When it comes to long-range weapons, it's got to be a bow.
Undoubtedly, it's a bow.
The guns from my past life don't exist in this world.
The reason is probably Relics.
You could say Relics fulfill the role of weapons like guns.
Though the Lab might have the data. That doesn't mean I'll build one.
"…Can't you use anything in melee?"
"Um, um, well, when you're down on the ground, there are chances to aim even in melee. But those opportunities are rare."
"…Ms. Juicy. I don't have a long-range weapon."
Ms. Juicy looked surprised. Then she made a troubled face.
"Ah, um, Lord Wof, have you ever used a long-range weapon?"
"In the past… just a little… yes."
"Um, what was it? A throwing knife?"
"Even if you throw it, a knife isn't long-range… well, medium-range at best. It's a bow."
Calling a throwing knife a long-range weapon… no, medium-range at best, really.
Though, Relics are a different story. Like Ms. Mineha's [Long-Range Manipulation].
Anyway, about the bow itself—I only hunted a bit with one back home, so I've forgotten all about it.
"Um, um, what should we do?"
"I'm sorry. I don't know either… Um, I'll quit."
I wanted to gather the materials for the bed myself, but it couldn't be helped.
I'd just have to buy them. First, I'd consult the witch.
If possible, I was thinking of purchasing everything at Chaibe's place.
That shop boasted of having everything except illegal goods.
Surely it wouldn't end up at an outrageous price.
"Wan! That's right! Lord Wof, I'll teach you archery!"
"Huh? You really don't mind?"
"Wan! Yes! Um, um, I'm not very skilled, but please take care of me!"
"N-no, the pleasure is mine. Please take care of me."
We both bowed our heads to each other. Juicy—she was doing the three-finger bow.
Something about it felt off, but I was happy to have someone teach me.
Besides, I was wondering if it was really okay to keep things as they were.
There was no particular reason, but I'd never used a ranged weapon before.
But hey, things like this happen.
I'd been fixated on knives up until now, but maybe it was worth trying a bow.
"What a pain. There were hardly any open counters, so it took forever."
Rel came back. He looked at us and spoke with puzzlement.
"What's going on?"
"Um, um, big brother. Lord Wof hasn't had much experience using a bow."
"Is that so? Do we have any Relics that can be used at range?"
"I'm sorry. We don't have any."
"That makes the wind dungeon pretty rough, you know."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"Um, um, so, I'd like to teach you!"
"You, Juicy?"
"Y-yes!"
"......"
Rel pushed his glasses up with a little tilt, looking like he was thinking.
Juicy looked anxious. Her ears and tail both drooped.
"U-um, is that... no good?"
"Sure. Give it a try."
"Thank you so much!"
She brightened up, clearly relieved.
Rel glanced at me for a moment. He opened his mouth like he was weighing his words.
"Wof. Take care of my sister."
"Isn't that line supposed to be mine?"
"Oh. You're right."
Rel smiled.
After that, we left the guild and bought a bow and arrows at a nearby weapon shop.
It was a beginner's wooden bow. I picked it out based on how it felt to draw.
The Wind Dungeon was located north of Hydrangea.
A special valley where the wind blew constantly. The entrance was called the "Wind Corridor."
Once you passed through the corridor, everything beyond that was the first floor of the Wind Dungeon.
"So this is…"
"Yeah. The first floor of the Wind Dungeon. The Bird Plateau."
A lush green landscape stretched as far as the eye could see, with countless birds soaring through the air.
Mountains were visible in the distance, and near the peak of the tallest one stood what looked like a temple.
The sky overhead was blue.
"It looks exactly like the surface…"
"But we're definitely inside the dungeon. See that temple?"
"Yes."
"That's said to be the lowest level of the Wind Dungeon."
"Said to be? The lowest level?"
"This Wind Dungeon is special. It only has one floor, but it's absurdly vast."
"Things like that exist too, huh."
"And apparently, only flying monsters appear here."
"Only flying ones?"
"Yeah, that's what they say."
What a weird dungeon.
Still, I guessed it was perfect for practice.
"Um, um, Wof! I'll start teaching you right away!"
Juicy was brimming with enthusiasm.
Her eyes were sparkling, dazzling me.
"Please."
"First, then—"
"Juicy. Wof. I'll be off hunting nearby. Call me if anything happens."
"Um, um, understood. Be careful out there!"
"Got it. Rel, stay safe."
Rel waved and headed off.
Juicy drew her bow.
It was the witch-crafted "Elixir Bow," coated with elixir.
It was designed as an anti-undead weapon, but it worked perfectly fine as a regular bow.
"Um, um, Wof. First, please watch my stance."
"Understood."
Juicy assumed her bow stance.
She spread her feet to shoulder width, lowered her hips slightly, arched her back, and drew the bowstring with an arrow nocked.
Her movements were so fluid they felt natural.
Juicy held her stance and froze in place. She glanced at me sideways.
"…………"
I gazed at Juicy.
Spread of her feet. Position of her hips. Arch of her back. The hand holding the bow. The hand pinching the string.
Tautness across her chest. Serious expression. Sharp gaze and what lay beyond it.
Watching this up close, it was something I'd known all along.
Juicy. Her figure was outstanding.
What was up with having a figure like that at thirteen.
I got that she was toned because she liked moving her body. But — oh no, no.
Anyway, the bow was gripped like this, and the string was really just pinched between the fingertips.
The feet were spread like... hmm. This was hard.
"Um, um, Wof-sama. I'm going to aim at that bird now. Please watch me."
That bird... the one over there? A bird barely visible was flying through the sky.
Hit that? That was far.
Juicy raised the bow at a slight upward angle and loosed the shot.
The arrow traced an arc as though drawn in by a magnet and brought the bird down.
"It hit!?"
"Wan! Um, um, Wof-sama, I did it!"
"That's amazing."
She actually hit it. I'd seen Juicy's arching skill back at the Tomb of Death, but I hadn't expected this level.
We promptly headed to where the bird had fallen.
"Wan! Wof-sama. It's a Big Goose!"
"It's huge!?"
A light-blue duck, more than twice the size of a normal bird, lay dead on the ground.
An arrow was embedded in its neck. Was it really this big?
O-oh. So that's what they use the feathers for.
Juisi approached the Big Goose, pulled out the arrow, grabbed it by the neck, and lifted it up.
The bird looked plump and heavy, but she held it without any effort.
But could a goose really fly? With this much weight?
While I was puzzling over that, Juisi started shaving off the feathers and dismantling the bird.
I had her gather the feathers for me. Bedding materials, acquired. But I still didn't have enough.
Juisi tucked the meat into her pouch.
All that meat fit in there… Storage? Well, she would have it, being from a marquis family.
Now that I thought about it, both Dova and Juisi were daughters of a marquis.
Rel was a son of a marquis too.
The Tassan marquis family. An old noble house, the third most powerful in the kingdom.
They were the only marquis family. Very rude of me to say, but they didn't seem like it.
I didn't think everyone from Tassan was like that.
But Dova. Sheshu. Juisi. Rel.
Every one of them treated me warmly, without distinction or discrimination.
"…………"
Meanwhile, the boss of "Dragon Fang Rou" had also been a noble from Steerland.
In my past-life memories, the "nobles" I somehow recalled were more like Steerland's.
The idiot noble Dova was going on about.
Of course, the kind of nobles I like are ones like the Tasan family.
"H-h-here, Wof, you should try too!"
"O-okay. Like this?"
I tried to assume the stance, recalling Juicy's posture.
Juicy circled around me, examining my stance from every angle like she was grading it.
She made a face like something just wasn't clicking.
"W-Wof. Excuse me. I'm going to do a Stance Stacking."
"Stacking?"
Without warning, Juicy overlaid her hands on mine and pressed her body flush against my back.
"Wha—?! Juicy?!"
Something hard but flexible pressed into my back.
Her chest plate, huh. I couldn't help feeling a little let down.
Then Juicy pulled away in one smooth motion.
She glanced down at her own chest, then casually unclasped her chest plate.
Seeing my surprised face, she pressed against my back once more.
She fit her hands perfectly over my bow hand and my string-pulling hand.
She pressed her legs and hips firmly against mine and even aligned our lines of sight.
Ah, so that's what Stance Stacking meant.
It made sense now, but more than anything, it was the softness pressed against my back.
This was far from normal.
By stacking her stance on top of mine, her chest naturally ended up pressed against my back.
I could feel her chest compressing against my back with an unbelievable softness and elasticity.
Without the slightest hesitation, she pressed her chest even harder against my back to its absolute limit, and Juicy said:
"Um, um, Lord Wof. Could you narrow your stance a little more?"
"I-Is this right?"
"Um, waf. Waf. Your spine should be a little more forward."
"Th-This—like this?"
Whoa. I could feel Juicy's chest, squished against my back, rubbing and shifting.
No, this wasn't marshmallow—this was springy, elastic… ah. This was marshmallow slime.
Two marshmallow slimes cushioning at maximum softness.
Was there anything softer in this entire world? No. There was not.
W-What the hell was this situation?
I was having thoughts like a dying person and kind of wanted to just die already.
"Um, um, Lord Wof. This is what 'stance stacking' is."
"I-See. But, um, why did you take off the armor?"
"Waf. Um, um, I figured it out once we tried stacking stances. With the armor on, there's quite a bit of gap and misalignment. These gaps and misalignments affect the stance, um."
"I-See."
So that was why she removed the armor.
By stacking this stance, you could learn the correct posture. That much made sense.
She'd stack the stance and correct it toward the proper form. It was the easiest way to improve. I understood that much.
Juishii's chest pressed into my back. Yep. I understood that too.
B-But… did Juishii-san not feel anything at all?
Being this close to a girl — not in a weird way, but still — made my heart race.
I looked at Juishii-san's profile with that restless feeling.
She was serious, her gaze straight and unwavering. That was when it clicked.
She'd probably done this same stacking drill with one of her sisters at some point.
Once I thought that, the improper feeling inside me — ah, nope. Can't do it.
The sensation of Juishii-san's chest was way too intense. It absolutely would not go away.
And Mineha-san before that. Weren't girls these days developing a little too well?
That drop-dead gorgeous, well-endowed Juishii-san was staring up at the sky with sharp focus.
A moment later, a bird monster — not a Big Gus — appeared in my line of sight.
Without letting go of my hand, Juishii-san tilted her bow just slightly upward. She was aiming.
"H-Hey, um, woof! Wof-sama, now!"
With that signal, she loosed the arrow. Almost anticlimactically, it pierced the bird's head clean through.
"…Nice!"
The bird fell.
"Um, woof! Great shot, Wof-sama!"
"Ah, th-thank you."
Juishii-san released my hand and headed toward the fallen bird.
I looked up at the sky and let out a long breath. Her touch wouldn't leave my back.
Then I repeated my stance multiple times, shooting down Big Geese and Wind Ducks.
That feeling would probably stay on my back for a while.
Together with Rel, I bagged twenty Big Geese and fifteen Wind Ducks.
Honestly, I could hunt more, but carrying them back would be a pain, so I called it here.
I took all the feathers, and one bird's worth of meat each.
The payment from the request I'd already collected, I split three ways.
And so, a feather futon and sheets made their way into my home.
Farewell, straw bed.
Thank you, straw bed.
Also, I ended up having Juishii-san teach me archery on a regular basis.
Of course. Naturally, that meant repeating my stance drills over and over.
I had a feeling I'd be punished for it someday.