Chapter 211: A Successful Purchase

I didn’t waste a second before grabbing the rifle from his arms—and to my surprise, it was heavy. Like, stupidly heavy. Lift-an-entire-ton kind of heavy.

I was honestly surprised he’d even managed to lift it in the first place.

Turns out he wasn’t weak after all.

But that definitely made me nervous about what would happen when I finally pulled the trigger. The weight alone was a bad sign of how brutal this gun’s recoil would be.

“You think you can handle it?”

Evelina asked, more concerned than challenging.

“Yeah, I think so?”

“I can have another G-32 fire it for us—”

Benedict started to say, but I cut him off before he could finish.

“No, I’d like to use it myself.”

You can’t just put something like this in front of me and expect me to refuse; it’s like putting candy in front of a baby. In this case, however, a good-looking gun in front of a former gun nut.

[Dark Manipulation]

I reinforced my arms and legs as I took aim, making sure I wouldn’t lose my footing or feel like my arms were going to be ripped off by the recoil.

Handling a gun like this definitely wasn’t safe, so the best precaution I could take was to assume the worst.

I assumed it would kick like a miniature railgun.

I exhaled slowly as I lined up the sights with one of the untouched G-32 units across the room, the rifle humming faintly in my hands.

Not steam, not magic—something… compressed.

“…This thing isn’t just a rifle, is it?” I muttered.

Behind me, Benedict stiffened. “W-Well… it’s designed specifically for the G-32 units. High-output, reinforced discharge—”

“Yeah, I figured.”

I tightened my grip as the runes along the barrel lit up one by one, a steady glow building toward the muzzle, reassuring enough that it probably wasn’t going to explode in my hands.

“Stand back,” I said.

Evelina shifted slightly to the side, just far enough that she wouldn’t be directly behind me.

I pulled the trigger.

BOOM!

The recoil slammed into me like a battering ram; my boots dug into the metal floor as my reinforced legs locked in place, the rifle kicking back hard enough to rattle my bones but not quite enough to throw me off balance.

A concentrated blast tore through the air with a sharp, piercing crack and hit the G-32 unit square in the chest.

CLANG!

The impact rang out like a bell as the unit staggered a single step, its upper body jerking slightly while the force traveled through its frame, servos whining for half a second before stabilizing.

Then it straightened again.

A faint scorch mark spread across its chest plate where the shot had landed, the outer layer dented just enough for the runic lines to flicker before settling back into a steady glow.

No breach, no critical damage.

Just… resistance.

I lowered the rifle slowly.

“…Okay,” I said. “Now that’s more like it.”

Behind me, Benedict let out a shaky breath. “T-That was a direct hit to the core housing…”

“Yeah,” I said, keeping my eyes on the unit. “And it barely cared.”

Evelina stepped forward to inspect the mark, her fingers hovering just above the dented plating as her eyes narrowed.

“…Minimal damage,” she murmured. “Even from that output.”

The G-32 unit remained perfectly still, as if nothing had happened—waiting, unbothered.

I couldn’t help but grin.

“Alright. I take it back. These things are solid.”

“Of course they are,” Evelina replied. “It was just that the spell you used to test the first one was a bit overkill.”

“Well… you didn’t exactly specify.”

I smirked at her reply.

She glanced over at Benedict. “We’ll take them, along with the rifle that Cael used and other weapons made for them.”

“Of course, my lady!”

“Oh, and if you’re selling any of these to the inner district, I want you to slip in an override—just in case.”

“I’m afraid that’s impossible,” Benedict said. “Most nobles and merchants have their own mechanics check the units before purchase. A flaw that obvious would never pass inspection.”

“Is that so?” Evelina murmured.

She glanced around the workshop, searching for something, then stopped when she spotted a small, hollow head from a failed G-32 prototype lying on a table.

“This should work.” She picked it up, tilted it toward her lips, and let a few drops of her saliva pool inside.

“My lady, what are you—?” Benedict began.

Evelina set the makeshift container back down and folded her arms. “Coat some of the G-32 units that have already been sold with that—somewhere subtle, somewhere the right people can sense it.”

She smiled, first at me, then at Benedict.

“Think of it as charming magic. I’ll make sure whoever inspects them doesn’t suspect a thing.”

“Maybe,” Benedict said slowly, “I could tweak the design so the G-32 lets the scent out as a fine mist, you know — make it look like regular steam discharge.”

“That would work nicely,” Evelina replied with a nod. “If you need more, just give my transceiver a call. For now, our business is done here.”

I gave the rifle one last look before handing it back; this time, Benedict nearly buckled under the weight, caught off guard by the sudden throw without any warning.

But even if I did warn him, I doubt he could’ve caught it any better.

Yeah. Definitely not made for people like him, or in fact… any normal human at all.

Great gun though.

I turned back to the G-32 units, still standing in perfect formation, unmoving, unaffected, reliable.

“…Yeah,” I muttered. “Now that’s what I call a proper investment.”

Evelina crossed her arms, a faint smile tugging at her lips.

“Good,” she said. “Because we’ll be relying on them soon.”

She fell quiet for a moment, then suddenly locked eyes with me, curiosity flickering as she noticed how intently I was staring at her.

“What’s up?”

“Well… seeing you drool into that container was kind of hot.” I laughed and scratched the back of my head. “I’m adding that to the list of things I didn’t expect to find attractive today.”

Evelina snorted. “Seriously?”

“I swear on my soul.”

“You really are hopeless…”

“And that’s where you come in—to give me hope.”

“Cheesy as always, Cael…”

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