Hen na Ryu to Moto Yuusha Party Zatsuyougakari, Shintairiku de Nonbiri Slow Life.

Chapter 82 – The False Demon Bear’s Nest

Ije had just run away from the nest.
And so even if the false demon bear was dead, it would still be a place of fear for Ije.

“Ije. You don’t have to.”
“Ije is fine.”
“While the tools would be useful, we can always go and get them ourselves…”
“Ije will go.”

Ije’s resolution was firm.

“Why are you doing this…”
“There is something Ije wants. Get tools on the way.”

Apparently, Ije wanted to retrieve something else from the nest.
It must be something very important.

“Then I will go with you. That way, if there happens to be any others, we can defeat it.”
“…Thank you.”

After that, we followed Ije and made our way towards the false demon bear’s nest.
Currently, I was carrying Kuro and Roro, while Fio was carrying Ruru.

As we walked, I asked the cubs,

“Kuro, Roro, Ruru. Can you wait with Shiro and Fio?”

The nest would be a place of fear for them as well.

“Wuff!”
“…Wou.”
‘Wait.’
“Hmm.”

Kuro barked that he was not afraid, and then licked my face.
But his tail was between his legs, so he was clearly scared.
Apparently, he wanted to see the nest and be sure of their safety.

As for Roro, she barked in a worried voice.
With the taming skill, I could understand the meaning of barks that were not meant as words.
But Roro wanted to go if Kuro was going.
While Roro was scared, she was worried about Kuro going alone.

But Ruru said clearly that she would stay.
She must have thought that if she waited, the others would wait as well.

All three of them had their own ideas and thoughts.

“You’re very kind, Kuro, Roro, and Ruru. But you can leave all of the scary work to the adults.”

I said and patted them on the head.

“Fio and Shiro. Can you take care of them?”
“Yes.”
“Wuff.”
“Ije. Let me know when we are close to the nest. So I can have the others wait.”
“Okay.”

After advancing for some time, Ije stopped.
As were now close to the nest, I left the cubs with Fio and Shiro.

When I handed Kuro and Roro to Fio,
“Hiiin…”
“Kuu…”
They whimpered and shook. The poor things.

“Nothing scary will happen. Don’t worry.”
“Au.”
“You wait here as well, Hippolius. I’ll call you if we need help.”
‘Okay.’

I then put Shiro and Fio, who were holding the cubs, onto Hippolius’s back.

“You will be safe if you ride on Hippolius.”
“Auu.”

The cubs seemed to relax a little now that they were up there.
I suppose it was because Hippolius was strong.

I petted them once more, and then followed Ije towards the nest.

“Let’s not keep them waiting for too long.”
“Yes. Worried about cubs.”

After walking for a short while, I saw that there was a large hole in a rock wall.

“Is that cave the nest?”
“Yes.”
“I wonder if it is a natural cave…”
“Don’t know.”

And so Ije and I went inside of the hole.

“It is wide and deep inside.”
“Yes. Ije has never gone to the end of it.”

I saw some chains there, which were likely the ones that had been attached to Ije.
There was also a pile of precious metals, jewels, and magic stones.
And nearby, I found the farm tools. They were in good condition, just as Ije said.

“…I doubt it knew their value.”
“Yes, probably.”

The value of precious metals, and jewels were completely different from iron farm tools.
But they were both sparkly.
It was like it had gathered anything that reflected light.

“This false demon bear, or devil, as you say. Where did it sleep?”
“The devil didn’t sleep.”
“Really?”
“Yes. No sleep.”

I had heard that undead creatures did not sleep.
So it would not be a surprise.

“But it ate food, didn’t it?”
“Yes, it ate.”
“…I see.”

It must have been very stressful to live with something that did not sleep.
Right when you get drowsy, it might kick you on a whim.
Just imagining it made me feel sad.

I thought of such things as I retrieved the farm tools.
Ije was searching for something among the pile of sparkly things.

“If you’re searching for something, I can help you?”
“It’s okay. Thank you.”
“I see. Well, let me know if you want help.”

In the meantime, I checked the hole.

“Hmm… This hole must have been dug up by someone.”

I didn’t know if it was done by humans, but there were traces of someone having dug there.
However, it was not recent. It had been dug a hundred, no, hundreds of years ago.

“I wonder why it was dug.”

If it was only around the entrance, then it would be likely that it was dug to make a home.
However, the tunnel was so deep that I could not see the end of it.

“Normally, you would think it was for mining ore.”

The other day, I found an iron vein, and mined it. This was a short distance away from that.
However, it would not be strange if there were veins here as well, and people had mined from it a long time ago.

“…Perhaps I should try using my appraisal skill.”

And so I cast the appraisal skill around the bedrock of the cave.
This way I could search over a wide area at once.
It depleted quite a lot of magic energy as I investigated.

The mine was very long. There was nearly a thousand meters to the end.
And there were also numerous branching paths.

“Hmm. Apparently, it is rich with mineral resources.”

I did not understand why this mine was abandoned.
That was how rich it was with various types of ore.
The next time that we needed metal, I could just here and mine it.

“We are quite lucky to have found this place.”

After I finished investigating, I heard Ije’s voice from behind me.

“Theo. Finished. Thank you.”
“Did you find it?”
“Yes. It was there.”

Apparently, it had been buried deep in the pile of shiny objects.
It must have been very hard to find it.
It was no wonder the Ije had initially escaped without searching for it.

“…Ije is glad.”

Whatever it was, it was now clasped tightly in Ije’s hands.