Chapter Text
The Divine Blessing of the Marksman, is a rare blessing that has given him skills to wield many long range weapons, including some magic where common blessings like “Archer” cannot. More importantly, it gifted him incredible eyesight, to see things where most people would need a spyglass or a microscope for. He could even see how someone’s expression changes, the subtle twitch of their facial muscles and their pupils changing sizes. Able to tell generally what mood someone is in.
Until now…
The Marksman, stares at a beautiful expressionless girl with blue hair and red eyes, her name is Ruti, and she is the Hero.
The hometown, Verdant, was a peaceful town in the middle of the plains, with stone walls protecting it, until the war with the Demon King began and now it's under attack by a small army of demons and ogres the reason why they attack a peaceful town is unknown but right now, what’s important is that this town is saved. Fortunately, the Hero and the Guide are here.
A young man in his late teens, with dark brown hair and light green eyes, wearing a dirty green tunic and leather armor, inspects his arrows, sharpening the heads to perfection. All thanks to his blessing, giving him great eyesight to see the tiny imperfections of his weapons that need improvement.
“Oliver!” The young man turns to see the Captain of the Verdant guards whistling, waving the Marksman over to the tent. “Get over here!”
Oliver, the Marksman, places his arrows into his quiver, and lightly jogs over to the Captain. He enters the Tent, and is greeted with the sight of a young man a few years older than him, with very dark blue hair and light blue eyes, this is Sir Gideon, The Guide and Vice Captain of the Bahamut Knights. Next to the Guide is a beautiful girl with blue hair and ruby colored eyes, this is Lady Ruti, the Hero.
The Marksman stands there, stunned, realizing he is in the same room as the Hero’s Party . Sir Gideon looks like a knight from the stories he heard as a child and Ruti… Is beautiful, but so passive. The Guide merely raised an eyebrow upon meeting Oliver but Ruti’s expression doesn’t change, in fact she reminds him of those expensive dolls some merchants sell here in Verdant. He didn’t think it was possible to meet someone so expressionless.
The Captain elbows Oliver, snapping him out of his stupor.
“Oh! Uh, m-my name is O-Oliver, I’m a D Rank Adventurer” Oliver stuttered leaning down. “It's an honor to meet you, Sir Gideon and Lady Ruti.”
“Please, no need to bow.” Gideon said and Oliver reluctantly complied to the Guide’s request, leaning back up. The Marksman sees the Guide smiling gently and patiently. Reminding Oliver of his father. “So your blessing is the Marksman, correct?”
“Y-yes.” Oliver nods. “I can use any long range weapon, even some magic, and I can see really far away.”
Gideon smiles even wider at the answer. “Good, we’ll need you on the ballista, taking out the big demons on the ground and wyverns in the air. This is vital to saving your home Oliver.”
Oliver clenches his hand expressing his resolve. “Alright, but the Ballista is old, I’m afraid trying to pull it back will break it apart.” The old thing hasn’t been used in a century.
“Don’t worry we already got replacement parts for the ballista, Ruti will do the heavy lifting.” Gideon reassures, and gestures to Ruti who simply nods. “Worry about preparing yourself for battle.”
“Okay.”
Oliver sharpens one of the javelins for the ballista. Since his personal equipment is good to go, it doesn't hurt to give an extra hand to prepare the Ballista.
“Careful!” A man says and Oliver looks up to see the Hero carrying the large bow for the Ballista.
The Marksman stops sharpening, and observes Ruti, who gently places the part on the ballista, keeping it still while the craftsmen and builders work on connecting the part.
She’s small but she is so strong, her blessing must be amazing. But it's strange, not once has the Hero made any expression, always staring with a blank look. Even when people cheered and stared at her in awe of her, she was never flustered from the attention. Even Sir Gideon smiled and waved, maybe out of polite obligation at the crowd but Lady Ruti just stared passively.
Ruti is perhaps the first person Oliver cannot fully analyze with his enhanced vision, there is no tells or any facial change on Ruti. Not even a small twitch on her brow, just a blank look.
“Ok you can let go, we can handle the rest Lady Ruti!” The craftsman says and Ruti lets go.
“Good job Ruti.” Gideon praises, walking over to the Hero, rubbing her head.
“Thank you Big Brother.” Ruti muttered with a nod.
Oliver blinks in bewilderment. Was it the sunlight or did the Hero’s red eyes look shinier now?
Gideon smiles.
“Sir Gideon, our Captain needs to speak to you!” A guard yells.
“Alright.” Gideon says, following the guard.
Ruti’s gaze follows Gideon, until he enters the tent. Suddenly she turns her head to Oliver staring right at him. The Marksman flinches at the intense but also pretty stare and removes his gaze by continuing to sharpen the javelins.
“Are these done?”
“Whoa!” Oliver jumps from the sudden appearance of the Hero right next to him, he drops the sharpener nearly crushing his foot, and stares at Ruti, who seems to pay no mind to Oliver's jolt.
“W-what?” Oliver stutters.
“Are these javelins done?” Ruti asks again, pointing at the finished javelins Oliver sharpened.
“Oh, u-uh, yes!” Oliver says, squirming at the Hero’s gaze.
Her eyes are now dull and blank, it's a stark contrast from earlier when Sir Gideon praised her.
Ruti ignores Oliver’s stare, grabbing an arm full of javelins tall as her, placing them next to the finished Ballista, ready to be loaded.
“Huh…” Oliver murmurs, staring at the Hero.
“Come on Oliver! Those javelins aren’t going to sharpen themselves!” The craftsman lectures.
“Right!”
A few hours later, they were ready.
The plan was simple: Every long range blessed person, mages, archers, will fire upon the army with a rain of arrows and magic. The Hero and the Guide will take the frontlines with the Guards of Verdant, adventurers and any able person, appropriate blessing or not, right behind them. Ready to engage when the army gets close. Oliver and his team will focus on firing at large monsters on the ground and sky.
A day ago a messenger went to a nearby major town to call for help, for now, the people of Verdant must hold on until reinforcements arrive to help or defeat the army.
The marksman looks down from the tower on the nearby wall, he sees his father, Richard, a large man in his early forties, with gray hair and a full beard, in the row of archers, waving at him. He waves back with a smile. If they fail… he and mom might be endangered with the rest of the folks…
Oliver clenches his fist, he has to succeed.
“Ready everyone?” Oliver asks.
“Yes!”
“Reload!” Oliver commands, observing a orc flying on a wyvern. They need to take them out.
“Loading!” A pair of men yell, they both pull the taut rope back, locking with a loud click and place a javelin on the ballista.
“It's loaded!”
Oliver turns back to the end of the Ballista, the aim assistant, Franklin, helps move the ballista, lining up the shot. “Steady…” The wyvern is almost in firing range.
Now to lead the target and…
“Fire!” Oliver roars, pulling the lever, releasing the javelin.
The spear soars high, landing precisely on the flying lizard’s torso and falls hard into the demon army.
“Ya!” Oliver cheers alongside the rest of the ballista squad.
“We got the last of those flying bastards!” the javelin reloader, Eric cheers. Oliver looks over the tower wall, observing the battle.
They are winning, the guards and adventurers are pushing the demon army back. Oliver stares at the Hero, cleaving through the army, not once did her stoic look break, he doesn’t even see her sweat.
Amazing…
The Marksman shakes his head, turning back to his group. “How many javelins left?”
“Just two.” Eric answers, while Franklin and the second reloader, Owen, pull the ballista string back.
“Let's get it loaded and see if we got any big boys left.” Oliver orders, Eric nods, returning position. Oliver turns back to the battlefield, his eyes narrow, noticing something.
Further back, he sees something, something oddly hazy at the sky behind the demon army. The only time he saw haziness in the sky was in the middle of summer and the season is just beginning to become Spring, so it's still pretty chilly sometimes…
“Prepare to fire, move South West!” Oliver yells, moving back to the Ballista. The team begins to move the Ballista, wheels turning and Oliver comes on the other side helping them.
With the help of his blessing, Oliver mentally calculates the range, and the hazy figure in the sky becomes larger.
“Firing!” The Marksman yells.
The javelin flies, and the haziness disappears, revealing a demon twice the size of a man, in a dark ripped cloak standing on top of a black dragon. They dodge the javelin and the demon raises their hand. A ball of black lightning forms on their three fingered claws, pointed right towards them.
Oliver gasps
“GET DOWN!” Eric yells tackling Oliver.
The spell strikes the tower, an explosion of dust covers over the tower.
Oliver coughs from the dust, blinking, trying to see what just happened. He turns to see Eric coughing as well, rubbing his eyes to remove the dust.
“Everyone alright?” Oliver asks, standing up, seeing the Ballista's' wheels are broken.
“Agh!” Frank yells from behind some stone rubble.
“Help!” Owen cries out, Oliver and Eric scramble to the other side of the rubble seeing Owen and Frank half crushed under the broken stone and wood.
Immediately, the two began to lift the stones, trying to get Owen and Frank out.
Oliver and Eric freeze as they hear another explosion and screaming. They turn back, seeing the flying demon again, striking another group of people with magic and disappearing in some sort of invisibility magic, avoiding the barrage of arrows from the archers.
“Where did it go?!” Eric yells.
“Over there!” Oliver yells pointing at the hazy outline of the demon in the air.
“You can see it?” Eric asks, squinting his eyes to see what Oliver is seeing.
“Oh no…” Oliver’s eyes widened seeing the demon approaching the wall where his father is. “DAD LOOK OUT!” Oliver screams in vain.
A bolt of lightning hits the wall near Oliver’s father.
“NO!”
Oliver vision zooms in like a telescope, waiting for the dust to clear. He sees his father relatively unhurt from the spell and sighs in relief. The Marksman then glares at the hazy figure of the demon in the sky as the ground fighters are scrambling to re-group and hold position from the enemy forces charging.
The Hero leaps into the air and fires a lightning spell at the demon, removing the invisibility but it hits some sort of magic barrier, negating it. The dragon spits a fireball and the Hero raises a magic shield blocking it.
She can see it too but the demon has magic protection, the only time the demon dodged were from the arrows and the javelin he fired…
Oliver turns to the Ballista, inspecting it, only the front bottom portion is broken, it can still fire but he can’t move it, even if Owen and Franklin were fine. It would take a lot of people to lift it up and even if there were, it's still too hard to carefully aim, that many people have too much potential to miss the shot, they only got one javelin left.
An idea forms in the Marksman’s mind, he looks at the Hero in the battlefield, remembering how she lifted the large parts with ease all by herself.
“Eric, get the others out of here!” Oliver commands, grabbing his bow and quiver, equipping himself.
“Where are you going?!” Eric questions.
“To get help from the Hero to fire the ballista!”
“What! Oliver wait-”
But the Marksman doesn’t listen, running down the steps of the tower and climbing down the ladder. He tosses a rope down the wall, he then ties the other end on the wall and tugs it, checking if it's stable.
Oliver then climbs down the rope, entering the battlefield. He pushes through the guards and adventurers, running up to the Guide at the frontlines, fighting the demon army.
Oliver fires a few arrows at the monsters, getting Sir Gideon’s attention.
“What are you doing here?!” Gideon asks, glancing at Oliver.
“Sir Gideon, the ballista is our best chance at taking the flying demon out but I need the Hero’s help at aiming it- LOOK OUT!” Oliver answers and a demon comes close, swinging a large sword at the two. They disperse, dodging the attack, Gideon then stabs the demon and Oliver fires an arrow at a flanker.
The two fight the enemies, Gideon fighting most of them while Oliver provides cover fire.
Oliver dives, narrowly dodging a thrown spear, throwing a knife back at the thrower.
“Push them back!” The Captain yells with a squad of guards, appearing before Gideon and Oliver.
Gideon observes the ballista on the tower. “The demon has only avoided physical projectiles, not magic… Alright, let's get Ruti!” The Guide says, moving to the center of the battle where Ruti resides.
The two run back to the wall behind friendly lines, until a large demon with an axe breaks the line, stepping on top of the guards and adventurers, facing them.
Oliver immediately fires an arrow at the goat-like demon's eye, while Gideon moves to slash his sword on their chest, but surprisingly it blocks the arrow with its hand and intercepts Gideon’s blade with its axe.
While Gideon and the demon clashed, the Marksman quickly throws a knife into the hole of their nostril, the demon cries out in pain, feeling the sharp blade pierce deep inside its nose and tries to pull it out. With the Demon’s guard lowered, Gideon finishes it off with a stab to its heart.
“Good shot!” Gideon compliments, removing his sword from the demon’s heart.
“Thanks!” Oliver replies
Gideon and Oliver appear before the center battlefield, Ruti surrounded by corpses of orcs and demons, fighting alone. A group charges on her flank, Gideon rushes in.
“On your right!” He yells, attacking the flank and Ruti runs to his side, fighting off the invaders.
Oliver couldn’t help but stare in awe, amazed by the two of them fighting. Those two are perfectly in unison, protecting each other, fighting side by side without getting in each other’s way. This is the Hero’s party? They are so strong, imagine them with a complete party.
The Marksman sees movement at the corner of his eye and he looks.
The demon on that dragon is flying back, heading towards the Hero and the Guide. He moves to grab an arrow only to grasp air, he turns to see his quiver is empty. He grabs his last knife but an orc roars, trying to stab him with a spear. Oliver steps back, throwing the knife, killing the orc. “You two, on your left in the sky!” He warns.
Ruti sees the flying demon, seeing its path, “Brother!” She yells, running to Gideon only for a large demon to stand in her path.
Gideon continues fighting a few enemy orcs, too busy to see the demon caster flying over to him. Oliver looks around, finding something to throw, he looks at the spear from the Orc he killed, it looks heavy but his blessing might be able to work with this.
The Marksman grabs the spear, and lifts it up with one arm, he grits his teeth from the unfamiliar weight of the spear. “Gideon get down!” He roars and throws the spear.
Gideon pushes back an orc, he sees a spear soar well above him, and the invisibility disappears as the spear bounces off the dragon. The demon changes targets, throwing a large fireball at Oliver.
“Oliver!” Gideon yells, running to him only to block a slash from an Orc, too preoccupied to help.
Oliver runs, hoping to avoid it.
It’s going to be close!
Until he feels someone tackle him, and he hears the fireball explode, feeling its heat. He opens his eyes, finding himself in the arms of the Hero face to face. He stares, stunned by her pretty face up close.
“Why are you out here and not at the ballista?” Ruti questions, breaking Oliver’s stupor, staring intensely into his eyes even more now.
Oh Almighty Demis! The Hero hates him for not following her brother’s plan!
“I-I U-uh…” Oliver stutters, intimidated by the girl.
“Ruti, Oliver needs your help lifting the Ballista to hit that flying demon!” Gideon explains running to them. “Magic won’t work, the ballista is our best chance!”
“Alright.” Ruti says, and the Hero immediately scoops Oliver by his legs, holding him up bridal style. Oliver blushes, being carried like this is embarrassing for a man, even if it's the Hero carrying him!
“I can still run-”
“Too slow.” Ruti coldly points out and immediately dashes to the wall with Gideon close behind, who smiles apologetically to Oliver.
“Please let me live this down when this is over…” Oliver silently prays to himself as Ruti leaps over the people and the wall.
Ruti leaps on top of the tower, letting Oliver stand up.
“Oliver you're back with the Hero?” Eric says, while Franklin and Owen stare, surprised to see Ruti, who raises her hand at the two, healing them.
“What do I do?” Ruti asks, ignoring the Ballista squad’s amazement of their quick recovery.
“Pull the string back until you hear a click!” Oliver answers, grabbing the last javelin, struggling to lift it, he’s too tired to lift this…
“Let me help.” Gideon says, climbing up to the tower, grabbing one end of the javelin.
The Hero pulls the string back, locking it in place, the Guide and the Marksman place the javelin, loading the ballista. “Okay, get underneath the Ballista and lift it up!” Oliver says and Ruti complies, lifting it over her head, crouching beneath it, holding it up with ease.
Oliver looks for the flying demon, seeing its hazy figure in the sky. “Move South East!” he says and Ruti slowly moves the Ballista “Stop!”
“You can do this Oliver…” Gideon says giving the Marksman support.
The Marksman licks his lips, staring at the target. It looks like the demon is focused on the ground troops, not paying attention to them
This is it.
He takes a breath, and pulls the lever.
Twang!
The javelin flies out, soaring in the air. Oliver stares, holding his breath.
The invisibility spell disappears, with the demon ready to cast a spell over the defenseless fighters but the spear hits the dragon. Blood gushes out from where the javelin hit, the dragon roars in pain and falls.
“You did it!” Eric yells.
“Go Ruti!” Gideon says and Ruti drops the ballista, leaping off the tower, she hits ground, creating a small crater beneath her feet. Undeterred by the hard landing, the Hero dashes through the troops, heading straight towards the Demon magician.
The grounded demon quickly throws a lightning spell but Ruti cancels it out with her own lightning spell. The Demon throws a fireball but Ruti raises a magic shield, and leaps over the fireball as the shield takes the hit protecting the people behind her.
Mid-air the Hero throws her sword like a spear, piercing through the second fireball, nailing the demon on the chest. It roars, falling on its back, trying to grab the sword but Ruti appears dragging the sword across its body. Removing the top half of its torso from the lower half, finally killing the demon.
“Wow…” Olivers gasps in awe. Thanks to his blessing he got a clear and zoomed in view of that fight.
“She’s amazing right?” Gideon asks.
“Ya…” Oliver agrees.
“Come on, let's help the others.”
Oliver and Gideon climb down the tower to help everyone fight off the remaining stragglers.
The battle ends in victory, everyone cheers thanking the Almighty Demis and the Hero, while some grieve over those who died in battle... Praying for the lost souls.
He knew these people, saw them many times in town, but he never learned their names, only remembering their faces… He always had an issue with names, he really wishes he didn’t, especially now… Oliver shakes his head and looks away, too uncomfortable to stare at their cold empty dead eyes.
“Oliver!” The Marksman turns to see his mother, Gwen, a woman in her mid thirties with graying brown hair, running over to him with his father next to her.
Oliver hugs both his parents like many other families who made it intact. “I’m so glad you're both alright.”
“Us too… WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!” His mother scolds, mercilessly pulls Oliver’s ear. “Going down into the battlefield up close?! Your blessing is terrible up close in a fight! You could have asked someone with an appropriate blessing to find Sir Gideon and the Hero to help instead!”
“But everyone looked so busy and-GAHH!” Oliver cries out as his mother pulls harder at the terrible response.
“Oliver saved my life.” Gideon interjects with Ruti standing next to him.
The Marksman’s mother gasps, letting go of Oliver’s ear. Both she and Richard bow before the Hero and the Guide. “What do you mean?” Richard asks.
“That flying Demon was going to hurt me, Ruti and I were too busy fighting off the enemies on the ground, were it not for Oliver throwing that spear, I could have been seriously injured or killed.” Gideon explains, praising the Marksman. The Hero walks up to Oliver, staring directly into his eyes again, sending chills into the Marksman’s spine
“Thank you for saving my brother.” Ruti says, staring at the Marksman and Oliver’s jaw drops. For a brief second, he sees a little light in her eye appear and vanish like a shooting star. Oliver blushes.
The Hero complimented him… The pretty girl complimented him…
His mother clears her throat loudly.
“U-uh, y-yes, it's my pleasure to help. Thank you for saving me from that fireball.” Oliver responds.
Ruti silently nods.
Oliver mentally shrugs. He'll take what he can get.
“Well done Oliver!” Richard says, excitedly shaking his son by the shoulders. “My son saved the GUIDE!” He yells and the crowd roars as one of their own people saved someone from the Hero’s party.
“WAY TO GO OLIVER!”
“Good shot mate!”
“Didn’t the Hero carry him like a bride?”
Oliver freezes, did he hear the sound of a bow string snapping?
“Oh yeah!”
“He looked like a young maiden!”
The crowd laughs and Oliver collapses on his knees as the rumor mill spins rapidly. Gwen rubs her son’s shoulder with an amused smile while Richard laughs wholeheartedly at his son’s plight.
“Someone bury me…” Oliver groans in embarrassment while Gideon struggles to contain his laughter. Hiding your mouth with your hand does nothing to hide Sir Gideon! He can see the Guide’s body trembling with barely restrained laughter!
Meanwhile Ruti passively observes the crowd, seeing them all laughing and smiling.
Later in the evening…
Everyone in town celebrates their survival, eating, drinking, dancing, happy to be alive. Oliver observes everyone’s faces, seeing pure genuine joy, it's a nice feeling. Especially when he helped out in the fight. He watches his parents dancing along with the others near the fire.
The Marksman feels a tap on his shoulder, he turns to see Sir Gideon smiling at him with Ruti behind him, simply staring at him.
“Can we talk?” The Guide asks.
“Of course.” Oliver nods and Gideon points in the direction away from the crowd.
Oliver and Gideon talk in between two buildings, with Ruti standing next to her brother silently.
“You were pretty good out there, shooting all those orcs, it was a relief to take one down and turn around to find another taken care of because of you.” Gideon compliments.
The Marksman’s face turns light pink. “T-Thanks…”
Gideon smiles in amusement of Oliver’s shyness. “What I’m trying to say is, I think our party could use someone like you.”
“W…W-what?” Oliver stutters.
Gideon pays no mind to Oliver’s reaction and continues. “Oliver of Verdant, I ask of you, to please join our party to defeat the Demon Lord and end this war.”
The Marksman’s jaw drops. “I…” He sighs. “Can you wait until tomorrow morning? I… I want to talk to my parents and I’ll let you know.”
“Of course.” Gideon nods in understanding. “It's a big decision, we won’t mind if you decline.” Even Ruti nods.
“Thank you.”
In the following morning, Oliver speaks to his parents about what Gideon offered.
“And I want to accept.” Oliver finishes, he looks down on the table, bracing himself from the scolding.
“Oliver, look at us…” Richard says, calmly, so calm it sends a chill in Oliver’s spine because he never heard his father like this before. The Marksman looks back up, seeing both his parents staring at him seriously.
“Are you certain you want to go?” His mother asks him, just as calm, as her father..
Oliver clenches his fist and stares back. “Yes.”
Oliver’s parents both stand up from their seats, walking around the table from each side and they both hug him.
“Huh?” Oliver murmurs in confusion, looking at his parents hugging him.
“We’re going to miss you so much…” Gwen sniffs, hugging her son tightly as she could.
“We’re proud of you son…” Richard says, sniffing as well, wiping a tear.
“Y-you’re… Okay with this?” Oliver asks incredulously and both his parents nod. “But… why?” Oliver spent most of his life in Verdant, even as an adventurer, he spent time at town, occasionally joining the local parties to help out fight monsters that could disturb the peace of his home. Mostly because he didn’t want his parents to worry too much, they always said that he could spend the rest of his life here, where it's safe and filled with happiness. One time he nearly did die fighting a monster and his parents fret over him for weeks .
“You've grown up into a fine man. We have no right to dictate what you want to do, we can only support your decision and help you the best we can.“ His mother says tearfully, cupping his face, kissing his forehead.
“In fact.” Richard says, walking outside to the shed, Oliver and Gwen walk out following him.
Oliver’s father comes out, holding a kukri knife and the most beautiful carved bow Oliver has ever seen. Even with his blessing, Oliver cannot find any flaw in it.
“I knew a day like this would come, the moment you were given such a great blessing. So I had our friendly blacksmith create the best kukri knife he could make, and I spent a decade carving the greatest bow the entire world has ever seen, using one of the hardest woods in the world.”
Oliver grabs the bow and kukri knife, inspecting them. “This must have been so expensive-”
“Pah! You’re my son, you are priceless !” Richard scoffs. “I would hunt the largest and most dangerous animal in the world if it means I can provide what you and my dear Gwen deserve!”
A tear falls out of Oliver’s eye and he hugs his father. “Thank you so much.”
“Come to my shop, I have something special for you.” Oliver’s mother says with a teary smile.
Gideon and Ruti wait by the gate, sitting on top of a wagon, with a large crowd around them giving thanks and wishes for their success and happiness.
The Guide turns to the Hero, leaning down to her ear. “What do you think Ruti, will he accept?” Gideon whispers.
“...”
Ruti stares at her brother. “I don’t know.”
“Guess.”
“...”
Ruti looks up to the sky. “I think he will join.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Oliver saved you, went to fight up close to the invaders, even though his blessing is better far away, he risked his life and helped us defeat that demon. I could have done it by throwing a spear as well but I was too busy fighting to get the chance.” Ruti guesses.
“Exactly what I was thinking.” Gideon compliments with a grin. “I trained my whole life as a swordsman, and while you are an incredibly versatile strong fighter, you are just one person. That battle revealed to me that we need someone good at long range combat and Oliver has proven himself that day.”
Ruti nods and she leans to the side a bit, she raises her hand past her brother. “I see him.” Gideon turns around.
In the center of the crowd is Oliver dressed in brand new clothing and armor. A dark green long sleeve tunic, with a leather chest guard for archery, with an identical pair of green pants and black leather boots. On his back is the quiver and a black half cape with a hood. Behind his waist are knives. On his left hand is a leather fingerless glove with metal plating protecting his hand and forearm. On his right hand is only leather, protecting his hand and wrist.
Everyone stares at the Marksman in silence and Oliver ignores them, walking boldly to the wagon. Gideon hops off the transport with a smile and everyone gasps, as they realize what is happening.
“Welcome to the Hero’s Party, Oliver of Verdant.” Gideon greets, lifting his hand up.
“Thank you.” Oliver replies with a smile, firmly shaking Gideon’s hand and the crowd roars, reinvigorated by the recruitment.
“Oliver is joining the Hero’s Party?!”
Oliver hops inside the wagon.
“Okay, let's get going!” Gideon says, patting the side of the transport loudly, the driver nods, tipping their hat.
The wagon moves and everyone in the town waves goodbye to the party but mostly to say goodbye to Oliver.
“Shoot out the Demon Lord’s eyes!”
“We’ll miss you Oliver!”
“Show those demons what happens when they mess with our home!”
Oliver smiles, waving goodbye but stops seeing his parents, crying as people nearby comfort them. Oliver cries, standing up, waving his cape in the air. Using his blessing, he sees his parents notice the cape, giving him a teary smile.
The Marksman continues staring back at his hometown, even when they are the size of an ant, he never loses sight of his parents, until the wagon went down hill, blocking his view of his family.
Oliver sniffs, rubbing away the tears with his sleeve, and finally sits down.
“Why did you join us if leaving made you sad?” Ruti asks.
The Marksman leans back from the sudden inquiry from the mostly quiet Hero.
“Were it not for you and Sir Gideon, my home… it could have been destroyed or rather. Lots of people could have died were it not for you two.” Oliver sighs remembering the faces of the people who died. “It made me think about the places where people weren’t as lucky, places where they need help the most. It's why I joined, to do what I can to help people smile freely without any fear.”
“...” Ruti stares silently, and the Marksman sweats a little from her intense look, worried if he embarrassed himself.
“A noble cause.” Gideon says and Ruti nods in agreement, now focusing on her sibling.
“Thanks.” Oliver replies, feeling relaxed now that the beautiful Hero isn’t staring so intensely at him.
In the following morning, Oliver wakes up early, excited for his adventure, sitting up from his camping bag with a yawn, stretching. He rubs his eyes, looking around, seeing the sun rise and a pair of red blank eyes staring at him.
Oliver flinches. “Woah.” He says hands raised at the Hero. The two stare in awkward silence “Uh… Good morning?”
“Good morning.” Ruti replies.
“Um, how long have you been awake?”
“All night.”
“Well that’s good- Wait, you were awake all night?”
“Yes.”
“You… You’re not tired?” Oliver asks, his eyes narrow trying to see any sign of fatigue.
“Her blessing prevents fatigue, she’s always in tip top shape.” Gideon explains, coming out of his tent.
“Not even a little bit?” Oliver asks.
“No.” Ruti answers.
Gideon walks over to Ruti, rubbing her head. “Thank you for keeping watch.”
Ruti nods. “Of course Big Brother.” She says hugging Gideon.
Oliver’s eyes widened.
There it is again, her eyes look brighter, like red gemstones… Looks a lot better than the usual blank look she has.
Oliver observes Gideon and Ruti interacting.
Now seeing her like this, it seems whenever Ruti is with Gideon, she seems less stiff, less intimidating, and her eyes would look brighter. More alive… In his enhanced vision, it's a stark contrast from earlier when Ruti was fighting. Her eyes shining brightly make her look so much more beautiful.
“What would she look like if she smiled? How would she look if she was happy?” Oliver thought to himself
The Marksman couldn’t help but continue staring at Ruti, not just because Ruti is beautiful but because he’s curious of the Hero, curious of the girl beneath that mask.