The princess laughs.
“What bet are you going to make?”
Rebecca’s current expression was quite different from before.
The cheeks that were red due to my words a while ago were still red.
It was because Rebecca was doing it without hesitation, an act that she would not be able to do because she was shy.
To be more specific, Rebecca hasn’t been able to make eye contact with me these days.
Of course, not making eye contact doesn’t mean I’m starting to hate myself to the point of not making eye contact.
Rather, it was the opposite.
In a one-on-one situation with only me and the princess, not being able to meet my eyes well means that I have become conscious of myself.
If it wasn’t for me to take care of myself, what could be the reason why I couldn’t meet my eyes, which I had only met well so far?
As I said before, Rebecca’s gaze on me was definitely different from before.
I’m not sure what kind of incident happened between us that changed the princess’s gaze.
“I didn’t know the princess wanted to receive a handkerchief from me so much.”
I wasn’t stupid enough to realize that this was a positive sign.
“·················Don’t talk nonsense and tell me what kind of bet you want to make quickly.”
Rebecca hears me and pushes me with her cheeks redder than before.
Seeing that lovely figure, an ugly desire to tease me a little more seized my ankle.
“Well. I haven’t decided which bet to make.”
“····.”
It’s because he hasn’t decided yet what kind of bet he should decide on this topic.
Even in order to protect Rebecca’s pretty expression, which had already begun to deteriorate, she decided to stop making fun of her.
“Hmm…”
Several thoughts ran through my mind.
The first thought that comes to mind is, as always, to determine the winner with a simple game.
First of all, it was true that this method was easy.
It’s something I’ve been doing constantly for the past three years, and it’s true that I and the princess are familiar with it.
It was clear that there was no easier way than this if the winner was to be determined simply.
‘Is this something that can be decided simply?’
But I don’t think this was a trivial matter to be a simple game.
In this bet, not only will the opponent make a handkerchief, but the loser will also give up participating in the hunting contest.
To be honest, it didn’t matter if I didn’t participate in the hunting contest.
“····.”
My fiancee, who was staring at me not far away, would have a different opinion.
For Rebecca, of course, a contest like this would be a contest where she had to participate and win first place.
It may be because of her pride, but actually, Rebecca had the skills to do that.
Even if you just watch the original [The Prince Raises a Sword]…
“····.”
“Why are you suddenly doing this?”
Rebecca’s voice filled with wonder at me, who suddenly hardened.
It was a voice that caused the illusion of hearing the sentence, ‘Why is this human being like this again all of a sudden?’
I couldn’t afford to pay attention to that voice now.
‘·······What happened in the original?’
Because I couldn’t remember what happened on the day of the first hunting contest in which the main character participated in the original novel.
It was strange.
After re-reading the part where Rebecca appeared, I can’t remember the plot of the hunting contest that Rebecca must have participated in.
It must have been impossible, but as if someone had erased the memory with an eraser, I had no idea at all.
It felt as if it had disappeared intentionally.
“······hello.”
“····.”
“hello!”
“······Yes?”
It was Rebecca’s cry that awakened my mind, which had been immersed in thought for a long time.
“What are your thoughts so great that you can’t hear me?”
“·······There was something to think about for a moment.”
“So what is it?”
Rebecca approaches as if she must hear what that great idea is.
I looked like I had a lot of horns in front of me, immersed in other thoughts in front of me.
In this situation where my head is confused with the original that I can’t remember, I can’t even tell the story about the original to Rebecca.
Because I couldn’t stand the fiancée who approached me with a face full of horns.
“You decide with archery.”
“·······Suddenly, it’s kind of fat…”
“Bet on a handkerchief. Let’s decide who shoots the bow better.”
Even in order to change the subject, I had no choice but to spit out an offer that I never wanted to say out loud.
***
This is my second visit to the ballroom of the Dukes of Valencia.
Unlike the last time, which was filled with knights from the Duke of Valencia’s family, this time the auditorium was empty.
It was as if he had foreseen in advance that the contents of this bet would be extraordinary.
“·······It’s amazing. I didn’t expect you to bet on me with something like this.”
The princess had changed into active clothes that were easy to move around, just like when she had a swordsmanship match.
Usually, when you shoot an arrow, you think that you hardly move your body, but in archery, you have to be more careful about moving than you think.
Rebecca’s choice of changing clothes was a very good choice.
“What kind of wind suddenly blows this man who clenched his teeth and ignored me when I said that we should decide the match with swordsmanship or archery?”
“····.”
The fact that I had to fight Rebecca with archery without moving it made me ache.
The idea of determining the winner by archery itself was an opinion I had been thinking about since the time I proposed to the princess to ‘bet on a handkerchief’.
It’s true that when humans are in a position to unilaterally hunt animals, rather than humans versus humans, they use bows more than swords.
So, I was just thinking about archery that could decide who would be more active in hunting competitions.
The reason I didn’t say it right away was simple.
No, it was the same as before.
‘·······How to win.’
Because it was an impossible idea for me to honestly defeat Princess Munchkin with swordsmanship or archery.
Wasn’t he just being beaten unilaterally during the swordsmanship battle?
Of course, in the end, I was the final winner.
It was possible by shaking Rebecca’s mind with an unfair technique, but not by defeating Rebecca with pure skill.
Besides, looking at the current princess’s attitude toward me, it was clear that she couldn’t win in the same way as last time.
It was Rebecca who said to me before, ‘It won’t work this time.’
This time, he was never going to win that way.
······maybe.
“Take it.”
“····.”
Rebecca, unable to understand my troubled heart, threw a wooden bow at me.
“Do it first.”
He pointed to a target that appeared to be about 50 meters away and asked to do it first.
If this was the bet that the princess suggested, I would have tried a little resistance.
“······All right.”
There was no way to escape because it was a suggestion that came from my mouth and not from anyone else.
What I can do is.
“·······Whew.”
All he did was take a deep breath with the bow and arrow in his hand.
Because if I didn’t do this, I couldn’t calm my beating heart because of the tension.
“How many feet are you going to do?”
After taking a few deep breaths to calm her beating heart, I asked Rebecca how many shots she would shoot.
“Um… three? Three?”
“All right.”
three feet. That was not a bad condition.
Perhaps if Rebecca had given me the choice of how many shots to shoot instead of telling her, I would have chosen three.
Even if the first arrow fails, if you succeed in figuring out how to shoot, you will be able to shoot the second and third arrows well.
profit-
He hung the arrow he was holding onto the bowstring.
I heard that some people who are learning archery for the first time find it difficult to pull the bowstring.
I didn’t seem to like that.
“Five…”
An exclamation came from Rebecca, who was watching me from the side.
I don’t know why, but it was also proof that my posture, which was my first time holding a bow, seemed quite plausible.
“····.”
Leaving behind Rebecca’s admiration, he focused on the distant target again.
There was definitely a big difference between the 50m that I only listened to and the 50m that I personally experienced.
When you hear the word 50m, it would be normal to think that it is a distance that takes less than 20 seconds to walk, or a distance that is embarrassing to even walk.
Instead of walking or running, shoot an arrow from a distance of 50 m. It also has to be properly aimed at the target.
It was obvious that he would only be able to realize how difficult this was only when he was in a position to shoot the bow himself.
It took me a while to aim at the target while pulling the bowstring like that.
“········I will shoot.”
With a warning that the bow would really shoot, the bow string that was being pulled was released in an instant.
Piing-
As soon as the hand is released, the arrow flies toward the target it was aimed at from the bowstring.
There was nothing lacking.
The force he was pulling the bow in was appropriate, and the direction he was aiming at the target was perfect.
Even the feeling of releasing the bowstring wasn’t bad.
If my prediction was correct, I would be able to get 9 points even if it was unreasonable to reach 10 points.
And a score of 9 is a very good score for a first-time archer. It was the mindset that that was enough.
Wheeing-
“·························Poop.”
“····.”
It’s just that there are a lot of variables other than aiming and pulling power when shooting a bow.
I just didn’t take that variable into account.
The first arrow, which contained my great expectations, was proudly punctuated with a score of 5.
