Honestly, what was that man thinking? That whole thing about nice guys finishing last was true, apparently. Pulling that kind of move was a sure way to get mauled.
The tigerwolf slipped between arrow after arrow, veering to the left and right as it bore down on Brandaugh.
“Kumayuru!”
Kumayuru sped up, closing with the tigerwolf in an instant. Its body slammed the tigerwolf as it readied to pounce. Kumayuru took the impact well; I didn’t so much as move in my seat.
“Miss!”
“Long time no see, Brandaugh,” I said, raising my bear puppet to greet him.
“Why are you here?”
“I’m going for a walk,” I answered, my attention locked to the tigerwolf. It slowly stood up and looked in my direction.
“Miss, make a run for it!”
There was no way I could run with my target right there, regardless of what he said—that was my precious, precious pelt, after all. I got down from Kumayuru and confronted the tigerwolf.
“Miss,” said Brandaugh, “it’s dangerous.”
“Dangerous for who? You just had a baby, so you shouldn’t be putting yourself into danger anyway,” I said, not shifting my attention as I scolded him.
We didn’t have time to hold a long conversation. The tiger wolf glared, grit its teeth, and growled. If I didn’t have my bear gear, I’d be cowering around now. I closed in and loosed an air cutter. The tigerwolf detected the change in pressure and flipped clear of it in a very un-wolflike show of acrobatics.
At the same time, though, dodging wasn’t the same as acting of your own volition. It was something that your opponent forced you to do. I ate up the distance its dodge had built, fortified my body, and smashed it square in the side with a bear punch. Its body scraped against the ground.
Oh, I thought, maybe I hit it too hard, until the tigerwolf tried to stand back up. An arrow flew past my head and struck it straight in its right eye.
“Brandaugh?”
“I didn’t think you needed my help, but I saw an opening.”
The tigerwolf stood with the arrow still stuck in its eye.
“That might have made things worse.”
Brandaugh’s hand shook as he readied his bow. I could feel the aura of pure murder rolling off the tigerwolf’s body, too. I didn’t know whether it was a buff from the bear gear, my experience gaming, or just a security blanket thing, but I didn’t feel the kind of dread Brandaugh was feeling.
“It’ll be fine.”
The tigerwolf and I kicked off the ground simultaneously.
Even with one crushed eye, it avoided all of the bear cutters I fired. Still, Brandaugh had given me a blind spot to exploit. I juked right and caught it in a hail of compressed water bullets. The tiger wolf let out a scream as it collapsed, but rallied seconds later. It opened its gigantic mouth, like it wanted me intimately familiar with all its teeth. When it presented me with that opportunity, I shot an ice arrow straight down its throat.
Just when I thought its one-eyed glare meant it still meant business, it collapsed on its side.
“Did you kill it?”
It didn’t get back up.
“Seems like it.”
Brandaugh relaxed his bow.
“Miss, you saved me. Thanks.”
“I said it before, but I was just taking a walk, so don’t worry about it.”
“You’re so modest, even after saving my life.”
Brandaugh patted my head through the top of the bear hood, and I heard the bushes rustling behind us.
“Brandaugh, are you okay?”
The rookies had turned up.
“I’m pretty sure I told you all to run away.”
“Sorry. We were worried about you. Thank you for what you did earlier. If you hadn’t caused that diversion, we would have been…”
“Don’t worry about it. I just happened to be around at the right moment. I just happen to know more about this forest than you all do.”
“So were you the one who handled that tigerwolf, Brandaugh?” the rookie asked, looking at the arrow sticking out of the tigerwolf’s eye.
“Nah, this young lady took down the tigerwolf. I just took advantage of an opening she made.”
The rookies looked at me.
“This bear did that?”
Just as one of the boys mumbled that, I saw the girl next to him elbow him.
“He means thank you for everything you just did.”
“Thank you very much. You saved us.”
The four rookies politely bowed their heads.
“So what should we do with this guy? I’d like to take it back, but…” Brandaugh asked, looking at the dead tigerwolf.
“I’ll carry it.”
I went up to the tigerwolf and put it in my bear storage.
“Amazing as always. This has been bugging me for a while now—what’s with that white bear?”
Come to think of it, this was the first time Brandaugh saw Kumakyu.
When we got back to the village, the men were armed and the entrance was closed off.
“Brandaugh! You’re safe! And so are the adventurers!”
“Yeah, she gave us a hand.”
“Is that right? What a relief. You only just had a baby, so don’t make Marie worry.”
“Sorry about that.”
“So what happened to the tigerwolf? Is it nearby? If it isn’t, we were talking about going to the adventurers’ guild in town.”
“Oh, the tigerwolf’s dead. She killed it.”
“…Wha?”
All of the men had the same reaction.
“We’ll be fine now.”
“Is that really true?”
No one seemed to believe Brandaugh.
“But the tigerwolf is on another level compared to the guardian.”
“What good would lying about something like this do? I’ll explain the details later. Anyway, let me go to the chief so I can give my report.”
The men parted to the right and left to make a path. Brandaugh and I headed to the chief’s house together. Kumayuru and Kumakyu followed behind us, and the rookies trailed at the very end of the procession.
“Brandaugh, you’re back?!”
The chief and Marie came out from the chief’s house. Fina followed behind them.
“You’re not hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
Relief spread across Marie’s face.
“Well then, Brandaugh, what happened to the tigerwolf?” the chief asked.
“She killed it.”
“Is this true?!”
I thought it would be faster to show them the actual thing than explaining it, so I
