Extra Chapter: Trials and Tribulations of the Bow Hero
My name is Itsuki Kawasumi.
I was walking home from my prep school, upset, because the results of my last test were always the same. I got another E.
Whenever I felt bad after class like that, I would relax at home by playing Dimension Wave and go for walks in the evening.
You could defeat evil and prove yourself in a game. But this was reality.
If you didn’t have power, you could never live true to your sense of justice.
I was at the point where I felt like I would lose my sense of self if I wasn’t able to rediscover it in the game world.
If it weren’t for games, I might not be alive anymore. If I hadn’t learned to enjoy stories, I might have gone crazy.
“How should I try to clear the game this time?” I muttered to myself at a crosswalk. The light turned and I stepped into the street.
Vrrmmm—
There was a bright light and a heavy rumbling sound. I don’t remember anything after that.
When I woke up, I was in a stone-walled room I’d never seen before. There were three other young people there with me.
I had a bow in my hand. At first, I didn’t understand what was happening.
But then I realized it was a situation I’d read about before in a novel or two. A man dressed like a wizard came into the room and begged us for help.
I didn’t want to immediately agree, as I might end up agreeing to unfavorable conditions. And there was always the chance that this was an elaborate prank, right?
Plus, I was pretty sure that I’d just been run over by a truck.
Why would someone pick me up from a traffic accident and then try to prank me?
I guess there might be psychologists out there that would set up an experiment like that to measure my reaction. Maybe?
So I had a number of doubts, but I couldn’t suppress my excitement either—I was in my favorite world, Dimension Wave. And I’d been summoned there to serve as a hero with one of the best weapons, the bow.
I decided to ignore all those people that had called me useless or dumb. I decided to use what I knew about the world to become strong, so that I might right wrongs and defeat evil.
I don’t like to have the spotlight on me.
Justice is when you defeat evil without announcing it. When you do the right thing in secret.
That’s what all the heroes I knew about from books were like.
They would never fight for the praise of others.
I soon realized I would have to hide the fact that I was the Bow Hero.
Besides, if evil realized that the Bow Hero was around, it would run and hide.
Ren, the Sword Hero, and Motoyasu, the Spear Hero, hadn’t figure that out yet. They just ran around doing whatever they wanted.
But someday they’d come across an evil that they wouldn’t be able to handle on their own.
Like that raping demon, Naofumi.
Right, I’d have to do it alone then. I decided to travel in secret, with my party member Mald, and defeat evil wherever I found it.
I was trying to gather information in town one day.
We often went to the town taverns to see if we could find anything out about corrupted nobility, unsavory merchants, or other people that preyed on the weak.
There were times when the castle requested I deal with corrupt members of the nobility as well.
Evil people were the best at staying in the shadows.
“Master Itsuki, it certainly seems as though the nobility in this town is up to no good.”
We were taxed upon entry to the town. It seemed like everyone was on edge.
But it wasn’t enough to just go around accusing people of unsavory behavior.
There was always the chance that it was a town that had issues with safety and corruption in the first place. Maybe the nobility had to raise taxes in order to do something about the preexisting problem. “Up to no good? I suppose we should check into it then.” It was true that there might have been a preexisting problem, but my intuition was telling me that wasn’t the case. It was telling me that there was evil in the area. I went to go check out the mansion that the town’s nobility lived in. “Please! Please let me meet with your daughter!” “No! Go away!” “I brought money—we pooled our funds together for this.” People were arguing in front of the mansion of the town’s nobility. When I got closer I could see that it was a well-dressed married couple.
They were arguing with the gate guard. They both appeared to be in their 40s. Perhaps they were laborers. I could see that their well-cut clothes were also wearing fairly thin in places. “We did receive your payment, but it seems to have just covered your interest.” “That’s not what we agreed to!” “Go away!” “Ah!” The guard shoved the man, who shouted and fell to the ground. The guard turned, went inside the gate, and closed it with a heavy, metallic clang. “Ugh...” “Rishia.” The man climbed to his feet. Along with his wife, he leaned against the bars of the gate and hung his head.
“Excuse me.”
I called out to the couple.
They both turned to face me.
“What is happening here?”
“Who . . . Who are you?”
“Just a nosey adventurer.”
Things went a little more smoothly when I hid the fact that I was a hero.
I certainly couldn’t allow myself to be taken advantage of by those that might want to use the heroes for their own ends.
“Well then, don’t worry about it kind adventurer.”
“I can’t just ignore that, not considering how it looked. Why don’t you tell me what is going on.”
My justice sense was tingling.
I felt like I could finally exercise it—it had been a few days since it had last been satisfied.
I’d recently disposed a corrupt king in a neighboring kingdom, and I still felt good after restoring justice to those lands.
“There’s nothing in it for you.”
“We’ll see about that. “
“You’re not going to leave unless we tell you about it, are you?”
“I guess not.”
They both sighed deeply, then agreed to talk. I led them to a nearby tavern.
I bought them both drinks.
“Now tell me what’s going on?”
“Actually—”
They were from a powerful noble family in a nearby town.
It was a rather poor place. It was more of a village than a proper town. They said it was a peaceful place.
Their family had fallen on hard times, but despite their relative poverty, they were still tasked with governing the town.
They were technically nobility, but they lived in a normal farmhouse, not a mansion.
They had disagreed with a number of the Melromarc royalty’s pronouncements, which led to their authority and power being slowly chipped away. The fees incurred by refusing to be complicit with the demands of the crown was what led to their loss of status.
So they had very little money, but they were respected and loved by their fellow townsfolk.
They lived a poor but happy life, surrounded by friends.
But lately, the lands and fields of the townsfolk that lived under their rule found their crops and buildings sabotaged.
People reported thefts in the night. Con men plied the streets.
The noble family used their own funds to help cover the damages, and that was the end of any remaining savings they had.
“Our citizens are our treasure. So we gave all we had to secure their safety and yet . . .”
One day, merchants and tradesmen stopped visiting their town all together.
With no option to sell their crops or wares, life grew harder and leaner in the town.
The waves had affected their crops and handiwork. They had to use all their medicine to save the lives of those who were attacked by monsters.
Simply staying alive took all they had.
Finally, a nobleman from another town came to visit, saying, “If you give me your daughter and allow her to serve my house, then I will lend you money and appoint guards to watch over your town.”
“How absurd! We can survive without your help just fine, thank you!”
They chased him away. But from the very next day burglaries increased dramatically.
The village lived in fear for a short while, but then adventurers appeared to drive the thieves away. A short while after that, however, a bill arrived from an adventurer’s guild asking the noble family to pay.
But not only did they not have the money to pay, they had never asked for assistance from any guild.
Apparently, the nobleman from the neighboring town had sent a request in their names, and he soon arrived to encourage their payment.
“Give me what I asked for!”
“Papa! Mama! Fehhhh!”
“Rishia!”
“Hahaha. It’s not so bad. I will offer you assistance.”
The assistance they actually received was half of the promised funds. They also received a handful of rather rough-looking bodyguards.
It was clear that there was a problem right from the start. The bodyguards matched the description of some of the thieves that had been seen.
“When the issue was brought public, the bodyguards abandoned the town. We immediately ran here to meet with the nobleman, but he says that if we want our daughter back, we’ll have to pay for her.”
“Have you informed the crown?”
“It was all covered up before we could take our story to the castle. We had no other options, so we brought the money he requested, but he wouldn’t even let us through his gate.”
“Oh, Rishia!”
The wife started to cry.
It was a terrible story. The sudden uptick in burglaries was suspicious enough, but tradesmen had stopped coming through, and that was especially telling.
“Thank you for telling me.”
I stood up and looked to Mald and the others.
They understood my intention and immediately nodded.
“Please, set your minds at ease. I will return your daughter to you,” I announced, and we left the tavern.
The first thing on the agenda was to gather information and make sure we understood the situation completely.
If we were to accuse the nobility of corruption, we were going to need proof.
If I accused him based only on my authority as a hero, he might run away and escape. I would need proof.
“Master Itsuki!”
We centered our operations on the tavern and split up to search for proof.
Mald and I were walking towards the market when we ran into a suspicious group walking haughtily down the street.
They stopped at a business and started eating all the arranged food without permission.
“Look at all this. What are you up to, lining up all this delicious-looking stuff! Eh?!”
“Ahhh!”
“Stop that!”
Mald stepped forward and yelled at them.
“Who the hell are you?”
“I saw what you just did! We cannot allow such behavior to go unpunished!”
“Ha! You want to have a go at it? People that piss us off tend to end up hurt.”
I stood behind Mald and drew my bowstring back, fixing my aim.
Mald attacked the front two brutes while I pinned the rest of them to a wall with arrows through their clothes.
“Heh.”
“You think you’re going to get away with this?”
“I think we already have. Come after us anytime!”
A few of them managed to run away, but there was nothing we could do about that.
We looked around the market, but something was strange. Everyone was looking at us, and they were pale. They looked scared.
“If you guys want to live, you’d better get out of here!”
“Do not worry. We can protect ourselves.”
We continued our investigation and ended up with quite a lot of proof.
We went back to the tavern for another meeting.
We had discovered that the nobleman’s tax increases far outweighed that which was requested by the crown. Also, he had been accepting bribes from merchants and tradesmen. Furthermore, it seems that he was planning on selling the couple’s daughter. That explained the situation in their village.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Yes.”
“Hm...”
“He severely punishes those who challenge him. We met plenty of people that lost their fortunes paying for ‘crimes’ they never committed.”
“Furthermore, people that couldn’t be convinced to see things his way were disposed of by his bodyguards. The haughty jerks we met in the street earlier were a group of his bodyguards.”
We’d run into a crowd of self-satisfied jerks on our way back to the tavern.
They were probably bodyguards under the nobleman’s employ.
We had the proof we needed. The nobleman was definitely evil.
“We’ll have to help him to see the error of his ways.”
When I said that, the person sitting next to me nearly fell out of his chair.
But it wasn’t because he was scared. It was because I sounded so cool when I said things like that.
“Yes, Master Itsuki.”
“Let’s get them, Master Itsuki.”
“Yes, we will. Now then everyone, let’s get going. For justice!”
“Yes!”
We all stood and left the tavern.
A tall, thick, metal wall surrounded the nobleman’s mansion. There were guards posted and even intervals around it.
But we had already investigated the premises.
I pulled my bowstring back and pointed it at the gate and used a skill.
It was the perfect opportunity to try out a newly acquired, powerful skill of mine.
“Shooting star bow!”
The arrow shot like a shooting star, then clattered off the thick iron gate with a clang.
A whistle rang out.
It was an alarm being rung. In the distraction it caused, we climbed over the wall and snuck onto the property.
“Who are you? Stay right there!”
The nobleman saw us from his foyer. He pointed and shouted.
When they realized he was shouting, the guards all came running back in this direction.
“I don’t know what kind of stupid adventurer you are, but breaking into my property will cost your life!”
“I should let you know, first of all, that we have quite a lot of proof that you have abused your authority as a nobleman, that you have colluded with corrupt merchants, and that you used your money to pay for bodyguards, all while using those guards to insight the fear that necessitates them. Finally, that you have kidnapped and imprisoned a young, weak girl. You are the very definition of evil! We have come to punish you!”
The man’s face grew more and more red as I spoke. Finally, he shouted for his subordinates.
“That’s some fancy talk from an adventurer. Whatever, it’s no matter. Now, send these men to another world!”
The guards readied their weapons and turned to face us.
“Mald, Rojeel, everyone, let us show them the error of their ways.”
“Yes, sir!”
My party members all readied their own weapons and began to clash with the guards.
I noticed that someone standing far behind us was trying to case support magic on us.
I fired an arrow to protect them from an attack.
We were doing all this for justice, so naturally I didn’t want to kill anyone I didn’t need to.
“Argh!”
“Damn, these guys are strong!”
“They aren’t normal adventurers!”
“Leave it to me!”
A few of the bodyguards stepped forward to block our advance.
They seemed to be strong enough to block Mald’s attacks and still deliver attacks of their own.
Still, if I just stood back and watched, it looked like Mald and the others would win easily.
That wasn’t a bad idea.
Or I could wait until it looked like they were going to lose, then waltz in and clean up the bad guys. You had to make an appearance like that every once and a while.
“Master Itsuki!”
The bodyguards were hired as adventurers, which meant they had probably already gone through the class up procedure.
Not a problem.
“Shooting star bow! Arrow shower!”
I shot two of my strongest skills and instantly eradicated the group of guards battling Mald and the others.
Shooting star bow is a powerful attack that shoots an arrow like a shooting star. An arrow shower rains a number of arrows down on the enemy.
“AAARRH!”
Most of them fell to the ground, defeated. The others ran away, realizing they couldn't win.
“What’s with that bow?!”
Looks like my cover was blown.
I met Mald’s eyes, and he nodded. He stepped forward and boomed, “Silence! Do you not see the bow in our master’s hands?”
I raised my bow so that everyone could see it. The guards and the nobleman stood silent, dumbfounded.
“Surely you can see who this is. It is the revered Bow Hero, Itsuki Kawasumi, who stands before you.”
After seeing how powerful my last attack had been, the men all lowered their heads to me.
They were all shocked—stunned—by my power. Of course they were.
“Now then, I will send word of this disturbance to the crown. I expect your punishment will be swift and severe.”
“That cannot be! We’ve don’t nothing wrong, and—”
“We already have all the proof we need. You can’t wriggle out of this one.”
“Hrm...”
The nobleman was trying to think of an excuse to get out of it. Mald kicked him and then started to punch him.
The nobleman had caused so much pain to so many people. A little beating was fair.
“Now let the girl go.”
The nobleman rose on shaky legs, produced a knife, and ran at me with it.
He was actually pretty quick. I would guess that he was at level 65 or so.
He’d been rich, and that came with time to train and study and level up.
Watching him on his feet, I could see how he’d survived Mald’s beating mostly without serious injury.
“So this is what it has come to. You pretend to be the Bow Hero?! I’ll finish you!”
“You fool!”
Mald and the others had their weapons ready. They all rushed to land the final blow.
“Argh! You . . . ugh . . . I . . . die...”
The fool. He should have known not to challenge me.
“Ahhhh!”
The remaining guards all screamed and ran.
We were left alone in the courtyard with the defeated nobleman.
They really laid into him. It looked like he couldn’t take anymore.
“I think that about wraps it up!”
I’d been trying to use that line when we finished a battle. It was starting to sound more natural. I saw Mald and the others smile.
“Fehh . . . Papa? Mama?”
We took the key from the nobleman and freed the daughter of the town’s noble family. Her name was Rishia.
When we unlocked the door to her room, we found her crouched in a corner, shaking.
I couldn’t immediately tell how old she was.
Based on some things her parents had said, I was guessing around 17. But she looked younger than that.
I could see why the nobleman had wanted to kidnap her so badly. She was a very cute girl.
“Wh . . . Who are you?”
“It’s alright. I am a friend of your parents and I’m here to help you. We’ve taken care of that evil man, so please relax.”
“Really?!”
“Yes. Now come on.”
I approached her and held out my hand. After flinching away, she took my hand in hers. She was still shaking.
I helped her to her feet and we left the mansion. I brought her straight to the inn that her parents were staying in.
“Papa! Mama!”
“Rishia!”
“I was so scared. But this man saved me!”
“We have just received word from the crown that the governor of these lands has been punished by the Bow Hero. It looks like we had someone looking out for us, Rishia.
“Fehhh! Is that true?!”
Rishia was very surprised. She regarded me with shock.
“Yes, I suppose there is no longer any need to hide my identity. It is true. I am the Bow Hero, Itsuki Kawasumi.”
“Fehhhh!”
Rishia looked like she was about to scream.
And what was that whimpering sound she kept making?
“Now then, dry your eyes. It’s time to live peacefully and joyfully with your family. Get a good night’s rest,” I said. With Rishia back in her parent’s care, I decided to go take a rest myself.
The next morning, we were preparing for our departure in front of the inn when Rishia and her family came by.
“Oh, Master Bow Hero!”
“Shhhh!”
I held my finger to my lips and told her to be quiet.
How could I operate as a secret agent of justice if she was going to scream about it in the middle of the town?
Any bad guys would run away if they got word that I was near. I didn’t want that to happen.
“We’re terribly sorry!”
“Fehhh! I wanted to thank you for all you’ve done.”
“Oh don’t worry. It was nothing—but please keep it a secret.”
“Yes, sir!”
Life was good! Nothing felt better than the swift administration of justice!
Huh? I noticed a strange monster pulling a carriage down the street.
I don’t think I’d ever seen a monster like that in Dimension Wave.
It looked like a filolial, but different somehow.
“Now then, Mald, Rojeel, everyone, let’s be on our way.”
I forgot about the monster. We had other things to worry about. It was time to hit the road.
“Shall we go visit Mald’s hometown next?”
“There’s no need! There is no evil in my town!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes! I know it very well!”
“What impressive people.”
“Fehh . . . Yes. I wish I could be more like them!”
But I was so weak. What could I do? Nothing. I just let myself be kidnapped.
I wanted to be strong like the Bow Hero, like Master Itsuki. I wanted to save people. I wanted to be a champion of justice.
I wanted to help him.
“Papa, Mama. After all you’ve done for me, I’m sorry. I...”
I watched Master Itsuki and his party as they walked out of the town. My heart ached the further away they became.
“Rishia...”
“What’s wrong?”
“I . . . I’m going with them.”
I was surprised by my own conviction.
If I stayed with those people, I could grow stronger. I just knew that I could. I had to make it happen.
“The heroes are involved in very fierce battles.”
“Are you sure you want that?”
“Yes. Even if the battle ends with my death, I won’t regret it.”
“You’ve always stuck to things once you’ve made up your mind— though that could take you awhile.”
“Yes, and your father has always said that you should travel and see the world.”
“Rishia, do what you want. But please don’t forget how much we care for you.”
Papa and Mama nodded and gave me a small satchel of money.
“I’m going! Mama! Papa! I’ll do my best! Please don’t forget about me!”
I waved to them, then turned and ran to catch up with Master Itsuki.
Eventually, though he looked a little concerned, he agreed to let me travel with him. However, he said how difficult it would be many times.
Mald told me that I would have a lot of work to do.
Duties as a new team member are taxing, but I’m not going to give up.
I wanted to be like Master Itsuki. I wanted to be a champion of justice for those in need, for those who cried themselves to sleep.
All that Itsuki Kawasumi, the Bow Hero, did for others, all his attempts to bring justice into the world, sprang from his need for approval.
Would a day come that he learned what justice truly was? Or would his sense of justice be his end?
Only time will tell.
But there is one thing we can know for certain.
Rishia Ivyred had not yet met with all that trouble, the tricking, framing, and expulsion from Itsuki’s party—all those terrible things had yet to happen.
He was thrilled. He thought he had been transported to an ideal, exciting world.
The Records of the Four Holy Weapons say that the Bow Hero is distinguished by his sense of justice.
What fate awaits those that proceed without understanding the difference between justice and self-righteousness?
He was not yet a true hero.
He was still occupied with fulfilling his own selfish desires. Soon, he would come face to face with a great obstacle.
The girl that he once saved vanished from the Bow Hero’s story for a time. Her story continued with the owner of the carriage that had passed them in the street, the Shield Hero. They would not be able to stop the large waves that were yet to come. Those waves of destruction will drown all that is, leaving only desolation behind.
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