritsuka turned his head to find a man standing beside him while scanning Ritsuka with sparkling eyes.
Ritsuka was almost scared to death seeing the man appearing like a ghost and asked…
"What the hell?"
The man as if oblivious to Ritsuka's question spoke"I cannot believe you defeated that thing. I mean this was easy prey for the awakened but seeing your shape even if you're awakened, you don't look like one."
"Are you making fun of me?"
"No, I'm spitting facts."
"Hello Guard, it was me to killed it. Not him."
"What?"
"Yes it was her. Do you think this skinny can kill it." Jalter says as she didn't like how this guy bothering Ritsuka.
"I see. I got. I mean he had those sharp eyes. I thought he did it. Maybe he used to kill before."
Ritsuka could only avoid eye contact at his words.
Just as Jalter and Aoko was about to say something, they heard another sound from behind.
"Captain, stop fooling around. Can't you see you are bothering the kids? First, check if they are injured and give them a potion if needed."
"Thanks but we are fine." Ritsuka says as The Captain nodded, another man who walked towards him spoke.
"Hello! I am Henry and he is Derrick, leader of Squad 4."
"We rushed here as soon as we got the signal, however, it seems you have already dealt with it."
"Thank you for getting rid of the danger," Henry spoke with sincere admiration and raised his hand for a shake.
"Nice to see you."
"I am Ritsuka Fujimaru. She is Aoko Light and Oruta Lucas"
Ritsuka replied, shaking his head.
Jalter asked "From which city did you come? I mean, didn't you guys saw here, others before didn't make it alive."
"We apologize for our late arrival. We came from Mist City. The PSB of the capital is too busy."Henry spoke with a saddened expression.
"You should apologize to the ones who died here, not us," Aoko said while squinting her eyes.
"Yes, this is the fault of our department. They did not finish their jobs properly after the dungeon break."Derrick spoke with a solemn expression and signaled the three to start the search.
"By the way, what you three kids are doing here?"
Derrick asked, rubbing his chin.
"We are going to Ivan. The train had been stranded at the Mist City due to the Dungeon outbreak and since we were getting late, we had hurried on our own."
"Are you perhaps enrolling in the Academy?"
"Yes, our uniforms are become dirty so they look different now"Ritsuka said this new forest is different to them.
"I see."
"Still, I don't understand why you didn't take the carriage. Most of the drivers are trained personnel and are at the 1-Star stage. Normal people can only drive carriages in the city but those driving outside the city must be awakened ones."
'Why do I feel like he is foreshadowing the future of kicked-out ones from the horizon.'
"You may not be lucky always. Direwolf hunt in packs. If you encountered the whole bunch, you would be gone."Derrick spoke giving a death sigh.
The whole group scratched their head in embarrassment.
How could they know?
It was the original owner's decision.
Those shitheads put themselves in danger just to save some money.
"You said, there is a pack. So, are there many Direwolfs nearby?"Aoko spoke, trying to get out of the embarrassment.
"As I said, there was a dungeon outbreak that happened here last month. Previously, a squad hunted them, however, it seems one had escaped and was now creating havoc here."Henry replied to Aoko's query.
"What is its strength?"Ritsuka inquired.
"Roughly at the peak of 1-Star."
"If it had eaten you all perhaps it would have broken through to 2-Star level."
The three men returned after searching the perimeter and gave them a report.
"We have found the corpses of four merchants and a herbalist."
"They might have come here to search for ingredients, sadly, they died."
"I found this flintlock pistol from one of the corpses," Ritsuka explained, raising the gun and asking whether it was legal or illegal to keep guns after all he did not want to be locked up so soon.
"It's illegal to keep this without a license however there is an exception for students of Horizon still you should register for a license so that you can carry it in the open though it hardly matters cause only unawakened fear of firearms," Derrick replied non-chantilly.
'Do you have to be this brutal?'
The squad helped and collected the scattered corpses to bury them.
The uniforms got little Dirty after walking in forest which gave them relief because They have extra uniforms. Otherwise going to the Academy without a uniform on the first day may bring them lots of trouble.
"Now that we have finished things here."
"We should move on to the next topic," Derrick spoke with a sinister expression.
"Let's talk about the corpse."
Ritsuka's eyes lit up as he only remembered now that monster corpses fetch money.
'Wait! Don't tell me, they are going to take it.'
'Tch...they are corrupted officers, I will burn them all?'
'Should I beat them all?'
A hush silence prevailed for a moment as the Ritsuka group thought next course of action.