A few minutes before the explosion.
Jensia's group traveled across the plains and reached close to the village in no time after separating from the rest.
On their way, one thing became very clear that further confirmed Riko's report that this was an isolated village because there was no road nor a path, or any kind of frequently travelled trail leading to the village.
They stopped some distance from the village and started to inspect it from there.
A small wooden fence surrounded the village, with an open wooden gate and two sentry towers, one on each side that seemed currently empty. The reason was also clear to them because they could see four people chatting with each other just beyond the gate.
The reason they took them for guards was because each one had a quiver strapped to them while they either held a bow or one slung over their shoulder.
After looking at the village, Jacson glanced at Jensia and saw a happy expression lighting up her cute, angelic face as she stared at the village. He sighed because he really didn't want to get involved in any mess while he was so far away from home and on top of that near the border.
But if this is what his little sister wanted, then he would happily dive headfirst into this mess while making sure that any traces of their involvement were completely erased.
Jensia's focus, on the other hand, was entirely on the village before her, and she hadn't even noticed her brother looking at her. She soon dismounted from the Hiring she was riding.
Seeing Jensia dismount, the reset also got down from their respective mounts, except for two; Gibeth and Jacson.
Gibeth just remained seated on his Skyvolt Liger, which was now sitting on the grass, looking around curiously. On the other hand, Jacson was still seemingly lost in his thoughts.
Jensia moved a bit forward and raised her left hand; Riko quickly stepped forward, handing her the bow she had been holding until now. While Riko's younger sister, Etil, also moved and stood on Jensia's right holding a quiver filled with arrows.
Jensia drew an arrow from the quiver and was getting ready to shoot when Jacson, who had been quiet till now, finally spoke.
"Wait!"
"What?"Jensia turned to look at her big brother, tilting her head slightly in confusion.
"Before you begin, let me tell you two rules that you must keep in mind all the time during the time we will be here. First, you are not allowed to use any ice type attack cause while you possess a rare Emperor Tier Ice Talent, you are still unable to control it properly, and can be easily used to trace back to you."
Jensia visibly looked taken aback and was about to retort, but Jacson didn't let her. He raised his hand to stop her from interrupting as he continued to speak.
"Second, you are not allowed to conjure any arrows. Before you say anything let me remind you that the arrows we conjure due to our archery talent carries a distinct aura signature that is tied to our clan, even if we try to hide it. So, you can only use regular arrows."
Jacson's tone suddenly became a bit stricter as he continued to speak, giving Jensia no chance to complain or protest.
"Now, before you even think about protesting against these two rules, let me remind you that I will take you back right now—even if it means that I will have to face Dad because I made you cry. So, it's up to you whether you want to continue or not."
Jensia's expression showed that she still couldn't believe how strictly her brother had spoken to her just now.
Seeing his sister's reaction, Jacson also did not feel good, but he had to press his foot down at some point and could not let his little sister be willful. After all, apart from his mother, he loved his sister the most, even though she was only his half-sister.
Their father, Ranrauth Arieth, has eight wives and nineteen children; he is the second youngest, while Jensia is the youngest. On the other hand, the third youngest had already turned thirty-one just three weeks ago.
It wasn't that Jacson didn't get along with his older siblings; he loved them all, and they all spoiled him plenty, but the age gap had always created a sort of distance between them.
That distance didn't exist with Jensia because there was only a two-year difference between them, which made their bond much closer.
Jacson also dismounted and walked closer to his cute little sister and gently patted her head, while he spoke in a soft and reassuring tone.
"Just think of this as a slightly more challenging target practice as It will help you use your Precision talent more effectively."
Hearing her brother's gentle words, Jensia also calmed down. She clearly understood what he was trying to say. Her brother was only looking out for her in his own way while helping her sharpen her gifts even further.
She smiled like a blooming flower and nodded her small head.
"Un. I'll follow the rules that big brother has set."
Gibeth, who had been observing everything silently from the beginning, slightly shook his head at the end, though no one seemed to have noticed him doing that.
He clearly disapproved of Jacson's last actions, but it wasn't his place to intervene because his orders were clear; he was to protect and observe them for the time being.
Soon Jensia turned her focus back toward the village. This time, instead of aiming her arrow high, which previously she was going to charge with ice energy (which would have caused it to explode into ice shards upon impact).
She precisely aimed at one of the men who had now started to walk towards the tower on the left of the gate and released the arrow.
Jensia and her group were positioned on a small hill of sorts, approximately two kilometers from the village. Despite the distance, the arrow zipped through the air like a bolt of lightning, reaching the man's head in less than three seconds.
But the arrow didn't simply stick in the man's head; it pierced straight through and hit the ground further ahead with a resounding boom. Due to the force of the arrow, the man's body also got flung for a short distance in the arrows direction before crashing onto the ground with a loud thud.
Before the remaining three men could even understand or react to what just happened, three more arrows followed. This time, however, they had clear differences that were visible to anyone who was closely observing them.
The second arrow was not much slower, but, instead of passing through the target, caused the man's head to explode.
The third arrow struck one of the man's shoulders and failed to deliver a fatal blow, while the last one completely missed, flying a few inches above the last man's head.
Jensia lowered her bow, clearly dissatisfied with her performance after the first shot, while Jacson who was standing next to her also shook his head as he gave his remarks.
"The first shot could be considered to be perfect because you had plenty of time to aim and infuse energy. The second shot; even though you didn't have that much time, but it's problem was the unstable energy that was fused into it, resulting in that explosion, however the final result was still decent."
"The third shot was fired in too much of a hurry without sufficient energy and lost whatever was infused into it on its way to the target, and if you were aiming for the head like the previous two, then it was also off the mark, but you at the very least hit the target. But what was the last shot? How can you miss the target even though you have Precision talent?"
After speaking his observations, Jacson waited for Jensia's response, but instead got a totally different reply.
"See! This is exactly why I said I wanted to practice with live targets. You can't get results like these when you're shooting at wooden dummies!"
Jensia completely disregarded Jacson's remarks. She wasn't happy with her shots after the first one, but she was in no mood to care about that, because she finally felt vindicated. The reason was simple, because now she could show her brother why she wanted to practice with live targets.
While Jacson and Jensia were having their exchange, the two men who had survived this bizarre situation were scared shitless.
The man with an arrow lodged in his shoulder wasn't even feeling the pain. Adrenaline coursing through his veins, he scrambled to his feet and ran towards the interior of the village while crying and screaming hysterically with all the strength he could muster.
The other man, who was completely unharmed other than having bits and pieces of flesh and brain matter splattered across his face and body, had also snapped out of his daze and started running even faster than the first man.
However, instead of following his companion, he threw the bow he was holding and directly ran toward a nearby house, while his heart was pounding so violently that he felt like it might burst out of his chest at any moment.
Due to fear, tears had started streaming down his face. He somehow stumbled inside the house, slammed the door shut, and locked it. Panic gripped him as he frantically began barricading the door and windows with anything and everything he could find.
After blocking the door and windows as much as he could, he ran down to the basement and locked the door, went to a corner and huddled while hugging his knees; all the while, his heart pounded violently, and the tears kept streaming down.
He had witnessed a very bizarre thing just now. The only thing his mind could think was that their village was being targeted by some strong bandits. He was a hunter, but he only hunted some small animals like rabbits and acted as the sentry.
He was not a fighter by any means, and he was terrified to face the bandits.
But as time passed, his fear started to turn into regret. He had run away and left the others to fend for themselves. Did he do the right thing?
Yes, he absolutely did the right thing.
He knew he was no match for bandits. So, instead of needlessly throwing away his life, why not run away.
But then the regret started to turn into fear once more.
What if, after killing all the villagers, the bandits came for him because he was a sitting duck in the basement right now.
His thoughts were racing, and he finally reached a breaking point. He stood up, his legs still shaking, and started to walk towards the basement door.
He had decided to go out and then run away. It would be foolish to go out, but remaining there was no other than forfeiting his life, so he had decided to gamble.