Wizard: This witcher is neglecting his duties.

Chapter 161 Killing the Black Bear Before Dinner

Wayne followed Thorin for half the town, and outside a cluster of low houses inhabited by dwarves, they met Balin, an old dwarf with wise eyes, who was smoking and playing with grass.

After the two sides met, there was not much small talk. Wayne was invited into the house. The dwarf did not offer tea, but instead poured him a glass of pure dwarven beer.

"This is Balin, a master architect among the dwarves. He participated in the design of many famous buildings in our dwarven kingdom, including the royal palace."

"This is Mr. Wayne. He wants to hire a group of dwarven craftsmen to build a manor in the Shire."

After a brief introduction, the two parties quickly moved into the normal transaction process without any formalities.

Faced with a customer like Wayne who was not short of money, had high emotional intelligence, and was also eloquent, there were no major issues between the two parties, and they quickly and smoothly signed an employment contract.

According to the agreement between the two parties, approximately thirty dwarven craftsmen would travel to Hobbiton in the Shire to help Wayne build the manor.

However, since they were a construction team from out of town, Wayne had to provide the dwarves with food and lodging, and also pay a one-third deposit, about 280 Middle-earth gold coins, before the dwarven craftsmen could begin work.

This price is roughly in line with the market rate that the old Hobbit Ford predicted, and the dwarves did not take the opportunity to raise the price.

After both parties agreed on all the details, Balin told Wayne that the dwarven craftsmen would wait until the day after tomorrow to set off, because there were many tools and equipment that needed to be transported and personnel needed to be arranged, and this waiting time was necessary.

Wayne, of course, had no objection to this; leaving professional matters to professionals has always been his principle.

However, with that in mind, Wayne had some free time while Bahrain and his workers were preparing.

Thinking of the bounty on the notice board and the reward of three hundred gold coins, Wayne declined Thorin's invitation to dinner, smiling as he said:

"Prince Thorin, Mr. Balin, you can prepare dinner first. I'll go see if I can find the black bear, Bitsogg."

"Maybe by the time I get back, I'll still be able to make it to your dinner."

Even after parting ways with the two dwarves, Wayne still remembered the surprised and shocked expressions in their eyes, and felt a secret sense of satisfaction.

However, these days, if you want to impress others, it's not enough to just talk the talk; you have to show real skills.

He quickly found the female painter in Bree by asking passersby for directions. She was a woman in her thirties named Sodanina. She was quite plump and good-looking, but unfortunately, she had a happy family with her husband and children by her side. Wayne wasn't the kind of person who would steal someone else's wife.

After a conversation, the female painter learned of his purpose. Seeing that he was alone, she immediately stopped him, hoping that he would not venture into the forest alone. She suggested that even if he wanted to hunt the black bear Bisog, it would be best to form a fighting team and act together.

Unfortunately, Wayne was adamant and confident in his words and actions. Seeing that her repeated attempts to dissuade him were futile, Sodanina told the Witcher everything about finding her brother's body and the speculations in the town about the black bear's whereabouts.

Wayne also successfully obtained an expert-level task from the female painter.

For the past few months, he had only been able to receive ordinary tasks from the Hobbits, which had become somewhat tiresome. The fact that the task level was only expert level also suggested to him that the black bear's strength was not particularly formidable.

After bidding farewell to Sodanina and her family, Wayne ignored the astonished looks of those around him, took out his magic flying carpet, and rode it towards the location of the black bear, Bitsogg.

The flying carpet was very fast and ignored the terrain. In less than half an hour, he arrived at the place where the black bear often appeared.

Unfortunately, at this point, Wayne could only rely on luck to find it.

However, it is clear that he has always been blessed with good fortune.

Just as Wayne was flying silently through the air, searching for several tens of minutes, a huge roar of a wild bear reached his keen witcher hearing.

Wayne immediately perked up and flew towards the source of the sound.

The forest outside the town of Brie is quite lush, but due to logging, the trees are not particularly dense, and it is easy to see the ground through the gaps between the trees.

Soon, amidst a huge commotion, he saw a massive black bear chasing an injured wild deer through the forest.

Black bears are fast runners. Although the wild deer's movements were very cunning, it only ran a few hundred meters before the huge black bear pounced on it, opened its blood-red maw, and bit off its neck in one bite.

Seeing this, Wayne was delighted. Most wild animals are most relaxed when they are eating, and no matter how strong this wild bear is, as long as it is made of flesh and blood, it is always quite vulnerable to a sneak attack.

Just as the black bear was cautiously observing its surroundings while devouring large mouthfuls of flesh and blood.

Wayne's flying carpet had silently come to a stop a dozen meters above the flying bear.

He slowly drew out the massive sword called Excalibur, then donned an enhanced Quen shield around himself. He then crouched on the flying carpet, his eyes fixed on the black bear's heart.

After waiting a few minutes, just as the black bear was halfway through its meal and lowered its head to gnaw on the deer's entrails, Wayne leaped lightly from a height of over ten meters, wielding a two-handed greatsword. Aiming at the black bear's heart, he plunged it in with a whoosh, like justice descending from the heavens.

With a soft thud, the sound of flesh tearing apart was heard.

The two-handed greatsword, over a meter long, pierced through the black bear's fur, bones, and internal organs without any resistance, directly stabbing the bear through and pinning it to the ground.

Although the black bear's desperate counterattack threw Wayne away, this action also tore open the fatal wound in his chest, making it even larger and hastening his death.

After delivering the fatal blow to the black bear Bitsogg, Wayne did not intervene in the battle. He simply followed cautiously behind the bear, standing at a safe distance, watching it stagger away with the two-handed greatsword stuck in its heart.

Unfortunately, after running less than two hundred meters, the black bear Bisog could no longer hold on, collapsing to the ground with blood all the way, and slowly lost its life.

As mentioned before, any living being made of flesh and blood, no matter how strong, is always so vulnerable when faced with a sneak attack.

After waiting for ten minutes, until the blood from the black bear Bitsogg had almost stopped flowing from its huge wound, Wayne stepped forward, stood on the bear's back, drew his sword, recalled the flying carpet in the sky, and slowly sheathed it.

Looking at the black bear's enormous carcass, Wayne pondered for a few seconds, then frowned slightly. Fortunately, he had prepared a sturdy rope in his storage bag beforehand.

Although Jaina's magical flying carpet struggled to support the weight of herself and her bear, it could still fly if the magic output was increased.

When he used ropes to hoist the huge black bear carcass onto the flying carpet and transported it back to Bree, landing it in the town square, only about three hours had passed since he left the town.

When some onlookers saw the black bear's carcass, they immediately recognized its distinctive physical features and realized it was Bissog, the black bear with a bounty on its head. They quickly spread the good news throughout the town of Buri.

Wayne didn't keep a low profile. After putting the magic carpet into his arms, he gripped the sword hilt with both hands, planted the scabbard on the ground, and stood in the town square with a confident yet composed posture, accepting the gazes and admiring eyes of the crowd.

About ten minutes later, a middle-aged bald hobbit pushed through the crowd and found Wayne, who was being watched.

After a conversation filled with exclamations of amazement and admiration, the town official respectfully presented the reward money and loudly announced to the surrounding crowd the good news that Bissog had been eliminated.

They lavishly praised Wayne, the hero who vanquished the beast, and declared him a lifelong friend of the town of Brie.

To further amplify this reputation, the wealthy Grandpa Wayne generously handed over the enormous sum of three hundred gold coins to the hobbit official, loudly announcing that he would use the money to invite everyone in town to drink and celebrate.

Middle-earth truly lived up to its reputation as an ideal world of fantasy. Wayne's action immediately sparked a frenzy of celebration and admiration from everyone in the town. Men, women, the elderly, and children all looked at him with eyes full of worship and respect.

Among the crowd praising him, Wayne also spotted Thorin, Balin, and a group of other dwarves with complex expressions.

However, Wayne did not approach them immediately. He first found the female painter Sodanina, who was crying tears of joy in the crowd, and completed his expert-level task after a conversation of comfort and blessings.

Then, under the watchful eyes of many, he walked up to the dwarf prince and said with a smile:

"Thorin, you don't need to trouble yourselves to prepare dinner tonight."

"How about we use my bounty to have a good drink together?"

(End of this chapter)