Chapter 9

Atrocious— That’s what I immediately thought at the scene before me .

There was the Grand Grizzly’s corpse lying here, the monster that Rose told me to defeat . Noticing its distorted limbs as I got closer, I also saw a mark on its body; it appeared to be a large and raw bite wound .

Additionally, a Blue Grizzly was next to it in a similar state .

“…This isn’t right . “

“Kyu…”

“This is . . just too much isn’t it…”

It was a one-sided and cold-blooded slaughter, where the dominating side probably got provoked or irritated . It wasn’t an act of a predator seizing its prey and trying to eat them .

There was also something of much more concern than just my feelings of anger .

“…Rose, she’s going to kill me for sure . “

I didn’t personally see how the bears were killed . However, almost anyone can tell to some degree that the other side’s intent was to completely break them .

In this area, there’s only one opponent that comes to mind that would be capable of such an act . It’s that tsuchinoko-like snake .

I was thrown into this forest to defeat a Grand Grizzly . Now that it’s dead and I can’t bring back proof to Rose that I took it down…

“Kyu…”

“…This is bad, this is bad this is bad…!”

I considered taking the bear’s fangs and showing it to Rose as a trophy, essentially deceiving her that I cleared her condition . However, it’s that ridiculous woman after all… If there’s anything suspicious about my behavior, she would go investigate it herself and immediately see the truth .

As if trying to disagree with myself, I punched a tree with my fist . I heard a conspicuous rustling sound but I was so disordered that I paid little attention to it .

At the moment, my composure and thoughts weren’t back to normal yet, but the rabbit gave a loud squeak beside my ear to warn me .

” . . ! Is it that snake!?”

I immediately put strength into my legs and got ready to run, but because it was so sudden, I didn’t realize that there was no real danger . I dropped my guard when a small, blue figure appeared .

“Gwu…”

“Is it the Blue Grizzly’s cub?”

What appeared was a Blue Grizzly about one meter in diameter .

The little one looked at me with distant eyes, and then it got closer to the two bears’ remains .

The cub raised a sorrowful cry .

“…… . Gwu… . “

“… . . “

I’m not a particularly praiseworthy person .

I have never helped others with good intentions, nor have I ever stopped others that had ill intentions . I’m merely an ordinary boy in high school . Despite getting a little stronger from Rose’s torment, my true nature is still the same .

No matter how much I struggle, I’m still the same high school boy who hates to lose .

Because I’m a sore loser, I don’t like admitting defeat to Rose .

I don’t like that my prey was taken .

I don’t like the fact that my determination was in vain .

However, above all those…

I don’t like the scene of the bear cub raising its sad voice right in front of me .

“Hey . “

“Gu!?”

I know I’m contradicting myself .

Originally, I was supposed to defeat the Grand Grizzly next to you . I might even be using the current situation as an excuse .

However—

“I’ll defeat the enemy . That’s why, take a look . I’ll gift you the most supreme snake meat . “

This is just for my own self-satisfaction, as a person who hates to lose, I’ll be the one to defeat that snake .

This time I won’t run away, I will fight .

—With a clear conviction, I turned my back on the cub .

I walked away to oppose a malicious enemy for the first time .

Shiru: I’m working alone again now, I’ll also be taking a short break (2 weeks, maybe less) to sort some things out .