Chapter 16 - Dragon Hourglass

The Reimagining of the Bow Hero

Chapter 16 – Dragon Hourglass

Author's Note: The wave is happening next chapter! Important note: Satoshi has unlocked a lot of different bows and powered up over the past few chapters, but they were mostly the boring bows that nobody cares about. The more interesting and original bows that will show up later on will be elaborated upon when they show up. Thanks for waiting!

It was a large building, covering a great deal of land. There was a large dome, and the clock tower where we got our hourglass sand from protruded into the sky.

Our party had just arrived here after eating a hearty meal at the tavern, to enjoy ourselves before the incoming wave. Our earlier day trip into the forest greatly helped Indigo improve his halberd skills.

As we approached the main entrance, a few nuns trotted out and respectfully led us deeper into the church. Motoyasu was already standing beside the giant, 7-foot-tall dragon hourglass, with his entourage of women. The sand in the hourglass was blood red, clearly indicating that the wave was about to strike. A small timer appeared in my field of vision.

20:21

We had a little less than a day before the wave would hit.

Motoyasu walked up to me and waved friendlily.

"Hey, Satoshi! How's it been?"

"It's been quite good for me. I grinded up a ton, got a new, powerful party member, and powered up a ton!"

We chatted for a bit more, discussing our battleplan until Naofumi suddenly walked through the doorway. Motoyasu' s congenial attitude suddenly changed.

"Woah, is that Naofumi?" Motoyasu sneered.

"Satoshi, how are you doing?" Naofumi said as he completely ignored Motoyasu. "Are you ready for the wave?"

"Yeah, I've been working my butt off to prepare myself. I'm confident that we will decimate any monster that comes upon our path."

Myne, clearly annoyed that Naofumi was ignoring them, butted into our conversation.

"Mr. Motoyasu here is speaking to you. Listen to him."

Naofumi' s eyes were fuming as he stared at her icily.

Before the situation could escalate any further, Ren walked into the room with his five party members. He said absolutely nothing as he walked past the lot of us, his party members following closely behind.

Not knowing what to do, Motoyasu swept his eyes across the room. They stopped once they hit Raphtalia.

He waltzed over to Raphtalia in a gentlemanly manner and introduced himself.

"Pleased to meet you, milady. I am one of the four legendary heroes summoned to this kingdom, and my name is Motoyasu. I am honored to make your acquaintance."

"U-Uh, my name is Raphtalia. I-I am Naofumi' s sword."

"Why are you fighting alongside Naofumi? Did he steal you?"

"N-No, he didn't!"

Motoyasu got closer to Raphtalia, making her clearly uncomfortable.

Indigo looked angry and suddenly drew his weapon. With the speed of a rocket reaching escape velocity, he bolted in front of Raphtalia and stuck the butt of his halberd against Motoyasu' s chin. Motoyasu fell on his rear and smacked his head against the floor.

"Since we are all allies for this fight, I would ask of the honorable Spear Hero to not harass the Shield Hero's party members."

Seeing this handsome young man disarm Motoyasu so easily, towering above Motoyasu in a commanding manner, the ladies were gawking and squealing.

"Oh my god! He's so handsome!"

"Is he taken?"

Motoyasu embarrassedly backed off from Indigo, upset that his party members were more interested in the angelic-looking stud instead of himself. He obviously prided himself in his good looks, but they were clearly overshadowed by the purple-haired halberdier.

He shot Indigo a dirty look.

"Fine. I won't question any further."

Thus, in an unceremonious manner, Motoyasu' s party promptly left the clock tower. Seeing no further reason to remain, Ren' s party followed suit.

Soon, only Naofumi' s party and my party remained.

"Those two." Raphtalia questioned. "Are they legendary heroes like you and Satoshi?"

"Yes. They are the spear and sword hero."

"What happened between you all?"

Naofumi was quite nervous to answer Raphtalia' s question. I decided to step in and give the simplest answer possible.

"Raphtalia," I walked up and whispered in her ear, not wanting anyone else to hear what I was going to say. "Naofumi was accused of a crime he didn't commit, and therefore the whole kingdom, the Church and the rest of the heroes loathe him. I am one of the only ones who believe in his innocence, because of the overwhelming evidence supporting his argument."

"Then, why didn't you defend him?"

Umm… This would be hard to answer.

"I did defend Naofumi to the best of my ability, but this country is ruled directly by the king, and I couldn't do much more than a simple protest without everybody getting into deeper trouble."

Raphtalia' s face suddenly brightened up.

"Thanks for helping Naofumi when he needed it the most!"

"No problem. He is my friend, after all."

Saying that, I gathered my party and walked out of the church, with Naofumi and Raphtalia following close after. We parted ways soon after.

While strolling down the street, I came to a realization. A month ago, I was given a task by the Adventurer's Guild to save the kingdom in the north. I have been getting stronger in order to defeat the king, since a low-leveled hero wouldn't stand a chance, but I never thought of what would happen to the kingdom after the revolution was complete. How would it be run? How would it survive? How would the citizens survive?

Equally as important, what would be the best way to run the country? Democracy, constitutional monarchy, or just replacing the ruling dynasty?

It was time to draft a constitution, but I didn't know how to write in the local language. Thankfully, I had an excellent affinity for learning languages, as I could fluently speak 6 languages in my original world.

"Sorry, Indigo, Rojeel, Welst, Eda, but I have something I have to do. Please wait for me at the inn."

Saying that, I sprinted towards the castle, and frantically asked them where the royal library was.

"It's on the second floor, and you'll find it easy enough. Just look for the room with a lot of books."

I headed towards the second floor, and as the guard said, it was quite obvious where it was. There was nobody inside, so I creaked open the door and started flipping through one of the books.

It was hopeless. There was no way I could learn this. There were just scribbly, wonky hieroglyphics everywhere, and without a proper teacher I could never get a hang of this.

Sighing, I left the castle with my hopes down. Guess I'd have to ask someone to write a constitution. For now, I would just rest and prepare for the wave.

Before returning to the inn, I swung by the pharmacy to grab some healing medicine before the wave and bought other essentials from travelling merchants such as water canteens and a compass. By the time I returned to the inn, it was almost midnight.

I fell asleep right away. This would be our first wave, and I needed all the rest I could get.

Chapter 17 out soon!