Gojo approached Arad, smiling. “Are you the leader of the new party? You haven’t decided on a name yet.” He extended his hand to Arad, wanting a shake.
As Aella stared at them about to shake, she saw Arad’s hair flailing even though the wind was stale. But before the two could touch hands, Jack’s sister shouted, “You what?”
Everyone looked at her, puzzled. “Calm down, sister. It will be fine.” Jack smiled, trying to calm her, “Be it a werewolf or a stray dog, I won’t fall easily.”
“I’m talking about this bitch behind you,” She growled, pointing at Lydia. “Why do I smell her on you?”
“We’ve been together since morning. We’re going on a quest, remember?” Jack replied with a wry smile. Lydia stared at her, “What did you just call me?”
Jack’s sister glared at Lydia, suddenly pulling her dagger and stopping it at her neck, “IF anything happens to Jack. I will crucify your church on the main plaza for everyone to see. Keep that in mind.” She pushed Lydia away, growling.
“Sister, aren’t you going a bit too far?”
“I’m willing to trust your ability, Jack. But if this woman caused you any more harm, I will send her to meet her god.” She walked toward Gojo, “Get your shit together. We have an investigation to do first.” She growled.
“You get yourself together. We won’t get anywhere with you getting angry out of nowhere.” Gojo said to her with a smile, patting her shoulder.
She looked at him, sighting, “Sorry, let’s go.”
Gug helped Vars up, “Get up, pervert elf.” She lifted him by the shoulder.
Arad and his party watched them leave into darkness, “Your sister is interesting.”
Jack smiled, “Below all that anger and lack of manners, she has a heart of gold.”
They started walking toward Mira’s shop when Aella looked at Arad. “Say, that Gojo is interesting, don’t you think?”
“What? No, he looked like a normal adventurer.” Arad replied.
“When you two were about to shake, your hair was about to start going crazy.” She said, tilting her head.
“It was probably the wind,” Arad replied, pointing toward Mira’s shop.
Aella smiled, quickly forgetting what had happened and focusing on the shop. Her new bow was waiting there.
“Mira, do you have any bows for me?” Aella said right from the moment she touched the door.
CLANG! CLANG! Mira sat on her bench, hammering down steel. She looked back at them, “Ho, you came quickly.”
“What are you doing with steel?” Arad asked. He expected to find her working the wood to make bows.
“My vision. I think steel is the next generation of bows. Look at those.” She pointed toward a pile of crossbows.
Arad walked toward the pile and lifted some of it. Aella and Jack went to scout the bows. On the other hand, Lydia found a large barrel to sit on and tend to her sword.
Arad inspected the crossbows, “This firing thing is of steel, but it’s much shorter.” He said, knocking on it.
“We call the limb, bow, and some even called the arms.” Mira replied, “Steel can store a lot of power but require enough strength to bend.” ．
“Then making a steel bow is useless. No one will be able to pull it.” Arad replied.
“That’s right to us regular people, but it’s a different story for monsters like Alcott. He should be able to pull a steel bow.” She smiled, pulling two large bows from under her desk.
“This is a 70 kg war bow, and for the elf back there, it’s a 150 pound. It’s a decent choice for both soldiers and adventurers.” Mira smiled, “But for the more extreme people, I have this baby.”
In her other hand, she carried a wooden bow reinforced with steel plates, “This steel act like crossbow wings. It’s 270 kg, and to her, a whopping 600 pounds.” Mira smiled, pulling a third bow with an evil giggle.
“This is my favorite, a full steel bow. It’s made for the insane crazy people who want to try it.” She threw the bow to Arad.
“680 kg draw weight, a 1500 pound. Matching the heaviest of crossbows out there in the wield. This thing can tear your fingers off.” Mira stared at Arad. “How much strength do you have?”
“Why do you ask?”
“The first bow requires 12 strength, the second 16, and the last one, 19 strength. Unless you’re a trained archer, that can lower the requirements.”
“How could training make a weapon require less strength?”
“Sorry, I didn’t know you were that uninformed for an adventurer. Mother must have been wrong about your skill.” Mira stared at him with a sad face.
“Strength is the average capability of your body. That strength of all muscles rounded to a midpoint.” Mira approached her anvil, “I can’t lift this one as I have a strength of nine, but I can bend this metal rod since I’m used to doing it.”
“I still don’t get it.”
“I have special muscles trained. That won’t affect the average of my strength that much.” Mira pointed toward Aella, “Come here, test these.”
Aella heard her and came hopping, “What are those?”
“As you can see. They are bows I made. Give them a try with Arad.” Mira smiled.
Arad lifted the regular war bow and pulled its string, “It’s heavy, but I can pull it off.” He took a deep breath, giving it to Aella.
Aella looked at the bow for a moment, pulling the string to her chin, “It’s a decent bow, but do you have something heavier?” She said with a smile, looking at the bow on her back. “It isn’t much of an upgrade, you see.”
“Try the second one.” Mira throws the bow to Arad.
The moment Arad started pulling the string, his face turned red as he strained his neck and shoulder muscles, finally pulling all the way back.
“Damn. This one is hard. Aella, you might hurt yourself, don’t try it.” Arad panted, looking down and catching his breath.
Aella lifted the bow and easily pulled it back, “This one is amazing. I can feel it in my back.”
Arad stared at her, shocked, “How, you have lower strength than me.”
“I can’t carry heavy things or wear full plate armor, but I can pull a bow. I have trained specially for this one.” Aella was an archer, having an overall low strength, but only her archery muscles are fully developed.
“I still can’t wrap my head around this.” Arad sighed, sitting on a barrel.
“Chief, let me explain it easier for you.” Jack approached him with a smile, “As a humanoid, we have hundreds of muscles. The strength you have is average for them.” Jack smiled, “Let’s say we have a hundred muscles, all at ten strength. That would give us an average strength of ten.”
Arad looked at him, “And if ten muscles had 20 strength, let’s call them archery muscles.”
“That would result in an average of 11 strength.” Jack looked at Aella, “She might look soft, but I bet she would pull that steel abomination of a bow.”
Aella picked the last bow, took a deep breath, and pulled it all the way.
“Ho! You pulled it!” Mira started clapping with an excited face.
Aella looked at the bow with a thrilled face, “This thing is a beauty. How much is it?”
Mira waved her hand, “It’s free, free. Just advertise for me bit between high adventurers.” She smiled, “I only want you to tell them you bought the thing from me.”
Aella switched her bow immediately, “This one served me well. You can take it.” She handed her old bow to Mira.
“Don’t worry. I will repair it and hang it on the wall.” Mira smiled, taking the bow behind her bench.
Seeing all this, Jack pulled a short bow and showed it to Mira, “Can I have this one for free as well?”
“No, She got it for free for being my first customer of the new bows.” Mira pulled a chair and sat on it flipped. (The back facing the front.)
“I did intend to start dabbling in magic weapon creation. Specifically short bows and one-handed crossbows. I might give you a free one then.” Mira smiled.
“Good!” Jack celebrated, “Got me a deal,”
Arad smiled, “Then off we go. Thanks for everything, Mira.” He turned around, but she rushed to grab his shoulder, “Wait,”
“Is there anything you need?” Arad asked, looking at her face with a puzzled face.
“Mother said I need to make something for you, so I got you this,” she handed him a long leather thing from her desk.
“What is this?”
“A mage’s chest belt, You can hang your spell book at your side, several potions, and even carry your staff on your back.” She helped Arad wear the belt, “I also reinforced the inside of the belt with some steel plates,”
Arad smiled, “Thank you, How much is this?”
“Is everything in your head about money? Mother will hang me if I got payment for this, go!” She spun Arad around, smacking his back.