New chapter of Nameless Hero is out! (2/3 chapters)
Archer’s Thoughts*
(Thank you for reading at bayabuscotranslation.com)
*Lizbeth’s POV*
My name is Lizbeth. Back in my rural hometown, I had the surname Heckart, but I abandoned it when I left my family home. Now, I make a living as part of an adventurer party called ‘Chevalier de Liberta’ alongside my four childhood friends.
I had loved magic ever since I was little. When I was seven years old, growing up in my village and just starting to care about fashion like any proper young girl, I went to town with my mother, and that was when I discovered the wonders of magic. Amid the hustle and bustle of the big city, I noticed people showing off their magic skills, and I was utterly captivated by the marvels they conjured. When I told my mother right then and there, “I want to use magic too”, she gave me a slightly troubled look and replied vaguely.
“Our family isn’t very good with magic.” (Mother)
However, it was not entirely hopeless. I’d often seen my mother quietly producing water or fire from her hands while doing chores. Having become completely obsessed with magic, I began researching on my own and discovered that there was something called a ‘magic school’ in a town a short distance from the village. I wanted to get into that magic school, no matter what. When I talked to my mother, though, she looked concerned and just said, “I wonder what your father would say about that…”.
My father was a hunter. He skillfully wielded axes and bows and sustained our mostly self-sufficient life through hunting. When he taught me how to draw a bow, I was completely absorbed in practicing archery. I remembered how satisfied my father looked as he watched me. However, when my father learned that my interests were shifting from archery to magic, he seemed extremely displeased and would only respond with a firm, “I won’t allow such a thing”. Talking about getting into the magic school was absolutely out of the question.
I didn’t give up. Every time we went to town, I’d visit the library and teach myself about magic. I learned that in addition to the basic elements of fire, ice, and electricity, there are five major types of attack magic, including light and darkness, as well as healing magic. The currently used global standard ability assessment machine Managram measured the amount of energy generated by magic and the skill to manipulate it and ranked each individual from G to S based on their attributes.
Moreover, spells created by legendary figures of the past were categorized into five ranks, and thy were beginner, intermediate, advanced, semi-divine, and divine, and by reciting the spells devised by these great figures, one could manifest magic. In other words, once a certain ‘technique’ was perfected, it could be used with the help of the spell, though for something simple, like creating fire or forming ice particles, no incantation was necessary.
At first, I couldn’t manage to use magic at all. It seemed I had strong and weak affinities for different magic attributes. After struggling through trial and error, I finally managed to create small particles for the beginner level ice spell, Ice Drop. Once I got the knack, it came together. I went on to master the beginner spells for the fire and lightning attributes as well.
As a result, I found out that while I have a high aptitude for ice magic, I could also use the basic spells of the other elements. I immediately reported this to my mother. Though she had a complicated look on her face, my enthusiasm must have gotten through because she agreed to talk to my father.
At first, my father was absolutely set on saying no, but perhaps thanks to some persuasion from my mother, he eventually came around, saying, “It wouldn’t hurt to understand magic as knowledge going forward”. I was so thrilled, I jumped for joy and started preparing to enter the magic school. I entered the magic school in the winter when I was ten years old.
However, reality wasn’t that easy. Once I enrolled in magic school, I realized just how far I was behind the other kids my age. My skills in handling magical power were significantly lower than the other children. Even with ice magic, which I considered my strength, I ended up in last place in the Ice Drop target practice competition. I had the capacity to generate magic power, but my ability to control it was poor. That was when I started to feel inferior and gradually fell behind.
On the other hand, I was skilled in archery. While practicing with the bow, I often recalled my father’s advice. Perhaps, I should focus more on archery rather than magic.
Two years had passed when a mischievous red-haired classmate, Alfred, approached me. He was like the leader of the class, a top-ranking student in the school’s social hierarchy. Since I was lower in status, I felt a bit scared when he talked to me. But Alfred didn’t try to intimidate me. Instead, he made me a suggestion.
“Hey, you’re good with a bow, aren’t you? Then, why don’t you try drawing magic through the bowstring?” (Alfred)
It hit me. He was right. There was no need to keep the two separate. I was good at ice magic and good at archery. Then, if I could shoot magic as an arrow…
From that point on, I was all in. I focused intensely on forming the Ice Drop into an arrowhead shape. I began calling this arrowhead-shaped ice, Ice Arrow, on my own. I was so dedicated to practicing this that I almost neglected the basic courses. As a result, I managed to overcome my weaknesses in magic control by relying on the power of the bow.
The teachers began to recognize me, too, for practicing this way of loading magic onto arrows. Most people stuck to a single profession, being an archer or a mage for their whole lives, so someone like me was apparently rare. For skilled magicians, shooting magic bullets directly would be enough, but combining it with a bowstring could save unnecessary magic consumption. It was a groundbreaking idea.
But then, I started thinking about the red-haired boy who’d given me the advice that started it all. I needed to thank him for pointing out something so simple yet overlooked. I mustered up the courage to approach him to say thank you and, hopefully, get closer to him.
“Heh, I only meant it as a joke! In the end, you’re just covering up for not being able to control magic, aren’t you?” (Alfred)
However, Alfred wasn’t honest. Being a kid, I was offended by his words. He shouldn’t underestimate the power of the bowstring. So, I challenged him to a duel. It was a duel between my magic bow and his magical control, a competition that drew such attention at school that it gathered quite a crowd.
The result was my victory. Although Alfred’s forte, fire magic, could be considered ice’s natural enemy, it seemed my Ice Arrow was something his magic couldn’t handle. After dealing him a decisive blow and defeating him, the name Lizbeth Heckart became well-known.
I proudly reported this accomplishment to my father and mother. But my father wouldn’t acknowledge my achievement. He scolded me, calling it a heretical approach. Later, I found out that my father couldn’t use magic at all. It seems he had survived as a hunter by relying on archery to make up for the handicap of being unable to use magic.
I respected my father for that, but I had my own pride and my own way of life. I didn’t stop researching my unique technique. After five years in magic school, I graduated successfully. The school recognized me as ‘Lizbeth the Magic Archer’, a rare talent with a unique combat style. Though I’d managed to graduate, my father never accepted my field of study. In the end, after a heated argument, I stormed out of the house.
On the day of graduation, Alfred challenged me to a duel.
“I won’t let you get away with a cheap win. Let’s settle this once and for all.” (Alfred)
With his arms crossed and a fearless grin, Alfred, now grown into a young man while still holding on to his boyish mannerisms, stood before me. I accepted the duel. Once we graduated, we might never see each other again. It would be a farewell match. But that thought was shattered by Alfred’s next words.
“If I win, you’ll become an adventurer with me!” (Alfred)
It was a strange proposal. But I accepted, determined not to lose. During these five years, I hadn’t just honed my Ice Arrow. I’d developed techniques to coat my arrows in absolute-zero frost to freeze targets with Frozen Arrow and even to infuse them with flames or lightning, making them versatile.
“And what if I win?” (Lizbeth)
“Liz, you can’t beat me!” (Alfred)
“Idiot. Then I’ll decide after I win!” (Lizbeth)
“Alright!” (Alfred)
At one point, Alfred once demonstrated the feat of slicing through my arrows with his sword technique. However, that skill was useless against my Frozen Arrow and Lightning Shot. With my new technique, I’d scorch him to a crisp. But the duel ended in my miserable defeat.
Just like me, he’d enveloped his sword in flames and nullified my Frozen Arrow and cutting it down. Not only that, he had also mastered a technique that allowed him to use his sword’s flames as a booster to move at incredible speed like a living bullet. I was caught off guard that I couldn’t even land a single Lightning Shot. And so, I ended up forming a party with Alfred. But it wasn’t as though I was entirely unwilling. After all, I’d get to spend more time with my first love.
Having run away from home with nowhere else to go, I decided to become the companion of this wild and reckless man.
—
After that, we invited Lindsey, Tristan, and our junior, Dwayne, who had also been good friends at the magic school, and thus, the Chevalier de Liberta was formed. Then, five years later, Alfred proposed increasing our membership. This was an unexpected suggestion for me.
With only five of us, there was a limit to how high we could rise in party rank. It was a leader’s decision, seeing the need to operate in a more organized manner. I agreed with the leader’s opinion.
It happened just as we began preparing a base and setting up our headquarters. Upon returning from completing an ogre-hunting request, we found that Lindsey had brought a certain child back to the base and was taking care of him.
Apparently, he was just a ten-year-old kid. The same age I was when I entered the magic academy.
What on earth could a kid like that possibly do?
The trial Alfred imposed on him was bear-hunting. Lindsey was vehemently opposed to the idea. Even I thought it was a bit much to make a ten-year-old boy hunt a bear. The entire team discussed it, but Alfred insisted that he wanted to test the kid’s grit.
We’d observe from a distance. I, being skilled in marksmanship, would finish off the bear if the boy was in real danger, and if he got seriously injured, Dwayne would step in to provide medical support. With these safeguards in place, the whole team agreed.
Alfred even went out of his way to pick up a bear-hunting quest and bought a short sword from the weapons shop that a weak child might be able to wield. And I found myself drawn to Alfred’s thoughtfulness.
Then, at the designated location for the bear-hunting quest, the boy set out to fight alone, having resolved himself to the challenge. It was a brave act that touched my heart.
But then, trouble struck. The boy had found not just any bear, but a monster-turned beast, a ‘Grizzly’. It wasn’t only me who was alarmed, but all of Liberta.
“Ja――――!” (Lindsay)
Just as Lindsey tried to raise her voice to warn of the danger, Alfred covered her mouth.
“Wait. Let’s see what he does.” (Alfred)
“But that’s just too dangerous. Liz, can you make it in time to back him up?” (Lindsay)
“Huh? Well…” (Lizbeth)
“Listen, an adventurer’s code is to avoid opponents he can’t beat. Surely, even a foolish kid would not choose that as his prey.” (Alfred)
*Crack*
But the boy seemed clumsy enough to betray the leader’s prediction. In order to fill its empty stomach, the Grizzly targeted the boy as its prey and attacked with incredible speed.
“Jack! Liz, help him!” (Tristan)
“Yes, of course!” (Lizbeth)
“―Wait!” (Alfred)
Even then, the leader stopped her.
“Why are you stopping us?!” (Lindsay)
“Dwayne, are you ready to heal?!” (Alfred)
“I’m ready any time!” (Dwayne)
“Alright! Liz, hold your fire until the very end.” (Alfred)
And so, I was forced to play backup.
It is said that lions throw their cubs off a thousand-foot cliff, but isn’t this more like not only throwing him but outright abandoning him?
While I thought this, even for a moment, the boy kept getting knocked down by the Grizzly’s ferocious attacks. But despite that, he stood up over and over again.
“…Alright, he’s got guts! Dwayne! Good timing on the support.” (Alfred)
“Uh, it seems my healing doesn’t work on him for some reason… I wonder why.” (Dwayne)
“What?!” (Alfred)
“Wait, so Jack has no way to heal?!” (Lindsay)
“Damn it…! If Liz won’t shoot, I’ll go.” (Tristan)
Tristan gripped his sword hilt tightly.
While we were all left stunned, the one-sided hunt by the monster continued. But surprisingly enough, the hunt ‘continued’. That boy was extraordinarily durable. No matter how many attacks he took, he didn’t die. In fact, he started moving faster and faster.
Eventually, he even managed to ‘catch’ the Grizzly’s charge with his bare hands. Even the mightiest of warriors could be counted on one hand who could stop a beast of that size barehanded.
“What…is he?” (Alfred)
Alfred exclaimed in amazement, and the others watched with bated breath. And so, the warrior we thought was just a boy defeated the Grizzly in a bare-handed fight.
The fist fighting technique he displayed was so skillful and powerful that it was hard to believe it came from such a small body. As if claiming his kill, the boy plunged his short sword into the defeated Grizzly. His appearance was that of a warrior who had slain his prey. And then, he fainted, collapsing on the spot.
“― Is he…really human?” (Alfred)
Alfred asked Lindsey. Lindsey probably wasn’t confident enough to answer that question either.
—
To be honest, I was creeped out at first. In the end, the child, Jack, became a member of Liberta, but I couldn’t understand how the other members could act as if nothing happened after witnessing that battle.
While Dwayne and I hunted the 20 bears required for our original request, I thought to myself that I, at least, could never stop a bear’s charge with my bare hands. And so, months passed. Jack, now spending his days with us under the same roof, seemed just like any other child. Childishly breaking dishes, getting lost during our travels.
He showed none of that monstrous strength from back then, living alongside us as if nothing had happened. After watching his clumsiness for a while, I began to think that maybe that incident had been nothing more than a fluke. After all, Jack was an incredibly endearing child.
Clumsy, but honest and hardworking, and earnestly trying his best to keep up with us by pushing himself just a bit too far, he charmed all of us. Initially, we’d added Jack for his potential as a combat asset and to expand our team, but more than that, we came to appreciate having him around. His idol-like presence became a force that strengthened our bond as a team.
Several months passed, and Jack grew as a swordsman, albeit at a level closer to that of an ordinary person. It wasn’t until a full year after we’d first met Jack that we would see another miracle like that Grizzly takedown.
(Thank you for reading at bayabuscotranslation.com)
Please consider supporting Bayabusco Translation @
bayabuscotranslation 