The Arnian soldiers rang the gong and called for a ceasefire. Even in war, there were rules. While Asura and Moon Blossom ignored most of them, it wasn't as if war was a lawless affair. The ringing of the gong signaled that the general wanted to speak to the opposing side. Most of the time, they rang the gong to surrender, so fighting usually stopped unless it was particularly heated.
The Therbaen and Arnian soldiers all lined up in a row and faced each other at a distance of about twenty meters. From the Therbaen side, Matias and several other commanders walked forward. From the Arnian side, so did Teropekka and Moon Blossom. They dragged Punti along with them as their hostage.
"Punti?!" Matias exclaimed upon seeing him.
"Sir Matias, we would like to exchange prisoners," Teropekka said.
"I was wondering where you'd gone...but you got yourself captured by Moon Blossom?" Matias glared at Lumia, who simply shrugged without confirming or denying the accusation.
"We would like to exchange Punti, your son and a hero candidate, for all of the Arnian soldiers you have captured," Teropekka continued.
"All...of them...?"
"I believe that he is worth all the effort of ringing the gong, stopping the fighting, and offering a trade. Because of that belief, I have neither tortured nor interrogated him. However, if you refuse, I'll have no choice but to extract as much information as I can before executing him."
"You bastard... I bet that you only managed to capture Punti because Moon Blossom used some underhanded tricks!" Matias yelled, his face red with fury. He looked like he was seconds away from drawing his sword on them.
However, everyone knew that he wouldn't. Heroes had privileges, but were bound to their duties as well. They were forbidden from killing people out of a personal grudge or for personal gain. If Matias killed someone while the gong was ringing over the battlefield for a ceasefire, it would be a murder committed for his own selfish reasons. He would immediately get his hero status taken away from him.
"Punti," Lumia ordered with a smile. "Why don't you explain to your father just how you were captured?"
"Dad... I lost a duel..."
"Impossible! Someone of your caliber losing a duel?! I don't believe it! Whom did you lose to?! Was it to Teropekka?!"
"It was to me," Lumia said. "I apologize, but I know a thing or two about fighting. But I'm sure you know that."
"Lumia Canarre...the vice captain of Moon Blossom... Yes, if you were Punti's opponent, then you'd be evenly matched..." Matias growled, clenching his fist.
"'Evenly matched'?" Lumia scoffed. "That's not a very funny joke. But we can discuss that later. So, what is your decision? Will you trade prisoners with us?"
For a few moments, no one spoke until slowly, Matias said, "We will. Hey, some of you go grab the Arnian prisoners!"
After Matias's order, silence filled the air again. It was thick and heavy, but Lumia didn't seem bothered. When she glanced at Jyrki, he mouthed "I'm gonna piss myself" at her. It was hard to blame him, considering a hero who saw them as his enemies was facing them down. When she looked at Marx, he was staring at Matias without saying a word. Since it didn't look like there'd be a problem there, Lumia turned her attention to Salume.
Salume still didn't fully comprehend how strong or scary a hero was, so she had a fairly calm look on her face. But she was half hiding behind Jyrki. It looked like she was doing her best to disguise her fear.
"It's a little boring waiting here like this," Lumia said. "Why don't we have a little chat?"
"There's nothing I want to discuss with you pieces of human filth," snapped Matias. "As soon as we finish exchanging the prisoners and the battle restarts, I will personally strangle you to death with my bare hands. Look forward to it."
"Oh my," Lumia held her hands to her face in mock surprise. "Is that a personal grudge?"
"It would be nothing more than killing an enemy soldier on the battlefield."
"Ahh. How scary." Lumia smiled.
"I've got them here!" a Therbaen soldier exclaimed, Arnian hostages in tow. In total, there were twelve people behind him.
"Looks like they caught quite a few," Jyrki whispered.
"So it seems," Marx agreed.
With all parties present, the hostage exchange went smoothly.
"Punti, do you know how worried I was?" Matias said. He grabbed Punti, who was still tied up, in a tight embrace.
Right now, Matias's attention was fully focused on Punti. If I take him by surprise, I might be able to defeat him, Lumia thought. Of course, she would never do that. But the fact that the thought entered her mind was proof that Asura's soldier-mage training had seeped right into her bones. Asura wouldn't care about a touching reunion between father and son, nor would she care about the rules of etiquette on the battlefield. If she were here, then she'd at least try to capture him, even if it meant beating Matias half to death.
"I'm sorry, dad..." Punti whispered.
"It's fine, son. As long as you're safe and... Guh?!"
Suddenly, Matias curled in on himself, clutching at the arrow that had been shot into his shoulder. In the next second, another arrow went clean through his head. Without another word, he fell to the ground.
"Huh?" Lumia gasped. She had no idea what had just happened.
She wasn't the only one either. It was as if time itself froze as everyone's brains worked to process the scene before them.
"Hey! You gotta be kidding!" Jyrki yelled. "A hero dropping dead while negotiating with us?! Huh?! No freakin' way!"
Dead? The hero? Matias is dead? The Hero General Matias, who was said to have returned from two Demon Lord Expeditions, is dead? From just two arrows?
"What happened?!"
"Where did those arrows come from?!"
"Who did it?! Who shot them?!"
The soldiers around Matias's corpse started yelling. Punti whispered "Father?" in a quivering voice. Lumia looked around in search of the assailant, but she couldn't see anything. There was no one around them.
Who shot the arrow? Ahh, there's no need to even ponder that question. It's the handiwork of that goddamned bitch! Lumia gritted her teeth. You'd kill him at this very moment? Right after the negotiations went smoothly and everyone let down their guard?
Matias in particular had been relaxed, since he had just gotten his son back. And that was when Lumia finally realized that Asura had duped her. Asura had said that this would help with Plan A. But that had been a lie. From the very beginning, Asura had lied to them!
When Asura captured Punti, her plan had extended all the way to this very moment, when Matias would lower his guard. It was all so that she could take advantage of this crack in his armor and shoot him. Everything she'd done had been to raise the success rate of Plan B, even by a little.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Teropekka demanded.
"I'm the one who'd like to know!" Lumia shouted back. "In any case, we have nothing to do with it!"
Play dumb if we succeed. Play dumb even if we don't succeed.
"Vice Captain, the panic is spreading. We should retreat," Marx said. He was still calm, comparatively.
"Huh? What? Eh?" Salume was looking around, clutching at Jyrki's robes with her right hand. It seemed that she still hadn't fully grasped the situation.
"We've finished exchanging the prisoners! We'll return to the camp!" Lumia ordered.
"We'll return as well! We can't have them pinning the hero's murder on us! Go back! Don't go to battle! Return to our camp as fast as we can!" Teropekka ordered.
If Arnia attacked now, then they would win against Therbae. However, that was the last thing they should do. Victory after what had just happened would be like advertising that killing Matias had been part of Arnia's strategy. Of course, even without doing so, someone from Arnia would be the most likely suspect for the crime.
***
Several minutes earlier, Asura and her team had been sitting in the branches of a tree. It was on the border between the forest and the plains, and offered a clear view of the main battlefront. "Clear view" was a bit of an overstatement, of course. They were still six hundred meters away, and so they couldn't actually see much of anything with the naked eye.
"I was wondering what these colorful clothes were for," Reko said. "But I get it now. They let us stay camouflaged in the forest."
"That's right. I doubt they'd be able to see us from that far away, but it's better to be safe than sorry." Asura and the others weren't dressed in their usual black robes, but instead in green-and-brown camo ones. They'd brought them and other tools they'd needed the previous night. "Now then, it's about time for them to start exchanging their prisoners."
The gong had already rung over the battlefield, so the fighting itself had paused. Asura thought this was a wonderful rule of etiquette. In this world, battle only ended when the sun went down and when the gong sounded. And, of course, when everyone's dead.
"Iina, you'll be our designated sniper in the future, so listen close. Reko, you really only need to listen. Just keep this information in the back of your brain."
"Me...?" Iina asked from where she was standing on a branch higher than Asura's.
"Yes. You're the best archer among us. It won't take you long to pick up sniping." Asura peered into the scope fixed onto the composite bow. It didn't have a reticle, but there wasn't much she could do about that. "Sniping while lying prone is ideal. However, it's impossible to shoot from that position with a bow, so kneel on one knee and hold your posture."
"I've seen you...practice that a lot..." Ina commented.
"Yeah. But I don't believe I've ever explained the reasoning," Asura replied. "Man, am I glad that magnifying technology exists in this world, even if it's not very accurate."
It felt like the order of technological advancements in this world was all wrong compared to Asura's previous one. Like it had A, but it didn't have B. It had this, yet it didn't have that. The saddest part about this world was that it didn't have guns. But the happiest part for Asura was that it had magic.
"You're the first person I've seen...put a magnifying glass on a bow..."
"I bet. The idea of long-distance sniping doesn't exist in this world. Humph, I'm not surprised though. It's a world that worships warriors, after all." It was a world where duels and one-on-one battles were the norm, and fighting fair and square was the priority. "Oh! They've started the exchange," Asura grinned as she peered into the scope. "Wind and distance are the two most important aspects to keep in mind as a sniper. Of course, you also have to pay attention to gravity's pull on the bullet...I mean, the arrow."
"I understand...sorta."
"Hold the target in the sight of your scope, which is this magnifying glass, by the way. Then, decide on what you want to aim for. You'll have to consider the wind, distance, and gravity. After that, it's all down to feeling."
"Boss...you practiced thousands of times...for that...um, 'feeling'?"
"Yeah. I thought my arms would fall off."
Asura could hit a target two thousand meters away with a sniper rifle. But it had only been after coming to this world that she started practicing with a bow and arrow. She could use one, but was far from being an expert.
"The wind is blowing in our direction, but it's a slight breeze. The distance is about six hundred, though that could be inaccurate since I'm measuring with my eyes." Asura nocked the arrow and adjusted the angle slightly, checking with her scope the entire while. "When sniping with a bow, you have to aim at a point above your target. At this distance, it'd be around fifty degrees, I believe? I'm guessing the travel time of the arrow would be around ten seconds. All of this is just intuition, though."
"Will I...be able to learn that intuition too? I'm...not confident..."
"Practice until you do. Also, we'll be using Accelerate this time, so in this case, it's fine to aim straight at the target. The arrow's travel time will be much shorter too." Truthfully, without Iina's Accelerate, Asura would never think to shoot someone from this far. Though she did have the composite bow made for sniping purposes, she'd been imagining a much shorter distance. "Now, this is the important part. If your target is a hero, then two arrows is your limit."
"Why...?"
"The first arrow will be from beyond the range of their perception, so they won't be able to respond. In the best-case scenario, you'd kill them with this first arrow. They'll still be confused by the time you shoot your second arrow. So eight times out of ten, it'll hit them. However, they'll react to the third one."
"Will they...? I'd take five arrows...before I could respond..."
"It'd be impossible for you, Iina. I'm talking about heroes right now."
Even for Asura, it was a fifty-fifty chance whether she'd be able to react to the third arrow. However, Lumia would definitely be able to catch or deflect it. In that case, Matias, who was said to be a candidate for a Great Hero, would likely respond as well.
"Just in case, I've prepared three arrows," Asura continued. "Even if I miss all of them, we'll call it a day and withdraw. Shooting a fourth arrow runs the risk of him discovering our position." Even if Matias figured out where they were, they had enough distance to escape. Even so, Asura didn't want the slightest chance of being seen. She would cover all her bases, completely and thoroughly. That was what it took to assassinate a hero. "Now then, when you pull the trigger...I mean, when you shoot the arrow, you must hold your breath to make sure that there's as little room for error as possible..."
After she said that, Asura held her breath and Iina enchanted the arrow with Accelerate. Through the scope, she could see Matias embracing Punti. Everything was going to plan. They were beyond the outer edges of Matias's perception.
Image here:
At this moment, the only thing in Matias's consciousness was Punti. Asura released her arrow and immediately nocked a second one. She held her breath as Iina quickly cast Accelerate. After making some minor adjustments to her angle, Asura released her arrow again. The first arrow hit Matias in either the shoulder or the arm.
Asura clicked her tongue irritably and reached for the third arrow. However, the second arrow cleanly struck through Matias's head. "Yes!"
It went exactly as planned. This was precisely why she'd needed Punti. Even if she missed with the first arrow, so long as Matias's attention remained fixed on Punti, then there was about a ninety percent chance he'd be unable to react to the second. She'd captured Punti to maximize the success rate of this mission.
"Boss...that was amazing... I don't think I'd be able to do it..."
"Humph, then practice. Don't fret. I'll even be kind enough to show you the ropes," Asura said as she leaped out of the tree.
"Kind...?" Iina repeated as she followed suit.
Reko also descended from the tree, though he had to lower himself to another branch before his feet hit the ground.
"I've always been kind to you, haven't I?"
"If that's what you call kind...then what would you call...strict?"
"If you want me to be a strict teacher, then I'll be happy to do so. But before that, we have to retreat." Asura turned and ran deeper into the woods, with Ina and Reko following close behind her. Excitement buzzed through her body with each step she took. She'd killed a hero, viewed by everyone as some divine figure from the heavens. She'd killed a hero, a task everyone claimed was impossible. Laughter bubbled out of her from the ecstasy. "Ahh, it's truly a shame that we can't advertise this."
All that was left for them to do was perfectly play the part of the innocent accused.
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