Upon the slip for the grizzly subjugation request, "Subjugation of grizzly in the vicinity of Dramenie Lake and Cloony Lake: Reward of 100 Crona." was a considerable reward amount.
Despite the reward being this much, why did it remain left behind? Feeling curious, Ray once again asked Ashley. According to her explanation, the grizzly bear was a fifth rank monster, meaning that in a one on one confrontation, a fifth rank adventurer or three to four adventurers at the sixth rank were necessary. And in theory, six to eight novice adventurers who were at the seventh or eighth rank also had the ability to accept this request. If that many people were needed to go on a two day subjugation trip, then the hundred Crona reward was no longer very attractive. Furthermore, the grizzly bear had high defensive capabilities, even attacks from bows wouldn"t be very effective. Because of that, it was safer and more profitable to aim for monsters and beasts with lower defensive power if you were looking for a reward of the same level.
If that was the case, why wasn"t the reward higher? Upon asking, Ray learned that the reason was the same as it was for the extermination of the lizardmen. The village simply couldn"t afford to raise it any higher.
Based on the scale of Latley village, issuing a reward of one hundred Crona for a one time request was their limit. Furthermore, even if they were to exterminate a large wild beast like the grizzly bear, if another monster or wild beast of the same level were to immediately appear, the village"s funds wouldn"t be able to handle it.
I see, someone should eventually come to subjugate the bear as the number of requests decrease. The best case is that no damages are incurred until that happens, but if things start to get more serious, then they"ll be able to raise the reward continuously without stopping. That"s seems to be their plan.
With the request slip in hand, the two of them headed for the receptionist counter.
Although the adventurers who had seen Ray"s exhausted figure yesterday gazed at them with chilly looks, Ashley once again ignored them and sat herself on the seat before the counter.
The receptionist, Edsel, who had taken care of Ray"s registration said with a worried face,
"This may be rude but, setting aside Ashley-sama, isn"t this request a bit too much for Ray-sama? Since you seemed quite tired yesterday, wouldn"t it be better to choose a slightly easier request -"
Ashley cut her off, "It"s fine. I"m glad to know that you"re worried for him but Ray consented to this himself. Could please you authorize the request now?" With a slightly grumpy att.i.tude, she held out her orb.
Unable to say anything more, Edsel silently carried out her duty as a receptionist.
Once the authorization procedure was finished, Ashley immediately stood up and headed out. Ray thanked Edsel for her concern and following behind Ashley, exited the the guild.
Edsel felt uneasy as she gazed at their retreating figures.
Is it really going to be okay? Although I don"t think she would make a mistake in her judgement, it"s hard to believe that they can return safely based on what I saw of their condition yesterday . . .
After looking at the entrance the two people had exited one last time, she immediately devoted her attention towards her duties.
Ray and Ashley once again rented two horses and headed for Latley village.
The repeated the same process as yesterday and asked for some information from Kieran, the village chief. However, the information didn"t yield any particular clues that could be used to find the bear. Ashley began walking towards the nearby forest, thinking that this was the first thing they should do for the time being.
Ray called out to Ashley who was beginning to walk off, "There was something I thought of . . ."
He proposed that the first head to the place where they had fought the lizardmen yesterday.
Although he didn"t really know how sharp the grizzly"s sense of smell was, if it had been able to catch the scent of all that blood, then there was a possibility that it had gone there to eat the lizardmen"s corpses. Even if we suppose that it hadn"t gone there, it still might have approached near the area.
"Although that might be true, we"ll also have to consider the possibility of other carnivorous monsters lurking around there . . . well . . . I can"t imagine there being any monsters here that could be stronger than the grizzly though. Let"s trying going with that."
The went back to the village chief"s house once again and then in the same way as yesterday, were ferried across the opposite bank of the lake.
However, this time, they told Koda that they would send a signal to him with magic. He would come pick them up after seeing it. After he left, they entered the forest.
They arrived at the place where they fought the lizardmen at ten o"clock in the morning.
The lizardmen"s corpses had basically been completely devoured. Among the corpses, large bite marks that looked like they had come from a large monster were found.
"Seems like it"s already come here. It only ate the internal organs of the lizardmen"s corpses and left the flesh that was covered in their tough skin alone. There"s a high possibility that it"s still lurking somewhere around here . . ."
The two of them found the bear"s footprints and began to carefully follow them. The bear went to the banks of the lake, returned deep into the forest, and then seemed to wander around but then somehow or another, ended up returning back to the lake. It seemed like it was still there.
Ashley pulled out her sword and then very carefully quieted her footsteps as she cautioned Ray, "Don"t drop your guard."
"The grizzly"s probably in this area. Try to get a drop on it with your magic. The bear is faster than it looks, so don"t be too worried if you miss it."
Ray nodded and gripped his spear. He continued walking behind Ashley while also paying attention to his footsteps.
After ten minutes, they found a giant bear drinking water from the side of the lake.
The grizzly was covered in grayish brown fur and was at a position that was roughly twenty mertos away from the two humans. (TL: 20 meters ≈ ) It was a big-game animal, with a body that was more than three meters in length. (TL: christmas tree ≈ 2.3 meters) Although there was still quite some distance between, the grizzly seemed to have noticed them through its sense of smell. As its lips curled back in a low growl, the grizzly stood up on its hind legs. It once again lowered it head and then began to rush towards them.
Without a moment of delay, Ray immediately invoked the magic which he had so earnestly practiced yesterday and an arrow of light materialized before him.
The arrow of light glared a brilliant bright white and then launched itself towards the grizzly bear"s face, its speed continuously accelerating.
The bear seemed to not think that the small arrow was not much of a threat. Other than turning its head to avoid the troublesome thing, it continued to charge at them without stopping.
Aiming for the bear"s face, the arrow rapidly began to alter its trajectory.
Regardless of whether or not it was a total fluke, the arrow of light managed to lodge itself deeply into the bear"s right eye. Half of the arrow"s total length, approximately twenty cemers, was now inside the bear"s eye. The arrow of light then burst open, as if someone had smashed it apart, and then disappeared. (TL: 20 cm ≈ half of bowling pin"s height)
After the grizzly bear"s body pitched forward and collapsed, all four of its limbs violently convulsed. Within several seconds, the convulsions calmed down and then as if its body had been hardened, the bear"s body completely stopped moving. The point of the arrow seemed to have reached the brain. An apparent instant kill.
"Eeh? Are we done?" Ray looked in Ashley"s direction.
This guy managed to land a critical hit? . . . nevertheless, this counts as combat . . . is this what they call beginner"s luck . . .
She froze in mute amazement. And then, while feeling like there was something disappointing, remained vigilant as she watched for hints of the grizzly bear rising back up.
"Somehow or another, it seems like it"s actually dead. Were you aiming for its eye? . . . no, you couldn"t have advanced this far from training . . . how are your magical energy reserves holding up?"
While bitterly smiling, Ray replied,
"I was only aiming for its face . . . my reserves are fine. I think I only exhausted my magical energy yesterday because I shot too many thunderbolts . . . if it"s these light arrows, I have a feeling that I should be able to launch twenty or thirty more."
Ashley shook her head in disbelief as she carefully approached the grizzly bear to collect its magic stone.
Thinking that the bear might be playing dead, Ray watched over Ashlye, his body in a posture that was ready to jump in and support her at any time. Although they took great pains to confirm it, it seemed like the grizzly bear had really died after all, as it was no longer breathing. Ashley successfully extracted a relatively large magic stone that had a diameter of three cemers. (TL: 2 aspirins side by side ≈ 3 cm)