"My goodness! Is there something wrong with this traveler's head?"
"Maybe even riding a wooden horse can create a miracle! After all, he just defeated Hegdal!"
"That's a valid point, but everyone else is Thousand Mile Horse; how can he possibly surpass them?"
Not only were the surrounding audience stunned, but even the commentator and Reiko were completely dumbfounded.
"What's wrong with Shiyu? He actually chose a rocking horse?"
"However, this guy always manages to create miracles, and I believe he can definitely win!" Reiko knows Shiyu well; he wouldn't do something without absolute certainty.
Shiyu also gave Reiko an OK sign.
"It seems the traveler named Shiyu is in good form! He chose horse number one; can he threaten the other four?" The commentator was trying to liven up the atmosphere.
"Next, begin distributing the bows and arrows," Elder Sambala said.
There was indeed nothing wrong with the bows and arrows. The villagers distributed the bows and arrows to the five contestants, Shiyu immediately stopped the person distributing the bows and arrows.
"Could you give me some more bows and arrows?" Shiyu asked.
"Ha, are you afraid you won't hit the target, so you want more? No problem! Here are some more for you!" The person distributing the bows and arrows said that he had seen many people like Shiyu. In a critical moment, he probably wouldn't even be able to hit the target with a single arrow, so he took more bows and arrows to bolster his confidence.
Shiyu, however, had completely different thoughts.
After the bows and Kazuma were chosen, Elder Sambala, in a very humane way, explained the rules again to everyone, Shiyu naturally memorized them completely.
"Everyone! Ready!"
"The match begins!" The referee waved his hand, and all the contestants rushed forward.
"Number 6, Blazing Flame, is in the lead! Number 5, Black Rose, is close behind, with Numbers 3 and 4 also hot on their heels. Number 1 and his rocking horse remain completely still."
Everyone burst into laughter.
"I knew it! It's just a rocking horse; it can't run. No matter how powerful it is, it's useless now."
"Sigh, I didn't expect him to choose the rocking horse. Even if he had chosen the alpaca, at least he could have crossed the finish line, right?" Elder Sambala was also somewhat regretful. He shouldn't have tricked Shiyu. But then he thought about it again and saw that Shiyu was not flustered at all. He vaguely guessed that Shiyu must still have some trump cards up his sleeve.
"I hope you won't disappoint me. I know you're definitely not an ordinary person," Elder Sambala muttered to himself, looking at Shiyu.
Despite the fierce competition from the other contestants, Shiyu remained motionless.
After most of the contestants had left, Shiyu finally made a move to prepare to set off.
However, the surrounding audience had already lost all interest in Shiyu.
"Sigh, contestant number 1 has no chance. Look at him, he's still stuck at the starting line after all this time. Even if he had the speed of Blazing Flame now, and didn't shoot arrows, he probably wouldn't be able to catch up."
"Yes, the gap is too big after all, but I don't think he's completely lost yet. There's at least one possibility that he'll win."
What's possible?
"That means his rocking horse suddenly grows wings and flies; he'll probably win for sure."
"Haha, you're kidding! How could a Trojan horse grow wings?"
However, just as the two spectators were joking around, a huge, light-colored gray wing actually sprouted from the rocking horse, flapping at an alarming speed.
"My God! Am I dreaming? The rocking horse really grew wings!"
"Isn't this real?"
"Smack!"
"Ouch! I'm not dreaming! The rocking horse really grew wings and flew away!"
Shiyu didn't actually make the wooden horse grow wings; Shiyu simply captured it and used Susanoo, merely making the wings visible.
Shiyu was incredibly fast, and in an instant he flew to the first target. As requested by Shiyu, the quiver was naturally filled with arrows. Shiyu drew his bow and nocked an arrow.
Shiyu's eyes locked onto the target, and with a few "whoosh! whoosh! whoosh! whoosh!" sounds, followed by "rat-a-tat-tat-tat!" countless arrows struck the bullseye.
Without any delay, Shiyu went to the second and then the last target, shooting the last tenth of his arrows onto the target.
Just as Blazing Flame No. 6 and Black Rose No. 5 were about to cross the finish line, a gray light suddenly flashed by and crossed the finish line ahead of them.
When the jockeys number 6 and 5 saw that the person who had overtaken them was Shiyu, they almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
"What's going on? Riding a rocking horse? And he's the first to cross the finish line?!"
"Are we seeing ghosts? Has his wooden horse grown wings?"
Both jockeys number 6 and 5 were stunned. They hadn't fully accepted the fact and still couldn't believe that Shiyu had outpaced them on his wooden horse.
Soon, numbers 3 and 4 also crossed the finish line, and the race finally came to an end.
"The first person to finish the race is contestant number 1 and his little wooden horse!" Elder Sambala announced this fact with great pride, while contestants number 5 and 6 clearly expressed their dissatisfaction.
"If you insist that he was first, then fine. Let's count the number of arrows on the target and their accuracy. I'm definitely first!" contestant number 5 said.
"I remember you missed the center a lot, didn't you?" contestant number 6 said skeptically.
"But I left behind a lot of arrows!" contestant number 5 said proudly.
Elder Sambala received the statistics and then said, "Numbers three and four are eliminated; they are slow, and their accuracy and number of arrows are the lowest. Number five left a whopping 15 arrows on the target! And ten of them hit the bullseye! That's really impressive!"
Number Five then patted Shiyu on the shoulder with a smug expression and said, "Traveler, you didn't lose to me in this aspect!"
Number Six shook his head and said, "Don't be so smug, the outcome is still uncertain."
As expected, Elder Sambala said, "Although only 10 arrows from number six landed on the target, all 10 hit the bullseye. This proves that number six's arrows never miss, hitting the bullseye ten times out of ten! Truly worthy of being our village's sharpshooter!"
"Haha! I knew it! My archery skills are better than yours! Looks like I'm the champion this time, right?" Number 6 naturally became smug.
Sambala then said, "Traveler, I'm sorry, you've hit the bullseye too many times; we haven't calculated it yet."
After a staff member came over and said a few words, Sambala said, "Perfect! The statistics are complete!"
"Shiyu, you shot one hundred and one arrows! One hundred hit the bullseye!" Sambala also revealed a meaningful smile.
"Of course, there was also an arrow that hit the bow itself, which we've included in that count!"
"You really are! You're always right!"