DanMachi: The Epic of the Heroic Spirits of Emiya Shirou

Alicia spoke in a gentle voice that sent chills down Lefia's spine: "I can accommodate you on other things, but I can't pretend I didn't hear Lefia's unauthorized comments about Princess Riveria."

Chapter Thirty-Four: Alicia: You are the Challenger

Even among elves, different individuals can have vastly different perspectives.

Lefia hails from the Forest of Visiens, a forest inhabited by people with exceptional magical abilities, even among elves. Furthermore, Lefia's homeland is located midway through a deep forest, and had already been opened as a major travel destination before her birth.

From a young age, Lefia had many opportunities to interact with other races, so she had no prejudice against different races and even longed for the outside world.

Lefia also has enlightened parents who not only encourage her exploration of the outside world but also support her studies at the [School District]. Therefore, at a young age, Lefia left the forest inhabited by elves and traveled the world with the [School District] on adventures and adventures.

Therefore, apart from her monstrous magic, Lefia is actually an elf who is not like an elf. She is not familiar with elegant elven etiquette, does not reject physical contact with other races, and does not have any special reverence for royalty.

Lefia's respect for the royal family was limited to Riveria, partly because Riveria was a respectable elder. Lefia herself did not have a deep faith in the royal family; she had never touched a bow and arrow and did not think that "bow and arrow" had any special meaning to the elves.

Alicia, on the other hand, is more like most elves, and even her unwavering loyalty to the royal family is rare among elves. Furthermore, as a master archer, she has a special obsession with the bow and arrow. In Alicia's view, the bow and arrow is an important tradition and way of life for the elves, something that represents them even more than magic.

She has spent more than twice as much time hunting with a bow and arrow in her hometown as Emiya. How could she possibly allow her fellow clansman Lefia to place a human's archery skills above her own, let alone Lady Riveria? Even comparing them would be an overstepping of her bounds!

Unlike some of her ignorant kin who remained in the Elven Forest, Alicia did not harbor prejudice against other races; she respected her companions and friends of all races. However, on the issue of "Riviria" versus "Elven Pride," she would never back down.

It can only be said that Lefia, who was taught to "seek truth from facts" in the [school district], has a fundamental difference in values ​​compared to Alicia, who grew up in the Elf Forest.

At this moment, there is a huge difference in their identities. Alicia is a senior adventurer who assists Riveria in managing the Familia and is an officer of the Loki Familia's magic force, while Lefia is just a newcomer who has only recently joined the Familia.

"Seele, who is Riveria?" Emiya asked in a low voice.

“She is the vice-captain of the Loki Familia, the Elf Princess, and Princess [Nine Demon Princess] at level 6,” Seele explained softly.

Emiya nodded. "The Elf Princess, huh? That's alright then. She's not the same person as the 'Riviria' I know. It seems it's just a coincidence that they share the same name."

"By the way, it seems your elf friend is in trouble because of you," Seele reminded Emiya. Because of Lefia's "straightforwardness," Seele's impression of the elf girl had improved considerably.

On the other side, Alicia took a deep breath and regained her elegant posture.

"My apologies, Shirou-kun. I did not mean to belittle you, nor did Seele. I apologize for making you both laugh." Alicia's tone was polite but indifferent.

"Alicia-chan is also very good at archery, isn't she?" Seele suddenly spoke up, using an adorable tone that suggested even unreasonable requests would be forgiven.

"Alicia-chan, don't listen to Lefia-chan's nonsense. Shirou-kun is actually a newbie who hasn't been an adventurer for long, so if it's convenient, I hope you can help guide him, okay?"

Seele clasped her hands together in front of her, a pleading expression on her face. Looking into the girl's eyes, Alicia was momentarily lost in thought. For some reason, she felt she couldn't refuse the girl.

No matter what the other party asked for, Alicia felt she should agree immediately.

“As you wish, Miss Seele.” Alicia raised her right hand and placed it on her chest, responding in a gentlemanly manner, while Seele’s smile grew even brighter.

Sure enough, interesting things happen when you're with Shirou!

·

"So, we still ended up in the dungeon," Emiya muttered to himself.

"There's no way around it. There's not much space in the city for adventurers to move around freely, and even high-level adventurers aren't allowed to enter and leave the city at will," Lefia replied.

While Orario may rival the world's largest city in terms of size, it also boasts the largest population. The entire city is incredibly expensive, with no extra space to build facilities like the "Archery Hall."

Not wanting to occupy the clan's training ground for his own personal matters, he simply crossed the large hole at the bottom of the Tower of Babel and entered the labyrinth of the underground city.

This is nothing unusual; high-ranking adventurers of the Great Families often use the labyrinth as a "stadium" or "gym".

Although dungeons are dangerous, adventurers of level 3 and above are unlikely to encounter anything that could threaten them if they only stay in the upper areas.

Therefore, although Emiya and his group have arrived at the twelfth floor, which is close to the middle level, this trip cannot be described as an adventure at all.

Because their party contains two Lv.4 high-ranking adventurers, [Swift Wind] Ryu Leon and [Pure Garden] Alicia Foreslight.

Moreover, both of them are elves, and if you add Lefia, there are three beautiful elf girls in the team, which seems to be too high a proportion of elves.

As for humans, there was only Emiya, because Seele is not an adventurer and is not allowed to enter the dungeon. Although she wanted to sneak in, she was refused by Ryuu.

Even using the forbidden "cuteness" skill was useless; Ryu would never back down in such situations.

Seele could only return to the tavern in a huff, and then, because of her instigation of the miners, she had to continue working on her precious day off.

Ryu was entrusted by Seele with the important task of "protecting Shirou," but Seele's original intention was to tell Ryu to be careful of the two Loki Familia spirits. However, Ryu seemed to completely misunderstand it as meaning to be wary of monsters.

Meanwhile, in the dungeon, Emiya, caught between the three elves, also felt somewhat awkward.

"Miss Ryu, are you skilled in archery?" Lefia seemed very curious about Ryu, a member of her own kind whom she was meeting for the first time.

“No, I’ve never used a bow,” Ryu replied. Although they looked about the same age, there was actually a significant age difference between Ryu and Alicia. Like Lefia, she had left her home forest at a very young age.

"Oh, I thought I was the only elf who didn't know how to use an archery." Lefia seemed relieved. "It's good that not every one of my kind has practiced archery for 'a long time' in their homeland."

The girl's unintentional remark about the keyword "a long time" drew a death stare from Alicia: Sister, what are you implying?

"Oh dear!" Lefia was so frightened that she hid behind Emiya.

Alicia snorted unhappily, thinking to herself, "I've only lived in my hometown for a few decades longer, and even now I'm still an eighteen-year-old and three-hundred-month-old girl in the prime of my youth!"

There is an interesting phenomenon among female elves: elves who are very old, generally over two hundred years old, do not mind talking about the topic of youth and aging.

On the contrary, women with a biological age of 30, 40 or above, up to 100 years old, are more likely to care about their age.

From their appearance, elves who are twenty, fifty, or two hundred years old all look basically the same, making it impossible to tell their age.

Alicia glared at Lefia, then turned her gaze to Emiya.

“Shirou-kun, although you are not an elf, I am very pleased to see a child interested in archery. I will teach you my archery skills without reservation.” Alicia said, “First, let me see your archery skills.”

Although she secretly looked down on the archery skills of outsiders, Alicia's magnanimity far surpassed that of ordinary elves. She was proud of her superb archery skills, but she did not hold onto them because of this.

After all, bows and arrows are a rather unpopular weapon among adventurers. As one of the few archers in Orario, Alicia was quite happy to see a child interested in archery, and she genuinely wanted to guide the boy.

As for Lefia's words, Alicia didn't take them to heart at all, simply assuming that Lefia was too inexperienced.

However, when Emiya followed Alicia's advice, picked up the longbow, and drew the bowstring towards the distant stone wall, Alicia's mindset began to change.

"How is this possible? This young man... you can tell from his posture alone that he's incredibly strong!"

Emiya's movements were reflected in Alicia's eyes: his smooth, fluid movements, his firm, muscular physique, and his instantly sharp, hawk-like gaze... The girl, witnessing all of this, felt her archer's spirit begin to stir restlessly.

"Emiya-kun, how about we give it a try and have a match?"

Chapter Thirty-Five: Don't Call Me Despicable, This Is How Adventurers Do It

“I understand. Whoever hits the monster more times before the arrows in the quiver run out wins.” Shirou Emiya repeated the rules, looking at Alicia with a somewhat subtle expression.

“I have no problem with this rule, but are you sure you want it this way?” he said.

Alicia nodded: "Of course, we don't need to 'shoot to kill,' just 'hit' it, because we're comparing archery skills, not strength. But even so, I still have the advantage of higher base stats."

The [Agility] stat increases an adventurer's weapon control and accuracy, but Emiya isn't concerned with that, nor is it about whether or not to shoot.

"Then let's leave it at that." Emiya took the quiver with only ten arrows that Alicia handed him; Alicia also had a similar one hanging from her waist.

They began to advance through the maze, with Ryu lagging behind at the rear of the group, while Lefia watched the spectacle with amusement from the center.

"Go for it, Shirou-kun!" Because she wanted to prove her judgment to Alicia, the elf girl cheered for Emiya instead.

Soon, they encountered their first monster, a lone orc.

Emiya immediately raised his longbow and fired an arrow, but at that moment, a "storm" swept past his side.

The instant she confirmed that Emiya's arrow had left the bowstring, Alicia made her move.

An arrow streaked past with a sharp whistling sound as it tore through the air. Although it was fired later, it reached its destination faster than Emiya's arrow.

The orc, known for its size and stamina and capable of causing considerable trouble for a level 1 adventurer party, was actually pierced through by this arrow, leaving a large hole in its body, and even its magic stone shattered on the spot.

If using only ordinary arrows, unless they pierce the eye and brain directly, Emiya would never be able to kill an orc instantly. However, a level 4 adventurer can kill an orc with a single normal attack.

As for Emiya's attack, it naturally missed. Not to mention the wind pressure of Alicia's arrow, he was aiming at the orc's eyes, but now that orc no longer has a head.

"Sister Alicia, you're cheating!" Lefia shouted.

"Shut up." Alicia's face was flushed. She felt ashamed of herself for using such methods to deal with a child, but more than that, she didn't want to lose!

Seeing Emiya's archery stance, Alicia deduced that he would definitely hit the target, and her hand moved faster than her brain, acting without thinking.

With an extremely strong desire to win, Alicia doesn't want to lose no matter what!

"Don't, don't call me despicable. After all, you're an adventurer too. To win, you'll do anything. That's how adventurers do it!" That's what she said, but her flushed face completely reflected the inner struggle of the female elf.

Ryu, watching from behind, was so embarrassed that she dug her thumb into the floor. Knowing the awkward nature of the elves well, she suddenly felt a sense of empathy for Alicia.

"It's alright." Shirou smiled gently. "Please, Alicia-senpai, go first."

The boy's attitude made Alicia feel even more ashamed, and she felt deeply that she had "failed to live up to her senior's standards." However, even though she felt ashamed, the female elf's archery skills remained steady.

A perfect ten arrows, hitting all ten targets, killing the monsters led by the orcs, including the maze imps and silverback apes; one arrow even pierced through two imps.

In that case, Emiya has no chance of winning, because he has already lost an arrow. Unless he can fire multiple arrows at once, which is impossible given his level and strength attributes.

"What am I doing, getting angry in a place like this? It's so childish..." At this moment, Alicia felt her face getting redder and redder, completely devoid of any sense of victory.

However, Emiya seemed to have no intention of giving up: "Well then, it's my turn next."

"Is it even necessary? Because Alicia cheated, Shirou has no chance of winning anymore," Lefia said angrily.

"The rule is, 'The person who hits the monster more times before the arrows in the quiver run out wins,' right?" Emiya said, and Lefia paused for a moment, then suddenly understood.

"Ah!" The girl couldn't help but cheer. She finally realized that because of the rules that Alicia herself had set, Emiya could not possibly lose.

She became excited like a fan seeing their team win, while Ryu, who had seen through everything from the beginning, remained silent. Only Alicia began to feel a strong sense of unease.

"Let's end the battle right here," Shirou said calmly. The monsters they had encountered this time were two silverback apes.

This is a monster covered in white fur with silver bristles on its back. It is on par with orcs and is a top-tier monster in the upper zone. Its strength is comparable to that of a pig-headed orc, but its stamina is slightly lower, while its agility and defense are stronger.

Shirou drew his bow, and his first arrow struck a silverback ape in the knee. Because there was a qualitative difference between strength and attack power, he and Alicia were not competing in the number of monsters killed, but in the number of hits.

Therefore, anything that hits before the monster dies counts.

He drew his bow and shot arrows faster than Alicia, his shooting efficiency leaving Alicia speechless. The boy seemed to be the one who unleashed a rain of arrows.

One arrow, two arrows, three arrows... nine arrows, ten arrows, eleven arrows...

Wait a minute? Eleven arrows?

Alicia then realized something was wrong. Where did these eleven arrows come from?

Her gaze quickly shifted from the silverback ape to Shirou, and then Alicia saw that the boy didn't make any move to take the arrow. He simply placed his hand on the bow, and an arrow automatically appeared, then he drew the bowstring and shot it out.

There were still nine arrows lying in the quiver behind him.

No wonder his shooting movements were so fast!

[Don't call me despicable, after all, you're a high-ranking adventurer, Senior Alicia.]

The two silverback apes were shot dead. First, their knees were destroyed, rendering them unable to move. Then, their chests were pierced by bullets, but thanks to the monsters' vitality, they managed to survive. Finally, their heads were blown off.

This is also why Emiya had to limit himself to a certain extent when adventuring in the upper areas. His bow and arrow were too effective against monsters with low defense in the upper areas, which meant that his strength and agility were not worth training effectively.

"The score is now 34 to 11, Sister Alicia, you lost." Lefia said triumphantly, as if she were the one who had beaten Alicia.

"I lost." Although Alicia had a strong desire to win, she was surprisingly carefree at this moment.

"Even at only Lv.1, with this skill alone, you can become the strongest archer in the city, and your archery skills are more than sufficient." Alicia said earnestly, "In terms of archery, I, Alicia, would call you the strongest!"

"Thank you. Actually, you could say I cheated," Emiya said.

“No, your victory using ‘magic’ is the same as my gaining an advantage through ability points,” Alicia said seriously. “A loss is a loss, and I won’t stubbornly refuse to admit it.”

The cheating he was referring to wasn't actually the magic [Unlimited Blade Works], but rather the archery skills he had inherited from a Heroic Spirit.

Alicia had only practiced archery in her hometown for twenty years, shooting rabbits, wolves, and roe deer, while the Heroic Spirit Emiya's arrows were often aimed at other Heroic Spirits.

However, in reality, Emiya's archery skills are not inferior to Alicia's, it's just that the gap wouldn't be as large as it is now.

"Watch out, someone's approaching," Ryu suddenly warned, pressing her hand on the hilt of her katana.

"Hahaha, finally we've found some people! These monsters are yours to deal with!!!"

Ahead, the first thing that came into view was a man covered in mud, with a cloud of dust behind him. Two men dressed similarly were chasing after him, and behind them were a large number of enraged monsters.

This is one of the dungeon's specialties: [Monster Gifts]. 6

Chapter Thirty-Six: Monster Offering and the Soma Kindred

【Monster Gift】 is a dungeon specialty. As the name suggests, it is the act of giving a "gift", but the gift is a monster.