Tang!
Moving at 500km/hr, the arrow was almost double the speed of sound. Due to this, it created a sonic boom as it traveled through the air. A sonic boom is a loud sound kind of like an explosion. It's caused by shock waves created by any object that travels through the air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms create huge amounts of sound energy.
The princess, who for all this time had shown irrevocable faith in Barda, began to grow wary. This was not a dip in her faith, just her instincts warning her. She had just entered the sights of a dangerous predator.
The moment Barda aimed, her instincts were screaming at her to take off running, but she stood fast. The next moment, a swoosh followed by a loud boom blew past her. It took her a moment to realize what just happened, and she tentatively reached her hands to the crown of her head.
The target was gone. Turning back, she saw it pinned to the board.
She had envisioned this moment several times, but now seeing it happen, she couldn't help but gasp with pleasure. He'd done it, he had done it! The princess couldn't control her excitement.
Sir Branton's expression was changing color so much one would think he was a chameleon. He didn't know what to think. He was more than overjoyed seeing that the prince had been put in place, but the was no fool. He could smell potential competition as it arose.
One look at Lady Maara and one could guess, she was smitten. Her glee and expressions of joy may have come from the shot, but it was not just winning. She looked to be genuinely celebrating as if she had a share to that win.
The prince was speechless. He stood motionless looking at the arrow that had pinned the target from Lady Maara's head. This was the same type of arrow used to pin the arrow that Barda claimed to have shot. The one from 9 miles out. If the 2 were indeed done together, he feared to think just how fearsome the archer was.
While he was lost in thought, a swoosh and a loud bang passed him. As the wind buffeted him, The prince turned to look and see what the cause of the commotion was.
To his disbelief, the target that had been lying on top of his head was now pinned to the board too, by the same kind of magnificent arrow as the other 2. This was too much to take! How could one man be so magnificent with the bow and arrow?
Up till now, the prince still found it difficult to believe, despite seeing it with his own eyes. Other than him, everyone in the arena was dumbstruck. They could see the arrow and judge that this was like the other 2. Looking at the board, one could see his arrows were all pinned to the smallest targets. Even those who didn't come along with the nobles could see it too.
As Barda and his group arrived around the arena area, there were loud shouts as people cheered his performance. Soon after, the group left that place to gain some privacy.
"Lady Maara, I admit defeat on this matter," the prince said with a forlorn voice, "I will keep my end of the bargain. In 2 nights hence, you will receive a fresh shipment of 50,000 men."
"Lord Otto, even though I did win," Lady Maara couldn't help rubbing it in even though what she was going to do was statesmanship, "you are a great competitor. If you still up for it, I would like to give you that tour sometime."
Lady Maara knew that there was such a thing as winning a battle but losing a war. There had ever been any feud or bad blood between her and the prince, and she didn't want to instigate one because of a simple competition among peers. As such, she decided to just have the tour regardless of whether the bout was won or lost.
The upside was that she got to see Sir Branton's expression change color. He had thought that he had avoided what he considered to be the greatest threat to his love life, only for the threat to still come back in some other way. Damn this life!
"So, you have won the bout, preserved the honor of my name and managed to earn me an extra 50,000 men in the coming war. What reward do you ask of me?" Lady Maara was in high spirits every time she looked at Barda. His skills and amazing precision had had to cash a check she wrote with her mouth. She naturally wouldn't allow Barda to walk away empty-handed.
"I have heard that there is a place called the famous Gazan Forging Libraries in Tristan," Barda began as he looked at Lady Maara.
"I have yet to meet a forger who doesn't jump at the opportunity to see the library," Lady Maara said with a knowing smile, "However, if access was that easy, then the halls of the library would be forever crowded. Luckily, you are with me, and there are very few places that I cannot enter. Follow me."
Lady Ellen could have chosen a billion other things to pick from, but Barda had his motive. However, having seen how good he was at the forging room, and looking at the quality of his production, Lady Ellen realized that there was a new position that had already been filled, the head of logistics. All that awaited was her announcing this to the adventurer team.
On further thought, she realized now she had a good reason to make Barda a vice-commander, something she'd been looking forward to doing. This wasn't altruistic, but rather business-oriented. It did not make sense to have one of the biggest names in the adventurer team being just another adventurer.
Since he landed on the planet, there was one thing he didn't have, which was access to the information grid. The planet he was supposed to land on was in the fringes of the known universe. From there, with a powerful enough network booster, one could still manage connections.
Now with no idea where he was and how he got there, Barda had no way of connecting to the information grid. As a smart cookie that he was, he knew to plan for the worst-case scenario, which was where he was.
Before he left, he had loaded his memory with several designs and blueprints on how to develop many of these cutting-edge modern technologies such as network connectivity devices. This was one of the reasons why he was so ingrained in forging. Once he decided to make these devices, he would be seen as just a forging genius, albeit one super talented. No one would be the wiser on how he had obtained these.
However, since he had anticipated landing in a somewhat modern world, there were still several things he didn't know how to make and he found he did indeed need them.
There was always the option of trial and error, as he did with the bronze. This could work, but so the delicate stuff, precision, and accuracy was the mantra. Without these, no matter how fine the material was modified, they wouldn't work.
What Barda needed more than anything now was a way to familiarize himself with the forging process. In his past life, he was neither an engineer nor was he directly involved with any development and creation professions. He was on the other side, the destruction side.
What he needed was some basics on how to modify and make materials, how to forge and handle the forging tools, so on. This way, he would stop relying on guesswork and have some professionalism to it.
Unfortunately, learning all this from a trainer or teacher was easier said than done. For starters, the forgers and smiths he had met, including Markell, had never learned the true way. Most would just become apprentices to a blacksmith, who would then grow to become blacksmiths themselves. Many were not even educated and wouldn't know what to do with a forging design when looking at one.
The other kind, the rarer kind, were the ones that went to recognized forging institutions, got their certification and came out: fully-fledged smiths. However, getting an audience from one such as these was an uphill task, much less getting them to train you.
More than anything, Barda didn't want to train under someone. While learning from a fellow human was undoubtedly easier than learning from a book to a machine that logic was flawed. He wanted to read from the books, getting all the information that might be otherwise missed out by the trainer.
Barda also knew that if he was training under someone, his training speed would lag. With his AI module, all he needed was to cast a glance at a document and it would forever be seared in his memory. With a teacher, such god-like powers would be wasted.