Chapter 192 – Bear-san And The Chefs Visit Town
There were many people opposed to placing the Iron Golem at the entrance as Gran-san was thinking about doing.
「Father, please don’t put it at the entrance. People who see it will be scared.」
「Isn’t that fine?」
「No, it is not. If you’ll insist on putting it at the entrance, I will tell Yuna-san to take it home with her.」
As more and more people objected, Gran-san had to reluctantly give up on putting it at the entrance.
After talking it out for a bit longer, they decided to place the Iron Golem in the middle of the hall on the second floor.
It was not a place guests visited often, but if Gran-san ever wanted to show it off, he just needed to bring them there.
Everybody agreed that this was the best solution, and for some reason, I ended up being the one who had to set it up there.
「We can’t move such a heavy object that easily.」
They told me. Since I didn’t have any other choice, I put all the golems back into the Bear Box and went upstairs to the hall, where I set the tough-looking one up at a place they pointed out to me.
Yeah, it did look good up here in the hall.
It was made of good quality iron, so unlike the Earth Golem, it looked elegant, and not too brittle.
It made me want to line up a Silver Golem and Gold Golem next to it.
There was also the Fake Mithril Golem I had, so maybe I could put it next to them as well.
Oh, but if we were only decorating, maybe just coating the surface of iron golems would be enough, too.
Now that the party was over, and the golem had securely been set up, I returned to my room, where I quickly took off the dress and put my Bear Suit back on.
I definitely couldn’t stay calm without my Bear Suit on. Knowing that I now thought this way made me a bit concerned, especially since I used to be so embarrassed to walk around in it.
Perhaps the Bear Suit was cursed after all, seeing how I missed wearing it so much.
Well, usually cursed equipment couldn’t be removed. Instead, the Bear Suit spoiled me and made me completely dependent on it.
Now that I had changed back into the Bear Suit, I went to find Noa to ask her what I should do with the dress.
I wanted to wash it first before returning it, but I didn’t know how to wash dresses. I didn’t think they had laundromats in this world, but I honestly wouldn’t know of one even if they did since I never had to wash my Bear Suit.
When I told Noa I was returning the dress to her, she replied in an unexpected way.
「Yuna-san, you can keep the dress.」
There was no way I could accept an expensive dress just like that.
「I can’t take it.」
「No, it’s a trade. I will trade you that dress for the Bear-san plushies. I want the full set, okay?」
Oh, she intended for it to be a trade.
Since she already did her side of the trade, that meant I had no other choice but to really bring her a set of the Bear plushies.
I didn’t mind giving them to her, but how many chances would I get to wear this dress again?
「I will let Fina keep her dress as well, so I hope I can get my hands on those plushies soon.」
Fina tried her best to refuse, but Noa wouldn’t budge at all.
「Even if I take the dress, I won’t have any opportunities to wear it again.」
「Fina, you went to Misa’s party, but you aren’t planning on coming to mine?」
「Well, that’s...」
「You will come, right? Then, please wear the dress to my party. If it won’t fit you anymore, just let me know, and I will get it fixed.」
Fina lost all chances of getting out of it, so she accepted the dress reluctantly.
Did that mean I had to attend Noa’s party as well?
The next day, Cliff and Eleanora-san came to our room early in the morning.
To put it simply, they wanted to talk about the plans going forward.
Cliff planned on staying for three more days and told us to do what we want till then.
Eleanora-san also planned to wrap up her task quickly, so she could accompany us.
「If Noa is leaving in three days, then I guess I should also finish things up by then.」
Eleanora-san, could you please do your job properly....
In the end, it was decided that we would all be leaving in three days time.
「Well then, I’m heading out now.」
「Stay safe.」
The girls saw me as I headed out alone.
Today, I would be doing my own thing without the girls tagging along.
Misa had promised to show Fina and Noa her garden flower bed. She had invited me to come and see it too, but I had declined so that I could go and check out the specialities of this town.
At the mansion entrance, I ran into Zelef-san and Botts-san.
「Yuna-dono, are you heading out?」
「Yes, I am. And you two?」
「We are going out as well. Botts is going to show me around town.」
「Are you going out alone today, Young Bear Lady?」
「Misa is showing the other two girls her garden flower bed, so I decided to go out and look around town on my own.」
「Why don’t we walk together then, Yuna-dono?」
「Oi, Zelef. You plan on walking around with a young girl dressed like a bear?!」
I was aware that I was a bear, but... He didn’t have to point it out.
It had been a while since somebody reacted to me like that.
「Still, why are you always dressed like this? Your outfit yesterday made you look more normal even though I can’t really say the same for your personality.」
「I think you should be able to tell seeing what I could do yesterday. My Bear Suit comes with many useful gadgets, like the Bear Gloves, which are an item bag and a home to my Bears.」
I gave him a vague explanation.
「True, you did bring out a massive Iron Golem yesterday. You were also able to store all of the ingredients needed for the party by yourself.」
「Botts, didn’t you want to do something to thank Yuna-dono? Why don’t you show her around as well?」
Do something to thank me? Was there something I did that Botts-san was supposed to be thankful for?
「Fine, I get it. Where does the Young Bear Lady want to go?」
「Oh, I want to taste the town’s specialties, and if there’s time, I also want to check out your Adventurer’s Guild.」
「Now that you mention it, are you really an adventurer? Zelef told me you are, but I still find it hard to believe. You being a chef makes more sense to me....」
Well, with my Bear Suit, I hardly looked like an adventurer.
「Eh, whatever. It doesn’t really matter. After checking out the specialties, I will also take you to the Adventurer’s Guild.」
There was no reason for him to refuse, especially since the Adventurer’s Guild was close to the market area. If they didn’t feel like accompanying me there, we could just split up at the marketplace.
Zelef-san, Botts-san, and I. This very unusual group headed out towards the town center.
「Young Bear Lady, I want to thank you for bringing Zelef here in our time of need. Thanks to you, the Salbert family had no other choice but to flee.」
Botts-san thanked me again. So, that was what Zelef-san was talking about when he mentioned that Botts-san wanted to thank me...
I hadn’t been there to see what happened at the party in person, but based on what everybody had told me, the Salbert family had been quite unbelievable.
「By the way, Yuna-dono, where did you learn to cook? Zelef told me that you know how to make many delicious dishes that can compare to pudding and whipped cream.」
「Botts, you promised me not to ask Yuna-dono about that.」
「I did, but as a chef, I’m still very curious about it.」
「I understand how you feel, but a promise is a promise.」
「Zelef, she showed you some of those recipes, didn’t she?」
「Yes, Yuna-dono taught me many delicious recipes.」
For some reason, Zelef-san almost sounded like he was boasting.
If Botts-san had asked me why I had taught him, I would tell him it was all for Princess Flora’s sake. I wanted her to be able to eat whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, so I had taught Zelef-san how to make some of the things she liked.
However, Botts-san didn’t seem to know about it and was quite upset with this treatment.
As we walked towards the town center, he continued to ask me about the pudding and cake I had made.
「You’re opening a shop in the capital?」
「Yes. Not many people there know about Yuna-dono’s cooking, so we will be opening a shop that will serve her recipes at the capital. The shop will be supervised by me since everybody working there will be taught her precious recipes. Now that I think about it, Botts, why don’t you come work at the shop as well?」
「I’m sorry, but I still owe a lot to Gran-sama. I can’t leave until I have repaid his favor.」
Despite what he looked like, Botts-san was actually quite a level-headed fellow.
「Do you want me to teach you?」
「You would?!」
「I don’t really mind, but you must promise me something.」
「Promise what?」
「You cannot reveal the recipes to anybody. I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to open up a shop yourself, but please wait a while before doing that.」
「Wait a while? How long would that be...?」
「Maybe until everything calms down with the capital’s shop opening? I would have to discuss it with Zelef-san first.」
「That would make Botts your second branch, huh?」
「I don’t have the money to open up a shop anyway, so you don’t have to worry about me opening one for my own gain. I promise I will keep the recipes a secret, too. I will even sign a contract if I have to.」
「I don’t need you to sign a contract, but there is one very important thing I want you to make sure to keep in mind.」
「There’s something even more important than keeping the recipes a secret?」
Don’t spread the recipes, and don’t make your own store. There was something even more important than those two things.
「Ah, I know what it is. It is indeed very important, considering that you are cooking for Gran-dono’s family.」
Zelef-san realized what the most important thing was, it seemed.
「Zelef, you know what it is?」
「Yes. I also had to make a similar promise when she taught me.」
「There’s something that important...」
「Yeah, there is. I want you to promise me this: Even if Misa wants to eat it, do not make it for her every day. Especially, in the case of things like cake, which has a lot of sugar. She can only have one per week, two at most.」
That was one promise he must not break.
We couldn’t let a cute girl like her get fat. Not to mention that eating too many sweets would be bad for her health.
「That’s such a trivial matter...」
「No, it’s not. It’s a very important thing for girls. If Misa can’t get married because she’s fat, it will be your fault, Botts-san.」
「Ugh, I guess it is quite important when you put it that way...」
「Botts-san, I don’t know how long you plan on working for Gran-san, but please keep an eye on everybody’s eating habits. Even if Misa wants to eat something every day, make sure she eats other foods as well.」
「I also promised not to cook the same thing for Princess Flora all the time.」
「I understand. I promise that even if Misana-sama asks me to make something for her, I will make sure not to cook it for her every day.」
Zelef-san then told me he could teach Botts-san the recipes in my stead as he would be staying here for a while longer.
Just as we were finished with our conversation, we reached an area that looked like a marketplace and proceeded to take a look around.
「We were getting stared at while coming here, but even more people are staring at us now that we’re in a crowded area.」
True, there were many shoppers and shop owners staring at us.
I even heard a few of them whisper “Bear”.
Well, as usual, I just ignored it as long as nobody approached me or tried to touch my suit, of course.
Anyway, since Botts-san would now get to learn the recipes, he didn’t try to complain about it anymore. Instead, he guided us to many different shops like he didn’t have a choice.
The shops here more or less just sold the same thing that could be found in Crimonia. Hmm, Sheelin wasn’t far from Crimonia, so maybe I would have to head to a place with a different climate to get different ingredients.
From time to time, I saw things that didn’t exist in my former world, so I asked the two ingredient experts about it.
「That fruit is sour and sweet. It can be used as a substitute for strawberries.」
「True, but it might be more suitable for adults.」
「Well, that one is just very sweet, so it would go very well with your cake.」
Mhm, I could learn a lot from this.
「Mister! Give me an entire box of that fruit!」
「Yuna-dono?」
「I don’t know if I can get them in Crimonia, and even if I could, this saves me the trouble of having to search for them there.」
「I understand that, but aren’t you buying a bit too much?」
「I’m going to give them to the children at the orphanage as souvenirs.」
「The orphanage?」
Oh, I had never told them about it before.
「I’m sort of a part of the orphanage’s management in Crimonia, so I thought I’d bring the children there some souvenirs.」
「You’re doing something like that, too?」
Botts-san said, surprised.
「Well, things just ended up that way.」
「Young lady, are you from some noble family?」
「No, I’m just a normal person.」
「Normal, you say...」
He said, looking at me suspiciously.
Back in my old world, I had been a normal person, so I wasn’t really lying.
The shop owner also wore a shocked expression as I paid for the fruit. I couldn’t blame him for being surprised since he most likely had never had anyone buy this much of it at once.
It was definitely not because of my outfit.
We then continued making our way around the marketplace and bought everything we wanted.
Since Botts-san wanted to learn the cake and pudding recipes as soon as he could, I suggested they headed back first, and Zelef-san agreed.
「What will you do now, Yuna-dono?」
「I’ll head back after dropping by the Adventurer’s Guild. Botts-san, Zelef-san, thank you for your time. I learned a lot today.」
「I’m glad to hear that. Next time you come to the capital, I will take you to a few shops that sell some less-known ingredients. They sell ingredients from many different places, so I’m sure you will find something interesting there.」
Really? That would be great.
After making the promise with Zelef-san, we parted ways, and I headed to the Adventurer’s Guild on my own.
Based on what Botts-san had told me, it should be pretty close.
As I looked around aimlessly, something suddenly started ringing.
「Kuun, kuun, kuun.」
It was coming from my White Bear Hand.
It took me a couple of seconds to realize that my Bear Phone was responsible for the noise then
I quickly took it out of the Bear Box to answer.
「Hello?」
『B-Big Sis Yuna... Misa-sama got...』
「Fina? Fina, what happened?! Respond to me!」
『............』
She didn’t respond.
I immediately turned around and ran back to Gran-san’s mansion.
Author’s Notes:
The idiot son has made his move. w
Well, there’s no massive hidden plan or plot, so things will end smoothly.
By the way, the Bear Phone is made using God’s skill; that’s why she can hear it from inside the Bear Box.