Del headed to his room. He packed the necessary equipment. He brought the sterile gauze and put it inside his pocket. He also brought a special adventurer belt that he bought for a very cheap price of seven silver coins. It contained many small pockets. He put the small bottle of potion there.

The sterile gauzes were packed tightly inside of plastic packaging. He put those two gauzes inside of the pockets of the belt. He didn’t forget to carry his sword as a sidearm and put his pistol inside of the holster. He checked his pistol to make sure that it was loaded with bullets.

He brought the other two 8-round magazines and put them inside of his pocket.

[Preparation, huh?]

“More or less,” Del checked whether he left anything or not.

[Do you want to know what the receptionist just gave to you?]

“Sure. Wait, you can analyze any item?”

[I can analyze any item that is located near your body and not in the vicinity of its previous owner.]

“Cool, what’s the content of the bottle then? Is it a poison?”

[Analysing…]

[Content: 1500 mg Ibuprofen]

“Ibuprofen? Isn’t that a medicine for fever?” Del asked.

[Yes, but it should ease your pain in case you are injured.]

“I see. Pidma, I want to browse grenade,” Del said.

▬▬▬

[Showing Grenades]

[MK 2 Grenade] [25$]

[Stielhandgranate] [30$]

▬▬▬

“Damn, I don’t have that much money,” Del protested as he closed the menu.

Del walked out of his room. The moment he went downstairs into the lobby, he was greeted by Lisa. Well, he wasn’t greeted, but he was criticized by Lisa. “Del, you still stink like yesterday, haven’t I told you to buy new clothes? What with that cheap belt? Are you going adventuring to someplace very far?”

Del shushed Lisa, “It isn’t a little child business.”

“I’m not a child, I’m 12,” Lisa protested.

“That’s why you’re a child,” Del left the lobby before Lisa went with her tantrum.

Del headed back to the road that he ran through yesterday. Hopefully, Alberto just decided to ambush him instead of him having to come to his house and found that his dogs were more dangerous than Alberto himself.

Truth to be told, Del also feared for his life. For him, it was a little bit of risk that he would have to take to increase his status in this world, both economically and socially. He didn’t want to be seen as that one frugal adventurer that basically couldn’t afford anything.

Heck, the only reason he couldn’t take a bath every day as he used to be was that the inn that had a bathroom on it cost seven silver coins per night instead of Rina’s usual three silver coins per night and that was including breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Basically, it was a refugee for low-rank adventurers.

Public baths also cost around fifty copper coins per bath which equaled to one meal inside of a cheap restaurant. That was not a luxury that Del could afford at that point. Hopefully, it changed for the better once he took this one compromise that could end his entire life. At best, he walked away with minor injuries.

[Del, do you need something else?]

“No, thanks for asking,” Del said.

Del continued walking to Begard. He looked left and right while staying vigilant. He didn’t want that Alberto bastard to catch him off guard. He knew that even one swing from the big heavy sword of his could end his life.

He would need his advantage in the distance by using a pistol and use his dislike of loud noise. He really didn’t want to use his sword to fight Alberto. In a sword duel, he would definitely lose without any doubt.

“Alberto… where are you?” Del looked around while appearing harmless.

The bushes in the grassland surrounding the road didn’t move an inch. There was no sound besides the chirping of the bird. It gave Del anxiety and cold sweat. He didn’t count the other risks. If Alberto robbed him with his friends, it was better to run or give anything that they wanted.

Suddenly, Del’s ear heard something. It sounded like a footstep. Del stopped walking. He pulled his pistol out of his holster. He looked around again. The footsteps became louder and louder. Bushes surrounded the section of the road where Del was standing. Alberto could come from anywhere.

Del calmed himself down as he looked at one of the suspicious bushes. The bushes moved even though there wasn’t any wind. He aimed his pistol in the direction of the bush. He took a deep breath. His heart was pumping as he applied pressure on the trigger.

He pulled the trigger.

“FUCK!!!” Someone stood up from the bush.

The person that came out of the bush was none other than Alberto. It matched the description. He was big, tall, and ugly. He held a giant sword that was probably as big as Lisa. He looked at Del with a very angry face.

“FUCK YOU! I’LL KILL YOU!” Alberto wasn’t scared.

Wait, when the quest description said that Alberto disliked noise, did it mean that he will be enraged instead of being scared of it? ‘Oh no, I miscalculated, I’m dead.’ Del immediately pulled the trigger as fast as he could to Alberto.

His footsteps were shaking the ground, Del didn’t have a word to describe it. Alberto’s face was red like a devil. He swung his sword blindly across the bushes while cutting it. Del noticed that there was a hole right on the left side of Alberto’s chest.

Del ran as fast as he could from Alberto, “A SHOT TO THE CHEST ISN’T ENOUGH???”

“LITTLE KID, TIME’S UP. TIME TO SLEEP!!!” Alberto slashed his sword in Del’s direction and Del managed to dodge it.

He aimed his pistol and shot the last three bullets inside of the 8-round magazine. One bullet hit Alberto’s hand, one hit Alberto’s chest, and the last one hit Alberto’s leg. Those parts started to bleed, but Alberto was still standing.

“HOW CAN YOU STILL STANDING AFTER BEING SHOT?” Del replaced the old magazine with a new one.

“TAKE THIS! LITTLE BOY!!!” Wind gushed as Alberto swung his sword at Del.

The sword missed his torso, but it slashed his upper left arm, leaving a big slash wound.

“ARRRGGHHH!!!” Del screamed in pain as he looked at blood coming out of his arm.

Del aimed at Alberto’s head after he jumped backward. He tried to calm himself down to get a proper aim. The wound on his hand prevented him from doing so. The sight swayed to left and right.

He pulled the trigger five times. Alberto finally flinched and he stopped swinging his sword. However, he only flinched, he didn’t even fall to the ground. One of the bullets hit Alberto right in his left eye, he was blinded temporarily.

Alberto pointed his sword at Del, “LITTLE FUCK!!! YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS”

Del didn’t have time to listen. The wound on his arm was bigger than expected. Blood had begun dripping out from his arm. To make matters worse, the blood had dirtied the left side of his shirt with blood. It must have hit the artery.

Del took another aim to Alberto’s head and pulled the trigger. The last two bullets flinched Alberto again. This time, Alberto took a little pause and took a look at the blood that came out of his left eye. He seemed to start panicking as well.

“DIE, YOU SHITHEAD!” Del reloaded his pistol and he took a far more drastic and dangerous move.

He ran towards Alberto and he put his pistol right at Alberto’s head in point-blank range. He pulled the trigger several times before Alberto kicked him down in his stomach.

“ARGGH!” Del flinched as he threw up and dropped his empty pistol on the ground.

He threw up all of his breakfast. He looked at Alberto and he had dropped his sword. Alberto was holding his face in pain. However, Del was sure that he wouldn’t die even from that kind of injury.

Del stood up with his one last strength and he unsheathed the sword and held it with his right hand. Del ran towards Alberto with his sword right in his hands.

“DIE YOU BASTARD!” Del shouted as loud as he could as he charged towards Alberto.

The sword bounced through his head. However, the charge was successful. Instead of his head, the sword punched through Alberto’s heart. Alberto vomited blood as he dropped dead on the ground.

Del took a deep breath as he held his bleeding arm with his right hand. He couldn’t believe that he won.

“I… Won,” Del sat down on the road.

He took the medicine that the guild receptionist gave to him. He pulled out the sterile gauze from his pocket and started treating his wound by stuffing the wound with the gauze. The last time he had this kind of injury was when Anna accidentally slashed his arm with a cutter.

He continued stuffing the wound with gauze until the blood stopped dripping from the wound.. The pain was still lingering on his left arm, but he was more than happy that he could walk away from the battle with only a deep wound on his left hand.