16 Chapter 16 - Skinship (1/2)

Thomas was already starting to regret agreeing to help Estella.Carrying Annie was difficult with his small body and even after a few hours they still hadn't found the road.”We need to set her down for a bit.”

Thomas and Estella gently placed Annie on the ground.Estella seemed a bit worried.”Why are we stopping?Did you hear something?”

”No.I'm just hungry and thirsty.We can't do anything about water unless we find a river but I've seen a few small animals along the way.Do you know how to hunt?”She was a princess so he wouldn't be surprised if she didn't know how but she was also a goblin so she might actually know how to hunt.

”If I had a bow I might be able to catch one but I left my bow and arrows behind.I'm not even sure if they were spared from the blast but I can't go back there.”Thomas had a couple of bows in his pocket dimension but they were too flashy and might make them a target on the road.Taking it out in front of Estella would be a terrible idea so he'd need to separate from her for a bit.

”I think I remember a place near here that the hunters stored an extra bow.I'll quickly go get it so until I get back you'll need to protect her, okay?”Thomas knew that she wouldn't believe his story but before she could ask questions he was already gone.He really was going to bring back a bow so it's not like he'd be doing her any harm in the end.

After asking the system's AI about the bows that were available, Thomas decided to buy two wooden bows; one long and one short.The bows only costed him 375 points total and arrows came free.20 arrows per bow meant he had a total of 40 but he didn't really need the second quiver.It's not like he knew how to use a bow.

Rushing back to Estella and Annie, Thomas somewhat resembled a pack mule with everything he was carrying.Estella's face seemed to carry some surprise on it.Clearly she wasn't expecting him to bring back a bow--let alone two of them.

”Eh?There really was a bow?Which one is meant for me?”Estella thought he brought back two because one was meant to be for him.It was a reasonable thought but Thomas's very existence was unreasonable so he was guaranteed to do odd things as if they were completely normal.

”Take your pick.There were two but I didn't know what type you were used to.It's not like the dead hunters will be using them so there's nothing to worry about.On the contrary I think we'd have more to worry about if they could still use them.”Especially since they didn't even exist.Thomas just made them up and had already killed them off.

Estella looked at the two bows with a hand on her chin as she tried to decide which one to use.In the end she grabbed the long bow.Its extra power could be useful.Taking a quiver and five extra arrows from the other quiver, Estella headed off to catch them some small animals to eat.

Thomas's first attempt in lighting a fire didn't go so well.Rubbing the sticks together didn't even produce any smoke.Frustrated by this, Thomas turned to the Advanced Arsenal and purchased a fire-starting kit and some firewood.The fire-starting kit was just a flint rod and steel scraper with a handle but it managed to catch some dead grass on fire.After getting the fire started, Thomas just needed to buy some metal plates and skewers.

Thomas moved Annie a bit closer to the flames and rested her head on his lap.Annie seemed to be in pain as she kept moaning so Thomas gently caressed the untouched side of her head while humming.Thomas could do nothing to relieve her of her pain and the only antiseptic the arsenal carried currently was alcohol.With injuries like hers it would cause too much pain and even if she didn't die immediately from shock she'd still suffer more than she was now.If infected, her wounds would still take at least a few days to kill her.As long as they reached the city and got her to a healer then everything would turn out alright.

While looking at Annie's face and caressing it, Thomas noticed that her left eye had opened up and she was staring at him.Thomas made sure to give her a smile as he took off his helmet so that she could see his entire head.She had been through a lot and currently was in pain but she started smiling.Annie was cute when she was smiling and wasn't threatening to harm someone.Her body that had a good amount of muscles from her training was still undeniably feminine.If she weren't so violent then Thomas would definitely try to woo her but even then it's questionable if she would accept.