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nChapter 54 – Bear-san Catches The Thieves!

nLate at night, Hugging Bear moved and woke me up.

n「Hugging Bear?」

nI rubbed my eyes.

nFina began to stir restlessly next to me.

nIn order to avoid waking her up, I used detection magic.

nThere was someone at a slightly distant location?

nI observed for a while, but there was no indication of movement.

nHmm, it wasn’t there when I went to sleep.

nHad Hugging Bear reacted to that presence?

n「Hugging Bear, if it moves, let me know.」

nSince they might have just started camping out at that location, I requested Hugging Bear to watch it and went back to sleep.

nThere was no reaction from Hugging Bear after that, and I didn’t wake up until morning.

nWhen I woke up in the morning, I used detection magic, but it had not moved from that spot.

nI ate breakfast without worrying and left when the sun rose.

nI used detection magic again, for the last time.

nThe stationary party had begun to move.

nIf the other party were also travelers, it wasn’t strange for them to move out at sunrise.

nI advanced towards the Royal Capital without worrying about it.

nThe party followed behind us at a constant distance.

nWhen we stopped for lunch, the other party also stopped.

nIf we picked up our pace a bit, the other party also sped up.

nWhat should I do?

nIt didn’t give me a good feeling when they were following us like this, and speeding up when we did.

nIn conclusion, we were being targeted, right?

nIf we were attacked, would it be at night?

nEvening approached while they maintained the same distance from us.

nEveryone began to prepare to camp out again.

n「Marina, can I have a moment?」

nJust in case, I decided to give a report to Marina, the leader of the bodyguard mission.

n「What is it?」

n「It’s not good news, but we might be attacked by thieves tonight, so please be a bit more careful.」

n「...Wait, what is that supposed to mean?」

n「They have been following us since last night, so I suspect that it is likely for them to attack us tonight.」

n「If you had already noticed, tell me earlier!」

n「Even if I told you, nothing could be done about it. It’s not like we can speed up, and there’s still a considerable distance to the Royal Capital. In addition, we don’t know when they will attack, and I was concerned that staying alert for a long time wouldn’t be possible.」

n「That might be the case, but at times like this, we should head to the Royal Capital even faster.」

n「We would be done for if they attacked us when the horses became exhausted. In which case, moving around as one would expect is better.」

n「Do you have any good plans?」

n「Well, if it’s only thieves and such, it’ll be fine, one way or another. Just, it’ll be troublesome if people moved selfishly. If possible, I would like everyone to stay with the carriage.」

n「So then, will it really turn out alright somehow?」

n「Won’t it?」

n「Hey!」

n「With that, I’ll leave it to you.」

nAs dinner ended, night arrived.

nNow then, shall I sleep until the thieves come?

nWhile I was sleeping, Swaying Bear woke me up.

n「Swaying Bear?」

nAs my head gradually cleared, I remembered about the thieves.

nWhen I used detection magic;

nOh, they’re here, they’re here.

n4-, no, 50 people?

nThey were gathering steadily.

nIn order not to wake Fina up, I slipped out from Swaying Bear’s embrace.

nIf the thieves do come, I’ll tell them to protect everyone.

nThough, it’s not like I would mind if they didn’t come.

n「So, they’ve come?」

nMarina came over.

n「You were awake?」

n「After you told me that thieves might come, there was no way I could sleep.」

n「Well, as for the thieves, roughly fifty of them are gathered a short distance away in this direction.」

n「50 people...」

n「Well then, I’ll be going. I don’t think anything should happen, but please take care of everyone.」

n「Are you really going by yourself?」

n「It’s because I want those girls to keep sleeping, you see.」

nI glanced over at Fina, Noa, and Misa, who were all sleeping while being embraced by the bears.

nThe three of them were sleeping quietly.

nI ran towards the thieves in the darkness, while dressed in the Black Bear Dress.

nThe thieves had only gathered, and had not moved yet.

nWere they waiting for everyone to get together? I didn’t really understand, even after watching them, but there was an opening while they were gathered.

nI approached stealthily.

nThe Bear Shoes allowed me to run up to the thieves without making a sound.

n「What?!」

nBy the time they noticed, it was too late.

nI had already invoked the magic.

n「Shotgun!」

nCompressed balls of air attacked the thieves.

nOne person, who had been riding a horse, was dismounted and flew off backwards.

nAnother person next to the horse was blasted backwards, leaving the horse unharmed.

nThat was because the horse wasn’t bad.

nThe balls of air gathered the entire group of thieves into one place.

nI executed earth magic next, without a moment’s delay.

nA countless number of earthen rods thrusted upwards from the ground, surrounding the fallen thieves.

nThe thieves recovered, got up, and tried to run away, but because of the earthen rods, they couldn’t get away.

nThere was no way to escape; not through the front, the back, the left, or the right.

nThe only way was above them.

nHowever, in order to cover the top, I used earth magic to cap it off.

n「Damn it! It won’t break, even with a sword! Someone, use magic!」

nSome of the thieves used magic, but it was reflected by the barrier of the cage; the situation inside had became quite serious, due to the reflected magic.

n「Stop using magic! We’ll die!」

n「Damn it! Just what the hell is happening?!」

n「Someone, use light magic!」

nWhat they could see, illuminated by the light, was a large cage imprisoning them.

n「Good evening, everyone in the thief group.」

nThey finally noticed my presence when I spoke to them.

n「What is it, you bitch?!」

n「Let us out of here!」

n「Do you think you’ll get away easily, after doing such a thing to us?!」

nWere these guys stupid? Or maybe fools? To not even understand their own positions, in this situation where they had been imprisoned.

nThough I caught the thieves, I could not take them out of the cage.

nFor now, let’s use water magic to pour water on them and shut them up.

n「The next time you open your mouths, I’ll stick fire magic inside.」

n「Shut up! You should know, we’re the Zamon Bandit Group-」

n「Fire~」

nI tossed a giant ball of flame into the cage.

n「Ouch! Hot! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!」

nA magic user inside used water to put out the fire.

n「I told you, didn’t I? That if you opened your mouths, I would stick fire magic inside. Are you idiots? Morons?」

n「You bitch...」

nHe tried to say something, but I didn’t give him the chance.

nNext, I raised a 30cm tall prop in all four corners of the cage.

nI attached wheels accordingly.

nThere wasn’t a suspension spring or something similar for moderating vibrations.

nI wasn’t really thinking of the ride quality, so it didn’t really concern me that the uneven road would probably cause it to shake considerably.

nFor the time being, this mobile cage had been completed.

nThe problem was the power source needed to pull the cage.

nI had thought of using horses for power, but because of the shotgun magic, all of the horses had run away.

nSince I hadn’t injured them, they would probably live.

nI considered my next plan for a power source to pull the cage.

nA thought came to mind.

nHowever, the problem was that it stood out.

n「Come, Bear!」

nI invoked earth magic and summoned a giant bear made of earth.

nIt was a 3-meter tall bear golem.

nWhen I subjugated the tiger wolves, I had summoned flame bears and water bears.

nI remembered that, at the time, I was able to move them according to my instructions, so I was able to complete golems for each type of bear.

nI could summon bears made of flame, water, earth, ice, and wind.

n「What the hell is that?!」

nThe thieves began to shout.

n「Shut up. The next time you open your mouths, I’ll make this bear attack you, okay?」

nWhen I said so, the thieves all fell silent.

nSince they had finally quieted down, I had the summoned earth bear golem pull the cage.

nWhen I returned to the carriage, everyone was already awake.

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