by Kumanano
I could hear their voices. It seemed like they were in a tight spot. Kumayuru ran faster. I caught sight of them; if I could see them, that meant they could see me.
“A bear!”
One of the boys pointed his sword at Kumayuru.
“You idiot, look closer!”
“It’s Miss Bear!”
I fired an ice arrow, drilling into the forehead of the wolf that had been chasing them. My second volley cleared out the others looming in the brush.
“Whoa.”
I realized they were that party with the guy who’d bopped my head yesterday. Fortunately for them, now wasn’t the time to get all bent out of shape about that.
“Kumakyu! You take over.”
I left Kumakyu to guard them and ran over to Brandaugh. He was standing on top of a pretty high rocky outcrop, his bow at the ready. I followed his sight line and spotted a tigerwolf weaving through the forest. He’d been laying down a curtain of suppressing fire on it.
Honestly, what was that man thinking? That whole thing about nice guys finishing last was true, apparently. Pulling that kind of move was a sure way to get mauled.
The tigerwolf slipped between arrow after arrow, veering to the left and right as it bore down on Brandaugh.
“Kumayuru!”
Kumayuru sped up, closing with the tigerwolf in an instant. Its body slammed the tigerwolf as it readied to pounce. Kumayuru took the impact well; I didn’t so much as move in my seat.
“Miss!”
“Long time no see, Brandaugh,” I said, raising my bear puppet to greet him.
“Why are you here?”
“I’m going for a walk,” I answered, my attention locked to the tigerwolf. It slowly stood up and looked in my direction.
“Miss, make a run for it!”
There was no way I could run with my target right there, regardless of what he said—that was my precious, precious pelt, after all. I got down from Kumayuru and confronted the tigerwolf.
“Miss,” said Brandaugh, “it’s dangerous.”
“Dangerous for who? You just had a baby, so you shouldn’t be putting yourself into danger anyway,” I said, not shifting my attention as I scolded him.
We didn’t have time to hold a long conversation. The tiger wolf glared, grit its teeth, and growled. If I didn’t have my bear gear, I’d be cowering around now. I closed in and loosed an air cutter. The tigerwolf detected the change in pressure and flipped clear of it in a very un-wolflike show of acrobatics.
At the same time, though, dodging wasn’t the same as acting of your own volition. It was something that your opponent forced you to do. I ate up the distance its dodge had built, fortified my body, and smashed it square in the side with a bear punch. Its body scraped against the ground.
Oh, I thought, maybe I hit it too hard, until the tigerwolf tried to stand back up. An arrow flew past my head and struck it straight in its right eye.
“Brandaugh?”
“I didn’t think you needed my help, but I saw an opening.”
The tigerwolf stood with the arrow still stuck in its eye.
“That might have made things worse.”
Brandaugh’s hand shook as he readied his bow. I could feel the aura of pure murder rolling off the tigerwolf’s body, too. I didn’t know whether it was a buff from the bear gear, my experience gaming, or just a security blanket thing, but I didn’t feel the kind of dread Brandaugh was feeling.
“It’ll be fine.”
The tigerwolf and I kicked off the ground simultaneously.
Even with one crushed eye, it avoided all of the bear cutters I fired. Still, Brandaugh had given me a blind spot to exploit. I juked right and caught it in a hail of compressed water bullets. The tiger wolf let out a scream as it collapsed, but rallied seconds later. It opened its gigantic mouth, like it wanted me intimately familiar with all its teeth. When it presented me with that opportunity, I shot an ice arrow straight down its throat.
Just when I thought its one-eyed glare meant it still meant business, it collapsed on its side.
“Did you kill it?”
It didn’t get back up.
“Seems like it.”
Brandaugh relaxed his bow.
“Miss, you saved me. Thanks.”
“I said it before, but I was just taking a walk, so don’t worry about it.”
“You’re so modest, even after saving my life.”
Brandaugh patted my head through the top of the bear hood, and I heard the bushes rustling behind us.
“Brandaugh, are you okay?”
The rookies had turned up.
“I’m pretty sure I told you all to run away.”
“Sorry. We were worried about you. Thank you for what you did earlier. If you hadn’t caused that diversion, we would have been…”
“Don’t worry about it. I just happened to be around at the right moment. I just happen to know more about this forest than you all do.”
“So were you the one who handled that tigerwolf, Brandaugh?” the rookie asked, looking at the arrow sticking out of the tigerwolf’s eye.
“Nah, this young lady took down the tigerwolf. I just took advantage of an opening she made.”
The rookies looked at me.
“This bear did that?”
Just as one of the boys mumbled that, I saw the girl next to him elbow him.
“He means thank you for everything you just did.”
“Thank you very much. You saved us.”
The four rookies politely bowed their heads.
“So what should we do with this guy? I’d like to take it back, but…” Brandaugh asked, looking at the dead tigerwolf.
“I’ll carry it.”
I went up to the tigerwolf and put it in my bear storage.
“Amazing as always. This has been bugging me for a while now—what’s with that white bear?”
Come to think of it, this was the first time Brandaugh saw Kumakyu.
When we got back to the village, the men were armed and the entrance was closed off.
“Brandaugh! You’re safe! And so are the adventurers!”
“Yeah, she gave us a hand.”
“Is that right? What a relief. You only just had a baby, so don’t make Marie worry.”
“Sorry about that.”
“So what happened to the tigerwolf? Is it nearby? If it isn’t, we were talking about going to the adventurers’ guild in town.”
“Oh, the tigerwolf’s dead. She killed it.”
“…Wha?”
All of the men had the same reaction.
“We’ll be fine now.”
“Is that really true?”
No one seemed to believe Brandaugh.
“But the tigerwolf is on another level compared to the guardian.”
“What good would lying about something like this do? I’ll explain the details later. Anyway, let me go to the chief so I can give my report.”
The men parted to the right and left to make a path. Brandaugh and I headed to the chief’s house together. Kumayuru and Kumakyu followed behind us, and the rookies trailed at the very end of the procession.
“Brandaugh, you’re back?!”
The chief and Marie came out from the chief’s house. Fina followed behind them.
“You’re not hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
Relief spread across Marie’s face.
“Well then, Brandaugh, what happened to the tigerwolf?” the chief asked.
“She killed it.”
“Is this true?!”
I thought it would be faster to show them the actual thing than explaining it, so I took the tigerwolf out of bear storage. They looked at the body in disbelief. When the chief saw it was dead, he bowed his head.
“Miss Yuna, thank you very much. You have my sincere gratitude for rescuing Brandaugh and going so far as to defeat the tigerwolf. Though it doesn’t amount to much, please allow us to pay you as thanks.”
“I just happened to be
on a walk, and I just so happened to discover Brandaugh and coincidentally beat a tigerwolf. I don’t have a reason to take money from the village.”
“But…” the chief seemed like he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t get the words out.
“Plus, with the baby just being born, I couldn’t let Marie become a widow.”
“Yuna…” Marie smiled at me, wiping her tears away. Right then, Yuuk reached out his arms as far as he could get them from within Marie’s arms.
“Yuuk?”
Yuuk was reaching out towards the tigerwolf’s corpse. Marie sunk down to her knees while still holding Yuuk, and he grabbed the tigerwolf’s fur.
“Yuuk?”
When Marie tried to pull Yuuk’s hand from the fur, he started to cry. When she got flustered and let his hand go, he latched onto the tigerwolf’s pelt again.
“Yuna, I’m so sorry. I’ll make him let go right now.”
When Marie pried Yuuk’s hand away, he really started crying. She rocked him to the best of her ability, but he just wouldn’t stop. It seemed like he just really liked the pelt.
“Marie, please accept this tigerwolf as your son’s late birthday gift.”
“But…I can’t accept that. I’ll get him to calm down.”
Nevertheless, Yuuk wouldn’t stop crying from within Marie’s arms.
“Why won’t he stop crying for me?”
I ended up laughing watching Marie working her hardest to soothe her baby.
“Ha ha. Marie, please take it. Chief, the pelt is for Yuuk, but the village can use the meat any way it sees fit.”
“Are you sure?”
I nodded.
After that, we had Fina butcher the tigerwolf. The villagers were pretty shocked at how quickly she worked. We divvied up the pelt and meat as we’d agreed.
While I was watching Fina’s butchering operation, the rookies came over.
“Um, do you have a sec?”
“What is it?”
“Thank you very much.”
They lowered their heads.
“If you hadn’t come when you did…”
“We might have been goners.”
“Also, I’m sorry we were rude to you at the adventurers’ guild.”
“Um, please forgive Shin. He didn’t mean it badly. Everyone told us that you were terrifying and violent, so when we saw you were so cute, he thought it was a practical joke.”
“We had no idea you were that strong. We’re just rookies; we figured it was a hazing thing. If you’re at all like the rumors say, please just take me. The others didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Could I ask you something? What did they tell you at the adventurers’ guild?”
“Well…”
They told me the same thing Helen did. But as for what the other adventurers had told them… It looked like I had some punishment to dole out when I got back to Crimonia.
“Are you really going home? It’s already late, so please stay the night.”
“It would be fine if I was alone, but I’ve got this one here,” I said, and put my hand on Fina’s head. “We came here without telling her parents. I don’t want to make them worry.”
“Yes, you’re right. We certainly can’t keep you. Yuna, thanks again for everything you did this visit.”
“I’ll come again on another walk.”
“Yeah. I’ll be waiting. Please come again at your own leisure too, Fina.”
“Yes, I’ll look forward to it,” Fina said, and smiled at them.
The rookies were staying for a while to keep wolf hunting. I mounted Kumakyu, Fina mounted Kumayuru and we hurried back to Crimonia, but by the time we got there, the sun had set and we ended up getting in trouble with Tiermina.
Fina, sorry for getting you involved in this.
Extra Story:
Encounter with A Bear:
The Headmistress Chronicles
WE HAD NOTHING to eat today, either. It’s taken everything we could to make a soup from vegetable scraps once a day. It has been about three months since our funding was cut, and we haven’t been able to provide the children proper things to eat.
As the adult, I had to do something. Liz and I would go to get food, but there were limits. If we begged every day, they would give us dirty looks. Even if we were to go somewhere else, they would not look upon us kindly. Regardless, because the children were waiting, we had to beg even as we endured their disgust.
Liz had been gone since morning, but I could not know how much she would bring back. I soothed the small child in front of me and couldn’t help but worry as I thought about the future. The other children had gone out. They likely headed for the central plaza. The children searched for leftovers from the food carts there.
I could hardly admonish them for doing that.
If only I could prepare them some food, they wouldn’t need to do that. However, I didn’t have the means to do that, so all I could do was tell them not to be an annoyance. If things continued like this, someone might die, or the children would likely start stealing. If the children resorted to crime, those who currently gave us food would stop. If that happened, that would spell the end of the orphanage. I had thought about asking the lord for help, but if he were to think we’d turned defiant, he might evict us, and the children would have no place to go.
There was nothing I could do. I held my head and went deep into thought when I noticed a commotion outside. It seemed the children had returned earlier than usual.
Had something happened?
I anxiously went outside to find the children gathered around a girl with a strange appearance. A bear?
I called out a greeting to this girl with the appearance of a bear.
“Who might you be? I am the headmistress, Bo. I manage this orphanage.”
“I’m Yuna, the adventurer. I saw these kids in the central square.”
“In the central square…you went there again?”
I knew they had, but I had to admonish them for appearances’ sake. The children apologized, but I was the one truly at fault.
“It’s fine. It is my own fault for not being able to provide meals for you, after all. Did these children do you wrong?”
Even if they had done something to her, all I could do was apologize. I hoped she would accept.
“No, it just seemed like they were hungry.”
“I’m sorry. Um, though it is an embarrassment, we don’t have much to eat.”
It wasn’t anything to hide, so I told her the truth. Normally I wouldn’t talk about such things in front of the children, but since she was asking me so many questions, I ended up telling her. Then Yuna, the girl dressed as a bear, brought out wolf meat for us. Moreover, there was quite a large amount of it. She even produced bread and something for us to drink.
She told us to eat as much as we wanted. In truth, I didn’t want to take anything without a reason, but the children could not pry their eyes off the food. I decided to thank her and accepted it.
After we prepared the food, the children ate it in delight. How long had it been since I saw them smiling like that?
Yuna stood up and began inspecting the inside of the orphanage. I was grilling the meat she prepared for us, so I could not leave it be.
“Are you children already done?”
There was still meat. The children looked at it hungrily.
“Miss, I don’t need anymore.”
“Me neither.”
They all laid their forks and chopsticks down on the table.
“Why is that?”
“I want to eat it tomorrow…”
Of course. Even if they had food today, that didn’t mean they would have any the next day.
“All right. Let’s ask Yuna if we may have permission to eat it tomorrow.”
I went searching for Yuna. When I found her, she was repairing our crumbling, hole-filled walls with magic.
“What are you doing?” It was plain as day, but I still had to ask.
�
��I’m mending the walls. It must be cold with the wind coming through the gaps.”
That certainly was true. Yuna inspected the room, repairing the walls as she went. Then she went to the children’s bedroom and saw the small towels on their beds. We had no warm blankets. She pulled out warm-looking wolf pelts from the bear on her hand and handed them to me.
“Yuna?”
“Please give these to the kids. It’d be cold with just a single towel. There’s enough for you and extras.”
Why was she doing all this for us? I was so perplexed by Yuna’s actions that I forgot to ask about the wolf meat, and we ended up returning to the dining area. When Yuna noticed that the food she gave us hadn’t been eaten, I asked her about it.
“Yes, if you’d let us, I’d like to hand this out tomorrow. The children said they would rather eat it tomorrow rather than today.”
“Oh, sorry. I forgot to tell you. I’ll prep several days’ worth, so you can eat it.”
Yuna brought out more meat and bread.
“Um, why are you doing all this for us?” I asked. I couldn’t keep silent
“If an adult can’t eat, it’s their own fault for not working, but a kid not being able to eat isn’t their own fault. It’s the adult’s fault. If they don’t have parents, the adults around them can help them. That makes us allies.”
I was almost about to cry. Even though she was an adventurer, those were warmer words than I would expect from such a young girl. The children ate until they were full. As Yuna watched them, she gave us more food. All I could do was thank her. After she watched over the orphanage for some time, she excused herself. The children were sad as they came up to her.
“You’re putting Yuna in a difficult spot. Everyone, say thank you.”
“Thank you, bear girl.”
“Thank you.”
It was the morning three days after Yuna came to us.
We were eating breakfast using the food Yuna had given us. Since she had given us so many provisions, we were able to eat morning meals. The children were delighted to eat. We really would need to thank Yuna again the next time she came. At first, I thought she was just a strange-looking girl. I suppose you can’t judge a book by its cover. I had to make sure I taught the children that as well.