Chapter 77: Bow and Shield

In the study room, with the evening sun slanting in, Ren carefully turned the pages of the “Field Notes for Squires” and found himself thinking back over his talk with Yona.

“Making up with Yona… is that what you’d call it? I’m glad we got to talk…”

A faint peeling sound.

The pages had stuck fast together, and he eased them apart from the sliver of a gap with the tip of his fingernail, careful not to tear them.

“Ah, here it is!”

《

■ Blue Drop Grass

Characteristics: Bears small fruits like blue droplets on a long, slender stem. Hard to tell apart from morning dew.

Habitat: Damp ground and the vicinity of streams.

Properties: Squeezing the fruit yields a liquid with a detoxifying effect. Effective against mild poisons and insect bites.

Notes: As there are similar poisonous plants, it must be told apart by the jagged shape of its leaves.

》

“Huh, so it has a detoxifying effect…”

It was the name of the medicinal herb he had taken to the Adventurers’ Guild without knowing either its name or its properties, because the small box’s check had judged it a “medicinal herb.” Now that he thought about it, he had a feeling it had blue fruits on it.

“A detoxifying effect… how are you supposed to use that? Do you squeeze the fruit and just put it straight on?”

Thinking he would try it the next time he was bitten by an insect, he made a note on his board. When he dipped his quill pen into the ink pot, he noticed there was hardly any ink left.

“Ah…”

He gathered mana and drew it to the tip of his index finger. Concentrating, he let drops of water fall into the ink pot with water magic. After stirring it a little with the tip of the quill pen, he tried writing on the board, and the lines of the letters came out thin and grey.

“Mm, still readable…”

Since he had started making notes from the textbooks and the Adventurers’ Guild reference materials, his ink had been going down fast. He had found an ink pot gathering dust in the study room and used that for a while, but he had already got through it too. The one he was using now he had bought at the Adventurers’ Guild shop. It was running low, so he had been topping it up with a little water.

“…I’d hate not to be able to write when I want to write, so maybe I’ll buy some tomorrow…”

Ink was 100 G at the Adventurers’ Guild shop—one small silver coin. It came in a small bottle, so he did think it was a bit expensive, but Ren felt he would hate it just as much to have no ink when he wanted to take a note.

While he was copying out onto his board, in faint letters, the descriptions of several medicinal herbs besides Blue Drop Grass, orange light came slanting in through the window—many thick panes of glass pieced together—and stretched the shadows out.

(It’s evening already…)

He left the study room to go back to his own room for a while, and heard a dry sound like something striking something else.

Bang.

He stopped without meaning to. Looking out of the window, he saw his eldest brother Ryan with a bow and arrows and his second-eldest brother Lewis with a shield, facing each other.

“Huh? What’s this… Are they fighting?”

He had seen the two of them training individually before, but he had never seen them doing the kind of training where they faced off against each other.

Lewis was standing in the middle of the sandy ground. The shield he held in both hands covered more than half his body, and he did not stir at all, staying slightly leaned forward.

Directly opposite him, a little way off, was Ryan.

He had the bow drawn back. The tip of the arrow in his hand had been covered with cloth and rounded off.

“Here I come.”

A short call.

The next moment, the string sang.

The loosed arrow tore straight through the air, without hesitation and without wavering.

Another dry impact.

Bang!

Lewis’s shield shook slightly. But his feet did not go back a single step. Even from a distance, it was clear that he had changed its angle just a fraction in the instant before the impact.

“That one was dead centre. Don’t dodge it—take it.”

“I know.”

After the short exchange, the next arrow was nocked at once.

Ren caught his breath and stood watching.

The arrows he loosed himself came into his mind. He had at least got to the point of being able to bring down horn rabbits and three-eyed eagles, but he had the feeling there was something different about them from these.

“Next.”

The string sang again.

This time it went slightly to the right. Lewis matched it, stepping in just half a pace and shifting the position of the shield.

Bang!

With a dull sound, the arrow was knocked away and fell to the ground. It only skipped off the sand and did not stick in. It rolled to a stop on the ground.

“Too slow.”

Ryan’s voice came flying.

“Your feet stopped just then. If you’re going to close in, come all at once.”

“…!”

Lewis clenched his teeth. The next moment he shifted his weight forward hard and stepped in, shield still up.

The distance closed.

Ryan did not give ground. He simply nocked another arrow, quietly.

Whip.

The loosed arrow was, again, dead straight.

It was drawn precisely toward the shoulder of the advancing Lewis.

Lewis flung the shield up.

BANG!!

The loudest sound yet rang out. Pushed by the impact, Lewis’s body slid back half a step. Even so he did not go down.

He planted his feet in the sand and just managed to hold his ground.

After a while, the quiet came back.

Ryan lowered his bow.

Lewis slowly lowered his shield too, and let out a long breath.

“That’s amazing…”

Just as Ren murmured it, Ryan turned round. For a moment Ren thought he had heard him muttering, but then he saw Royce running over to Ryan and Lewis, so perhaps Ryan had sensed Royce coming.

“I want to train with you too!”

Royce’s voice rang out.

“Royce, the sun’s nearly down. It’s too late today.”

“Whaaat?! Just a little bit…”

Listening to Royce negotiating with the two of them, Ren slipped quietly away from the window.

If Royce noticed him watching, he had the feeling he would get an earful about something again.

Training with his two older brothers was something that did tug at Ren’s interest a little. But Ren didn’t have the courage to go and join them out there.

(Royce would only start on at me about all sorts of things… And they’d probably tell me anything that isn’t your skill is a waste of time… But I would like to be allowed to watch Ryan-niiue draw his bow up close…)

The next time he saw Ryan training… Ren was thinking that when, at dinner, a single sentence from his father left him stunned.

“Tomorrow morning, Ryan sets out for the royal capital.”