It Might Have Been a Strong Opponent
『Gujaaaaaaaaaaa!!』
The boss bear roared angrily in our direction.
Uwah, scary. Don't get so mad now.
"H-hiie...!"
The kid cowered in fear.
Just please don't wet yourself at least.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I-I'm okay... B-but the magic beast...!"
She managed to squeeze a response despite being terrified. Must be a skill she learned in order to survive in the slum.
Judging from her voice, it's a girl. I was saved by a girl last time, and now I'm saving one. So what though.
She's blond with pretty red eyes. She'd look quite cute after a bath and clean clothes... Okay yeah, this is no time for that.
『Gaaaaaaa!!』
The boss bear charged at us while roaring out loud.
That must be 'Roaring Rush' Skill, it's dang fast.
I carried the slum girl and evaded the charge with Pseudo Ground Shrink. I'm still faster if I go all out.
But I can't keep this up forever. I'm gonna land in hot water at this rate! What should I do! (Monotonous)
I dodged another charge, and then just as the bear was changing direction and getting ready to charge at me again,
The bear's entire body sank into the ground.
『Gugaa!?』
"Eh, huh? I-it's gone?"
"That went well huh, Alma."
"Un, sending it down was easy when that thing stopped moving."
Alma dropped the bear down a deep hole during the moment it paused to change direction.
I asked her to gauge the timing and she executed that nicely.
"How deep is it?"
"Around triple that bear's height."
"Well, should be good enough, time for the finishing touch, heave-ho."
I took some bundles of straw I got from Keruna Village out of Item Screen and threw them in the hole.
Then I set a torch smeared in Fire Frog Oil in ablaze and threw that in too.
Then to finish it off, Alma closed up the hole with Spirit Magic.
The inside should eventually be deprived of oxygen and the bear would die of suffocation.
There's no hole to crawl out from even if it tries to climb. Clawing on the thick bedrock won't do any good either.
I know I came up with this strategy but damn if it isn't brutal. But against magic beasts, the only choice is life or death, there's no chivalry involved.
"W-what just happened? A hole suddenly opened up under the magic beast, and then you threw something in there and then it closed..."
The slum girl is staring at the hole the boss bear disappeared to in confusion.
Looks like her mind can't catch up with all the happenings.
"Ah, long story short, the girl over there, Alma used magic to create a pitfall and dropped the magic beast down there. The exit has been blocked off, it's fine now."
"With the straw burning, it will cease breathing after a while, don't worry about it surviving... I feel a bit bad though."
"Don't you think that sounded kinda weird...?"
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
The slum girl's face twitched as she heard our explanations.
It's not weird at all~. I mean we're talking about a magic beast here.
"Well, I'm just glad you're okay. Can you walk?"
"Y-yes I can. U-um, thank you so much, for saving me. If you two hadn't come, I would have ended in that bear's stomach."
"Nn. Are you hurt?"
"No. That bear looked like it was enjoying chasing its prey around, it never went in for the kill."
Licking your lips before your prey is sign of third rate, or so a certain mercenary said. No looking down.
This kid got saved thanks to that tho'.
"We saw another party who was getting pursued by a magic beast, did they leave you behind?"
"...Yes. The magic beast wouldn't budge no matter how much those guys attacked it, so they decided to run but since I haven't gotten my Level yet, I'm too slow to..."
"Why are you here in a den of magic beasts when you haven't come of age yet? Don't you know how dangerous that is?"
"I half forced myself into their party after I begged them to take me with them saying I'd carry their bags or do chores. I'll be coming of age soon and I wanna become an adventurer once I get my Job but I have no money for equipment and stuff so I thought that would be the quickest way to earn, and this was the end result."
"...Excuse me for asking, what about your family?"
"I don't have one. I was living in an orphanage, but I had nowhere to go to once it went bankrupt, so I'm making the slum my dwelling now."
"I'm sorry, must be hard to talk about."
"It's okay. It doesn't really bother me."
Man, this girl's tough, mentally speaking.
"Are you holding a grudge on that party?"
"They've already paid me in advance and we have agreed that it's everyone for themselves, you're responsible for what happens to you, so I'm not particularly fumed."
"...I see. Then it's fine."
"I'm more troubled with their belonging I have on me. It'd be bad if they accused me of stealing. I have to give it back."
"Let's worry about that once we're back at the city. I believe they won't mind getting their belonging back after. They looked pretty torn about leaving you behind."
She's not mad, and even worried about the party who abandoned her instead even after going through that.
Rather than being a splendid human, it feels more like she doesn't really care about her own well being. You gotta love yourself, you know.
As I was thinking that, Alma spoke to the slum girl.
"...Why don't you stay with us for a while if you don't have anywhere else to go?"
"Eh?"
The slum girl looked surprised as she turned at Alma.
"I feel like you'll just run headfirst into danger again if we leave you alone. I'll feel at ease if you stay by our side."
"Eh, but we just met and also, I'm not of age yet so best I could do for you is being your porter. I'm happy for the invitation, but I don't think I could be of much help...?"
"That's fine. Carefully think through what do you wish to be in an environment where you're not driven into the corner everyday. I'd hate it if you died somewhere doing something reckless... What do you think, Hikaru?"
You're asking me that now?
You'd have to be quite courageous to say no here.
"...Haa. It's gonna cost us more for the inn and food, but I agree. This must be fate, don't worry about a thing and just come. We'll provide you food and shelter at least. But you're free to say no if you don't wanna."
"O-of course I want to! B-but are you really sure?"
"You heard us already. Don't leave us hanging here, yes or no, you decide."
"Y-yes, I'll be in your care...! F-fugwu... t-thank you so much for all you've done...!"
The slum girl thanked us in between her tears.
Looks like she's not used to receiving kindness, sad.
"Sniffle... M-my name is Reinamiure. Please just call me Reina. Nice to meet you!"
"Almatina. Call me Alma for short. Good meet."
"I'm Kajikawa Hikaru. Call me Kajikawa, or Hikaru, either's fine."
Now that we've introduced ourselves, time to go back.
Ah, which was the path we came from again? Oh crap, I shoulda left some sorta signposts behind.
Well, guess I can just head in the opposite directions of multiple mana and lifeforce reactions. It's gonna take time though.
Oh, I leveled up. Seems the boss bear's finally kicked the bucket.
You were strong, probably. No I'm sure you were. Dunno for sure cause we never fought for real though.
Hm? Menu Screen got displayed on its own. Ah, is this maybe.
<<Level has reached a certain point confirmed. Starting Menu Function Update.>>
Here it comes. Last time was after Stampede.
Now then, wonder what kinda functions it's getting this time.
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