After finishing their food, Jiang Yan's group followed Yae Miko toward the massive crowd gathered nearby.
According to Yae Miko, this year's Mikawa Festival was different from previous years and had added many new activities.
And unlike the other attractions Jiang Yan and the others had passed earlier, this one seemed to be among the newly introduced events for this year's festival.
It was called the Archery Competition.
Since it was a brand-new event, everyone was curious about it.
As soon as it opened, it immediately attracted huge numbers of spectators.
The competition itself was mostly for entertainment.
In simple terms, anyone—regardless of age or gender—could participate.
The top three contestants would receive commemorative prizes prepared by the organizers.
Even the remaining participants would get consolation prizes and carefully made sweets.
Naturally, the event drew the attention of Jiang Yan and the girls beside him.
The four little ones in front of him were especially eager to try.
"Master, Master! Can we join too? Those desserts look really yummy!"
Little Ningguang looked up at Jiang Yan expectantly.
"Beidou wants to join too! It looks super fun!"
Beidou immediately chimed in.
As for Shenhe and Sara, they didn't say anything, but the excitement shining in their eyes already gave them away.
Seeing the anticipation in their gazes, Jiang Yan really couldn't refuse.
"Alright then. Since you want to participate, go have fun."
He smiled as he rubbed little Ningguang's head.
Then he turned toward Ganyu, Raiden Makoto, and the others.
"I'll take them over to have a look. Want to come too?"
Makoto naturally had no objections. After all, today was meant to be a day of fun.
Raiden Ei, meanwhile, seemed genuinely interested in the archery event.
As a kagemusha, she was highly proficient with all kinds of weapons.
Seeing everyone agree, Jiang Yan simply said:
"Then let's all go together."
The girls exchanged glances and nodded.
Soon, Jiang Yan led everyone toward the archery range.
The place was packed shoulder to shoulder.
Besides spectators, there were many contestants too, spanning all age groups.
Still, children as young as Ningguang and Sara were relatively rare.
After all, for little kids like them, simply drawing a bow could already be difficult.
When registering them, even the staff suspected the children wouldn't be able to pull the bowstring.
Only after repeatedly confirming that they truly wanted to participate did the staff finally register the four little girls.
Jiang Yan was actually quite satisfied with their attitude.
Although they doubted whether the children could use the bows, none of them mocked or discouraged the girls.
Instead, they encouraged them and wished them good results.
Soon, Jiang Yan brought the little ones into the range.
To maintain fairness, all contestants had to use standardized bows.
Since this was an entertainment event, the organizers hadn't prepared anything fancy—just ordinary hunting bows.
Yes, the exact kind of one-star Hunter's Bow that Jiang Yan used as enhancement fodder back in his previous life's game.
The one-star Hunter's Bow was one of the most common bows in Teyvat.
It was also the most widely used bow among ordinary people.
As for its damage...
Well, it was decent enough for hunting wild boars.
But against monsters?
You'd only end up getting beaten up.
Its power was pitifully low.
However, the little girls clearly didn't think that way.
Especially little Sara.
The other three were fine because Jiang Yan had already given them five-star weapons, and they were still young, so they didn't care much about weapon quality.
They were more interested in the novelty of trying a different weapon type.
After all, Ningguang used catalysts, Beidou used claymores, and Shenhe used polearms.
But Sara was different.
The moment she saw the hunting bow, her eyes sparkled brightly.
She looked incredibly excited.
Before following Jiang Yan, she had always used crude hunting bows while living in the mountains.
Why crude?
Because she made them herself.
Compared to those rough handmade bows, this one-star Hunter's Bow was already an incredibly precious weapon to her.
She gently stroked the bowstring, her face full of delight.
Like a child receiving her favorite toy.
To Sara, bows were exactly that—her favorite toys.
Jiang Yan noticed all of this and smiled softly.
Just an ordinary hunting bow was enough to make the little girl this happy.
If he gave her a five-star bow someday, wouldn't she bounce around in excitement?
The image amused him greatly.
Come to think of it, he actually did have a five-star bow.
The one he'd gotten from Venti along with the Sky series weapons—
Skyward Harp.
Maybe he should just give the Skyward Harp to little Sara later.
After all, the Sky series weapons had just been sitting in storage collecting dust.
Originally, he'd wanted to provide more weapon options for Ningguang and the others.
But none of the little girls had chosen the Sky series weapons, and Jiang Yan couldn't exactly return them.
Especially since that drunk bard had practically buried himself in Liyue's wine cellars.
So Jiang Yan had simply tossed the weapons into his storage space.
After watching Sara for a moment, Jiang Yan turned toward the other three.
Compared to Sara, the others were clearly unfamiliar with bows.
So Jiang Yan walked over and patiently taught them how to properly use one.
After all, as their master, teaching them this much was only natural.
Little Beidou was especially strong and kept drawing the bowstring to its absolute limit.
Jiang Yan was genuinely worried she'd snap the string and quickly told her to hold back a little.
Beidou puffed her cheeks unhappily.
"This isn't fun at all. Claymores are way more comfortable."
Shenhe nodded seriously in agreement.
"I'm used to spears. This kind of weapon feels strange."
Ningguang, meanwhile, adapted fairly quickly.
The only issue was that she lacked the strength of the others, so drawing the bow required much more effort from her.
Jiang Yan patiently guided each little girl one by one.
As for Sara, however, he barely needed to teach her anything.
Having hunted since childhood, she was already highly proficient with bows.
Among all the children, Jiang Yan was most confident in her.
Soon, the competition officially began.
Each participant had ten arrows.
Points would be awarded based on accuracy, and the final scores would be totaled after all ten shots.
Since the girls were too short, Jiang Yan casually used the Reality Stone's power to create little stools beneath them.
Standing on them made things just right.
The round itself ended quickly due to the small number of shots.
Little Ningguang, Shenhe, and Beidou all focused seriously during the competition.
But because it was their first time shooting, their inexperience showed.
Their scores all hovered around sixty points.
Average, but respectable.
Although their scores weren't high, the three little girls had an absolute blast.
After all, they'd only come to experience something new.
There was no way they'd win first place on their first attempt.
The important part was participating.
Perhaps because they'd spent so much time around Jiang Yan, all three girls were extremely optimistic.
But little Sara's performance genuinely surprised Jiang Yan.
Perhaps because she'd spent her childhood hunting in the mountains, her archery skills were remarkably polished.
Combined with her Tengu bloodline, she naturally possessed exceptional advantages in archery.
One arrow after another shot forth at astonishing speed.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Five arrows flew in rapid succession like stars linked together, each landing near the bullseye.
The audience erupted into gasps.
Nobody had expected such a small girl to be this incredible.
But immediately afterward, cheers erupted from another side as well.
Jiang Yan looked over.
There stood another little girl around Sara's age.
She had light golden hair and wore bright red clothing decorated with gorgeous fireworks patterns.
At that moment, she smiled cheerfully while continuously releasing arrows.
Every shot landed near the center.
She was evenly matched with Sara.
The two little girls seemed to become rivals instantly, firing arrow after arrow.
Jiang Yan simply stood there quietly watching their duel, smiling silently.
Sara's displayed skill already shocked him enough.
After all, for a child with no formal training to possess such technique was already extraordinary talent.
And if Sara's skill came from mountain hunting...
Then the other little girl's talent was downright terrifying.
Not just Jiang Yan—everyone present was astonished by the pair's performance.
They were simply amazing.
Soon, the final scores were tallied.
Sara: 90 points.
The other girl: 89 points.
Sara had only barely edged out victory by a single point.
If the final arrow hadn't landed just slightly off-center, the winner might have been the other girl instead.
After the awards were distributed, the organizer handed out beautifully crafted little figurines.
The figurines were intricately carved with decorative patterns and looked quite lovely.
Of course, since this was only an entertainment event, nobody expected extravagant prizes.
Just then, the little girl who had competed fiercely against Sara suddenly ran over.
"Hello, big sister! My name is Yoimiya!"
The little girl's smile was incredibly sweet.
Sara froze for a moment before nodding.
"H-Hello... I'm Sara."
"Sara? Wow! That's such a pretty name!"
Yoimiya's eyes lit up immediately.
"Your archery is amazing! Could you teach me sometime?"
"Of course, I won't let you teach me for free!"
"How about I treat you to fireworks?"
Faced with Yoimiya's enthusiasm, Sara visibly became flustered.
She instinctively turned to look at Jiang Yan behind her.
At this moment, Jiang Yan was also surprised.
So this little girl was actually the future fireworks-loving Pyro carry?
When he noticed Sara's pleading gaze, Jiang Yan chuckled softly.
"It's alright. Just follow your own feelings."
"You don't need to worry about me."
Seeing that Jiang Yan didn't object, Sara finally relaxed.
Turning back toward Yoimiya, she nodded lightly.
"I can teach you archery, but... um... what are fireworks?"
Having grown up isolated in the mountains, Sara had never even heard the word before.
Only after meeting Jiang Yan had she finally stepped out of the wilderness and into the wider world.
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