Chapter 34

Father stomped inside with heavy steps, dragging Mr. Hana along like a paper doll by the collar. Aslan scrambled awkwardly to his feet in shock—only for Father to whip her gaze toward him like lightning. She hurled Mr. Hana straight at him, then lunged like a beast, shouting,

“How dare you conspire to steal away my guild member?”

What followed was a brutal brawl too vicious to watch. The YesYesu guild members panicked and tried to stop Father, but it was pointless. Anyone who tried to hold her back ended up dragged into the scuffle and beaten as well.

Theo watched with a face that said he had no idea what was going on, while Blaine hid behind him, pale and trembling, his eyes squeezed shut.

By the time it ended, the wrecked Mr. Hana and Aslan were kneeling before Father like broken men.

Dragged all the way here from the guild house after a thrashing, Mr. Hana stammered out, as if desperate to explain himself.

“Father… I really don’t understand what’s happening here…”

“Shut it. You think I don’t know you’re the one behind this?”

Mr. Hana looked genuinely wronged.

“No… what do you mean, behind…?”

“I got word that you lot are trying to take Theo!”

At that, Aslan’s face stiffened, and his eyes darted to Theo. Theo widened his eyes in feigned surprise, then shifted his gaze to Blaine. Blaine, caught, looked away.

The glances passed like dominoes, leaving only Mr. Hana sitting there bewildered.

First I’ve ever heard of this?

From Blaine’s reaction, Theo realized at once—he was the one who’d told Father. He couldn’t understand why he had felt the need to report it and escalate things this far.

Theo stepped closer, grabbed Blaine’s arm, and whispered.

“Blaine… you told Father?”

Blaine pressed his lips tight, then finally nodded.

“Why?”

“You said… if anything happens, I should always tell the guild…”

“…Huh?”

“I thought… Hyung might actually go join Aslan’s guild. I can’t fight that kind of thing, so… you said to report it. So I did…”

Blaine trailed off, his face like a puppy caught in the rain.

“Did I… do something wrong?”

His eyes shimmered as if he was about to cry, clearly desperate for an answer. If Theo said “Yes, it’s your fault,” Blaine would probably burst into tears right there. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t even Blaine’s fault. If anything, he’d just been faithfully following Theo’s words.

“No… you did fine. Honestly, it was kind of a pain anyway…”

Though Theo couldn’t shake the awkward discomfort, he still patted Blaine’s arm as if praising him. Blaine blinked up at him, tears welling, before breaking into a bashful smile. Theo forced an awkward grin in return, thinking,

‘Blaine probably wouldn’t let himself be pushed around so easily anymore. And thanks to Father stepping in, Aslan would stop bothering me too. Could things turn out any better?’

Early education really was important.

The next day, Theo headed straight to Marco’s workshop the moment he woke up. He had to pick up the bow he’d left for repair, and he also had another request in mind.

“Marco.”

Calling out as he stepped into the workshop, Theo saw Marco coming down from the second floor with a cup of coffee in hand. Marco waved as he approached.

“Hyung, you’re here?”

As usual, his eyes scanned Theo’s surroundings, only for him to tilt his head in confusion.

“Why are you alone?”

“Huh?”

Theo glanced at both sides of himself, then asked, puzzled, “Am I not allowed to come alone?”

“No… I mean, not exactly…”

Marco scratched the back of his head, a little embarrassed, then handed Theo his bow.

“I fixed it up just like you asked.”

Theo examined it closely. He unlatched the small hook at the base, and with a crisp charrk the bowstring coiled neatly along the frame, leaving it sleek and unobtrusive.

“Oh…”

He let out a low sound of admiration, giving the bow a few test swings before nodding in satisfaction.

“You like it?”

“Yeah, I’m satisfied.”

“Good to hear.”

“Oh, right. I also need you to make me some arrows.”

“Huh? Arrows?”

Theo just nodded and poured a heap of items onto the table. Marco walked over and picked one up.

“What’s all this? Raia’s… Steel?”

He quickly pulled up the information window.

“I picked it up in the Sanctuary. I was so focused on my bow I’d almost forgotten. I want to use this to make arrows.”

Marco glanced between Theo and the Raia’s Steel in his hand, looking flustered.

“Th-this isn’t normal material. Why waste it on arrows?”

Arrows were consumables. While bows provided unlimited basic arrows, it was possible to craft special arrows with higher attack power or unique effects. The catch was that crafted arrows required rare and expensive materials, and players could only carry a limited amount at once. That made them impractical as a mainstay weapon.

Ignoring Marco’s protests, Theo let his eyes roam over the many weapons displayed on the wall and asked, “Which one’s the smallest dagger you’ve got?”

“Huh? A dagger… over there.”

Marco pointed at one hanging off to the side, and Theo grabbed it.

“What’s the blade length?”

“Just the blade itself… about 18.”

“Can you make it smaller?”

“Smaller? How much smaller?”

“About the size of an arrowhead?”

“What?”

“What’s the size of the biggest arrowhead you’ve got?”

“…12.8.”

“Then make it that size.”

“…Impossible.”

“Why? What’s the smallest blade length you can forge?”

“Even if I minimize it, 14.”

“Wouldn’t that still work if you remove the standard size restriction?”

“It would, but the success rate drops drastically. And you’re not planning to make just one arrow, are you?”

“Just one is enough.”

Marco frowned deeply, completely lost on what Theo was trying to achieve.

“Why would you bother making just one arrow? And wasting this kind of high-grade material on it?”

“High-grade? Doesn’t matter, I earned it through hard work anyway, so it’s not wasted.”

“What do you mean high-grade? This is a rare item!”

“Seriously? I didn’t even notice the rarity when I checked.”

“And if you forge with this, it’ll raise the attack power and make the arrow lighter too.”

“Lighter…?”

“Yeah.”

“Then maybe it could be used to reinforce the bow? You said before that adding steel makes it heavier, slowing attack speed. But if this is lighter, wouldn’t it work fine?”

“Uh… we could try.”

“Yeah, do it. If it ends up too heavy, we’ll just strip it back off.”

“You realize the steel would be wasted, right?”

“Doesn’t matter. If I fail making arrows, the material’s gone anyway.”

“…Then why not just make arrows normally? Why go out of your way to waste resources on a non-standard arrow size?”

“Because the attack power scales with blade size. Even on arrows, if it qualifies as a blade, the minimum blade stats will apply, giving it more attack power.”

“But even if you make such a powerful arrow, it’s still just one shot, right?”

“Oh, I’m not planning to use it as an arrow.”

“Huh?”

“I’m going to use it like a dagger.”

Marco’s jaw dropped. Shoot arrows, swing the bow like a sword, and now use an arrow as a dagger? Just by form alone, it was no different from a Hybrid. With the damage scaling from Eternal Fog, it could even surpass Origin.

As Marco stared at Theo in awe for such an outrageous idea, Theo delivered the finishing blow.

“Oh, and if I reinforce the bow with steel, could I use sword energy with it?”

“…Hyung, you sound like some kind of genius maniac.”

“……”

Theo left the bow with Marco for another day so he could add the steel reinforcement, then leisurely made his way back to Ratteon. With nothing pressing to do, he wondered if today might finally be the day to try fishing. But on his way home, he froze when he spotted a familiar figure sitting in the flower bed beneath his window.

The person sat blankly staring at the sky, but sensing movement, turned his head. When he saw Theo, his eyes widened, and he scrambled awkwardly to his feet.

“Uh… Hyung?”

It was Blaine. He looked flustered, glancing between Theo and his house as if to say,

‘Why are you here?’

“What are you doing here?”

Theo walked up as he asked, and Blaine waved his arms nervously, stammering.

“I-I was waiting for you, Hyung… Did you, uh, go somewhere? This early…?”

“I just came back from Marco’s. How long have you been waiting?”

“Huh? Oh… since morning?”

“You didn’t try the door handle? It should’ve shown I was away.”

“I did, but… it didn’t say you were away. I thought you might be sleeping, so I just waited until you came out…”

“Not away?”

Theo tilted his head in confusion, climbed the steps, and grabbed the doorknob. The door suddenly slammed open, smacking him and sending him tumbling down the steps.

“Hey, why are you so late?!”

The one who stormed out of Theo’s house was Aslan. He strutted out proudly—until Blaine shouted “Hyung!” and his gaze dropped. Seeing Theo sprawled at the bottom of the steps with Blaine frozen beside him, Aslan paled and rushed down to check on Theo.

“Hey, hey… you okay?”

Theo clutched his throbbing forehead, staring up at the two faces hovering over him: Blaine’s tearful, about-to-cry expression, and Aslan’s frantic panic.

So… Aslan must’ve snuck into his house right after Theo left, and Blaine had been waiting outside the whole time.

What the hell were these two doing?