The Reimagining of the Bow Hero

Chapter 20 - Meeting Rishia Ivyred

Chapter 20 – Meeting Rishia Ivyred

Author's Note: This chapter, we finally meet Rishia!

It had been a whole exhausting day of travel.

After I had eliminated the BioPlant from Lerno village, I collected a bunch of seeds and absorbed them into my bow. This unlocked a new weapon, the BioPlant bow, which would be helpful in producing food for the northern kingdom, which I was about to liberate. I guess helping out Lerno village was totally worth it after all.

The villagers were insistent in giving me more rewards, but I told them it wasn't necessary at all and that it was my heroic duty. They all applauded me as I left the village, ready to head off to my next destination, the northern kingdom.

In the meantime, while tinkering around with the BioPlant seed, I found a plant modification skill that I learned from the BioPlant bow that I got from absorbing the seeds, and I reasoned that if I used the skill on newly planted BioPlant seeds, they wouldn't grow out of control as easily and would still provide massive yields. I used this skill on the bag of seeds I had, and hopefully that would prove to be the correct decision.

For a long time, the country had been ruled under the iron fist of King Strauss VIII, who had allegedly poisoned his own mother for the title. By hiking up taxes, increasing tariffs and introducing forced labor quotas, the people rose in rebellion against him. Now, the country was roughly split in two, with the north controlled by the King Strauss royalists and the south, near the Melromarc border, controlled by the revolutionaries.

So far, I had formulated a plan with some former inhabitants of the country, and my teammates. The plan would be for me to use my title of the Bow Hero to rally further support within the country, mount an offensive towards the capital, assassinate the king and claim authority over the country as its new provisional President, with most powers given to a parliament. Many plans I had made previously were deemed to not work, and this was the best one according to most people.

According to the map, we were nearing the Ivyred territory, which was the midpoint between the northern kingdom and Castle Town. Night was near, and I needed a place to lodge.

We dismounted from the carriage and started unpacking. Indigo and I headed off to the local lord's mansion, which appeared to be derelict and run-down. As soon as the door opened, a middle-aged lady wearing colorful rags greeted us.

"Hello. I am Countess Ivyred, the wife of the lord of this land. Who might you be?"

"Hello. My name is Satoshi Sera, and I'm the recently summoned bow hero. I seek shelter for the night, and I will dutifully repay you for this kind deed."

"I am humbled by your presence, bow hero. You are welcome to stay for as long as you like but be advised that we do not have much food here."

"Thank you for your hospitality." I thanked. "We have food of our own, so that is not of worry. Would you kindly direct us to our quarters?"

"No problem. You can use the entire upstairs if you like, and the filolial can sleep in the stable next to the house."

"That won't be needed." Indigo said as he transformed into his human form, shocking the lady quite a bit.

While the rest of my party were situating themselves, the countess motioned for me to meet her in the dining hall.

"Oh, noble bow hero. Please help us with this grave situation!"

"What's the issue?"

"Our daughter, Rishia, has been kidnapped by the next-door noble, Lord Von Dan."

Apparently in the Ivyred territory, there had been many robberies and sabotages of the town and its surrounding fields. The guild had sent a band of adventurers to chase away the bandits, though the Ivyreds had never requested them to do so, and the bill was sent to them. Rishia was taken away by the nobleman in exchange for paying half the bill and some bodyguards. It turns out that the nobleman sent the request to the guild under their name, and he just wanted to abduct Rishia and cause havoc for the Ivyred family.

Since these people received us so nicely, I had to at least help them with this problem. Also, eliminating some evil would be nice.

"If all that you say is true, I shall deal with this travesty immediately."

"Thank you so much!"

For this mission, I probably didn't even need Indigo. This didn't seem like that big of a problem for me to deal with alone.

After mounting a horse, which looked weak and hungry from malnutrition, I headed off to the Von Dan territory. It was extremely close to the Ivyred territory, and I got there before midnight. This operation was better done covertly to draw less attention.

I scaled the walls of the Von Dan mansion, which was lavish and towering above the peasants' huts. As quietly as I could, I pried open the windows and slipped my way in, my 6-foot 2 frame barely slipping through the small gap.

Doing a barrel roll, I stealthily approached the noble's bed and bopped him with the end of my bow.

"Von Dan! Why have you abducted Rishia Ivyred from the Ivyred territory!"

The man, drowsy and uncomprehending of what was going on, questioned me in return.

"What are you doing in my house! Bandit!"

I bopped him again with my bow.

"I have heard of all your evil deeds towards the Ivyred territory, and it is well known that you are a despot towards your own people. Using my authority as the bow hero, I command you to release Rishia at once, or not I will have you summoned to the king's court for judgment!"

"Also," I whispered to him. "I don't want to cause a big ruckus either. Just turn over the girl and stop bothering the Ivyred territory, and I promise I won't get involved any further."

The man, understanding what was going on, relented. He clearly didn't want to mess with me, and he didn't care that much about letting Rishia go as long as it caused him fewer problems.

"The girl is in the chamber on the left."

Hearing this, I hurried over to the sleeping girl's room, and shook her awake.

"Rishia, Rishia, Rishia."

"What?" The drowsy girl muttered as she struggled to wake herself/

"There's no time to explain. I am the bow hero and I'm here to free you from Von Dan. Let's hurry up and get out of here."

The confused girl, who didn't know what to do, just nodded.

We ran back into Von Dan's room, where the man already returned to sleep, jumped through the window and descended with a rope. We mounted the horse, and pretty soon we were back at the Ivyred territory.

"Is that you, Rishia!"

"Thank goodness you're alright!"

Her doting parents rushed up and gave her a big hug. It was heartwarming seeing the family all reunited like this.

I was exhausted though. This was a long night, and I'd better get some sleep.

Before I could set up the sleeping bag though, Rishia ran into the room.

"Thank you so much for rescuing me! What is your name?"

"My name is Satoshi Sera. It was my duty to rescue you, and to return your parents' favor for being such good hosts."

"Ah. Got it." Rishia said as she awkwardly backpedaled from the door.

Being too tired to even think at this point, I hit the sleeping bag and had the best sleep of my life.

What will happen next? Chapter 21 out soon!