Chapter 40: The Moment to Show Your Skill
2024.02.09.
Caroline, gripping her bow tightly and quietly staring in this direction, suddenly spoke.
“Why don’t you stop hiding and come out? I know you’ve been following me this whole time.”
Even after hearing that, I didn’t move, still hidden.
I wasn’t sure if she really sensed my presence or was just testing me.
Then Caroline nocked an arrow on her bow and spoke again.
“I’m telling you to come out! I heard all the rustling sounds. If you don’t, I’ll consider you a monster and shoot.”
I remained silent and hidden.
If I revealed myself now, the entire operation would be ruined.
The moment I showed myself, Caroline would notice she was being watched.
From then on, she would smuggle the monsters away more thoroughly and secretly.
For that reason, I stayed quiet and hidden until Caroline drew her bowstring tightly.
“Come out before I count to three. Otherwise, I’ll really shoot. One—”
Preparing for the worst, I readied myself to dodge the arrow.
Meanwhile, Caroline spoke again.
“Two—”
The bowstring was drawn taut as if she was about to shoot at any moment.
If she released her grip, the arrow would fly straight toward me.
I was debating whether to reveal myself now when unexpected luck helped me.
Rustle.
A wild raccoon suddenly jumped out from the bushes nearby and ran right in front of Caroline’s eyes.
Seeing the raccoon, Caroline awkwardly put the arrow back in her quiver.
Fortunately, she seemed to have mistaken my footsteps for the raccoon’s noise.
If the raccoon hadn’t appeared just in time, I would have been caught without a chance.
After that, I followed Caroline silently, minimizing my sound.
Caroline walked on for a while, looking at the map I had drawn.
Then she stopped. Under the large cliff Oscar had told me about earlier in the day.
As Oscar said, there were three monsters near the cliff.
All three looked like spiders, and the area was tangled with webs.
To gather decisive evidence, I kept hiding and observed Caroline closely.
Caroline quietly nocked an arrow on her longbow, her weapon.
Pewing—
With a sharp sound, the arrow shot out.
At the same time as shooting, Caroline activated her ability — the wind ability.
The wind stirred around the arrow, strengthening its force.
Thwack!
The arrow, empowered by the wind, destroyed the monster easily.
This was why Caroline, despite her usual arrogance, wasn’t easily kicked out of the knights.
Caroline was strong.
Her accuracy with every arrow was remarkable, and her use of the wind ability increased the destructive power.
I watched Caroline crush the spiders one by one and quietly drew my sword.
I planned to jump out and capture her if she showed any sign of trying to smuggle the monsters.
It would be better if she surrendered peacefully, but if not, I had to use force to subdue her.
I had to fight and win against an awakened one who could pierce monsters with a single arrow.
Swallowing dry saliva, I watched Caroline’s movements as she fired her third arrow.
Thwack!
The third one was quite fast but ended up with the same miserable fate as the other two.
Watching Caroline eliminate every monster, I became confused.
To create chimeras, live monsters were needed, so if she was acting on Hernant’s orders, she should have captured the monsters alive.
But strangely, Caroline had killed all three monsters.
What was going on…?
While I was wondering, Caroline started moving again.
Toward the remains of the dead monsters.
I held my breath and quietly observed Caroline, and soon saw something even more puzzling.
For some reason, Caroline began collecting the monster remains.
Of course, she wasn’t just grabbing anything randomly.
She was picking up sharp hooks attached to the spider legs and the hard exoskeletons.
Was she planning to hand over the monster remains to Hernant for research?
Hernant might need live monsters more, but if he was researching something, the remains would be valuable materials too.
At that point, I stopped hiding and stepped out from the forest’s shade.
“Caroline, what are you doing now?”
“…!”
Caroline hastily hid the bag with the remains behind her back.
I raised my sword more sharply and asked.
“Who are you planning to give those remains to?”
“G-give? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just training on monsters—”
“I saw everything already. You collecting monster remains. You do know that’s illegal, right?”
I asked again in a calm voice toward the silent Caroline.
“Who were you going to give them to?”
“…”
“Tell me now.”
Despite urging her to speak, Caroline kept her mouth shut tight.
I understood why.
Who she was dealing with was probably Hernant.
If I mentioned the emperor’s name here, things would get out of control, so that’s why she was so tight-lipped.
Then she wouldn’t confess easily with kind words. I sighed deeply.
“Anyway, drop your weapon and surrender. Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to subdue you by force.”
Caroline, who heard my final warning with a blank expression, suddenly curled her lips into a smile.
I felt something ominous, and sure enough, my feeling was right.
“I have no intention of being subdued by someone like you.”
At those arrogant words, Caroline aimed her bow at me.
The arrow itself would be fast enough to dodge, but the problem was the whirlwind surrounding the arrow.
That increased the arrow’s destructive power several times over, so getting hit even once would destroy me like the spiders earlier.
Tensing up fully, I pointed my sword at Caroline.
“…Are you really going to fight me?”
“There’s nothing I can’t do. Since I don’t sense any other presence, I guess you came alone. And I’ve hated you ever since you joined the knights.”
When I frowned, Caroline continued.
“If the emperor hadn’t forced you into the knights, I could have become deputy commander.”
“…”
“But you came in, so… You must have an easy life, huh? Using your good looks to manipulate the emperor and the commander.”
Using my good looks to manipulate the emperor and the commander?
I couldn’t hold back a brief bitter laugh.
“So, what you’re saying is that I unfairly took the deputy commander position by seducing and using His Majesty the Emperor?”
“Yeah. Isn’t that right?”
“Hah.”
Hernant had used me a lot, but I never used him.
Even joining the knights was because I was used by Hernant.
Apparently, in Caroline’s eyes, I was a despicable person who unfairly took the deputy commander position by exploiting Hernant’s power.
Caroline’s next words made that clear.
“You don’t even have better skills than me…”
“Are you sure my skills are worse? You’ve never seen me fight properly.”
Caroline and I had never worked together to tackle a crack (rift).
Both of us specialized in offensive abilities.
Having two excellent attackers in one team would be wasteful, so we had always been active on different teams.
In other words, Caroline had never actually seen me use my ability to kill monsters.
Perhaps because of that, Caroline was openly sneering as she talked about my skills.
“Obviously. You were born a noble and lived your life being protected and praised. You must be overestimating your own skills.”
“…”
“I’m different. I was born a commoner and worked and worked to get to this position!”
Caroline’s shout was filled with deep resentment.
Her fully drawn bowstring was much tenser than before.
She looked like she could shoot an arrow at any moment.
I smiled slightly, looking at the arrowhead pointed at me.
“If you think I’m that easy, then try killing me.”
As soon as I said those last words, Caroline immediately fired her arrow.
I was tense, but dodging it wasn’t difficult.
I rolled to the side and avoided the fierce arrow.
Bang!
The arrow I dodged hit a huge old tree behind me and shattered it.
As wood fragments scattered everywhere, the second arrow flew.
Having rolled to the side to avoid the first arrow, I rolled on the ground again to avoid the second.
Thwack!
The second arrow embedded itself in the ground, making a huge hole.
If she had fired a third arrow in quick succession, I might not have been able to dodge.
But no matter how skilled an archer is, they can’t attack so quickly in such short intervals.
To shoot one arrow, you need to take it from the quiver, nock it on the bow, and aim.
As expected, Caroline, having shot the two arrows she held, took two more arrows from her quiver and began to nock them on her bowstring.
Thanks to that momentary pause, I took my chance, pushed off the ground, and moved forward immediately.
