15 - Fish 'n' Fiends!

“… This stinks.”

It’s already past noon, and I haven’t hooked up a single fish. Not for lack of trying, as displayed by the now tattered remains of my once herb-wrapped bait, slyly bitten off by the hydrodynamic silhouettes lurking beneath the surface of the spring.

The feathers helped draw them in, but just because I have more opportunity to pull, doesn’t mean I caught any fish to show for it.

With the waterfall providing therapeutic background noise, there was a peaceful serenity in the air, yet my patience was wearing thin.

Having had a taste of meat, I now wanted more. I wanted to experience different cuisines locked away from me my whole life, but this particular delicacy was proving difficult to obtain.

Now that I know Mister B wasn’t hostile towards me, the Tranquil Forest felt safe enough to enter, unlocking another source for supplies.

But this particular source was stubbornly refusing me the bounties of fresh seafood.

“Maybe the spear idea is the way to go…”

I’d thought of fashioning a spear for fishing instead, to make use of my abnormally high physical strength. Unfortunately, that required a whole ’nother set of skills which I didn’t possess, namely swimming.

When the sound of footsteps rustling leaves broke the monotony of nature’s ambience, I looked up in boredom as I cast my rod into the waters again.

“Woolie, don’t wander too far in, I won’t be able to dive in and save-”

“Hmph.”

“O-oh.”

Expecting to see the familiar friendly ball of fluffiness scampering away from my side, I was surprised to see the bear—Mister B—standing from across the spring, wearing his usual scowl. He looked at my rod for a while, then snorted.

“… What?”

Mister B stood still at very edge of the spring, silently staring into the water. Was he watching the fish? It almost looked as if he was frozen in place, like a statue. Then-

“GRAWR!”

With a thunderous roar, Mister B swung his arm into the water with such ferocity even my face was splashed with a wave of water, causing me to splutter.

“W-what the heck, Mister B! I’m trying to fish over he- you can’t be serious.”

“Hmph,” Mister B smirked, a beautiful blue and silver fish in his hand, desperately squirming with the last of its strength.

You caught it?

Of course Mister B could pull that off. Why couldn’t he? He’s Mister B; his arms must be strong enough to strike at blindingly fast speeds. All I had was my fishing rod, I don’t have anything remotely close to-

“… Huh.”

I put aside my fishing rod and peered into the spring, barely able to make out the silhouettes that had taunted me so.

“Let’s see… from what I saw, Mister B raised him arm like so, I guess that will give me enough room for a back swing to channel enough force, then drop down…”

Mister B watched with interest, likely wondering what I was attempting to do copying his movements.

“Foo… foo… Ah-tah… ahh-tah…!” I psyched myself up while waiting for the opportune moment- “HIIYAAH!!”

Splash!

My hand cut into the water surface, spraying water right back at Mister B as I felt the slippery texture of a scaleless fish. I only managed to push it over the water surface before it flopped back underwater to safety, escaping my grasp.

“Heh.”

Mister B’s smirk looked all too human, and only lit a fire under me as I prepared to make another attempt. This time-

“GRAWR!” I imitated Mister B’s cry.

With all the strength I could muster from my shout, I pushed out with my hand, sending the fish that eluded me so all this time flying high into the air-

And straight back down towards the water.

Quick, think fast!

“HYAAHOO!”

The first thing I could think of was to jump up high and kick the fish onto solid ground. Perhaps the sight of my first potential catch filled me with too much gusto, but I’d kicked the fish way too hard.

Thump!

My foot made contact with the fish’s head, sending it flipping through the air into the rock wall-

Thud-

-where it bounced off and flew high up into the sky, spinning vigorously as it disappeared into the sea of trees.

“BAHAAH!” Mister B roared with laughter.

Despite my failure, I was shaking with excitement.

“I… I did it! It’s possible after all! I’ve made progress!” I exclaimed.

“Hmph.”

Mister B threw his fish over the spring towards me.

“Woah- Slippery thing. Wow, it’s bigger than I thought! Are you giving this to me, Mister B?”

“Hmph,” Mister B grunted with a nod.

“Thanks! You know, you don’t seem nearly as bad as I thought you’d be.”

Mister B snorted and turned to leave, but I called out to him again.

“Wait! I’ve got something for you this time.”

I retrieved the basket by my side and opened it to show Mister B the campfire-roasted pork I prepared earlier this morning.

“Muu?!”

Woolie stood up in shock. No doubt, he’d assumed this was our lunch the entire time.

“Take it. Share some with little cubby too, will you?”

“Grmm…” Mister B scratched his nose, slowly making his way across the spring.

When I stood face to face- face to tummy with him however, Mister B beckoned me over instead, signaling for me to follow him.

“Can I come visit?”

“Hmph.”

I smiled at the prospect of playing with the little bear cub, and nodded. Immediately after, I found myself being picked up in one paw with ease.

“W-what’re you doing-?”

“Muu?!”

Mister B ferried Woolie and I across the spring under his arms, plopping us down on the other side.

“There’s no need for that, I could have crossed it myself…”

Did he think I’d drown because of my height?

Oh right, I can’t swim.

“I’ll have to fix that too…” I mumbled to myself.

“Grr?”

“It’s nothing, Mister B. Let’s get going, shall we? I don’t remember where your cave is so you’ll have to lead the way- bleh!”

I walked face first into Mister B’s furry back as he suddenly stopped in his tracks, the fish slipping out of my arms.

“What? Is there a boar here or something?”

“Grr…”

Mister B’s growl was unlike anything I’d heard him use. No, I’ve heard it once, back when I first encountered him. During that situation, Mister B thought I’d invaded him home to whisk away his cub…

“What’s gotten you so riled up?”

I peeked from behind his back, peering into the woods ahead. Though it’s daytime, it was difficult to make out the shape approaching us as the canopy of trees were particularly clustered here.

I squinted as the figure approached closer and was able to make out something that looked oddly humanoid in shape. It’s quite small, and appeared to be… hunchback? It’s-

“What-?”

I gasped as the figure finally stepped out from the shadows, revealing dark, green skin splattered with bulbous growths all over its body, a long, crooked nose and a crude makeshift wooden club in one hand.

I’ve seen those things before.

They were common creatures in fantasy novels and movies back on Earth. To think I’d actually see one standing before me! For real!

“Wow! An actual goblin! They actually exist! So classic, so fantasy-like, much-”

“GRAWW!!”

With a great leap forward, Mister B slammed his fist into the goblin, caving its skull from above.

“GYAAH!!” I screamed from the shock of the sudden violence as red erupted from its pointy ears.

Of course, goblins aren’t friendly creatures!

Mister B roared as more shadows appeared not just from deep in the forest, but everywhere. Unfortunately for the invaders, Mister B attacked with ruthless brutality, sparing no leniency in his one-hit kills.

“Ughh…” I grimaced as I walked by one of the mangled corpses.

Crack! Crack! THUMP! Splat-

In his fury, Mister B picked up the fish on the ground and slammed it into his target, the impact causing the fish to explode into a fleshy mess.

“Why the fish?!”

It was now that I realized Mister B could have definitely snapped me in half back in the cave if he wanted to; my full-power kick probably didn’t even faze him at all.

The last creature to appear was another familiar one—the classic orc. Frankly I was more amazed at how similar they were to Earth’s depictions of them, as if god had created these creatures using our designs as their blueprint.

As expected, the orc was no match for Mister B. It wasn’t even a fight; another one-hit kill.

“Y-you’re way too strong, Mister B… are you some kind of ‘defender of the forest’?”

“Hmph,” Mister B turned to me with a smug grin, which quickly changed into a snarl with his eyes wide open.

From behind, I heard Woolie cry out to me. It was a very specific cry, one he always used when we were in danger, and one that was reminiscent of when I fought the boar in the Screeching Forest.

“HWAT-TOH!!”

Without hesitation, I turned around and kicked out with my left leg, grazing the nose of the surprised goblin as it leaned backwards just in time to avoid my roundhouse kick.

My first real combat!

My heart was pounding fast as Mister B ran up to us with a roar. Instead of intervening however, he simply stood there with his arms crossed, a grin on his face as he watched the nervous goblin and I.

“Lemme at ’em, Mister B!”

Any sane person would think to leave it to the giant bear to take care of monsters, but not me. Perhaps I was simply caught up in the moment, filled with artificial confidence seeing my attack do actual damage to a monster.

But my mind was filled with other thoughts.

Fascinating! Why does it look so eerily similar to Earth’s depictions? I’m so pumped to punch it in its crooked nose! Maybe with this I can finally put those techniques I learned to the test!

I allowed my childish thoughts to control my excitement, taking up a basic stance with arms raised.

“Hmph!”

Mister B seemed eager to see what I was capable of, something even I wasn’t sure myself. But if Mister B was letting me fight this goblin, he must at least have some confidence in my ability to pull it off.

I’ll put my trust in this fighting bear.

I never thought I’d think those words, but here I am now getting into position as I reached behind my back, only to grasp air.

Oh right, I didn’t bring my blades today!

Thinking the Tranquil Forest was safe now that Mister B wasn’t hostile, I didn’t think to bring them along.

“What a mistake… Oh well!”

I’ll have to test the limits of my own body.

“Muumuu!” Woolie whined with tears streaming down his face.

“I’ll be fine.”

As the goblin jumped at me with a raised wooden club, I hopped backwards, easily dodging its downward swing. It’s quite clumsy and pretty slow… or was I just nimble?

Thinking it’d be an easy strike while it was still retracting the crude weapon, I hopped forwards to get in a quick punch-

“Geeh!”

The goblin swung his club to the side, catching me off guard as I stumbled back.

“Cheeky little-!”

I see, my arms don’t reach very far. I’ve only ever hit a training dummy, so my sense of distancing wasn’t great. Then again, I was about the same size as the goblin…

I raised one leg, balancing with my right foot planted firmly on the ground, watching the goblin’s every move.

It charged from the right-

“Hwah!”

I kicked at it, lightly striking its shoulder.

The goblin tried once more from the left-

“Hwoh!”

I switched legs and kicked out with my right, putting more strength into it this time. The goblin reeled back as my foot made contact with its neck. Seeing the opportunity-

“HWAT-TOH!”

I aimed at its arm and kicked out, disarming it of the only weapon it had.

Now that that’s been taken care of, I should go on the offensive-!

Recalling the tutorials and training I went through, I struck the goblin with one more kick and two punches, giving it no room to catch its breath or even attempt a counterattack.

Left hand, right hand, left hand, right left-

“HYAAHOO!!”

One more roundhouse kick to the head sent the goblin flying into a tree, where it lay groaning.

I won!

I did way better than expected. Not only did I come out unscathed, I’d even say my opponent was no match for me.

“Hah… hah…”

… Huh? I’m out of breath…?

That can’t be right. I’ve done training more strenuous than this. I’ve only been at it for… a couple of minutes top? Actually, I seemed to be… winded…?

“Wheeze-! Why am I- Wheeze- out of breath…?”

Does a real combat situation really sap so much of my energy? I don’t know… I’ve never been in one before…

I raised my hands in front of my face, and was shocked to see them trembling. In fact, my whole body appeared to be shaking.

This doesn’t make sense…? I clearly had the upper-hand the entire time. I dispatched of the goblin quite handily, with ease even. And yet, I’m shaking…?

I stood rooted to the spot, gasping for breath.

“Grmm.”

The strong paw tapping me on the shoulder was enough for my legs to give way as I collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily.

Mister B delivered the finishing blow on my behalf, sparing me the trouble of dirtying my hands.

*

That night, I lay in bed staring at the cold, wooden ceiling above.

After the incident in the Tranquil Forest, Mister B and I went our separate ways. I was exhausted and didn’t feel up for a house visit after all that, opting to head home. Despite me fizzling out at the end, Mister B appeared to be impressed by my bout against the goblin.

I even saw him attempt to perform one of my kicks, strengthening my conspiracy theory he’s some sort of human trapped in a bear’s body. The last I saw of him, Mister B was busy picking up the corpses of the green invaders, no doubt disposing of their bodies somewhere.

Is that why the Tranquil Forest’s always so peaceful?

The lack of wildlife might be due to the presence of invaders like goblins and orcs, but Mister B was there to exterminating them and erase all traces of their existence.

At least, that was my best guess. If that were true, Mister B had been defending me, Woolie and all the critters in the Screeching Forest the entire time; no monster could get past his monstrous strength.

“But, to think they really do exist…”

I still couldn’t comprehend that feeling I felt back there. Was that supposed to be fear? But if it was, I’d never have been able to fight so ferociously…

“Ugh, I don’t understand!”

I spent most of my life bedridden! I don’t understand these complicated feelings!

“No wait, that’s not right.”

I’m still a kid! I don’t understand these complicated feelings!

In the end, both were probably true.

Witnessing fantasy-like creatures first hand made me think of the possibilities out there all over again. Magic? Castle towns? Beast races? Heck, I’m quite certain I’m not fully human myself, what with the ears, abnormal physical strength and crazy resistance against the cold.

“I wish I have someone I can talk to,” I whispered as my thoughts drifted to the person depicted in the doodle on the kitchen wall.

Not in my mind palace, but a real, living person in the real world.

In this house with me.

“…”

I can say with certainty I was afraid back there. Did my childish sense of wonder seeing a monster drive me to overcome that fear? What more can I expect to see in the coming days? But… all I’ll be able to see in the highlands are wildlife and monsters. What are the chances I’ll ever come across another person?

“… I want to see what lies beyond that hill.”

I’m curious, so curious. Now that I know invasive creatures can and will come, I’ll have to train diligently to make sure I’m prepared for them. But before that, I wanted to satiate the urge inside, the curiosity to find out what awaited me out there.

“It’s time to go on a little adventure. Just a little…”