At Seniaâs words, I turned around and saw a big boar. Itâs a big boar. Itâs as big as a Bear Missyâs bears. Its legs are faster than my legs, let alone the legs of a kid, we canât escape. It also has a horn on its forehead as long as a knife.
Iâm trying to figure out what to do. Jade is not here right now to give me orders. And Mel is not here to give me an opinion.
What do I do?
Thereâs me, Senia, and three other kids here that I need to protect.
Itâs not an opponent Senia can defeat alone. Big Boar is characterized by its powerful charge and the sharp horns on its head. And even if you run away, it will chase you everywhere. Carefully observing it, dodge, and attack, so itâs not that difficult to defeat.
However, if I dodged it and it charged straight at those kids, then itâs over. Iâm not confident that I can do the strategy of taking it down with one blow. But with Senia, I can.
But then, as Iâm about to call out to Senia, a second Big Boar appears from behind the trees in the back.
Are you kidding me?
I canât beat two of them with a single blow each.
Think! What should I do?
Fufu... Iâve known the answer to that question from the beginning.
If someone stays behind to draw their attention, then the kids can escape.
[Senia, take the kids and run!] Toya
I shouted loudly to tell Senia and to grab the Big Boarsâ attention.
[Toya...... I will stay. It would be better if itâs Me than Toya.] Senia
[Senia, youâre stronger than me, thatâs for sure. But Iâm also a man and Iâm not going to leave a woman behind. Besides, Big Boarsâ attention is on me now. If Senia moves, the attention will shift to the kids. Besides, Iâll be fine as long as Iâm not slowed down!] Toya
[......Toya.] Senia
[Besides, Iâve got the best training partners to handle the Mithril sword. Donât try to kill steal.] Toya
I told Senia while looking at the big boars. It looks like theyâre about to attack me. Theyâre grunting and carefully looking at me.
[Toya, youâre thinking of something stupid, arenât you?] Senia
[You may call it stupid. But, those horns would be great for practice.] Toya
I look at the Big Boarsâ white horns.
[Toya, donât do it. Itâs too dangerous.] Senia
When a Big Boar attacks, its horn gathers magic power and turns red. In this state, the horn is strong enough to pierce iron armor when combined with the Big Boarâs charge. If you cut off the horn while itâs still gathering magic power, the horn will remain red and can be used as a valuable material or decorated with ornaments and can be traded at a high price.
[Besides, itâs not like thereâs only one Big Boar here. I canât take the kids and run away with them. But Iâm sure you can, Senia.] Toya
Iâm not the one who can run away to the city while protecting those trembling kids. But Senia should be able to handle that.
Senia looked at me and the trembling kids alternately. Then she said, [All right.] Senia started to move with the trembling kids. I kicked a stone lying on the ground at the two Big Boars to get their attention and shouted.
[Senia, go!] Toya
Senia started moving slowly with the kids.
[Over here!] Toya
I shouted, grabbing attention away from Senia and the kids until they were out of sight.
[Guryururu]
The Big Boars let out a thundering roar and their horns turn red. One of the Big Boars charged at me. I dodged to the right and swung my Mithril sword down at the red horn. But it bounced back.
Moreover, the second one attacked me. I managed to dodge its charge. When I look at Senia, sheâs gone. All I can do now is hope that the Big Boars wonât go in the direction Senia ran off to.
==========
-Yuna POV-
Iâm outside the city with Fina and Ruimin.
After we woke up and while weâre eating our lunch, Jade-san and Mel-san came over and told us that Toya and Senia-san had gone to practice Toyaâs sword technique outside the city.
He said he had gotten the hang of it thanks to me. It seems that slashing his sword the other day helped him. The deadline for Xelo-sanâs test was until the end of the trials at the Gate of Trials. If I pour magic into it every day, it could be extended. But I donât want to do that.
I didnât have any plans today, so I decided to go check on Toya while Iâm still awake. Fina and Ruimin said they would follow me, so they came with me outside the city.
When we left the city, the gatekeeper was surprised, but he didnât stop us, so we were able to go outside. When we got a little further away from the gate, I summoned Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear. I climbed on Swaying Bear, while Fina and Ruimin rode on Hugging Bear. Itâs faster to ride on Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear when traveling.
We came to a nearby forest and decided to use my detection skills to find out where Toya and Senia-san were.
If thereâs a reaction from two people, then itâs most likely Toya and Senia-san.
When I use my detection skills, I get sparse reactions. It looks like there are people in the forest. I tried to find the location of the two people, but I found a reaction of four people moving towards us.
Toya and Senia-san, thereâre only two of them. They might get startled if they saw Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, so we moved away from the road and tried to let them pass by. But then Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear cried, [Whatâs wrong?] I tried to ask, but Fina and Ruimin opened their mouths.
[Isnât that Senia-san?] Fina
[Youâre right. Sheâs running with some kids.] Ruimin
Indeed, Senia-san and three children are running. Occasionally they turn around and look back.
[What happened?] Yuna
We went over to Senia-sanâs side.
As we emerged from the outskirts of the road, Senia-san held up a knife at us.
[Yuna?] Senia
[[[Kuma!]]]
Senia-san lowered her knife with a look of relief.
The dwarven children were startled by Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear and hid behind Senia-san.
[These bears are not dangerous. So itâs okay.] Senia
Senia-san calmed the children down.
[Senia-san, what happened? You looked like you were in a hurry.] Yuna
And Toya, who was supposed to be with her, was nowhere to be found.
And the kids look worried. At least not after seeing Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear.
[Big Boars showed up and Toya was fighting them alone.] Senia
[Big Boars?] Yuna
Is a big boar a big wild boar?
I listened to Senia-sanâs story.
Toya was in the middle of his practice when two Big Boars appeared. Senia-san tried to fight along with him, but the children were there, so she left Toya and came running at us. However, my detection skills donât show any sign of any monsters. It seems to be a little further away.
[Yuna, please take care of these kids.] Senia
[Are you going to help him, by any chance?] Yuna
Senia-san gave a small nod, but the children did not want to leave her.
The children anxiously grabbed Senia-sanâs hand as she tried to leave. Senia-san looked at the children and gave them a troubled look.
[Well then, Iâll go instead.] Yuna
[Yuna?] Senia
[Iâll go and help Toya. Swaying Bear is with me, so Iâll be able to get there quickly.] Yuna
It seems that the monsters are currently in a remote location. Then, Iâm faster who is riding on Swaying Bear than Senia-san on foot.
[Okay, then......] Senia
I was asked to do one thing by Senia-san.
Toya is fighting Big Boars. She said that heâs trying to fight them recklessly. The Big Boarâs horn becomes hard when itâs filled with magic power. It seems that Toya might be trying to cut the horn with his Mithril sword.
Senia-san asked me to stop Toya if he tried to do something stupid.
[Yuna, please.] Yuna
[All right, leave it to me. Fina and Ruimin, go back to the inn with Senia-san. Hugging Bear, drop everyone off near the city, and then join me afterwards.] Yuna
[Please be careful.] Fina
[Yuna-san, please donât go crazy.] Ruimin
I was seen off by everyone and I directed Swaying Bear towards the place where Senia-san had told me where Toya was.
Then, in less than a minute after parting from Senia-san, the are reaction of two monsters and a person near each other. Those are probably the Big Bores. So, does that mean itâs Toya?
I made Swaying Bear run at top speed to where Toya was.
I heard from Jade-san that there are no monsters around this town, but the monsters suddenly appeared to the unlucky Toya.
==========
-Toya POV-
Iâm dealing with two Big Boars. They charged at me from left to right, front to back, using their big bodies. Itâs a monotonous attack, but because theyâre big and fast, Iâm having a hard time getting the right timing.
I wonder if Senia was able to escape. I hope she didnât run into any other Big Boar. Senia is strong, but itâs very difficult to fight while protecting the three children even for her.
Right now I want to take my time slashing the red horns in front of me, but I also want to take them down quickly and go after Senia.
Iâm trapped from front and back. I sidestepped one of the Big Boarâs lunges. As I dodged further, another one comes at me.
Damn, theyâre so fast and big that I canât move to attack if I dodge too far. The best thing to do is to dodge and attack with the least amount of movement, but it doesnât work for me.
When youâre alone, youâll know how much you appreciate your party members even more. Using Melâs magic to draw attention and launch an attack. When Jade was fighting from the front, I attacked from the side and behind. Now that I think about it, I realize that I was attacking from naive places. Or maybe they didnât let me play the role of attracting the monsters because they were worried about my abilities.
Stop kidding me! Iâll be strong!
Iâll make Jade let me take care of the front.
So what do I do to beat two Big Boars?
The Big Boar once again gathered magic power in its horn and it turned red. Then it lunged at me. I minimally dodged and was about to swing my Mithril sword down at the horn when I saw another one coming from a small blind spot. I quickly twisted my body to dodge it, but the Big Boarâs body threw me off. I felt an intense pain in my body. So much shock just from a mere scratch.
Damn it, I can handle one of them, but not two!
As I try to sit up, I heard something coming from behind, cutting through the grass.
Thereâs still more?!
It didnât go to Senia at least. So I still think itâs better.
Come if you will!
Two boars, three boars, itâs all the same!
What appeared was a girl dressed as a bear riding a black bear.
Authorâs Note:
I lied about finishing Toyaâs chapter in two episodes.
Iâll make an excuse that I wasnât planning to include Yunaâs point of view.
The Big Boar should be a wild boar with horns and about the size of Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear in normal form.
#