“You’re going to slay a black viper?”
“I’m just going to check it out. If it seems like I can defeat it, I will, and if I can’t, I’ll run and gather information that I’ll hand over to the adventurers that Helen calls.”
“Helen, who are those adventurers?”
“That’d be One-Eyed Rush’s C-rank party.”
What kind of middle-school edgelord nickname was “One-Eyed Rush?” I didn’t want to be called anything like that, but I sure wanted to see them. I wondered if they had eyepatches or something.
“The one-eyed C-rank, huh. I don’t feel all that confident just sending one party. If you can make arrangements for others, please do.”
“Understood.”
“In that case, let’s go, Yuna.”
It sounded like the Guildmaster said something weird.
“Let’s go?”
“I’m going, too. I used to be an adventurer myself. I won’t hold you down.”
That wasn’t very reassuring.
“How do you plan on getting there?”
“I’ll use my horse. We should be able to get there tomorrow.”
“In that case, I’ll go ahead. My summons shouldn’t even take a day to get there.”
“Is that true?”
“I have two, so if I switch them out, then probably.”
I didn’t know for sure, though.
“You go ahead, then. Don’t do anything ridiculous until I get there.”
“Got it.”
The moment I tried to leave the guild, the boy stopped me.
“Wait. Could you take me with you?”
“You’d get in the way.”
“I’ll guide you there. That should cut some time down.”
I gave him a once-over. He looked light. I guess it’d be fine if I was just carrying a kid’s worth of extra weight.
“Okay. We won’t take any breaks.”
“I don’t mind. It’s for the village. I can’t wait around here by myself.”
“In that case, we can’t lose any time, kid.”
“I’m Kai.”
“I’m Yuna. Let’s head out, Kai.”
We left town, and I summoned Kumayuru. Kai was surprised.
“Get on. We’re in a hurry, aren’t we?”
“Miss, what is that? And what’s with your outfit?”
“That doesn’t matter right now, does it? Your family’s waiting, aren’t they?”
Kai nodded and mounted Kumayuru. I got on behind him.
“Make sure you look ahead and guide the way.”
Kai nodded.
Kumayuru ran, following Kai’s directions. Kumayuru was faster than a horse and had stamina to boot. After running for three hours, we dismounted and made some time for a small meal.
“Let’s finish in five.”
I pulled bread and juice from my bear storage and handed them to Kai. He thanked me and practically wolfed down the bread.
“How far out are we?”
“We’re about halfway there, maybe a little less.”
In that case, we’d arrive in about three hours. After we finished our meal, we switched over to Kumakyu. Even though Kai should have been tired from riding his horse into town at the crack of dawn, he guided us patiently.
“If we’ve got a straight shot for a while, you should sleep for a bit.”
Kai shook his head.
“I’m fine. I wouldn’t be able to. We’ll lose time if the heading’s even slightly off anyway. At first, I thought having a weirdly dressed girl come wouldn’t help, but you’ve got to be something special if you can summon bears like these. Maybe you’ll be able to help everyone escape, even if you can’t defeat the black viper. That’s why I want to get there fast. Even if I get to the village, I won’t be useful. I think my role is to make sure you don’t get lost and get you close to the village, if nothing else.”
Kai was way too mature. Between Fina and this kid, what was going on with the kids in this world?
“In that case, make sure you do a good job showing me the way.”
“Please save everyone in the village, miss.”
“I’ll do what I can.”
Kumakyu bore down on the village.
Chapter 40:
The Bear Exterminates the Snake
A FEW HOURS AFTER we’d switched to Kumakyu, we switched over to Kumayuru again and picked up where we left off. We caught sight of the village as the sun started to set. Kumayuru slowed down as we crossed its outer limits. It was quiet inside. There wasn’t a single sound—it was like a ghost town.
The phrase total annihilation came to mind. I felt a little ill.
Kai got off of Kumayuru and ran into the village.
“Everyone, are you here?! It’s me. It’s Kai. I came back!” Kai shouted. No-one answered for a long while. The door of a nearby house crept open.
“Is it you, Kai?”
A man came out of the house.
“Dad! Where’s Mom? Where’s the rest of the village?”
“Your mom is fine, but she can’t do much. We haven’t had a decent meal for several days.”
“What about everyone else in the village?”
“They won’t come out.”
“Why not?”
“It reacts to sound. The Ermina family tried to run and all got eaten. Londo got eaten when he went to get water from the well. No one goes outside anymore, since we might end up eaten.”
“In that case, wouldn’t talking here be dangerous, too?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Then, Dad…”
“But someone has to do it. For Domgol’s sake.”
“Domgol?”
“When we got you on the horse in order to get help, Domgol acted as a decoy and died.”
“Domgol was…”
“So, we need to hear from you and figure out what to do now. That’s what we can do for Domgol’s sake.”
“Dad…”
“What’s with the bear?”
Kai’s dad looked at me.
“This girl is an adventurer who came ahead to gather information.”
His expression turned downcast and bitter.
“A girl in a bear outfit, like that’s gonna…”
“Dad, the Guildmaster is coming after us. They said they’re sending C-rank adventurers after that.”
Kai’s dad looked relieved. Well, I guess anyone would be when they found out that their fate was entrusted to more than a girl in a bear suit—professionals, even!
“When is the Guildmaster getting here?”
“We were able to get to the village from the town in half a day because we used her summons, but the Guildmaster said it would take him until tomorrow.”
“I see, so what are you going to do, miss?”
“First I’ll gather information, then if I can, I’ll slay it.”
“Jokes are only funny if you can laugh at them. If you can slay it? There’s no way,” he spat, clearly needing
