They latched onto Kumayuru and Kumakyu the second they had permission. They made sure to follow my orders and didn’t do anything to upset them. After the kids spent a while playing with the bears, I heard a commotion near the village entrance. Someone was running over to us.
“Chief! This is terrible!” they shouted. Several people followed after him.
“What’s gotten you so riled up?” the village chief said. The others in the house had followed him out.
“There’s a tigerwolf!”
“A tigerwolf?!”
“I-is Brandaugh okay?!” Marie questioned the man who had come to the chief’s house.
“I’m sorry. He was with me part of the way, but he stayed behind to distract it.” He hung his head slightly as he apologized.
The man had a quiver full of arrows on his shoulder. He was probably another hunter.
“No…” Marie said, crumbling to her knees.
The situation was kind of dire, I guess.
“Chief!” said the hunter. “Quickly—call the men together and fortify the entrance. It might be able to clear the wall, so you must tell the women and children to get inside their homes.”
The chief nodded and gave the order. The kids who had been playing with the bears clung to Kumakyu and Kumayuru nervously.
“Bear girl…”
“It’ll be okay, but since it might be dangerous, you should all go home and listen to what your moms and dads tell you.”
The children nodded and returned to their respective homes.
“Have you seen any of the adventurers?”
“When I was hunting, I caught a glimpse of them, but we didn’t know about the tigerwolf back then, so we went separate ways. I’m not sure what happened to them after that.”
“Chief! Do you think those adventurers can handle a tigerwolf?”
“They showed me their guild cards, but they were just F-rank rookies. I think it’s impossible. Actually, I’m worried about them.”
The chief dipped his head low and furrowed his brow. Then he raised his head and looked at me without saying anything. He turned his gaze on the men gathered in the village.
“Hurry and close the entrance. Some of you take guard along the wall!”
“What are we going to do about Brandaugh and the adventurers?”
“We wait for them to escape here. If we search for them imprudently, we might have to sacrifice more of our own.”
“But…”
Marie was so overcome with worry she couldn’t continue. All she could do was hug her son tightly.
“Yuna…” Fina gave me a brittle look.
“It’ll be fine.”
I gave Fina a gentle pat on the head.
Extra Story:
The Rookie Adventurers
Part Three
“I’M HEADED OUT.”
“Miss Yuna!”
“I’m going to take the bears and go in there to get Brandaugh and the others real quick.”
“It’s too dangerous! Tigerwolves are different from the forest guardian. They are ferocious!”
The chief was genuinely worried for me.
“That’s right. The guardian just ate all our crops when we did nothing, but tigerwolves will actually attack people.”
“Yuna, it’s dangerous.”
The villagers were genuinely concerned for me.
“Though it’ll cost some money, we’ll put up a quest at the adventurers’ guild, so please don’t be worried.”
Couldn’t they see they had an adventurer right in front of their eyes?
“But chief, what should we do? Who should we have go to the town? We can’t just wait for a merchant like last time.”
“And we need to do this quickly.”
“We should figure out what to do about Brandaugh before any of that, shouldn’t we?”
“I will say this as many times as I need to, but we will not go save Brandaugh. We just have to hope that he will make it back to the village.”
The village felt gloomy at the chief’s words. No one wanted to fight the tigerwolves. They knew they would die if they did. Was my only option to stay silent? I mounted Kumayuru.
“Miss Yuna?” said the chief.
“Just going out for a little stroll,” I replied, since persuading him of anything would be a pain. My eyes met with Marie’s.
“I’ve got Kumayuru and Kumakyu around, so I shouldn’t have any problems going out on a walk.”
I hoped my bears gave Marie some peace of mind.
“But…”
“I’m just going for a walk, so you don’t need to worry about me like that.”
“Yuna…” Marie said, looking at her feet.
“Miss Yuna,” the chief said in her place, “please do what you can.”
He bowed his head very low.
“I don’t know what you’re asking for. Just going for a walk.”
“Miss Yuna…”
“Okay, going to go for a bit of a stroll. Sorry Fina, but you wait here.”
“Yuna,” Fina said as she rushed over, seeming concerned.
“It’ll be fine. I’ve taken them down before.”
“Yeah, but be careful.”
I rode Kumayuru hell-for-leather. Kumakyu kept pace.
Bear detection revealed a lot of wolves, but no sign of Brandaugh. The tigerwolves were getting close. I needed to hurry, or things would hit the fan.
“Kumayuru, Kumakyu, mush.”
We thundered through the forest. I detected five people nearby. I wondered if it was the rookies and Brandaugh. If I sensed them, they had to still be alive. It looked like I was going to make it in time.
“Run, Horn!”
“Shin! A wolf went that way.”
“Where is the tigerwolf?!”
“Brandaugh! That’s dangerous.
“You guys go on ahead!”
“But—”
“This forest is my expertise! I’ll figure something out. Actually, you’d all just get in the way!”
I could hear their voices. It seemed like they were in a tight spot. Kumayuru ran faster. I caught sight of them; if I could see them, that meant they could see me.
“A bear!”
One of the boys pointed his sword at Kumayuru.
“You idiot, look closer!”
“It’s Miss Bear!”
I fired an ice arrow, drilling into the forehead of the wolf that had been chasing them. My second volley cleared out the others looming in the brush.
“Whoa.”
I realized they were that party with the guy who’d bopped my head yesterday. Fortunately for them, now wasn’t the time to get all bent out of shape about that.
“Kumakyu! You take over.”
I left Kumakyu to guard them and ran over to Brandaugh. He was standing on top of a pretty high rocky outcrop, his bow at the ready. I followed his sight line and spotted a tigerwolf weaving through the
