The Fruits of Effort (2)
Logically speaking, no sane person would try to fight a bear. Bears are big, strong, cunning, and even surprisingly fast. Even with a real sword, I wasn't sure if I could pierce that thick hide. But.
"You bastard!"
Grr?
I gripped the sword with both hands and swung it at the creature like a bat. It didn't cut through its hide at all; it seemed like I only managed to restrain it with the sword's weight.
"Get away while you can! Hurry!"
"Huh? Is that you, Ruines...?"
The woman stared at me blankly, as if she couldn't believe her eyes. But I didn't have the luxury of looking away. I kept my focus locked on the bear.
Whoosh—!!
"Ugh!"
The bear's massive paw came flying at me. Trying to match strength with a bear was never going to work. I was barely dodging its fiercely swinging strikes. If I got hit even once—or even grazed—it would be nearly fatal.
"I need to call for help...! But Ruines is all alone...."
"Don't worry about me and just run!"
"O-okay! I'll bring people!"
The woman, snapping out of her daze, hurried off. If the villagers arrived, it would help. Of course, if Eila showed up, that would be even better. With her incredible strength, she might even be able to knock a bear down.
Before that, though...
.......
When I glanced around, Hildegard's figure had long since vanished. She was probably watching me from the shadows. What kind of master throws her disciple at a bear and then just observes in silence...?
"Huu."
It felt cold-hearted, but she must have had a reason. I raised my sword high to keep the bear in check and pushed my concentration and Gigaam to their limits.
What I saw then was...
Huh.
Oooong!
Right in the center of the bear's chest, I sensed a murky energy. I could actually see it—a pitch-black aura spreading an ominous power throughout the creature's entire body.
Instinctively, I pointed my sword toward that spot.
GROOOAR!
Maybe wild animals had instincts after all. The bear lost all reason and charged at me with reckless fury. I dodged the swinging claws and stabbed the tip of my sword into its exposed flank.
Squish!
— — — —!!
The bear thrashed wildly, letting out a piercing scream. Blood dripped from the wound, but it wasn't fatal. If anything, it only fueled its rage as it came at me even harder.
Thud!
"Urk!"
The blow to my stomach sent me flying into the bushes. The pain was enough to make me black out, but if I actually lost consciousness, I'd become the bear's dinner tonight. I desperately clung to my senses.
Now, the next strike?
Whoosh!
Before I could even wonder, the bear's paw flew straight toward my head. Getting hit would definitely kill me, but compared to Selena's sword, it was laughably slow. I sharpened my focus and stared the beast down.
"...!"
First, I twisted my head to evade. Second, I stepped forward and slipped past it. Third, I dropped into a low crouch, dodging the paw while thrusting my sword like flowing water—straight toward the unidentified energy in its chest.
Squelch!
It sank in perfectly. After all, I hadn't just been swinging a wooden sword without thinking all this time. Selena's speed, Melissa's solidity, Hildegard's brutality. Compared to those monsters, this bear was nothing but a beast.
"...!"
Splurt!
Even so, I was the one who ended up shocked. A tingling sensation shot through my fingertips. The moment I pierced it, thick black blood burst out like sludge. The bear, feeling the pain too late, flailed its arms wildly in a frenzy. I yanked the sword free and retreated.
GROOOAAAR!!
"Sorry."
I'd only made it angrier. Black blood gushed from the wound. At this point it should have sensed the threat to its life and fled, but the bloodshot eyes held no trace of reason. It only wanted to devour what was in front of it.
Flick!
I shook the murky blood from my blade, then took my stance again. I gripped the oversized longsword with both hands. Center of gravity on the left. The instant it charged, I added rotational force and the sword's own weight, slicing cleanly across its chest.
Slash!
GROOOAAAR!!
The gray bear writhed in agony. My chest ached with pity, but I couldn't let a beast that had attacked the villagers live. I approached carefully and leveled my sword at its chest once more.
Thump. Thump. Thump!
Something pulsed there like a heartbeat. The more I focused my Gigaam, the clearer it became. It felt like an alien presence that shouldn't exist in this world. The instinctive revulsion made me frown deeply.
But then—
Grr—!!
"Whoa?"
The bear suddenly thrashed violently and bolted. The same creature that had been consumed by rage moments ago was now fleeing.
I stared in disbelief at the direction it had gone, then glanced back at the dark forest behind me.
"Chase it."
"Yes!"
Hildegard's voice echoed from the darkness. I pursued the bear relentlessly. Huge footprints and bloodstains marked its path, making the chase surprisingly straightforward.
We eventually reached a massive cave. I hadn't known there was anything like this in the outer forest. The interior was quite spacious.
I followed the trail of blood inside. The bear that had lost its reason was cowering in a corner, trembling.
Was it from blood loss? Or because I'd stirred up that unidentified core with my sword?
Grrrr...!
Black blood dripped from its mouth. When it saw me, it unleashed another tearing roar.
"─────!!!!"
This time the aura was different. When I raised my Gigaam, I saw that the core had grown much larger, as if the creature was exploding its survival instincts to the maximum.
But in complete contrast...
"Huuu."
My mind was perfectly calm. And grateful. I felt no fear whatsoever. I was simply relieved that my sword had reached it before the bear could truly rampage.
As a knight. No—as someone who dreams of becoming a knight. I didn't want any more meaningless victims.
Squelch!
...Grr?
I drove the sword into the bear's chest. It was a colorless blade, carrying neither aura nor mana. Yet that was precisely why it slid in so smoothly.
The energy flowing from the bear began to fade. The core that had been emitting that murky power soon couldn't contain its own force and burst apart.
I didn't fully understand the principle behind it, but Hildegard had called this my own unique sword technique—since I couldn't use aura.
Thud!
The massive gray bear collapsed. It was still breathing, but its labored panting showed how exhausted it was.
"Sorry. Rest now."
"......"
I raised the sword high overhead. My strength was mediocre and I couldn't use aura. For someone like me to grant it a quick death, I would need...
As I hesitated with the blade held high, a low cry echoed from deeper inside the cave. I looked up to see a small gray bear cub growling at me warily.
"Ah."
It was the bear's cub. So this had been its mother.
The sword I held high stiffened in my grip, then began to tremble.
"Won't you cut it?"
"......"
Hildegard had appeared out of nowhere again. She watched me with serious eyes, waiting to see if I would swing the blade.
"If I spare it, it will definitely cause serious harm to the village."
"A very high probability."
"Then I must cut them both down with my own hands."
"That would be the sword of a knight in the conventional sense. A knight who thinks of the village and the safety of its people."
I looked around the cave. It had clearly been a den for a long time—rotten meat and bone fragments were scattered everywhere. Without realizing it, I found myself searching for anything that might have belonged to a person.
"......"
After a brief moment of hesitation...
. . . . .
The cave fell silent.
To become a knight, I couldn't keep acting like a child forever.
I shook the blood from my sword and asked Hildegard, "Master."
"Yes?"
"There was something like a black lump on the bear earlier... Was that why it became so ferocious?"
"......"
Hildegard slowly scanned the area, then picked up a small fragment from near the fallen bear.
"What is that?"
"It's a contaminated mana crystal. If something like this embeds itself in a beast, the creature will soon undergo monsterification. If we'd left it a few more days, it would have transformed into something quite troublesome."
"Monsterification...!"
The word "monster" brought back vivid memories from my previous life—the horrific incident where half our squad had been torn apart during a so-called monster subjugation. I'd lived my whole life shuddering at that word. It seemed that wouldn't change in this life either.
"Kid. What you did was the correct choice 'as a knight.' If you'd left it alone, it would have monsterified, and the cub would have become a monster from the crystal's murky energy as well."
"......"
"Don't get caught up in needless compassion. Not if you truly wish to become a knight."
"Yes, Master."
Hildegard ruffled my hair as she spoke.
...She really does handle me like some kind of animal.
"Still, this isn't the sort of thing you'd expect to find in a backwater village... Ah, kid."
"Yes?"
"Take this."
"??"
Hildegard held out the fragment of the mana crystal. I just stared at her hand in confusion.
"This?"
"Yes."
"For me?"
"That's right."
I wondered if carrying around something so unnecessary was really a good idea. But Hildegard seemed to have already made up her mind. She pressed the crystal into my palm.
"As your master, I can't monopolize something this valuable. Don't refuse it."
"......"
No matter how I looked at it, she clearly had some scheme in mind. That national traitor.
I grumbled only in my heart as I slipped the mana crystal fragment into my pocket.