Chapter 144: Ugly Bow

Everyone was expecting something legendary.

A bow made of pure gold, perhaps, gleaming with light that rivaled the sun.

Or maybe one carved from some mystical wood that sang when you touched it.

Something that would make their eyes water with its beauty, something that felt like a gift straight from the gods themselves.

The way Luca had described it, they’d imagined something magnificent.

So, they leaned forward as his hand emerged from the portal.

Then Luca’s hand fully emerged, and the bow came into view.

But the moment they actually saw the bow—

One by one, their excited expressions crumbled.

Confusion replaced wonder.

Disappointment replaced awe.

Lulu voiced what everyone was thinking,

“…That’s it?”

This lukewarm reaction was because the bow in Luca’s hands was…strange. Very strange.

It had a string, yes. It had limbs, technically.

But it was so short—barely half the length of their longbows.

The limbs curved inward instead of outward, and at the tips, two small wheel-like mechanisms sat on the top and bottom.

Multiple strings ran between them in a complicated web, and the whole thing was wrapped in some kind of matte black material that looked utterly mundane.

No gold. No glowing. No heavenly music.

Just…wheels. And strings.

“It looks so…weird.” An elf murmured.

“Yeah, I thought it would be something else…”

“Me too. I thought it would be beautiful.”

“Like, so beautiful my eyes would hurt to look at it.”

“Instead it’s just…that.”

Lulu, never one to filter herself, squinted at the strange device.

“Yeah.”

She said thoughtfully, searching for the right word.

“It looks so…ugly.”

Hearing that comment, Luca’s eye twitched.

He’d expected awe. Praise. Amazement at the engineering marvel in his hands.

He’d expected them to recognize the pinnacle of bow design.

Instead?

They looked at it with repulsion and he was not having it one bit.

“Ugly?!”

He sputtered, holding the bow up defensively.

“What are you talking about, Lulu?! How dare you call such a magnificent creation ugly?!”

He turned the bow, showing off its sleek black limbs, the precise engineering of the wheels, the elegant cable system.

“This—this is the culmination of thousands of years of archery development! Generations of innovation, all combined to form the ultimate bow!”

“The design maximizes lightness, silent operation, easy portability—every single aspect has been refined so that archery becomes the most natural thing in the world! And you call it…”

He pointed at Lulu accusingly.

“…UGLY?!”

But Lulu, brave foolish Lulu, stood her ground.

“Oh, come on, Luca! Look at it!” She gestured emphatically. “The longbow was long and beautiful! Even the recurve bow had graceful curves!”

“But this one is so tiny and stubby! It doesn’t look like a bow at all!”

Another elf chimed in, “And the strings, Hero! A bow is supposed to have one string! Look at all those—they’re hanging everywhere! It’s so messy!”

“Those weird wheel things on the ends are so distracting!”

“It looks like something a dwarf made in a hurry and called it a day!”

The elves nodded in agreement, a chorus of disappointment washing over the clearing.

Luca’s expression grew increasingly frustrated.

But then—

A small voice cut through.

“Um…I think I like it.”

Everyone turned.

Luna stood with her hand raised hesitantly, cheeks faintly pink.

“I think I like it very much, Luca. I think it looks…interesting.”

But the moment she said, all the elves glared at her.

“Oh, shut up, Luna!”

“You’re only saying that because you like him!”

“Exactly! You’d probably like it if he handed you a stick and called it a bow!”

“Your opinion doesn’t count here, you hero fanatic!”

Luna’s face went bright red.

“S-Shut up! All of you, shut up! It’s nothing like that! I genuinely like it!”

She looked away, ears burning.

“It’s…unique. That’s all.”

Luca watched this exchange with a mix of amusement and lingering frustration.

But the frustration won out.

“Be quiet, all of you!” He called out, raising his voice. “I will not hear another word of criticism!”

The elves fell silent, though skeptical looks remained.

“This bow…” Luca continued, holding it up like a sacred relic. “…is the epitome of archery technology from my world.”

“And since you all hate it so much, I’m going to make you fall in love with it. I’m going to make you think you can’t live without such an amazing bow.”

He scanned the crowd, eyes landing on a small figure near the front.

“And to do that, I need you—” He pointed. “Lisa. Come here.”

“Me? You want me?” Lisa, who was with her friends pointed at herself.

“Yes, you. Come here right now.”

Lisa glanced at her friends, then hurried forward, curious and excited.

The other elves watched with confusion—what did Luca want with a child?

Once she stood before him, Luca knelt down with a warm smile.

“Now then.” He said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Let me show you all just how amazing this bow really is. I’m going to do that by demonstrating something that none of you thought is possible.”

“And that is…”

He stood, gesturing toward Lisa.

“…Lisa over here is going to shoot this bow and hit that target over there.”

He pointed to a target not too far away, but certainly not close—a respectable distance that would challenge any novice.

And the reaction was immediate.

Shock. Disbelief. Outright laughter.

“What?!”

“Did he just say lisa is going to shoot?!”

“Hero, that’s impossible! We can barely pull our bows fully, and you want a child to do it?!”

“She’s ten in human years, that’s practically a baby!”

“There’s no way!”

“There’s absolutely no chance!”

Luca grinned at their reactions.

“Think what you want. I’ll prove you wrong.”

He turned back to Lisa, his expression softening.

“What about you, Lisa? Do you want to shoot a bow right now? Do you want to shoot a bow and arrow?”

Lisa’s out the biggest smile and she started bouncing on her heels, unable to contain herself.

“Yes! Yes, big brother! Yes, I really really do!”

She grabbed his sleeve, words tumbling out in a rush.

“I tried once—I tried to lift my mother’s bow when she wasn’t looking! But I couldn’t even pick it up because it was so heavy!”

“And I’ve always—always wanted to shoot a bow and arrow! It’s been my dream!”

Luca chuckled, patting her head gently.

“Good girl. Then let’s make that dream come true.”

He set down the compound bow and reached into his portal again.

This time, he produced a smaller version of the same design—a youth model compound bow, scaled perfectly for Lisa’s size.

The elves murmured curiously.

Luca knelt beside Lisa, showing her how to hold the bow, how to grip the string, where to place her fingers.

He explained about the trigger release, the let-off, how the cams would do most of the work once she got past the initial draw.

Lisa listened intently, nodding at every instruction.

Finally, Luca nocked an arrow for her and stood back.

“Now watch, all of you.” He announced to the crowd. “Watch as Lisa does something you thought was impossible.”

He looked down at the girl.

“Go on, Lisa. It’ll be hard at first—you’ll feel a lot of resistance. But once you pull it about halfway, it’ll get much easier. Trust the bow.”

Lisa nodded, face set with determination.

She did exactly as instructed. First, she pointed the bow downward, as Luca had shown her.

Then she began to pull.

Immediately, her face scrunched with effort.

The draw was tough—even with the compound bow’s mechanical advantage, it still required strength to get the pulleyes to rotate.

The elves watched, some smirking, others genuinely curious.

“She can’t do it.”

“No way she pulls that back.”

But Lisa kept pulling. Her small arms trembled with effort, her jaw set with determination—

And then—

Click.

The cams rotated. The draw weight dropped.

Lisa’s arms relaxed as she brought the bow up, the string held effortlessly at full draw.

Gasps erupted from the crowd.

“SHE DID IT!”

“She actually pulled it!”

“Look, she’s holding it! She’s holding it steady!”

“Oh my gods, that’s incredible!”

“Good job, Lisa.” Luca smiled. “Now, take aim at that target over there. Just like I showed you. And when you’re ready, shoot.”

Lisa nodded, her tongue poking out slightly in concentration.

She aimed.

The crowd held their breath.

And she released.

Phoosh!

The arrow flew—not as fast as an adult’s shot, not as powerful, but it flew.

Straight and true across the clearing and it hit.

Thunk!

But it didn’t hit the target and instead it missed the target by a handspan, thudding into the tree behind it.

But that didn’t matter.

Because the arrow had traveled the full distance. It had flown with enough force to stick in the wood and that was done by a actual child.

The elves erupted.

“OH MY GODS!”

“The arrow actually flew that FAR?!”

“Did you see that?! It went all the way!”

“With how easily she pulled it, I thought it would just drop on the ground!”

“But it flew! It actually flew!”

“That bow—what is that bow?! Even though she drew it back, it shouldn’t have that much power. What kind of sorcery is that?”

Lisa herself stood frozen, staring at where her arrow had landed. Then her face split into the biggest grin imaginable.

“I did it! Big brother, I did it!”

Luca laughed, ruffling her hair and producing a small piece of candy from somewhere.

“You did amazing, Lisa. Here—a reward.”

Lisa grabbed the candy like it was treasure and ran back to her friends, who immediately surrounded her with excited questions and envious stares.

Luca then stood and faced the crowd with a triumphant smirk.

The elves were no longer laughing. They were staring at the compound bow with new eyes—curious, hungry, wanting eyes.

“And that’s not all.” He announced, his voice carrying. “Now, not only will a child shoot a bow…”

“…I’m going to do something even more unbelievable next.”

Luca scanned them slowly, until his gaze landed on one particular elf.

Luna.

She froze, suddenly wary.

“You see Luna over there?” Luca pointed.

Everyone looked.

“Well, I’m going to take her—the one you all love to tease and I’m going to make her shoot an arrow straight through that target.”

Luca pointed at her, then at a target in the far distance—the same one Leona had shot earlier, maybe even farther.

“And not just hit it.” Luca continued. “I’m going to make her shoot an arrow straight through the center. Bullseye.”

For a moment they thought he was telling a joke to liven the mood.

But when they realised he was serious—they burst out laughing.

“WHAT?!”

“Did he just say LUNA?!”

“Luna shooting a bullseye?! At that distance?!”

“Oh gods, I can’t breathe—”

“First Lisa was believable—a child shooting made sense with that weird bow! But luna?!”

“Luna couldn’t hit a target if it was right in front of her face!”

“That’s the biggest joke I’ve ever heard!”

Some elves actually fell to the ground, rolling in the grass. Others slapped each other on the back, tears streaming down their faces.

Even Nyx, standing off to the side, couldn’t help but chuckle silently, her shoulders shaking with suppressed amusement.

Luna’s face went through several shades of red.

“YOU GUYS!” She shouted, stomping her foot. “You’re going too FAR! I’m not as bad as you think!”

She crossed her arms huffily.

“I can definitely hit that target if I put my mind to it!”

This only made everyone laugh harder.

“Hahahaha! She’s delusional!”

“Poor kid thinks that just because she’s Leona’s daughter, she can do the same as well!”

Lulu stumbled over, throwing an arm around her sister’s shoulders with exaggerated affection.

“Of course you can, Luna! Of course you can! And if you really put your mind to it, I’m sure you could shoot a dragon right out of the sky! Maybe even two! At the same time!”

“HAHAHAHA!”

“Luna, dragon slayer!”

“Maybe she’ll save the village single-handedly!”

“STOOOOP!” Luna wailed, ears flat against her head in humiliation.

Luca watched the chaos with a satisfied smile.

“Laugh now.” He called out, voice carrying easily. “Laugh all you want. But when Luna sinks that arrow into the bullseye, I expect every single one of you to apologize to her.”

The laughter stuttered slightly.

Luca’s grin widened.

“Now then—Luna. Get over here.”

“Let’s show prove to them that you’re not as useless when it comes to archery as they think you may be.”

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