Chapter 13 - Mysterious Archer

"So, did you pick a mask?" Max asked with interest.

"Of course! I got two."

Having not seen the mask Theo picked, Max asked, "Show me! wait, your hands are empty, where's the mask?"

"Secret" Theo replied.

Rolling his eyes, Max's then stopped asking about them. He guessed that Theo did the same trick he had done with the throwing knife.

"It looks like it's almost curfew time, let's head back." Theo reminded Max who then nodded in agreement.

On his was back, Theo felt that its been a while since he had practised his Archery skill and should probably continue practising. He could sneak out of the academy easily without detection, but would still needed to find a place to practise which is vexing.

He could ask Max as it's obvious he would know all the hidden places as a prince but by asking would expose that he already knew Max's identity and he couldn't say that he has seen a portrait of the prince or seen Max from a distance before as Max was currently using a disguise. So how could he say that he recognised him when the two features are obviously different.

Which leads back to the question, where can be practise Archery?

Looking at the skills he had an idea suddenly clicked.

'I can just use my disguise skill to change my height and features, sneak into the open Archery field and practise there. I'll wear the older students uniform so even if I am seen, the first place they would look at is the 14 year old students.' Theo thought.

He could sneak out in the middle of the night, practice an hour or two and return everyday. This would definitely increase his mastery.

As for his roomie, deep in his guts he had a feeling the prince could be trusted. The always believed in his gut feelings. So far from their interaction, it seems to be true, thus he wasn't too worried even if Max somehow discovered.

During the next few days, Theo would sneak out practice Archery and return. Much to his surprise, Max never noticed when left.

He loved using the new high grade bow that he got. The arrow shot were many time faster and more accurate than when he used his old bow. It helped increase his mastery and Proficiency faster than when he was practising with his old bow.

He continued his daily routine with an addition of practising Archery everyday.

During the day, he went to class with Max while keeping his Fade - out skill activated in the academy.

There was a group of students sitting in front of Theo and Max. They could hear the conversation the students were having,

"Hey have you heard?"

"What?"

"Apparently there's a high - grade Archer studying I'm the school."

"Studying? Are you sure it isn't teaching?"

"Apparently the school had placed more teaching monitors and strengthened the curfew at the 3rd Years boarding to find out who he is."

"Won't the teacher know who it is during the Archery combat class?"

"That's the odd thing, most of the Archers are still a beginner - grade with a few being an intermediate - grade archer. How is the high - grade Archer hiding amongst them. If he were to bring down his grade, he would at most show up as an advanced grade Archer."

"So, who or where do you think that Archer is?"

"The witness described the Archer to be between the age of 13 and 14, but they cracked down the 3rd year since he was wearing the 3rd year uniform. So you could eliminate the 5th, 4th and 3rd year, leaving the 1st and 2nd year."

Gasp!!!

"Goodness, a 12 -13 year old high grade Archer?"

"Impossible. I've cracked the case, it's not a student, that's the spirit of a legendary Archer student who passed away long ago."

Max listened to the conversation with interest while Theo found it extremely amusing, he went from being a 3rd year to being a spirit ghost.

Max didn't know the reason but he immediately thought of Theo when he heard the story. However giving it a proper thought, he shook his head and laughed at his thought.

He already knows that Theo had only practised swordsmanship back in his territory, he is a master blacksmith as well, it is impossible for it to be Theo.

Even with all the reasoning something told him it's related to Theo. He then looked at Theo to see that he didn't seem to care about the conversation as it was irrelevant to him.

Theo took the opportunity to check his Archery skill,

• Archery lvl 4

- High Grade Archer

- Proficiency: 56%

Although the efficiency of his progress increased ever since he got a better bow, Theo know that it would be more and more difficult to progress as the mastery increased.

After hearing the conversation, Theo thought that it would be better to pause his Archery practise. Although he wasn't worried as it'll be impossible to link it to him, it's still better to be safe than sorry.

Having been in the academy for almost a year, Theo noticed that ever since the first encounter with the assassins, no assassins were sent since.

Looking at the money he got from selling swords and daggers,

'I won't be needing so much money anytime soon. I can use this to earn more for future uses.' Theo thought.

In the ended he thought that he could open an inn at the outskirts of the capital. Adventurers, mercenaries and the like would normally choose to stay at inns on the outskirt as it was cheaper and most of them would only stay for a night or two before continuing their journey which would be more convenient.

With that, he left Max to practise his spear on his own while he left to the outskirts. Since Theo teleported into the capital, he never noticed how big it was, so he ended up renting a carriage as it might take a while if he walked.