Eleanor Claus, or more popularly known as the Bow Empress, was one of the few rare female Imperials in the world.
Before her, bows were only used in the army in large-scale wars, and nobody took the bow as an individual weapon for combat due to its low battle efficiency.
Her story, in itself, is a legend. Coming from a noble family of swordsmen, she, as a descendant, did not have a talent for it. This was a huge blow to her.
But no one knew that from a young age, Eleanor had no interest in swords. She had completely fallen in love with the bow.
Taking her bow, she embarked on a journey as an adventurer, creating many legends along the way. She had created her path of the bow, completely changing people's perception of it.
'Umm, okay time to start the act!!'
As a child in love with bows, I started examining each bow in the shop with total admiration.
"Wow, this bow is amazing," I pointed at a random bow, exclaiming. "Mia, I am going to be an archer in the future! The bows are amazing. I want to be just like the Bow Empress when I grow up."
After that, I started going around each bow, touching it, and using it as if I were obsessed with it while keeping a discreet eye on the Bow Empress.
I could see that she had started paying attention to me ever since I said that I wanted to be like her. Not only that but there were also notifications rising above her head too.
+10 affection.
+12 affection.
+10 affection.
She was giving out small levels of affection at a time. After a few minutes, she finally made her move.
"Do you think that the bow is strong?"
Finally, the Bow Empress spoke. Her voice was sweet and melodious. Stopping the actions, I looked towards her.
"Of course! Bows are the best," I said, giving her an innocent smile.
+20 affection.
"Why do you want to take up the bow?"
"So that I can protect my family," I put on a determined expression when I said it. My answer must have surprised her because she raised an eyebrow at my answer along with some points.
+25 affection.
"Why the bow?"
"So that I can always have their back and if it ever comes to it, use myself to provide them protection," I answered her, looking directly into her eyes. For a few moments, silence lingered in the room as the adults took in the courageous words from an 8-year-old child.
After a few seconds, Eleanor placed the book down from her hands and looked deeply into me. And when she did, I could see that her cool expression was soon replaced with deep shock. Her eyes widened, and the aura around her started fluctuating here and there as if she couldn't believe what she saw. At the time, the guards around me started arranging themselves to protect me.
'What's happening? I know that she will be surprised, but why this much?'
What Austin didn't know is that while it is indeed rare to have a foundation before ten years of age, his foundation wasn't anything like that. Not only was his foundation unnaturally strong, but he was also a tier 3!
When a kid forms his foundation, the tier growth represents the final form of the foundation, but the solution Austin took directly brought him to tier 3.
The only reason Austin didn't feel it was that he didn't know the difference. So basically, what Eleanor was seeing was something impossible. You couldn't blame her for reacting to life after seeing Austin.
After some time, she calmed down, in the end, she was an Imperial, she had seen many things others hadn't so she was able to reel herself back quickly.
Taking a deep breath, she looked at the boy in front of her. The boy looked to be about 8 years old, with purple eyes and silver hair. His cute face displayed confusion instead of fear.
'Looks like I found my choice,' she smirked, thinking of how she was going to boast about her discipline to her friends who always rubbed it in her face about theirs.
"Boy, do you want to learn how to use a bow?" she asked.
'Ohh, finally you asked me, I was scared that something went wrong,' I thought.
"Can you teach me to be as great as the Bow Empress?" I asked, anticipating.
"I can teach you to be better than her," she replied.
"Young master, don't listen to this woman! We don't know who she is!" Mia stood in front of me, and at the same time, the other guards drew their blades ready for battle.
"Ohhh, are you perhaps the son of the Duchess Grace?" I nodded to her question.
"Good, then you may leave now. I will meet you later," she said.
The guards were clearly angered by her remarks, and just as when a battle was about to erupt, I jumped in front of them and blocked it.
"Young master!!!"
"Young master, move away! This woman might be dangerous," the guards tried to persuade me to move away so as not to protect the woman.
'You bunch of idiots, the one I am protecting is you!! Plus, don't you think I should use this opportunity to earn some point of affection?' I thought.
"No need to fight, this big sister doesn't seem like a bad person," I replied intentionally buttering my now going-to-be master. Turning around, I apologized to her.
"I am sorry for causing the commotion."
After I said that, she walked towards me and ruffled my hair.
"Don't worry about it, this big sister is not mad."
I could feel a bit of happiness and gloating when she said the words "big sister."
'Tsk, women,' I inwardly rolled my eyes.
After chatting with me for a bit, I and my guards headed out.
"Young master, where do you want to go now?" the guards asked.
"Now?" I looked towards a certain area while smiling inwardly. "To eat."