Chapter 9

Atrocious— Thats what I immediately thought at the scene before me .

There was the Grand Grizzlys 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 isnt right .

Kyu…

This is . . just too much isnt it…

It was a one-sided and cold-blooded slaughter, where the dominating side probably got provoked or irritated . It wasnt 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, shes going to kill me for sure .

I didnt personally see how the bears were killed . However, almost anyone can tell to some degree that the other sides intent was to completely break them .

In this area, theres only one opponent that comes to mind that would be capable of such an act . Its that tsuchinoko-like snake .

I was thrown into this forest to defeat a Grand Grizzly . Now that its dead and I cant bring back proof to Rose that I took it down…

Kyu…

…This is bad, this is bad this is bad…!

I considered taking the bears fangs and showing it to Rose as a trophy, essentially deceiving her that I cleared her condition . However, its that ridiculous woman after all… If theres 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 werent 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 didnt realize that there was no real danger . I dropped my guard when a small, blue figure appeared .

Gwu…

Is it the Blue Grizzlys 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… .

… . .

Im not a particularly praiseworthy person .

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

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

Because Im a sore loser, I dont like admitting defeat to Rose .

I dont like that my prey was taken .

I dont like the fact that my determination was in vain .

However, above all those…

I dont like the scene of the bear cub raising its sad voice right in front of me .

Hey .

Gu!?

I know Im 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—

Ill defeat the enemy . Thats why, take a look . Ill gift you the most supreme snake meat .

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

This time I wont 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 .