Ch 6

What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" He ask in jest, and Ryou couldn't stop the small smile that appeared on his lips.

Well now... Would you look at that, he really is the most sought out blacksmith in Castle Town...

Erhard continued to look expectantly towards him, and Ryou stopped his musings, of admiring the sheer coincidence.

"Yeah, sorry about that, you just reminded me of someone, that's all." Ryou, deflected awkwardly.

Erhard shrugged. "Well you would be hard pressed to find someone like me...Name's Erhard by the way."

A large rugged hand was extended towards him, and Ryou took it before replying. "Nice to meet you, name's Ryou, Ryou Takuma"

Confusion appeared on the mans face. "That's a weird name you have there."

"Yeah, I'm not from around here." Ryou confirmed with a small smile, prompting the other man to look at him curiously, while crossing his larger arms over his chest.

"Yeah, it shows, with that name, and those clothes you're wearing... Actually they do look familiar." Brown eyes studied, the young man in front of him.

Deciding there was no point in hiding it, Ryou materialized the Legendary weapon, before continuing. "Yeah, if my clothes are familiar, then you probably had a costumer with a weapon that had a jewel just like this one, it could have been a shield too." Ryou finished, pointing at the yellow jewel on his bow.

Erhard, looked surprised for a couple of seconds before bursting out in a roar of laughter.

"Would you look at that, my little shop is getting really popular, having two of the Legendary Heroes drop by in the same day!" He exclaimed after calming down, and Ryou felt amused at the man, he was exactly the same as in canon.

"Well, I'm looking for protective gear, and apparently your craft speaks for itself if so many people are recommending it." The compliment brought a grin to the blacksmith's face.

"Damn straight it does, all my gear is top notch, and don't you forget it, kid!" An identical grin appeared in Ryou's face as he turned the weapon into a bracelet again.

"It better be, I would like to avoid having to drag myself here, half dead, asking for my money back." Ryou challenged, and the grin on the blacksmith's face grew wider.

"Kid, if you get yourself hurt while wearing my equipment, you only got yourself to blame."

With a shrug Ryou continued the Banter. "What kind of justification is that, isn't normal policy that the costumer is always right?"

"Of course, until I have his money, that is…" Erhard replied now in a serious tone. The reply brought out a genuine laugh from Ryou. The seriousness in which the man had stated it, and the honesty that had been present, confirmed that the blacksmith's personality was an exact copy of the one in the Story.

"You! I like you! You're my kind of guy alright!" Ryou declared, after getting his laugh under control. It had actually been the first time he had laughed like that since coming into this world, probably a good while even before that.

"So now that the pre-purchase banter is done, what exactly are you looking for kid?" Erhard asked bending over the counter, crossing his arms over it.

"Well, the main thing I'm looking for is something that will protect me, without sacrificing mobility" If his attributes behaved like a game, then the one that would show the biggest development would probably be Agility. Agility, meant speed, and he didn't want to hinder himself, especially if the plan was to avoid attacks.

Erhard scratched his beard, pondering before explaining. "Well if you want just slight protection, without sacrificing any mobility then Chain Mail might be your thing. Other then that, the only thing I can think of, is Leather Armor, it might take a while to get used to it, but you wont sacrifice much mobility, and it will offer some serious defense."

Ryou took in the explanation, bouncing the two possibilities in his head. Chain Mail had little weight compared to normal armor, but it offered little protection from his small understanding, especially since most monsters likely packed quite the punch. Leather Armor on the other hand would be heavier, and he would loose some degree of mobility, but would offer a lot more in terms of protection. Eventually the need to feel safer, won over the more nimbler option, even if it slightly contradicted the overall plan.

"Okay, show me what you have in terms of Leather Armor, and I will go from there, something around the three hundred silver."

What happen next, would have made his sister call him an hypocrite, since it was literally the biggest clothing tryout session he had ever endured, normally he would run out of patience after fifteen minutes, this one had taken forty-five. It certainly took a while before he had something that satisfied him, after all even if Leather Armor looked reasonable, he still felt ridiculous in it, not even worth mentioning that it wasn't all that comfortable.

In the end he picked a Leather Armor set ,minus the helm, and gauntlets. The chest piece was a reddish brown color, with a double layer of leather. the shoulders were strapped on the chest, also in layers, ending with black leather adornments. The rest of the set, was much the same, from the skirt to the arm armor. Ryou couldn't get over how ridiculous the helm looked. and it actually blocked a little of his peripheral vision, and the gauntlets made it hard to fire the bow. He also chose to pick a few sets of 'local' clothing, they also felt weird, but he couldn't exactly use his shirt under the armor, on the positive side, he could now fit in with the locals, even if it made him look like a country bumpkin. At least they also came in black.

Finally out of the small dressing room, Ryou checked from his perspective how it looked, bow in hand. He still felt slightly embarrassed, even if he now had clothing on par with his new 'job'.

"Out of curiosity kid, but do you even know how to use that thing?" Erhard asked, pointing towards the weapon in his hand.

Ryou closed his eyes briefly before frowning. "More or less, tending heavily into the less part at this point, I mean... I know the basics, but that's it."

Upon hearing that the blacksmith had also developed a frown on his face. " A Legendary Hero not knowing how to wield his weapon? Isn't that a sad thing… You know, I can let you practice in the back, thats where I test most of my weapons, bows included, it would be better to try it here, then out there, right?" Erhard proposed. Hearing the proposition, Ryou couldn't help but to feel slightly suspicious. No matter how much he acted like canon, there was always a catch.

"Do you offer the same treatment to the rest of your costumers old man, or am I just special?" Erhard only looked slightly confused, before responding honestly.

"Well, you can't buy my gear if you're dead. Besides I have a feeling that you will be a big costumer in the future." Well I can't really argue with that logic... Ryou thought to himself before deciding to accept the offer, it had also rung true that getting a little practice in a safe environment would be in his best interest.

"Okay. I'll take you up on that offer. Who knows, maybe some practice will actually help me come back, so you can bleed me dry of my hard earned money." Another laugh escaped Erhard, before the man slapped him on the back with enough force that he almost kissed the floor, throwing a glare towards the man Ryou followed him into the back.

The back, as Erhard had said turned out to be a small back alley kind of area. It had a few tables most likely where the blacksmith worked on his craft, and what could only be a forge.

After a few minutes of rummaging through a pile of materials, and other tools, Erhard had finally found the target. A standard target if Ryou had ever saw one, white, round with a small red circle in the middle, three wooden legs supporting it.

After the target had been set, Erhard moved to lean against the wall, slightly behind Ryou. Ryou for his part moved into position, raising his bow.

So I know I don't need to carry arrows, but how exactly does it work..?

After a few moments of visualizing Ituski's usage of the bow, Ryou moved his free hand against the jewel, and pulled. Nothing happened, He tried again, this time with two fingers bent inward as if grabbing an invisible arrow before pulling. This time the result had been different, slowly the fletching appeared from inside the jewel, the rest of the arrow followed until Ryou had the full thing in his grip

Looking at the bow, and arrow, Ryou could only feel a slight bit of disgruntlement. You are just going to keep bending the law's of reality left, and right, aren't you..?

Finally, eyes fixed on the target Ryou leveled the bow with it. Taking a deep breath he waited for a moment, before releasing the arrow.

…Thunk…

…Silence…

Ryou blinked a couple of times, at what had just happened.

"Pretty good, for a first shot from a beginner." Erhard complemented from behind. The arrow had hit the target, right in the middle of the red circle.

Shaking his head slightly, Ryou once again took aim, and after a few moments released another arrow.

…Thunk…

Eyebrows raising into his hairline Ryou took in the sight before him. A couple of millimeters at most from his first arrow, was the second one, still very much in the center of the target. Taking aim once more at the target, Ryou quickly release a third arrow.

…Thunk…

"Remind me again, how many times did you say you shot a bow before?" Came the voice from behind him, and Ryou could easily detect an hint of skepticism in it.

"Err two?" Ryou answered with both confusion, and hesitation, almost sounding like a question. Three arrows were stuck in the middle of the target.

Taking position yet again, eyes narrowing at the target, Ryou let the arrows fly in quick succession.

…Thunk…Thunk…Thunk…

What the actual fuck… One or two I can buy it! But six?! There's no way I have this good of an aim.

Looking down Ryou decided to raise the challenge up a notch, picking a small piece of concrete, he hurled it into the sky. Taking aim quickly he felt it, the moment before he released the arrow, an unknown force pushed his bow down slightly.

…Thrak…

The piece of concrete shattered on impact making little stones, and dust, fall on them. Eyes widen, and mouth wide open, Ryou looked down at his weapon with disbelief.

Ohh….My…God…Don't tell me…

A window popped up in front of him, and there displayed in large letters, it read…

[Divine Protection of the Bow - Passive Skill]

Looking below Ryou read the description…

[The Legendary Bow bestows upon the wielder amazing marksmanship, in addition the bow will always correct the trajectory in order to hit a target.]

Ohhh…My…Fucking…God…

He couldn't really help himself, he threw his arms upwards shouting in pure happiness.

"Yes!Yes!Fucking Yes! You stupid, magical, piece of shit! I love you so much right now!" Ryou proceeded to kiss the mentioned weapon, his thoughts moving at miles per hour.

This thing comes with a auto-aim bot installed! That released an enormous burden from his shoulders, Ryou had after all been terrified over his ability to fight from nearly the beginning. His goal from the moment he realized the situation, had always been to survive. However if he couldn't even fight, what hope did he have. And after all those agonizing thoughts, it turned out his ability to fight had never been a problem in the first place.

I can fight now, I can shoot stuff now!

"Kid… are you alright?" Erhard asked hesitantly, and Ryou turned around with one of the biggest grins he had ever made in his life .

"Dude did you see that?" Ryou asked, excitement oozing from his entire body. Erhard on the other hand only raised an eyebrow.

"What, the fact that you are some kind of archery prodigy?"

Ryou shook his head, before replying. "No dude, that's not…" and stopped. In his euphoria he hadn't thought about it, but in reality how many people knew about his new-found ability, especially if he had only just discovered it? For all intents an purposes it might very well be a secret. Erhard had all but proved to be every bit of a good guy as his canon counterpart, but still..

Isn't this the entire reason I choose to adventure alone in the first place…

"Yeah lets go with that…" Ryou concluded, and Erhard, already raised eyebrow moved a little bit upwards but he didn't offer any more commentary.

Thinking about it Ryou couldn't help but to realize that his new ability was the literal definition of cheating, how many years of practice would it take to pull off those kind of shots. He had read somewhere, some random forum or something that Itsuki's ability to shoot had been attributed to some psychic power. Ryou was pretty sure that he didn't possessed that kind of ability in either worlds.

Is it possible that, since I don't possess that psychic ability, the Legendary Bow went ahead, and granted me the Divine Protection to compensate for it..? Looking back at his weapon he couldn't help the smirk that formed on his face.

You sneaky little shit…

After making the most amazing of discovery's so far, Ryou went ahead and paid for his new gear, that now also included a long black hooded cloak. He decided that it did look cool, and more then that it went with his new ability, most rangers wore a hooded cloak after all. Maybe there had also been a small part of his brain that would always associate a long cloak to bad ass characters, that had been a troupe in a lot of anime's. When someone wearing a cloak appeared he just knew the the character was most likely going to be a bad-ass.

Although lets be honest here, nobody can pull out cool while wearing a cloak like anime characters can...

The total of Ryou expenditure had come to be around two hundred, and ninety silver, more than a quarter of his saving, but at least his defense had all but tripled, even if he had been pretty sure that Naofumi had more than that at level one.

After promising Erhard, that he would definitely come back, before leaving, Ryou now faced a new dilemma. The new discovery about his bow had left him with a feeling of anticipation. He wanted to try it out some more, and he still had a couple of hours of daylight. On the other hand he still felt quite nervous about the idea of setting foot outside of town.

It took a little to measure the pros, against the cons, but eventually he decided that he had to do it. Between his new gear, ability, and a stock of potions he couldn't be more prepared, besides the wave would certainly not wait for him to get mentally ready, and he couldn't afford to lose anymore time.

A small expedition outside for now, would be enough to get his feet wet.

With the gates of Castle Town behind him, Ryou couldn't help but to feel a little ashamed. He had actually hesitated to cross that border for a few seconds, and now that he had done so, there existed no difference, no gigantic monster ready to devour him. Beyond the gates were instead of gigantic monsters, farms with farmers out, and about. The fact that there were civilians out here, most likely meant that the monsters were not has threatening as he had thought.

With his bow now in hand, Ryou began the trek beyond the farmlands, into the small hills that composed most of the scenery before him. Eyes scanning for any signs of danger, it hadn't been until his third hill that he finally saw something unnatural.

On the end of a slope, unlike what the anime had portrait, the creature in his sight was not completely round, more like pumpkin shaped with bright luminous orange eyes, and a small mouth full of serrated indentations that looked like sharp teeth. On closer inspection it looked a lot more like a jack-o-lantern then an actual balloon.

The orange creature hadn't spotted him yet, so Ryou got himself into position, taking aim at the orange monstrosity before him, and holding his breath for a moment he finally released his arrow feeling the bow correcting his aim.

With an echoing popping sound the creature burst into small weightless orange remains. The sound of the experience window appearing startled Ryou a little, however the feeling of adrenaline, quickly went away.

That… Ryou thought after a moment. …was really underwhelming…

The orange balloon had definitely looked menacing, more so because he had never seen a monster in real life, but Ryou had expected some sort of fight.

A fight from a monster Naofumi used has a punching bag to vent his frustrations… A traitorous part of his brain reminded him.

And once again he thought about it, the monsters here couldn't be that threatening if farmers were living so close by. And on the off chance that anything more dangerous actually came out, the knights, and adventurers would probably take care of it within the hour. In hindsight his apprehension on stepping out of the town might have been slightly exaggerated.

Moving towards the mortal remains of the Balloon he had just killed, Ryou picked one piece up, his fingers feeling the thin, and rubbery texture.

How in biology's name do these things even work? Actually how the hell, do they float..? And like most things in his new world he had no idea.

He brought the piece close to the jewel on his bow, After a while it began to shine in a yellow light, and Ryou felt the air being sucked like a vacuum before the orange piece in his hand disappeared into it.

So it works exactly like Naofumi's… Another window opened in his vision showing what appeared to be a colossal skill tree, with far to many icons to count, hundreds probably thousands of them, especially since the window while zoomed out still had a lot more to scroll both horizontally, and vertically. One particular icon was shining, and focusing his vision there, it zoomed in, showing a new bow with the very original name of Orange Bow.

Seriously who the hell design this, at least have some creativity… Because, Orange balloons unlocking a Orange Bow seemed like some serious lazy naming.

Looking around the new window, it show cased the stats were actually lower then his original bow, however on the equipment bonus tab there was a measly plus two on agility, it had no skills though, and it hadn't even been unlocked yet. The requirements showed that he had one out of three Orange balloon remains needed to unlock it.

So the system isn't that easy... thought Ryou. It appeared that multiple remains would be needed in order to unlock the bow, and it was probable that there would be bows that needed different items altogether.

Picking up another piece of the Orange Balloon, Ryou feed it to the jewel, before looking around for more. After scavenging the immediate area he found out that the monster had only dropped two remains, so he set out too find more Balloons.

It hadn't actually been that long, before Ryou found more Balloons, and for something that floated in the air, they could move very fast, thankfully they were also very easy to spot even at a distance, not even counting the red arrow that the creatures had above their head. Thankfully despite their speed, he had the Divine Protection, and could deal with them in one shot, before they came anywhere near him, although there still existed the danger of one sneaking up.

After popping eight orange monstrosities he had increased his experience by a small amount, but it would take some time before he reached level two. At least he had enough materials to unlock his new bow.

Finally grabbing the final orange remain, now that there was no more balloons in sight, Ryou gave it to his bow, a warning window appeared that read: unlocked.

Like he had noticed before his new bow actually decreased his stats, however he was curious about the equipment bonus.

Reading through all the information provided, and related help windows, Ryou had discovered that his bow possessed a mastery bar that would increase with usage, when mastered it would give him permanent access the the equipment bonus even while wielding other bows.

Ryou couldn't honestly remember if that particular information had been shown in canon, but either way he couldn't help but to think how overpowered that was.

Is this why Naofumi even at lower levels could keep up with the other Heroes, and eventually left them in the dust..?

It couldn't have been just that... Ryou thought, unless the other heroes had focused only on the strongest weapons they could find. Sure the strongest weapons probably provided amazing bonus, but in the long run it would be completely inefficient. Like wielding a level sixty weapon at level one, it would probably be amazing for a while, but eventually the monsters level would rise, and they would have a really hard time keeping up. After all if Motoyasu had a weapon that gave him three hundred defense, and Naofumi had one hundred shields that gave him three defense, in the long run Naofumi would have the advantage, because the attributes would be part of him no matter what shield he used. That would actually make him a walking tank.

And that actually happen didn't it..? Ryou thought, before shaking his head. So either the other heroes upgrading system didn't possessed a stacking element to it, or it did, but they had chosen to ignored it for how small it was. In any case, mastering all the bows he could get his hands on, definitely sounded like the way to go.

"Orange bow!" Extending his arm, he watched has his Legendary Weapon changed form, into a Orange version of itself the only difference being instead of the wings like ornaments, there were now serrated indentations similar to the balloons teeth.

Deciding to test the boost Ryou broke into a short dash, taking sharp turns, and trying out all kinds of rapid movement. After a bit, Ryou realized that he couldn't in fact feel any difference. Logically thinking, the two extra point in agility accounted for less then a five percent increase, so it only made sense that the difference wasn't notable. Maybe if it added twenty points, instead of two the difference might have been notable. Either way he would get those points, and far more through leveling and mastering more forms of his Legendary Weapon.

By the time Ryou decided to call quits on his so called Hunting Expedition, the orange colors on the sky were already fading, and a few stars could be seen.

He had made good progress, with a few more kills under his belt, and of different variations. Balloons came in different colors although their behavior stayed the same. Besides the far more common orange ones, he had killed a yellow one, and a couple of red ones, their drops consequently unlocked bows of their respective colors, however much like the Orange Bow, the equipment bonus, were mostly the same.

The mastery bar on his new bow, had hardly made any progress, less then a tenth had been filled. Apparently the progress was tied to the bow in usage, although that had begged the question, since everything died on one shot, Ryou couldn't be certain if it was on a kill basis, or hit based, what he could tell however was that he had to hit a monster for there to be any progress. It would have been nice if he could just unlock a ton of bows, and then spend the reminder of his time shooting some random tree for mastery progress.

That would have been nice, and very easy to exploit…

Castle Town was as lively in the evening as it was during the day, with merchants still conducting business, and adventurers going on and about. It might have been because of the appearance of the Waves, everyone was trying to get has strong as possible in order to survive, not just the Heroes.

Feeling his stomach rumbling in protest reminded Ryou of the need to acquire, and consume food. He had spent most of the day running around, and then hunting, with his last meal being the lunch he had at the Castle. It would probably be a good idea to stock up on food the next time he went out, and about, he had his own personal moving storage after all.

Scanning his surroundings, he found a tavern that seemed as good as a place as any. The process of ordering had been mostly normal, if not for the eyes, and murmurs that followed him every single step after he had entered the establishment. He didn't even had his bow out, and yet everyone still recognized him.

This was something that truly bothered him, he was used to be by himself, and do his own thing.

Unlike the food served at the Castle, the one served at the tavern was a lot less glamorous but it had a homely taste, and feeling to it. Still with all eyes on him it had been uncomfortable to eat like that.

After paying for his meal, Ryou quickly made his way back to the Inn, the attention getting to him, thankfully no one had come forward, and started a conversation.

Finally calling it a day, he laid in bed contemplating everything.

I made very good progress, and things are finally looking slightly up, especially thanks to that cheat code of a skill that I have… Ryou thought with some relief, though it quickly turned more somber when an image of a fan wielding woman came to mind…

I could leave it to Naofumi, but I can't be sure things will play out exactly has they should, so I have to get stronger, much, much stronger, or Glass might just put an end to my life… Unlike monsters, the fan wielding women, was human, and that made her far more dangerous, not even counting the overwhelming power she had... Those were Ryou's thoughts before falling asleep.

It was the harsh knocking on his door, followed by someone shouting for him that arose Ryou from his slumber. Rubbing his eyes, quickly rising from the bed, far more than a little angry, Ryou made his way to the door, his anger present on every corner of his being. The act of interrupting his sleep was a more then tested method to piss him off, it had been something that extended towards most of his family his father excluded, the man had always been a morning person.

"Yeah what the hell is it?!" He snapped the moment he opened the door, and the guard on the other side paused, arm raised in the air, looking in apprehension before replying.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Yuusha-sama, but his Highness called for an emergency meeting." The guard explained, arm lowering to be parallel to his body.

Ryou had to resist the urge to tell the guard, that the King could go do himself, before calming down.

"And what is this meeting about?"

The guard look nervously from one side, to the other. "Well... I only heard rumors, but apparently the Shield Hero his being brought in, on the charges of sexual assault."

Here we go... "If Naofumi is truly guilty, there is no reason for me to be present? Right?" The guard seemed taken aback at hearing his question. Ryou honestly just wanted to avoid participating in the shit show that would unfold.

"But his Highness has requested that all Heroes have to be present…" And of course the king would want all Heroes present. He wanted the maximum exposure possible, making absolute sure there existed no doubt in anyone's mind to what a terrible 'monster' Naofumi was.

"Yeahhh, I politely decline, tell his highness that if the Shield Hero is really guilty, then I shall conform to the Kings judgment, and punishment, there's no need for me to be there..." And Ryou proceeded to close the door in the guards face, not even allowing the man to finish whatever objection he had been about to raise.

Ryou did pity his fellow hero for the injustice that had befall on him, however there had been nothing for him to do. Even if Ryou took to Naofumi's defense, he had no prove, it would be both of their voices against that of an entire country. The only thing that would happen would be a lot of closing doors, plus a target on his back that he wanted to avoid at any cost.

I'm sorry Naofumi, I really am, but like you, I also want to live, and that means that for the time being... Its every man for himself… Even if Ryou couldn't subdue the guilt that emerged from that decision.