Side Chapter — Elk Bear Extermination Quest

Elk Bears. As their name implied, they were bears with elk antlers. Wataru, being from Japan, was reminded of jackalopes—squirrels and rabbits with antlers. For a second he wondered if their horns grew out and were replaced once a year just like actual elk horns, but soon decided it didn’t matter and began his journey to the forest.

With him were his two companions on this quest: Niku Kuroinu and Emmymephy Laverio.

Emmymephy was, to be honest, on the level of a D-Rank adventurer at best. Not even her enthusiasm was enough to stop her from being dead weight and nothing more. However, it was Wataru’s job to protect her, and he could do that better with her nearby than by leaving her alone in town. At most he was hoping she would lighten their spirits during the quest.

Niku looked like a defenseless little girl, but she had the speed and dexterity of a beastkin, not to mention absurd strength nobody could predict from looking at her. It would be fair to say that she was perfect, outside of the stigma her slave name carried. She would be providing significant firepower to the part.

“Okay, how should we go about hunting for the Elk Bear? Whoever finds it first can just kill it,” said Wataru casually, but Emmymephy shook her head.

“Oh no no, Sir Wataru. Kuro and I have no intention of sparring with an Elk Bear by our lonesome. I say, isn’t that right, dear Kuro?”

“Hm? I don’t think so. With hunting it’s first come, first served.”

“Now, now, no need to push yourself, Kuro. Elk Bears are quite strong, and if I can’t beat them, a cute little girl such as yourself has no hope in the world. I say, we should just leave the hunting to Sir Wataru and focus on support.” Emmymephy shook her head with exasperation as Niku tilted her head. Surprisingly enough, Emmymephy understood her own strength and had no delusions about what she could and couldn’t do. However, that didn’t mean she understood Niku’s strength.

“Okay. Let’s stick together for now.”

“Oh! Kuro, I say, could you sniff them out for us? I hear beastkin have quite the strong noses!”

“No, I don’t know what they smell like.”

“Drat! What a shame.”

“Wait...” said Wataru. “That means you could if you knew what it smelled like, right? Hmm... Oh! Kuro, could you go toward the nearest animal you smell? I’m sure you can distinguish animal smells.”

Niku nodded, then guided the other two through the forest. She sometimes sniffed the air before making sudden turns or continuing straight onward. Eventually they found her target: an Orc, not an Elk Boar. Wataru cleanly cut its head off, and Niku sliced off its tail to give to the guild for money.

“An Orc, huh.”

“I say, even finding an Orc in this forest is quite impressive! I shall cut off proof from the next monster we find.” Emmymephy patted Niku’s head. Niku looked at Wataru with a blank expression.

“...Should we bait the bear with the scent of blood?”

“Oh, there’s an idea. Elk Bears are omnivores, and this one’s already learned the taste of human flesh.”

“Wait, they eat humans? I say, have people died?”

“Almost. Someone had their arm ripped off in a fight. Their life as an adventurer would be over if they didn’t have strong connections to the church... Oh, I guess Keima is the pope of the Beddhist Church, so maybe he can use some high level Restoration magic?” asked Wataru, which reminded Niku that Keima had previously made Golem limbs to replace lost limbs. But that was a secret, so she decided not to mention it.

“Master can use {Healing}, but I don’t know how much he can heal with it.”

“I’ll have to ask Keima when we get back, then. Let’s pretend he’ll give an honest answer.”

They cut their conversation short. There were large claw marks in a tree near where they had taken down the Orc. The Elk Bear was marking its territory. The party concluded that they were one step away from entering said territory, and so decided to leave the Orc corpse be and wait nearby.

After some waiting, a Great Boar about two meters long came sniffing out of the bushing, having apparently been attracted by the smell.

“Oh, looks like our bait caught the wrong fish. Let’s get him out of here.”

“Wait, I shall hunt this one! The royal will decrees that you preserve your strength, Sir Wataru. Now! Come at me, foul Great Boar!” Emmymephy emerged in front of the Great Boar and challenged it, considering now to be the time to show her worth. Both Niku and Wataru shook their heads, knowing she should have attacked it with the element of surprise, but given her confidence they decided to just watch on. Wataru could easily save her if things got bad, so as far as he was concerned this was a good opportunity for her to learn.

The Great Boar, falling for the taunt, charged at Emmymephy. She reacted immediately by blasting out magic.

“...■■■, ■■■■■■■■■— {Stone Pyre}!”

With a thunk, a slanted stone spike sprouted from the ground, facing the charging boar. This was a spell she had been taught to fend off charging thugs if she were ever attacked in the street.

The Great Boar, unable to stop its charge, was pierced head-on by the spike—however, the ten centimeter wide spike could not withstand the weight of the Great Boar’s body and snapped, allowing the charge to continue.

“I say...?” Emmymephy was stunned. The Great Boar was right in front of her eyes. It’s going to crush me, she thought, moments before the boar was suddenly blasted away from the side.

“There we go. Nice work, Princess Mephy.” Wataru had forcibly changed the direction of its charge by hitting it from the side.

“Th-Thank you, Sir Wataru.” Emmymephy sighed in relief. Then, she tilted her head. “Sir Wataru, should {Stone Pyres} break so easily?”

“Hm? I dunno. It’s not a spell I know, so... Maybe that boar was just too big of a monster?”

“Hmm. Well, never mind, then.” Emmymephy decided not to think too hard about it since all was well.

Putting that aside, Niku retrieved the boar’s nose, their second prize of the day. It was a bit damaged from the spike, but well, it wasn’t anything too bad.

“This is a lot of meat... We should eat it.”

“Yeah, I’ll grab it to bring back with us. Whatever we don’t eat, we can sell.”

Wataru stuck the Great Boar into {Storage}. The sheer amount of the meat filled his {Storage} to the brim. He had to wonder if he would be able to carry the Orc and the Elk Bear they were hunting back. He had already confirmed that Niku and Emmymephy had {Storage} of their own, but if they hunted a fourth thing they might need to come back to get all the meat.

“Nnn. I smell something coming,” said Niku while sniffing the air.

“Oh, good. Seems to be the Elk Bear we’re hunting.”

This time the monster they were actually looking for arrived. It was a bear with elk antlers standing on both feet, reaching up to a towering three meters. Considering that a normal Elk Bear was anywhere from one and a half meters to two meters, this one was big enough to be called an entirely different species.

“I-I say, it’s enormous!”

“The receptionist did say it was bigger than normal ones. Can’t say I’m too surprised. I’ll take care of th— Ah.”

Before Wataru could ready his sword, Niku had leapt into the air. She kicked off a tree and raced up the Elk Bear’s body before sliding her Golem Knife out of its hip sheath and stabbing it through its neck. The rapidly vibrating Golem Knife ripped right through its hardened pelt and throat muscles, rendering it unable to breathe. She then gave the knife a push, lopping the bear’s head right off.

Her work was so fast that the Elk Bear, which had considered all three of them prey to be easily devoured, couldn’t even react. Its head was off before it could understand what was happening. In the end it collapsed with a crash onto the rotten leaves scattered across the forest ground, having not even been given the opportunity to let out a blood-soaked roar.

“...Kuro?! I say, what are you doing?!”

“I told you. First come, first served.” Niku, covered in blood that had sprayed from the bear’s neck, stood beside the prone bear and tilted her head.

“Ahaha, now that was new. Never seen a surprise attack from the front before.”

“I was the only one who hadn’t done anything yet. It was a good opportunity,” explained Niku while Wataru cast {Purification} on her. She stashed the Elk Bear’s corpse into her {Storage} as if nothing had happened—and since the Elk Bear hadn’t been able to react, it was fair to say that nothing really had happened. Sadly, the head didn’t quite seem to fit.

“We can just bring that back with us. Okay, Princess Mephy, could I ask you to put the Orc into your {Storage}?”

“Um, ah, certainly.” Emmymephy put the Orc’s corpse into {Storage}.

And so, the Elk Bear quest was completed with little fanfare.

“...The bear meat was weak,” observed Niku.

“O-Oh yes, I forgot that you were among the brave warriors that defeated the Dragon, Kuro... I knew that you were strong, but I say, not this strong.”

“Wait, you didn’t see her fight on the way here? But man... You really are more of an assassin than a warrior, huh, Kuro? I didn’t think you could take out a bear in one shot with a knife, even with a blade that long. Consider me impressed.”

As an irrelevant aside, when they sold the Elk Bear corpse to the guild, Wataru said “It was actually this girl that killed it. And in one blow, too.” and everyone yelled out “Of course she did! She’s the loli that’s stronger than the guy who’s stronger than a Hero!” in reply.