35. Target Practice in the Sky

By the time Yumino reached the castle's entrance, Lucien had already vanished. As such, the elf casually entered the castle and made his way to the throne room.

"Excuse me, do you know where Lord Lucien is?" he asked a soldier guarding the room.

The guard clicked his tongue and pointed towards the room behind the throne, not speaking a word.

Yumino made his way to the familiar room and opened the door without bothering to knock. Inside, Lucien was speaking with another lady. As soon as the door was opened, the lady turned her back to Yumino and started staring out the window.

From the red dress she was wearing and her long ears, Yumino figured she was another vampire, but he couldn't get a better look, neither was it polite to try.

"Ah, Yumino! What brings you here, friend?" Lucien said, his arms wide open to welcome the elf.

"Woah! I can't help but feel like I've interrupted something important... Sorry for that!" Yumino said, feeling a burn in his chest as if being punished for barging in.

Lucien gestured towards him not to worry.

"We were just about done talking. Either way, I was going to present this pretty lady to you sooner or later, as she is an important partner of mine. However, you'll have to excuse her today. She is rather shy..."

"Don't worry about that! I just came here today to thank you for sending that search party. I heard Gavin couldn't get there, so I've already thanked Garron instead."

"Did you now? Well, I'm glad that Nima is safe. Actually, you should thank the lady next to me instead. She was also present there to save the girl."

"Is that so?" Yumino said as he turned towards the lady.

"Thank you very much!" he continued, bowing his head.

From the other side of the room, a voice soft enough to soothe the soul of any tired traveler responded.

"It's only natural I helped. I've known Nima for a long while."

That answer got Yumino even more curious about the lady's identity, but he kept himself from asking anything more.

"Well, would you like to sit down and have a cup of tea? Maybe this time, you can enjoy the honey of our kingdom in peace."

To Lucien's proposal, Yumino shook his head.

"Thanks a lot for offering, but I've been slacking on my training lately. I think I'll go shoot some arrows, and then I'll get some shut-eye quickly this evening. Tomorrow morning I have to leave the house early, or I am in trouble."

"Hm? Is there anything I can assist you with?"

"Haha! Maybe if you could keep the crazy away from me!" Yumino said as he dashed out the door, leaving the two vampires rather confused.

*****

The sun was yet to fully rise the next day when Yumino got up to leave the house, yet only about four hours had passed since Nima had gotten home.

The elf figured she would sleep in after a day of drinking and socializing, but he wasn't going to take any chances. Even when Nima swung the door to his room open the same night, he stood hidden under the blanket, pretending to be asleep.

By a stroke of luck, the elven lady decided she was too tired and didn't bother him, murmuring about how she would get him when she woke up.

With nothing to do, Yumino walked around the city, admiring the calmness of the morning. As he was not a morning person, the elf had few chances to enjoy such days. Usually, the morning sun meant nothing else but lack of sheep for him.

Today was different. The pink hue of the sky on a cold, white winter morning warmed him up on the inside.

There was almost nobody around at that hour. After all, people preferred to limit their walks in the morning during this season. A festival was also on its way, and with the decorations already up, everyone took it easy in their beds.

A big day huh? he thought to himself, looking at the festive streets he walked at the silent hour.

Not even the voices in his head seemed to be awake on such a day, so with nobody to bother him, Yumino could spend the morning by himself.

He could... but...

"Ah, fine! But I'm doing it because I feel like it!"

On such a fine morning, having nothing to do bothered Yumino a tiny bit, so he quickly found himself at the shooting range, with the bow in his hand.

With nobody around and nobody in his head, training felt fantastic for the elf.

He still didn't get an answer on how he will be able to deal with one of the gods of this world, but that didn't matter now. Nothing mattered at that moment.

He looked at the same targets he had been shooting ever since his first day in Vestion. He readied his bow in a vertical position and prepared his arrow slowly, like he would in a competition back in Japan.

The string on the bow pulled back further and further, and with a beautiful release that flung the bow to the outside of his palm, Yumino graciously missed the target.

"Tsk... I guess that confirms it..."

The method of shooting the bow was completely different for the elves. No matter how much he imitated the humans of this world who held their bows normally, Yumino was powerless in such a position.

For his next shot, he held his bow sideways and readied as many arrows as there were targets in front of him.

With arrows resting on both sides of his hand, the elf swiped his bow from right to left, letting all the arrows go almost at once. He hit every target dead center.

A smug smile bloomed on his face. Even if the method felt wrong, he was clearly getting stronger.

"It seems this is the last one..." he said as he pulled on the arrowless string, a forbidden move in his archery class. 

Out of nowhere, an arrow made of pure energy appeared where there should have been nothing. This was the culmination of all his hard training.

Such an arrow should have had the power to completely shatter a target and maybe even blow up the whole shooting range were he to let it explode.

But Yumino was not planning to blow anything up. He wanted to let that energy flow and contain itself within the body of the arrow, creating a shot that could pierce anything that stood in its way.

He mentally traced the scar on his chest one more time before getting ready to shoot.

After taking a deep breath, the elf opened his eyes, aimed his final training shot at the sky, and released the bowstring.

Up in the sky there was a small black dot. No, that dot was actually red, but that only became noticeable when it grew bigger.

Soon, something smashed into the ground right next to the elf. Yumino wasted no time to point another arrow at it.

Once the dust settled, what was left behind was a vampire covered by a large cloak—a cloak that had a burnt hole in it.

"Who knew you could dodge mid-air... Will you be able to dodge the next one?" said Yumino, aiming at the attacker.

No answer came back.

"Fine then. One more soul to put to rest. Too bad, you're missing the festival tonight..." the elf said, pulling on the bowstring.

"Yumino!" a faint voice resounded from afar.

"Nima?"

Distracted by the familiar voice, Yumino took his eyes away from the predator turned prey. Only a second was enough for the vampire to make a move.

The attacker threw dirt in the elf's face and ran away before he could regain his composure.

Left behind, the elven avenger clicked his tongue. The vampire was nowhere to be seen anymore.

"What a time for you to wake up, Nima," he said to himself in indignation, happy that he left the girl behind.

"Who knows what dangers you might have been put through..."