Chapter 34 – Kaya looks up to life in the capital

The magic I fire draws a beautiful white arc and hits that strange angel bear killer directly.

“Gyan!!?”

The suspicious person clad in black lets out a foolish sound and falls on the grass. I held back, so I can’t have hurt her very badly, but it could still be bad depending on where she was hit.

That person’s facing up and not moving, which terrifies me. It’s not like I’m going to care about killing someone at this point, but it’s different when that wasn’t my intention. Please don’t die in front of my daughter.

“Daddy, hurry!”

Ririi slips out of my arms and runs. I’m trying to follow her, but my body’s not moving the way I want, so I trip and fall. I’m completely out of energy.

“Ririi, wait…”

Her mind is completely on the angel bears, so she’s not listening to me. Her small back is getting further and further away from me.

I force myself to get up, and drag my heavy body after her.

I finally reach her when she’s right in front of ‘that scene’.

“Beary!!”

The angel bear cub walks aimlessly around its parent, and eventually starts licking it, but the parent doesn’t respond. This green grassy field overflowing with vitality is black on that one spot, and the slash on the angel bear’s neck is more than enough to take its life.

The cub keeps restlessly trying to compose its parent’s fur.

Ririi crouches and holds the cub as hard as she can, but it won’t stop licking its parent. The blood on the ground is staining Ririi’s clothes, but I can’t say anything to that concerned face of hers.

“Hn… What… Happened…?”

That suspicious person slowly sits up with her eyes spinning.

Now that I’m closer, I can see she’s a young girl with black hair. Her clothes are pretty revealing, but where is she from? I feel like I should know, but I can’t remember.

She rubs her eyes and slowly turns my way, then Ririi’s, and then back to me. Our eyes meet, and her thin eyebrows twist awkwardly.

Well, I did attack her all of a sudden.

“Eh… Who are you people?”

“We’re a father and daughter here on a picnic.”

Although the father also has some other stuff to do.

She looks like she doesn’t believe me, like she doesn’t accept that a father on a simple outing with his daughter knocked her out.

Is she a fighter from some sort of organization?

“Sorry, but I saw you about to kill that angel bear, so I took the liberty of attacking you.”

“Wait… Are you saying I was going to kill that cub?”

She asks while looking at the cub in Ririi’s arms. I don’t see any enmity in her eyes.

“Weren’t you?”

…To be honest, I knew she didn’t kill this angel bear the moment I saw the wound on its neck. It was done by a large blade, and there’s no way this girl is carrying something like that.

“The opposite. Opposite. I came here from a nearby village to see if there was any trouble with these guys.

We’re kind of like their guardians. And then I found this one dead, and you attacked me all of a sudden.”

She’s looking at me with accusing eyes. I guess I’m the one that sounds suspicious now.

“…Sorry. I was just trying to save that angel bear. Can you forgive me?”

“If that’s the case… All right. I’m fine anyway.”

She said they’re their guardians.

Hunting angel bears isn’t illegal or anything, but I probably shouldn’t tell her I came here after their materials.

She slaps the grass off her clothes, and gets up.

“I’m Kaya. You?”

“I’m Weiss, and this is my daughter Ririi.”

“Weiss and Ririi… you have a cute daughter.”

She says while patting Ririi’s head, who looks up at me with sadness clouding her eyes.

“…Daddy… What happens to the beary…?”

There are tears welling up in her eyes. I’m sure she knows what happened to the cub. Maybe she even sees her past self in it. She never talks about that sort of thing, even to me.

“Kaya, what’s going to happen to this cub? Can angel bear cubs survive on their own?”

Kaya responds with a grave expression while shaking her head.

“…Honestly, it’s tough. Angel bears already have a lot of natural enemies anyway, and cubs tend to stick close to their parents. This cub can’t do anything on its own.”

“Can’t your village look after it? You said you were their guardians.”

“We can, but… But then we have to do the same for all of them. Angel bears are always at risk of dying, it’s not just this one.

We’ve been thinking for a long time about the meaning that saving just one carries. That’s why we settled on patrolling this area. Do you understand what I mean?”

“I guess I do.”

I think she’s talking about how people shouldn’t change nature, and how it’s hypocritical to only try to save what’s in front of them.

…That day, I saved Ririi, but ignored the other slaves.

Kaya is basically saying if you can’t save all slaves in this world, you shouldn’t be merciful and save the one in front of you.

That’s pretty much the opposite of what I did, but this premise is flawed anyway. It’s not like I saved Ririi out of the goodness of my heart in the first place.

“Daddy…”

Ririi looks at me with sad eyes, that have an earnest strength behind them. Somehow, I already know what she’s about to say.

“Can’t we… Keep the beary in our house…?”