Chapter 87

Chapter 87. Territorial War Preparations (2)

“I heard about the King of the Brown Bears from Bixby. Apparently, he had a son.”

But why were we suddenly talking about bears?

This had turned into an animal program.

What power could bears possibly have?

It would be lucky if trolls did not eat them.

“You know about him, then. Prepare a gift and visit the King. Bixby knows the way.”

Ridiculous.

I clenched my fist and threatened him.

“Are you messing with me? How is a bear supposed to drive away trolls?”

Arguinata’s eyes widened in surprise.

His eyes were normally so narrow they looked like buttonholes, so seeing them wide open surprised me even more.

“Lord of the western land, did you truly not know? The Brown Bears are the rulers of this great forest. They are far stronger than any race I have ever seen. If you insult their King like that, you could become a corpse before you even blink.”

“...Are they some kind of monstrous beasts?”

“A Brown Bear is a Brown Bear. What monstrous beast?”

I probably would not understand until I saw them myself.

I told Arguinata to prepare Bixby and returned to the lord’s castle.

Apparently, I needed to bring a huge amount of food if I wanted to meet the King of the Brown Bears.

We traveled roughly one hundred kilometers north from the goblin village along low mountain ridges.

We brought twenty donkeys of a breed said to be good at climbing mountains.

Raul and several knights with strong stamina accompanied me.

Even so, everyone was exhausted from the long journey.

Bixby, meanwhile, sat on the lead donkey and talked without stopping.

Now I understood why the village chief of Comanceville disliked him.

He talked so much my ears felt like they were bleeding.

I even stuck a finger inside one ear just to check.

“So I told the guy living three houses away to mate with the woman living behind the house next to the house in front of his neighbor. But the guy living three houses away was shy and did not listen to me. So the woman living behind the house next to the house in front of his neighbor mated with the guy living right next door instead. The guy three houses away became furious and then the house next...”

“Stop! Please shut up! I am not lacking in anger right now!”

“Why are you irritated? I am telling you an interesting story so you will not get bored. Human Land Lord is stingy. If you are stingy, you cannot mate, and...”

Shing.

“Bixby, we should have no trouble reaching our destination even if you lose one arm, right?”

“...I will be quiet. My mouth is already closed.”

Finally.

We continued walking in silence.

Then,

“Human Land Lord, in my opinion...”

“I will kill you.”

“No, Brown Bears. I mean Brown Bears. Really.”

I looked where Bixby was pointing.

Four enormous brown bears were staring at us.

They were rather large.

Around seven meters tall.

“Human Land Lord, we need to signal them.”

Bixby stood on the saddle of his donkey and wildly shook a stick covered in clusters of yellow berries.

At the same time, I ordered the knights not to draw their weapons under any circumstances.

According to my senses, the Brown Bears were around Mid-rank to Upper-rank Sword Expert in strength.

Combined with their absurd physical bodies, an ordinary knight could die from a single slap.

Even Raul, normally playful, nervously led his donkey.

“My lord, I have never heard of or seen animals like those.”

“The problem is those things are only patrol guards. Damn, this is making me nervous.”

Our line of donkeys followed the patrol bears.

Everyone was extremely tense as we headed toward the Brown Bear settlement.

Soon, we reached a wide basin.

Its terrain and size reminded me of Daejeon from my previous life.

Across the vast region stood enormous trees reaching high into the sky, huge rocks surrounding them, and Brown Bears.

Unlike ordinary bears, which normally lived as individual families, these bears formed a large community.

Their settlements were made of groups of stone caves surrounding massive trees.

Hundreds of those groups stretched endlessly.

There were also many earthen caves.

It looked like they had strengthened their walls and floors with stone.

They must have lived here for a long time.

There were signs of worked stone everywhere.

There was no waste visible either.

The entire settlement looked extremely clean.

It was clean enough to make me wonder whether some kind of magic was being used.

This is supposed to be an animal village? No way. At this level, they are practically beastmen.

Because they could not use their paws delicately, there were no manufactured tools.

Even so, the settlement was maintained well enough to make it obvious that the Brown Bears were highly intelligent.

Then an enormous bear slowly walked toward us.

It was around fifteen meters tall.

Its strength was far above a Sword Master.

Its enormous body was intimidating enough, but the amount of condensed mana inside it was impossible for me to measure.

Crazy! This thing is Grand Master level! Something like this existed here? Even on Earth, monsters at this level were rare.

If I had a smartphone, I would have filmed it immediately.

Nobody would believe me otherwise.

Bixby did not appear frightened at all.

He hurried forward and introduced the King.

“Human Land Lord, this is the King of the Brown Bears. Greet him.”

Well, I had come here as a guest.

I should introduce myself.

I had no idea whether he could understand my language.

Still, Bixby told me to speak.

“Ahem. I am Eric Marcel, lord of the southern plains below this forest. I came because I have a request for the King of this place.”

Then I used [Convenient Lesser Appraisal].

[Blagoslovenne Bury Medved III, 99 years old]

[Son of Blagoslovenne Bury Medved II. Chief of the Ecrins Brown Bear Tribe. Serves Ursus.]

Why is this bear’s name so ridiculously long? Ecrins must be the name of this region. And what kind of god is Ursus?

Then a voice entered my head.

I am Blagoslovenne Bury Medved.

It was [Thought Transmission], something used by high-level undead like liches and powerful monsters.

The meaning of their words was transmitted magically even if the two sides did not speak the same language.

I had experienced it both in my previous life and inside the lighthouse pyramid.

So I answered without surprise.

“Your name is too long. Can I just call you Blago?”

As you wish. Still, this is unexpected. A human came here to greet me.

I shrugged.

“I was curious, and I have a favor to ask. I came with peaceful intentions.”

Peace? The land of you humans has been expanding. I did not like that.

“Then let us define a border instead of fighting.”

Blago stood up.

He looked toward the distant mountain range.

Then he pointed at one tall mountain with a long claw.

I know you established a boundary with the goblins beyond that mountain. Respect that boundary.

We had traveled one hundred kilometers.

Was all of this their territory?

Still, it was mountainous land, so it did not matter much right now.

Whatever.

My descendants could worry about mines, parks, ski resorts, or whatever else they wanted to build here.

For now, I should make some small talk and build a friendly relationship.

“Fine. I negotiated that boundary with Chief Arguinata. We even built a trading post so we could exchange goods.”

Trading with goblins? There cannot be much benefit. Their population is small. Many died in war.

“They agreed to watch the Great Forest for me instead.”

Oh. That is a good method. Goblins are small and fast.

“They are faster than humans in the mountains.”

If I used goblins, there was no need to train Rangers and send them into the mountains to scout.

My soldiers would not be endangered.

It would also save money.

Do you intend to rule the goblins? That would be troublesome. Those goblins pay tribute to me.

I absolutely could not make him suspicious.

I denied it immediately.

“No. The goblins and I will remain in a relationship where we help each other.”

You could dominate them but choose not to. You are an unusual human. Uha, uha, uha.

Was that supposed to be laughter?

What a strange sound.

Lord of the southern land, what do you want from me? Surely you are not asking us to watch the forest like the goblins.

“They say there is a giant crescent-shaped lake several days north of here.”

We call it Lake Leman. What about it?

“Could you drive the Long-Armed Blue Trolls living there toward human territory?”

Why?

“I want to damage the lord who rules that land.”

Uha, uha, uha. Humans really are the same as goblins. You hate each other and fight among yourselves.

I could not deny that.

It is not difficult. If our tribe simply moves slowly toward them, the trolls will become frightened and leave. But the price will be high.

“Tell me what you want.”

Blago approached and lowered his face toward me.

His face alone looked larger than my entire body.

And he smelled.

I want to cross the river and the wetlands.

The only wetlands I knew were the vast marshes near the mouth of the Rhone River.

Travel there was difficult because of the mud.

It was also lizardman territory.

“Is it because of the lizardmen?”

You know well. I want to attack them.

Do bears not run and swim well?

I felt like I had seen that on the Discovery Channel.

“Can you not swim?”

...Things happened that way. Anyway, will you help me?

This overwhelmingly powerful creature had left its enemies alone because it could not cross rivers and wetlands.

It was ridiculous.

But Blago looked extremely serious.

“I can help. However, if the lizardmen attack during transportation, you will have to fight them.”

Obviously.

Still, how had beasts and monsters living so far apart become enemies in the first place?

I became curious.

“Can I ask what happened? If the lizardmen did nothing wrong, perhaps the gods would curse me for helping you.”

It happened long before I was born. During the reign of my father’s father’s father, our territory extended much farther south. Even your land was probably ours.

Blago was ninety-nine.

So he was probably talking about at least four hundred years ago.

That was before humans settled Marcel.

The lighthouse pyramid had been built during the Ancient Magic Era, so this seemed to be sometime between that era and the present.

But the lizardmen stole a sacred relic of Ursus, the god we worship. Perhaps because the god became angry, we stopped receiving Ursus’s blessing.

The Ecrins Brown Bear Tribe declined.

Its territory shrank.

And they passed the grudge down through generations.

Now that a human capable of using ships had appeared, Blago wanted revenge.

“Why did you never ask another human?”

Whenever humans saw us, they either ran away or tried to fight.

That could not be the only reason.

Something else must have happened recently.

Still, whatever their circumstances were, they had nothing to do with me.

As long as Blago fulfilled my request, that was enough.

“If you recover the sacred relic, do you intend to expand your territory? I do not want you coming into my land.”

Did we not agree on a border a moment ago? If we recover the relic and our tribe grows, we will only expand toward the Lake Leman region you mentioned. Once we push the trolls away, the land will be empty.

According to the Comanceville village chief, wild races tended to keep their promises.

I decided to trust him.

I extended my right hand.

“When we are ready to attack the lizardmen, I will send a goblin to contact you. I look forward to working with you.”

Blago extended an enormous front paw.

I grabbed one of his long claws and shook it.

The Marcel, Ecrins Brown Bear Mutual Assistance Agreement was complete.

I had gained an ally capable of inflicting tremendous damage on Ronalp.

Damn you, Karin Ronalp. Start preparing your last words.

By the way, Lord of the southern land, are those donkeys gifts?

“Yes. I heard you like grain, so I brought a lot. If you want, I can leave the donkeys too.”

Arguinata had told me the Brown Bears liked grain.

Perhaps they did not have many chances to eat carbohydrates.

Blago suddenly released an enormous wave of thought.

Ohhh! The ‘King’ of the southern land has offered tribute to me! Rejoice, Brown Bears of Ecrins!

Anyone with a little sense could tell what was happening.

Blago did not truly think it was tribute.

This was simply public relations to protect his dignity in front of the other bears.

“Everyone, bow to Blago. Once is enough.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The accompanying knights all bowed.

Blago became very pleased.

Then he made an offer.

I will grant you a reward.

So he announced he had received tribute, and now he needed to give me something in return?

Did he think he was an emperor?

Blago hurried into a cave.

A moment later, he came back carrying something.

Eric, was it? This is for you. I treasure it greatly. Use it well.

What Blago handed me looked like a large, round, black stone.

It was bigger than a human head.

It smelled musty.

It did not seem like actual rock.

“What is this?”

My grandfather’s gallstone.

“......”