Kays Translations

Chapter 102: The Bow of Artemis

Bob agreed to keep the origin of the magic katana strictly secret.

Naturally, its creator was Tauro, but [Creation Magic] had nearly killed him, and he never intended to make another one. Whether someone begged or offered him a fortune, he couldn’t fulfill such a request. Keeping the truth secret was the only option.

A few days later, Shin and Rumeya moved out of the Dwarf Inn. Each had found a house and was ready to live independently.

The move itself was easy because neither of them owned much luggage. The real task came afterward: they had to return to their respective home villages and bring their girlfriends back. They therefore took the day off.

Tauro once again went alone to the outskirts of the village to investigate something.

He turned around.

“…So why did you follow me, Aeris?” he asked the girl behind him.

“Why? Because you were going to do something.”

Aeris spoke as though the answer were obvious.

“You’re right, but… Do I not get any privacy?”

“Who cares about that? Let’s get started. What’s it today? Are you making something else with [Creation Magic]?”

“Don’t dismiss my privacy!”

Exasperated, Tauro decided to proceed as though Aeris weren’t there.

He took a bow from [Magic Storage].

At first glance, it was a plain white bow, and Aeris saw nothing remarkable about it. On closer inspection, however, it was neither wood nor anything resembling metal. It appeared to be made from an unfamiliar material.

“Is that what you wanted to test today?” Aeris asked, looking slightly underwhelmed.

“Yes. I found it in the dungeon’s treasure chest, so I thought it might have a special ability.”

Tauro examined the bow’s surface in detail as he answered.

“What?! You never told me that.”

“It was lower on my list of priorities.”

“I’m amazed you would postpone investigating an item from a dungeon…”

“Are dungeon items really that special?”

Tauro asked because Aeris seemed knowledgeable about them.

“Many things obtained from dungeons are extraordinary. I mean items from treasure chests created by the dungeon itself, of course. That’s one reason dungeons are managed by the state. You found that near the dungeon core, didn’t you?”

“Yes. Why?”

Aeris considered her answer.

“The deeper into a dungeon a treasure chest is found, the rarer its contents tend to be. It’s probably a matter of proximity to the core. Even though this dungeon had only just formed, an item obtained beside its core could be quite valuable.”

Put that way, the bow suddenly sounded impressive.

The core had produced it just before being destroyed, so it might be especially unusual. Tauro was also curious because [True Eye] couldn’t appraise it. Since it was a named weapon, it might be something exceptional.

With high hopes, Tauro fired an arrow at a tree.

The arrow left the bow with surprising ease and buried itself deep in the trunk. Tauro stared in shock. Its power was clearly several levels above that of his ordinary shots.

He continued experimenting.

When he fed a little mana into the bow, white light enveloped both bow and arrow. He fired at the tree again.

The glowing arrow punched a small hole straight through the first tree and embedded itself deeply in another farther along its path.

Even Aeris was astonished.

“That arrow was probably cloaked in the light spell [Light Arrow]!”

“Really?!”

This time it was Tauro’s turn to be surprised. [Illumination] was about the limit of the light spirit magic he could use, so this would give him a valuable offensive spell. It might be difficult to use at night, however, because it was extremely conspicuous.

“Do you think you could fire it without a physical arrow?” Aeris wondered.

The arrows Tauro had used were ordinary ones acquired nearby. It did feel as though the bow might work without them.

He immediately tried.

Holding a bow with no arrow felt strange, but he raised it and channeled mana into it. An arrow of light appeared.

When Tauro released it, the light arrow seemed to be drawn into the tree, pierced a small hole through it, and vanished beyond the trunk.

The experiments showed that the Bow of Artemis could create and fire arrows of light, while also greatly increasing the power of ordinary arrows.

Its appearance was unassuming, but its performance was extraordinary. Light arrows might be impractical in some situations, yet the increase in an ordinary arrow’s power would be enormously useful.

For Tauro, whose physical strength and offensive power were lacking, the bow was a tremendous advantage.

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