Chapter 54

Chapter 54 – Bear-san Catches The Thieves!

Late at night, Hugging Bear moved and woke me up .

「Hugging Bear?」

I rubbed my eyes .

Fina began to stir restlessly next to me .

In order to avoid waking her up, I used detection magic .

There was someone at a slightly distant location?

I observed for a while, but there was no indication of movement .

Hmm, it wasn’t there when I went to sleep .

Had Hugging Bear reacted to that presence?

「Hugging Bear, if it moves, let me know . 」

Since they might have just started camping out at that location, I requested Hugging Bear to watch it and went back to sleep .

There was no reaction from Hugging Bear after that, and I didn’t wake up until morning .

When I woke up in the morning, I used detection magic, but it had not moved from that spot .

I ate breakfast without worrying and left when the sun rose .

I used detection magic again, for the last time .

The stationary party had begun to move .

If the other party were also travelers, it wasn’t strange for them to move out at sunrise .

I advanced towards the Royal Capital without worrying about it .

The party followed behind us at a constant distance .

When we stopped for lunch, the other party also stopped .

If we picked up our pace a bit, the other party also sped up .

What should I do?

It didn’t give me a good feeling when they were following us like this, and speeding up when we did .

In conclusion, we were being targeted, right?

If we were attacked, would it be at night?

Evening approached while they maintained the same distance from us .

Everyone began to prepare to camp out again .

「Marina, can I have a moment?」

Just in case, I decided to give a report to Marina, the leader of the bodyguard mission .

「What is it?」

「It’s not good news, but we might be attacked by thieves tonight, so please be a bit more careful . 」

「…Wait, what is that supposed to mean?」

「They have been following us since last night, so I suspect that it is likely for them to attack us tonight . 」

「If you had already noticed, tell me earlier!」

「Even if I told you, nothing could be done about it . It’s not like we can speed up, and there’s still a considerable distance to the Royal Capital . In addition, we don’t know when they will attack, and I was concerned that staying alert for a long time wouldn’t be possible . 」

「That might be the case, but at times like this, we should head to the Royal Capital even faster . 」

「We would be done for if they attacked us when the horses became exhausted . In which case, moving around as one would expect is better . 」

「Do you have any good plans?」

「Well, if it’s only thieves and such, it’ll be fine, one way or another . Just, it’ll be troublesome if people moved selfishly . If possible, I would like everyone to stay with the carriage . 」

「So then, will it really turn out alright somehow?」

「Won’t it?」

「Hey!」

「With that, I’ll leave it to you . 」

As dinner ended, night arrived .

Now then, shall I sleep until the thieves come?

While I was sleeping, Swaying Bear woke me up .

「Swaying Bear?」

As my head gradually cleared, I remembered about the thieves .

When I used detection magic;

Oh, they’re here, they’re here .

4-, no, 50 people?

They were gathering steadily .

In order not to wake Fina up, I slipped out from Swaying Bear’s embrace .

If the thieves do come, I’ll tell them to protect everyone .

Though, it’s not like I would mind if they didn’t come .

「So, they’ve come?」

Marina came over .

「You were awake?」

「After you told me that thieves might come, there was no way I could sleep . 」

「Well, as for the thieves, roughly fifty of them are gathered a short distance away in this direction . 」

「50 people…」

「Well then, I’ll be going . I don’t think anything should happen, but please take care of everyone . 」

「Are you really going by yourself?」

「It’s because I want those girls to keep sleeping, you see . 」

I glanced over at Fina, Noa, and Misa, who were all sleeping while being embraced by the bears .

The three of them were sleeping quietly .

I ran towards the thieves in the darkness, while dressed in the Black Bear Dress .

The thieves had only gathered, and had not moved yet .

Were they waiting for everyone to get together? I didn’t really understand, even after watching them, but there was an opening while they were gathered .

I approached stealthily .

The Bear Shoes allowed me to run up to the thieves without making a sound .

「What?!」

By the time they noticed, it was too late .

I had already invoked the magic .

「Shotgun!」

Compressed balls of air attacked the thieves .

One person, who had been riding a horse, was dismounted and flew off backwards .

Another person next to the horse was blasted backwards, leaving the horse unharmed .

That was because the horse wasn’t bad .

The balls of air gathered the entire group of thieves into one place .

I executed earth magic next, without a moment’s delay .

A countless number of earthen rods thrusted upwards from the ground, surrounding the fallen thieves .

The thieves recovered, got up, and tried to run away, but because of the earthen rods, they couldn’t get away .

There was no way to escape; not through the front, the back, the left, or the right .

The only way was above them .

However, in order to cover the top, I used earth magic to cap it off .

「Damn it! It won’t break, even with a sword! Someone, use magic!」

Some of the thieves used magic, but it was reflected by the barrier of the cage; the situation inside had became quite serious, due to the reflected magic .

「Stop using magic! We’ll die!」

「Damn it! Just what the hell is happening?!」

「Someone, use light magic!」

What they could see, illuminated by the light, was a large cage imprisoning them .

「Good evening, everyone in the thief group . 」

They finally noticed my presence when I spoke to them .

「What is it, you bitch?!」

「Let us out of here!」

「Do you think you’ll get away easily, after doing such a thing to us?!」

Were these guys stupid? Or maybe fools? To not even understand their own positions, in this situation where they had been imprisoned .

Though I caught the thieves, I could not take them out of the cage .

For now, let’s use water magic to pour water on them and shut them up .

「The next time you open your mouths, I’ll stick fire magic inside . 」

「Shut up! You should know, we’re the Zamon Bandit Group-」

「Fire~」

I tossed a giant ball of flame into the cage .

「Ouch! Hot! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!」

A magic user inside used water to put out the fire .

「I told you, didn’t I? That if you opened your mouths, I would stick fire magic inside . Are you idiots? Morons?」

「You bitch…」

He tried to say something, but I didn’t give him the chance .

Next, I raised a 30cm tall prop in all four corners of the cage .

I attached wheels accordingly .

There wasn’t a suspension spring or something similar for moderating vibrations .

I wasn’t really thinking of the ride quality, so it didn’t really concern me that the uneven road would probably cause it to shake considerably .

For the time being, this mobile cage had been completed .

The problem was the power source needed to pull the cage .

I had thought of using horses for power, but because of the shotgun magic, all of the horses had run away .

Since I hadn’t injured them, they would probably live .

I considered my next plan for a power source to pull the cage .

A thought came to mind .

However, the problem was that it stood out .

「Come, Bear!」

I invoked earth magic and summoned a giant bear made of earth .

It was a 3-meter tall bear golem .

When I subjugated the tiger wolves, I had summoned flame bears and water bears .

I remembered that, at the time, I was able to move them according to my instructions, so I was able to complete golems for each type of bear .

I could summon bears made of flame, water, earth, ice, and wind .

「What the hell is that?!」

The thieves began to shout .

「Shut up . The next time you open your mouths, I’ll make this bear attack you, okay?」

When I said so, the thieves all fell silent .

Since they had finally quieted down, I had the summoned earth bear golem pull the cage .

When I returned to the carriage, everyone was already awake .