Vol 1 Chapter 13 (1/2)

Chapter 13: Bow and Freedom

I left our house with Lucie in order to be on time.

A soldier’s armor has been place in the large hall of the village. What was prepared was the strongest one that the captain had worn.

It’s probably not a coincidence that this has been chosen.

“Come on, Syril. Let’s show the piercing of this armor now.”

The haughty voice of the village chief echoes.

Most of the villagers gather in this place have mixed looks of uneasiness and curiosity.

Lucie’s shoulders next to me was trembling.

Meanwhile, with an haughty expression on my face, I looked each villager in the eye.

Don’t worry. It can be done. I convey these feelings by sight.

And, I place my hand gently on Lucie’s shoulder.

It was just a little, but her trembling stopped.

“I shall do it. Before demonstrating, I would introduce my new model of armor piercing bow. It’s called the crossbow.”

I lifted the crossbow made from iron and wood high.

Then, the eyes of the villagers around me changed into disappointment, while the village chief follower’s expression  relaxed.

It is an expected reaction.

“Are you sane, Syril!? The armor that even your father’s longbow can’t pierce, do you think it can be done with a toy like this?

With such a small bow, it is impossible no matter how I see it.

I think you said you wanted Lucie to use it? That is certainly a bow for women to use.”

Booing from the village chief and his followers echos all around.

With a smile on my face, I begin to talk.

Just for a little, I will now stir up the mood with some side show.

“Formerly, the warriors of elves were invincible! With the power of the wind and bow, many invasions have been repelled! Now, the past glory has become a fairy tale. Since hundreds of years ago, human have set it eyes on the magic stone of the elves.

I have lost count of the number of invasions we received. Still, we continue to be victorious until the development of metal armor.

With the blessing of the wind, arrows of the enemies did not reach us while our arrows consistently strike the enemy.”

Warriors of the elf manipulates the wind.

Enemy archers are always forced to shoot their arrows into headwind on the battle field, while arrows the the elves received protection of windbreak, allowing it to achieve an incredible range without air resistance around the arrow.

As a result, it was possible to unilaterally overrun long distance warfare.

“However since 5 years ago, with the rise of iron making technology and appearance of metallic armor, it became impossible for our arrows to pierce an enemy. Our pride was crushed along with the arrow, and our strong warriors fell one after another, allowing for an invasion before long.”

The spread of metal armor caused the battlefield to change drastically. With the improvement of iron manufacturing technology, the empire has made an armor which prevents an arrow from piercing through.

Even if an arrow were to strike from a distance, it was repelled by the armor, which allowed enemy to draw near and kill skilled elf archers one after another, causing the elves to lose the ability to resist.

“Our glory was always together with the bow. If you wish to regain pride, there is no choice but to make a strong bow that can go through the dignity of the empire, the iron armor! Only after that is done can we take the next step.”

I raised my voice and filled it with emotions, crying out loudly.

“With this, lets take a look at the arrow which will regain our pride.”

I make a bow respectfully and pulls the string, giving the crossbow set with arrow to Lucie.

However, that was stopped at the last minute.

Because her hand was trembling.

If you look closely, her expression is rigid and pale.

It will not go well in this condition.

I mutter in a whisper that is only audible by Lucie.

“Lets cast a spell because of your tension. Hey, put your hands together and see.”

“U…Yes”

“Then, endure it because it is a little painful.”

“Eh?”

While looking at the stunned face of Lucie, my hands sandwiched and clapped Lucie’s hands together.

A good ‘PAN’ sounded.

“Its painful~ Syril.”

After widening her eyes in surprise due to the sudden situation, Lucie complained in a whisper. Her expression has soften from a while ago.

“However, the trembling has stopped. It is not necessary to think too seriously. You should do it as practiced yesterday. Its not even 10m.

Even with eyes closed, you will be able to strike at this distance?”

“But, But, I, if I fail here..”

“At that time, however, shall we have a spanking? Of course, it will be on the skin.”

“To say a joke at such a time..”

“It is because of such a time! Look, everyone is dumbfounded.”

“It is Syril as usual. I have become silly due to my nervousness.”

Lucie smile thinly, really thinly. With this, it will be alright.

The crossbow gripped by Lucie’s thin hands is pointed to the armor, and the trigger was casually pulled.

With a dry sounding ‘PAN’, the arrow went through the armor easily and pierced the ground.

I place my hand on top of Lucie’s head and ruffled her hair.

“Its a lie!”

“I can’t believe it.”

“The arrow from a girl like Lucie went through the armor?”

“With such a small bow?”

An excitement that could not settle stirred the surrounding.

For the crossbow I made, bow power is 89kg, nearly twice of the long bow and with a initial velocity at 102m/s.  The speed is approximately 360km/h. With this much, it is natural to go through the armor.

“Did everyone see it? This bow is usable by powerless women and children and is able to penetrate anything, and as long as you have this, anyone can become an archer and fight against the empire!”

The excitement is stirred up further.

However,

“Do not be fooled, although it pierced the armor, the string has been pulled beforehand. It is impossible for Lucie to pull the bowstring of such a power bow!”

Village chief enters to disrupt.

“If this is the case, Lucie, try to do as taught yesterday.”

“Yea, I understand.”

Lucie, whose arrow hit the armor safely and is wrapped in relief and joy, pushes against the ground wheel attached to the tip of the crossbow, which is fixed by treading with the tip of the toes.

In addition, I have attached 2 S-Shaped tool which hooks onto the string, and after the bowstring is pulled by both hands and the back, it is hooked onto a stick and fixed.

By no means can a string of 89kg bow power be pulled by one hand, but if its pulled b both hands and the back, even a girl can pull about 100kg.

“Then, take another shot. Lucie please.”

When I say so, Lucie sets an arrow in the hollow of the rail and flips the trigger. Hereupon, an arrow went through the armor again.

“As you can see, even Lucie can pull this bow. Moreover, it is possible to move with the bowstring pulled unlike a usual bow.”

“Certainly, even Lucie could pull it. However, if the tip is on the ground every time, it will not be able to fire consecutively unlike an ordinary bow.”

“Such a thing depends on a little training and handling. In addition, is there a need for us elf to shoot consecutively? It should have been killed with a single blow.”

When I say so, I picked up a different crossbow from that pa.s.sed to Lucie and move away from the armor steadily, to about 200m away before stopping.

“We elves have good eyes, an excellent sense of distance and is loved by the wind.”

That’s the reason why elves are excellent archers.