Translator: Legge
Everyone was sleeping soundly in the middle of the night when the group of bandits suddenly arrived on horseback and sent a hail of arrows raining down from the night sky.
Just the first wave of arrows killed more than a dozen people, with several more dozen casualties happening in the aftermath. Was this a situation normal people were used to?
In the chaos, someone had suddenly stepped forward and killed the bandits one by one with his precise and overpowering shots, so how could everyone not applaud this?
Everyone stood up and started applauding, following Ren Xiaosu’s lead. As they clapped, they smiled at Qian Weining to express their gratitude.
Ren Xiaosu said, “When I heard that Vice President Qian was appointed the vice president of the York County Chamber of Commerce due to his strength, I couldn’t believe it at first. But Vice President Qian has now proven just how capable he is! With you protecting us, we feel much safer on our journey
north!”
A middle-aged woman dressed rather expensively echoed, “That’s right, thank you for protecting us, Vice President Qian!”
All of a sudden, Qian Weining had somehow become the hero of the trade caravan. This left him at a loss.
‘When Qian Weining looked at the faces staring at him in admiration, his mouth remained agape for a long time, and he couldn’t say a word in response.
First of all, he was unsure if he had hit any of the bandits with his arrows, but it appeared that they were really dead. Second, who didn’t enjoy being admired?
Qian Weining gave an awkward laugh and said, “It’s probably just a coincidence. Actually, I’m not really that good at archery.”
The applause had slowly subsided. However, Ren Xiaosu started clapping harder again. “Not only is Vice President Qian strong, but he’s modest as well. What a rare guy!”
The applause went wild again!
With that, Qian Weining did not say any more. At some point, he even felt the bandits might really have died to his precise archery.
A distance away, An‘an wondered inside the carriage, “Aunt, is Vice President Qian really that good at archery?”
“It looks like he is.” The middle-aged woman said, “Judging from the horse trots I heard, there were at least 50 bandits who came this time. He’s really impressive for being able to kill them all so quickly. Actually, I didn’t have many expectations when I saw him drawing his bow and firing even though he’s
an experienced archer. He didn’t seem like he had much strength. But it turns out I underestimated him.”
An’an nodded. “There’s many talented people hiding in plain sight, indeed. Let’s have Little Cheng go with the guards and check on the bandits’ corpses later to see how accurate his shots were.”
Meanwhile, Melgor whispered to Ren Xiaosu, “Since Vice President Qian is so good at archery, does that mean we won’t have to return to York County?”
Ren Xiaosu raised an eyebrow. “Why? You no longer scared?”
“We have to head to Ghent City sooner or later, anyway. It’ll be better to have an expert like him escort us north than turn back and wait to die. Melgor said, “By the way, you were probably a practitioner of martial arts in the Central Plains, right? Have you learned archery before? Why don’t I borrow a bow
for you from Vice President Qian?”
Ren Xiaosu shook his head. “I’ve never learned it before, so I don’t know how to use one.”
When Melgor heard this, he even felt a little disdainful of Ren Xiaosu. “You didn’t even learn archery?! Look at how skilled Vice President Qian is at killing enemies over long range. Aren’t you envious?”
“No.” Ren Xiaosu shook his head. “There’s really nothing to be envious about.”
“You just don’t want to admit it.” Melgor curled his lips and said, “Alright, I’l borrow a set of bow and arrows for you to practice with. Otherwise, it would be a huge waste of your immense strength!”
After that, Melgor went to look for Qian Weining.
Ren Xiaosu was puzzled. Was there a point in learning archery? Wouldn’t he be better off using an automatic rifle? Or was his black sniper rifle not good enough?
No matter how lethal bows and arrows were, they were just a primitive weapon. In the era of firearms and explosives in the Central Plains, who would still need to use bows?!
Therefore, it was not that Ren Xiaosu did not want to learn archery, but that there was really no point in learning it!
After a while, Melgor came back with a longbow and a quiver of fletched arrows and handed them to Ren Xiaosu. “Give it a try.”
Ren Xiaosu glanced at the bow in Melgor’s hand. It was a self bow! that wasn’t complicated to make.
Ren Xiaosu reluctantly took the longbow from him. He mimicked the way Vice President Qian handled the bow and gently pulled the bowstring back. With just a light pull, he was able to bring it to a full draw.
He was being so gentle because he was worried he would break the bow. How could this weapon withstand the strength of a superhuman from the Central Plains?
Ren Xiaosu let go of the bowstring and nocked a fletched arrow on it before shooting it at a campfire. However, the arrow landed more than two meters away from its target.
Melgor lamented, “So you really don’t know how to use a bow. You couldn’t even hit a campfire that was five meters away.”
From his tone, it sounded like Melgor loathed Ren Xiaosu’s skill in archery.
Ren Xiaosu curled his lips and pushed the longbow back into Melgor’s arms. “I already said that I don’t know archery, yet you still insisted that I try it out. Don’t worry, I won’t even bother using something like that when I’m killing enemies. It’ll only hinder me!”
Melgor said resentfully, “Will you die if you stop bragging?! If you don’t know how to use it, just say so. Why are you talking down the bow?!”
“If you’re so capable, get me a gun.” Ren Xiaosu leisurely sat down at the campfire. “Everyone in the Central Plains carries firearms. Who still uses bows and arrows?”
“Firearms are only one-shot weapons and take too long to reload, so they might not necessarily be as effective as the bow,” Melgor said.
Ren Xiaosu was stunned. He could deduce where the level of firearms technology in the Kingdom of Sorcerers had stopped solely based on Melgor’s remark.
During their exchange, the sorceress was sneaking glances at Ren Xiaosu from inside her carriage. Although her aunt had repeatedly emphasized to her not to spy on that young man anymore, she couldn’t help it.
‘When she saw Ren Xiaosu bringing the bowstring to a full draw in an instant, she tugged on the middle-aged woman’s sleeve and exclaimed, “Aunt, look! That kid’s strength is enormous!”
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‘The middle-aged woman had a look and analyzed, “To be able to draw the longbow so easily, that kid probably has a muscle strength of over a 100 kilograms in each arm. It seems like he’s blessed with great strength.”
“No wonder he could catch up to me that night. So it turns out he’s that physically strong.” An’an muttered, “But look, Aunt, his archery is totally not up to the mark.”
“No, it’s not like that.” The middle-aged woman shook her head. “He doesn’t even know archery at all. Look at how he holds the bow. It’s completely wrong.”
“That young man probably didn’t come out of the royal army.” An‘an said firmly, “Everyone in the army is trained in archery, so it’s impossible that someone from there would be so amateurish.”
“Maybe he’s only blessed with great strength but has never undergone any form of systematic training before?” The middle-aged woman said with some regret, “What a pity for that great strength of his. Those who haven’t undergone any training can at most utilize 50% of their strength. It’s really such a
pity.”
‘The middle-aged woman emphasized the word “pity” twice as she really felt it was a waste.
“Aunt, since that kid was never in the royal army and has no relation to the sorcerer clans, do you think we can persuade him to join us?” An‘an said curiously.
The middle-aged woman smiled and said, “I knew you would ask this, but you should understand that we have to find out everything about him if we want him to join us.”
“Then let’s continue observing him along the way,” An‘an said.
The middle-aged woman thought for a moment and answered, “Alright.”