Chapter 59
The Shaking
Translator : PolterGlast
About two hours have
passed since the battle with the Battle Apes.
The deep forest
continued on, and the number of monsters appearing increased as we advanced.
As promised, Ginia and
Aoi have been defeating all the monsters we've encountered, so the Guild Master
and I have done nothing since entering Hest Forest.
To be precise, the
Guild Master has been reading the map, so all I've really been doing is giving
short pieces of advice and using the [Light] spell.
I'm the one who said I
wanted to do good deeds, yet I can't help but feel it's a bit strange that I'm
the one doing the least...
But my role is to
subjugate the Berserker Bear that appeared within the Berserk Bear horde; for
everything else, I'm just a chaperone.
I believe that giving
the two of them a chance to get stronger is a fine good deed in itself. As I
was watching them do their best from the rear with a warm gaze, I finally
caught a reaction that seemed to be a Berserk Bear.
There were multiple
reactions, slightly stronger than an Ogre's, and in the center of those
reactions was one on par with the Flame Ogre.
To report that I had
found the Berserk Bears, I cut down the Venom Frog that Ginia and Aoi were
currently fighting.
In response to me
butting in, Ginia looked at me with puffed-out cheeks, but I ignored her
completely and made my report.
"I've found a
reaction from the Berserk Bears. They're heading straight for us from
ahead."
"What! You found
the Berserk Bears' presence!? How long until we make contact?"
"Probably in
about an hour. Though if I carry you two like with the Ogres, we could be there
in five minutes."
"Gah! I'm not
doing that again! It was so fast I seriously thought I was going to die!"
"Y-yeah, I'm not doing
that again either...! I guess it can't be helped in an emergency, but I don't
want to do it proactively."
"What's this
about being carried? I'm a little interested."
While the two girls
looked grim and refused, only the Guild Master showed interest, looking at me
with sparkling eyes.
I feel bad for the
expectant Guild Master, but I'd rather avoid running at full speed while
carrying a geezer older than myself.
"If you two are
against it, then we'll just walk. I thought the number of monsters was increasing
as we went on, but it seems they were just monsters fleeing from the Berserk
Bears. I can sense the reactions of several more monsters running away from the
Berserk Bears up ahead."
"So that means
we're in for a series of battles up ahead. You defeated that Venom Frog,
Graham-san, so I'll take out my frustration on the rest of them!"
"I can't lose to
Ginia, either! The monsters appearing are just the right level of strong, so
I'll use them as practice for my new techniques!"
It's reassuring that
they don't show any fear even after hearing about the Berserk Bears.
There's a chance Aoi
might get cold feet again when she sees them in person, but for now, it seems I
don't have to worry about the journey there.
"It's great to be
young. This brings back vivid memories of when I retired as an adventurer,
thinking I couldn't compete with this kind of youthfulness."
"I'm getting old
too, so I know how you feel, Guild Master. I may be the one teaching, but
there's a lot I'm being taught as well, and it's a good stimulus."
"...No, you of
all people are the one person I don't want to understand my feelings, and I'm
sure you don't. Because your skill, Graham-san, was several hundred times more
surprising than the youth of these two."
I was empathizing with
him as a fellow geezer, but the Guild Master held out a hand and rejected me.
Feeling a little sad,
I continued to walk towards the location of the Berserk Bear's reaction.
Another hour of
walking after sensing the Berserk Bear's reaction.
Just as I had estimated,
the Berserk Bear horde is close by.
They seem to be quite
massive, as I can tell they're heading this way from the shaking of the ground.
Ginia and Aoi, who had
defeated every monster they had encountered so far without any trouble, seemed
to be shaken by this tremor.
"I-is this... the
ground shaking because the Berserk Bears are walking!?"
"I think so. An
earthquake wouldn't last this long."
"Graham, could it
be... that they're more dangerous than the Ogres?"
"Their reaction
is stronger than the Ogres'. But there are only twenty of them, and they don't
have any subservient monsters like the Lesser Ogres, so I think overall,
they're about the same."
"I've been an
adventurer for many years, but this is the first time I've seen a living
Berserk Bear! It's a monster with a recommended subjugation rank of A, no doubt
about it. And this time, there's a higher-ranking Berserker Bear, right? The
job of Guild Master is incredibly tough, but I've never been more glad to be
the Guild Master than I am right now!"
Unlike the two
cowering girls, the Guild Master started to get excited by the shaking.
I really can't read
his timing for getting excited, and if he's getting excited from the tremors of
an approaching Berserk Bear, then I feel the probability of him being a
super-class weirdo has just increased.
"Do you want to
fight too, Guild Master? If you want to, I can create a one-on-one situation
for you."
"No, in my
current state, I probably can't defeat one. Besides, what I want to see the
most is... how you, Graham-san, will defeat such a super-dreadnought-class
monster. Right now, I have no interest in the Berserk Bears or the Berserker
Bear; my only interest is in you, Graham-san."
The Guild Master said
something crazy with a sincere look in his eyes.
So the Guild Master
really was a super-class weirdo. I'll just pretend I didn't hear that.
And so, I turned my
gaze in the direction they were approaching from and focused on the Berserk
Bears that would soon come into view.
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