Shirou really didn't expect Sara to suggest an archery match.
He could kind of understand Sara's thinking.
She probably looked down on him at first, but didn't expect him to show surprising skill, so she got competitive.
After all, to Shirou, middle-level magic wasn't anything special. In fact, it was one of his weaker skills. But to ordinary people in this world, a seventeen or eighteen-year-old middle-level mage was considered talented.
Generally, most people only reach the beginner level by this age. Only a very few talented people can reach the middle level in a certain area.
The kind of talent Shirou and Rudeus showed as kids, reaching the advanced or even saint level by ten, was extremely rare worldwide.
It wasn't until he arrived at the Holy Land of Swords and met Nina and Jino that Shirou realized that there were other geniuses of the same level.
The higher the stage, the more you can see.
Maybe when he gets to Magic University, he'll meet talented people who are young and gifted.
There are people beyond people, and skies beyond skies. Can he really fulfill the Sword God's wishes, keep up with the Dragon God in all areas, and become the strongest?
Shirou was lost in thought, which made him seem a little spaced out.
He didn't pay much attention to it himself, but Sara thought he was backing down.
Sara was very confident in her archery skills. She came from a village in the Asura Kingdom. Her father was a hunter. Although she was a girl, she went hunting with her father in the forest from a young age, even hunting monsters, and developed excellent archery skills.
So Sara never thought anyone could compare to her in archery, let alone find someone her age who was better.
She challenged Shirou to an archery match because of her youthful desire to win.
Being about the same age as Shirou, she was already very interested in him. And when she first met him, she noticed that this young man seemed to be completely indifferent to everything around him.
Although the boy was traveling with them in the same merchant group to the Ranoa Kingdom, he never paid attention to anyone around him. It was as if he didn't care about anyone from the start, completely absorbed in his own world.
This was especially obvious to Sara.
No matter how annoying Sara acted, Shirou never showed the slightest concern, or even looked at her.
This almost complete ignoring was what bothered Sara the most.
So she had been trying to show hostility towards Shirou, hoping to get the arrogant young man to notice her.
But still, nothing.
This made Sara angry and helpless, and she didn't even want to bother with him anymore.
Just when Sara was about to give up, Suzanne suggested a skills competition, and Shirou agreed.
Sara immediately realized this was her chance.
She felt she had to compete with Shirou, and if she won, Shirou might not be so arrogant in the future.
"What's wrong, are you afraid to compete with me?!"
Sara glared at Shirou.
She was worried that Shirou wouldn't compete out of fear, and asked anxiously.
"No, I can..."
Shirou hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded in agreement.
He didn't think the match was meaningful. Sara would have had a better chance if she'd challenged him to something else, but he wouldn't avoid the competition.
Besides, Shirou hoped Sara would stop being so hostile towards him, and this match might be a good opportunity to improve their relationship.
So Shirou and Sara had an archery competition.
The rules were simple: they would each use a bow and arrow to hit a target placed on a distant tree. Whoever shot faster and more accurately would win.
"I'm not going easy on you!"
Sara picked up her bow and grinned. "Unlike Suzanne, I don't care about what you think. I don't care if you keep going down the wrong path either! I'm going to win without holding back, and I'm going to keep going until I become the best archer in the world!"
"That's a good idea."
Shirou gave Sara, who was full of energy, an approving and encouraging look.
He really thought Sara was a good archer. He had noticed that during the fight against the monsters earlier.
Although her talent wasn't the best, she clearly made up for her lack of talent with effort and hard work.
If she keeps working hard, even if she doesn't become the best archer in the world, she can become a top archer among adventurers.
"You..."
Sara didn't seem to want Shirou to react that way. Her cheeks quickly puffed up, and she stomped her feet angrily. "I'm going to completely crush you and make you stop making that annoying face!"
Sara was very unhappy with Shirou's calm attitude.
From the first day they met, she had been very aware of Shirou's attitude.
It was as if he didn't care about anything around him, treating them adventurers like ants.
Most people might not care about such an arrogant attitude, simply seeing it as youthful overconfidence, but for Sara, who was also young, it was clearly too hostile.
So Sara had a strong desire to win.
She picked up her bow and went to the competition area full of energy.
"Sara, don't do that."
Suzanne noticed Sara's reaction and hoped she would go easy, because she knew Sara's talent well and didn't want her to destroy Shirou's confidence too much.
"Hmph, I'll teach him a lesson!"
Sara didn't hesitate at all, drawing her bow and aiming at the target on the distant tree, starting a round of impressive rapid fire.
Sara's arrows were extremely accurate, and her movements were very efficient. It was clearly something she had gained through countless repetitions of training.
Shirou was also familiar with similar skills, like his own swordsmanship.
Sara's archery was like Shirou's swordsmanship. With decent talent, countless repetitions of training, and some luck, she eventually reached an incredible level of accuracy. After that, she could easily kill opponents by constantly accumulating experience in real combat, understanding the structure of monsters, and finding their weak points.
In the world of ordinary people, people wouldn't argue with calling this a genius.
But just like Shirou's swordsmanship was harshly criticized as ordinary by the Sword God when he arrived at the Holy Land of Swords.
Sara's archery was still just ordinary archery. No matter how accurate or smooth the movements were, there was nothing more to praise.
In contrast, Shirou was always a genius when it came to archery.
Before growing to this point, when he was just a normal student, Shirou was called a monster in the archery club.
The reason he was called that was because his archery was completely different from everyone else's.
Compared to ordinary people who see the target first and then shoot the arrow, Shirou's arrow had already reached its target before it was even shot.
This wasn't something gained through blind training, but something he was born with.
Without a doubt, this was talent.
Something that ordinary people can never possess in their lifetime.
Shirou hesitated, wondering if he should show off his skills, worried that it would hurt Sara's confidence.
"What's wrong, after seeing my archery, are you afraid to compete?!"
Sara didn't want Shirou to run away. Seeing Shirou hesitate, she used provocation.
At this point, Shirou had no way to avoid it, and could only nod helplessly.
He took out his bow and arrow and walked step by step to where Sara had been standing.
Compared to when Sara was shooting, the conditions were worse.
Because it was getting dark, even becoming black.
Sara could barely see the distant trees just now, but now they were completely blurry.
Seeing this, Suzanne couldn't help but speak, wanting Shirou to compete the next day in the daytime, which would be fairer.
But Shirou silently refused her kindness, and as if it were natural, he drew his bow, aimed, and shot into the dark distance.
Without extra skills or techniques, Shirou didn't even use Clairvoyance, just simply shot the arrow.
"Snap!"
In the darkness, the arrow broke through the space, and a crisp sound came from afar.
Compared to the others who were stunned, Shirou didn't react much, and just took out the next arrow and shot it again, repeating the action.
"Snap!"
"Snap!" "Snap!"
After shooting all the arrows mechanically, Shirou put away the bow in his hand and turned to look at the adventurers behind him.
Suzanne and the other adventurers didn't know what to say, because it was too dark and they couldn't see the situation in the distance at all, so they ran to the tree to observe as soon as possible.
Then they saw an incredible scene.
Except for one arrow that hit the target on the tree, all the subsequent arrows shot by Shirou landed on the ground, split in half from the middle.
This meant that every arrow shot by Shirou hit the bullseye, causing the later arrows to collide with the earlier arrows, creating such a strange sight.
In contrast, although Sara's arrows generally hit the trees, and most of them were on the target, they were far less accurate than Shirou's.
The difference in talent between the two was too great, not even on the same level.
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