Chapter 54: The Bear Catches the Robbers

Chapter 54:
The Bear Catches the Robbers

 

I WOKE UP IN THE MIDDLE of the night when Kumakyu moved.

“Kumakyu?”

I rubbed my eyes. Fina was sleeping quietly next to me. I used my detection skill, making sure not to wake her.

There were people some distance away who hadn’t been there when I checked before going to sleep. If Kumakyu’s reacting to them, I thought, does that mean they just appeared? I watched them for a while, but they didn’t seem to be moving. Maybe they were just camping for the night, like us?

“Kumakyu, tell me if they move.”

I went back to sleep. Kumakyu didn’t react again, and when I woke up the next morning, the group hadn’t moved from the place I’d sensed them last night.

Breakfast was light, and we left at sunrise. I kept my detection skill up as we went so we wouldn’t have to deal with a second monster attack. My radar picked up people tailing us. When we stopped for a break, they stopped. When the break was over, they moved with us. The signal I was picking up was always the same distance behind us.

It was definitely suspicious, but what did it mean? There weren’t many pleasant reasons for someone to shadow us. One possibility was that they were using us like guards. If a threat came from the front, we would handle it for them, and if something attacked them from behind, they would run over and force the monsters on us. The other possibility was that they were stalking us. This group was the recon team, and they were just waiting for the right time to attack—or for more of their friends to join them.

I didn’t know which it was yet.

 

The carriage stopped, and it looked we found where we’d be camping for the day. When I pinged my radar again, our mysterious followers had stopped too, of course. I had better report to the others.

“Marina, do you have a moment?”

“What is it?”

Marina looked over at me as she was setting up camp. I told her about the people following us and what I thought about it.

“While it’s true that people sometimes stick to the carriage in front of them, they’ll usually say something in advance and come to a mutual agreement on traveling together. Granted, sometimes the people at the front will charge for it, so there are cases where the others will follow some distance behind.”

“Then do you think it’s all right?”

“I can’t quite say. They might be observing us. Actually, how can you tell?”

“My bears let me know about it.” I didn’t mention the detection skill. “So, what should we do?”

“I’d really like to get a look at who’s following us, to be honest, but that would probably be useless.”

“It is?”

“Their appearance is unlikely to tell us anything. Yuna, I know you’re strong, but can we also count those bears as part of our firepower?”

“They’re protecting Noa and Fina, so you won’t really be able to count on them to fight.”

Marina shook her head. “May we ask for your summons to protect Lady Misana and Lord Gran? That would make it easier for us to fight, as well.”

True—it’d be tricky to protect the people you were guarding while also trying to fight. As far I was concerned, I’d be handling the attack alone; I just wanted to bring Marina and her crew up to speed. Getting ambushed, on the other hand, was an entirely different kettle of fish from a fight we could all see coming.

“All right. I’ll tell them to protect Misa and Gran too. It’d be easier if they’re all inside the carriage.”

Marina thanked me and went back to her party.

 

After dinner, we started getting ready for bed. Marina briefed everyone during our meal; she told Noa, Misa, and Fina to bunker down in the carriage once things got hot.

“Yuna, are we really going to be attacked?”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “If anything happens, these two will protect you.”

Kumayuru and Kumakyu cooed in reply.

“Plus, you don’t think I can be beat, do you?” Noa and Fina knew more about my abilities than Marina and the others did. “So you can sleep easy.”

“Yuna, please don’t push yourself too much,” Fina said.

“It’ll be fine. Like Marina said, they might just be normal travelers sneakily using us as guards.” I gave Fina’s head a gentle pat to steady her nerves. Noa and Misa were watching; they looked jealous, so I patted their heads the same way. It was a small price to pay for putting them at ease.

“We’ve got an early start tomorrow, so get to bed.”

“Yes, Yuna, good night,” Fina said.

“Yuna, good night,” Noa said.

“Good night,” Misa said.

They fell asleep in Kumayuru and Kumakyu’s arms. Marina and the others looked kind of anxious, so I decided to trust the bears with lookout duty and get some sleep. We didn’t know whether we’d actually be attacked, after all, and sleep was pretty important.

 

Something jostled me. When I opened my eyes, Kumakyu was there, nudging me upright.

“Kumakyu?”

The plan came back to me slowly as I started to come around. Right, I thought, there was a chance we’d be attacked. I pinged my radar. Yup, they were there all right. A crowd was starting to form. Ten, twenty—maybe about twenty-five people. Wasn’t that a bit overkill to take on four adventurers?

I slipped away from Kumakyu, trying not to wake up Fina. I told Kumakyu to protect everyone if the enemies breached our camp. Not that I was planning to let them get here.

“They aren’t here, are they?” Marina and the others had come over.

“You were still awake?” I expected them to take turns keeping watch.

“It’s not like we could sleep after you told us we might be attacked.”

“There’s a pretty big group of people congregating over there.”

“We should wake everyone get them in the carriage.”

“Let them sleep. I’ll go.”

“Alone…?”

“I’ll be okay. If any of them slip by me, please deal with them.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“Marina?!” The other adventurers sounded shocked.

“You’d be holding me back,” I told her bluntly. She really would be a burden.

“Are you really going to be okay by yourself?”

“I’ll be fine.” I doubted they had anyone stronger than a goblin king or a black viper.

“All right. Then please do it.”

“Sure. I’m headed off. Keep an eye on everyone.”

I looked over to where Fina, Noa, and Misa were cuddled up with my bears. The three girls were sleeping like babies. Trusting their safety to my bears’ capable paws, I ran off into the dark, following my bear detection skill’s signal.

I could see pretty well all around me. Had the bear gear picked up some night vision skills when I wasn’t looking? There were a few people ahead, clustered together in the dark and gripping their swords tight. Even though it was the dead of night, they didn’t have a fire going. I could even hear their deranged conversation.

They were definitely bandits, which meant I was free and clear to attack them before they tried attacking us. I bore down on the unsuspecting gang. My bear shoes made no sound and my black bear outfit melted into the dark. I primed a spell.

“What’s that?”

By the time they noticed me, it was too late. I assailed the bandits with air blasts, taking care to bank my shots so they’d hit the mounted ones but not their horses. The horses hadn’t hurt anyone, after all. I forced the gang together with the opening volley, and followed up by conjuring bars of earth out of the ground around them. Finally, I sealed the top with an impromptu stone lid. The cage was complete.

“We can’t break these! Casters to the front!”

Several of the bandits incanted spells, but they bounced off the bars and ended up causing mayhem inside the cage.

“Quit with the magic! We’ll die!”

“That hurts! The heck is happening?”

“Somebody, whip up some light!”

“Good evening, bandits!”

They only really caught on that I was there once I started talking to them. “A bear?”

“What’s up with the getup?”

“Did you do this, you little twerp?”

“Let us out of here!”

“You’re that bear that was riding a bear…”

One of them seemed to already know about me. I guessed he was part of the group that was tailing us. I was surprised they decided to attack despite knowing about my bears. Maybe they figured they could handle it, since they had some sorcerers in their group.

“You really think you can this to us and live?!”

Are these guys stupid? Did they really think they could fight me when they were stuck in a cage? I hosed them down with a water spell to shut them up.

“Next time you open your mouths, I’ll switch to fire.”

“Shut your mouth! You think you can do this to the Zamon bandit clan…?!”

“Fire.”

I pitched a mass of fire into the cage.

“Hot! Hot! What do you think you’re doing!” The sorcerers inside the cage released water to snuff out the fire.

“I said that if you opened your mouth again, I’d launch fire at you next. Are you stupid?”

“Why, you little…”

They looked like they had plenty to say, but they kept their mouths shut this time. I used an earth spell to raise the cage off the ground by fifty centimeters. Some of the bandits inside lost their balance and fell over, raising a racket in the process, but I ignored them. Next, I attached wheels to the underside of the cage to make it mobile. I wasn’t concerned with their comfort, so I didn’t add springs to absorb the jolts and bumps of the road.

Now, all I needed was something to move the cage. I thought I might use the horses, but they’d all run off. I thought it over and came up with something at once. It’d be pretty attention-grabbing, but it was my only option.

“Come forth, bear!”

I made a bear earth golem, following the same logic as when I made the fire and water bears to slay the tigerwolves and the black viper. It was about three meters tall.

“A bear!”

“What is that thing?!” The bandits were making a commotion in their cage.

“What’re you planning on doing to us?”

“Let us outta here!”

They were so loud. Apparently petty thieves were idiots no matter what world you lived in. Sometimes they came with a smart leader, but this bunch just seemed like a pack of goons. I threw a ball of fire into the cage to silence them, and just like last time, one of the sorcerers set to putting it out like his life depended on it.

“Next time you open your mouths, I’ll make you eat it.”

I conjured a fireball for emphasis, and they scowled at me in silence. Did they really not understand the situation they were in? In any case, they’d gone quiet, so I had the earth bear golem pull the cage back to the carriage. If I took too long, Marina and the others might start to worry.