I guess I should just rush in? I thought. I pointed Kumayuru in the tigerwolves’ direction. We started to run, slipping up the mountain like a shadow.
When we reached the river, two large felines—the tigerwolves—were resting there. They stood up sluggishly at the sight of us. One snarled. They were trying to see what we were doing.
“They’re bigger than I thought.”
One of them was about Kumayuru’s size. The other one was even larger. Maybe the smaller one was the female and the bigger one was the male? I thought.
I dismounted Kumayuru slowly, then patted its head and asked it to take care of the smaller tigerwolf.
I loosed a wind spell on the two tigerwolves, which they dodged easily. Kumayuru bore down on the female tigerwolf, and I sent fire magic flying at the male. It juked to the right and shot towards me—it definitely had wolves beat for speed and control. It closed the distance between us instantaneously.
I made an earth wall, but it plowed through it.
Uhhh, I thought, looks like normal magic doesn’t work on these.
It was close enough to pounce. I jumped into the sky to escape. It roared, watching me take off—then jumped up after me.
“Seriously?!”
The tigerwolf’s sharp fangs came right at me as I fell.
“Bear punch.”
I hit the open-mouthed tigerwolf hard in the side of its face, slamming it to the ground. As soon as I landed, I shot off a flurry of ice arrows that bounced off its hide. I guessed it was the same deal as the goblin king—I couldn’t damage it with normal magic at the level I was now. In that case, I’d beat it the same way I did the goblin king.
I opened up a deep hole in the ground and dropped the tigerwolf into it. But just as I came up to the hole to attack, the tigerwolf ran up the side of shaft and sprang back out, turning its momentum into a claws-first pounce. I backstepped clear of it.
It looked like that trap was a dud.
Meanwhile, Kumayuru was fighting the smaller tigerwolf. They fought and parried claw to claw, fang to fang, equally matched. If Kumayuru were a normal bear, it would have been slower, but my bears were fast—even faster than a tigerwolf. They had enough stamina to run all the way from the town to this place without a sweat. If that tigerwolf was an equal match for my bear, it was a lot stronger than I’d expected.
Leaving that tigerwolf to Kumayuru, I decided to just focus on beating the one in front of me. I really wanted that pelt; I needed a solution that would keep it pristine.
“Water bear.”
A bear made from water appeared and ran at the tigerwolf, grappling it with its watery arms. It forced the tigerwolf’s head against its body and into its watery chest, and a storm of bubbles flooded out of the monster’s mouth as it thrashed its head around.
Bear-type magic really is strong, I thought.
When I looked over at Kumayuru, it was in the middle of getting the tigerwolf pinned. I made a ball of water and fired it at the tigerwolf. It wrapped around the tigerwolf’s face and Kumayuru held her down. After a while, they stopped moving.
That’s a wrap on the slaying, I thought.
I put the tigerwolves away into my bear storage and headed back to the bear house.
Chapter 22:
Fina and the Bear
Part Two
SO, TODAY I WOKE UP and made breakfast for my mom and sister like I always do. Mom seemed better today. I waited until they finished breakfast, and then I went to the guild. When I got there, I was so happy to find someone brought in lots of wolves to be butchered. It looked like I would have lots of work today.
The refrigerated warehouse at the back of the guild is cold. They need to make it that way so that the meat doesn’t rot. They have warm gear made from wolf pelts at the warehouse, so I borrowed those. They’re made for guild employees, so it was a little big, but what can you do? They’re warm.
When I went into the back of the warehouse, the wolves were all piled up into a heap. I took one of them and put it on top of a table. The tables are a little tall, so I have to set up a stepstool for myself, but it’s easier to butcher them this way.
I gutted the wolf and skinned it capably. What a pretty wolf. Wolf pelts fetch different prices depending on if they’ve been hacked up with a sword or finished with just one hit like this one. It looked like a really great adventurer had defeated this wolf.
I could understand why they brought the wolf in without butchering it, then. Low-rank adventurers will butcher everything themselves to avoid handling fees. High-rank adventurers don’t need to try as hard to save money. I’m grateful for that.
After I took off the pelt, I butchered the meat into the cuts they sell to the inns and restaurants and normal families. They can’t sell the scraps, so I take those home. We’re going to have meat for dinner today.
Thank you, guild.
There’s plenty of butchering work for me every time I go to the guild lately, which is great. A few days ago, there was even a goblin king. Of course, I haven’t ever butchered a goblin king before, so I watched the older employees work on it, so I could learn. Apparently, goblin kings are very tough. They could barely get through it with a regular knife.
It had really horrible cuts all over the front of its body, but the back of its body was clear. I guess the person who beat it fought it from the front.
There sure are some amazing adventurers out
