Chapter 627
Bear-san working together with Swaying Bear.
The first Tiger Wolf kill took a little bit of time, so I had to get to the second Tiger Wolf quickly.
I used my detection skills to locate the other Tiger Wolves.
“Yeah?”
There was a Tiger Wolf and Swaying Bear in the same spot.
Maybe they were fighting?
When I checked the Hugging Bear’s response, she seemed to be fighting the Wolves, and the Wolves’ signals near Hugging Bear were fading away.
I concluded that Hugging Bear was OK, so I headed for Swaying Bear.
When I ran to the Swaying Bear, I found the Swaying Bear and the Tiger Wolf fighting.
Tiger Wolf attacked Swaying Bear. But Swaying Bear kept the Tiger Wolf away from him by cleaving the front paw.
“Kuh~n.”
Just as Tiger Wolf moved away, Swaying Bear gathered magic power in his claws and swung his arm; it transformed into a blade of wind from Swaying Bear’s claws and attacked Tiger Wolf; the Tiger Wolf evaded by crouching and distanced itself further away.
The Swaying Bear’s attack felt strange, even though he could have easily taken down a Tiger Wolf. It was as if Swaying Bear was holding back and stalling for time.
Swaying Bear looked at me.
Could it be…?
“Swaying Bear!”
“Kuh~n!”
I shout, and Swaying Bear sprints towards the Tiger Wolf, and the Tiger Wolf also charged at him. The distance between them closed, and they collided, Tiger Wolf’s claws and Swaying Bear’s claws striking each other.
The attacks seemed synchronised, but Swaying Bear’s arm was swept out too quickly, and Tiger Wolf was blown away.
Swaying Bear then runs straight at it and places his leg on the body of the Tiger Wolf, which fell after being blown away, to stop it from moving.
“Kuh~n!”
Swaying Bear cries to me.
I understand Swaying Bear’s thoughts and create water magic, shooting water at Tiger Wolf’s face.
Tiger Wolf flailed about, but Swaying Bear held it down and prevented it from moving, causing it to drown.
The Swaying Bear could have defeated the Tiger Wolf, but he didn’t. It was probably to accomplish my goals (to capture/kill those wolves as intact as possible).
On the way to the village, I told Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear that Sanya-san wanted me to defeat Tiger Wolves and ensure the carca.s.ses were as pristine as possible.
So it seems that Swaying Bear was waiting for me to defeat Tiger Wolf without damaging it.
“Swaying Bear, thank you.”
“Kuun.”
Looking at his happy face, it seemed I wasn’t wrong.
“But Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear are more important than keeping my promise to Sanya-san, so you don’t have to do anything dangerous.”
Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear were much more important than keeping my promise to Sanya-san.
If they didn’t knock them down when they could, if they made the slightest mistake and got hurt, or even the other way around, I wouldn’t be able to stop worrying about them.
“Kuun!”
Swaying Bear cried sadly.
It wasn’t that I was angry.
“Thank you, though.”
“Kuun.”
I thanked him and patted his head; this time, he looked happy.
“Well then, let’s take down the rest of the wolves in the village.”
“Kuun.”
Hugging Bear did a good job, and the number of Wolves had reduced considerably.
Perhaps the two of them had discussed and divided their roles.
When Swaying Bear and I joined in the wolf hunt, we quickly finished eliminating the wolves in the village.
“Swaying Bear, Hugging Bear, thank you.”
I pat them both on the head.
“Kuun.”
After collecting the wolves and the Tiger Wolves’ carca.s.ses after the hunt, I headed to the house of the first man I met.
“It’s all right now. I’ve defeated all the monsters in the village.”
I said to the house, and the door slowly opened.
“Are you sure?”
They asked through the doorway.
“Yes, I’m sure. I’d like you to confirm it and sign the certificate of subjugation.
The man opened the door uneasily and stepped out of the house.
“Are you sure you killed that many wolves?”
“You can see for yourself, can’t you?”
No matter how much I told him I had defeated them, it would be meaningless if he didn’t believe me. If that were the case, it would be quicker for them to see the monsters I had defeated.
When the man left the house and saw the mound of vanquished monsters, the man went to the village chief’s home and other houses and told them it was safe.
The village chief and other villagers then confirmed that the monsters were defeated.
“Thank you so much.”
The village chief thanked me.
At first, he looked doubtful when he saw my outfit, but many people in the village had seen the fight between me, Swaying Bear, and Hugging Bear.
They heard a noise and looked out their windows. Because of their words, even those who seemed sceptical about me believed me.
Many of them seemed to think that it was the work of Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, rather than me.
They were right since Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear defeated most monsters.
“There are no other monsters in the area, right?”
“Yes, all we’ve seen are two Tiger Wolves and a pack of Wolves.”
Then, the request was completed.
I was glad we could defeat them before they caused too much permanent damage to the village.
And, as promised, the Tiger Wolves and Wolves that were killed were given to me.
Thanks to Swaying Bear, I beat the Tiger Wolves cleanly, meaning I had to take them back home (so that they could be used for the compet.i.tion).
“Well then, I’m going back.”
“Are you leaving already? I haven’t even thanked you enough yet.”
The village chief tried to keep me from leaving, but further hospitality was unnecessary.
The children in the village looked disappointed at my words.
While I was talking to the village chief, they were admiring Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear.
I would like to say something. Fathers and mothers, you should not let your children near bears. They may be dangerous.
“It’s my job, so don’t worry about thanking me.”
I asked the kids to step away from the Swaying Bear and the Hugging Bear and was about to get on the Swaying Bear when someone came running toward us from outside the village and came right in front of us.
They had been running for a long time, sweaty and out of breath.
“Uwah, a Bear!”
The sweaty man was surprised to see Swaying Bear and me.
No, he probably noticed us before he got too close.
But he was out of breath and wobbly, so maybe he wasn’t looking ahead properly.
“You are, Jimmy from the nearby village. What’s up? Why are you in such a hurry?”
“Ah, village chief…”
The man called Jimmy looked at Swaying Bear, Hugging Bear, and me.
“I’m sure these bears are safe.”
Does that include me?
“Are you sure they are safe?”
“Yes, they were the benefactors of the village. What’s the matter? What’s going on?”
“The village was attacked by monsters.”
More monsters?
How many were there?
The man said he was from a nearby village.
The village was attacked by a monster called Giant Spider.
The name sounds horrifying.
A spider, huh?
I was born and raised in the city, and I disliked insects.
I was especially bad with insects that have lots of legs.
Spiders, next to c.o.c.kroaches, rank high on my list of insects that I disliked.
The man was telling us about his village.
He said that while working in the village, Giant Spiders appeared. At first, he said, everyone in the village tried to defeat them, but not just one, but several appeared, and the villagers became confused when more Giant Spiders appeared.
Amidst all this, he said, the village chief asked him to go to the next village to ask for help, and he ran to this village.
The man later added, claiming that giant spiders attacked him on his way to this village, but two adventurers saved him.
“If those two people hadn’t saved me, I would have been killed by the spiders.”
“Who were the adventurers?”
“I don’t know. They were just pa.s.sing through. I explained to him what was happening in the village, but he told me to go to the village to ask for help.”
The adventurer parted ways with him and said they would go to his village.
I hoped the adventurers were strong enough to go and take down the spiders.
Well, what do I do now?
Just imagine. Giant Spiders have many legs, and that hideous mouth, and those creepy movements. No amount of bear equipment would protect my spirit.
“…Yuna-san.”
The village chief looked at me with a troubled expression.
If it were a pack of ‘normal’ monsters, I would feel free to go and subjugate the horde, but it was a group of oversized spiders. I want to pretend I didn’t hear that and go home instead.
A spider. I would rather not fight if I could.
If I could leave it to someone else, I would.
But I could not just leave it to others, could I?
I let out a small sigh.
“The village is over that way, right?”
“Yuna-san!?”
“I’ll go there. But I’ll ask other adventurers to go instead if it seems impossible.”
It would leave a bad aftertaste if I abandoned him and later heard that a spider had eaten that poor soul.
“Village chief, are you sure you want to ask this young lady? It’s dangerous.”
“Yuna-san may look like this, but she was the strong one who saved our village from a pack of Tiger Wolves and Wolves.”
“But…”
But, as if to encourage the village chief’s words, the villagers also raised their voices.
“That little girl is strong, she’ll be fine.”
“I saw her fight the Tiger Wolf.”
“Bear-san, strong.”
“If you don’t believe me, that’s fine. If you don’t trust me, that’s okay, I’ll just ask another adventurer.”
“I’m sorry. There are girls as big as you in the village. I don’t think they could fight a monster like that. If you were to get eaten by a spider…”
Apparently, he was worried about me.
“I can use magic, and I have these two with me, so I’ll be fine.”
I turned to Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear.
The man looked at Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear and bowed his head.
“Please, help our village.”
I decided to head for the village, thinking that I would be lucky if the adventurers who helped the man had killed the spiders.
For now, I should check out the current situation.
I mounted Swaying Bear.
“Swaying Bear, Hugging Bear, let’s go.”
“Kuun.”
I moved with Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear towards the village that the man had told me about.
Given the location of each village to each other, perhaps Tiger Wolves and Wolves were fleeing from the Spiders.
What a nuisance this could end up being.
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