Bear-san Goes To The Bee Tree
I arrived at the forest where the bee tree was located by riding Swaying Bear. According to Helen-san’s story, the tree was at the center of the forest, and I would understand which tree it was when I saw it. She said that the view was breathtaking. What did she mean?
I thought that a giant beehive was something more revolting than beautiful, though.
I used detection magic to confirm where the monsters were before I entered the forest. There were about 15 orcs. There were also goblin reactions a bit further ahead. It seemed that neither information was false.
I headed towards the orcs, because I thought that was where the bee tree would be.
I rode Swaying Bear without hesitation. After I had advanced for a while, flower petals started to dance in the air around me. I continued to move forward, and when I left the forest, I was greeted by a colorful field of flowers.
The spectacle was so beautiful that I nearly forgot to breathe. Flowers that were red, blue, yellow, orange, and many other colors were blooming all around me.
The field expanded endlessly. The flowers were spread out everywhere. It was a scene I couldn’t have believed could be found inside a forest. A giant tree was standing in the middle of this scenery.
Was that the bee tree?
「It’s huge....」
Still, there were things destroying this beautiful landscape. The orcs were eating honey, and their ugly faces were dripping with drool.
Those bastards, how dare they eat my honey?
When I thought about killing them and leaving the forest, goblins rushed out from my right. They continued to run towards the orcs. The goblins, holding wooden poles and knives picked up from an unknown location, attacked the orcs.
Was it possibly a turf war?
Well, since I had seen both groups with my detection magic, I had intended to kill them all, so this was great, and less trouble for me.
There were many more goblins than orcs, but the difference in power was too large. Goblins died after receiving just one heavy blow from an orc. Still, with their numbers, many goblins could attack one orc together. The battle was surprisingly even.
I thought of attacking when it was clear who would win, so I decided to wait and see, but I had to drop that idea after a few seconds. The orcs and goblins were crushing the flowers while they fought. The place where I could get honey was... At this rate, all flowers in the area would be crushed by the time the battle ended.
As I got ready to act, Swaying Bear stopped me. Two black shapes rushed out from the forest on my left. The black bodies were heading straight towards the orcs and goblins.
They were, without a doubt...
「Bears!?」
Yes, the two figures that entered the fray were bears.
A big bear and a small one.
The bears attacked the goblins and the orcs, who both hesitated after their attack.
The goblins, who couldn’t continue to fight after the number of enemies increased, ran away.
When the orcs saw that the goblins had ran away, they changed their targets and started a new battle.
There were 15 orcs and two bears. The difference in number was too big.
When a bear attacked one orc, there was another orc that attacked the bear from the side. The orcs attacked the bears with clubs, and the bears, who couldn’t defend themselves, were taking hits. I didn’t really want to save the bears, but they were surrounded by the orcs.
「Hmm, what should I do?」
In other words, there was a three way battle for the honey.
I didn’t know who was the first one here, though.
What should I do then?
Well, I thought it was okay for me to kill the orcs, the goblins, and the bears.
I was a bit reluctant to kill bears, though. Not to mention, there was no way I could kill them. It would be like killing Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear’s friends.
As I was thinking about what to do, the bears’ situation became more and more dire. They weren’t losing, though. They knocked down the orcs in front of them and killed them by biting their necks.
Those bears were strong.
If it were one on one battles, they wouldn’t lose to those orcs. There were a lot of enemies, though.
The second the bears wanted to change targets, their movements became dull. A red orc appeared by the giant tree. It was an orc subspecies, an orc of a different color that also appeared in the game. They were several times stronger than the normal orcs, in regards to their offensive abilities and durability.
One of the bears attacked the red orc, but he was struck down by the club the orc was holding. If the club had been a sword, it would have been a fatal strike.That still didn’t mean the bears weren’t in a dangerous situation.
The second bear rammed into the orc, but the red orc didn’t even budge. The red orc wanted to strike it down, right there, but at that moment, I started to move.
I fired a long distance water bullet, like a sniper. The water bullet hit the red orc, and the orc staggered.
The bear that was struck down shakily ran away into the forest. The other bear chased after it.
The red orc that was left standing there alone didn’t notice that the attack came from me. He attacked a fellow orc with his club, as if he was venting his anger. The orc that was hit was pulverized.
It wasn’t something that made me feel comfortable, so I left, riding Swaying Bear.
Was the bear okay?
It had been struck by that club.
It was strong enough to obliterate an orc.
I became worried.
We reached the two bears without me needing to tell Swaying Bear where to go. No, to be more accurate, there were four of them. If they were a family, it meant that they were a married couple, right?
The big one was Papa Bear, and the little one was Mama Bear.
One of the adult bears was collapsed on the ground, and the second one was looking at us and started to intimidate us.
Swaying Bear let me down and went towards the bears.
Could he communicate with them?
As I was thinking about that, the two parties were nodding, and it looked they had reached a mutual understanding.
What did they talk about?
Swaying Bear came back and used his nose to push my body towards the collapsed bear.
「Do you want me to heal his injuries?」
Swaying Bear let out a small cry.
「I understand.」
It was Swaying Bear’s request. I didn’t want to refuse that. Also, I couldn’t just leave an injured bear alone.
I used healing magic on the collapsed bear. When I did, the bear got up slowly, and after the other bears saw that, they happily rubbed their bodies on Papa Bear.
After seeing that, it wasn’t possible for me to kill this bear family anymore, even if it meant that I couldn’t get the honey.
Swaying Bear entered the bear circle, and they seemed to have started some sort of conversation.
Of course, because I couldn’t speak Bear language, I didn’t understand any of it. Were the bears having a friendly conversation? Swaying Bear was the only outsider, and I would be troubled if he became timid again, so I summoned Hugging Bear as well.
After I summoned Hugging Bear, he instantly entered the circle and joined the conversation.
After a while, their conversation ended. Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear came back. They came to me while crying with cute voices, as if they wanted to request something.
「What? What’s the matter? Do you want me to kill the red orc?」
They let out [Ku~un] cries.
It was okay for me to kill it, but the problem was what came after that. Even if I killed the monsters, I wouldn’t be able to procure honey if the bears were there, right?
The parent bears started moving again, leaving their children behind.
Was it possible that they wanted to fight the red orc again?
As I was thinking about what to do, Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear cuddled up to me.
「I understand. I will go and think about what to do afterwards. For now, we should just kill the red orc.」
Were they happy with my answer? Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear cried out happily.
We went after the parent bears, and exited the forest where the bee tree and the flowers were.
The orcs were encamped around the giant tree. The red orc was also amongst them.
The parent bears were slowly approaching the orcs. The orcs noticed them, picked up their weapons, and looked toward us.
When the red orc cried out so loudly that the cry resounded in my head, the orcs started to rush toward us.
The bears stood their ground, ready to meet the enemies.
Hmm, the two of them seemed to want to have a go at it, but it was okay for me to just kill the orcs, right?
I shoot a Bear Cutter and cut off the heads of the approaching orcs. When the red orc saw that, he roared with even a louder voice.
「Shut up!」
Thanks to how loud it was, I unconsciously closed my eyes. The red orc and other orcs immediately started running.
The parent bears, Hugging Bear, and Swaying Bear also started to move.
Ah, are you two leaving me?
It seemed that they didn’t plan to quit being my guards, though. Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear properly dealt with the orcs that came towards me.
The problem was the target that the red orc was headed towards.
He headed for Papa Bear.
He struck at Papa Bear with his club. From the side, Mama Bear started to run in order to tackle the orc. It turned into a free-for-all fight, so I couldn’t use my magic.
Papa Bear managed to dodge the club.
The red orc’s club scattered the flowers and was stuck in the ground. Mama Bear attacked the red orc from the side. She slammed into him, but the red orc didn’t budge at all. The red orc raised his club once again. Papa Bear rushed in to attack, since the target of the club was Mama Bear. Before Papa Bear could attack, the club had already struck Mama Bear’s back.
*Puchi*
Mama Bear cried out and collapsed. At that instant, the Papa Bear attacked the red orc. The red orc used the club to hit Papa Bear from below, on his flank.
*Puchi* *Puchi*
The parent bears both collapsed at the red orc’s feet, crying.
The red orc tried to deal a finishing blow with his club while drooling.
I moved the moment he raised his club.
I hammered a Bear Punch into the red orc’s side. The orc rolled on the ground, crushing the flowers.
It had been a long time since I last snapped like this.
My mood turned bad when I saw the bears getting hit.
If a bear attacked a human, I would fight them. Bears were fierce, and they ate meat.
Still, I wanted to protect these bears right now.
It was possible that they would attack humans in the future, but right now, I wanted to protect them. I didn’t know what would happen in the future. At the moment though, I was excessively driven by the urge to kill this red orc.
The red orc got up and looked towards me.
I would fight in place of the bears. I would make him feel the same pain the bears felt.
I took one step towards the red orc. The red orc swung his club towards me.
If you want to have a battle of strength, I will accept it.
I caught the club with the White Bear Hand. There wasn’t much of a shock. I was able to stop it easily.
This is for Mama Bear. I drove a Black Bear Kuma Punch into his unprotected flank, and he lost his grip on the club because of the pain. The club was trapped in the White Bear’s mouth. I then placed it in the Black Bear’s mouth.
The red orc managed to regain his posture and glared at me for the first time. He wasn’t looking at me as food, but as an enemy.
It was too late to look at me like that now.
I will show you who’s above you. You will be dead by the time you learn that.
I raised the club over my head and struck the red orc with it. The red orc tried to catch the club like I had.
Do you think you can do the same thing as me?
I pulverized the red orc’s arm.
This is for Papa Bear.
The red orc let out a soundless cry.
You have done this to others a countless number of times.
The red orc turned around and tried to flee.
There’s no way I will let you flee. I made a wall using earth magic, and the path to escape was closed off. The red orc finally looked at me with the eyes full of fear. The red orc had no more will to fight. In the end, I cut off his head, and the battle was over.
When I turned around, Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear had almost finished the orc extermination. I approached the collapsed bears and healed them. There was absolutely no way I could kill these bears now.
The bears got up and rubbed their bodies on me, maybe to show their gratitude?
「Hey, please don’t attack the humans who come to pick up honey, okay?」
I asked, even though I knew the words wouldn’t come across. I had never wanted to understand a bear’s words as much as I did today.
I had no other option but to move the bears to a safe place, huh.
When I was thinking about that, Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear approached the parent bears and started their conversation.
The bears turned around and started to push me towards the bee tree.
「Are you asking me to go and fetch honey?」
Swaying Bear answered the question for them.
I approached the bee tree. The bees flying around the tree didn’t attack me. I took a pot out of the Bear Box and carefully collected honey.
Author’s note:
With honey, bears appear .