Boom looked around as he descended the stage and caught sight of Kandy.

Grinning, Boom maneuvered his way through the dispersing crowd and grabbed Kandy by the collar, dragging him to the side of the town square before he could escape.

“H-hey! What are you doing?” Kandy shouted.

Boom let go of Kandy’s collar. “Just getting you out of the way. What are you doing? Explore! Go have fun!”

“But what about the orb?” Kandy asked. Truthfully, he was rather nervous. For whatever reason, it seemed like the strange inhabitants of this town weren’t friendly to outsiders.

What would happen if they found out he was one? Would they just kick him out? Would they kill him? Would they… feed him to that terrifying great wolf?

He gulped. Thankfully, Boom was too busy waxing poetic to notice Kandy’s discomfort.

“Ahh, don’t worry about it,” he said. “I said I’d fix it, didn’t I? Take your time and look around. I’m sure you’ll come to like our humble community. Just don’t cause any trouble. We’re all stuck in here together, after all.”

A few beads of sweat dripped down Kandy’s temple, but he quickly wiped them away as Boom hurried into the distance, presumably to go fix that orb he’d been talking about.

Forget everything else, it was time to get out of this place. Kandy briskly walked out of the town square, headed the way he’d come, but a store caught his eye.

He stopped and reached for his bow only to realize that, yes, he’d lost it in the commotion earlier. Same with his quiver and arrows.

And as luck would have it, what berries and other food he’d scavenged was gone too. If he were to return, empty-handed and having lost his weapons, he’d be the joke of the camp.

Yeah, alright. One stop wouldn’t hurt.

He took a final look at the outside of the archery store, which seemed to be built inside a large tree trunk. The symbol of a bow and arrow had been carved over the entrance, which was just a curtained hole that had been cut out of the side of the trunk.

Stepping through the cloth, Kandy found himself looking at the insides of what seemed to be quite a quaint store. There were a few barrels of arrows, with sets of bows and quivers hanging along the walls. There were easily a hundred sets on display, but they were spread out in a way that didn’t clutter the store.

In the far corner of the store, the shopkeeper leaned back in her chair behind the counter, drinking her cup of tea. With her teacup pinched between her thumb and index finger and her pinky raised to the stars, she was the epitome of elegance.

She stared at Kandy as she drank her tea, nonchalantly observing him as he stepped into the store.

As Kandy walked past the first few rows of bows, a creepy voice sounded from a rather demonic-looking bow.

“Hey, kid. Fancy a bow for a young soul? I’ll prepare the contract in a jiffy, hehehe!”

Kandy recoiled from the bow in disgust. As he did so, the shopkeeper calmly stood from her seat behind the counter, patted down what Kandy could only describe as a formal rangers outfit, and strode over to the offending bow with even, measured steps.

As she walked past Kandy, the latter spotted a chilling smile on her lips, one that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

She snatched the bow off the wall, sparking a string of curses from the bow. “Get your dirty hands off me, elf! I, the archdemon Nexion, will not stand for this—”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“—Oh shit.”

The elven shopkeeper raised the bow high into the air, then mercilessly smashed it against the ground, over and over.

The bow screamed at the top of its non-existent lungs.

After a few moments, the shopkeeper paused and looked at the bow. The bow didn’t have any eyes, but Kandy could almost imagine the bow staring back at the shopkeeper with puppy dog eyes.

“Stop, elf! I concede, I concede!” The bow pleaded for its life.

Alas, such pleading was ineffective as the shopkeeper resumed smashing the bow against the floor, which, oddly enough, didn’t seem to sustain any damage.

Soon enough, the demonic bow had been shattered into many pieces. The shopkeeper tapped her foot on the ground and the shop floor opened up and swallowed the shattered remains of the bow.

Kandy stared with wide eyes at the whole ordeal. Perhaps entering this shop had been a bad idea after all.

He grit his teeth. No. He had to return home with at least something in hand.

He reached out to grab a bow off the wall.

The shopkeeper, in the midst of returning to her seat, addressed him in a singsong voice. “I wouldn't do that if I were you, darling.”

Kandy clicked his tongue in response. “Why not? What, I can’t test the bows? What kind of shop are you running here anyway? What kind of payment do you take?”

The shopkeeper shrugged. “You’re new around here, then? The bows don’t cost anything. Just pay me back with a service of your own once you’re settled in.”

Kandy thought about it for a few moments before responding. “So it’s free? Cool. Then why can’t I grab the bow?”

“I just wouldn’t recommend it, darling. You can test any other bow, but that one’s not a good fit for you.”

Kandy scowled and reached for the bow anyway. “I don’t know what the hell you—”

He dropped to the ground, snoring.

The shopkeeper shook her head and picked up her cup of tea. “Fucking new guys.”

It wasn’t until the sun reached its peak that Kandy staggered his way out of the archery store, rubbing his eyes.

Apparently the bow he’d grabbed had some curse on it. Some sort of exhaustion…whatever. He hadn’t really listened to the lady. All he knew was that he’d come out of the store with a free bow, and a good one at that. It was actually pretty similar in style to his old bow, just a bit heavier and definitely of better quality.

The elf lady had even given him a free quiver and a bunch of arrows. Kandy wasn’t quite sure what the arrowtips were made of, but the arrows seemed to be of high quality otherwise. Definitely more liable to fly straight than his old, self-made ones.

Come to think of it, was that why he’d missed all those shots earlier? Was it just his own shoddy craftsmanship? Surely he was a good shot. Yeah, no. He was a good shot. It’d just been his crappy arrows. And surely the bow’s weight had been too light. Come to think of it, perhaps his old bow had warped over time. It’d been a while since he’d actually hit anything with it.

It was clear now. It’d all been the bow’s fault. And the arrows.

Kandy brightly smiled as he walked down the street and out of town, towards the town gate. Yep, it’d been a good day, all things considered. Perhaps he hadn’t hunted any food today, but his gains were far greater than any single meal. Even his father couldn’t fault him for finding and stealing such good equipment.

He glanced at one final sign as he approached the town gate. First he walked right past, but then he doubled back and read it properly.

Philo’s Phiery Phorge

On the one hand, it wouldn’t do to be too greedy. He’d already gotten a bow out of this adventure, and who knew how much longer he had until the barrier was back up? Having already slept for an hour or so, the barrier could be back up any minute.

He wasn’t sure exactly how long “fixing” a barrier took, and it wasn’t worth it to risk being stuck in here with these loony elves and fearsome great wolves and whatever the heck else he’d seen around town.

On the other hand, he didn’t have to pay for anything in this town, and if he could get a fancy dagger for his father…

Drool dripped out of Kandy’s mouth as he imagined his father singing his praises at the next holiday feast, fearsome dagger in hand.

As he got lost in his fantasies, he could hear the crackling of a homely fireplace as his old bones reclined in a crude wheelchair.

“Grandpa Kandy, tell us about the legendary mountain dagger again?” one of his grandchildren asked, tugging at his sleeve.

“Pleaaase,” another grandchild chimed in.

Yeah, alright. One more stop wouldn’t hurt.