Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

Since I noticed the elves were heading my way, I just waited for them to arrive. Soon, Sanya-san, Labilata, and some of the elves all exited the forest together with Swaying Bear.

「Yuna-chan, what happened here…」

Sanya-san asked, glancing at the surrounding area.

I took a moment to check as well.

The ground around us was full of holes and the rest of it was covered in countless red and black feathers. We had really gone a bit overboard, hadn’t we?

Two dead Cockatrices behind a person dressed like a bear amidst this carnage, had to be quite a sight.

I hadn’t really notice it before, but now that I looked at it from their perspective, didn’t this situation look quite preposterous?

「Why are you here, Sanya-san? Did you manage to take care of all the monsters?」

Could it be that she had rushed over after learning that there were Cockatrices here?

She arrived a bit late, but honestly, that was a good thing.

It would be difficult to explain the lightning magic to her.

「That’s right, we’ve dealt away with them without much of a problem. There were quite a lot of volcrows though, so it took us longer than I had expected.」

It seemed like they had managed to defeat all the monsters without any casualties.

Yet, if nothing was done about the Sacred Tree, monsters would most likely continue to gather.

The barrier which was supposed to protect the village from monsters was now calling them here instead.

If the situation kept escalating, the elves would no longer be able to live here.

「After we were done, we headed back to the village, but were met by people panicking because a Cockatrice had appeared in the village. Luckily, some of them saw Grandpa and you lead it away, so we knew the village was in no immediate danger at least. While we were discussing what to do, Hugging Bear-chan came out of the forest with Grandpa on its back.」

So, that was why they had rushed here.

I was glad Hugging Bear had managed to bring Mumuroot-san back to the village safely.

I would have to give it a lot of nice pats when I got back.

「Anyway, when we heard from Grandpa that you were fighting the Cockatrice all by yourself, so that he could safely escape to safety, we immediately headed here.」

It wasn’t like I had stayed behind so that Mumuroot-san could run; I had just gotten rid of him so that the fight would be less troublesome. Not because he would have been a burden or anything; I just didn’t want other people to see how I fight.

「Grandpa looked like he was about to cry, saying that you might die because of him only because he wasn’t strong enough to protect the village himself.」

I would prefer if he didn’t go killing me off in his mind.

Hmm, it seemed like he thought that I would sacrifice myself by staying behind instead of just wanting to get rid of him.

Hell no, doing something like that in real life would actually be pretty embarrassing.

「Well, I figured Yuna-chan wouldn’t die, but we still rushed over as quickly as we could, running into Labilata’s group on the way. For some reason, Swaying Bear-chan was also with them.」

Sanya-san glanced at Labilata and Swaying Bear.

Labilata then explained that while they were fighting against some Tiger Wolves, several other wolves managed to pass through the weakened barrier.

After taking down the Tiger Wolves, he chased after the wolves inside the barrier, only to find Swaying Bear already in the middle of disposing them. They proceeded to help it, and then followed it here, where they ran into Sanya-san’s group on the way.

I patted Swaying Bear to thank it for taking care of the wolves. It would have been very troublesome if they had interrupted my fight with the Cockatrice.

「Anyway, we rushed over, but….」

Sanya-san looked at the dead Cockatrices again.

The other elves also seemed very put off as they stared at the Cockatrices as well.

「Did you really take down both Cockatrices?」

Labilata asked the question they were all wondering about.

Sanya-san had considerable knowledge of my abilities, so she would surely believe me, but the other elves seemed to have a hard time even imagining it.

Well, how many people would actually believe that a girl dressed like a bear defeated two Cockatrices by herself?

In my old world, it would be similar to hearing that a young girl wearing a costume killed a wild tiger with her bare hands.

Yeah, I wouldn’t believe that, either.

「Yes, I did, believe it or not.」

Two of the elves approached the dead bodies to confirm they were really dead.

「Well, looking at the situation, it’s hard not to believe you, but…」

It seemed that they understood there was no other explanation here, but were still having a hard time accepting it.

「Well, actually, Mumuroot-san defeated one of them.」

I wasn’t exactly lying. Mumuroot-san dealt the fatal wound with his magic. I merely finished it off.

I couldn’t really claim that I beat both of them on my own.

「Even so, that still means you defeated the other one by yourself, Yuna-chan.」

I couldn’t really deny it, so I simply nodded.

「Thank you for saving Grandpa, Yuna-chan. No, thank you for saving the whole village.」

「Yuna, you have my gratitude.」

After Sanya-san thanked me, Labilata and the other elves did as well.

I barely managed to swallow my wish to be allowed to place a Bear House here forever as a compensation.

I was sure Mumuroot-san would try to thank me later as well. If I was going to ask for permission, I would ask the Chief, of course.

「Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad that everyone is safe.」

Everyone was moved by my words.

Uuu, I felt guilty for actually having ulterior motives behind it.

Well, even if I were to tell Mumuroot-san what I wanted in front of everybody, they could still refuse my request.

For now, I decided to just focus on the Cockatrices’ bodies.

「Can I put the bodies into my storage?」

We shouldn’t leave the remains behind, after all.

Also, since I was the one to take them down, I should claim the loot, right?

「You defeated it, so of course you can, Yuna-chan.」

「If you want some of the materials, I don’t mind splitting them up, either.」

「You can take it all. Rather, you may consider it an expression of our gratitude..」

Once I got Sanya-san’s permission, I walked up to the Cockatrice I had taken down myself. Its wings were full of holes, but I could maybe still use its feathers for something?

Even if I only plucked out the intact ones, there should still be plenty.

While considering what I could do with them, I placed the whole body into the Bear Box.

Sanya-san and Labilata were not very surprised in the slightest as they both had watched me take out the Bear House before, but the other elves were shocked by my actions.

I ignored them and approached the Cockatrice which Mumuroot-san had defeated.

When I got home to Crimonia, I had to ask Fina to dismantle them.

Wait, could Fina even dismantle a Cockatrice?

To begin with, asking a ten-year-old girl to dismantle a Cockatrice felt wrong.

Maybe I should discuss it with Gentz-san beforehand.

「By the way, how is Mumuroot-san doing?」

After storing the other Cockatrice as well, I asked the elves about Mumuroot-san, whom I had paralyzed.

I didn’t know if Mumuroot-san was considered to be an old man since he was an elf, but either way, I might have accidentally paralyzed an elderly person with electricity.

Also, he had used too much magic and was probably very fatigued.

Had I gone overboard?

Still, if I hadn’t done it, he would have tried to continue fighting, so he left me no choice.

「Do you know what happened to Grandpa, Yuna-chan? He can’t really move well.」

「He used some amazing wind magic, so maybe that’s why. His magic was able to cut off one of the Cockatrice’s wings.」

I hoped that would be enough to mislead them.

「He said something like, “The young lady touched me and then I couldn’t move anymore.”」

Didn’t that mean that when I returned to the village, an angry Mumuroot-san would be waiting for me?

「Grandpa was really worried about you.」

Hmm, I had done something really bad.

Normally, when a person tried to stay behind and said, “Leave it to me; save yourself,” the other person would refuse and they would end up butting heads, only to both die in the process.

If I were to think about this from Mumuroot-san’s perspective, as he didn’t know my actual strength, it made sense for him to worry about me.

「Trembling, Grandpa only grasped my hand and told me: “Please save the young lady!”」

Just imagining it made my heart hurt.

I had to apologize to him the next time I saw him.

I had ended up making him worry about me, after all.

「Grandpa should still be worrying about us, so let’s return to the village quickly.」

I nodded in agreement.

Not to mention, there was no point in staying here any longer anyway.

As I began walking, Swaying Bear dashed ahead of me and lowered its back.

「Thank you.」

I thanked it, and got on its back, riding it all the way back to the village.

Author’s Note:

Is it just me or did I write Mumuroot-san to sound like a tragic heroine?

Usually, the one who stays behind is the man, while the woman cries and sends the man off. w