Infinite Arrow-Chapter 38 - 36: Mandatory

Esther and Cliff came back inside the carriage and went ahead to meet the knights and Her Majesty. The moment they returned, the knights looked at them in suspense. They were worried because there was a lot of screaming and shouting happening at the front carriage. Arnheid’s foot kept tapping the wooden surface of the carriage, she was both panicking and in suspense, waiting for the answer.

Esther sighed before finally answering "Do you have the coins? We won’t accept your request if there’s no proof–"

Without hesitation, Arnheid placed a bag filled with coins and opened it up. They were all shining and made out of platinum, an ore that is rare and expensive to get. So rare that when a weapon is made out of platinum, it is instantly deemed a Super Rare Item.

Esther’s jaw fell and locked itself. She knelt and started counting the coins one by one.

"18...19...20...!" Her pupils became white, it seemed that she had fainted from shock. Fortunately, Cliff was there to smack her head and unhinged the lock on her jaw back to normal.

Cliff smirked and changed his tone of voice to be more playful.

"So, do we accept the mission~?"

The irresponsible and money-grubbing side of her is telling her to accept it, while her responsible and motherly side is also telling her to accept the mission. In the end, she just sighed deeply before nodding and patting Arnheid’s shoulder.

"We’ll protect and escort you to the City of Ordelia. You better thank this kid right here, he made your offer possible. Haiya...!" Before she stood up, she poured all of the platinum coins back into the coin pouch and pocketed it. Then, she went to the front of the carriage again.

Cliff giggles softly.

Arnheid’s bluish eyes gazed upon his smile and wondered.

"What’s funny?"

The lad noticed and smiled softly, like the sun.

"She’ll probably show it to our dear friend at the fro–"

"WOAH WHAT?! I-I-I-IS THIS TRUE? NOT FAKE?!"

Even his scream reached through the back of the carriage. How loud can he be?

I’m also pretty happy. Cause I got that 50 gold coin reward, baby~! Let’s go!

I only had to sacrifice my mental health, yay...

[ Your rewards for completing the mission have been sent to your inventory. ]

Cliff walked to the edge of the carriage and sat down alone by himself, peeking through the cloth that hides them. Technically, he isn’t alone. A hostage that Enrid brought earlier is here, tied up tightly with a rope.

Enrid didn’t cave this man’s skull, right? It’s been a while since he fell asleep...

The lad shook his head, turning his attention back to his interface. First, he opened his inventory interface.

[ Inventory: 95x Silver Arrows, 1x Book of Fire, Short Bow(Equipped), 2x Dirty Loincloth, 2 Copper Coins, 90 Gold Coins, 5x Dire Fur, 10x Slime Jelly ]

His eyes widened.

Ninety gold coins?! Man, I haven’t been counting. Shit! Almost a platinum coin!

So far, he hasn’t broken a single item or armor yet. He isn’t running out of ammunition as well. The lad looked at the girl who seemed to be cowering in fear on the corner, a princess who was being pursued and would be assassinated.

In a normal circumstance, he would’ve also refused the offer even with the platinum coins deal. Involving themselves with the royal family will only endanger everyone, so why?

Well, if it wasn’t for this bullshit.

[ Chaos System ]

[ Mission: Protect the princess from her dreadful fate and escort them to the City of Ordelia.

Requirements: Mandatory, cannot be refused. If declined, everyone will suffer a gruesome fate.

Reward: Unknown ]

The chaos system... I see, there was the [ Order System ] and now we have the [ Chaos System ]. This must be how the people who send these interfaces control me. Honestly... So infuriating.

In his perspective, he deceived his allies to do the bidding of something he didn’t even want to do and now he involved them in it. His heart grew heavier, and his eyes kept being filled with shame and regret.

He bit his lip, but he ultimately stopped himself before it bled. It would’ve been suspicious if he suddenly bled out of nowhere. It’ll only worry his friends and possibly make them reconsider the choices they’ve made about the escort mission.

"Gotta stop worrying about this..."

He thought to himself.

I shouldn’t dwell further. This is only making me discouraged...

Before he could feel depressed, he continued staring at his character profile. His skills, all of them are valuable and will be useful in the upcoming future. Cliff’s parents will find out that their son didn’t attend or pass the entrance exam. Cliff’s future will be ruined, he won’t be able to fulfill his wishes...

Then, a figure in front of him began manifesting. It is the same size as him, the same body type, and the same face. Tsk.

It’s him again.

Are you feeling weak again?

I’m just worried, alright?

I’m sure everything will be fine, stop being paranoid. The system will not fuck you over just like that, aren’t you the chosen one?

By who? Hah! Chosen one, my ass.

There you go, self-deprecating yourself once more.

Leave me alone, will ya? I don’t wanna see your face. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

I don’t wanna see your face either, what makes you think I do?

Okay. Even if you’re me, that still hurts.

Bruh, that’s how you see yourself.

From the perspective of others, he probably looks crazy. Looking at a wooden wall and making weird aggressive gestures using his fingers, suddenly looking sad or angry for no reason.

Since I’m here already, I wanna talk about something.

What is it?

You are relying way too much on your focused shots.

That’s my only arsenal as an archer though.

Are you sure? Didn’t you have your double or triple shot?

It doesn’t fully stop the enemy from moving, y’know? Besides, it’s accurate.

You must’ve forgotten the difficulty. It’s the realistic mode, you’re gonna break the bow you are using.

Cliff looked over to his short bow that Esther gave to him as a replacement for the hunter’s bow that he had broken during the fight with the Knight of Flowers. It has sentimental value since it was given by a friend after all.

He looked closely and noticed some wear and tear from the wooden part of the bow. The tension he had been putting on this bow since he kept using [ Focused Shot ] is now appearing. Its durability wouldn’t hold much if he kept using that ability.

What do I do– Huh? Where did he go?

Cliff looked around, yet his other self was nowhere to be seen. That’s a first, he had never disappeared so suddenly before.

"Wait, do I have ’that’?"

In RPGs, the players and characters have these "skills" that they can use on the battlefield. Those are called "Active Skills", an example of that is the [ Focused Shot ] ability that allows the player to accurately shoot an arrow with more force than a normal one. To be fair, it is a combination of both active and passive, with the arrow flying more accurately, faster, and more powerful upon impact.

Quietly, he whispered to himself.

"Character Skill Set List."

Suddenly, two large interfaces appeared right in front of him. The lad smirked.

Why haven’t I thought of this before? Is my INT status curse affecting my real-life intelligence? Or am I just that dumb or forgetful?