Vermillion

She pulled out several strands of animal hair stuck in a gap of the wall.

“I’m surprised that you’ve noticed these within this darkness, Kei.”

“Well, yeah. Let me have a look for a bit.”

He held out the hair that she passed to him towards the evening glow illuminating the sky and inspected it. It was a hard, dark red hair with a luster.

“There’s only one bear species that has fur of this color…”

“But isn’t it a little too small for that, based on what we heard?”

“It’s probably a young individual. Maybe that’s the reason it came all the way to a human settlement?”

“Makes sense…”

Dropping their gazes at the fur and then staring in the direction of the forest, their expressions turned gloomy.

“What do we do? I can 【track】 it, if you want.” Aileen remarked as she glanced up to the sky where the sun had finally disappeared.

“…We can’t really decide this by ourselves. It’d be smarter to discuss it with our client.”

If it was just Kei and Aileen, they could have easily dealt with the bear at any time, but considering the caravan and the villagers, they could not risk acting carelessly. Thus the two went back to the center of the village where the heated discussions kept escalating.

“It’s a waste of time! Let’s leave!”

“Please don’t abandon us! Please help us!”

“Wouldn’t it be more dangerous if we carelessly escaped under these circumstances?”

“I’d probably make fighting easier if we stayed together…”

“No way, that’s too dangerous! We’re talking about a monster that destroyed that log wall over there with one hit, you know?”

It seemed that even the members of the caravan were divided between those wanting to run and those wanting to remain. Adding the villagers, who were just begging them to help, the conversation was in an utter mess.

“Sorry, can you listen to us for a bit?”

But then, Kei raised his hand and asked Elledore with such a sincere tone that it caused him to stick out like a sore thumb. As if being a corpse, Elledore turned his head slowly and answered, “What is it?”

“Let me ask some things about the bear. Was it over four meters tall, with dark reddish fur, and a white speckled pattern around its neck? And did it have unnaturally long fangs on its lower jaw along with a pair of fiery-red eyes?”

Hearing his detailed question, Elledore was momentarily taken aback. He closed his eyes, apparently racking his brain, and spoke.

“…Sorry, I don’t know about the color of its eyes, I was desperately trying to run away. The fur, I think it was red, yeah. And the fangs…yeah, the lower ones appeared to be long. As for the pattern… Hey, everyone! Were there any white specks around the bear’s neck? And what color were its eyes?”

“…I don’t remember.”

“Now that you mention it, I feel like it had some specks…”

“It was too frightening to meet its eyes…”

The villagers answered, murmuring in chaos. Because of this, Elledore’s expression turned apologetic.

“…Sorry. It looks like they don’t remember well.”

“Then, what about its howls? Were they heavy and deeps roars, like GROAAAAR, as if they were coming from the depths of the earth?”

“Ahh, I remember! They were like that! I feel like just the memory makes me shiver…”

Elledore repeatedly nodded in response to Kei’s mimicry.

“I see,” nodded Kei with his arms folded.

“…Do you have some idea what it could be?” Holland asked in place of everyone who had gone silent.

“Yeah,” Kei confirmed. “Based on what you have told me, I would say it was almost certainly a Grande Urs.”

His assertive claim had clearly shocked the people present at their core.

Grande Urs.

It was a giant monster holding the name of 『Ruler of the Forest』, rivaling even the『Land Dragon』Green Salamander.

The primary trait that caused it to stand out from a normal bear was its physique, followed by its tough skin and extraordinary defensive abilities originating from its thick muscles. Average weapons could not penetrate its skin, and even if they managed to pierce through, layers of muscles and fat would block further penetration, limiting the injury’s lethality.

It did not have poison like the Green Salamander, nor could it unleash a breath attack like a Wyvern, but the Grande Urs boasted a simple yet tremendous strength thanks to its defenses and brute strength. In addition, unlike the Green Salamander that rushed recklessly at its target, it was highly intelligent, allowing it to employ tactics on the level of humanoid monsters, such as laying ambushes, retreating, avoiding traps, misleading through a cunning use of its footprints, launching long ranged attacks by using trees and rocks, and so on. For these reasons, it was feared by the players as an extremely difficult opponent in the game.

And it seemed this also applied to this world. Everyone except for Aileen flinched back when they heard Kei mention Grande Urs.

“…Grande Urs?”

“No, that’s impossible!”

“That’s really pushing it…”

But this panic only lasted for a moment. The members of the caravan immediately calmed down, laughing Kei’s claim off as something unthinkable.

“A beast from the 【Abyss】 would never show up in a place like this. Even if this might be a cleared land inside the forest, it’s still a human settlement close to the highway.”

As Elledore expressed his doubts, Kei nodded and continued.

“True, normally it wouldn’t show up here. But fundamentally — and this goes for all bears, not just Grande Urs — they have a strong attachment to their prey. As soon as they decide on eating something, they’re going to chase it all the way to the end of the world.

The『Green Beast』that your people have slain seems to be a monster called Uisge that lives in the 【Abyss】. It has delicious meat and nutritious internal organs. Most likely, it fled all the way here while being chased by a Grande Urs.”

“T-Then… are you saying that the village was attacked because we killed the Uisge?”

“Mmh. Either way, it’s a fact that it’s shown up here. Probably…it’d have resulted in the same outcome, sooner or later.”

“I see… So we were out of luck at the moment it managed to come this close… Shit!” Knitting his brows, Elledore lamented with a sorrowful expression.

Kei felt sympathetic, but could not really deny that the Uisge was one of the causes behind the village attack.

“…I understood your reasoning, Kei, but aren’t Grande Urs supposed to be monsters as tall as hills? According to what I’ve heard, this one seems to be way too small… I mean, by Grande Urs standards.”

Dagmar asked, still unconvinced, while observing the pulverized warehouse. Hearing as tall as hills, Kei could not help but smile wryly.

“An adult Grande Urs is certainly large enough that you’d need to look up, but it still does not exceed seven meters. Well, it still means that it’s freaking big… but the one that attacked this village was probably a young bear that had only just left its nest. An experienced Grande Urs wouldn’t leave its territory, nor would it let its prey get away, in the first place. Also, we found red animal fur earlier, which also matches with one of the traits possessed by Grande Urs.”

“You describe it as if you’ve actually seen one.”

“…Maybe.”

Kei limited it to a light shrug at Dagmar’s words, which showed that he wasn’t quite convinced.

“At any rate, the enemy is a monster that can destroy a wall with one swing. Whether we run or fight, I suggest we decide it fast. They are the most active during the evening and early morning hours when the light is still dim.” Kei said while looking up at the crimson sky, triggering everyone to look at each other anxiously.

“I…as the one in charge of the caravan…wish to avoid risks as much as possible, but I don’t want to abandon the villagers either.” Holland frankly voiced out his thoughts while being stuck between the caravan members and the villagers for a while now.

“Kei, please let me hear your opinion. What should we do?”

“Let’s see…” He started pondering for some time with everyone’s gazes focused on him.

Having said that, his plan was already decided. When he asked Aileen with his eyes, she answered with a decisive nod.

“…I would suggest we fight.”

The surroundings turned noisy as could be expected. Holland raised his hand to quieten the merchants who were screaming that it was dangerous.

“Your reason?”

“It’d be hard to escape, or rather, dangerous. Bears have good noses, and it’s hardly possible for our carriages to move at night, right? Besides, the idea of getting attacked by a Grande Urs while on the move isn’t overly appealing either. If it’s like that, it’d be easier to intercept it here where we know it’s going to show up.”

“Hmm… You have a point.”

“I’ve considered leaving a few horses back as decoys to use the time for escaping. But not only would this sacrifice horses and carriages, it’d only buy us a little time at most. Since it’s eaten humans, it already knows their taste. Sooner or later it’ll grow hungry and follow the caravan’s smell. If that happens, its next target would be the northern village, or maybe Yulia… Either way, we cannot avoid a fight – though we might be able to push it on other people.”

Kei’s nasty remark, said in an extremely casual tone, was met by Aileen’s wry smile and Holland’s bitter expression. Holland did not want to abandon the villagers, but he also did not want to sacrifice his carriages. That said, he did not want to drag other people into this either.

“Still, is it an opponent we can fight and win against?” Alexei, who silently stood at the outer edge of their group so far, suddenly asked his question with a serious expression. “I’ve taken part in hunting large game at the eastern border several times, but we only managed to succeed by setting big traps, having a lot of people and a detailed strategy. Even with such careful preparations, we still faced casualties, not to mention, we’re facing a monstrosity like Grande Urs this time. Do you think we can do something with our current battle power and no proper preparations?”

“Sure we can.” Aileen answered in Kei’s place. “My magic works particularly well against Grande Urs. And Kei’s arrows can even penetrate its thick skin. It might take some time, but the two of us alone are enough to take it down.”

She declared conclusively, and somewhat proudly.

As she said, Grande Urs could be called easy opponents for Aileen during the time period she could use magic. After all, she could steal its sight by covering it with shadows. Then Kei would just need to finish it off from a distance while it blindly rampaged around.

Even Grande Urs with their strong vitality would die instantly if their heart or brain got destroyed. The village facilities would probably suffer some damage from its rampage, but as long as the people watched carefully from afar, they would not get dragged into it. If it was a group of monsters, the targets for her spell would grow in number, making it impossible for her to use it on all of them due to catalyst consumption, but this extremely cowardly tactic was effective against practically every individual monster.

That said, there were also monsters unaffected by blinding, such as reptiles including the Green Salamander. They possessed heat sensing organs with their eyesight being bad to begin with, so they could still deal accurate attacks even while unable to see anything.

Due to that aspect, it was in a way fortunate that their opponent this time was a Grande Urs instead of a Green Salamander.

“I see, we had a magician with us…”

“Maybe we can deal with it after all…”

The merchants who had an immense, even exaggerated, level of faith in Aileen’s magic, brightened up as if they had found a ray of hope. On the other hand, the villagers, who did not know what was going on, became more displeased when they saw the merchants going along with what a braggy blonde girl said.

“What’s this little girl saying? They can defeat that monster with just the two of them?”

They gazed suspiciously at Aileen who had thrown out her chest in pride.

“I mean, that girl is a magician even if she doesn’t look like it.”

“Moreover, she’s skilled enough to defeat an entire drug cartel on her own.”

At once the merchants backed her up with looks making it clear that they knew what they were talking about, but they couldn’t dispel the villagers’ doubts.

“Well, seeing is believing as they say. Give it a go, missy!”

One of the elated merchants urged Aileen, his previous fear having disappeared without a trace. Just what was he asking her to do? Still, Aileen went along with it.

“Right. For now, guess I’ll search for the damn bear’s location. If we know where it is now, it should make it easier to form a strategy, right?”

With those words, she took the Grande Urs fur from Kei and took out a catalyst from her chest pocket with the other hand.

【 Mi dedicas al vi tiun katalizilo.】

With a dripping sound, the crystal fragment got swallowed by the shadows at her feet.

【 Maiden krepusko, Kerstin. Vi sercas la mastro, ekzercu!】

Aileen’s shadow flickered, then became a straight jet-black line that stretched towards the forest. She had used the 【Tracking】 spell.

Everyone watched her, the villagers with wide eyes, the merchants in excitement, and Kei in silence…

“—Wait what?”

But then, Aileen asked while flabbergasted as she saw the shadow quickly revert into a humanoid shape. The shadow lady at her feet raised her hands, as if throwing them up, and wrote something on the ground with a finger.

『 Antau okuloj 』

Seeing the text, Kei and Aileen’s expressions stiffened.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“What does it say?”

Before they could answer…

Thump.

A heavy sound could be heard from deep inside the forest.

“It seems that we’ve wasted a little too much time chatting…”

Contrary to Kei’s calm murmur, the villagers stopped repairing the wall, and rushed back inside the village, looking as if the world was going to end any moment now.

Thump, thump, the vibrations drew closer. Mixed with the noise of trees cracking down.

“…Looks like the monster in question has made its appearance.”

Aileen said with a chuckle.

A red-eyed monster had suddenly emerged from within the forest’s darkness.

—Huge.

The thoughts of everyone present could be summed up with that one word.

Dark red fur. White spotted pattern around its neck. Bulging shoulder muscles. Sharp fangs protruding from its mouth. Long claws each looking like grass sickles.

It easily exceeded four meters too.

Kei called it a young individual, but a strong aura befitting the title of 『Ruler of the Forest』 was seeping out into the surroundings.

The Grande Urs that stopped before the village narrowed its eyes as if glaring at the humans ahead of it.

And then, it howled a terrific, intimidating roar. That thunderous roar dominated the air, making the escort warriors shiver, the merchants collapse in fear, and the carriage horses succumb to panic.

Putting strength into its hind legs, the Grande Urs charged towards the village, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake. It quite literally pulverized the wall, which had been in the middle of repairs, and charged through it, heading for the center while ignoring the humans. Its aim was the place with the wagons, and the horses which were tied to those wagons.

The beast was hungry. And it remembered the taste of the prey it ate the day before.

Not the seedy bipedal monkeys, but the meaty, quadruped animals.

Luckily for the beast, its prey neatly lined up on today’s hunting ground. With a roar of delight, it rushed towards them.

In response, Kei also made a move.

Whistling through his fingers caused Sasuke to quickly rush over from behind a nearby hut. After jumping onto his back, Kei rummaged with his right hand for a bit, and then pulled out an arrow from the quiver attached to the saddle. It was an arrow with excessively colorful ornaments and a somewhat thick design — the Whistling Arrow of Arrow Crafter Montand’s special series.

He pulled his bow to the limit and let it loose in one breath.

With a bustling whistling sound, the arrow flew straight for the nose of the Grande Urs. As the attack was plain obvious, especially because of the piercing bloodlust behind it, the Grande Urs reflexively swatted it down with its front paw.

The arrow snapped in two, but the beast’s legs stopped. A single archer straddled on a dark-brown horse was in front of its glare, full of suspicion. Neither horse nor rider showed any signs of being intimidated by its imposing sight, merely staring back at it with calm gazes.

Their very calm demeanor wounded the beast’s pride as ruler of the forest. Maybe the bloodlust it had felt just moments ago had sufficed as a threat. The beast had clearly recognized the small beings in front of it as enemies.

It fully turned about, facing Kei with its fur standing on end. Then it stood up on its hind legs and raised its paws up in the air, just like you would imagine any monster would do. It was an intimidating behavior to make its body appear even larger. Immediately following, it opened its red mouth.

“———!!!”

It once again let out an ear-bursting roar. A number of villagers fainted, while the horses started to struggle to break free and run.

But, only one animal remained calm in front of the Grande Urs – Sasuke.

Perhaps he knew one fact very well. That his master, who was straddling his back right now…was much scarier than some beast that could not do much more than howl..

Remaining on Sasuke’s back, Kei drew his bow. With a blue-feathered arrow nocked on it. The long arrow he had specially ordered from Montand and which was usually used with longbows.

Kei pulled back the string to its limit to draw out the maximum power of Dragon Stinger, while glaring at the Grande Urs.

The surrounding people hallucinated about seeing a single line drawn between Kei and the Grande Urs within the frozen atmosphere.

Then Kei released the string. Followed by a surge of silver light.

It flew straight without a single hint of bloodlust contained within due to Stealth, and got sucked into the left chest of the Grande Urs left chest.

“——GRAAAAAWRR!?”

Alongside a scream that could be simultaneously interpreted as shock and bewilderment, the Grande Urs staggered greatly with a paw on its chest. And then, it went down on all four while turning around, and started to flee towards the forest.

However, no sooner than taking a few steps, its legs lost their strength, and with its massive body crumbling down, it planted its face straight onto the ground.

Its fall caused the ground to tremble. The Grande Urs groaned and restlessly tried to get back up, but then it started to vomit fresh blood. Its movements gradually weakened, until they finally came to a stop.

“Hrm,” Kei muttered as he returned the third arrow he had already nocked on the bowstring back into the quiver. “Looks like it luckily ruptured its heart.”

He spoke as if it was someone else’s doing. His words sank into everyone’s minds as they stood there, their mouths gaping wide open.

And — as time went on, they comprehended their meaning.

“Y…YEAAAAHHHH!”

The first one to raise a joyous yell was one of the escorts. With him as a trigger, the rest of the people finally realised what had happened, and followed his example, their cheeks flushed. Holland timidly approached the Grande Urs’ corpse, Dagmar was still looking astonished, Elledore embraced the other villagers while shedding tears, and Alexei muttered in great agitation, “I’ve never heard about anyone taking down a Grande Urs with a single shot!”

However, unlike all the excited people around them, only Aileen smiled wryly, remarking, “…You stole my turn.”