D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad - Chapter 2164 An Archer’s Perspective

Chapter 2164: Chapter 2164 An Archer’s Perspective

— Hedera —

Hedera crunched down on the fruit as she relaxed. It was an apple adjacent fruit except the skin was yellow when ripe and the flesh was bright red. Luckily the juice was still mostly uncoloured so you didn’t look like a vampire after biting into one. Still, it was a satisfying thing to eat as a snack and Hedera was enjoying the moment of relaxation. There hadn’t been any attacks so far and she was tentatively assuming there wouldn’t be any for the rest of the day.

Kat was of course, off on another adventure while Hedera got to sit back and enjoy an easy guard job. *I can’t decide if Kat’s actually too nice for her own good, an idiot, or so strong that none of this matters. Right now I feel like I’m on track for a strong second place. The tablet is a bit of a worry… but Kat agreed to destroy any bits she found so that’s also probably dealt with.

Not sure I agree with it being best for her. Sure she’s more likely to survive longer than everyone else, but I also think she’s probably the most likely to survive gathering all the tablet pieces. Then again, with the centre failing to open up, we think, it’s really slowing things down. Not that I’m complaining. Well, a little bit. It’s not like I’m getting directly paid for this.

I should also probably be practicing more. Guarding is an easy job if you don’t mind sitting around on high alert but it doesn’t really give you the chance to sharpen your skills the same way a proper quest does, or even real practice time. Depending on what happens after today I might try and request some time at the archery range from Steel. Assuming they even HAVE a proper range here.*

Hedera considered that for a few moments. She struggled to believe they had no archery range at all. That would be silly, as plenty of civilians were happy to try out bows just for the fun of it and you needed somewhere to train your young recruits… but the city, for all that it was decently large, was also quite compact. Hedera wasn’t sure that there was really space for a proper archery range to test someone of her skill.

Oh sure there were other archers, but they all took shots from a couple of houses away or across buildings, and there was no way the government would want people shooting arrows over random streets just to help people like her practice. Still, it was a small price to pay. Her skills weren’t completely atrophying and her stockpile of good arrows had grown.

*Part of me wants to make even more but I don’t have endless space for them. They’d still be useful once the tournament is over… but I think I’d need to have them in my bracelet or perhaps in my quiver. The issue with that is that quivers aren’t that great and I don’t want to put in the time for it. Though…

Thyme did say that they’d return anything stolen afterwards. Does making a bunch of arrows and then claiming them count them as ’mine’? I’d ask but even that teeny tiny interaction Kat had with the guy showed that Thyme is really trying to stay hands off with this one.

Hedera let out a scoff. Yeah much to everyone else’s annoyance I bet. I wonder how many people are PISSED that this is going on so long. Don’t think I’ve noticed anyone in the city that’s particularly annoyed… but why would they be? The houses here are top quality, there’s free food, and you can do almost whatever you want and get paid for it.

Appoline might genuinely be insane, and Tweedle seems to actually look up to the crazy elf. Makes me wonder if they actually know each other in the real world. Like… someone like Appoline HAS to be famous right? Sure she’s crazy but her alchemy skills seem to be the real deal. I might not want to get into it but I’ve never heard it explained so well before.

It was something I even looked into when I was trying to work out how to improve my arrows. Before I settled on this botched form of true enchanting, poisons and other interesting liquids seemed like the right play… but I couldn’t understand the awful instructions or lean from it. Yet Lily picked it up after a few sessions with Appoline! It didn’t even take her a week!

Sure it was the very basics but I spent like a month on that shit to no results. Does that make me an awful student or my teacher awful? Then again, it’s not like they were really an alchemist. Just the town healer that knew how to brew, healing potions and a few books to get me by. Then again, if Appoline is to believed some people just don’t have the ability to do so despite her clearly superior lessons. Perhaps I’m one of them.*

Hedera bit down through the rest of the fruit she was holding. Two more bites was all it took to finish it off… so it was a good thing she had a second nearby to keep snacking on. She still took the time to lean over and have a bit of water as well, just to refresh herself but the fruit was plenty juicy as she continued to think about everything.

*Yeah teaming up with Kat was the best idea I made. She seems to keep wanting to do stupid things… but also seems willing to let me just… not involve myself. I get she feels bad that I’m ’not useful’ or whatever… but the stuff she does is crazy! Why would I WANT to be responsible for breaking into a heavily guarded compound or fucking mutating poison? Like, I get Thyme could probably fix me but what the fuck Kat?

Her idea of ’acceptable danger’ seems to be literally anything! I get that she regenerates but sometimes I feel like the only reason she has any sort of preservation instinct is because Lily tags along with her. I shudder to think of the horrific stuff she’d get up to on the regular if she was by herself. Allegedly Lily wasn’t around for the first round or two of the tournament so I might’ve dodged a major bullet there.

Though I suppose it does make me wonder what the rest of the team is doing? If anyone has been eliminated then it’s either Max or the Twins. Not that Crocus or Pansy are unskilled, in fact, they’re probably the two best combatants on the team… but they’re also unhealthily co-dependant…* Hedera decided to ignore that Kat and Lily were potentially the same and yet it IMPROVED things rather then caused problems.

*Yeah, I feel like they’ve either been stressed to high heaven so much without their counterpart that something managed to catch them off guard, OR they met up and refused to leave even with the orb penalty thus eliminating them. It would explain the batch eliminations if say, they jumped someone together and none of the three of them ended up with orbs left after an extended fight.

Then Max… well he’s the healer of the team. A solid guy, an AMAZING guy to have on an adventuring team. Could not have made it this far without him… and really missing that edge to keep himself alive and well in this sort of tournament. I get that healers are useful, but his other skills… not really worth it. Though… I think he was looking after Wiggles wasn’t he? That might up his survival chances a HUGE deal. Not that Wiggles is stronger then Max, but the knowledge the twins will skin him alive if anything does happen to Max should be a powerful motivator.

Souris… honestly I can see her doing fine. She might be the teams tank but really she’s the best fighter. Sure I could argue the twins have more skill, and they sort of do, but Souris is the only one who can hold them off for any length of time in a spar when they’re both working together. Plus, Souris can function just fine on her own. Bit prone to being startled by loud noises, but considering how much they probably hurt her ears I can forgive her for not being able to adapt to it not really.*

Hedera paused. *I can however be sort of pissed she keeps neglecting to get enchanted armour to FIX that issue. Hopefully she finds something somewhere on the island. Then again… that’s a pretty specific enchantment that I’m not sure anyone else would really need? Like sure, an elf’s hearing is pretty good but we don’t have anywhere close to the same issue as Souris and she’s the only one likely to have it. Then again… Thyme clearly left… loopholes for people they liked.

The fact Lily apparently isn’t supressed at all? Kinda bullshit. Then again it’s bullshit that’s really benefitting me so should I be complaining? Heck, who said I was I certainly didn’t. Really, I just need to stick it out with Kat and hope nobody is getting too traumatised.*