Chapter 90: Archery Training [2]
As Adrian approached, Catherine and Bilford naturally stepped back a little so as not to interrupt the conversation.
Carl, who suddenly found himself standing alone in front of Adrian, tried to calmly relax his body that was about to retreat.
"Can I call you Brother Adrian?" To Carl, who spoke with an innocent face, Adrian also smiled and spoke with a pure face.
"Ha ha ha. Of course. I already called you to do that."
To Catherine and Bilford, who were watching from the side, Carl and Adrian looked like real brothers who cared for each other even though they were half-brothers.
In reality, both of them were thinking about the other person and waving their snake tongues.
"Would you like to see how good my younger brother is?" Adrian smiled kindly and returned the arrow to Carl.
He pointed the arrowhead towards himself and held out the arrow's feather to Carl.
"I hit the target in two attempts."
"I guess we can't say we just got it right?"
"Anyway, you hit the target. Just this time! Are you sure you guessed it correctly?"
Carl smiled confidently and quickly grabbed the arrow held out by Adrian, pretending not to notice anything and pulling it away.
The arrow was for practice purposes, so it had a cone-shaped tip to make it easier to pull out, and thanks to this, it came out without scratching Adrian's fingers.
If it had been a combat arrow, the harpoon-shaped arrowhead might have severed a finger.
Bilford was startled by the merciless action, and Catherine stood motionless, showing no reaction. 'Insidious bastard.'
Carl was extremely excited, and with a childlike expression trying to show his older brother how cool he was, he fired arrows and muttered to himself.
Adrian was observing Carl's every move. If he looked even the slightest bit suspicious, they would try to kill him. But you couldn't hide everything forever.
"Whoa…"
Taking a deep breath, Carl immediately pulled the strings.
Carl, who was so talented that he could imitate a swordsmanship stance he had only seen once, had enough experience just by failing twice.
Whoosh! Widely!
"Look! I told you!"
Carl accurately hit the target with an arrow in just three attempts. It was slightly off center to the right, but it was done in just three attempts. Just by looking at the posture, you could see that this was no coincidence.
If Carl shot ten times from this distance from now on, he would be able to hit the target with at least nine shots.
The next first step may miss. But he would grow in the process too, and from now on, he wouldn't miss a single step.
Carl shot the bow with all his heart and showed his talent for shooting with an uncomplicated attitude. And, showing the clumsy and easily excited appearance of a child, he gently entangled Adrian and dug a trap.
"Is it okay?"
"Yes? I will catch a huge one during the hunt in four days."
"Isn't this your first time shooting an arrow today? You are too greedy."
Adrian giggled happily and spoke sweetly. Carl smiled happily at the sight of his ideal older brother, Adrian, as if drawn from a dream.
"Lady Catherine and Bilford said I had a talent for martial arts. Yes?"
"Yes, Lord Carl."
Catherine just answered and closed her mouth again.
"And I've already killed countless gnolls. There were many people killed with swords, but there were also people killed by charging on horseback. It's nothing like hunting."
Carl spoke smugly in a childish manner.
"Is that really that great? But from now on, why not make the exaggeration a little smaller?"
"It's not an exaggeration. Right, Bilford?"
"yes? Ah, yes!"
Bilford hesitated before answering quickly, curling his lips in surprise at his own voice.
"Umm…."
"It's true."
When Adrian looked at Catherine with a slightly mischievous smile, Catherine spoke calmly. Adrian raised his eyebrows and looked at Carl, then smiled and patted Carl on the shoulder.
Carl sent all of his little mana down to his feet and used it all up.
As mana drained out, symptoms of mana depletion appeared.
However, Carl's complexion did not change at all, and he smiled brightly and looked at Adrian confidently.
Adrian, who checked Carl's body with mana just like when they first met, smiled kindly and took a slight step back. His hand dropped, and Carl touched the ground with his bow to prevent himself from falling down from dizziness. Even that looked like a clumsy child.
"Yes, I'll be looking forward to it. Just try it cool."
"Yes, brother."
Adrian smiled cheerfully, turned around, and walked away leisurely.
As soon as Adrian left, Carl's innocent face froze coldly. There was no need to think any further about why Adrian came to visit Carl. Carl slowly caught his breath and stood upright.
"I guess I'll have to catch the biggest one I can on this hunt."
Carl took the arrow from Bilford with a calm expression and shot it in one go.
Widely!
Seeing the arrow hitting the exact center, Carl belatedly felt a chill covering his body. It seems that Adrian is very worried.
To put him at ease and let down his guard, he needed to instill confidence.
He was good at martial arts and loved fighting, but he was ignorant of politics and schemes, and was such an immature younger brother that he didn't know what was going on in the world.
If he maintained a moderately threatening but controllable line, even Adrian would be suspicious.
Before his mother was murdered, Adrian was originally a carefree and playful young man.
There were less than five people in this world who had noticed his acting.
Adrian himself knew very well that his acting is perfect.
Carl would have known from the beginning that Adrian wouldn't know. That small gap served as a large shadow that hid Carl.
'It's strange. Mistaken… I don't think so, but I can't be sure.'
Because of this, Adrian once again postponed his judgment on Carl. Adrian couldn't decide if Carl was just immature or if he had something to hide.
Adrian, who had been walking, slowly stopped. His grave expression as he looked out the window changed like a blooming flower. Sweet and warm eyes. An angelic smile. Relaxed gesture.