"To create a quest, you need to pay 5 copper coins to the guild, while the reward is at your own expense. Do you want to register a quest?"
"Yes"
"Very well, the payment is accepted. Please complete this form"
In the adventurer's guild, I'm creating a quest. Specifically, we are looking for an adventurer to take us to the 6th and 9th floors of the golden labyrinth. That way, we won't have to gradually climb the floors until we reach them.
The reward will be two silver coins. I based that result on other quest rewards.
"The mission will be verified in about an hour. If everything is in order, it will be published immediately. Goodbye, have a nice day."
Then I went to the sales section of the guild.
"HP potions and Antidotes cost 1 silver each."
"And for unregistered adventurers?"
"2 silver coins"
I bought 10 of each for a total of 4 gold coins.
'If I were registered, it would be half price... But no, I won't. Freedom comes first.'
'—So, master isn't registered with the adventurer's guild…'
I feel like I just scored points with Alessia; I know that from the look in her eyes. Still, it doesn't matter. The negative points I scored for that act in the library just increased my debt to her.
I can tell why I scored points because of her tragic story of how she became a slave. Due to failing a mandatory quest, she is reluctant to be in any way linked to the adventurer's guild.
'Hm…? How weird…'
On my map, the red dots in the city have multiplied. They are few, but still, it is strange that security in the capital is so poor.
'Or perhaps the knights have a day off and so the criminals take advantage… Well, whatever.'
Following the map, we take the road less traveled to the labyrinth.
***
On the 4th floor of the Altamira Labyrinth.
"As agreed, I will use the bow while you will be using the spear."
"I'm not very good with this weapon…"
"Neither am I, but we will still do it since, in the future, a sword will not always be the key to defeating some enemies; at least we must have a certain degree of knowledge in other weapons."
Everything is for the greater good; after obtaining the respective classes, we will return to our favorite weapons. We are talking about real fights after all, and if we make a mistake we can die.
[Giant Mantis Lvl4]
Unexpectedly, it's the same type of mantis I fought back then when I was a driver. It is the same, as it is 2m tall with scythe-like front legs, while its entire body is light green.
The mantis is 40m away, so I raised my bow, aimed, and then fired. The arrow flew in a straight line without any curvature, and then… It passed by and did not hit anything.
Emir: "…"
Alessia: "…"
*Cof cof*
'Here we go again.'
I repeated the process, and this time the arrow... passed by again.
As the saying goes, third time's the charm… With the next arrow fired, it stuck in the chest of the mantis. Going several centimeters into its body.
It looked around and spotted us. It began to run in our direction, and due to the sharpness of its legs, at times it seemed that they were embedded in the floor.
"I'll try to shoot at its head; in the meantime, avoid its attacks, and don't hold back if you see the opportunity to defeat it."
"Understood"
When pulling the string, the upper and lower wheels of the bow rotated rapidly, causing the arrow to be shot with a force greater than that exerted. Everything suggests that this mechanism multiplies the strength of the user. It's a good bow, too bad its owner isn't the same height.
One, two, three… all the arrows missed, passing by the side of its head without being able to touch it.
Meanwhile, Alessia avoided the mantis' attack by taking a step back. The next second, she turned her body, giving greater piercing momentum to the spear, causing it to plunge into the mantis's chest and leave a large hole.
The giant mantis was furious, swinging its two scythes and trying to cut Alessia in two. Thanks to the spear being a weapon of great length, she finds herself attacking from a distance. In other words, it was extremely easy for her to dodge the enemy attacks since she was away from the mantis from the start.
My next arrow stuck 20 centimeters below the monster's head. I'm slowly getting used to aiming.
When the mantis attacked with its two scythes in a vertical line, I was aiming the arrow. Alessia narrowly dodged them, landing in the center of their two legs. Such a position is highly advantageous, and she jumped at the opportunity.
She jumped with great determination towards the monster's head and then attacked with her spear. It passed cleanly through its head without any hindrance.
"Get out of there! The mantis will still move, even without its head!"
Alessia: "!!!"
Surprised, she withdraws the spear without hesitation and jumps away from the body of the monster.
The headless mantis swung its scythes in all directions for several seconds, blindly attacking until its life force ran out and it fell to the ground.
[Thin blade]
'This blade is several times thicker than the one I received back then; it will surely sell for more.'
Now, the fired arrows are found all over the corridor. None of them were damaged, but they are still so far away that it will take some time to collect them. Even if it's only seconds, in the labyrinth, such time is vital.
I controlled my UI and went to the inventory with my vision pointed at the arrows on the ground and, then, mentally hit the enter button.
The next second, all the arrows successfully entered my inventory.
"!!!... Master, how did you do that?" First surprised and then curious, Alessia asked me about the disappearance of the arrows.
Although I want to answer her, I don't know what to say. Even though I thought that saving the arrows from such a distance would be impossible, I just did it as an experiment. It was a surprise to see the success of this crazy idea.
I just smiled at her while I stroked her head without answering, and she simply looked at me.
'Oh, right. Earlier, I took off the chain mail and then re-equipped everything by checking the inventory. Following this logic, will I be able to remove her clothes with the inventory? I'm not saying this with bad intentions, seriously. This time, I want to know the limits of the skill.'
Looking at Alessia, I checked the inventory, wanting to take her clothes off…
'Nothing. Nothing happened. What is the condition then?'
Alessia: "!!!"
This time I checked the inventory to remove the chainmail, and it was successfully unequipped. Alessia looked at me, very surprised.
"Master, was it your doing?"
I re-equipped the chain mail, and it went back to her again.
'Mm… Ah, could be…'
"Alessia, can you pass me your boots, please?"
"What do you need them for?"
"An action is worth a thousand words. If it works, you will understand immediately."
"Well… Here you go."
With the boots in hand, I put them in the inventory without any problem. I then looked down at her feet and mentally pressed equip.
Alessia: "!!!"
The next second, the boots appeared on Alessia's feet.
"Master, you can remotely control all items that once entered your inventory! I've never heard of such a thing being possible. If used wisely…"
"In one thought, we could equip heavy armor, and the next, light armor."
"Mn mn" Alessia nodded twice, very adorably.
This time I didn't hold back. I reached out and squeezed those lovely round cheeks.
My action caught her so off guard that she blushed slightly.
'So adorable.'
After I let her go, we continued walking down the hall, looking for more monsters.
'Ah, according to the map, if we follow this corridor, we will find a group of two monsters. Currently, we don't have enough capacity for such battles, so the best decision I can make now is to avoid groups of monsters.'
I headed down the corridor to the right, and we continued walking until we found a lone monster.
[Fierce Hyena Lvl4]
"Can you defeat it in your current state?"
"Yes, even if I'm not skilled with a spear, I can easily dodge its attacks. It'll just be a matter of time before my spear pierces its head."
"Fine, then I'll shoot at it."
This time, I fired with more confidence.
The arrow swiftly flew into the air and… pierced its eye.
[Hyena Paw]
"Beginner's Luck"
I have the confidence to land an arrow somewhere on its body, but not enough to kill it in one shot, so this can only be classified as a fluke.
"If master improves his skill with the bow, it can be even more valuable for the group than having a sword. My previous partner, who used a bow, helped us in many group battles; he was especially fierce when we were fighting humans."
'One arrow, one kill, huh?'
Initially, I only thought of using the bow to get the class, but if I improve my archery skill, it will be a very good secondary weapon.