147 Traveling to the Western Capital

'Thank goodness for the discount, wouldn't have been able to buy what I did otherwise.'

She thought as she placed the rest of her money on the counter and asked the bartender to just give her however much the amount of money could buy.

A minute later, two jugs the size of her head filled with alcohol were placed in front of her. Drinking half of one, she wiped her mouth as she thought.

'Eh. Bad but not poisonous.'

Looking over her status and thinking about her future while swirling the drink in her hand, she had a slight melancholic moment as thoughts of her family surfaced. The saloon seemed to be filled with commotion and yelling yet no one seemed to be hostile even with the occasional threat.

'Nice atmosphere.' She thought as she finished her first jug and placed it on the counter before reaching for the second.

Taking a sip before placing it back down, she started thinking a bit.

'My biological makeup is pretty weird. Maybe visit a doctor at some point?'

The random thought crossed her mind before she placed the jug down for a moment and stretched.

Reaching for the drink again, she was disturbed by a random saloon customer.

"Hello, ma'am. Wouldn't you like to leave the tasteless drink there and come for a fun ride with myself?"

The man sat down next to her, clearly the slightest bit drunk but still fully aware of what he was doing. He had placed his hand on her leg as he leaned in closer.

'Christ. Can't enjoy the atmosphere anywhere.'

She thought as the slightly melancholic feeling fully disappeared only to be replaced by disgust. Mitsuna being slightly confused as to why the level of disgust she felt was that high.

As the man leaned closer, Mitsuna leaned toward the counter. The barrel of her gun on her back made contact with the man's face as Mitsuna's finger hovered over the trigger.

"F*ck off."

She said as the man raised both hands and slowly backed off.

The ruckus of the saloon died down as Mitsuna sighed and muttered to herself.

"Can't catch a break no matter where I am."

She stood up with her jug of ale and left the place.

Reaching the sandy streets of the town, she could hear noise coming from her left as she finished her drink and threw the empty mug on the warm sand.

A man was chasing his runaway horse.

'I was tired of walking anyway.'

She thought as the horse neared her. Jumping on, she quickly got used to the rhythm of the horse's running pattern and gave a slight wave to the man who was still running after the duo.

Leaning closer to the horse, Mitsuna spoke softly.

"We're going to the capital. Okay? Calm down. I'll protect us from the sand."

She said as she rubbed his neck and the horse calmed down slightly, though still running at full speed.

'Nice horse. Teleporting around is getting pretty boring anyway.'

Mitsuna thought as the horse jumped over a small fence before making its way out of town.

Mitsuna enjoyed the ride as she hummed a slight tune to herself while riding the horse through the surrounding sandstorm, their figure disappearing into the sandy distance.

...

After a while of riding, Mitsuna adjusted herself as the horse kept running.

Taking the gun from her back, she slowly loaded it with the bullets she bought.

'To load it I have to... pull this and press the button. Got it. A maximum of... *Chink* *Chink* *Chink* *Chink* five bullets or so.'

She thought to herself as she learned about all the functions of the gun.

'Seems like it has a few places where attachments could be installed. Besides that, the iron scope it has now is a little off I think. A few degrees at least. Bit of a problem for long-ranged shots.'

Patting the horse on their head, they slowed down into a calm strut.

'The bullets that one girl used could explode at certain distances. That was interesting. I wonder how they put magic in these?'

Taking a bullet she had bought out of her inventory, she placed her gun on her lap before inspecting it.

'Hmm. The material isn't great. By my standards at least, might not hold a lot of mana so at most a small bonus could be applied with magic. Something like silent shots or a speed increase could probably work. Hmm. Oh yeah. What about something like...'

And so Mitsuna started to play around with magic and bullets. After a while, she noticed the flaws and made up her mind on making her own bullets when she gets to the capital and is officially taking part in the war.

'Hope I won't have any stupid duty or anything after I participate. Don't feel like becoming a soldier condemned to work in a desert landscape.'

She thought as she placed all her modified bullets back in her inventory, wrapped the gun around her shoulder again and looked at her surroundings.

'Sand. Just more sand. Sheesh.'

She thought as she pat the horse on its head again. The horse stopped as it slightly glanced at her.

'It's almost like we understand each other. How cute.'

Standing up while still on the horse, Mitsuna teleported upwards to check the surroundings.

'Nothing much... Hmm. Oh, I think that might be something.'

Falling back to the ground and slowing her descent with wind magic, Mitsuna slowly floated back on top of the horse.

Patting its head and slowly speaking to it, Mitsuna adjusted her sitting position.

"Let's keep going forward. There seems to be a place that way."

She told the horse as she used her [Ancient Dragonic Speech] to buff the horse's movement speed and stamina.

'Guess I'll act as an escort for this dude for today.'

She thought and pat the horse on its side.

[Detailed lore and future cross-series event map currently being constructed and deepened daily. It's probably going to take more time as well so please feel free to point your interests elsewhere for the time being. Big apology for such a stupidly long wait time. I like it about as much as the readers do.]