The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent – 65
EP.65 Game and Reality Are Different (1)
In games, no matter how long a character walks, they never get tired. It’s a given. If a character became fatigued simply from walking, it would be incredibly frustrating for players.
In a genre like long JRPGs, it would be a fatal flaw if a character who had been wandering for an hour couldn’t move unless they took a ten-minute break. Moreover, such games usually impose little restriction on running. Unless it’s an action RPG, stamina limits hardly affect gameplay since battles transition into combat mode anyway. There’s no reason to hamper swift movement and frustrate players.
The problem was, that only applied to games.
“Ha… ha… ha…”
I could hear heavy breathing behind me.
The place where the Elemental Bear was located was deep within the forest. While there were paths, they were not as solid as the well-paved roads of the village, making it quite exhausting to walk on those narrow trails.
Naturally, walking for dozens of minutes without rest would lead to physical strain.
“…”
At least I had done a minimum amount of training. I didn’t have a superhuman body like the other protagonists, but my stamina wasn’t the worst either.
The real issue was Mia Crowfield, who seemed to have no relation to physical exercise in her daily life.
“Are you alright?”
As I clenched my teeth and maintained my expression, Claire, who was behind me, looked worriedly at Mia, who was struggling to keep up.
“Ha, I’m fine, really…”
“No, you look far from fine.”
Alice replied.
“Let’s just take a break here. It’s better for all of us, including Lady Crowfield, to face our prey in optimal condition.”
“True, let’s rest for a moment.”
The sun was slowly rising in the sky.
Even though we had woken up at four in the morning and had breakfast before heading out, everyone seemed to realize how foolish it was to enter a forest in the middle of the night. However, we hadn’t done nothing during that time; we had reviewed the request details again and double-checked our supplies before venturing into the woods.
No matter how much I had played the game, this forest wasn’t going to be an exact replica of the game’s depiction. The shape of the village resembled the game closely, but replicating the vastness of such a forest in the game was simply impossible.
“Haah…”
Mia sat down on the ground and exhaled.
“…”
I pulled out my water flask and handed it to Mia. I had boiled the water in the morning and put it in the flask, which I kept in the leather pouch at my waist, so it still had a bit of warmth left.
“Ah…”
Mia looked up at me with wide eyes, slightly surprised that I handed her the flask.
“T-thank you.”
But perhaps because of the gazes around her, she couldn’t bring herself to refuse the flask.
Mia Crowfield took the flask, opened it, and carefully took a sip of the still warm water, exhaling softly.
“Ahh…”
“It seems we might not be able to complete some of the requests.”
Jake said, his tone quite cold.
However, I found myself agreeing with him to some extent. Putting Mia aside, my stamina also had its limits. While I might look like some kind of ironman to others, the truth was, no matter how hard I trained, I couldn’t match anyone here in strength and endurance, excluding Mia.
“…”
The problem was, what would happen to the game’s story then?
It was fine if a few side quests were left incomplete due to someone’s absence, but the main quests required a fixed party. Even now, it was very different from the game. In the game, only four party members could engage in combat at once. So, having multiple people wandering around together was already a significant deviation from the game.
But then what happens if a key character in the main quest runs out of stamina, gets injured, or collapses?
As I pondered this seriously, Mia looked at me with a slightly terrified expression and handed the flask back, seemingly concerned about how I perceived her struggle.
I silently accepted the flask and took a sip of the water inside. The warm liquid flowed down my throat, warming my insides just a bit.
…Well, considering the story’s progress, we were still in the early stages. It wouldn’t hurt to observe a bit longer before making any judgments.
And besides, it was Charlotte who picked this quest, with Leo and Claire agreeing to it. The three believed they had the skills to take down the Elemental Bear, and the receptionist nodded as if it was obvious upon hearing the Grace family’s name, so it would work out somehow.
Who would get seriously injured on a mere side quest anyway?
*
The Elemental Bear was about the same size as a wolf.
However, its physical abilities weren’t much different from that of a wolf either. Although it contained Marmaros within its body, it wasn’t strong enough to block bullets. But thinking back, that beast was the first monster encountered in the story. Naturally, it couldn’t be that strong here either.
“Groooar!”
Yet, the “Red Claw” roaring in frenzy was different.
…In other words, the beast we were hunting this time was a “bear.” A bear whose skin and bones could occasionally deflect bullets.
But it also possessed a fire-element Marmaros, instinctively using magic as well.
Its size was twice that of the polar bear I had seen at the zoo, requiring me to tilt my head far back just to look up at it.
Normally, a bear sitting quietly with its mouth closed might seem a bit cute, but the Elemental Bear exuded an aura of pure beastliness even while remaining still.
“Alright, let’s go!”
Leo declared, and Claire nodded in agreement.
“Grrrr!”
The Elemental Bear swung its arm, and we narrowly dodged. Leo jumped to the side while Claire ducked her head. The sharp claws sliced through the air, and I felt a shiver run down my spine when I saw the tip of Claire’s hair get severed.
“Let’s go, Princess!”
“…Just call me Charlotte.”
Jake and Charlotte dashed next. They moved around to the back of the Elemental Bear and swung their swords. Of course, with its thick hide, it didn’t seem like it would go down easily.
Claire, using her whip-like sword to keep a safe distance, drew the Elemental Bear’s attention. In the meantime, Leo charged into the bear’s front, swinging his sword. He didn’t inflict any fatal wounds in one blow, but he was definitely wearing it down.
Every time the bear turned its head toward Charlotte and Jake, the two of them would attack again to redirect its focus. The combat was a blend of the Grace family’s heavy-hitting strikes and slashes, complemented by Charlotte’s three-sword technique and Jake’s quick hit-and-run tactics.
“Well then, I’ll join in too.”
Alice said, gripping her sword tightly.
“Cover my back!”
“Okay.”
I nodded, and Alice lunged forward.
The imperial swordsmanship placed significant weight on each attack. It was slower than the Grace family’s style with two-handed swords, but each strike held immense power. Just the sword energy alone could crack the ground.
In the game, Alice was a close-range dealer characterized by her “slow speed but strong single attacks.” As Alice darted through the space between Leo and Claire toward the Elemental Bear, her sword swung down, and the bear’s belly, which had only received minor cuts from Leo and Claire, tore open, spraying blood everywhere.
“Grrrr!”
The painful roar that followed was a deafening contrast to its earlier bravado. The Elemental Bear slammed the ground in fury, sending dry leaves flying as sparks erupted.
“Eek!”
Mia Crowfield let out a thin scream upon witnessing the scene.
“We’ll proceed as planned.”
I calmly reassured Mia.
The sight was far more intense and brutal than anything I had seen in the game. However, I had already witnessed people blown apart and bullets lodged in wolf skulls before. There was no reason for me to be shocked by such a scene now.
“Please prepare water-type magic. I’ll set up to shoot from a little distance.”
I instructed.
Mia nodded several times. Shrinking back slightly, she moved away from the frontline and began casting a spell with her staff. Seeing this, I took action too.
If I had more time, I would have climbed a tree, but that didn’t seem possible now. Instead, I climbed onto a nearby large rock, kneeling to take aim at the Elemental Bear’s head with my gun.
Although its head was large, the bear was wildly thrashing about while roaring, making it hard to aim accurately.
However, I had a few chances left.
I rested my finger on the trigger and pulled. The solid metal pushed back against my finger, but eventually, it buckled under the force I applied, and—
Bang!
The gunshot echoed, possibly even louder than anything I had heard in the military. It was pure luck that I managed to hit the bear’s head in one shot without resetting time.
“Graaah!”
But the prey didn’t go down in one hit. With blood gushing from one eye, the bear straightened its body and rose up, looking frankly a little terrifying.
In the meantime, more wounds had been added to the Elemental Bear’s body, but it seemed completely unfazed, glaring straight at me.
Rage.
If that bear could express an emotion, it would have been rage.
I watched as blood and some transparent fluid streamed from the bear’s right eye through my scope, then I placed my hand on the bolt and pulled it back. Clack! The crisp and satisfying sound of the gun’s mechanism clicked into place, and at the same moment, a spent casing flew out with a ping.
I pushed my hand forward again when—
“…….”
Flames began to erupt from the bear’s back.
Even with my lack of heightened senses, that sight was very unsettling.
“Get back!”
Leo shouted, and everyone near the Elemental Bear quickly jumped back.
Yet the bear didn’t bother to chase after the humans surrounding it.
Whoosh—
A sound reminiscent of a kettle boiling filled the air as the giant bear’s mouth slowly opened.
That gaping maw was aimed directly at me.
“…Ah.”
Right.
In its overly beastly appearance, I had forgotten that even the minor monsters in Aetherna could use magic without any issue. And it was the same magical effects that humans used. I had often wondered how a beast could cast spells without uttering incantations.
Flames flickered deep within the bear’s mouth, visible through my scope. Was it producing the fire itself?
In a panic, I pulled the trigger again.
Bang! The sound rang out, and I felt the recoil travel through my shoulder. As I fired, the scope jerked upwards due to the kickback, so I didn’t see the bullet pierce the bear’s cheek.
At that very moment, Mia Crowfield’s magic, which she had been preparing, was unleashed.