Bear-san, Getting Ready
Cereille shouts Keith’s name. But Keith, who is lying in the distance, doesn’t respond.
“Is Keith alive!?” (Cereille)
“He is still alive. If he was dead, I wouldn’t be able to keep my promise to Cereille-sama.” (Man)
!!
If I could use my detection skills, I would be able to confirm if he was alive or not, but since I am not wearing my bear costume, I can’t use it. It’s really inconvenient.
“How is it? Isn’t it a wonderful sight?” (Man)
The man spreads out his arms to present us with the spectacle of a horde of monsters.
There are wolves, tiger wolves, goblins, and even orcs as far as the eye can see.
But why aren’t those monsters attacking Keith?
“How did you get all these monsters?” (Cereille)
The man looked thrilled at Cereille’s question and began to explain.
“Ah, that’s right. I, who your mother had mistreated, met a man a short time later. The man said he was a mage who served in the castle. But he had been kicked out of the castle by the king and studied various things to take revenge on the king. As one who shares the same desire for revenge, I got along with the man, and we decided to study together. Finally, we were able to control monsters at will.” (Man)
Revenge on the king. Manipulating monsters. Some interesting words came out.
“There is no way you can control a monster.” (Cereille)
I know of a case of someone manipulating monsters.
I’ve never met him, but there was someone who collected monsters.
“Is that so? Incidentally, Cereille-sama, your younger brother is in the middle of a monster horde, but he’s not being attacked? Why? Because I’m ordering them not to.” (Man)
The man was right. With all those monsters, they just walk around Keith, and no one tries to attack him. It’s not that the monsters were friendly to Keith. Even from a distance, you can see that the monsters were about to pounce on Keith at any moment. They’re like ravenous beasts that were holding back on their food.
“Still, if you don’t believe me, why don’t you let me attack your brother for a test? Like ripping off an arm or two.” (Man)
The man laughed and asked Cereille.
“I believe you, so please don’t do it.” (Cereille)
Even if she doesn’t believe it, she cannot simply say, “Do it,” because Keith’s life is at stake.
“So what are you going to do with all these monsters? Is Keith not enough for intimidation?” (Cereille)
I felt that there’s no reason to collect these monsters in the first place. Cereille’s mother, whom she’s avenging, has already been killed by this man. Conversely, that man’s weird notion of ‘revenge’ against Cereille, or her mother, was already over to begin with.
“The role of the monsters? To destroy the city ruled by the man who took her from me.” (Man)
So his target was Cereille’s father all along.
Indeed, from that person’s perspective; Cereille’s father was the one who took Cereille’s mother away from the man.
“That’s not what you promised. The inhabitants of the city shouldn’t be involved.” (Cereille)
“The promise is the life of your brother. I have never mentioned anything about the inhabitants of that city.” (Man)
That’s how he does things. He didn’t mention the residents, so he made no promises about ít.
“How many inhabitants will die now that there are no adventurers, I wonder?” (Man)
“No adventurers?” (Cereille)
Cereille repeated the man’s words.
“Fufu, Miss Cereille-sama, don’t you know that there are few adventurers in the city.” (Man)
“Cereille. There are no monsters in the vicinity of this city, so the adventurers left.” (Yuna)
“Is that true?” (Cereille)
Apparently, she didn’t know about the situation in the adventurer’s guild.
“No doubt, I’ve heard it from the Adventurers Guild.” (Yuna)
I was told that in the past few years, at this time of the year, adventurers would go to other cities to work because of the lack of monsters.
“You’re quite informed, young lady. Now that there are no adventurers, it is easy to cause damage to the city. There aren’t many adventurers and soldiers in a city this small, to begin with. These monsters should be enough.” (Man)
“You mean you’re the reason for the lack of monsters during this time of the year?” (Yuna)
“You’re young, but you are quick-witted. That’s right. I live far away from the city to study monsters. Sometimes I go to the city, and whenever it’s nearly Cereille-sama’s birthday, I observe her. I also practice controlling monsters while I’m at it.” (Man)
“So, that’s why every year around this time, there are no monsters?” (Yuna)
“Yeah, it may have been a coincidence. But it may also be God’s way of arranging for me and Cereille-sama to be together.” (Man)
That god doesn’t exist—only a perverted god who enjoys dressing up weak girls as bears.
“But the city is walled, so wolves and goblins can’t get in.” (Yuna)
No monsters can easily enter. That’s what the wall was for. Unless it was a flying monster, they can’t enter the city.
At my question, the man looked up, amused.
“Fufu, look at the sky.” (Man)