Monarch of Solitude: Daily Quest System

Chapter 101 - Archery Abomination

Rino did not know much about archery, but he had faith that the hunters would know what they were doing. Hence, he paid little attention to what they did and focussed on his rune writing practice. The small bottle of ink was only enough to finish painting the few hundred blank runes that Kragami dumped on him. Rino wondered if he should make a new batch of ink as day broke.

The lich looked at his sleep wallet and decided that he had more than enough GF credits and sleep hours. He should sleep the worst parts of the day to resume whatever he needed to do at night. Besides, it wasn't as if he could do anything now until the hunters gave him his bow and arrows.

With that, Rino cleaned his dirtied pants with the ink spill and made a new batch of ink. The sun was up high in the sky, and Rino was finally done with his minor chores. He could hear the day shift faes working hard at watering his new field. When they caught him at the teleportation pad, the three fairy sisters informed him that the new five acres of the field were ploughed and sowed by the night shift.

In a few days, Rino looked forward to mass harvesting potatoes and converting them into GF credits. As for the potato beer, Rino could consider setting up a brewery in Cypress County if Kragami wanted to drink more frequently. Everyone liked beer, and there should be no complaints about how it tasted.

With that, Rino removed his shoes and placed them by the side of his bed. Tucking himself in, Rino hit the yes option to withdraw his daily maximum limit of sleep and stared at his ceiling until everything turned pitch black.

As usual, Rino woke up feeling like some time passed but not by a lot. He sighed and got off the bed. There was no difference in how his body felt, but his mental buff made his mind a lot clearer as it jumped into overdrive, prioritising what Rino needed to do right away even if the lich wanted to indulge in the idleness a little longer.

The first thing Rino did was to check the newly ploughed and watered potato fields. The fairies and goblins greeted Rino, who nodded courteously at them. The field was much larger than what he anticipated. Thankfully, the mana web array that he entrusted the four elemental sylphs with was almost complete. The light and water system was installed in the first field. Rino checked the semi-automated irrigation system in awe at the efficiency.

Compared to the potatoes growing in the field without this system, the difference in their growth rate could be seen. The regular fields that his minions managed would need at least three days to a week to be ready for harvesting. However, with the help of this semi-automated system powered by the mana web array, that time was halved, and Rino expected that there would be a full harvest for the first field by tomorrow night even if some of the potato plants looked like they would be ready for picking by morning.

The busy lich told a passing fairy to deliver his message to Kragami about opening a potato beer brewery in the swamp under his teacher's management. Then, he left in search of the archers to check on their progress.

As expected, the lesser vampire and his hunter friends knew how to craft bows and arrows even if the arrows appeared to look a little different from how he remembered them in his previous world.

The bow was a piece of wood with sinew tied on both ends, making it arch. The wood was not carved very well, and it was obvious from the skill that Fowler did not manage to get the gnomes to help with his task. The arrows weren't very straight either. Rino could tell that they tried their best to craft the wooden arrow shafts using the hunting knives Rino helped them enchant.

Can arrows that weren't straight fly? Rino was curious to test this out. They had no arrows and were only a long stick that wasn't entirely straight with a sharpened end. Rino was thankful he had no flesh, or he would be bleeding by now for grabbing the wrong end of the 'arrow'.

The bow was not equipped with a rest for the arrow. The ends of the arrows were also not shaped to rest nicely on the sinew string of the bow. Rino never held a bow in his previous life, but attending hunting parties was a must as a noble. He saw how the hired hunters for hunting parties nocked their bows and had a close-up view of the equipment.

How did Fowler and his hunter friends wield a bow without an arrow rest and a nock at the end of the arrow? He could understand if these arrow shafts weren't straight and if they did not come with feathers. However, shouldn't the basic bow have those two other things?

Not one to put up with such design failures, Rino tossed the bow and the ground and kicked the quiver of arrows.

"This is garbage!" he declared. "How can anyone shoot with this?"

Startled, Fowler and his hunter skeleton friends kneeled to beg for forgiveness.

"B-but my lord, this is how the archers shoot."

Rino raised an invisible brow and pointed at the bow. He doesn't believe that the archers can shoot anything accurately when the bow was this crappily made. Not to mention, those arrows were more crooked than his teeth. The lich doubted that those wooden arrows would hit their targets.

"Then show me how it is done. You claim to be the best. Surely this bow you use would be able to hit anything I ask you to target."

The lesser vampire trembled a little as he picked up the shabby bow and featherless arrow. Rino watched him like a hawk from behind and pointed to a particular tree in the distance. With a target that big, the self-proclaimed best archer should be able to hit it, right?

Fowler swallowed hard and loaded the bow with difficulty as he drew the string. The arrow rested on his finger, and Rino marvelled at how dangerous that looked. Didn't archers suffer from friction burn if this was how they shot without arrow rests?

The arrow flew with a twang, boosted by the taut bowstring, and Rino almost could not believe how the lesser vampire hit the target without difficulty. However, he found it strange that Fowler aimed for the sky rather than straight ahead. The trajectory would send any regular arrows off charts. How did Fowler do it?

Amazed, Rino couldn't find a reason to demote his hunting squad commander. Instead, he asked for a second demonstration.