CHAPTER 041
"Shall we go a bit further in?"
"Further in?"
"Since you keep trying to come out, let's leave the rabbit deep inside the forest. But let's come out quickly like we did before!"
Eventually, we went deeper into the forest.
"How many minutes do you think have passed?"
"Feels like five minutes...?"
After holding the rabbit and walking straight, we were now deep in the forest.
"This is really goodbye now!"
I quickly turned around after putting the rabbit down.
It seemed the mother rabbit wasn't showing up because we were around.
When I glanced back while walking away, there were now two rabbits.
The small rabbit that Lady Redmond had been holding, and a larger adult rabbit.
"Looks like the mother rabbit was really looking for it!"
I whispered to Lady Redmond as we glanced back.
Seeing that we were watching, the mother rabbit quickly took the baby rabbit out of sight.
I felt a bit proud like we had done a good deed.
"Now we just have to go back!"
Let's go back quickly.
Just as I retraced our steps and took a strong step forward—
"······?"
What's that sound? I turned around instinctively.
* * *
Lewis was deep in the forest, hunting.
"This is boring."
He had come because of the handkerchief, but it was still boring.
The boar Lewis had just caught floated up and landed on the cart. The soldiers following to collect the prey were of no use to him.
"Even here, it's just the three of us."
Bella, who had missed her prey, approached Lewis and said.
"Where did everyone else go? We're still stuck together here."
"Do you really not know?"
Bella's blood-stained sword was not the problem.
Lewis gave a brief reply and looked at Michael.
"Don't worry. This guy doesn't bite people."
He was reassuring the soldiers.
They couldn't handle the prey Michael had caught because Cerberus was guarding it.
Grr, the summoned beast growled at the soldiers.
The soldiers screamed, and Michael reassured them with a smile.
"It's okay. It doesn't bite."
Doesn't bite? It looks like it could kill anyone.
Lewis clicked his tongue at the sight of the innocent-looking Michael.
"You can't catch that. We'll get hunted instead!"
Two men, bustling with soldiers, were seen approaching from a distance.
Ah, wrong place! They looked regretful seeing Michael's summon.
"No, it's safer here."
"Really?"
They whispered among themselves.
'What are they talking about?'
Lewis's thoughts were simple.
"What did you see that makes you say we'll get hunted? What appeared?"
Unlike the uninterested Lewis, Bella seemed curious and asked aggressively.
They stammered in response.
"There's a bear over there. We quickly got away before it saw us, but..."
"It's much bigger than other bears, not an ordinary one!"
"Lewis, Michael. Shall we catch that bear?"
Just as Bella asked excitedly, one of the men spoke.
"By the way, we saw some young ladies chasing a rabbit into the forest earlier."
"Young ladies?"
Lewis asked, and the men nodded.
"Yes. We couldn't see their faces well from a distance, but they were wearing a blue dress and a red dress. They seemed to be letting go of a baby rabbit."
Blue dress?
Lewis recalled Selina's dress earlier.
It was a plain blue dress.
Selina wasn't the only one who wore blue dresses, but she came to mind for some reason.
"A rabbit, you say?"
"Yes. The rabbit we were chasing seemed to be the mother of that baby rabbit."
"We decided not to catch it in front of its baby..."
"But as we were coming back, we saw a bear! It was so big, we were really scared."
One of the men, who had been alternating speaking, suddenly remembered something.
"Wait. Wasn't the bear heading in that direction? The direction where the young ladies were."
"Huh? Was it?"
"Seems like it..."
Their conversation was going nowhere.
Whether Selina was one of the young ladies or not, if what they said was true, it was a serious matter.
Lewis had a bad feeling.
It felt like she would definitely be there.
He couldn't shake off the anxiety without seeing it for himself.
"Is it that way?"
Lewis asked, staring past them, and immediately started moving.
"Hey? Lewis, wait!"
There was no time to respond to Michael's call.
* * *
A beast!
A bear appeared before me. A very large bear!
I never imagined I'd encounter a bear in my life...
Play dead when you meet a bear! I remembered that tip, but it seemed impossible to use it now.
"A... a bear..."
Lady Redmond seemed paralyzed.
She spoke without taking her eyes off the bear.
"My father told me... when you meet a bear, there's only one way."
Her voice was dazed.
"You just have to die."
"What kind of method is that!"
This is crazy!
"Lady Redmond, get a grip!"
I recalled the last time I fainted in shock.
If I repeat that now, I'll really die!
The bear seemed ready to charge at any moment.
No way, I thought, and the bear charged.
I'm going to die!
I don't know where I got the courage, but I grabbed Lady Redmond by the arms and threw myself into the thick bushes.
"Ah!"
Then thud, we fell to the ground.
"Ouch..."
My knee felt heavy with pain from hitting the ground hard.
My knee...
No, I need to be alive to worry about my knee.
Given the situation, my thoughts quickly shifted. Once we were out of sight, we had to escape fast.
I grabbed Lady Redmond.
"Can you run- Ah..."
It was pointless; Lady Redmond had closed her eyes.
She had fainted on me!
"Lady!"
How can you faint alone!
I shook her, almost crying.
"Get a grip! If we stay here, we'll die!"
We'll really die!
But Lady Redmond showed no sign of opening her eyes.
Did she completely give up? Because there's no other way but to die when meeting a bear?
The menacing sound of the beast was right next to us.
It would charge us in no time!
"I might get a trauma from this..."
That is if I survive.
I grabbed Lady Redmond's arms again, ready to drag her out of sight.
"It would be a miracle if we survive this."
Just as I was struggling to drag Lady Redmond, I heard a familiar voice.
"Is this where you've been?"
It wasn't a distant voice. It came from a diagonal direction.
I've never been so glad to hear that voice!
I turned toward the sound and shouted.
"Marquis!"
The voice belonged to Lewis. He was standing right in the middle of the path I had been on.
We're saved!
Even with the beast lurking, I felt a huge sense of relief just seeing Lewis.
"Why are you in here?"
"We were trying to reunite a rabbit with its family, but a bear suddenly appeared! No, wait. This isn't the time for this, Marquis!"
I hastily explained to Lewis, who casually asked, then realized the urgency.
How could he be so calm!
Unlike my urgency, Lewis smiled nonchalantly.
"We've caught a big one in this hunting contest."
Is he calm because he can catch it...
As I looked anxiously at Lewis, I realized something strange.
The bear should've charged at us by now, but it was still quiet. No scary sounds either.
I couldn't see the bear from the bushes.
Noticing my confusion, Lewis explained.
"I've restrained the bear's movements."
So we were safe.
I see! That's why the bear couldn't move!
"Since it's prey, I guess I should kill it."
Then, a golden wolf appeared beside Lewis.
Oh my. Seeing a growling wolf right after encountering a bear made me shudder.
Sensing my fear, Lewis asked.
"Are you scared?"
"Yes..."
It would be a lie to say no here.
I admitted it honestly, and Lewis smiled playfully.
"It doesn't bite people."
Then what about the one it bit last time!
Seeing my disbelieving look, Lewis shrugged.
"It's best to finish it quickly."
As Lewis finished speaking, the golden wolf disappeared.
Instead, a white sphere appeared in his palm. It had appeared when Lewis muttered something.
He was planning to attack with that instead of the wolf?
It seemed so.
As Lewis extended his palm, light shot out towards where the bear was.
Soon, a thud echoed through the ground.
The bear had definitely fallen.
"Are you okay? If you're about to faint, let me know."
Despite catching such a huge prey, Lewis didn't go to the bear immediately but walked towards me.
He spoke while approaching.
"Don't be surprised by any beast you see later."
"I'm not the type to get scared by just anything."
Did he really take it down?
I tried to go out of the bushes after laying down Lady Redmond. But I soon collapsed.
"Ouch!"
Just as I was about to run towards Lewis, a sharp pain shot through my weight-bearing ankle.
"What? What's wrong?"
"I think I twisted my ankle..."
"How bad is it? Does it hurt a lot? Can't you walk?"
Lewis's expression turned serious as he reached me.
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