Riding on the scarlet bear's back, I arrived in its cave which was a little deeper into the forest. The cave was dark, wet and gloomy from outside but when we got five meters from the cave, five little bear cubs dashed out of the cave with enthusiasm and vigor.
"Mama's back! Everyone, get here!"
"Mama smashed all hooman's faces!"
"Meal! Meal! Where is meaaalllll!!"
"Dumb, look! There ish hooman sittin' on her! That hooman mush be our dinner!!"
"Myyyaaaa…."
I was taken by surprised by the barrage of almost non-sensical animal language words but I was more baffled by something else.
"Mama?!!" I cried in doubt and shock to which the scarlet bear gave a small laugh and replied, "What? Have you never heard of mother bear?"
"Ah… no…" I replied, feeling a little embarrassed. Not all bear are males, note taken.
"Move away, flies. This person is no dinner. He is my savior, so if you think of eating him, I will make soup out of all of you." She said threateningly as she shoved her way into the dark cave. Behind her, the five cubs one by one jumped onto her back and clung onto her with their small yet sharp claws. Most of them dug into her flesh but she didn't even flinch. How thick must be her skin?!
"Hey, hooman! Who're ya really to ma?" asked one of the cubs. The cubs, just like their mother had brownish-red coat with bristly hair with various shades of brown and black, except one little cub. The one who asked me looked to be the most intelligent for his speech was the most clear, the rest had a little slurring and illegible speech but I could understand most of it. The one who spoke also had the most brightest red colored coat of all of them while others had some shade of brown, red and a mixture of both. The cubs were no larger than a meter (quite huge for a normal sized bear cub but compared to their mother, they were quite small). Their faces were quite cute with large, round and bright eyes. Most of them had bright black or brown eyes but there was one exception, like mentioned before.
And that was a white bear cub. It was the one with the most slurred speech and unlike others, the cub had a gleaming white coat with blood red eyes. It was an albino variant and looked very much like a polar bear cub than a scarlet bear cub. It was also a little smaller than the rest and also seemed a little weaker compared to the rest. It had a sleepy expression on its face but there was a constant 'smiling' expression on its face with it's tongue hanging out.
"Really, hooman. How ish mama givin' you a ride an' not us?!" said another and to their allegations that I was a human, I replied promptly, "For your knowledge, I'm not a human but a demi-human."
"What?!" the cubs looked confused at me for a moment before another replied, "What's he sayin'?"
I frowned, "I'm not a human. I'm a demi-human!" I said, spelling everything in animal language but the cubs looked more and more confused, "You no hooman?!" said one and at finally being able to understand my word, I nod with proudly, "Absolutely! I no hooman!" I replied in their tone, something which felt both funny and embarrassing for me.
The cubs looked at me with increasing confusion before one finally says something which irritates me to no end, "Sigh… brotha, this guy ish an idiot! No point in talking wi' 'im."
'This bastard!' I cried inside me but the mother scarlet bear only gave a laugh at my indignation at being called an idiot, "They don't understand the common animal tongue entirely, child."
"Is that so?" I said while glaring at the five cubs, more likely four since the albino was quiet for most of the time.
The bear nodded at me and abruptly sat down, almost giving me and cubs a shock. "We are here."
"A-alright!" I said as I jumped off her back with all the bags of loot. The cubs too wriggled out from under their mother and said in a cute tone, "Mama squished me…"
"Wuwuwu… my body…"
"Too heavy!" one replied and for a moment I thought that the mama bear would retaliate with untold fury but it seems like female monsters have a different perception of body than hooman female. Wait! Dammit, did I get infected by their cuteness virus! Argh!
"Anyway, welcome to my and my family's humble abode, child. I'm Ilfur, a level 9 Warrior Scarlet Bear and these five smaller bears are my cubs and family. They are Wilfur, Milfer, Nilfur, Bilfur and Zelfer."
"Hello, I'm Wilfur!"
"Halo, I'm Milfur!"
"I'm Nilfur."
"Hi, I'm Bilfur!"
"Myyyaaa!!" replied the albino with much excitement but with a sleepy expression.
"Sorry about that but little Zelfie is a little different than us." Said the mother bear, Ilfur. I shook my head and replied, "No problems, she's just an albino variant. She's no different than the rest of your cubs. By the way, I'm Rubik, a demi-human." I say as I extend my fist, hoping for a fistbump.
Ilfur looks at it with confusion and asks, "Is this some sort of greeting in your society?"
Greeting? And fistbumps. Hell yea!
I nod solemnly and reply, "Indeed, it is an integral part of our culture, even though I know nothing of it. All you have to do is just … bump your fist with mine." Confused but still like any respectable adult, she respected my 'culture' and fistbumped me which, again, I captured with the remote camera of the system. I'm so gonna brag about this.
After this, Ilfur turns towards her children and says in a serious tone, "Okay, now line up kids. Its time for lesson no 01 for today. What is a demi-human…"
For the next five minutes, Mama Ilfur gave her kids and me a crash course on what and who demi-humans are and the social cultures of the world regarding them. Turns out, they are an endangered species in this world and are both loved and hated by nearly all kinds of race. Technically, the term demi-human or halfling is used for all races and one is called a demi-human when one of their parents is a human while other is non-human. Half-elves, half-dwarves, half-orcs, etc., are all categorized as demi-human races and culturally they are often seen as 'impurities' in the race and gene pool. And because of the already tensed relationships between the races of this world, it is already very rare for a human to love someone from another race or vice-versa.
That is the reason for hate but they are also loved in many organizations and places and the reason is simple. All demi-humans have the ability to learn human skills to the finer details while retaining their basic monster/bestial skills something which human techniques can't simply copy. Bloodlines are also a reason for loving them. But most importantly, nobles with peculiar taste often like demi-humans for their 'exoticity'. More of a reason to hide my identity, it seems.
After finishing her lecture, she promptly gave them a carcass of one of the dead adventurers to feed on. Which one, I don't know for most of the body and face was blurred and it was the best for me too. Living in a civilized world, I don't think I would've been able to see this. Fortunately, she handed me a branch full of red berries and said, "Have them. I'm sorry that you had to see this."
I smile wryly and reply, "It's alright. This is your home."
"Thank you for understanding. By the way, where are you headed? I might be able to give you a ride if it ain't a problem. Beast in this forest doesn't normally try to pick a fight with scarlet bears."
"I'm heading for the Brimlow town." I reply as I munched on one of the red berries on the branch. They are quite tasty, by the way.
"Brimlow town, do you have a family member there?" she asked worriedly.
I shook my head and was about to reply that I'm a newbie but refrained from that. Instead, I thought for a while and reply like any other kid would, "It's a town and I've heard that it doesn't bias against demi-humans. In fact, from what I've heard it is one of the most friendly town to demi-humans and beastmen, so I figured it would be the best place to start."
Mama Ilfur shook her head and replies, "Naïve, too naïve but I can't blame you. Whichever organization abducted you must've completely erased your memory. Listen, child, I may not be the best bear to get advice from but from the things I've heard from one of my demi-human friends, it is to never trust a human in a human town or city. This is like the basic demi-human 101 rules and I can't help but emphasize this fact. Never trust a human. You don't know what kind of horrible things humans can do, child."
Damn bear, I was once a member of an international gang, reserve member true but a member nonetheless. I know full well how evil humans can be. But anyway, coming back to context, what she says is kinda true.
If even someone like human Karl/Gin can lose his calm when he sees a demi-human, I really wonder how much of a security I would have in Brimlow town.
"Then what should I do?" I ask mama Ilfur, trusting her advice.
Mama Ilfur nods to herself and says in a prideful tone, "Don't worry about that, child. I know the perfect place for you to start your new journey. Just trust me!" she said.
The bear cubs took half-an-hour of time to finish their 'hooman' meal while I feasted on the berries. By the way, these berries had healing properties and the sliver of health which I lost in my fight with human Karl/Gin was healed in no time. I also took the time to reorganize my loots.
After the cubs finished their meal, mama Ilfur was ready to move out again.
"Climb on." She said and I immediately climbed onto her back with all my backpacks.
"Where r you goin' ma?" asked one of her cubs, don't know which 'fur' it is though.
"I'm going to the town. What? do you all want to come?" she asked calmly.
"Can we meet pa?" asked another one.
She thought for a while before answering, "Yes… maybe…"
"Climb on, lads! We goin' to meech pa'!" said the cub as he and all the other cubs hopped onto their mother's back like previous time.
"Haha! You guys are funny!" I said, laughing at their pretty cute stunts but I forgot that they are kids.
"Hooman laughs at us, brotha! Fight to death!"
"Fight to death!"
And that is how I was drowned in the sea of fluffy cuteness, saliva and love-bites.
"Haha! Sit tight, we're going to the town of Zaviedo."
…
It took three hours to reach the town of Zaviedo, which mama Ilfur said she would take me. It was a pretty much monotonous journey for the cubs and after half-an-hour of playing with them, they all fell asleep on mama Ilfur's back. But I was a little excited. The scenery and the experience of riding a huge 6 meters long bear through a thick jungle was exciting and unique, to say the least. In the meantime, I also tried to learn magic spells from the magic tomes which I acquired from the human party and I received this message.
"What's the difference?" I ask.
"What do you mean by in-depth knowledge?" I ask.
Skill points, by the way, are points received for performing a particular skill. Collecting enough points will upgrade your skill automatically and again, the amount of skill points required to upgrade a skill depends on the rarity of the skill and its difficulty but at the end of the day, its just grinding.
So, do I go for speed-learning or extra skill points? Of course, extra skill-points! And thus, for most of the three hours riding on mama Ilfur's back, I studied the magic tomes and as expected, it is goddamn hard!
But thankfully, there was a reward. After reading 40% of the
Mp cost: 200mp> I wonder what I can learn from the other 60% of the book?! …