Chapter 246: The Bear Gives Sanya an Explanation

Chapter 246:
The Bear Gives Sanya an Explanation

 

THE GROUP OF ELVES, Sanya and Labilata included, stood there, shocked.

“What just...” They looked around the disastrous scene.

With Mumulute’s magic and mine, plus the cockatrice’s gusts of wind, we’d left the ground in shambles. Volleys of red cockatrice feathers stuck out, all over the ground.

Now that I was taking a second look over it, things really did look pretty bad. I mean, I hadn’t even mentioned the two cockatrice corpses and the girl in a bear onesie standing in the middle of it all. This had to look ridiculous from another person’s perspective.

“Why are you here, Sanya?” Had they rushed over after hearing about this from Mumulute?

“We rushed over after hearing about this from Mumulute,” she said, right on cue.

I guess she’d been worried about me, even if she knew about that wyrm and the ten thousand monsters I’d slain.

“My grandfather told me you stayed behind to fight the cockatrice on your own so that he could escape.”

It wasn’t like I stayed behind specifically so that Mumulute could escape. I just would have been in a tight spot if he’d stayed, and not because he’d be in the way—not even in the slightest. I just didn’t want him seeing me fight.

“Grandfather almost looked like he was about to cry. He thought you sacrificed yourself for the village, and for him.”

C’mon, don’t kill me off like that! Mumulute actually had believed I’d risked my own life to save him? I felt embarrassed even thinking I’d done that cheesy “I’ll stay, you save yourselves!” thing for real.

“So, we came running.”

“You know me, Sanya,” I told her. “You didn’t need to worry.”

“Of course I’d worry about you fighting a cockatrice! Do you know how disastrous it would’ve been if you made even a tiny mistake and got poisoned?”

That poison definitely had been a nuisance. I was pretty scared of anything I hadn’t tested my bear gear on. Still, it seemed like Kumakyu had gotten Mumulute back to the village. Some praise was in order for a certain bear.

Sanya continued. “Then we encountered Labilata on the way and ran here together.” She looked at the cockatrices again. The other elves took a gander at them too, seeming totally unsure on how they should even react.

“Did you really slay the cockatrices on your own?” Labilata asked, apparently representing the group.

Sanya knew a fair bit about me, so she believed that I’d slain the cockatrice. The other elves didn’t look so sure. A girl in a bear onesie slaying a cockatrice was a little out there, after all. Still, I was glad they hadn’t seen me using electricity magic. It would’ve been a huge pain if electricity magic didn’t exist in the world and I had to explain it.

“Yep, I slayed ‘em good! But you don’t really have to believe me.” Since I couldn’t explain it, I didn’t really care if they believed me.

Two elves approached the cockatrice corpses to check them out.

“It’s not that we don’t believe you, especially after seeing this...”

It was just hard to swallow, even if it was possible.

“Well, Mumulute did slay one of them,” I said. And looked cool while doing it. A freakin’ wind sword? Totally rad.

“But you still slayed the other one, didn’t you?” Sanya asked.

I nodded. Couldn’t deny that one.

“Yuna…thank you for saving my grandfather. Actually, no. Thank you for saving the entire village.”

Labilata nodded. “Yuna, you have my gratitude.”

Now all the other elves were thanking me too. I almost wanted to tell them that if they really wanted to thank me, they could get me a permanent spot for my bear house…but I stopped myself.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m glad I could protect the village,” I said instead.

Everyone seemed moved by my words. Uh…I felt majorly guilty since I had ulterior motives, but…ah well; time to look at the cockatrices.

“What will you do with them?” I asked. It wasn’t like we could leave the slain cockatrices here if we were heading to the village. I didn’t need cockatrice materials right now, but they still technically counted as my loot. “Can I put them in my item bag for now?”

“Mmm, you’re right. We can’t just leave them. Is it okay if we impose on you, Yuna?” Sanya asked.

With Sanya’s permission, I went to put the cockatrices away into my bear storage.

First, I approached the one I’d killed. Maybe their feathers would be useful? The wings were filled with holes, but I’d still get a lot of materials if I plucked them. But then there was that poison to worry about on their tips. I guess I didn’t need them since I wasn’t an assassin. I’d think about how to use them later, so I put the cockatrice into my bear storage for the time being.

Sanya wasn’t surprised, of course, and Labilata had seen me taking out my bear house before, but the other elves were straight up shocked. I didn’t worry about them, though: I just put away the cockatrice Mumulute had slain. If they let me have the cockatrices, then I’d need to get Fina to harvest them. But could she harvest cockatrice? It seemed wrong to let a ten-year-old girl harvest a cockatrice. They were poisonous beasts and could be dangerous. Before I could ask Fina, I’d have to check in with Gentz.

After I finished up with the cockatrices, I decided to check up on the village head. “Oh, right, is Mumulute okay?” I mean, I’d paralyzed him with an electric shock after all.

I didn’t know if Mumulute’s age made him elderly for an elf, but I’d still basically tased a senior citizen till he stopped moving. Plus, he’d used tons of magic and was really exhausted. Was he okay? I mean, the guy was going to keep fighting and get himself killed, so I didn’t have a choice, but…

“We carried him home,” said Sanya. “Now that you mention it, Yuna, what did you do to him? He couldn’t get off of Kumakyu.”

“I think that might have been all that amazing wind he used. Maybe his body bore the brunt of that and paralyzed him?” Nice dodge, Yuna.

“But he said he couldn’t move after you touched him.”

Would Mumulute be mad at me when I got back? “Umm, so…I wasn’t sure he’d actually go, so I might’ve used a teensy bit of magic on him.”

“A teensy bit of magic?!” Sanya looked appalled but didn’t press me further. “My grandfather was extremely worried about you, Yuna.”

I guess I hadn’t made him angry then. Then again, it’s hard to get mad at someone for doing a “I’ll stay, save yourselves” kinda thing. Whenever someone in manga or books says that, they immediately kick the bucket. No telling how many characters have been offed after saying that line. So Mumulute would’ve been more worried about me than angry at me, considering he didn’t know how powerful I actually was.

“His poor hands were shaking as he took my hands in his and told me, ‘Please go save her.’”

Just even imagining it, I could tell it must have been a whole thing. When I saw Mumulute again, I’d need to give him a proper apology. I’d made him worry for real.

“My grandfather will still be worried, so let’s go back to the village.”

I nodded. Lingering around here wouldn’t do any good, after all. As we were about to head back, Kumayuru leaned down in front of me, offering to let me ride.

“Cwoom.”

“Thanks, buddy,” I said to Kumayuru. My bear seemed happy when I hopped on.