"Choose quickly; I don't have all the time in the world."
Jean doesn't even try to sell the bows; on the contrary, he seems to want to kick us out as fast as possible to get back to his house.
"Master, I thought I had some knowledge of weapons, but now I realize how wrong I was."
"The same here; I never thought that a bow could have a square shape."
Yes, I am not lying. In a corner, there is a square bow.
I kept searching the walls until I found something incredible.
[Pulley Bow (Magic Imbued)] [Slots: (Empty) (Empty) (Empty)]
'Hahaha, who would have thought? I just found a treasure!'
Unexpectedly, a bow that has two wheels, one at the bottom and one at the top, would be listed as the best bow in this workshop, and not only that, but it has three empty slots! This implies that this creation reached the same level as a tempered steel sword, or even better!
"I want this. How much does it cost?"
"That?" He looked at me with incredible irritation.
'Is there something wrong?'
"No... it's just that it's too technical. I did it when I was drunk, but when I woke up, I realized it has great firepower. There's nothing magical about it, so I imbued it with magic to see if its shape would change, but nothing happened. It looks too modern for my taste. You can take it for five silver"
'5 silver coins? A tempered steel sword costs two gold!'
"Deal, here you have… Erick told me that another vendor near here has arrows for sale."
"Ah, my brother… Follow that dirt road and you will see his house."
"Wha-…" I didn't even finish thanking him when he left the place.
"Is that bow any good?"
"More than you imagine."
Very happy about this discovery, I put the bow in the inventory and followed the dirt road to the side of the workshop. Sometime later, I arrived in front of a wooden house that looked as if it would fall at the slightest rain.
"Hello! Is Marc the archer here?" After hitting and screaming, footsteps were heard inside the house, the wood creaking, and only then did the door open.
[Marc] [Lvl34 Archer]
"Tell me you are customers, or else I will close the door."
Marc has black hair, wears decent clothes, and is tall. He seems to be the youngest of the brothers, plus he seems more respectable, as someone you can talk to.
"Mn, we come to see your arrows."
"W-... Really? Do I have clients? Wow, I must have drunk a lot last night."
After speaking, he turned around… And slammed the door in our faces.
Emir: "…"
Alessia: "…"
I take back what I said, with none of these brothers, you can talk.
We knock on the door with more strength.
"Ah, sorry about that. After drinking, I'm used to seeing illusions, so I try to ignore them. I never thought you guys were real! Hahaha, what a surprise! I have clients…"
'Hey, don't pinch me. I'm real. Plus, you pinched yourself!'
"Actually, we just bought a bow from your brother," Alessia said.
"That must be a lie. Did you buy him a bow? Haa... Now he's going to get drunk like crazy. The last time he had money, he created incredibly strange bows; they looked like anything but bows." Marc shook his head.
'Hey, don't look so resigned.'
I was told that you also create arrows that don't look like arrows.
My thoughts came true seconds later. In Marc's workshop, there are dozens of boxes, each filled with one type of arrow. I picked one up in my hand and, for a moment, lost touch.
'Does this arrow have thorns? Hopefully, it doesn't have poison...'
"Why do you and your brother sell your items here and not in a store?" While looking for a treasure among the arrows, Alessia talked to Marc to stall for time.
"Mm, well. We used to have a store, and it went very well for us back then, but after a short time, we realized that we would never find a legendary bow that way. We would not be able to fulfill our father's dream…"
Without a mother, their father raised them by himself. Their father, from an early age, obtained the [Archer] class, so at the time of raising his children, he did the impossible to level up and get more money. By having it, he bought a better-quality bow, and his income practically doubled.
In short, basic needs come first, then a house. His bow gave him everything they have, so his father reinvested in a new bow, and things got even better.
"If our father had had a legendary bow, how high would he have reached?... Unfortunately, his life ended before the creation of our bows. As young people, we always insisted on improving the bow, and now as old people, we want to create something unique. Our store declined at that time, and since no one was interested in our works, we went back to our origins."
"I see, that's why your houses are in those conditions…"
"Mm? Ah, you're not wrong. We sold our father's house because we didn't have money to continue with our inventions."
Alessia: "…"
'I should have known! Their tragic story doesn't have a good ending!'
Because of their history, I slowed down my treasure hunt so I could pay attention to him.
And now I regret it.
Even when Alessia and Marc continued to talk, I turned a deaf ear and kept looking through the boxes. Minutes later, I found a treasure.
[Aluminum-Carbon Arrow (Magic Imbued)] [Slot: (Empty)]
'A- An arrow with an empty slot!! Am I seeing right?!'
I checked again and again, but its description didn't change. A simple arrow reached the level of having an empty slot!
"I want this box with all its arrows."
"That?" He looked at me with incredible irritation.
'Is there something wrong? Ah, I feel a big deja vu here.'
"They are just too technical. I even imbued them with magic to see if their appearance changed, but nothing happened. They remained the same. You can take them for a silver coin each. I would charge less but the creation process was very expensive"
"Deal, since there are 30... In total, they will cost me three gold coins"
*Swallow*
'Mn, I'm sure I heard him swallow when I said the final price.'
When I handed him the money, Marc seemed to forget about us and left without saying goodbye.
Emir: "…"
Alessia: "…"
"I'm going to close the garage door," Alessia says.
After leaving everything closed to prevent them from being stolen, something that the owner should have done, we left the house of the archer brothers.
We walked to the south sector, specifically speaking, to the library.
At the entrance, the guards checked our class and then charged us a copper coin each to gain entry. Inside, we could see countless corridors and shelves full of books. If it weren't for the posters, anyone would easily get lost.
"Can I help you with something, master? What are you looking for?"
"Mm… Don't worry, I'm looking for a few small things, nothing important… From your expression, it seems that you want to go investigate something; go ahead"
"Hehehe, Thank you. I'll be right back!"
'That adorable smile again… it makes me want to squeeze her cheeks. Unfortunately, she ran away immediately when I authorized her. Well… I will have to wait until next time.'
"Well, let's see where the letter 'E' is… There it is."
As I entered the corridor of the letter E, I saw two shelves full of books to my right and left. All the names start with the letter E, so I turned to the research subcategory.
[Loot Encyclopedia]
I appreciate the order of the library, otherwise, I would spend all day looking for this book.
Without holding back, I took the book and went to a table to read.
Page after page, I searched through the descriptions of dozens of items that monsters can drop until I finally found what I was looking for.
[Hell Eye] is the loot that is obtained through the monster called Hell Cat. Its drop will only appear on higher floor monsters... In the Great Labyrinth Altamira, Hell Cat appears very rarely in the No-Man's Zone on the 12th floor. The loot has little chance of dropping.
…In the Dim Sun labyrinth, the monster appears from floor 2 onwards. The loot fall is considered a miracle.]
'Dim Sun Labyrinth? Ah, I see… So, the golden labyrinth has such a name, huh? Colloquially, it is known as 'Bajamira' due to his low income. Of course, only I know that its walls are made of gold and that its monsters are adorable.'
[Ultracoustic Hearing] is obtained through the Hypnotic Bat monster.
…Altamira, it appears on the 14th floor in a very rare way…
... Dim Sun, it appears from the 6th floor; the loot fall is considered a miracle.]
Now that I understand the order of the description, I skipped all the unnecessary information.
[Silent Paw] is obtained through the Wind Cheetah monster.
…Altamira, it appears on the 19th floor in a very rare way…
…Dim Sun, appears on the 9th floor.]
'All the monsters are in the golden labyrinth before the 10th floor. If I create a quest in the adventurer's guild, I can access those floors without needing to go up progressively.'
This information is very important because, with it, I can improve Alessia's [Inventory] skill. And thus, in the distant future, she will bring her skill to its maximum level.