Since Bodil and Hillevi have got their gifts, which they both really appreciate, I think it's time to give Alith and Gunhild theirs. So all my sambos, and the bodyguards, are gathered in the dining room and I announce that I have gifts for Alith and Gunhild. So I give Alith her own hunting rifle, wrapped with a orange bow in the orange fabric we use to mark killed animals while hunting, and she also gets one of those leather hunting bags with 50 shots of bullets and powder, and a small bullet mould for the rifle. I tell Alith that she can shoot her own elk on my property come autumn, and until then it will be fun to see which of us will be the best at long distance shooting, and tactical shooting.

Alith is totally speechless and just makes entertaining sounds, and she might not have mentally registered what I told her about hunting. She just stand in front of me and tenderly hug her rifle, and I give her a friendly hug she barely reacts to. Everyone congratulates her and Gunhild is so jealous of Alith even though she tries to be happy for Alith.

I call Gunhild to me and Iselin takes out and hands me a similary wrapped updated musket which I give to Gunhild, and the corresponding hunting bag. I point out that Alith shot an elk with the prototype musket last autumn, and it can use either pellets for bird and rabbit hunting, or slugs for boar, deer and elk hunting, and I hope she will appreciate its flexibility. I know she prefers to hunt small game as that can be done much more, but she will also get to shoot some bigger game next autumn. There will absolutely be elk hunting and such.

They will have to consider black powder consumption, but I will give them some occasionally, or when they join me on the shooting ranges. Gunhild is just as happy as Alith, who still hasn't recovered and is just sitting down, half in shock but so damn happy as she looks at her rifle.

Alith and Gunhild inaugurate their thunder guns at the shooting range and we consume many loads of powder and bullets that I supply us with, but I also use the opportunity to verify which mix of wax works best to prevent hardening fouling. Something sticky and oil-like in the barrel is way better than a hard coating, and seems to not need cleaning until the shooting day is over, and it will be much easier to clean. We still have to test long term storage and high temperature storage, but it seems to work just fine from freezing to about 40C in the heat above the stove, and a papier-mâché disc seems to work well as a block between black powder and wax. In addition to testing the wax mix, the laser is also verified at 100 meters, but as expected, the laser dot is difficult to see in daylight, which isn't that bad since it doesn't attract attention.

It's not just we three who are shooting, but also my sambos. Kari thinks the suppressed hunting rifle is something she can get used to, especially with the subsonic bullet. But Kari just doesn't seem to like firearms or want to hunt, although she wants to participate in the events, and that is fine by me. She also prefers to just watch tactical shooting and manage the clock and score. In the future we will probably start having a variation of 2-gun or 3-gun competition, because it's an interesting change from just shooting for points, and if we actually need to use firearms in combat, it's better practice than just standing still. We will also practice some kind of field shooting in the forest and nature, with different ranges, time constraints and target types.

One thing we need to make printing plates for is different kinds of shooting targets. Sure, there will be a large circles paper target and a target with four smaller circles, but also animals in true sizes and several different true scale full and half person with different weapons, and those that are just a rough silhouette with A to D zones. I don't know how applicable it is here in this culture, but the reason why military shooting exercises often take place on human-like targets is to train soldiers to shoot at human-like targets. I seem to recall that statistics from the American Civil War to World War II had something like just 2% of soldiers actually shooting at a person to kill, while most shot in that direction. People had been taught that killing is wrong by parents and religion, and those who actually practised shooting did so on circle targets, even in the military. Switching to human-like targets increased how many people actually shot to hit enemies. Shooting at pop-up targets and the like made shooting more instinctive, as did punishment for not doing it well enough, and again increased those who shot to hit. Red dot sights increased accuracy at short ranges and telescopic sights at long ranges. Modern Midgård military is good at teaching a soldier to shoot to hit people and the similar things. Unfortunately, modern military has barely begun to think about how a soldier after his service should be trained to no longer react that way, and treat their mental scars of what they experienced. But some countries barely even take care of soldiers' physical injuries, or pay enough in pensions.

I am well aware that my Airsoft Milsim playing has taught me to aim at people and shoot quick and fairly accurately at less than 30 meters in all kinds of situations. But I am also well aware that I always check if the person is a player, has eye protection and the safety distance is okay. Civilians quite often wander into outdoor game areas without even knowing games are going on. Mushroom or berry pickers. Bird watchers. Fishermen. Canoeists. Outdoorsmen. Hunters. Some big game areas have people living in them, or travelling along roads and paths. Then it is important to consider the background even with Airsoft weapons. Many Airsoft players are also careless with eye protection or just forgot it, but I have to admit that I too have made mistakes with that. I've learned to check all that before I shoot, because I don't want to accidentally shoot someone's eye out, or get into legal trouble, or cause trouble for the game organiser. Many are not as careful - and some are utter idiots - but I can only do my part well, and also call off combat or not attack when I see something iffy. I have several times walked up to enemy players in enemy camps or on roads and calmly but clearly called them idiots for being careless with eye protection. Some have literally defended themselves with 'we'll put it on if there's a fight' totally missing that I'm an enemy player telling them they should always use eye protection outside the tent, and informing them that we didn't attack because we are careful and discovered they didn't have eye protection. You think they should be grateful that they just got told off and that they have to go to a respawn, and many are, but some people get surprisingly confrontational and mad, even when it was their buddy that didn't have eye protection, and their fault was just to not notice or tell their buddy, and now they have to join him in respawn. I can't help but assume how those people would behave if they actually really done something bad or illegal in real life.

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I deliberately aim centre body mass and avoid head shots unless that is all I see, since that can easily cause bloody cheeks or 'horn shots', which is when it looks like someone is growing a horn on their forehead, or just damaged teeth. Unfortunately, an increasing amount of players the last 10 to 15 years seems to think that head shots is the goal, and I do partially blame video games for that. I've been shot so so many times in the head at short ranges, and half of them is after I already shot them centre mass. Some are deliberate, but most are reflex shooting or just 'you spooked me', and many of them sure don't think about safety distance or if I hade eye protection. I've gotten so many bloody wounds and chrono'd so many players with hot guns that clearly lacked the proper judgment to play with them.

Beside all that, I am also well aware when the weapon I am holding is actually lethal and I am even more careful about where the barrel is pointing or where other peoples barrels are pointing. And if I actually aim it at a person or animal, the purpose will generally be to kill. I am unlikely to ever forget the man I shot in the harbour. That incident has also taught me that if I find myself in a combat situation and realise I need to shoot to kill, I probably will, but there is that small doubt in the back of my mind that I might also hesitate since I will know the gruesome outcome.

Alith says the last months curiosity was so worth it, and she had not thought she would get a rifle. She had completely forgotten about my promise at the beach last summer, and firearms are simply too valuable and powerful to just give away, and not even King Asbjörn Aeriksson was allowed to buy one. Both have realised that they are the only owners of such weapons besides me - perhaps in the whole world - and probably the best such weapons in the world, although I think it is quite possible other humans have come here and taught the Elves about it elsewhere, or Elves have discovered it themselves. Alith and Gunhild know that the value of their weapons is enormous, more than master-forged steel swords, and Alith's also has a special telescope that is now her own. I let her know that the image in the scope is slightly sharper, as we used the lens sharpening machine to extra polish the rifle scopes, sextants and telescopes I've already made, but we really need better glass and such to truly make good optics. And find-develop glas with another refractive index to try to make double lenses to compensate for colour separation. That is going to be a lot of annoying work to get right, and future manufacturing will probably have limited production.

Alith now appreciate even more that I taught her the secrets of black powder, and Gunhild is really shocked when she realise that Alith actually knows that huge secret, because she hasn't even hinted at it, and Gunhild thought I just taught Iselin. It's completely my fault for making a comment to Alith that revealed that I taught her too. Everyone must keep quiet about it, but I say that in the future I may also teach Gunhild or others, but we will just have to see about that. Gunhild finds it hard to accept that she has been given her own firearm - without having done anything for it - either with time served or some great achievement, and that I might reveal the black powder secret to her in the future! It is just so terribly powerful!

I hope Gunhild will be happy to be a part of my 'family', and I look forward to her helping out when my hopefully healthy children grow up. We are all pretty sure that Gunhild will want to be a part-time nanny once we have children, because she seems to really like children. It's a bit of a shame that Gunhild won't be a mother.

Huuhh.

I surprise myself thinking that in the future, in a couple of years, and after talking to the others and if Gunhild haven't found a man of her own to at least father a child, I might offer to father a child between us. Just a child that I recognise as mine and can partly be a father for while growing up, as Gunhild will be around my family anyway while truly being her childs mother and raise that child. I will probably already have several children with four to six women if the children are healthy, and who knows how many children there will be if the Sejd women get what they want and are as enthusiastic as they seem to be.

Well, future decisions, and I have no plans to become a Genghis Khan with hundreds of children by hundreds of women, even if the women wanted it and were not raped.

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