After returning to her senses, Brunhild turned to observe the bow on her lap.
The first word that came to her mind was "gorgeous"—it was the most beautiful bow she had ever seen. Even the craftsmanship was so delicately precise that it was just a step away from becoming a fancy decorative piece. She was certain it had been made by a highly experienced blacksmith. With such beautiful craftsmanship, the bow could easily exceed its market value by at least 50%!
The bow was dark brown in color; it was quite heavy, but not to her. In fact, it felt perfect. It wasn't made of wood, but rather some sort of metal, and the bowstring was thick and looked extremely durable. The weapon strangely felt warm in her hand and had a very smooth texture; she felt incredibly comfortable while holding it.
Her heart couldn't help but start racing like never before.
Her eyes were inevitably drawn toward the artistically designed characters over the bow's main body, which looked like masterpiece calligraphy. These alphabets or characters also had a dim orange-yellow glow to them.
At first, Brunhild was slightly confused. But as she observed deeply while gently stroking the beautiful designs, her eyes nearly popped out; her heart nearly flew out of her throat due to pure shock and horror.
It was a RUNE!
She had never even seen a rune weapon before, not even within the Guild Shop of Batley City, because Rune Smiths were far rarer than blacksmiths. The amount of concentration and focus required to successfully engrave a rune was one thing, but the resources required to learn the craft were triple that!
Once a rune failed to be inscribed on a weapon, that weapon could never be inscribed again. Therefore, a rune smith required an enormous amount of resources to practice engraving on each grade and weapon type, which was a whole new challenge for them. Because of that, plenty of weapons of each grade were bound to get ruined just from practicing. Successfully engraving a rune on a very well-made weapon was a more of luck than just challenge.
Brunhild stared blankly at the bow as if her soul had left the planet.
The others also stared in a similar way.
They hadn't realized yet that it was a rune. However, just the bow itself being a Tier 1 item had already blown their minds, and they could barely discern that it was high grade, which was even more shocking.
Bows were different from most weapons. Any Tier bow's power was almost one tier higher than other weapons. In Batley City, there were no Tier 1 bows anywhere because they were just that hard to create. It probably would be far more expensive than any other weapon of the same tier.
Bows were weak at close range but deadlier at long range. Their attack power was so remarkable that a Tier 1 bow could theoretically be considered Tier 2. So, in that sense, this high-grade Tier 1 bow was almost close to a low or mid-grade Tier 2! Of course, that was only offensively; in terms of defense or its overall toughness, it was still limited to its actual tier and grade.
After a long time, Brunhild came back to her senses and her head whipped toward Eric. With her eyes bloodshot, she stammered, "I-I... W-what? T-this—this is at least mid or… high-grade Tier 1?! And it has a rune inscribed?! W-why did you? I-I can't accept something so expensive! I definitely cannot!" Though she said so, she was clutching the bow tightly, as if she would never let it go even if she fell dead. She couldn't bear to part with it. She had already fallen in love with it.
The others nearly had a heart attack hearing that the beautiful characters were actually runes!
They practically wanted to snatch the bow to check for themselves, but they still possessed some sense and knew it belonged to Eric. With great willpower, they held themselves back.
Caius, who was sitting closest to Brunhild, couldn't hold back and slowly extended his finger toward the side of the bow. But before he could even touch it, Brunhild moved it away and glared at him. Helplessly, he could only give up.
Eric waved it off and calmly replied, "No need to worry, it's yours, and I won't take it back. This is a high-grade Tier 1 bow with a Fire Rune inscribed. You can channel your mana into it to give your arrows flaming properties."
Brunhild's constipated expression of fear over losing the bow was instantly washed away upon hearing Eric's reassurance. She finally smiled like a blooming flower, full of radiance in the dark environment.
But she and the others were shocked yet again to hear it had a Fire Rune inscribed. The total cost of this bow might skyrocket, perhaps as high as 1,000 Mana Stones! Taking into account its scarcity and everything else, it could even reach 1,500 Mana Stones!
Even Brunhild and Caius had never seen such an expensive weapon, much less held one in their hands before.
Brunhild took a deep breath and stood up. She bowed deeply toward Eric and said with deep gratitude, "Thank you, little brother. I have never seen such a beautiful bow before in my life. Even the Batley City Guild Store doesn't have such a nice-looking bow; in fact, they haven't had any Tier-rank bows for a long time. I truly don't know how to thank you."
Eric waved it off again, "Don't thank me; this bow was made by Lyria and Livy, so thank them."
There was a reason he decided to reveal that fact and also give Brunhild the bow for free. Basically, it was free marketing to seduce more customers, and more importantly, he was just too happy to have found a gun.
All six of them gawked at Lyria and Livy, who were seated on both sides of Eric.
Noticing that both girls smiled like angels while nodding at them, they hissed audibly while taking sharp deep breaths.
They didn't know what to say, but in their minds, they were yelling and screaming.
If not for their complete trust toward all three of them, they would have heavily doubted it was even possible. Alchemy potions were still acceptable, but to create such a beautiful-looking, high-grade Tier 1 weapon and then put a rune over it was not something even a typical late-stage Rank 3 Mana Wielder could do! However, they didn't doubt these three, as they were all simply too mysterious.
Brunhild didn't question it and quickly bowed twice toward Lyria and Livy, speaking with similar heartfelt gratitude, "Thank you, little sister Lyria, Livy; you girls are so amazing. Thank you!"
Livy laughed embarrassedly and waved her hand to show it was alright.
Lyria nodded gracefully and accepted Brunhild's gratitude. But she was a little confused internally.
Wasn't it better to sell those in stores? A lot of money was missed. She wouldn't blame Eric even if he decided to give away all their weapons, but she would definitely ask him about it later. After all, it wasn't good to suppress things in her heart and stay quiet about her doubts, and Eric had told them multiple times to be open and ask or say anything if they felt like it.
Brunhild turned to Eric and bowed once again. Only after that did she sit back down amidst her still red-eyed, jealous teammates.
Eilif, while scratching his head, laughed awkwardly and spoke with a longing tone, "I always wanted to become a blacksmith but never had the opportunity. But I am certain that even if I had practiced for decades, I might only be able to create a low-grade Tier 1 weapon, not something as beautiful as this bow—not to mention it being high grade. All I can say is, I am amazed and feel completely defeated. Hahaha."
Everyone smiled at Eilif's words, and the previous shocked atmosphere dissipated, returning to normal.
Caius couldn't help but ask, "I don't want to doubt you, but did the little sisters really create this bow?" His voice was filled with anticipation.
Lyria and Livy nodded in acknowledgment. Since Eric had already said so, there was no reason to hide it.
Just as Caius opened his mouth to request some weapons for himself as well, Eric said in a calm voice, "Brother Caius, and the rest of you too. I still have some Tier 1 weapons ready to be sold. If you guys can bring the necessary Mana Stones, I can sell them to you according to your weapon choice. All of them have runes, but the five of you don't need to pay extra for them; just pay according to the base weapon's price." It was always important to keep business partners happy, and since there were only five of them, it was a minor concession.
Caius and the others' eyes shone like stars. They hadn't yet realized that most of them didn't even have half the money required to purchase a normal Tier 1 weapon.
Eric reminded them, "This is only for the five of you. I have more, so you guys can tell your friends in Batley City, but they will need to pay 50% more for the runes. I believe it will still be a bargain for them. Also, as I mentioned previously, I don't have any without a rune. Finally, I must request you all not to mention us to anyone else. I don't want any trouble, but if it comes, I also won't hesitate to kill them, understood?"
Caius and the others gulped and quickly agreed.
They didn't doubt that Eric had the necessary strength to kill even a Rank 3; the necromancer Rottgar had died from just a thrown stone. If Eric used his preferred weapon, then perhaps even Guild Master Rodger might not be his opponent. Well, that might be a bit exaggerated, but with both Lyria and Livy beside him, their trio was simply too strong and capable.
Eric felt it was better to sell weapons through Caius and the others instead of going to a store themselves, as that would invariably provoke the greed of others and bring pointless trouble to their doorstep.
Before leaving the Silvia Kingdom, Eric didn't want to complicate things and receive bounties or other negative reputations.
If they received bounties, then Ringwood Town would eventually suffer. He wouldn't mind if Caius and the others later learned they were from Ringwood Town, but if possible, he didn't want the town to suffer due to their carelessness. They needed to collect 30,000, if not 40,000 Mana Stones quickly, leave Batley City, and eventually leave the Silvia Kingdom entirely. Only after that could they relax and embrace the world with their true destructive nature; until then, it was better to stay away from becoming a headline.
Caius' eyes were practically glowing. He asked in a low voice, so as not to disappoint the trio in case he was wrong, "Little brother and sisters, do you guys happen to have peak-grade Tier 1 weapons? There are a few people I know who might be interested in purchasing those; I am also one of them..."
Just as Eric was about to nod, his mouth twitched. He picked up his revolver, which was lying on his lap, and shot twice into the darkness behind Caius.
BANG! BANG!
"Uh..." Two painful grunts echoed from the shadows.
Caius, Brunhild, and the others were startled. Only after hearing the two human voices from behind them did they realize they were being ambushed!
Following that, a third person from further back shouted, "Damn it, that Rank 1 must have the Dark Element! He saw through our Dark Shroud spell. Everyone, let's kill them all! Leave the four women half-crippled; I want to include them in my personal slave collection!"
"Ohhhh!" A few voices responded from the darkness.
Caius, Brunhild, Elianor, Garrick, Eilif, and Thorne jumped to their feet, drawing their weapons.
Brunhild was bursting with rage but was also enthusiastic to use her new bow for the first time.
Only Eric, Lyria, and Livy remained seated in their original positions, though both girls were ready to take action at a moment's notice, feeling deeply frustrated. Even they had missed noticing the spell and the ambush.
"Little Brother Eric, thank you; we were in serious danger otherwise. Leave them to us!"
After saying this, Caius dashed toward the two who had been shot by Eric.
Although those two hadn't died, their torsos now had new holes; clearly, both Rank 2s were unprepared to suddenly receive an attack from Eric.
As the fight broke out, Livy asked, "Brother Eric, do we participate?"
"Nah, leave them be. There is only one early-stage Rank 3 and a few Rank 2s. Caius and the others should be able to handle them. If necessary, we will throw stones."
Lyria and Livy giggled and picked up a few pebbles from the ground to support those in need.
Eric leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. He narrowed his eyes and, while staring at the dark-cloak-wearing group, muttered, "There are really too many necromancers here. Is Batley City facing some sort of trouble? I doubt this could be a common occurrence."
The group attacking them were necromancers; it wasn't hard to guess given their outfits and spells. Eric could even see they were very capable and experienced. If this were a common occurrence, then Caius and the others would have died just after walking out of Batley City, as they were much weaker and lacked experience compared to these tricky necromancers.
"I also feel it's weird," Lyria agreed. "The last village was already strange, and now this, and we are just three to four days away from the city. If this were normal, then no travelers could have ever survived upon leaving the city."
Eric nodded and watched the rest of the battle.
He didn't personally intervene, but Lyria and Livy occasionally threw stones to help those in need. It didn't cause any major damage, but it effectively distracted the necromancers.
Eventually, Caius and the others managed to take down all the enemies.
Brunhild's bow came in handy, and she even managed to injure the early-stage Rank 3 and kill two Rank 2s. She had the highest kill and assist score and was currently hugging her new bow like it was her baby, while the rest of the team members stared at her with red eyes, filled with jealousy.
They couldn't wait to have their own, though most of them would have to borrow money to afford it.
They then set up some traps around the camp, decided on the people who would keep watch, and the rest went to sleep.
Eric, Lyria, and Livy received VIP treatment and didn't have to stay awake to guard. They decided they would ask the next day why there were so many necromancers around.