Alright, activate," Shyam whispered, and the items shown on the system window suddenly appeared in front of him, floating in the air like a magic item Shyam had yet to achieve.
He touched the bow—red and scary, almost like an ogre. Shyam held it tightly in his hand as if it would run if left alone.
"Let's try shooting something, shall we?" Shyam said as he took out a few arrows as well. He did not have much confidence in whether he could even use a bow or not, but he still wanted to try it.
After all, it was his dream to explore and adventure!
He walked randomly across the dirt path created probably by the adventurers who walked here before him.
Suddenly, a system window popped up. It flickered red.
[ Goblines detected/ lvl 10-13 / count-2 / distance - near ]
After his field sense was upgraded to greater sense, his system now showed levels, distance, and monster count. Not just that, but his range had increased from 100M to 2KM according to how strong the monster on radar was.
If it's not something to worry about, the system might not send an alert even if Shyam stepped on them.
That's also why the system did not alert him at 2KM away but did at 400M away.
After seeing the alert window, Shyam started to walk towards it. Slimes of this level were an easy kill for him after buying the new sword and leveling up even more. If it was a normal kill session, he might have even ignored it. But right now, he needed something to test his new bow.
Though he still doubted that he could even stretch it enough to catch enough strength, new things are always fun. After a little while, he reached the area where his system showed the slimes were.
"Alright, time to test my bow-handling skills!" Shyam shouted and held the undead bow.
Tightly and steady, he put the arrow at the middle and pointed it toward the slimes.
His eyes—sharp and on point—aimed precisely as he stretched the bow back. And finally, the final step—he released the arrow. Wosh! The arrow went and... missed, not just a little but entirely!
"Happens on the first try," Shyam whispered and put on another arrow.
This time, his goal was clear and his mind even more! Wosh! The arrow went again, but this time it hit—something else other than the first arrow! In his previous life, he had seen archers shoot arrows so smoothly and precisely, he thought he might be able to do so too. It turned out he couldn't.
Disappointed and a little sad, he put down his bow and slashed through the slimes with his sword.
"Bow is not for me. Confirmed," Shyam whispered as he left the slime murder scene.
Slowly walking through the forest, simply observing and learning the area with his herbseer skill, he hummed quietly in this peaceful forest when suddenly—
A woman screamed from the depths of the forest—not with anger nor for help but to gather strength.
The kind of scream one makes before giving the last and most powerful blow.
Shyam walked slowly toward that direction while a system window blinked beside him.
[ Goblines detected/ lvl 10-13 / count-2 / distance - near ]
The gap filled more and more as Shyam walked closer to where the scream came from and finally saw a woman holding a dagger in her hand, standing in the middle of a goblin attack.
These goblins were ten levels stronger than the goblins Shyam and Pallabi had fought. They seemed ready to attack at any moment they felt like. Shyam wanted to jump in, but before he could make a hero entry and save that unknown woman from the danger, she suddenly put down her sword and started to speak. Even the goblins were confused by her sudden action of surrender.
But it seemed stopping was not a wise decision for the goblins, as that woman stood not to surrender but to chant a spell.
Her words hung in the air like flies near your ear; they echoed a few meters away in the forest like bees.
"Hidden love technique: I love you but as a friend declaration!" And the next moment, before Shyam could process the weird feeling that broke him from inside, he somehow managed to stay in touch with reality and looked up—just to see the two goblins now dead.
They bled from their mouths, and their eyes had come out almost as if someone had pushed air from inside them.
One of the most brutal deaths—but how did it even happen? She just spit a few words from her mouth, which weren't even supposed to affect anyone, let alone goblins. Then how?
Even Shyam, who did not care much about love, was affected by her spell.
When the woman had cast the spell, Shyam made a small faint sound trying to bear the sudden pain. That's when the woman noticed him.
She flinched and stepped back a few inches before realizing it was just another human like her.
(Trust me woman, Shyam ain't no ordinary man.)
"Who are you?" she said, her voice cold, and the surprise could be felt even from afar. According to her, when she used the spell, no one had been present—so how did she miss him?
"Uh… hello. I… was actually just passing by! Sorry if I disturbed you. Bye," he said, trying to escape from this weird situation.
But that woman didn't let him off the hook so easily.
"Wait, you are going to tell my father about this, aren't you? Because if you are, then I'm afraid you would have to lose your life here and now!"
She said, her voice colder now.
Shyam flinched at her assumptions—he hadn't even known this woman. Not even her name. Why would he report to her father? And how, even?
"No, I don't even know who you are!" said Shyam, trying to make her believe his innocence. That woman was a little shocked by what he said, but she just smiled it off as if she thought he was lying.
"You can't fool me! Go report to my father as much as you'd like, but I will not leave adventuring and be a village lord! Never!" she said.
She had a weird tone—one where you could feel her sadness, anger, stubbornness, and joy all at once.
As if she enjoyed what she did but was caged by a title Shyam knew well.
The Village Lord title.
Why is it that every woman Shyam met was the next village lord? And coincidentally, they all wanted to become adventurers.
Though this time, Shyam had no intention of making any close relation with her. Now that he knew her true identity, he wanted to keep a valid distance.
He didn't want the same situation to repeat with this unknown woman as well—the situation he faced with Pallabi.
Even though he didn't want to make friends in this world, he still did make a companion. And lost her at the time of need.
Even still, he somehow managed, but one more would be too much of a burden for him!
"Look, I don't know you, I don't know your father—in fact, I just came here yesterday!" he said as he showed her his E-rank adventurer card.
The woman took a good look at it, and only then did she finally understand the situation the correct way.
She had mistaken Shyam for one of the men her father had sent behind her.
"Oh! Is that so… well, sorry I mistook you for someone else. So I see you're an adventurer as well? Me too! I'm actually an E-ranker as well.
Name's Rivana. And you?" Her voice was a lot calmer and friendlier now that she knew Shyam's actual identity.
"Shyam. Well anyway, I have to go now. Bye," he said as he took off toward the village once again.
Rivana stayed behind, maybe to kill off and release her hidden anger again with that weird spell of hers.
He had nothing more to do around here. Now that he had become an E-rank adventurer, he decided to stop grinding for rank until he reached Taralaya city capital.
By the time he reached the village once again, night had already fallen, and the villagers had put up beautiful lanterns in front of their houses. The scenery looked beautiful. Shyam went back to the Lotus Inn. There, he took a good shower and ate the dinner the innmate had cooked.
Nothing much happened after that. He just dozed off to sleep. He had gone through a rough day today, and tomorrow he had much more to do—except it was all going to be peaceful, unlike today.
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Ch-14