Tangled By Fate

"Huh? wait, isn't that Ver?!" Catherine was dumbfounded. "Why is she in the archery competition?"

She turned her head toward Arthur. Ovior, Ironing, Zinnia, Roxana and Darius looked over as well.

Arthur was speechless. 'Why are they looking at me like that? It's like they are silently accusing me when I did nothing to prevent Nica from participating in sword fighting.'

"She didn't have the guts to fight the swordsmen," Felix explained. "To her, it seemed to be that archery was the easiest competition."

"But can she shoot an arrow? I've never seen her doing archery," Ovior commented.

"Me neither," Ironin added.

"Since she came this far, I'm sure she has a plan. Let's wait and see," Felix stated in a flexible manner. He was enjoying this.

The Mistress of the Magic Tower learned swordsmanship from him and other great warriors and participated in the competition. What could be more unique and wonderful than that?

Veronica came to the field. She scanned her surroundings. The round-shaped stadium looked like a ring. People were cheering and encouraging the new participants.

'So many people…' her mouth suddenly went dry. She became nervous. She looked for Arthur and others but she couldn't. She had no idea where they were seated.

She was provided a bow and three arrows by the guard. The guard narrowed his eyes as he glanced at her. His scornful eyes looked at her with contempt.

"…" Veronica didn't bother with him. She skillfully examined her bow, inspected if the rope was tightened well with the corners of the bow. She also checked the feathers and the sharp points of the arrows.

On the emcee's signal, she stretched the rope of the bow with the arrow, and then aimed at the board sixty feet away from her.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 'Come on, Ver! You can do this. You have trained hard for so long. This isn't even a moving object. You can definitely do this.'

After motivating herself, she released the arrow. The sharp arrow flew in the direction of the board. It pierced a hole in the middle of the board.

Bull's eye!

"Oh, my goodness! Her arrow pierced the board!!" Catherine jumped and clapped excitedly.

"She hit the target. I didn't know she would be able to do it," Roxana mumbled.

"I know right? I'm surprised too." Zinnia stroked her chin.

Darius leaned toward Arthur and whispered, "Did you notice the way she checked the bow and arrows? Also, her movement and standing style? We didn't teach her archery. Someone else did. I'd love to find out who her master was."

"…" Arthur's sharp gaze was focused on Veronica. He didn't utter a single word. No one knew what he was thinking.

Only three participants including Veronica were able to hit the target. Others failed. However, everyone had another chance. No one knew who would go to the second round until the last arrow was shot.

Veronica smiled broadly when her arrow shot the board. She gained some confidence. It reminded her of the time when she was outdoors with the elves.

She released another two arrows which pierced directly the previous arrow in the middle of the board. Satisfied with the result, she dropped the arrow.

'I'm done with my part. Fortunately, all the arrows hit the main target. I can go to the second round,' she spoke to herself.

When she looked at other participants to check their results, she flinched.

All the eyes were on her. No one was shooting the arrows. Even the emcee and the guard who was holding the arrows stared at her.

'Huh? Did something happen?' She nervously backed away.

She suddenly realized that the stadium that was packed with people was rather quiet. The unusual behavior of everyone scared her.

"What… what's wrong with everyone…?" she stuttered.

The emcee came back to his senses first. He came down from the stage and whispered to her, "Did you not know the rules? I did explain that no one could release the arrows before my signal."

"But you signaled to release the arrows." Veronica couldn't understand where the problem was.

"That's for the first time. The guard here was supposed to pull out the arrow from the board before you shoot the second time. The same goes for the third time," the emcee hissed.

Veronica covered her mouth. She realized her mistake. She didn't get the second signal before she shot two more arrows. She broke the rules.

From the audiences' seat, Arthur stared at his wife who was the center of the attention.

"All right, I have to admit that she is good at this. Did you notice how her arrow pierced one another? She is well-balanced and skillful. There is no doubt about it. I believe she can surpass Ironin," Felix commented.

"This is outstanding. I've never seen anything like this before," Roxana stated in amazement.

"I guess she has more hidden skills under her sleeves," Zinnia commented.

Ovior stole a glance at Arthur to find out if he knew about it. However, noticing how gloomy Arthur looked, he knew the answer without a word.

"She is a genius," Darius declared. "I don't know what else she learned in the short period when she was out of town, she learned well."

"I'd love to know who her master is," Ironin remarked. He had the same wish as Darius.

In the team, Ironin was the best among the bests in archery, no one could beat him to it. He was proud of his skills.

Now that he noticed how remarkably skilled Veronica was in archery, he would not let her go without telling him first who her archery master was.

She was so amazing in archery. Her master would be far better than her.

'Her master could be someone who matches me or… better than me,' Ironin pondered. 'I need to find that master and ask them for a duel.'

Meanwhile, the emcee looked at the judges, waiting for their response.

Veronica turned to them and bowed deeply. "I'm sorry for breaking the rules. I misunderstood it."

The judges talked among themselves and one of them stood up. "It's wonderful to have the young generations surpassing the old ones. It's fascinating to find out that women can be this skillful in archery. However, you misunderstood the rules, didn't observe the previous game and broke the rules. How should you be punished?"

"…" Veronica gulped. She lowered her head like a criminal.

"Talents like you deserve to go to the second round. Good luck!" the judge declared.

Her face instantly brightened up. She couldn't believe they would give her another chance. She couldn't be happier.

"I object!" One of the participants stepped forward and complained, "First, she is a woman, and second, she broke the rules. It shows how insincere she is about the competition just because she is a bit good at archery. Such an arrogant and unworthy participant should be disqualified."

Veronica's expression paled. However, she hid her feelings and asked, "I understand that I broke the rules and so I should be disqualified. But what does it have to do with me being a woman?"

The participant frowned as she talked back. "If you weren't a woman, would you be insincere? We, men, are working hard to participate in the program and you are just slacking off."

"Slacking off? I'm the one who hit the target despite being a woman while most of the 'male' participants could barely hit the target. Who is slacking off? Women are insincere? Maybe your mother gave birth to you insincerely," Veronica scoffed.

"You! How dare you insult me!" The participant was furious. "You are the one who broke the rules. Doesn't that make you insincere?"

Veronica wouldn't back away easily. She retorted, "I was so nervous seeing the crowd, and their scream was buzzing in my ears. This is my first time entering this kind of competition. If I don't feel nervous, I would not be human."

"Enough argument!" The judge sternly looked at the participants. "Even if the participant broke the rules, she was honest and played fairly. She was assisted by no one and hit the target three times. That's what we want from our participants. A brilliant fighter. Of course, we won't allow another mistake. So be careful, Miss Monalisa."

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Veronica thanked them again and again and left the field.

The audience cheered loudly, enough to destroy her eardrums. She quickly headed to the next room that was for the participants of the second round.

She patted her chest and took a deep breath. Her heart was racing. She was so nervous that she thought she was going to faint.

"I see you won the first round remarkably. Congratulations!"

Veronica turned around and saw the participant who was bothering her before the competition. He scratched his head uncomfortably and added, "I didn't know you were this good. I'm sorry for offending you."

"Oh, please don't be. You already apologized. However, if your behavior was like that because I was a woman, please stop apologizing because I won't be able to forgive you.. Having prejudice is one thing, but hurting people because of your blind belief is another."