"Oh, no. ......
Yes,......, it was much stronger than I expected.

　In the event that you have any questions regarding where and the best way to get in touch with us, please do not hesitate to contact us.

　I also exhaled, and I stopped the magic power that I was forcibly using to strengthen my body.

　At the same time, I use my spear to support my knees, which are about to collapse, and I slowly approach Toya.

　Next to her, Haruka was treating her with magic.

"How are you doing?

"For a second there, I thought I was going to die. --I thought I was going to die for a second. - I'm sorry, we can't let the tank collapse.

Whether Toya is a tank or not is debatable, but don't worry about it. I'm glad you're okay.

　He smiles, keeping his tone as light as possible as he bows his head with a pathetic expression.

　To put it bluntly, it would have been a shame if the vanguard had collapsed in that situation, but there was no need to push Toya, who was feeling sorry for herself. She survived somehow.

How's your injury?
"We treated it, but it was pretty bad. Your arm was shattered.

　The claws of Dahl's Bear must have hit her hard.
　The buckler on Toya's left arm had been completely split into four pieces and was lying on its side.

　In addition, the leather basket and the arm part of his clothing had been shredded, revealing the chainmail he had been wearing underneath.

　The chainmail itself had some scratches, but fortunately it did not appear to be broken.

"It's a good thing you've updated your chainmail. If you hadn't, you would have lost an arm.

　Not long ago, the chainmail had been remade using attribute steel, and everyone was now wearing long sleeves and long pants.

　Considering the fact that the previous chainmail was a vest type, it is fortunate that the arms are intact.

It's true. It was quite expensive, but it was indeed chainmail of attribute steel.

It has proven to be a good defense, though it shouldn't be used as much as it is.

　A chainmail made of attribute steel costs several hundred gold coins to make. It is a very expensive piece of armor.

　As with weapons, you can make it stronger by pouring magic power into it, so if you're aware of your defenses before you're attacked, like Toya was, you can expect a significant increase in defense.

　However, this is actually a subtle weakness.

　It's not a problem in normal combat, but it's a problem when you're hit by surprise.
　Since you don't expect to be attacked, you can't strengthen it, and you will be inferior in defense.

　However, it is still stronger than ordinary chainmail made of white iron, so it is well worth it.

How did it go over there?　I didn't have time to watch the whole thing.

Somehow. I'm not hurt, but I could have been if I'd made a mistake.

At that level, you're either seriously injured or unharmed. --I think I'd be dead or alive.

I pushed myself a little too hard. I'll have sore muscles tomorrow.

...... Oh, strengthening?　Are you okay?

For now. The time was short and ......, but I'd like to go home immediately.

　In the event that you've got a lot of money, you're going to need to be able to pay for it.

　However, as a side effect, you may not have time to use magic that can normally be used while fighting, and you may experience muscle pain and sluggishness after the battle.

　It's not something that can be used on a daily basis, so it's definitely a good idea to raise your skill level normally.

I can't do that. I can't do it. ......
It's not the most admirable method. You'll be out of the fight afterwards.

　As of now, the only one who can, or rather cannot, dope is Toya.
　This is probably because of his skill in handling magic power.

　I was the first one to do it, but the others who could use magic were able to do it relatively quickly.

　Incidentally, I ended up suffering from sore muscles and lethargy for almost a whole day, but Haruka and the others, who had been watching me, cancelled the doping immediately after I became able to do it, so it had almost no effect on me.

　I don't blame them for feeling a little uncomfortable, do you?　I'm not going to say it out loud, but...

"Okay!　Now that I can move, let's take care of that thing.
Yeah. Well, the blood seems to have drained off nicely.

　The blood that flowed from the veins damaged by me and Natsuki was so large that it formed a large pool on the ground.

　He stood up, avoided the pond, approached the corpse of Dahl's Bear, and punched it.

It's a big bear, though, isn't it?
"It really is. I wonder how many tons it weighs?

　It was about Toya's height even when it was dead, and Yuki, who was a little smaller, would have had to look up at it.
　It's not going to be easy to lift.

I'm sure you're right. ...... With its size, it's going to be well over five tons.
I'm not sure.　I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that.

　I'm not sure what to make of that.

No, oak meat doesn't even cost 100 yen a gram. And by the way, we have more than just meat.

　It's pretty good orc meat, and it sells for about seven reais per hundred grams, but considering what I paid for vipu bear meat, bear meat is probably cheaper than that.

It's pretty big, and you can probably get about five tons of meat from it, but can you sell it ......?　This demon?

I'd like to think so, since vipe bears can be sold. ....... I just remembered that we haven't met any vipu bears lately, have we?



　Weipu Bears don't usually come out near the roads.

　The first time we encountered them was shortly after we arrived here, and it was an incident that made us feel our lives were in danger.

　Since then, we've only encountered a few of them when we were picking mushrooms, and we haven't seen any more since we entered the depths of the forest. This was in spite of the fact that I had heard that this area was their habitat.

I thought you said they live deep in the forest.　I haven't seen any of them around. ...... Could it be because of this?

　Haruka pointed to this, which was of course Dahl's Bear.

　I'm not sure if I can call this a bear, but it is a bear by name.

　If we think about the territory, we can't say that there is no possibility of competition between bears and vipu bears.

　In other words, if this Dahl's Bear is the distant cause of the vipu bear we encountered at that time, then .......

This is the second time I've been almost killed by this thing?

It's a bit of a tug-of-war, but I suppose you could say that.

It's a long way from where we encountered it.　If it's a territorial issue, did ...... you get kicked out?

　The Dahl's Bear invaded the area of the Vipu Bear, which used to be deep in the forest as its territory. In the event that you've got a lot of money, you'll be able to use it to buy a lot of things.

I'm not sure about that, but let's get rid of Dahl's Bear. We don't have much time, do we?

No. Toya and Nao are not well, we should hurry.

　Even though Toya's injuries have been treated with magic, magic is not so versatile that it can heal her instantly. There will be some discomfort and fatigue for a little while after she is healed. Naturally, you will be inferior to normal in terms of combat.

　Not to mention mine. Even though it wasn't that long, I pushed myself pretty hard, and I'm sure my muscles will start to ache after a while.

　I'm currently on a time-limited activity time, like an alien from some planet.

So, let's throw the whole thing in. We'll use the biggest magic bag we can find.
It's a good thing we have one for giant trees, really.
It's pretty scary doing all that dismantling in here.

　If the smell of blood attracts me and I get a second helping of Dahl's Bear, I'm usually dead.

　I hurriedly spread out a magic bag next to Darl's Bear and tried to roll the body on it, but .

It's too heavy!

　I push as hard as I can, but the flesh only changes its shape a little, and it doesn't move a muscle.

"No, you can't. It's tons of weight.
I thought I could just roll it over. ......
You can't roll a log, but you can't roll a hunk of meat. We'll all do it.
Right.
All right!

　All five of us worked together to push the corpse of the Dahl's Bear, and it managed to roll over and sink into the magic bag. It's always a strange sight.

　All that was left to do was to fold up the magic bag and put it away in my backpack.

Then, let's hurry up and go home. Nao, basically avoid fighting. If it's just a single orc, we can keep our distance.

Understood.

　If we avoid enemies that can be easily defeated and take the long way around, we might run the risk of encountering stronger enemies. If too much time passes, I'll be in trouble.

　But we've grown up enough to be able to judge them as orcs. .......

　Feeling a little deeply moved, I turned on [Search for Enemies] at full speed and started walking to the front.

　And we returned safely to Raffan, kicking away the skeletons we encountered along the way with the magic of Haruka and the others in an instant.