The Archer's Lesson
Yuria, the Student Council Secretary, had been bickering with the Archery Department for quite some time. Finally, she jabbed a finger in my direction.
“You’ve lost your mind. Breaking off the engagement with His Highness the Crown Prince and acting this recklessly—don’t you think you’re going too far?”
“What does that have to do with you?”
“You’re really going to regret this.”
I’d never once seen anyone who spouted lines like that turn out to be worth a damn. The sort of people who loved to say “you’ll regret this” were always the ones who ended up groveling later.
“No matter how much you claim I’m a discarded member of House Ashtar, I’m still an Ashtar. Do you really think you can speak to me so arrogantly?”
The power structure of the empire was simple: the Emperor came first, and House Ashtar came second. That was how overwhelming our family’s influence was. Even though this body had been cast out before, if a direct clash with the Crown Prince occurred, even the Duke wouldn’t sit idly by.
“This is His Highness the Crown Prince’s will. In the empire, only His Imperial Majesty and the Crown Prince who will succeed him are the most exalted.”
“Yeah, yeah. Everyone’s so impressive. If you’re that upset, why don’t you try stopping me with your own power?”
Ah, if you’re so annoyed, go ahead and abuse your authority to block me. Of course, the moment that happened, the Crown Prince would become the talk of the entire empire for using his power to expel a single woman. Even if she was his former fiancée.
On the contrary, commoners who didn’t know the inner workings of the nobility would simply see Olivia as a pitiful, abandoned duke’s daughter.
“Hmph. In any case, things won’t go smoothly with the Archery Department.”
“We’ll see about that.”
I had no idea what she was so confident about.
“The new weapons we developed this time have already been tested by the young lords of several military families.”
“Oh? Really? How scary~”
“That arrogance of yours ends here.”
With those final words, Yuria turned on her heel and left.
“Hmm…”
My arrogance is doing just fine today, thank you very much.
The Archery Department even had its own dedicated training hall. For a civilization as advanced as the continent’s greatest empire, it was rather strange that they still relied on bows, but there were reasons for everything if you looked closely enough.
I stepped into the Archery classroom and flashed a refreshing smile.
“Well then, since I’m part of the Archery Department now, let’s all get along nicely, shall we?”
There were well over a hundred students. At my greeting, the same losers I’d seen in the Swordsmanship and Magic Departments twisted their faces in disgust. Of course, it wasn’t only losers. Once you filtered them out, there were also children from families that specialized exclusively in archery.
One of them—a red-haired young man—stepped forward.
“We’ve already received word from the Student Council.”
“Hmm? I’m a lover of peace, you know?”
Honestly, this academy showed zero mercy to a girl who’d been dumped. Thanks to that, though, it had created the perfect environment for me to beat people up.
“How arrogant.”
Did he think I was doing this for no reason? I was the villainess Olivia, who had risen up specifically to tear this academy apart.
As expected, the Archery Department was packed with students who had been kicked out of both Swordsmanship and Magic. If I destroyed this place too, Attelina Academy would be left with nothing but theoretical subjects. All the physical combat courses would vanish.
Was there anywhere in the world a noble son or daughter who couldn’t even graduate from the academy? When that time came, even these losers would be desperate.
“We’ve already heard that you’ve been hiding your true strength until now. But archery is the empire’s pride. Times have changed and more people are learning to use guns, but mana arrows are still necessary to hunt monsters. That’s why noble sons begin training in archery from a young age. No matter how skilled you are, as a woman, you cannot possibly win.”
“That’s a rather sexist remark, isn’t it?”
“Can you really compare a man who has trained in archery since childhood with a young lady who at best learned it as a hobby? Unless you’re from a military family, there’s no way a spoiled girl like you could win. Even if you somehow cheated your way through swordsmanship and magic, archery is purely decided by skill.”
Wow, so ordinary noble daughters really spent their entire childhood up to the academy learning nothing but etiquette? What a colossal waste of time!
“So, are we doing this or not?”
“I have no desire to waste time quarreling with you over archery.”
That wasn’t so bad. I was Olivia, lover of peace. And I liked my freedom. If he didn’t want to fight, I was perfectly content to sit quietly and attend class. Sometimes you had to match the mood.
“No way! You have to get revenge for us!”
“That’s right! Look at her trying to back out—she probably can’t do it either!”
The bitter, grudge-holding young losers shouted at the red-haired student, demanding he take revenge on their behalf. Yep. That was about what I expected.
“Shut up! You fools who looked down on your opponent and disgraced your own families sure have a lot to say!”
I was surprised someone like this even existed at Attelina. Just then, as if on cue, a woman entered the classroom. She appeared to be a former adventurer—her outfit wasn’t a formal suit but practical women’s combat gear you could buy at any shop.
“So Olivia’s here. Everyone, sit down already.”
At the professor’s words, the students hurriedly took their seats. It seemed the Archery Department focused surprisingly heavily on theory. Or perhaps after completing basic training in first year, second-years took mana arrow examinations.
In first year everyone learned basic techniques, then from second year they began training with mana to properly face monsters.
“I am S-Class adventurer Galdo. If you learned basic archery in first year, from second year onward you will use mana. Alright, class begins now. Pay close attention.”
Professor Galdo introduced herself and immediately began writing on the blackboard with chalk as she lectured.
“First, nock the arrow and slowly coat the fletching with mana. Once mana is infused into the arrowhead, it finally becomes a spear meant for hunting monsters.”
This was actually quite informative. The homeroom professors for Magic and Swordsmanship had rushed through their lessons, but they had probably covered this much.
“The problem is the mana circuit. Every person has a vessel for mana. It’s called a mana pool or mana circuit. By now you should understand. The larger your mana pool, the more mana arrows you can fire. Those lacking mana can recover it with potions.”
“Then what about people with no mana at all?”
Perhaps because I hadn’t destroyed anything yet, the class proceeded quite normally with the professor’s explanations and the students’ questions.
“People with absolutely no mana are extremely rare. Even they can usually fire at least one or two shots. However, because their mana is so low, there are worst-case scenarios where they cannot land a proper blow on monsters or the Demon King’s army. Guns were created to prepare for that.”
So second-years learned about guns as well?
“But doesn’t gunpowder have its own problems?” one student asked.
“That’s why the empire mainly fights defensive wars. Guns are useful, but they’re difficult to use against monsters. Cannons lack mobility so they can’t be dragged around easily either. If we were to launch a preemptive strike against the Demon King’s army, we would dispatch the carefully selected Imperial Knights.”
“I understand that even in defensive battles, arrows can run short,” I said.
As far as I knew, that wasn’t the case. While firepower might be lacking, arrows seemed to pour out endlessly. It was one of the reasons the empire’s productive capacity could not be ignored.
“That’s why massive quantities of mana potions are distributed to the defensive lines, or mages are dispatched. New weapons are only now being developed. So, why does the empire continue to use such inefficient bows?”
“I believe the empire’s founder was originally a nomadic tribe that used bows. Wasn’t it to preserve that spirit?”
The empire had modeled its current civilization after the Kingdom’s. Originally it had been a nomadic tribe similar to the barbarians of the north. Through war, they had eventually conquered the central and southern parts of the continent that now formed the empire’s heartland.
“That’s not entirely wrong, but it’s not the decisive reason. After all, the empire’s Monthly Flag features a sword piercing the moon, not a bow. If the bow had been primary, there would be an arrow instead of a sword, wouldn’t there? Does anyone know the reason? This is also connected to international relations.”
The Monthly Flag was the empire’s banner. It depicted a sword piercing through the moon, hence the name.
“In that case, why don’t we ask our Lady Olivia, who has been quite successful lately?”
The student who had been hit by my mana bullet in the Magic Department suddenly tossed the question my way. Hmm. I hadn’t expected them to throw me a bone like this.
“Oh, Lady Olivia. Now that I think about it, why are you even here?”
Indeed, who would have thought that someone like Olivia Lapa Ashtar would show interest in this department?
“I have to eat somehow.”
“I see. Since you’re a duke’s daughter, this isn’t simply an archery question, so perhaps you know? I’ll give you extra points if you get even a little close.”
Hmm. This wasn’t difficult. In fact, I knew the empire’s side of things quite well.
“Well, to be precise, there are multiple reasons, but it was mainly out of awareness of the elves of the Great Forest who primarily use mana arrows.”
“Oh? Can you explain in more detail?”
There was no way I wouldn’t know this. The empire’s scholars and court mages had spilled every imperial secret they could to obtain ancient documents from the Land of Destruction that I possessed. The reason they had told me those things was largely because they believed I was a member of the Hero Party. They had even half-threatened me, saying that since I now knew imperial secrets, I should hand over the documents. Since I had been planning to give them anyway, I had unintentionally gained information about the empire. The elves had been the same.
—Listen carefully, you gloomy mage. I don’t know what you see in those empire bastards, but our elves of the Great Forest completely crushed that so-called strongest human empire. Got it?
—Ugh, get lost.
—What? Is that how you speak to me?
That damn elf had far too much pride and had forcibly injected me with elven history. The empire’s choice to make archers their main force was deeply connected to the elves. After all, the empire had been utterly crushed in the war against them.
“Before answering this, we must understand the background. About a hundred years after the empire’s founding, the Imperial Army already had many swordsmen and spearmen, and lance cavalry bore the empire’s military strength. Three hundred years after its founding, the empire became conscious of the Great Forest and the existence of elves. Because the elves had developed a magical civilization, the empire invaded the Great Forest to obtain their power. After winning several battles, they suffered an ambush by the elves at the Battle of Philabel, losing tens of thousands of soldiers. Through the Arden Treaty, they made peace with the elves.”
“And then?”
“Although peace was maintained, the 16th Emperor was deeply inspired by how the elves had used mana arrows to defeat the Imperial Army at Philabel. During the negotiations, the elves had mocked the empire for being unable to use mana arrows. Because of that, even after making peace with the elves, the empire began training archers who could use mana arrows. Naturally, that led to the present situation.”
Raising elite archers to counter the elves had been a wise decision. Ironically, it was also why the Imperial Army had been pushed into a defensive position against the Demon King’s army.
“Correct. Lady Olivia answered splendidly. That is the direct reason, but one theory suggests it was also intended to weaken the military power of the southern nobles, who had always caused friction. That is why we have continued using bows until now.”
It really was inefficient. The elves had to keep using bows due to their innate talent, but the empire had no real need to. In the end, the military system established during the 16th Emperor’s reign had been maintained as-is. As battles against the Demon King’s army continued, they had no choice but to develop smaller cannons and the like to deal with the enemy more easily.
I looked at the students who had tried to humiliate me and laughed to my heart’s content.
“Next, we will practice archery directly.”
Archery training began in the training hall attached to the classroom. The students from military families were quite skilled. And it seemed the losers were once again planning to get revenge on me.
“Why don’t the great Ashtar young lady show us how it’s done?”
“Pardon?”
“I mean, you displayed such outstanding skill in both the Swordsmanship and Magic Departments. Surely you’re not bad at archery too, right?”
They dared provoke me when I was trying to live nicely? Hmm. I suddenly felt like showing off a little. Actually, now that I thought about it, these guys were acting all high and mighty just because they could coat arrows with mana. So I decided to show them.
When I stood in front of the target, the professor gave me a slightly puzzled look.
“Olivia. Aren’t you going to use an arrow?”
“Can’t I just create one with mana?”
It was such a simple solution. Why didn’t they understand?
“You’re going to materialize mana into an arrow?”
“May I?”
“You’re not some divine archer. Lady Olivia, friendly competition with the other students is fine, but that’s a bit…”
Professor Galdo trailed off as she stared at the mana arrow I had created in my hand. Yes. Yes. That was exactly the face I wanted to see. Maybe because this body had originally belonged to Olivia, I began to feel a thrill of pleasure. But it was still too early to be surprised.
Whoosh!Bang!
Whoosh!Bang!
I created ten arrows. Ten arrows embedded themselves in the target. Ten arrows also embedded themselves in the other students’ targets.
“Wait, Olivia! What the hell are you doing!”
That’s right. I, the second Olivia, had driven my arrows into the other students’ targets. Why? Because they had provoked me. They had to pay the price. I had been trying to quietly attend class and live like a decent person, but they wanted to mess with me like this? Even if they begged me a few times, it wouldn’t be enough.
“Ah, you were mocking me so poorly that I put the arrows over there instead. Is that a problem?”
“There are ten in total! This is clearly against the rules!”
“What exactly is stuck in my target?”
There wasn’t a single arrow in my target. Meanwhile, this nameless extra’s target had all ten of my arrows embedded in it. In the first place, this was a test to evaluate skill rather than strictly follow rules. Having already seen my ability with her own eyes, Professor Galdo probably wouldn’t care what I did.
In other words: Olivia doesn’t know anything.
“Professor! Lady Olivia has broken the rules!”
Look at her tattling.
“You were the ones who provoked Olivia first. If you knew she was the rumored young lady, you should have backed off while you still could.”
Yes. Yes. This professor was surprisingly reasonable. I slowly turned my head toward the students and gave them a meaningful look.
“That’s what she said. If you’re upset, you know what to do, right?”
If you’re upset, shoot better!