For someone like Griswold, getting called in to handle wild animals had more or less become second nature to him. Even though he was no longer a magic knight or anything along those lines, the people he had aided in the past knew quite well how to get him to go along with something that they required help with as he was not exactly known for turning people down. In a way, he had gotten accustomed to people welcoming him upon arrival, at least among the forsaken and common regions where he did the vast majority of his work. It was likely because of all the work he did here that he was no longer really feeling like the Crimson Lions were the best place for him, and why he wished to move towards one of those magic squads that were known to patrol in the less fortunate of areas such as the Black Bulls or the Green Mantises.

While he would never say a bad word about the time he had spent in the other squad, being stationed in the capital of the damned country simply was not his style as all of the luxury simply did not resonate with him. That, and it took him way too damn long to get from the royal capital to the region he really wished to be helping, resulting in him simply being gone for weeks on end before eventually popping up because he had received a promotion or two. Because for as often as he had been gone, he had never been sitting on his ass doing nothing, meaning he raked up quite a few golden stars to award to the Lions. At least that was something he could be proud of, as he did not leave them with nothing. After all, even though he was no longer a knight, he still held their teachings at heart, taking them with him wherever he went.

So when he arrived at Hapshass in order to aid with a bear problem, the people were rather happily greeting him as soon as he made his way into the place. It was to be expected, especially since he had aided them so many times already in some of the most unfortunate events possible. Though he would never take pride in having done so, he had saved the place and the surrounding farms and orchards from Goblin attacks at least twice now, with the first time he came to fight them resulting in a massive bloodbath that was more or less unfit for magic knights. Had they been people and not greenskins, he was certain that the things Michail and him did that day would have been classified as war crimes or something along those lines due to the sheer carnage of it all. But they had to do what had to be done, or they would have made their way into the town and people would have died in equally horrible fashion.

Aside from that time, he had also been put in a position where he had to keep the Goblin that had survived that day, as well as a new group of raiders from attacking one of the surrounding farmlands, which he had done along with an aspiring magic knight to be. This time however, he had been a whole lot less violent about it, using a single spell to incinerate them all before they really even registered the pain of being burned alive. In a way, the intensity of the spell burned them so fast that they might not have even registered the fact that they were dying, which was really quite the kindness when compared to the last time they fought Goblins. Still hearing the sound of tendons being ripped apart by lion golems and pecked to death by predatory bird golems, he would most likely never forget that whole ordeal. And maybe that was for the best, or maybe it wasn’t.

Because for how awful that whole experience had been for him, it had at least hardened him for the things he might be made to do for the sake of the country, as that was what being a magic knight was all about. Doing the hard to swallow things so others would not have to, which was at times putting it mildly, especially with some of the things he had already seen during his short time as a magic knight. In a way, being a civilian for the time being was likely not the worst thing as it allowed him to truly pick and choose the things he wished to do and the things he wished to wave past as they were not exactly up his alley. As a civilian, even if someone wanted to try and force him, he could just say no to things such as helping some stuck up nobles up in the capital, which was truly a great feeling to have. This was what he imagined freedom must be like. So as he accepted the mission from the ealdorman, the man dressed in black went on his way.

Heading out into the forest where the people claimed the bear had its lair, he knew that he wouldn’t need to look for any holes in the ground or openings underneath trees, meaning he could move in a relatively straight line and look for hills or taller rock formations that were large enough to house a bear den. With how the people had described the place to look, it would just be your average cave that had been dug not too long ago as the apothecaries that complained about it hadn’t been doing so for a very long time. Going by this estimate, there were a few potential problems that he might be running into, one of them being the fact that this might have been a bear that was in the process of giving birth, in which case the people of Hapshass could go screw themselves and just stay out of the forest for a few weeks.

Refusing to become the kind of asshole that would be responsible for killing a mother with young still inside of her body, or a mother with young outside of her body, there were simply lines a person should not cross. Having given the guy he had quite recently ran a dungeon with the same kind of internal monologue, he had seen first hand how quickly one might take a few steps in the wrong direction and end up just being a horrible, awful little shit of a person. That said, he was still only human in the end, and the same went for Griswold. If he took a few steps into the wrong direction and ended up slipping, there was no telling what kind of a monster he might become. And so as the search continued, he prepared for the possibility that he might not be able to complete this particular mission after all. But if that meant being a reasonably good person, it was a risk he would be willing to take.

By the time he found the cavern, he could tell that mama bear had already caught wind of his scent as a low growling could be heard from within. Peeking into the cave, he saw that there were several young cubs inside of the place, albeit not young enough to not be able to walk, eat or play with one another, the latter being exactly what they did before they noticed him. When one of the smaller ones approached him and began sniffing him up and down, he got an idea, one the mother was not going to like. Picking the cub up with both hands, he kept it pressed against him just tightly enough to where it would not be able to rake or bite him with his claws or fangs, as even those of a cub could be potentially fatal if they were to hit his throat. In spite of that, the cub was in fact quite the adorable little thing.

Moving away from the cavern just fast enough to keep ahead of the mother bear and slow enough for the young ones to keep up, he made his way to the top of the hill, which was where he waited for the mother to catch up. Getting around the mother as he put the cub down, he picked up another one that was falling behind them at the foot of the hill while running off again. Partially moving over the hill and deeper into the forest, he did his best to leave his scent on plenty of bushes, rocks and trees he passed by to keep the mother in the loop while he just searched for a prime spot to put the cub down. If anyone were to be watching him as he went about his business, they might have claimed him to be a fool, though this was not just him randomly running about like some headless chicken. There was reason to his madness.

Finding a nice little clearing to put the cub down, it just rolled on it’s back and stuck up it’s paws as if trying to either protect itself or play. Given the fact that it was a bear, both were possible. And given the fact that it was by all means a child, the same was true as it could still be trying to do both of those things. Even though he was starting to get a little tired, he once again ran through the forest, doing his best to avoid the mother that was running towards her stolen cub, just so Griswold could again steal the cub that had fallen behind the furthest and run back even further into the forest. The more he repeated this process, the more tired he got, though he did eventually manage to find exactly what he had been looking to find. Locating an abandoned bear den, he placed the cub he currently held in the back while making his way out.

As he did, the mother had seemingly gotten sick and tired of his shenanigans. Getting up on her hind legs and preparing to lash out, she roared loudly. Bringing her paw down, she barely missed Griswold, who used the moment he had to punch the bear right in the face with enough force to really make it hard, but nowhere near enough to kill or knock her out. Once he hit her, he roared as loudly as he could, using his solar magic to create a bright display that scared both her and her cubs into the cavern, making their way to the cub he had stolen and placed in the back. Making the shiny orbs he created float around him like moons orbiting their planet, the mother bear seemed dissuaded from attacking him, which was exactly what he had hoped. That, and in the past thirty minutes, they had put a fair amount of distance from their original lair.

Believing that with the beating he had given her and the cubs he had stolen in a way to get her to follow him, he did not imagine this particular bear would be attacking any people any time soon, nor would she likely be making her way back to her old lair. With a bit of luck, she would make this place that was located quite a bit deeper in the forest her new territory, especially since the former owners of the lair were nowhere to be found. Hoping that both she and her cubs would be able to thrive here, far away from humans, he deactivated his spells and made his way back to the town of Hapshass so he could tell the people that his mission had been successful, and that the bears had been placed somewhere far, far away. This time though, he would just be walking as all the running had tuckered him out quite a bit.