The bear bus ran towards the mine.
"This blizzard looks like the work of a dragon." (Kagari)
Kagari-san looked towards the mountaintop.
A white mist like lava gushed out from the mountaintop, flowing down the mountain and into the city. It had become a blizzard.
"An ice dragon? Can it do something like this?" (Yuna)
"I haven't met, so I don't know the details." (Kagari)
"So, what have you heard from someone who has seen it?" (Yuna)
"Do you think that I who was reclusive would be talking to such a person? All I know is what I told you before. Don't you know that kind of person? He must be an adventurer." (Kagari)
The history of this other world was short.
I didn't know much about this world.
Furthermore,
"Even though I'm an adventurer, I basically work alone, so I don't have anyone to talk to." (Kagari)
It made me sad if I said so myself.
"You can't use it. Don't you guys know anything about ice dragons? I heard that ice dragons appeared in the past." (Kagari)
Kagari-san turned around and asked Lise-san and the others.
"No, I have never heard of an ice dragon appearing before." (Lise)
Everyone nodded at Lise-san's words.
The blizzard got even stronger, and it's so blizzard that the horses couldn't even move in a normal carriage.
If this was the work of an ice dragon, it would be a very troublesome dragon.
Now we rushed to the mine to save the horse.
"But it's unlucky to have a blizzard at a time like this."
"Especially when everyone is in town."
"Yuna-san and Kagari-chan took the trouble to let us meet our family." (Lise)
A pessimistic voice could be heard from behind.
But Kagari-san turned around and opened her mouth at those words.
"What are you talking about, my lords? I guess it's just a matter of luck. You were all able to meet your families, and you were inside this bear during the blizzard. What's more, you had us." (Kagari)
"That's right. If it's just a blizzard, we'll protect you." (Yuna)
"That's right. If it wasn't for the girls, I wouldn't be able to meet my family."
"All I have to do is get back safely."
"I'll take you home." (Yuna)
"Ah, you said that, but are you sure it's okay? In an emergency, I will fly to protect the horse." (Kagari)
Kagari-san whispered in my ear in a small voice.
Apparently, she was thinking the same thing as me.
No matter how Kagari-san was, it's dangerous to fly in this snowstorm.
That's why I said this to reassure them.
"We'll be fine with a blizzard like this." (Yuna)
I sped up the bear bus.
Kagari-san kindly watches over me, saying, "If you need anything, tell me right away."
She's dealing with an older adult, but she looked like a little girl, so there's a gap, and it made me smile.
As we entered the uphill slope, the bear bus slipped.
"What!?" (Yuna)
The wheels spun freely.
I once heard on the news about a car stuck in the snow and unable to start.
I ignored it, thinking it had nothing to do with me, but I realized that I lacked experience in this kind of situation.
I poured mana onto a bear bus and imagine, instead of wheels, tires with spikes like spiked shoes.
Unfortunately, I was not old enough to drive a car, and I didd't know much about cars, so I didn't know about snow tires or chains, which I often heard about on TV.
So, I used the spiked shoes that appeared in the game as a reference and attached them to the tires.
It catched properly.
"Sorry, it looks like the wheels, not the tires, slipped in the snow. It's okay now." (Yuna)
The bear bus moved on.
As we climbed higher, the snowstorm became stronger, and visibility became worse.
I had only seen it on TV, but the word "whiteout" came to mind.
"I can't see in front of me because of the snow, but are we heading in the right direction? I can't even see the road. Are you okay?" (Kagari)
Kagari-san asked while looking ahead.
There's a snowstorm ahead. Was there a wiper on the front glass that could be operated with mana?
Something similar was attached to it to repel the snow.
"It's okay" (Yuna)
[Bear map.]
A map that displayed only the places you had passed.
In other words, we could return to the mine by following the same path we took when heading to town.
The bear bus went up the slope towards the mine.
It's almost there.
I thought things were going smoothly, but things weren't going smoothly.
"Kyuu~n" (Both Kuma)
Kumayuru and Kumakyu cried. This was how they sounded.
I used my bear detection skills.
Monster reaction, Ice Golem was displayed.
I compared the response location with the bear map.
Near the mine entrance.
"What's wrong? What's the bear saying?" (Kagari)
"It looks like there are monster near the entrance to the mine." (Yuna)
Lise-san and others who were behind me were surprised by my words.
"That kind of thing"
"What are we going to do?"
"We came all the way back here."
"We have no choice but to go back to town..."
"But the horse..."
"I know. But it's dangerous to continue heading to where the monsters are."
"Besides, it's not guaranteed that horses will be attacked. Let's hope they're safe."
Behind the scenes, a decision was being made to turn back.
No one wanted to encounter monsters.
But everyone looked sad.
Maybe everyone was worried about horses.
If they cared them as much as I cared about Kumayuru and Kumakyu, I wanted to protect the horses.
Besides, nothing like a golem could block my path.
"I'll protect everyone's precious horse. It'll shake a little, so hold on tight." (Yuna)
They were surprised by my words, but I had already decided to help the horses.
I poured mana into the bear bus.
I was riding the Bear Bus, so people didn't know, but the Bear Bus had grown legs.
It started walking with those legs.
Then it bent and stretched the legs.
The bear bus changed direction and faced the cliff instead of the road.
"Wait, you, where are you planning on passing?" (Kagari)
As Kagari-san asked, the bear bus leaned back.
A scream went up in the background.
"I'll go the shortest way." (Yuna)
The bear bus ran up the cliff.
The bear bus took the shortest route to the mine entrance.
Step by step, the bear bus ran up the cliff and came to the entrance of the mine.
"Lord, don’t be reckless." (Kagari)
"Sorry. But we've arrived." (Yuna)
"So, where are the monsters?" (Kagari)
"We're already surrounded." (Yuna)
An ice golem could be seen from the bear bus.
"An ice golem..." (Kagari)
"Then I'll go and defeat them, so Kagari-san, along with Kumayuru and Kumakyu, please help everyone." (Yuna)
"Kyuu~n" (Both Kuma)
Kumayuru and Kumakyu crid out to leave it to them, but Kagari-san gave a different answer.
"Let’s me go too." (Kagari)
"Kagari-chan, it's dangerous. Please wait with us." (Lise)
Often when we went to battle, I was the one who's held back, but this time Kagari-san was held back.
After all, they were more worried about the little ones than me.
"There's no need to worry about me. An ice golem of that level is no match for me." (Kagari)
"But" (Lise)
"I appreciate your concern. However, please trust me and Yuna." (Kagari)
"...Kagari-chan" (Lise)
I left Lise-san and the others to Kumayuru and Kumakyu, and Kagari-san and I got off the bear bus.
"They're here." (Yuna)
There were golems with ice bodies around.
"Then I'll quickly defeat them." (Kagari)
After saying this, Kagari-san says "bonfire" and released flames on the ice golem.
The flames engulfed the ice golem's body, and the ice golem melted and collapsed.
After all, fire was effective against ice.
Not giving up, I also shot flames at the ice golem.
Ice golems threw ice at us, but they weren't much of a threat. When I was in the Mithril Mine, it was narrow and difficult to fight, but here it's spacious. It could be easily avoided.
Kagari-san and I defeated ice golems one after another. Even though I had definitely defeated the ice golem, something felt off. Just as I was thinking that, Kagari-san came along.
"Isn't it strange?" (Kagari)
I thought so too.
A lot.
When I checked with my detection skill, there were about 10 of them.
But I had already defeated over 10 of them.
I used detection skill.
There were 3 bodies around and 5 bodies a little further away. Total of 8 bodies.
When I looked at my detection skill, the number of golems in the vicinity suddenly increased to four.
It felt like they were suddenly appeared.
It didn't appear from outside of the detection skill, but appeared as if it had just been born.
"Kagari-san! Golems are spawning in this place." (Yuna)
"What!" (Kagari)
Kagari-san called out while shooting flames at the ice golem.
"Yuna-san! The defeated golem has been revived." (Lise)
Lise-san was shouting from the entrance of the bear bus.
I turned my attention to the location of the ice golem I defeated earlier.
The ice golem, which should have melted, gathered the snow around it and returned to its original form.
Jade and others told me about this when golems appeared in the mine. To defeat the golem, either destroy the magic stone or deal damage until the magic stone's mana runs out.
The ice golem was damaged by me and Kagari-san's fire attacks, and was unable to maintain its body and collapsed.
"Kagari-san!" (Yuna)
When I looked at Kagari-san, I saw that she was touching the snow.
"I see. It's not just the ice, this snow has mana in it. So it looks like the golem has been revived." (Kagari)
In other words, did this blizzard act as a charger to replenish mana?
"If you understand the reason, defeating it will be easy." (Kagari)
"I agree" (Yuna)
All you had to do was destroy the magic stone or collect it in the item box.
But it would be a waste to destroy it, so I decided to collect it.
"Kagari-san, I'll collect the magic stone, so throw it here." (Yuna)
"Aren’t you going to break it?" (Kagari)
Kagari-san seemed to have been a way to destroy it.
"It’s a waste." (Yuna)
"Well, if that's the case, I will defeat them, and you should collect the magic stone." (Kagari)
With that said, Kagari-san ran towards the ice golem and fired a huge fire spell at it.
I picked up the magic stones melted by the ice golem and collected them in the bear box.
I used the detection skill to tell Kagari-san where the ice golems were, and made sure to reduce their number.
And by the time I picked up about 20 magic stones, the ice golem had disappeared.
Author's Note
...
*Thank you to everyone who reports typos.
Please note that some kanji have been revised to match the book, so some may not have been revised.