Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear Vol. 2

by Kumanano

  We ran through empty plains. The black viper we were looking for was sure to turn up soon. In the dim evening light, I made out a dark shape ahead; I thought it was a boulder until I noticed the heaped, winding coils, big around as a bus.

  It was huge and apparently asleep. Well, I thought, victory comes to those who strike first.

  I dismounted and recalled Kumayuru. When I looked back at the black viper, its head had perked up. Its eyes were fixed on me; its tongue flicked out, tasting the air. Seeing it awake, with the whole terrible mass of it in motion, I didn’t feel quite so tough anymore.

  The viper whipped out, narrowing the distance between us in an instant. Before I could blink, its mouth took up my whole field of vision.

  I leapt to the right. Its gigantic body grazed me as it went by. For a second I thought I was safe, but its body swept around for another pass. I immediately guarded with my white bear hand, but it sent me tumbling back along the ground.

  For as far as it threw me, I expected to feel more of an impact. Maybe the suit soaked it up? The viper didn’t give me any time to speculate; it reared up to strike again.

  I couldn’t jump out of its reach. I juked left and right, but even when I dodged it, its coils and tail would lash out at me two, three times in a row. When it moved, its body threw up a cloud of dust that stung my eyes and turned everything murky. It was coming up on full dark, too; it was hard to make out its black body against the night.

  It reacted to sounds. Maybe coming in the evening was a mistake.

  I blew away the cloud of dust with a wind spell.

  I ran through my usual set of combat spells over the handful of times it stopped moving, but they just rolled off its scales. It was too big for a pit. Bear magic would be overdoing it; I thought I could defeat it if I used the fire bear, but since the hide seemed like it’d be useful for a lot of things, I wanted to avoid burning it if possible.

  In the game, it didn’t matter how I defeated things; they’d still turn into items. In real life, if you burned something, you couldn’t put it back to the way it was. If you cut it with a sword, it’d be scratched. If you attacked with magic, you’d damage the materials.

  Fire was off the table, and wind didn’t look any more promising. When I thought my air cutters drew blood, the wound would heal over in seconds.

  If I can’t attack the outside, I thought, how about the insides?

  I jumped back to buy myself some distance. The viper slithered after me. I wove from side to side, waiting for it to open its mouth. All it did was charge at me, and it hadn’t gone in for a bite since its first attack. It wouldn’t open its mouth if I stuck with this approach. Maybe it would if I jumped?

  I kicked the ground and leapt up high. When I escaped up into the sky, the black viper opened its mouth wide and struck. In that moment, I conjured ten fire bears about the same size as one of my bear puppets.

  The mini fire bears assembled into a clean rank and file in front of me. The black viper’s mouth approached in a straight line. It was like it was practically asking for me to loose the bears into its mouth. They burned its long tongue on the way down.

  The viper writhed in pain, its body collapsing with a mighty thud.

  Its body thrashed, shaking the ground, but after a while its movements weakened, and in the end, it stopped moving.

  Just between you and me: there was a smell like prime barbecue that wafted out of its mouth.

  “Is it over?”

  Bear detection couldn’t pick up its signal. It was dead, all right.

  You definitely couldn’t defeat a monster with normal magic once it got to this class. Did that mean I had to think up more convenient bear magic? If I kept things up like this, I’d end up burning up all the materials I wanted.

  I stowed the viper’s body in bear storage. Mission complete. I took out Kumakyu and decided to head back to the village. Kai was standing around at the outskirts.

  “What’re you doing in a place like this?”

  “I was waiting for you.”

  “For me?”

  “Yeah, I was thinking if you ran back here, then I’d let myself get eaten first and give you time to escape,” he told me with firm, straightforward eyes. He probably wasn’t joking.

  “Why?”

  “You brought information on how to defeat the viper, right? If you died, it wouldn’t help Domgol, who sacrificed himself so that I could go get help.”

  What was with all these tenacious kids in this world? I gently patted Kai on the head.

  “Miss?”

  “It’s fine. I beat the viper,” I said, in order to make him feel better.

  “Huh?”

  “Could you call everyone in the village here? I’ll show them the proof.”

  I smiled.

  “Move back a little.”

  Once he was standing at a safe distance, I pulled the proof out of bear storage.

  “Is it dead?” he asked.

  I beat on the corpse a little to buy him a little peace of mind. The body remained motionless.

  “It really is…”

  He slowly, slowly touched the viper’s cooling bulk.

  “I’ll call everyone.”

  He ran into the village.

  After a while, the villagers came out of their houses and headed over to the corpse.

  “Did you really defeat it?”

  “It’s the black viper.”

  “Is it really dead?”

  There were people who burst out crying at the sight of it.

  “Did the bear girl defeat it?”

  “Th-thank you.”

  “Thank you so very much.”

  “Thanks, miss.”

  No one minded how I looked. Kai’s dad came up to me from among them.

  “Miss, sorry about earlier. Thank you. You saved the village.” He bowed his head.

  “You don’t have to worry about that. No one would believe a girl like me could defeat it.”

  “If you ever need anything, tell me. If it’s something I can do anything about, I will. You saved my life.”

  “I don’t have anything I want. Just live for your clever boy here.”

  While Kai’s father was apologizing, an elder appeared next to him. They just kept coming one after another. Who was it this time?

  “I am the chief, Zun. Thank you so much for saving the village.” He lowered his head.

  “But if I had been a little earlier…”

  “No, we heard from Kai. You came here immediately after hearing him out once he reached the town. That you came within the day was more than fast enough. My expectation was that it would take several days. Do not trouble yourself with those who have already perished, miss.”

  Really, what was I going to say to that?

  The elder turned around and looked at all the villagers.

  “You all likely haven’t had a decent meal. We are late in doing so, but let us have a feast.”

  At his voice, the villagers responded with joy.

  “We cannot offer you much hospitality, but please join us.”

  The elder bowed again and went to start preparing the feast. The villagers each brought ingredients from their houses, made a fire in the middle of the village, and prepared a whole bunch of dishes. They danced, made a ruckus, ate, and made a big deal of that day for the sake of those who died and those still living.

  While I was languidly watching the villagers, they came up to me one after another with food and more gratitude. I might have looked like a spectacle to the kids, since they couldn’t keep their hands off me. I kept seeing the parents stop them.

  The feast continued late into the night, and I ended up staying at the elder’s house.

  Chapter 41:

  The Bear Finishes the Snake Extermination

  and Goes Back to Town

  THE NEXT DAY, I woke up early in the morning.

  The ceiling was different. I remembered that I’d stayed the night at the village chief’s house. When I got
up and stood, I heard activity in the room next to me. The elder seemed to already be awake. I headed over to greet him.

  “Good morning.”

  “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

  “You didn’t.”

  “I will make us something simple for breakfast, so please wait.”

  I waited absentmindedly, and eventually he brought over our meal. It was bread, veggies…and eggs?

  “Help yourself. I hope it is to your taste.”

  “Um, what’s this?”

  I pointed at the fried egg.

  “This is a kokkeko egg. Kai’s father went first thing in the morning to collect some. He said he wanted you to eat it.”

  “Uh, thank you,” I said, then notched the bread with the knife, put veggies and the egg between it, and ate.

  “It’s good.”

  “I am glad. I am sure that Kai’s father will also be glad after he went to collect it.”

  Once I finished breakfast I decided to follow up on this new development.

  “So you can gather kokkeko eggs in this village?”

  “Yes, we can. If we go first thing, we can find them fresh-laid.”

  “What’s a kokkeko bird like?”

  “It can’t fly very high, so it makes its nests in the bushes on the ground. They are also very quick at running.”

  Was it a chicken?

  “I believe we still have kokkeko eggs and kokkekos from this morning’s collection, so would you like to bring them home?”

  “Could I really?” I was overjoyed.

  “Of course. This village owes you its life. We have nothing to pay you with, so this is a drop in the bucket.”

  Obtained eggs and chickens!

  With breakfast over with, I started getting ready to leave.

  “Are you really going home?”

  “I need to report to the guild, after all.”

  When I left the village chief’s house, Kai came over.

  “Miss, you’re going home?”

  “The Guildmaster and adventurers are heading over here, so if I don’t report to them, it’ll cause them trouble.”

  On the way out, I picked up three kokkekos and about ten eggs from Kai’s father. Whatever folks called them, they were pretty obviously chickens. That might have been the happiest part of the job this time around.

  It was a little ways out, but I decided I’d come back again.

  I called Kumayuru, and we made for Crimonia, listening to the sound of my hosts shouting their thanks slowly fade into the distance.

  Several hours later, we spotted someone bearing down in our direction. Suspecting it was the Guildmaster, I had Kumayuru slow down.

  “Is that you, Yuna?!”

  The Guildmaster brought his horse to a halt.

  “What’re you doing here? The village wasn’t annihilated, was it?”

  “I’ve defeated the black viper.”

  “…huh, sorry, could you say that again?”

  “I defeated the black viper,” I said again.

  “You’re joking.”

  This whole interaction was a pain, so I pulled the body out of my bear storage and laid it out in front of him.

  “So you really defeated it on your own. It’s not damaged anywhere.”

  “It’s got a hide like a tank, but its insides handle fireballs about as well as you’d expect.”

  “You say that like it was easy…” the Guildmaster said, peering into the viper’s mouth. “It’s true. I’m amazed the spell reached so deep—the throat’s what, two meters wide? I’d expect a fire spell to detonate in its mouth.”

  I couldn’t tell him my fireballs had walked their way down its digestive tract on stubby little bear legs.

  “Anyway, I got it. If there’s no point to going to the village, then let’s head back to town.”

  We set off again, the both of us headed for Crimonia this time.

  “Begging your pardon, but my horse can’t keep pace with your bear. Could you slow down? I have questions.”

  I broke down what happened at the village for him.

  “That was pretty reckless of you.”

  With the bear gear, I could afford to be.

  We took a brief rest stop, and when we got on the road home again, I let Kumayuru take it slow. Both our mounts deserved a break, and I wasn’t in any kind of hurry.

  We got back to town the following day and went straight to the guild. Helen saw us and broke into tears.

  “Yuna, Guildmaster…why are you here? Did the village…?”

  “Helen, it’s fine. The black viper was defeated,” the Guildmaster explained.

  “Was it really?!” Helen wiped away her tears.

  “Yeah, it’s true, so calm down. Why were you so worried?”

  “Rush from C-Rank came back injured, and I was having such a difficult time reaching any adventurers above C-Rank. I should have expected you would be able to handle it, Guildmaster.”

  Helen looked at the Guildmaster reverently.

  “I didn’t. Yuna did, alone.”

  “What…?” Helen slowly looked my way. Don’t look at me with eyes that wide, I thought. It’s embarrassing.

  “I felt the same, but it’s true.”

  She didn’t look reassured.

  “So, Yuna, it’s getting late. I hate to ask you to do this, but could you come by again tomorrow? We need to write the report for this and inventory the materials from the viper.”

  “When?”

  “Earlier would be better, but I’m sure you’re tired too. I’ll let you decide when.”

  “Got it.”

  I left the adventurers’ guild.

  Chapter 42:

  The Bear Goes to the Orphanage

  THANKS TO THE BEAR SUIT’S white side, I woke up feeling refreshed. I pulled some eggs from bear storage and made a fried egg sandwich. I felt another pang of longing for rice, soy sauce, and miso—so close to a Japanese breakfast, and yet so far.

  The Guildmaster had called me in, but since he hadn’t specified a time, I took my time with breakfast before I left. As soon as I got to the guild, an employee showed me over to the Guildmaster’s office.

  “You’re earlier than I expected.”

  “I went straight to sleep yesterday. Aren’t you early, too?”

  He was already working.

  “I’ve been here all night working through the backlog and the black viper stuff.”

  “The black viper stuff?”

  “We’ve had a lot of offers for the materials now that word’s gotten out.”

  “I haven’t decided whether I was going to sell it, though.”

  “I know, but I couldn’t tell them that. The merchants and armorers would hound you to the ends of the earth.”

  “Is it really that popular?”

  “Well, the skin makes excellent armor—it’s sturdy, it’s light, and it soaks up mana like a sponge. There are tons of adventurers who would want it. The meat’s a delicacy, too. You can sell any cut for a killing. You can use the fangs for all kinds of purposes too, and depending on the size of the specimen, there’s a chance it’s got a B-rank mana gem. In other words, anyone would want those materials.”

  “You’re saying I’ve got to sell it?”

  “Whether you sell it or not is your prerogative. But, if you don’t…”

  “People are going to bug me about it anyway?”

  “That’s right. Speaking for the guild, I’d rather you sell it to us directly rather than give it to someone else.”

  “I don’t mind selling it, though I’d like the mana gem and some of the materials.”

  I didn’t know when the mana gem might come in handy.

  “Yeah, I don’t mind. It’d be reassuring to me if you let us have the skin and the meat.”

  “So where should I have it butchered? It’d be impossible in the warehouse, right?”

  The Guildmaster looked pensive, and then troubled.

  “We’ll have to do it outside.”

&n
bsp; “Outside?”

  “Nobody would complain if we did it outside the gates, right? Sorry for asking you so soon, but could you handle moving the body?”

  “I can.”

  The Guildmaster and I left the room.

  “Helen, gather the employees who can butcher and figure out the bare minimum staff we need to keep the warehouse running.”

  Helen ran off and gathered about ten people in total, Gentz and Fina among them.

  “I thought we might need more hands,” Gentz explained, detecting my surprise at seeing Fina.

  The butchers and I walked in a procession from the guild to the gate, and from there to a spot that wouldn’t block traffic.

  “This should do.”

  With the Guildmaster’s OK, I pulled the black viper out of bear storage. The butchers let out a collective gasp.

  “It’s huge.”

  “Did the bear girl really beat this thing?”

  “I can’t believe that thing fit in her bottomless bag.”

  “Do you think we can finish this today?”

  “You lot, the work won’t get done with you just staring at it. Once you’re finished, take the parts to cold storage. Prioritize the meat first—we lose out if any of it rots. The skin can go last.”

  The butchers voiced their agreement.

  “So, Yuna, what’re you going to do?”

  “Me?”

  “You going to watch or go home?”

  “Can I go home?”

  If I could, I would. I wasn’t interested in watching anyone gut a snake.

  “Yeah, we won’t mind. We’ll take the harvested materials to the guild. You can decide which portions you want there.”

  “Guess I’ll go home. When do you think it’ll be over?”

  “No idea. I’ll send somebody to your house when it is.”

  “In that case, please have Fina do it—there won’t be any extra hassle letting her in.”

  “Got it.”

  Since going straight home wouldn’t have been any fun, I decided to hit up the plaza for lunch. I figured I could stand to cool my heels for a while before I went home; whatever I got wouldn’t go cold in my bear storage, anyway. As I scanned the square for grub, I saw some grubby-looking kids in an out of the way corner.