“H-Hey, are you kidding me…!? You give it a dog-like name, but it’s obviously a bear…!”

I immediately complained to Emera

Where the hell would anyone keep a bear inside a house in Japan?

There’s no way that’s normal!

“No one said anything about it being a dog.”

“Still, don’t make a person fight a bear—a normal person would just die, you know…!? And why are you the only one running away!?”

As soon as the bear appeared, Emera had run off towards the basement entrance.

She went off to a safe spot all by herself, leaving her cute little sister behind—I’m honestly shocked her personality is this rotten.

“It’s because Onee-chan hates animals…”

Furei, being Furei, didn’t seem the least bit concerned about Emera’s situation.

No, she doesn’t hate it—she’s definitely just scared of it.

Her legs are trembling.

As I was commenting on that in my mind, Furei approached the bear—Pochi—as if nothing had happened.

“Pochi, sit.”

“Woof!”

When Furei gave the command, Pochi let out a dog-like bark and sat down on its butt with a thump.

“Pochi, paw.”

“Woof!”

And then, when Furei held out her right hand with her palm facing up, Pochi gently placed its right front paw on Furei’s hand.

“…………”

Watching silently, Furei turned towards me with a smug look as if to say “Ta-da!”.

She seems to be very pleased that she was able to show off her pet’s trick.

It’s an unusual expression, but I think it’s cute in its own way.

“Surprised? That bear is special, as you can tell from its color, and it has a habit of listening to whoever defeated it.”

As I was being healed by Furei’s smugness, Emera’s grating and boastful voice entered my ears.

I know that already, even without having it explained to me…

After all, this bear was created in Maria-san’s laboratory…

If I remember correctly, it all started with the idea of wanting to somehow protect the Western honeybees kept at the apiary from hornets.

Since hornets are dangerous even to humans, they decided to create a smaller version of their natural enemy—a bear—and have it wipe out the hornets’ nests.

Therefore, this bear doesn’t eat meat; its staple diet is hornet larvae, honey, and bamboo shoots.

Apparently, the purpose of feeding it honey harvested at the bee farm is to use that honey as bait for the bear.

However, there was also a risk that it might attack bees as well as hornets, so they added a trait: it would absolutely obey whoever defeated it—in other words, it wouldn’t resist anyone stronger.

Therefore, Furei must have defeated this bear and tamed it.

By the way, the reason why the bear, which was originally planned to be about one meter in length, has grown to nearly double that size is because someone suggested that if it obeyed commands so well, it could also be used as a deterrent against wild boars.

I do think there are farmers who suffer from boar attacks, but I wish they wouldn’t create dangerous animals so easily.

It’s already common news on TV that bears have been appearing in urban areas recently.

Of course, these bears aren’t among them.

Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure Maria-san once mentioned that some eccentric rich person wanted this bear as a vault guard to protect his safe.

Looks like that person really did have ties to the Tenjouin conglomerate…

“I’m curious how Furei managed to take it down—but what about you? You act all high and mighty, yet you couldn’t defeat it yourself?”

I deliberately provoked Emera, who had been noisy since earlier.

Immediately, her face turned red—

“Don’t be annoying, I don’t even care about that bear…”

She made excuses and tried to avoid the question.

She says she doesn’t care, but she’s probably just scared of fighting it.

“Koori also defeated Pochi, so if you could defeat Koori, you should be able to defeat it too.”

Because I provoked her, Emera now grinned back at me, taunting in return.

Well, if you ask me whether I could beat it or not—I can.

At least, it’s much easier than fighting a brown bear.

After all—this bear was genetically engineered to have clear weaknesses so that humans could defeat it easily.

“What are you doing? Are your legs frozen with fear?”

Ignoring the still-noisy Emera, I glanced at Furei.

With her smug look from earlier and now happily stroking Pochi’s fur, I feel like Furei would get angry if I tried to defeat Pochi here.

She probably didn’t want Pochi to be hurt, which is why she looked reluctant when Emera asked to borrow Pochi.

“Hey, what’s wrong? If you’re scared, just say you’re scared. If you get down on your knees and apologize while crying, I might forgive you right now, you know?”

—Ignoring the still-noisy Emera, I began to wonder what to do.

This bear differs from ordinary bears in that its skull is thinner and its head structure itself is weak against impact.

The flesh of its head is still thick as a countermeasure against hornets, but if I deliver a strong blow to the head, I can knock it out instantly.

In other words, just like Shirayuki-san did with me, I could draw its attention downward, jump up, and land a spinning kick to its head—but if I did that, the bear would be knocked out cold. And if I misjudged my strength, it could even cost the bear its life.

Beating it instantly just to scare Emera is an option… but angering Furei, someone strong enough to take down this bear herself, would be a real problem.

Perhaps I should take as little risk as possible.

“Hey, I said—”

“Hey, if I run away, does that count as a loss?”

“Huh…?”

Turning around and asking Emera, she tilted her head with a puzzled expression.

My question seemed unexpected.

And once she understood what I was asking, she curled her lips upward in a mocking grin.

“Of course. Turning tail and running before the enemy? That’s obviously a loss.”

“I see…”

Having confirmed that, I turned to face Pochi again.

Pochi was distracted by Furei, but when I approached, it let out a warning as if saying it wouldn’t allow anyone to enter its territory.

“W-wait, are you seriously planning to fight it!? Just because you beat Koori doesn’t mean this bear is the same thing! It’s on a completely different level!”

The moment I showed any sign of actually taking on Pochi, Emera suddenly panicked.

She probably didn’t think I would actually try to fight a bear.

All she wanted was to see me grovel pathetically on my knees and apologize.

She’s probably flustered because she knows the bear’s weakness too. And since Shirayuki-san beat it only by exploiting that weakness, Emera must think I don’t stand a chance—because she assumes I don’t know it.

“Hey, are you listening!? You’re really going to die!?”

“Shut up.”

I gave a short reply and concentrated my mind.

And then—I directed genuine killing intent straight at Pochi.

“Kyahn!?”

Pochi, receiving the killing intent directly, let out another cute dog-like bark and quickly ran into the forest.

Emera, who had been watching, just stood there slack-jawed, completely stunned.

She doesn’t seem to understand what just happened.

Well, if I were to explain it, that bear has a habit of running away the moment it senses genuine danger to its life.

In fact, whenever Maria-san brought me along to the research facility, the bears would scatter in panic every single time.

I simply took advantage of that instinct this time.

“Fuu… Pochi ran away, that means I win, right?”

After confirming that Pochi wasn’t coming back, I deliberately flashed Emera a triumphant smile