Chapter 148 – Bear-san Goes Back To The Capital
By alternating between riding Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, I managed to arrive at the capital.
There weren’t a lot of people at the gate, so I was able to enter the city without having to wait long. Did I arrive at a perfect time or what?
After getting in, I went straight to the Adventurer’s Guild to give my report and as soon as I entered, the adventurers’ gazes turned my way before quickly veering away.
I wondered why for a moment before recalling what I had done the last time I had been here.
Well, they weren’t picking a fight with me, so wasn’t this okay?
I went to an open counter and asked for the guild master, Senya-san, and the receptionist quickly rushed off to call her. Did she know who I was?
「Yuna-chan!」
Senya-san greeted me after coming out from a door in the back.
「I’m back.」
I said and greeted her by lifting my Bear Hand.
I wondered if we were going to talk here, but she took me to the Guild Master’s room, where we sat down and were brought drinks.
This felt as I was treated like some sort of company president.
「So, how did it go?」
I proceeded to tell her that the golems hadn’t respawned after I had defeated the golem on the lowest floor and that Jade-san’s party had stayed behind to make sure they weren’t just late to respawn.
「You can ask Jade-san for more details.」
「Okay. If the golems really stopped reviving, we won’t have to send out the soldiers. You really saved us, thank you.」
「We don’t know for sure yet, though.」
「Judging from what you told me, it should be okay. The golems always revived over the night, but now they didn’t. I still have to wait for Jade’s report, so the request won’t be completed until then. Is that fine with you?」
「Yeah. Is it okay for me to return to Crimonia?」
「Yes, that’s fine.」
I had no problems with it, then.
「I will be off, then.」
I had to get Fina as quickly as possible, after all.
I tried to stand up, but Senya-san stopped me.
「Leaving the request aside, why don’t you start living at the capital rather than Crimonia, Yuna-chan? It would be great for us if you did.」
She suddenly said.
「I don’t plan on doing that for the time being.」
Over the time I had spent here, Crimonia had become easy to live in.
People had stopped staring, and the adventurers had stopped picking fights with me.
Not to mention that I had my shops there, so there was no real merit to living at the capital. On the contrary, my workload would probably increase here, and I wouldn’t like that. I also had the Bear Transfer Gate, which made it easy to come to the capital, so there was really no point in moving here.
「I see, that’s really unfortunate.」
「I will still come here to play sometimes.」
「I might have a request for you when you do, so please come here to check, okay?」
She finally let me go after that, so I went to Eleanora-san’s mansion, where I was met by Fina running to me in beautiful clothes.
「I’m back, Fina.」
「Big Sis Yuna!」
She clinged to my waist.
I had a big belly, so I was able to properly catch her. By the way, I didn’t mean that my actual belly was large. I meant that the costume’s belly was big.
「Fina, you really are wearing cute clothes, huh.」
The clothes suited her so well that she could only be seen as a young lady of high status.
「Big Sis Yuna, I don’t want to hear that from you when you’re wearing this cute Bear-san Suit! And it’s not like I’m wearing them because I want to. Eleanora-sama forced me to wear them!」
She said my Bear Suit was cute, but that was totally different than her clothes.
There was a big difference between the cuteness of a costume and the cuteness of beautiful clothes. Any girl would be happier hearing she looked cute in beautiful clothes than when wearing a costume, you know.
I was happy to see that Fina was well, though.
It would have been hard to face Terumi-san if something had happened to her, after all.
「Yuna-chan, welcome back. You finished with the mine?」
Eleanora-san came from the mansion.
「More or less. They just need to wait and see if there is a chance of golems still respawning, so I decided to come back.」
「You must have worked hard, right? I will prepare a delicious dinner today, so please eat with us.」
I wanted to take a bath before dinner, so I used this chance to talk with Fina as we bathed together.
「Fina, did you enjoy the capital while I was away?」
I asked Fina while washing her back, but she didn’t reply.
Huh? Had she not enjoyed herself?
「You went to see the castle, right? And also walked around the capital...」
「 Eleanora-sama made me wear beautiful clothes, so my stomach ached as I tried my best not to dirty them.」
「Ahhh, I see.」
「This isn’t a laughing matter! She even took me to the castle in those clothes, you know!」
「But you were able to sightsee the castle, right?」
「Yes, Eleanora-san showed me all around the castle; I even got to see a beautiful garden.」
Ah, now that she mentioned it, I also recalled seeing the garden; it had a lot of beautifully blooming flowers.
「But then, King-sama came to the garden, and I don’t really remember what happened after that.」
「Can’t a girl get some peace while watching flowers...」
「Because of his appearance, I can’t even remember the taste of the food you had prepared, Big Sis Yuna. I’m sorry.」
「It’s okay, I can make it again. Still, I will have to properly lecture this King...」
「Big Sis Yuna?」
Anytime I came to the castle, he always sought me out... Was he even doing his job as a king?
「I will tell him not to get close to you anymore, so we can sightsee the castle without him ruining it next time, okay?」
「Don’t say that!」
Fina’s voice echoed throughout the bathroom.
Why did she get mad?
When we left the bath, Eleanora-san and Shia, who was already back from the academy, were already waiting for us.
「Ara, you’re in your White Bear Clothes already?」
「I will go straight to bed after we eat, after all.」
I had been invited to sleep at Eleanora-san’s place tonight, so it was easier this way.
「Yuna-san, were the golems strong?」
Shia wanted to hear about what had happened at the mine.
「I’m not sure if they were strong or not, but it was hard to fight them in the tunnels.」
「Because you were underground?」
「Yeah, I didn’t want to collapse the walls by using too much strength, after all. The other adventurers who came to subjugate them had the same problem as well.」
「So, how did you defeat them, then?」
「Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear helped me.」
I wasn’t really lying, they had helped me with the Earth and the Stone Golems.
「Oh right, Shia, thank you for taking care of Fina.」
「Fina is a good girl, so it wasn’t a problem at all.」
「That’s not true, I caused you all sorts of trouble.」
Fina denied it, but Shia just showed a pleasant smile.
Well, I was happy that they got along.
While we ate, I briefed Eleanora-san about what had happened at the mine, mainly talking about Jade-san’s party, so that I wouldn’t stand out.
I didn’t mention lightning magic and the Bear Transfer Gate, of course.
I deceived them by keeping my fights vague.
「Yuna-san, we are of the same age, but you’re just incredible.」
「Shia, you’re a noble, so you don’t really need to be strong, right?」
「It’s because I’m receiving education that I want to be strong.」
「I let you do it, but don’t forget that you’re only allowed to go to the nearby beginner forest.」
「Yes, I won’t forget, mom.」
Shia obediently agreed with her mother.
We finished the delicious meal, and when I thought of going to sleep in the room that had been given to me, Eleanora-san stopped me.
「Yuna-chan, please wait a minute.」
「What is it?」
「You’re going back to Crimonia tomorrow, right?」
「Yeah, I plan on doing so. Fina’s parents will be worried if I don’t return her soon, after all.」
When I said that, Eleanora-san signaled Suririna-san, who then left the room.
「Wh-what is it?」
「I need to give you the reward for the request.」
「I will get the reward at Crimonia’s Adventurer’s Guild in ten days time when they are sure it’s really finished.」
「I’m not talking about that. Did you forget? I promised you a mithril knife.」
She was right, she had promised it, but since I had already obtained mithril, I didn’t really need it anymore.
「Did you think that you don’t need it, just now?」
Was she an esper!?
It didn’t take long for Suririna-san to come back with something wrapped in a cloth and gave it to Eleanora-san, who unfurled it to reveal an embellished tantou and presented it to me.
(TL note: Tantou is a traditional Japanese ornamented dagger.)
「Yuna-chan, here.」
The tantou had a very detailed engraving on it and seemed really expensive...
My consciousness was telling me not to take it.
「What is this? This beautiful tantou?」
「It’s the knife I had promised you.」
Eleanora-san pulled the tantou out from its sheath.
It really was beautiful.
「This isn’t something used for dismantling, right?」
「Yes, that’s right.」
「It’s also not used for fighting, right?」
「It’s not, but it’s made of mithril and is very sharp.」
It looked like something a woman would carry for self-defence, but I had the feeling that this was different.
「I don’t want it.」
「Why? It’s your reward, you know.」
「There seems to be a trick to this...」
The Bear Danger Sense was going off... even though there was no skill like that.
「There’s no trick, okay? Don’t worry, you can take it.」
Eleanora-san said while showing a frightening smile.
I couldn’t lose here!
「I will have to politely refuse.」
「Jeez, your intuition is top notch...」
Eleanora-san said and pouted.
「As I thought, there is a trick to it, right?」
「It’s not really something significant. This tantou just has the Foshuroze crest on it. You can get out of almost any bad situation by simply showing it to the other party.」
So, it was like Koumon-sama’s seal.
(TL note: In his TV show, Komon-sama is a popular judge that puts on disguises and goes out to catch bad guys together with his followers. Whenever he apprehends someone, his followers show his seal to the culprit, and the culprit cowers just by seeing it.)
「Why... to me...」
「I mean, Yuna-chan, you get into trouble a lot, don’t you?」
She was right, so I couldn’t deny it.
I got into all sorts of trouble because of this Bear Suit.
「Is it really just because of that, though?」
「Honestly, my real motive for giving you the tantou is that I wanted to let the other nobles know that you and I are involved parties.」
「Involved parties?」
「It would be bad if people who know about your strength tried to misuse you, so the tantou is to prove that the Foschurose family stands behind you.」
She wanted to give me the tantou for my own good, it seemed.
「You can use it all you want.」
「I won’t use it.」
There was a good saying that could be used here: Nothing was free in this world.
If I kept using the crest all the time and was then suddenly asked for compensation... That wasn’t something I wanted to chance.
「You can use it to buy land at the Commerce Guild without needing a letter of introduction, you know.」
「Ugh.」
「If you get into trouble with some idiot nobles, the crest will make them go away.」
「Ugh.」
「Still, it won’t work if you show it to people who don’t know of Foschuroze’s Crest. It should come in handy in most cases, though.」
Eleanora-san offered the tantou again.
「I could do something bad while using this tantou that represents your family, you know.」
「Ufufu, Yuna-chan, you really say funny things from time to time.」
「Is this really something to laugh at?」
「In which world would a girl, who has an orphanage under her wing, who went to kill a Black Viper on her own for the sake of a worried boy, who dug a tunnel for everyone and didn’t even ask for any compensation, and who went to defeat an army of monsters just to protect a girl’s father, do something bad?」
Eleanora-san said while also poking my cheek repeatedly.
「I might be scheming in secret and waiting for the right time, you know.」
「Well then, shall I ask this girl?」
Eleanora-san looked at Fina.
「Fina-chan, is Yuna-chan a bad person?」
「Big Sis Yuna is a really kind person. If she hadn’t been around, my mother and I would have been dead, and the children of the orphanage wouldn’t have been happy like they are now. I heard that she didn’t ask for compensation when she killed the Black Viper and when she helped at Mireera either. Big Sis Yuna is strong and kind; she would never do bad things.」
Eleanora-san nodded.
「Fina, I get it, you can stop now. I’m becoming embarrassed...」
「But, I haven’t even said half the reasons why you’re wonderful, you know.」
「You should still stop, though.」
I told Fina to stop singing praises of me.
When you praise a hikikomori, who was not used to it, they only get troubled.
I turned my gaze at the tantou again.
「Eleanora-san, if I take this, you won’t call me your subordinate, right?」
「I won’t.」
I took the tantou in the White Bear Hand.
「If something happens, you can use the Foschuroze family’s name, okay?」
Even though accepting it was fine, I didn’t plan on using it for now. I could probably call it my insurance policy.
I put the tantou straight into my Bear Box.