Chapter 3.3

The training grounds of the Archery Unit were bustling from the morning. Squad 1, assigned to the morning watch, headed to the castle walls, unable to hide their disappointment, while the rest of the unit members looked at Greta and a sharp-featured man in his thirties standing in front of them with eyes full of anticipation. Greta, standing before the eager group, spoke in an excited voice.  

“Everyone! This is Sir Murray, the training instructor dispatched by the Imperial Archery Unit to Debius! He’s from the Imperial Archery Unit itself! Let’s give him a round of applause!”  

Wow! He’s from the Imperial Unit!  

He’s from the Imperial Archery Unit!  

The murmurs spread among the crowd.  

“Sir Murray has expressed his desire to personally assess your skills today. Let’s all show him the strength of the Debius Archery Unit!”  

“Whoo! Commander Lievo is so cool!”  

“Commander! Marry me!”  

Greta lowered her head at the complete lack of discipline.  

Even though she held the impressive title of temporary training commander, Greta had no air of authority. From the start, she treated the members more like students or friends than subordinates. Similarly, the knights treated Greta like a younger sibling or friend. Her young age also played a significant role.  

“…Sir Murray, I’m sorry.”  

“Haha! I’m used to this. It’s no different from the Imperial Archery Unit!”  

“That doesn’t make me feel better at all….”  

“Haha! Shall we begin, then?”  

The Imperial Archery Unit, led by the frivolous Lucas Nindella, had an atmosphere where the Commander’s lightheartedness spread like an epidemic, so it wasn’t much different from here. Murray didn’t bother correcting Greta’s misconception.  

Once the actual skill test began, Murray was taken aback.  

“I heard that Debius focuses on magic and is below average in archery, but this is excellent!”  

Except for the new recruits who had joined less than two weeks ago, the existing members of the Archery Unit showed considerable skill. A northern recruit in the Imperial Archery Unit had mocked northern archery skills, saying, “The Commander could shoot better with his toenails,” when Murray was dispatched as an instructor. He had been quite worried, but what was this?  

“Oh, really? Honestly, when I first came here, it was just… whew.”  

Greta approached Murray and whispered in a low voice.  

“It was a complete mess. They were like academy students taking a basic archery class!”  

“Really? That’s hard to believe. They’re excellent. I came here expecting the level of academy students taking a basic archery class, as you described. Your ability as a training commander must be extraordinary!”  

“No, no, you’re overpraising me. Please don’t call me training commander—it’s embarrassing. Just call me Greta.”  

Murray straightened his expression.  

“I can’t do that. For the Archery Unit members’ skills to improve this much in just two months since you arrived, it’s incredible. That means even those new recruits with poor skills have improved significantly. It’s astonishing! Please allow me to express my respect. Haha!”  

“Oh, come on, you’re embarrassing me. There’s no way I’m better than you, Sir Murray. You’re from the Imperial Archery Unit, after all! Hohoho!”  

“Hahaha! Hohoho! Hahaha!”  

Greta and Murray laughed in perfect harmony. But suddenly, Murray shuddered. A cold sensation ran down his spine.  

“Gasp!”  

Killing intent!  

Or so he thought, but the chilling sensation disappeared without a trace. 

Was it my imagination…?  

“What’s wrong, Sir Murray?”  

“Ah, ahem, it’s nothing.”  

“Are you cold? Shall I lend you a heating artifact?”  

Greta took an artifact out of her pocket and offered it to him.  

“No, no. You look colder than I do….”  

Greta forced the artifact into Murray’s hands.  

“Debius is really cold, isn’t it? My contract will end soon, but I can’t tell you how relieved I am that you arrived before then. If Tara—oh, I mean, if the Marquis of Debius—had asked me to stay longer, I might have frozen to death before you arrived, Sir Murray. I could’ve turned into a living snowman. Did you know? Debius is going to get even colder soon! I’ve already run out of clothes to layer!”  

At that moment, Jenihen interrupted their conversation.  

“Sir Murray! Commander Lievo shoots her bow well even dressed like that!”  

“…Dressed like this?”  

Murray glanced at Greta’s outfit.  

Unlike Murray, who wore a moderately thick coat, Greta was bundled up so heavily that she looked like she might roll away. Constantly complaining about the cold, she had started layering clothes one by one, to the point where the Archery Unit members had recently started calling her “Little Bear Commander.” Her outfit was comparable to what children wore in the depths of winter. Inside her clothes, Greta had seven more heating artifacts hidden, aside from the one she had given to Murray.  

“She shoots her bow dressed like this?”  

For an archer, strength and agility were crucial!  

Greta didn’t seem particularly strong. But in the Imperial Archery Unit, there were individuals with deceptively thin arms who possessed surprising strength, so that could be overlooked. But agility? Greta’s outfit seemed to throw agility out the window. It was hard to imagine her even drawing a bowstring like that.  

“You don’t seem convinced, Sir Murray. Would you like to have a ten-arrow match with Commander Lievo?”  

Hearing Jenihen’s words, the Archery Unit members swarmed over.  

“Commander Lievo! Show him! Show him the real skills of the Debius training commander!”  

“Oh! It’s a match between Commander Lievo and Sir Murray!”  

“I’m betting on Commander Lievo!”  

“No way, it’s the Imperial Archery Unit! I’m betting on Sir Murray.”  

“You traitor! Obviously, you should bet on Little Bear Commander!”  

“While Sir Murray may be more skilled, Commander Lievo is more accustomed to the fierce winds of Debius, so logically, betting on our Commander Lievo makes sense.”  

Under the relentless pressure from the Archery Unit members, Greta and Murray eventually agreed to a traditional match: each would shoot ten arrows, and the one with the most arrows closest to the center would win.  

And then….  

“Commander Lievo.”  

“Yes, yes?”  

“Have you ever considered joining the Imperial Archery Unit?”  

“What are you saying? There’s no way I’m good enough for the Imperial Archery Unit. Hohoho!”  

All ten of Greta’s arrows had hit the center.  

“You might even be better than Commander Lucas….”  

“Oh, it’s just that I’m more used to the winds of Debius than you, Sir Murray.”  

Even if one were accustomed to the environment, hitting the center with all ten arrows and having only eight visible arrows in the target was beyond ordinary skill….  

Sir Murray, at a loss for words, opened and closed his mouth like a fish.  

“Ahahaha! See? Our little bear commander won!”  

“To think that the Imperial Archery Unit is only at that level!”  

“Sir Murray, go back! The little bear commander stays!”  

“Sorry, Sir Murray.”  

“……”  

A lively and cheerful atmosphere continued in the training grounds of the archery unit. A short distance away, a massive man dressed in a hooded robe that concealed him from head to toe fixed his gaze on Greta Lievo, the temporary training commander of the archery unit, and Murray Bill, the dispatched training instructor.  

Greta Lievo and Murray Bill hadn’t known each other for long, yet they already seemed quite close. Greta was seen turning her head toward Murray and whispering something.  

Grit.

The man’s teeth ground together, producing a chilling sound.  

At that moment, Murray flinched once again.  

After watching the scene for a while, the man strode away with heavy steps.  

***

Early in the morning, Lucas, who had gone out to inspect the outer situation with Commander Ronpa and the archery patrol, returned to the castle. Upon entering his room, he found a hooded man sitting inside. This was the knight who had come with him from Hiteria to Debius.  

“Are you going to keep wearing that hood even indoors? Isn’t it suffocating?”  

The man irritably removed his hood.  

“Huh? Why do you look so annoyed, Ragaen?”  

Ragaen’s eyebrows furrowed deeply, creating wrinkles on his forehead. It was rare for him to show emotions, which made this an unusual sight.  

“What, what? What’s wrong? What happened? Huh? Huh?”  

“…It’s nothing you need to worry about.”  

“Geez! Then why are you in my room?”

“……”  

“You’re acting all grumpy, and if you slip up because of that and accidentally reveal, ‘Actually, I’m not an archer unit member but the Duke of Adantie!’—what will you do then?”  

At Lucas’s playful remark, Ragaen’s forehead wrinkled even further. Unlike the subtle irritation he showed earlier, this time, he openly displayed his displeasure.  

“Stop with the nonsense and tell me the investigation plan.”  

“…Didn’t you hear it yesterday?”  

“……”  

“Hmmm? Hmmmmm? You’re strange, our Ragaen.”  

“Don’t use such strange titles.”

Despite his sharp words, his blue eyes subtly avoided Lucas’s gaze, which made Lucas burst into laughter.  

“I just came back from the castle wall. I was there with the archery patrol and Mr. Ferviors. But the frequency of monster appearances was higher than I thought. According to Mr. Ferviors, based on the investigation in Debius, there’s a high chance that dangerous monsters, which weren’t there before, are now in the snowy mountains. We’ll keep monitoring until tonight and then head out tomorrow for a direct investigation.”  

“You’re rushing things.”  

“Debius gets colder by the day. We need to go before it gets even colder. For the investigation, aside from you and Murray, we’ll have three locals from the Debius knight order, three archery unit members recommended by Murray, Mr. Ferviors, and the local monsterologist. Oh, and there’s support from the mage division too.”  

“You’re gathering quite a crowd. Why aren’t you taking the training instructor?”  

“Murray? He has to take over the archery unit training, of course. He was dispatched as a training instructor, not as part of the investigation team. Why?”  

“……”  

“Why? What’s the problem? Why? What is it?”  

Lucas edged closer to Ragaen, hovering around his side.  

“…You’re noisy, Lucas Nindella. Forget about the training instructor. More importantly, is it okay for me not to go with you?”  

Although his words might have sounded arrogant, Lucas nodded without hesitation. For Ragaen Sol Adantie, such confidence was not unwarranted.  

“For now, tomorrow’s outing is to identify the cause. If it’s a monster that needs your strength, we can’t fight it while keeping the monsterologists safe. Although the local monsterologist here seems healthier and more agile than Mr. Ferviors.”  

“Don’t do anything reckless.”  

At those words, Lucas let out a hollow laugh.  

“You, you! You’re the one who shouldn’t do anything to get discovered! If it’s revealed that you’re here, His Highness said he’d scold me! He might even smash my head open. I’ve informed the Marquis of Debius, but it’ll be troublesome if word gets out.”  

Despite his dazzling appearance, the Crown Prince was a frontline veteran with fists of iron. Beneath his elegant clothes lay formidable steel muscles. During the Great Demon War, countless monsters had fallen to the Crown Prince’s merciless fists and sword. If he were to land a proper hit, one’s head might truly get smashed.  

“……”  

“Hey, hey! Why are you ignoring me! Why!”  

“…I’m leaving.”  

“No, don’t go, Sol! Ragaen, darling!”

Ragaen, expressing extreme disgust, donned his hood once more and left the room.