An hour has passed since the maids conducted a flower-viewing party across the flower garden, Kiera and Miera were laughing at the distance, enjoying and playing each other. It was a magnificent experience to make friends at the servants in the Flower Manor, especially that I was the vice-leader of the guild.
Suddenly, a bell that was heard from the manor, it was a large bell that was at the rooftop. It heard through the backyard, cleansing through my elegant eardrums through the way.
"Oh… here goes our shift. Let's get back to work!"
The bell always rang when the time reaches one o'clock in the afternoon, reminding that their break time for the maids ended. The bell at the rooftop is so loud that whenever I was resting inside the manor, a loud bell startled me from the inside.
"Well, I guess picnic time is over. Let's meet again, Lady Roxy!" Miera said
"Sure, Miera"
After that, Miera, Kiera, Sinel and the other servants left the backyard of the Flower Manor, they put away all the teacups, kettles and leftover pastries and ate it all in one go.
The servants of Flower Manor consist of three house maids, two kitchen maids, one laundry maid and one lady maid. All seven maids were inside the Flower Manor, all assigned to their roles. Among the servants, three were my friends while the remaining four were only for housekeeping.
I stared at the maids as they entered into the Manor's doors, until I heard a voice call me from behind
"Good afternoon, Lady Roxy. It seems you have a picnic there" Ned asked
"Wow, you wore a fascinating dress, Lady Roxy!!" Natalie said
It was no other than the stone-ranked adventurers I encountered in the bathhouse. The Haro siblings, Ned and Natalie, and it's friend Barry
Natalie wears a white and simple dress, much like mine. At a farther distance, I barely recognized her face due to its commoner-style outfit. Needless to say, she looks like one of the lady's townspeople
They fully bathe themselves earlier. I can tell Natalie's silky smooth ambered-hair fluttering through the winds, while the other boys were holding their bows and quivers from their daily training
"Natalie, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, me and my brother will begin our archer training"
As expected, I can already tell that they are practicing their marksmanship. Natalie was carrying their crossbows, Ned was carrying a large target, and Barry was carrying the quivers. They all approached me hoping to greet me…
"Evening… Lady Roxy, mind if you join our training session. I was fascinated from your marksmanship, Roxy"
Then, I nodded in approval. Knowing my marksmanship from the bow seems off, i decided to test myself by joining their training
"That's great, Lady Roxy. I want to see your skills from one of your bows"
Natalie, Ned and Barry saw my performance during the raid in Castle Libra, it was a twenty-feet distance shot I performed during that time. I nearly wiped out the guards from the castle with the use of the auto-tracking blood bow. I knew that it would come in handy.
Also, the known archers from the guild are Natalie and Barry, the only two archers from the guild, they wield crossbows as their weapon, making them the backliners
There, during our training session. Ned placed the target in a longer distance, approximately ten meters from the flower garden. To the point that we can barely see. But Natalie and Barry are sharpshooters, they can wield crossbows in ease
"Lady Roxy, watch me hit a bullseye"
As Ned placed the target at a farther distance, Natalie raised her crossbow at a pinpoint accuracy. Then, Natalie prepares her stance and locked on eye through the crossbow, It's stance were no joke, it was the stance of a skilled marksman,
As Natalie lined up her shot, she pulled the trigger. It shift directly through the target, hitting a near-bullseye. Natalie's face says otherwise
"What the hell, the trajectory of my arrow flew… No! My miscalculations we're not right!"
As far from what I can tell, Natalie uses her rational mind to focus on a single hit. Allowing her to hit a bullseye easily, but the wind direction makes it more harder. Hitting a near-bullseye from the target
As Natalie hit a near-bullseye In front of their eyes. The archers burst out laughing at seeing Natalie's disappointed face. Then, Barry came from behind, asking Natalie
"Natalie, it's my turn… watch and learn"
Barry stood out the way at Natalie's direction. He grabbed the arrows on one of his quivers and loads the crossbow easily, glaring at the target's direction. Soon enough, Barry pulled the bowstring.
As Barry's arrow flew off, I saw his arrow redirected it's direction, landing straight to the bullseye. As from what I know, he imbued his arrows with magic, allowing to change directions. This is vaguely similar to my blood bow, as it allows a sure-hit capabilities just by redirecting the arrow
"Barry, I saw that, that's cheating… no flying arrows allowed"
At a slightest delay, Natalie noticed Barry's arrow curves mid-air, redirecting it's path until it lands at a perfect bullseye. Natalie was enraged while her big brother, Ned, laughs.
"Big brother, stop laughing, Barry's definitely cheating!" Natalie said to Ned
"Hahaha… don't try to get a hook on yourself. It's just training."
"Training… I spent my focus on one singular arrow. And yet, Barry decided to cheat"
Natalie's personality was cute overall, she is a hint of annoyance, a childish expression reminded me of my youth
While the two siblings were catfighting, hearing their argument made me also laugh. The archers heard my expression otherwise
"Lady Roxy… stop laughing!. I'm feeling embarrassed!"
"That's okay Natalie, you can do it next time"
"But…But…"
Natalie was left speechless as both her brother and her members were left laughing at them. This led to Natalie feeling annoyed at herself. Then, Natalie snapped back.
"Hey Roxy, since you're also an archer, let us do a challenge. The most bullseye win"
Natalie turned at me and proposed a challenge, on whoever will make the most bullseyes in one singular target will win. For me, it's just easy peasy, my blood bow will do all the work without requiring precise aim.
There, Ned placed two targets for each one of us. Instead placed over a father distance, approximately twenty meters. Natalie and I are ready for now, our duel.
Natalie charged her crossbow with the arrow she picked on one of the quivers. I noticed that her arrows were poison-tipped, most likely due to the tip is covered with a small dose of green liquid. Natalie was using arrows laced with lethal poisons. I asked Natalie
"Natalie, why do you lace your arrows with poison, you know that this is a duel, not a hunting session?"
Then, Natalie explains it thoroughly, simple and direct. Much better than Miera's explanation earlier,
"This arrow was tipped with snake venom, this will cause paralysation and be highly lethal when in contact. This will result in a slow death. Also, the poisoned top provides balance on one of my shots, maintaining accuracy"
After Natalie told the details about her crossbow. She maintained her stance on one of her shots, closing one of her eyes. After a bit of time, she pulled the bowstring
"See, it's a bullseye. Your turn Lady Roxy!"
Natalie landed a bullseye in just twenty meters, the audiences were astonished by her performance. Even with just twenty meters, she knew that it was a piece of cake, despite being an experienced sharpshooter. Now it was my turn
Before I activated my blood bow, I first removed the thick bandages from my right hand, revealing my permanent wound that never heals, even health regeneration and my self-healing never works on my wound in my right palm. I've gotten so used from the pain that it was nothing
"Eugh!? Lady Roxy, you have a huge cut in your palm! Ewww, that is disgusting" Natalie shouted
Natalie took a quick peek on my permanent wound and was soon disgusted by it. The wound wasn't even that deep, it shows my flesh and bones from that right palm, because of my prolonged use, the wound stopped bleeding and showed a darker-reddish flesh
Not only Natalie, but his brother and Barry were also shocked about my power, it was indeed gruesome. This tells a sign that whenever I activate my skills, I always remove my bandage from that same arm to equip my weapons.
"Enough chit-chat, let's the fight begins"
As my permanent wound revealed to my members, I chanted the word silently. "Blood Bow"
As I did, my palm seeps out blood from the inside, molding it and thus solidifying it. It resembles a working and functional bow, the members were shocked about my power
"Oh my Lady Roxy, that's the bow made entirely of blood. Can I touch it?" Natalie asks with a curious face
"Don't be stupid Natalie, that is a blood bow. It's one of Lady Roxy's human skills" Ned replies to Natalie
As they were yelling as siblings, I decided to hand out the blood bow to Barry, who stood beside me. He took a quick peek about the structure of my bow
"Huh, your blood solidifies so easily, this bow is light and sturdy. And with an graceful arc from the top ends, this is magnificent"
As Barry was admiring the bow's structure, he noticed that when he pulled the bowstring tightly, it created a blood arrow. Barry explains it thoroughly
"Summoning magic? Lady Roxy, how did you create this masterpiece?"
Barry realized that this bow is crafted to perfection, it directly summons blood arrows when is casted on a bowstring. Even though my bow feeds on mana, I decided to leave a big fat lie for dramatic effect.
"Blood arrows are specifically created from my own blood, I didn't use any mana whatsoever, only my blood capacity relies on this bow"
"Wait, does it mean you lose a lot of blood, do you?"
"Exactly!"
As Barry questions my storytelling weapons. Natalie intervened and interrupted about my conversation with Barry
"Hey, we're not done yet. Do you think we finished our duel!"
"Oh yeah, I completely forgot. This time, I will do it blindfolded"
As I said the phrase "I will do it blindfolded" they were straight up laughing at me, not knowing that I have my aim-assisted bow in my hand. This duel is easy to compete
"Blindfolded? Hahaha, you're joking though. Lady Roxy?"
My members were dead serious, Natalie reached out one of her pockets and gave me a yellow handkerchief. The members blindfolded me until I only see pitch black
"Ain't no way our vice-leader will perform such cruelish act, no way you will hit a bullseye like that!" Natalie asks
"If I manage to hit the bullseye, I win this challenge"
"Yeah, right"
As nowhere to see, I can only rely through my senses. Ever since I began my third evolution, my five senses began to enhance, making my instincts improve. As for good measure, I began asking my AI assistant for help
"Hey Plasma, can I ask you a favor?" I said through my thoughts
"What is it Roxy, I don't want to hear one of your stories again. It's boring"
"Can you hit a bullseye for me? I promise it's urgent!"
"Pathetic, using your skills for boasting through your friends. What a waste of talent if you relying on aim-assist"
"Shut up, Plasma"
Since I don't need any help from my cheeky AI assistant, I only relied on myself and my instinct. The target is twenty meters apart from where I'm standing, even without aim-assist, I can still spot the target easily. So I pulled the bowstring in no time, with its arrow flying through the air. I removed my blindfold completely.
"Oh my god, Lady Roxy hit a near-bullseye, even when she is blindfolded" Ned asked
"Yeah, no magic arrows on sight, that's definitely valid" Natalie joins and adds
As expected, I hit a near-bullseye on one of the target's, even without aim-assist or homing arrows, I managed to hit the target successfully. My five senses are improved so far, it was astonishing that I managed to progress to an ordinary townsgirl into a part-time adventurer in days.
Seeing the blood arrow pierced through the target, I can tell that this bow is exceptionally strong. The archers were astonished about my performance, with no other choice, they cheered on me.
"Woah, nice shot Lady Roxy… even a blindfold can't surpass your skills"