Chapter 16: The Girl and the Longbow

When Raine stood once more on the streets of Mottled Town, his entire aura was completely different.

The gray Composite Cotton Armor perfectly fit his slender frame, not only concealing his former frailty but also clearly accentuating the lines of his shoulders, back, and waist. A Short Bow and Quiver were slung diagonally across his back, and a Short Sword rested securely at his waist on a brand-new leather belt, its metal buckle gleaming with a cold, hard luster in the sunlight. Although he still fell far short of those well-equipped, intimidating veteran Adventurers, his outfit was striking enough among the novices bustling back and forth.

A biting autumn wind swept dry leaves across the street, making the bare oak trees by the roadside shake with a loud RUSTLE.

Raine subconsciously tightened the collar of his Cotton Armor, easily shutting out the chilly draft trying to seep in. This warm feeling was simply a world apart from the drafty, coarse linen shirt he had worn before.

"Warmth and protection, these two extremely important issues, have finally all been solved," he murmured, nodding in satisfaction as his fingertips rubbed the edge of his coin pouch.

He still had 21 Silver Lions and 89 Copper Deer left, which might be enough to take his strength another step forward.

Glancing at the crude Short Bow on his back, the several battles before he left the Demon Shadow Forest clearly surfaced before Raine's eyes. This Short Bow, obtained from a Goblin, was made of inferior wood with insufficient elasticity in its limbs. Its effective range was likely no more than thirty paces. What was more troublesome was that the curvature of the bow limbs was not perfectly symmetrical. This caused a slight angular deviation when the Arrow left the string; the further it flew, the greater the deviation became.

Under these circumstances, it was acceptable for dealing with those slow-reacting highwaymen at the edge of the forest. But if he were to encounter a swift opponent or a swarm of Goblins, this slight disadvantage in range and accuracy could very well be the difference between life and death.

Eagle Vision granted him remarkable aiming abilities, but this broken bow was like a rusted chain, severely limiting his performance. The Arrows, whittled from hard branches, also had terrible stability and were nowhere near as sharp as metal Arrowheads.

"Kid, an exceptional shooter can't just rely on eyes and intuition; he needs a trustworthy bow even more." The words of the Sloppy Ranger once again surfaced in Raine's mind.

"I must get a decent bow, even if it's secondhand," Raine resolved in his heart.

A standard Longbow would have an effective range of at least sixty paces, almost more than double his current one. The 1-point enhancement to his Power Attribute was also enough to draw a tighter Bowstring. This undoubtedly meant that he could launch attacks from a safer distance and seize the initiative. A more stable trajectory and matching Arrows would also maximize the Effect of Eagle Vision, truly allowing him to never miss a shot.

"A secondhand Longbow costs 15 Silver Lions, and a dozen standard Iron-Tipped Arrows cost 10 Silver Lions. I'm still a bit short, but if this crude Short Bow can fetch some money, it should be about enough," he thought. With this in mind, Raine walked toward the weapon shop without hesitation.

He passed through the streets bustling with Adventurers. Just as he caught sight of the weapon shop's signboard engraved with a greatsword, a sudden sound of arguing made him pause. The voices sounded somewhat familiar, prompting Raine to turn his head to look.

What caught his eye were actually Lady Basha and Lian from the Return Inn. Lady Basha's lips were pressed tightly together, and her calm, weather-beaten face was now flushed red. One of her hands gripped Lian's wrist tightly like an iron vise, while the other held a sack that seemed to contain something. Lian, on the other hand, had a red nose and tear stains on her face as she stubbornly tugged at the other side of the sack.

"How dare you! How dare you secretly run to the Adventurer's Guild?" Lady Basha's voice was kept extremely low, but it trembled uncontrollably. "To register as an Adventurer? To find your father and brother? Lian, I don't want to receive another death notice. Do you understand?"

By the last sentence, the innkeeper, whose face had almost never shown any ripples of emotion, was practically speaking with a crying tone.

"But I can't just give up!" Lian buried her head very low, but her voice carried a stubborn edge. "The Northern Territory is so cold, and it snows every day. They must be freezing, and they must still be waiting for us..."

"Shut up! If they could come back, why would they make us wait so long?!" Lady Basha sharply interrupted Lian, dragging her toward the weapon shop. "Today, I have to sell this and completely cut off your suicidal obsession!"

"No! This was left to me by my father!" Lian resisted with all her might, and the mother and daughter were locked in a stalemate at the street corner.

Raine saw what was in the sack—it was an old Longbow. Combining this with the calluses he had once seen on Lian's fingertips and the inn's background, he already understood the gist of the situation. This Longbow was the weapon Lian had been practicing with.

At this moment, Lian's tear-blurred gaze happened to fall on Raine. As if she had grabbed onto a lifesaver, she shouted, "Mr. Raine!"

This cry made Lady Basha turn her head as well. When she saw Raine, the anger and sorrow on her face were instantly replaced by a complex embarrassment, and she froze in place for a moment.

Lian took the opportunity to break free. Grabbing the sack, she stumbled over to Raine. Her clear eyes were full of pleading, mixed with a hint of cautious probing. "Excuse me, do you need a Longbow? This bow was left to me by my father. It's a good bow! Will you buy it, please?"

After speaking, she quickly looked back at Lady Basha and pleaded with a sob, "Please don't sell it to the weapon shop, or it'll never come back. If you sell it to Mr. Raine, it'll at least still be somewhere we can see it."

Lady Basha's lips moved, but in the end, she didn't speak again. She merely sighed softly, seemingly leaving the decision in Raine's hands.

Raine silently looked at the Longbow before him, then sequentially at Lian and Lady Basha. A moment later, he slowly spoke, his voice calm yet solemn, "I happen to need a bow. If you're willing, I will put it to good use and won't let it gather dust."

"'Put it to good use'..." Lady Basha looked dazed for a brief second.

Looking at the crisp Cotton Armor on Raine's body and the Quiver on his back, for a split second, it was as if she saw her high-spirited son from many years ago, carrying a Longbow, standing at the door just like this, declaring that he was going to the Northern Territory to make a name for himself.

Lian, however, was filled with joy as she handed the Longbow to Raine. It was as if what she handed over wasn't just a bow, but the glimmer of hope that had still not been extinguished in her heart.

Raine took the bow. When his fingertips touched the body of the bow, he could clearly feel the fine grain of the wood and a few shallow old scratches. The bow was extremely well-maintained. Its texture was by no means comparable to those cheap 15-Silver-Lion Longbows in the weapon shop; just the taut yet flexible Bowstring was enough to bring a sense of security to one's heart.

He emptied out all the Silver Lions from his coin pouch—21 in total—and handed them all to Lady Basha. This was the highest price he could offer right now.

After bidding them farewell, he didn't go to the weapon shop but instead turned and walked toward the outskirts of town. He needed to find a quiet place to familiarize himself with this new companion that carried far too many stories.