“So that’s how you do it, Alicia, Sirius,” I instructed the twins. “The trick is not to throw too hard. Also, we don’t mind if you cast Strengthen.”
“Okay, got it,” Alicia beamed.
“Yeah, I’ll give it a go too,” said Sirius.
Alicia went first. She cast Strengthen and fixed her eyes on the pins with a look of determination as she focused mana into the ball and threw. Her form was so good you wouldn’t have thought it was her first time. The ball progressed slowly down the lane and took down five pins.
“That’s amazing, Alicia, getting five pins on your first try! Most beginners have a hard time even hitting the pins.”
“Thank you, Milia. It’s because you and Master Arius showed us how first. I think I held back on my power a little too much, though.” With a serious expression, Alicia threw her second ball with a little more power this time, and she took down the remaining five pins. She’d done well on correcting.
The twins weren’t just normal children. They practiced with the family tutor every day, a former A-rank adventurer. They were only nine years old but already level 8.
“Good job, Alicia!” Milia held out her hand, and Alicia happily smacked it with hers.
“Thank you, Milia!”
Next was Sirius. He also cast Strengthen and focused mana into his ball before throwing, his expression intense as he looked ahead. The ball slanted right toward the front pin and took down all ten.
Looking happy, he came back, and Milia gave him a high five too. “You’re amazing too, Sirius! Is this really the first time you two have gone bowling?”
“That’s unfair. Sirius only did better because he got to see what I did wrong!” complained Alicia with annoyance.
“That doesn’t change the fact that I did better,” Sirius said smugly.
“Don’t fight you two,” I cautioned. “We came here to have fun.”
“We’re sorry!” the pair of them replied, the fight going out of them instantly.
I patted their heads. “Good. Have fun.”
“We will!” they said in unison.
“You really do seem like a good big brother,” smiled Sophia as she watched us.
It was her and Vern up next.
“Hm, so Alicia got a spare, and Sirius got a strike. But don’t think I’m going to let them beat me!” challenged Vern. He practically pummeled the pins into a strike.
Sophia threw the ball using a gentle form without much power behind it and got a strike as well. She and Milia happily high-fived when she got back to her seat.
“Everyone’s getting strikes like it’s nothing,” observed Zeke.
“I don’t think I can do as well as everyone else,” Sasha lamented.
They were up next. Zeke’s first throw took down eight pins, and he got the remaining two with his second for a spare. Sasha’s throw was very “girly,” and she ended up getting six pins.
“Too bad, Sasha,” Sophia consoled. She and Milia approached her when she came back to her seat.
“E-Everyone’s so good. It’s a lot of pressure on a beginner like me,” Noelle said.
She was last. Apparently, this was also her first time at the arcade. She awkwardly threw the ball, which slanted into the gutter. Noelle wasn’t the most athletic of people.
“Urgh… I knew it. I messed up,” she muttered.
“It’s all right, Noelle. It’s just a game. What’s important is having fun. Here. When you throw, keep your eyes on the pins, and extend your arm straight like this,” I explained as I went over and took her arm to show her the form for an underthrow.
“A-Arius… O-Okay. I’ll give it a go.”
Her face was bright red, and Milia and Sophia were staring at me, but all I was doing was showing her how to throw.
She slowly tossed the ball from below, which rolled weakly down the lane, just about managing to avoid the gutter and take out three pins.
“L-Look, Arius, I did it!”
“Good job.” When she came back, I held my hand up, and she bashfully tapped it with hers.
“Way to go, Noelle!” cheered Milia.
“Yeah. Getting three pins on your first try at bowling is plenty,” said Sophia.
The two of them and Sasha gathered around Noelle when she came back to her seat.
The game continued, and I made my tenth throw. My ball took the same trajectory as my first throw and took down all ten pins.
“A perfect game right off the bat… You really are ruthless, Arius,” Milia sighed again, looking exasperated.
“That’s very like him,” teased Sophia, smiling.
But it wasn’t like my target was moving as fast as monsters in an extreme-difficulty dungeon. They were sitting still, and all I was doing was repeating the same motions I’d done to get my first strike, which guaranteed me a strike each time.
Everyone else got good scores across the board as well. Milia got over 200 points, Vern and Sophia got about 180. Zeke, Alicia, and Sirius got around 150.
This was Alicia and Sirius’s first time bowling, but they trained every day, so they had strong fundamentals. The twins’ scores improved over time because they were good at observing and adapting. However, their mana manipulation wasn’t at the point where they could use it to adjust the trajectory of their balls. It was basically giving them a power boost. They also had high stats because they were Darius and Rhea’s children.
Sasha got about 80 points, and Noelle got 60, but that was fine since everyone seemed to be having fun.
Once we finished, we were about to move to another game when Sirius and Alicia approached the guards.
“Thank you for working so hard,” Sirius said.
“Would you like a drink?” Alicia asked.
The two had gone to the snack bar to buy drinks and were passing them out to the guards stationed around us. The guards seemed a little thrown off balance by the unexpected offer.