I used detection magic, but I hadn't noticed the Black Tiger.
If I had summoned Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, they would have probably found it.
It was a complete failure on my part.
「Why is such a monster here?」
Marcus whispered.
They were all looking at the Black Tiger, which was devouring the goblins.
「Anyway, we should run away.」
「Marcus, don't move!」
The moment Marcus tried to move, the Black Tiger looked our way while sniffing the air.
If we didn't move, it would discover us using its sense of smell.
Also, there was no way we could outrun it.
「Marcus……」
Timor and Cattleya seemed worried and looked at Marcus.
It was a terrible thing to do to a student who had no experience.
After looking at everyone, Marcus swallowed his saliva and spoke up.
「I-I will be a decoy, so you guys have to use that chance to flee!」
「Marcus!?」
They were all surprised by his words.
I was surprised too, of course. I really didn't think he would say something like that.
「I'm the one that got us in this situation. If only I didn't promise that I would try to kill the goblins…」
「That's not a reason for you to sacrifice yourself, right?」
「If it continues like this, we will all be killed, you know!」
「That's……」
The Black Tiger was slowly approaching our hiding spot while smelling the air around it.
「I will make an opening, so make sure to use it!」
「If we all attack it…」
「That would be impossible, of course. Also, someone has to inform the village. If we all died here, who would do it? Adventurers who can kill a Black Tiger have to come from the capital. If the villagers aren't warned, they will also be killed, you know!」
「That's true, but…」
「Stop arguing and just go!」
It was finally my turn, right?
I tried to speak up, but Timor spoke up before me.
「Marcus, I will also stay with you.」
「Timor……」
「We can't let the girls die, after all. With two decoys, we will give them more time. No hard feelings for which one gets eaten first, okay?」
「Timor, you are saying some really cool things, but your hands are shaking, you know…」
Timor's hands, which were holding onto his staff, were indeed shaking.
It wasn't just his hands that were shaking. His legs, which were supporting him, were also trembling.
「Hahaha, Marcus, you're also shaking, you know.」
Marcus and Timor were laughing, but they weren't smiling.
I had to barge into this serious scene with my Bear Clothes, right?
I couldn't just stay put, either; the Black Tiger was still slowly approaching us.
「When we rush in, you guys have to run, okay?」
Marcus said while looking at us, the girls.
「Marcus, Timor……」
Cattleya hesitated a bit, then nodded.
「Okay. We will absolutely make it out alive. Shia-san, Yuna-san, we will be going.」
With her trembling hands, Cattleya grasped ours.
「Yuna-san…」
Shia looked at me with a worried expression.
「Timor, let's go!」
「Y-yes.」
The moment they tried to leave the thicket, I grabbed their clothes.
「What!?」
「From here on, it's my job.」
As expected, I couldn't just let them go.
「What are you saying!?」
「It's my fault that I didn't find the Black Tiger. Also, my job is to protect each and every one of you.」
I stepped in front of Marcus and left the thicket.
Even if the students were able to flee from the Black Tiger, they would be attacked by the wolves.
I summoned Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear.
「Protect these four, okay?」
Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear answered with a "Kuun" and went to the students.
「What are those!?」
Marcus, Timor, and Cattleya were all shocked when they saw Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear.
「They are Hugging Bear and Swaying Bear.」
Shia told them.
「But, their size is…」
「That's their real size, you know.」
「The four of you have to stay near Hugging Bear and Swaying Bear. Wolves are gathering from all around here, after all.」
「Yuna-san…」
Shia looked at me with a worried expression again.
「Shia, I leave these three to you.」
「Okay. Please don't die, you hear me?」
I smiled and waved.
「Shia, what are you saying? It's definitely impossible for her.」
「Marcus. Please leave it to Yuna-san from now on.」
「There is no way I could do that!」
Shia stopped Marcus, who tried to stop me.
「There is no problem. Yuna-san can defeat it.」
I left the other three students to Shia and went to defeat the Black Tiger by myself.
It was huge. It was way bigger than the Tiger Wolf I had defeated before.
I dodged by taking a big step to the right.
It was faster than the Tiger Wolves, and there was also a lot strength behind its attacks.
If it was just defeating it, there was no problem. I would just kill with a Fire Bear.
I really wanted its fur to become a carpet in my home, if possible, in a perfect state. Fina should be able to skin it perfectly.
I was thinking about how to defeat the Black Tiger while evading its attacks.
I tried to stop its movements with earth magic, but it was too fast for me to catch it. It evaded all the attacks that came from the ground.
I made wind magic flow from the ground below him. The Black Tiger sensed something coming from under it and tried to dodge with a big jump, but it wasn't enough, and the wind magic blew it high into the air.
The Black Tiger soared into the sky while spinning around.
The Black Tiger reformed its posture in the air and dexterously landed like a cat.
It fell from that height and still had no wounds? It should have fractured something, at least!
The Black Tiger was blown away, tumbled on the ground as if it was gliding, and stopped after colliding with a tree. Then, it stood up as if nothing had happened.
It was stronger than I had thought it would be.
It was fast, so I couldn't use golems to attack it, either.
It would have been good if I could at least wound it with the no rope bungee jump from before…
Marcus's POV:
The Bear Girl had said some crazy things.
Didn't she see the Black Tiger in front of her?
I stretched my hand out to stop her, but it didn't reach her, and she left the thicket.
They were huge. Shia said that they were those cubs we saw before and that this was their real size.
I heard a few things about summoned beasts, but this was my first time seeing one.
Who was this girl, really…
She said that the Bear Girl would kill the Black Tiger… There was no way I would believe something like that.
The fight was really an unbelievable sight.
「Yuna-san is incredible!」
「Shia, you knew about it?」
I asked Shia, who seemed to know more about the Bear Girl.
「Are you talking about Yuna-san's true strength? I already fought her, so I knew.」
「You fought her?」
「Not so long ago, I didn't believe it when I heard that she was strong, so we had a match. I was completely destroyed by Yuna-san, who was even taking it easy on me…」
「Completely defeating Shia-san…」
Cattleya didn't seem to believe it.
I couldn't believe it, either. I knew how strong Shia was. She was the strongest girl in the academy. So, her being completely defeated sounded impossible.
「You're joking, right?」
「From what Father and Mother had told me, I believe she is even stronger than that.」
「From what Eleanora-sama and Cliff-sama told you?」
「I will tell you since you would find out if you just looked into it, but Yuna-san, by herself, defeated a goblin horde, a Goblin King, two Tiger Wolves, a Black Viper, and they also said that she was the one who took out Zamon's bandit group. Also, it seemed like Father and Mother were hiding some other things too…」
「You're lying, right?…」
「Do you really think I'm lying when you see her fighting right in front of you?」
In front of us, we saw her using advanced magic to fight the Black Tiger.
Each and every one of them sounded impossible. How could she defeat all of them all by herself?
Still, seeing the Bear Girl fight the Black Tiger in front of me, there was no way I could call it a joke.
I looked at their fight.
Wh-what was with this… How could a human move so quickly, launch magic so fast, and use this many powerful spells?
Still, even after seeing it, we felt like we didn't want to believe it.
「But, Shia-san, why didn't you tell us that Yuna-san was this strong?」
「There was no reason to do it, and even if I had told you, you wouldn't have believed me, right?」
She was right, I wouldn't have believed her.
I wouldn't have believed that a girl shorter than me could be this strong.
I just thought that she was a student younger than me.
In reality, it was the opposite. We were the ones who were being protected.
Before our eyes, the Bear Girl was protecting us by fighting the Black Tiger.
「Also, I thought that there were other reasons for Mother to chose Yuna-san.」
「Other reasons, you say?」
「This is only what I think, but with Yuna-san as our escort, no one would think she is one because of her appearance. With how my mother is like, I think that she wanted to see how everyone would be treating Yuna-san.」
Considering what Eleanora-sama was like, it was possible.
I didn't believe that the Bear Girl was really our escort. That was why I had asked Shia to protect her in case something happened.
「Still, I don't think Mother predicted that we would have encountered a Black Tiger.」
Who could have possibly thought that such a monster would have appeared… Also, who could believe that such a small girl was fighting such a monster on equal grounds…
Even I would have laughed at it, mocked the people telling this story, and said that it was impossible if I wasn't here to witness it.
Yuna's POV:
I knew it, some scratches on the hide were unavoidable. I really wanted a beautiful black pelt, though…
It was fast enough that it was difficult to even make it do a second bungee jump.
(TN: Saint Seiya is an old japanese manga that was also made into an anime.)
There was no helping it. I was afraid of the aftermath, but there was no other way than this.
Did that make it irritated? Since a while ago, it had been groaning with a 「Gyurururu」sound. It seemed very angry with his fangs showing.
The Black Tiger jumped the moment it came behind me. I didn't turn around on purpose, in order to draw that attack out. The moment it noticed I wasn't facing it, it tried to bite me with its strong fangs.
The Black Tiger surely thought that it had won. I thought the same for me.
It bit the White Bear, but I didn't feel any pain.
The Black Tiger bit into the glove with even more strength.
They say, 'Let them cut your flesh, so you can break their bones.' I broke its bones without even getting cut, though.
The Black Tiger's jaw, that was biting me, loosened, and its big corpse collapsed onto the ground.
Author's note
When you guys read Black Tiger, do you first think about the shrimp or the tiger?
(TN: Okay, here author used katakana ブラックタイガー (Burakku Taigaa, which souds like black tiger in english) instead of the usual kanji, 黒虎 (kuro tora, black tiger in japanese). For japanese people, the first thing that comes to their mind when they read the katakana version is the Black tiger prawn (also known as Asian tiger shrimp), and not the real black tiger.)
In the previous note, I caused trouble for you guys when I talked about the illustrations.
I would be really happy if you go see the detailed things on the PASH! Editor's house blog.
Also, I'm really sorry about this, but please refrain from giving your impressions until this calms down. Thank you for understanding.