Knight and Wand

Chapter 256 The Hunt is Over
Torches illuminated the dark underground cave.

In the crevice of the rock that served as their hiding place, three Dinocampus cubs that had grown to be almost the size of ordinary humans huddled in a corner, constantly making frightened cries. Their sharp, underdeveloped voices echoed in the cave, calling out to their mother who would never return.

The bloodstains on the weapons had been wiped off, but the remaining smell of blood still made the cubs instinctively retreat in fear. However, there was a rock wall behind them and they had nowhere to escape.

In the flickering dim light, everyone's pace slowed down in front of the bear's den.

Olivia silently looked at the bear cubs that were screaming in fear at everyone.

She was not a noble daughter who had never been involved in fish farming. She had grown up in the village and had helped the villagers when they had the chance to slaughter pigs and sheep.

But killing for food and survival is a very different feeling from killing young animals just to eliminate hidden dangers.

The girl was dazed for a moment, and looked down at the sword at her waist, feeling a little confused.

Are I really fundamentally different from those thugs who massacre innocent people?
In the eyes of these cubs, is she no different from a vicious devil?

Greenthorne walked past the girl and saw Olivia's expression. The old knight realized that the child was still a little girl after all.

Greenthorne explained and advised the girl, "Miss Olivia, these three cubs are almost weaned. Although it is human nature to feel sorry for them, we cannot risk more victims in the future by sparing them. You might as well go back outside the cave and wait. Leave this to us."

The rangers would certainly not leave the bear cubs to fend for themselves. The cubs of the Dinocampus posed no threat to the Knights of Arms, but they were still much stronger than ordinary small animals.

If left unchecked, even if only one of them was forced by hunger to go out and look for food before starving to death, and survived by instinct and luck, then a few years later, there would be another dangerous man-eating giant bear on the land of Redingburg.

You know, even a juvenile Dinocampus is two or three times larger than a tiger or lion.

In the struggle for survival, there is no room for the luxury of kindness.

The old knight's words brought Olivia back from her thoughts.

The girl looked at the other person, her hair shaking slightly.

"Thank you, Uncle Greenthorne, but I'm not that fragile."

Olivia raised her hand and drew her sword.

She didn't want to completely push this decision onto other people, but she covered her eyes and ears and pretended not to see it.

Whether it is the mother bear or the three cubs in front of them, they are indeed just fighting for survival.

But the same is true for the villagers who struggled on this land and those poor people who were tragically eaten by bears.

Recalling Leon's decisiveness in killing Baron Shatai, she strengthened her belief that she must choose the lesser of two evils in order to protect more important things.

"My Lords, let me do it. My sword is fast enough so that they won't feel any pain." The girl walked towards the bear's den with a sharp blade in her hand.

The rangers looked over and stopped.

They had experienced the girl's extraordinary sword speed and knew that what she said was true.

Giving these three harmless young animals a painless and quick death may be the only mercy they can offer.

But suddenly, Olivia, who was about to take action, was held down on the shoulder by Leon behind her.

The girl stopped and looked back in confusion.

Leon smiled at her and saw the girl's eyes flashing in the firelight. It seemed that he could see the kindness and compassion buried deep in her heart in the dazzling gold.

"You don't want to kill them, right?" Leon said gently.

Olivia stared into her lover's eyes, startled by his words, and her right hand, which was tightly gripping the hilt of the sword, couldn't help but loosen.

"They haven't harmed anyone yet, so they are still innocent, but it seems we have no other options."

The girl faced Leon with a helpless voice, but she had expectations for her lover in her heart.

Leon raised his eyes and glanced at the bear cub not far away, who seemed to sense that death was approaching and tried to threaten the knights.

Perhaps because he was so used to raising the fat cubs at home, he felt it was a pity to kill the three cubs.

If the Dinocampus could also become a war beast, he wouldn't have to rely solely on the Death Claw to help him in battle.

Thinking of his own fat cuckoo curled up in the nest recuperating from its injuries, Leon felt distressed.

"How can we know if we don't try? At least keep them locked up. Right now, these cubs are far from capable of getting out and becoming trouble."

"Sir, do you mean to try to tame these three mountain bears?" Derek understood what Leon meant.

Greenthorne frowned, but still tried to persuade the young lord: "Lord Leon, I have to remind you that it's not that no one has tried in the past, but they have never succeeded. The habits of the dire bears are not like your griffins, nor like Derek's dire wolves. These giant bears are too wild."

The old knight was worried that the baron underestimated the danger of the mountain bear, even though everyone rushed forward and killed the mother bear quickly, as if it was easy.

Not to mention this ambush, which caught the Mountain Bear by surprise, if it were the same as in the past, the rangers and heroes from all over the world would hardly gather together.

Greenthorne knew that any one of them would have to consider escaping if they faced the giant beast alone, and even if two or three of them joined forces to fight, their lives would still be in danger.

It's not dangerous to raise a cub now, but what about when the Dinocampus grows up? This kind of solitary beast only needs to go crazy and willful once to cause a terrible tragedy.

The rangers themselves had fulfilled their ancient oath, and it was impossible for them to continue to stay in the other party's territory and help the lord guard the beast. Besides, there was more than just one Deinonychus.
"Please rest assured, sir. I am not a person who does not know the importance of things, nor do I necessarily want to tame them. I just think there is another option besides killing them."

Leon waved his hand and said, "If I really can't teach them to coexist with humans, it won't be too late to do it then. Or, when my griffin companion recovers from his injuries, I can take the cubs to the wilderness far away from the human kingdom and let them return to the uninhabited mountains. It will just take more effort, and there is no need to execute them all now."

Even a savage and ferocious dragon beast like a flying dragon can be tamed into a war beast by the Drakmar royal family. What if it works?

What's more, he has Miss "Lola A Dream" to consult.

After Olivia heard Leon's plan and looked at the Dinocampus cubs, she felt a little relieved.

Seeing Greenthorne and the others hesitate, she sheathed her sword and said to Leon, "I swear to take good care of these three bear cubs and never let them get out and cause trouble."

Ork, the Northern Ranger who had been silent, looked at her and then turned to Leon: "Baron, can you swear on your honor?"

Leon immediately nodded seriously to the rangers: "I swear in the name of Pendragon that I will never let these three mountain bears harm the world no matter what." Upon hearing this, the rangers looked at each other, and then exchanged opinions. In the end, they no longer insisted on killing the cubs immediately.

All the advice that needed to be given had been given. As long as the baron could take good care of the baby Dinocampus bear, it would be a great effort on his part, whether he had to kill it after failing to tame it or let a griffin take the cub and release it into a remote, uninhabited wasteland.

If it were other nobles, the rangers might still be afraid of the possibility that the other party would raise the Dinocampus cubs and then secretly drop them into the enemy's territory to use as "weapons".

But Baron Leon's reputation for integrity and kindness was widely spread, and he had always enjoyed a good reputation among the people in his territory and the surrounding areas.

Apart from the rumors of some extremely beautiful women who had some minor flaws, from what I saw, her words and deeds were very proper. She had now sworn an oath in front of all the knights, so her credibility was very much guaranteed.

After deciding to give the bear cub a break for now, a group of people split into two groups and returned to the village where they started from to contact Knight Heinkel and ask him to help prepare a sturdy iron cage.

The rest of the people lit a bonfire in the cave and set up camp around the Dinocrat cub to rest.

Soon, the three bear cubs saw that the strange intruder did not harm them, and seemed to be tired of shouting in fear, and the voices gradually quieted down.

But the mother bear did not return for a long time. Among the cubs, a brave one tried to escape from these "aliens" surrounding it and look for its mother.

The young bear took the lead and tentatively stepped out of the den, then suddenly started running, trying to escape by rushing past the people in front of it.

The ranger who was sitting nearby reached out, grabbed the bear cub by its hind legs, and pulled it back.

The "cub" of the Dinocratia dactylorhiza, which was a few months old and about the size of a person, was screaming and struggling anxiously. If it were an ordinary person, it would be impossible to catch it without the combined efforts of four or five people.

However, in the hands of several Orland heroes in the cave, this bear cub is just a large life-size rag doll.

The strong middle-aged ranger stood up, picked up the throwing tantrum furry cub, and threw it back into the bear den.

After rolling clumsily for a few times and failing to escape, the young bear did not give up. He turned over with all four legs in the air, changed direction with a huff, and rushed forward with his head down.

Olivia, who was sitting on a rock, saw the bear cub running past her, so she had to stand up and block the bear cub's way with a step.

The bear cub hit the girl's leg armor with a bang, and seemed to have fallen onto an immovable rock, and somersaulted over.

Olivia looked at the bear cub holding its head and thought it looked so adorable.

She reached out and held the baby Dinocampus, which was the same size as her, under her arms and picked up the baby Dinocampus.

The girl tilted her head back to avoid the bear's scratching that posed no threat to her.

Although she was wearing iron gloves, the texture of the fur that had not faded still made Olivia want to touch the bear cub like she was touching "little Goethe" at home.

However, thinking that she had just killed the other party's "mother", Olivia's eyes dimmed and she sighed.

She turned the cub over, held the struggling little guy from behind, and gently put it back into the bear's den.

Back and forth, even the other two bear cubs learned to toss and turn a few times, until the three cubs were exhausted and lay down in the bear's den gasping for breath, but they were unable to break through the siege of the knights.

The knights rested for a night in this spacious underground cave. The next morning, Heinkel, leading the Wolf soldiers and Knight Derek, finally arrived at the cave in the mountain stream.

The huge crowd that poured into the cave frightened the three bear cubs so much that they hid in the corner and cried out.

Leon watched the soldiers put down the iron cage they had carried and saw the rangers carrying the bear cub and stuffing it into the cage. He thought for a moment, took out a mat from his bag, and covered the cage with it.

In this strange world, even the plants and trees might have spirits. Leon thought it would be better to block them when passing by outside so as not to let them see the body of the mother bear.

When they got outside the cave, Leon said to old Heinkel of the Wolf Family, "Please send someone to deliver these three bear cubs to Avalon Castle and hand them over to my Knights General. I will bear the expenses on the way."

The old knight of the Wolf family bowed and said, "That's not necessary, Lord Leon. You helped Redingburg solve a big problem. Why should you pay for these trivial expenses? On the contrary, I have to reward you generously."

He heaved a sigh of relief in his heart. These rangers who passed by unexpectedly, as well as Baron Avalon, really helped a lot. If he failed to handle the important tasks entrusted by his lord again and again and lost his trust, the loss to him would be something that the golden crown could not buy back.

Seeing that everyone was ready to leave, Henkel quickly pointed to the huge bear corpse in the trap and asked, "What should we do with the body of this bear monster? Do you want me to send someone to peel off its fur and send it to Avalon?"

Bear skin is valuable in itself, especially the skin of a giant bear monster.

Although there were many wounds on it, such an oversized bear skin, even if it was complete, had to be cut into small pieces to be made into cloaks, blankets, clothes and other fur products for ordinary people, unless it was used to make clothes for giants.

Leon took a look at it and realized that this was not his own spoils, so he turned around and asked the rangers what they meant.

After discussing with Greenthorne and the others for a few words, he said to Heinkel, "Your bounty is enough for us. Convert the value of this bear carcass into money and give it to the survivors whose relatives were killed by the Terror Mountain Bear."

Heinkel was moved by the rangers' decision; these chivalrous knights were indeed as respectable as the rumors said.

After leaving the forest, Leon and the others retrieved their horses and did not return to Ledingburg with Heinkel.

After politely declining the invitation to a banquet from the Wolf Knights, the group replenished their supplies in a nearby town and continued their journey, heading towards Deyatuk County along the northeastern road.

After wasting two days to eliminate the Dread Mountain Bear for Ledinburgh, everyone sped up their journey and spent a day passing through the territory of a certain Orland noble and arrived at the edge of the Northern Kingdom's occupied area in Mamor County.

After asking the local guide, Leon took a small road and followed the natural border "Galak Mountains" in the north to enter the territory still controlled by the Northern Count of Kantadar.

The group put on cloaks, quietly bypassed the village of Kantadar on the way, and traveled at full speed through the mountains.

Before it got dark, everyone finally arrived at the junction of Orland and Kantadar.

In the gorge, Leon looked up at the "Dragon Claw Fortress" that blocked the mountain pass.

Even as a modern earthling, he still gasped at what he saw.

Even in my previous life, apart from large dams, I had never seen such a majestic and exaggerated overall building.

Although he had heard that the border fortress of the royal territory was very majestic, he still underestimated the extent of its majesty.

This fortress wall was as tall as the "Great Wall of Despair". He knew at a glance that it was definitely not something that could be built by human power in the current era.

I'm afraid that, like the "little fortress" where Lady Aphrodite lives in seclusion, it is a product of the past era and belongs to the Lorelit wizard civilization.

(End of this chapter)