Chapter 110: The Bear Heads Out to the Bee Tree

Chapter 110:
The Bear Heads Out to the Bee Tree

 

I RODE KUMAYURU to the forest that held the bee tree. According to Helen, the tree was supposed to be smack-dab in the middle of it, and I’d spot it right away by its…unique appearance. Needless to say, I wasn’t expecting something warm or fuzzy.

Before I headed into the forest, I used my detection skill to check for monsters. Ten or so orcs, looked like. On top of that, I spotted some out-of-the-way goblin signals. That was sure gonna make the lives of some adventurers interesting.

For the time being, I rode Kumayuru to the location of the orcs, figuring I’d find the bee tree there too. After a while, petals started fluttering in the air ahead, and before long the forest broke and I was greeted with a swirl of colorful flowers.

I took a deep breath, and almost forgot to breathe out. Red, blue, yellow, orange—so many colors, all in bloom. It spread far, far out of sight…I could hardly believe that a place like this existed in a forest that looked like any other. And in the center of it all, high above the meadow, stood a tree.

The bee tree, maybe? “It’s huge…” And at the foot of that gargantuan tree, really throwing a wrench in the storybook picture, stood a pack of drooling orcs with the ugliest mugs you’ve ever seen, guzzling honey.

Guzzling my honey.

The instant I stepped out into the clearing to get this battle on, goblins leapt out of the forest from my right…but not at me, fortunately. No, they were racing right at the orcs, brandishing wooden sticks and knives they’d gotten from who knew where.

What, was this a turf war?

Well, I planned on beating both sides as soon as I’d seen ’em with detection skill, so it was all fine by me. The goblins had the numbers advantage, but they were still scrawnier—when the goblins got whomped by an orc’s heavy blows, they’d be down for the count. But still, the goblins knew how to use their numbers, so each orc fought against multiple goblins. Tactics really balanced ’em out.

Yeah, I thought I might just park my butt in the pretty meadow and watch the show till I had to do cleanup, but…then I remembered the flowers. As the orcs and goblins stabbed and whacked and snarled, they trampled those beautiful flowers. You know, the stuff we need for all the honey? At this rate, the idiots would crush all the flowers in the path of the battle…

The moment I tried to make another move, Kumayuru stopped me. This time, two huge black things jumped out from the left side of the woods. They leapt into the fray and rushed at the horde of goblins and orcs.

I could barely believe it. “Bears?!”

Yep—two of them, running in to intervene in the fight. One of them was large, while the other was on the smaller side—and both were barging into the scuffle between the goblins and the orcs. Their surprise attack sent the two hordes into total confusion. The bears took on both parties, beating on the goblins, slashing at the orcs…

The goblins fled almost at once, and that just left the orcs.

Ten orcs, that is, and only two bears. Not good for the bears…as they fought one orc, another orc would attack them from the side. The orc pummeled one bear with a club, and it couldn’t get away. The other bear tried helping, but it was completely surrounded by orcs.

“Uhh, so what should I do here?” Three groups fought over the honey. If I joined in, that’d make four. Taking a common sense approach, I could just fight off everyone—the goblins, orcs, and bears, but…really? The bears? That’d be like killing Kumayuru and Kumakyu’s own kind.

As I deliberated, the bears were losing ground, even if the battle wasn’t over yet. They knocked down a few orcs in front of them and took big ol’ chomps into the monsters’ necks. These fuzzy guys were strong. One-on-one, bear-against-orc, they would’ve been fine, but…there were just too many monsters for them to handle right now. When the bears turned to their next target, they slowed. A red orc appeared from behind the giant tree—an orcish subspecies. In the game, it was a type of special-colored orc monster that was several levels higher and a lot nastier than regular orcs.

The bears went for the red orc, but it hit right back with its club. At least it wasn’t a sword, or they’d be done for, but…argh, this was still such a messed-up situation. One bear body-slammed into Red, but it didn’t even flinch. Red brought its club down, and that was it, I couldn’t wait anymore, I had to spring into action.

I fired off shots of water magic from afar, sniper-style. Each shot hit Red, got it staggering a bit. The bear it hit with the club ran off into the woods, shaky but alive, and the other one followed.

The abandoned red orc hadn’t realized I was the one attacking it, so it brought its club down on its fellow orcs, mad and stupid as it was. It wasn’t a pleasant sight, so I hopped on Kumayuru and silently left. I hoped that bear was all right after getting bludgeoned. That orc was strong enough to prep its buddies for a late-night hamburger grill-out, so I was naturally pretty worried about that bear.

Although I hadn’t given Kumayuru a destination, we eventually found the two bears. Actually, we found four bears—the two from earlier and two cubs. Two kids and two parents, huh? Maybe the dad was the bigger one and the mama bear was the smaller one? Sure, let’s go with that.

One of the parents was collapsed. The other one gave me a low, threatening growl when it saw me.

Kumayuru let me off, started walking to the bears, and…talked? I mean, they didn’t talk. There weren’t words, but it looked like a conversation. I watched them, half-wondering if it was even real, and suddenly the bears nodded at each other like they’d come to a mutual understanding.

What? No, I mean seriously, what? Kumayuru came back and prodded me along with its nose, taking me to the collapsed bear. “Do you want me, um,” I gave Kumayuru an uncertain look. Swallowed. “Do you want me to heal the bear’s wounds or something?”

“Cwooooom.”

“All right, if you say so. Or…coo…so?”

This was Kumayuru asking me for this, after all. I couldn’t turn my bear down. Plus, no way could I abandon some poor injured bear. I approached the collapsed bear, half-expecting to hear a threatening growl from the others. Nothing happened. Had Kumayuru really said something, somehow? Had they really talked?

I used healing magic on the wounded bear and—slowly, carefully—the bear stood. Its watching cubs nuzzled their parent happily.

Huh! Neat.

Kumayuru stepped in among the bear family and started to talk?—yeah, let’s go with “talk”—about something. I had no idea what they were saying, but the conversation seemed pretty amicable. Probably. Since I didn’t want Kumakyu to get grumpy over being left out, I summoned my second bear.

At which point Kumakyu joined the ring and started to talk (okay but really? talking?). Argh, what were they saying, though? Cwoom. Cwooooooom. I leaned in a little bit. It was the same bear sound, but louder.

After a while, as though their conversation came to an end, my bears came back to me. They were crooning at me as they inched closer, like they wanted something. I didn’t need to speak bearese to get the gist. “You’re asking me to slay the red orc, aren’t you?”

Yep. “Cwoom.”

Fighting the red orc was fine by me, really. The issue was what came after: even if I defeated the monsters, what if the bears got in the way of honey harvesting? As I thought about it, the mama and papa bearents left the cubs behind and went on the move. Wait, they weren’t going to go back to battle the red orc, were they? There I was, hesitating and wondering and worrying, and my bears approached me…

…making their point. “All right, I’ll go.”

My bears cooed happily. This was a request coming from my bears. What came later could just come later. For the time being, I’d defeat the red orc. The red orc was my enemy, and no request—not from the guild, not from my restaurant, not from anyone—was going to change that.

 

I started walking to the bee tree where the red orc waited. The orcs stood around it in formation, but the red orc was among them now and the whole place had a different atmosphere. Their very presence clashed with the sprawling expanse of flowers.

The bearents slowly walked toward the orcs. I wished they wouldn’t act on their own, but I couldn’t tell them that. All I could do was follow.

The bears ran at the orcs, who drew their weapons. Red raised a cry loud enough to set my head ringing, and that was all the orcs needed to hear before rushing us all at once. The bearents took their assault head-on. I wished they wouldn’t get in front and would just leave things to me, but they were protecting their home. Their cubs, too, probably.

I joined the fray and launched a volley of wind magic at the orcs. A few clean slices and a few orc heads were lying in the flowers now. The bears did their part too, taking orcs down one by one.

The red orc saw it all and its growl rose to a raging roar. It broke into a run, headed straight for the papa bear. It gripped its monstrous club, aimed at the bear and swung—and from his side, the mama bear hurled herself at the red orc. A few other orcs joined the melee as the papa bear tried to swipe the red orc, and it was practically a free-for-all. I couldn’t use magic in a situation like this.

Red swung, and papa bear dodged. The club smacked into the ground, tearing into the blooming flowers, scattering a rainbow of petals into the air. The mama bear saw the opening and whoosh—went in at red from the side. She tried to hurl herself at him again, but…no. The red orc once again brought up his club…the papa bear attacked…and the club was aimed straight at the mama bear.

The red orc swung. The papa bear couldn’t hit in time. The club landed square in the middle of mama bear’s back.

No.

The mama bear groaned and collapsed. The papa bear rushed in at the red orc, the orc brought up its lowered club and went straight into another attack.

The club hit papa bear’s side.

Oh, no. You. Didn’t.

The bearents groaned, both collapsed at the red orc’s feet. The red orc drooled over the pair. Heaved its club up. Got ready to bring it down, and I went on the move.

Bam. Bear punch, right side of the red orc. It crushed the flowers as it tumbled onto the ground.

Hm. Been a while since I’d snapped, hadn’t it? Something about seeing two bear parents get whaled on by a heartless red orc does something to you, I guess.

So things were too close-quarters for magic. So what? All I needed was my fist.

Yeah, bears are ferocious and brutal creatures if you get on their bad side. Hungry bears even attack humans, but things were different now. I’d met Kumayuru and Kumakyu. I couldn’t bear to let their buddies suffer.

Sure, there was a chance these bears would someday attack humans, no matter how small, but right now? I would be their protector. Right now, I was seeing red, and the red was on an orc, and I really, really wanted to punch that red out of it.

The red orc stood. Looked at me.

I’d fight this brawl in the bears’ place. I’d give the orcs a taste of the bears’ pain.

I raced toward the red orc. It swung at me, but I caught its club with my white bear hand. Now this—this was for the mama bear. Crack. I snuck a bear punch in the orc’s unprotected side with my black bear hand. The red orc dropped its club from the recoil and the pain. I snatched it up in my white bear glove, switched it to the black glove, and held it firm.

When the red orc finally righted itself, it was glaring at me for the first time. It could see me now as I was: not as a meal, but as an enemy.

Too late, big guy. I brought the club down on the red orc, and it blocked the blow just like I had, like it thought it could fight half as well as me. I pulverized its arm for its trouble. Now this—this was for the papa bear.

The red orc raised a strangled cry. How many times had it done this to others? Must’ve felt pretty different on the receiving end.

The red orc turned tail and ran, I guess because it still thought that was an option.

Nope. I pulled up a wall from the earth with magic, closing off its escape route. Here we were at the very end, and the red orc looked at me with fear. It didn’t even intend to fight back—much like the little cubs it wanted to leave alone and starving.

Too bad. Hurting those bears earned it a grizzly end: I used a bear cutter to send its head hurtling off into the field of flowers, and that was that.

When I turned around, my bears had just finished annihilating the orcs. I approached the collapsed bears, used healing magic on them, and…okay, thank goodness, they’d be okay. The bearents got up and nuzzled me like some kind of thanks.

“Hey,” I said cautiously, “so…humans? If you just so happen to see them gathering honey, could you not…eat them?” I knew they wouldn’t be able to understand me, but I ended up asking anyway. Couldn’t the bear onesie come through with a Bear Speech ability or something?

As I was thinking that, Kumayuru and Kumakyu headed over to the bearents and started to have what seemed to be another long conversation (is that the right word?) with them. The bearents went around me, then, and started to push me along toward…toward the bee tree?

“Are you telling me to go gather honey?”

“Cwoom,” said Kumayuru. Okay then…though there were bees buzzing around, none of them attacked me. I pulled a jar out of my bear storage and carefully began to collect the honey.

---

Chapter 111:
The Bear Broods Over What to Do About the Bears

 

THE BEE NEST WRAPPED around the trunk of the bee tree. When I took off my bear puppet and (eep, here we go) stuck my finger into a hole in the tree, honey came oozing out. I gave the honey a cautious lick—yep, sweet and delicious. The bees buzzing around me didn’t do wonders for my nerves, but all they did was fly. No aggression, all chill.

While I collected the honey, the two cubs came plodding along from the woods on their little paws. I thought they were heading to their parents as they dodged the dead orcs, but they passed mama and papa bear, making a beeline for the bee tree, and started munching on honey.

Seriously, kids? Your poor bearents. They fought super hard, you know, so they—but aww, okay, the two cubs were pretty cute munching on the honey.

I filled my jar already, so I put it away in my bear storage and bid adieu to the bears. “Thanks for everything. Now, you two better stay responsible and keep out of trouble, hear me? You got kids to worry about.” I knew that my words wouldn’t get through to them, but I hoped they could hear my tone. They crooned in reply.

Maybe they did understand, in some way. The cubs stopped eating honey as though they had their fill. When the bearents saw that, they quietly called to the kids and started moving on for the forest. The cubs tailed them, and…they were gone.

Down to business, I guess. I collected the orc corpses, making sure not to forget to take out the remaining goblins that ran off into the woods.

On my way back, I brooded over what I would report back on for this quest. Let’s see, I hadn’t killed the bears and cubs. The quest only mentioned the goblins and orcs needed slaying after all—no mention of bears at all. But from a public safety perspective, didn’t I really need to report on the bears? Okay, but if I did that, they might issue a new quest to slay them. If a slaying quest did go out, all I could do was move the bears to a location where people wouldn’t bother them.

I brooded over that, leaving the woods and making my way back, but by the time I was at the town entrance, I still wasn’t sure about an answer. The sun sank behind the horizon, leaving twilight behind like a shed skin.

As I made my way to the adventurers’ guild, I saw Helen rushing over to me. “Ms. Yuna, welcome back. Did you already finish your quest?”

“I did. What about you?”

“Oh, I just finished work, so I’m heading home. You seem rather glum, though…did something happen? You’ve done so much for us, so I do hope you know I can always lend an ear. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to do beyond that, but I can try if you need me to.”

“I slayed the goblins and orcs,” I admitted, “but there was one issue that’s been bugging me.” Should I tell her the rest? She was a guild employee, after all, but…well, I couldn’t come up with a better answer, so I told her the whole thing.

“There are bears?”

“Yeah, but I really don’t want to kill them. They haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Yes, I suppose there isn’t much to be done about that. If you killed the bears, it would be a little like killing yourself. Is that right, Ms. Yuna?”

Err. Maybe overstating it a little, but she got the gist.

“Bears, then?” she repeated to herself. “I remember Mr. Lem saying he saw bears on a honey collection quest a few months ago. They might be the very same ones.”

“Lem?”

“The person who takes care of the bee tree. You saw the field of flowers, right?”

“Yeah, they were really pretty.”

“Mr. Lem is the caretaker for those flowers. He gets the flowers around the bee tree nice and blooming for the bees, and then he collects the honey.”

So that’s how a whole field of flowers was blooming so beautifully—there was someone taking care of them. Good luck to the poor guy, though, considering all the orcs that had rampaged through it. Fixing it up sounded like an ordeal, but I guess that was how they collected honey in this world.

“But hold on, why doesn’t somebody just steal the honey? Isn’t it, like, a honey buffet as far as thieves are concerned?”

“The bee tree is under Lord Cliff’s purview. Just the act of selling honey would require Lord Cliff’s permission, so there’s little point in stealing it.”

“The bee tree belongs to Cliff?”

“Of course it does. Fundamentally, bee trees are valuable resources, so they fall under the management of the lord of that land. This town is no exception to the law, and we’ve left that upkeep to Mr. Lem.”

Huh. I guess that was just how it went here. “So this Lem guy, he knows about the bears?”

“I overheard him talking about the bears once, at least.”

“Do you remember what he said?”

“I’m sorry, no—I hadn’t been listening in directly. We could go see him, if it’s worrying you.”

“Isn’t your workday over?”

“I don’t mind,” said Helen. “In fact, I think it would be best to tell Mr. Lem about what happened with the honey as soon as possible.”

With that, the two of us went to see Lem, the keeper of the bee tree. Helen led me to a shop with a honey sign, though it looked like the place was closed.

“Mr. Lemmm!” She rapped on the door. “Are you in?”

As she knocked, the door opened and a man past his forties appeared.

“Who’re you lot?” he grumbled. “If you want honey, you’re not getting any discounts.”

“Good evening, Mr. Lem.”

“You…oh, I’ve seen you before. You’re from the adventurers’ guild?”

“I’m Helen. I’m here today about the honey.”

“Mmhm.” Mr. Lem nodded. “Heard it wasn’t goblins there, but orcs. But I know what I saw, and I dang well saw some goblins.”

“Ms. Yuna right here completed that quest today.”

Mr. Lem looked over at me. “You’re the girl from the Bear’s Lounge, eh? And you defeated them?”

“You know about me?”

“’Course I do. I heard from Tiermina. You’re the owner of the Bear’s Lounge, aren’t you?” Tiermina bought honey from this shop, so I guess he would know who I am. “I reckon the whole town knows who ya are,” he said with a smile.

Err, what? Everybody in town? Everyone?

Helen nodded at the side. Why the heck was she nodding? “We had something to ask you, if you have a moment. Do you have a moment?”

“Yes, ’course. Come right in.” He opened the door and let us through. The shelves of the shop were bare, probably because there was no honey to collect. He led us further back into what seemed like a break room for employees, furnished with chairs and tables. “Have a seat. Tell me straight, now: did you really defeat those monsters?”

“I did, but there was a problem.”

“Bahh!” Mr. Lem’s smile disappeared instantly and his face went dark. “We got another monster on our hands?”

“No, no monsters,” said Helen. “Do you know about the bears that live near the bee tree?”

“Bears?” He blinked. “Ahh, those bears.”

“You know about them?” I asked.

“Know about them? Ha! We honey collectors owe our lives to those guys.”

“You know them and you owe them?”

“They been there for me a few times when goblins tried to get a piece of me—goblins’ll do that, and they’ve tried it a lot with me. They’ve even kept my employees safe.” A cautious smile crossed his face. “You don’t mean to say you saw the bears?!” He stood from his seat and leaned over.

I wasn’t expecting that kind of answer. “Yeah?”

He took a deep breath and beamed. “Ha! And they’re alive? There were just so many goblins, and now I hear orcs on top of that. I was worried sick about ’em, thinking they’d been killed. Alive,” he said slowly, as if tasting the words. “Thank goodness.”

“Yep,” I said. “As a matter of fact, the bears were fighting the goblins and orcs to protect the bee tree.”

“Were they?” Mr. Lem grimaced. “And you’re gonna tell me they’re okay, right? Right?”

“All four of them—the cubs included—were doing just fine.”

“Cubs! Ha! To think they finally had ’em, and in the middle of this mess!” He clapped his hands together. “Well, I’ve got to tell everybody about that.” Man, he was really jazzed just talking about these bears. The mood was contagious, heh. Looked like I’d been worried over nothing. “Now, girl…did you come here because you were worried about the bears or something?”

“Yeah. I mean, the quest only mentioned goblins and orcs, but I came back without slaying the bears, so…”

“Ah. Sorry you had to go out of your way comin’ over here just for that. The bears are all right. Harmless. Better’n harmless, matter of fact, they’re a lifesaver, and I do mean that.”

“There’s no issue with having those bears around in the woods then?”

“Nah, ’course not. Since those bears defeat the monsters for us, we can collect honey without worry. They protect us, we give ’em their share of the honey, and we all get on fine.” Huh. Mr. Lem prepped the flowers for the honeybees, shared the spoils, and got some big furry protection for it. Sounded like a good deal to me.

“Mr. Lem,” Helen broke in, “is Lord Cliff aware of this?”

“No, we…haven’t told him,” Mr. Lem admitted. “I was worried he would have them slain if I did, you understand.”

“It would be better if you told him.”

“I suppose so,” he said reluctantly. I understood that—generally people thought of bears as ferocious, nasty beasts. But if Cliff told them to have adventurers take care of every monster near the bee tree, the bears would have no value to the village anymore. I’d rather they stayed put in the woods and kept taking care of monsters, but would Cliff allow that?

No matter what, abandoning those bears wasn’t an option for me.

“You can mention me by name,” I said. “Cliff owes me one, so I think he’ll hear what you have to say.”

Helen gave me a look. “Ms. Yuna, you’re saying that Lord Cliff…owes you one? And I can’t believe you wouldn’t address him without his title. Do you understand the significance of what you’re saying?” She looked appalled.

Oh, right—calling an aristocrat by name was in bad taste. Ever since the whole orphanage thing, I’ve just internally thought of him as plain old Cliff, and I just couldn’t break it. Besides, Cliff never seemed to care.

I shrugged. “Look, if Cliff seems reluctant to listen or does anything that’ll put the bears in danger, let me know. I’ll put him right, convince him and such.”

Helen didn’t seem so sure. “Really, Miss?”

“Yeah. And if, after all of that, he still says that he wants to slay the bears, just let me know. I’ll take the bears someplace else.” If Cliff said he was going to slay them, I could just make a bear transport gate and take the family someplace safe. I could figure out where as I went.

“In that case,” said Mr. Lem, “I will gratefully use your name.”

Helen sighed. “All right, but listen to me: if you care for those bears, make sure you report their existence in your quests. Don’t come crying to me if they accidentally end up slain.”

True. I mean, if I’d known about them beforehand, I wouldn’t have been this worried. And if some other adventurer encountered the bears, that might’ve been the end of the whole fuzzy family.

“I’m sorry for not telling Lord Cliff any of this, truly am. Also, girl, thank you again. Deepest thanks for what you’ve done for the bee tree, for the bears. For me, too, I suppose.”

“It’s my job, so don’t worry about it,” I said. “As long as those bears live safe and sound, there’s nothing else to say.”

“Yes,” said Mr. Lem, “I’ll make sure to watch over them carefully.”

“But if anything happens to them,” I added, “let me know. I’ll come running right away.”

Mr. Lem bobbed his head gladly. “I’ll rely on you when that time comes!”

Now that’s a nice ending: once upon a time, there were four little bears living in a glade of flowers…and they lived happily ever after.