Chapter 213 – Bear-san Crosses the River
It was dark and rainy outside when I woke up the next morning.
I would have kept on sleeping in my bed if I hadn’t made plans to go out today.
Even though my Bear Outfit would keep me dry, I still felt depressed just having to think about walking through this rain.
It was only now that I could appreciate Japan’s accurate forecasts. It life a lot more convenient. You would know not to hang your laundry out to dry when it was going to rain, and you would know when would be a good time go on a trip. However, there was no form of weather forecasting in this world.
I would have left yesterday if I had known it was going to rain today.
It would really be great if I had a skill that could let me know what the weather would be like. Something like a 『Bear Weather Forecast』 maybe? Having a skill like that would make planning trips so much easier.
Hmm, but if people discovered that I could predict the weather, they might end up worshipping me as some new Bear God.
Yeah, maybe it was better not to have such a skill.
「It’s raining, huh.」
As I was staring outside, thinking about my silly ideas, Sanya-san suddenly appeared behind to comment then took a big yawn.
「Yuna-chan, what will you do now?」
「I’m still going.」
There was no reason for me to put it off. Rain wouldn’t stop me from crossing the river and would at most just be a bit of annoyance.
「Yuna-chan, can I come along with you? I don’t know how you plan to get across, but I am still worried about you.」
Sanya-san asked me, worry clearly showing in her voice.
I hadn’t told her how I planned on getting across as I knew walking on water was something abnormal. Well, maybe in this world there were some spells or magical items that could do that, but I hadn’t come across any of those yet.
Hmm, what if I attributed the skill to my Bears? I could simply have them carry us across, claiming that it was their natural ability.
She already knew how special my summoned beasts were... Should I just go for that?
「Sanya-san, you would get wet from the rain, though.」
「You will get wet as well, Yuna-chan.」
I thought about it a bit more.
If Sanya-san came with me, she could guide me to the shop, which would save me time and energy. I could also use her influence as a guild master. Yeah, she could be really useful.
「C-can I come along too?」
「No, you’re staying right here.」
Ruimin had listened in on our conversation and asked to come along, but Sanya-san immediately shot her down and told her to stay here.
「Onee-chan...」
While bringing Sanya-san along would be useful, I sadly couldn’t say the same for Ruimin.
It also shouldn’t take to long, so I saw no problem in her staying here.
Most of the time would probably wasted on the shop, which was why I planned on leaving the talking to Sanya-san.
「Yuna-san, please be careful. If something were to happen to you or Onee-chan...」
I felt like she was exaggerating a bit, but on the other hand, she should worry about her sister, right?
We would be crossing a rapid river, after all.
「Don’t worry, I will keep her safe.」
「Really?」
「And we’ll be back as soon as we get the painting.」
After making this promise, Sanya-san and I left the room, leaving poor Ruimin behind.
Sanya-san covered herself with something similar to a raincoat to fend off the rain while I of course didn’t need to put anything else on as my Bear Suit was completely blocked out the rain.
「Yuna-chan, will you be okay wearing just that?」
「Yeah, I’ll be fine. My outfit has this special property, you know.」
I walked out into the rain to show her.
The rain was coming down quite heavily, but thanks to my Bear Suit, the raindrops bounced right of me.
「What kind of material is your suit made of? There are many different materials that can repel water, but I don’t ever recall seeing something like that.」
Honestly, I didn’t know either. It had been made by God.
It was quite possible that this material didn’t even exist in this world, and he got it from somewhere else.
Sanya-san kept curiously glancing at my suit for a while then asked me how we would cross the river.
「We’ll ride on my Bears.」
I answered her truthfully.
「Those cute bears of yours can cross rivers?」
「Well, they’re summoned beasts, so it shouldn’t be too weird to believe that, right?」
I tried giving her my preplanned excuse.
Sanya-san seemed to be lost in thought whether that made sense or not for a while, but eventually seemed convinced.
The term ‘summoned beasts’ sure was useful from time to time. Not only could I say they were so quick and resilient because they were summoned beasts, I could also blame being able to cross the river on that simple term. Thank you, Swaying Bear, Hugging Bear, for being my summoned beasts.
As we were walking, Sanya-san asked if we should leave through the docks or go out the main gate and cross the river outside. Detours were annoying, and we were also short on time, so crossing directly at the docks would be great if it wasn’t just for the slight problem of being seen. I didn’t want to use my water-walk skill with people around, so I suggested we take the long way around because of that. However, Sanya-san told me I worried for nothing as nobody should be at the docks in this heavy rain. I trusted her judgment, so we decided to leave from the docks
Once we got there, it was completely deserted, just as Sanya-san predicted. Well, now that I really thought about it, it made sense for the docks to be empty. There was wasn’t much work to do due to the rain, and there should be no one dumb enough to get close to a raging river, either.
As I looked around, I noticed there was a huge boat sitting at the docks. It could easily carry several horse carriages at once.
I really wanted to try riding on it, but I would sadly have to pass on it for now. Taking a more focused look at the river, I really had to admit it was a wide one. I could still see the city on the opposite bank, so it should be a manageable distance for my Bears.
It took another moment to confirm nobody was around using my detection magic. People could always be hiding in areas the naked eye couldn’t see, after all, so simply looking wouldn’t be enough to be sure. I worried for nothing, though, since my magic didn’t detect anybody nearby. Knowing the coast was clear for sure, I finally plopped my Bears into the middle of this rain.
「Yuna-chan, we’ll be okay, right?」
Sanya-san mounted Swaying Bear and looked at the overflowing river with unease.
Seeing how rapid and violent it was, I really couldn’t blame her for worrying.
When I had first tried out the skill, I didn’t have the courage to try it over deep water and practiced in shallow areas instead. I could understand how she felt.
「You can still stay behind if you are too scared. What will it be?」
It would be troublesome to lose a guide, but it was better than forcing her..
「I’ll,... I’ll be fine.」
She did not look okay in the slightest, so I tried to give her some advice to make it easier on her.
「You can just close your eyes and tightly hug Swaying Bear; it should all be over in a couple of minutes, no more.」
「Yuna-chan, I can’t... No! I will trust Swaying Bear. I can do it.」
「Okay, let’s go before you change your mind, then.」
I gave the signal, and Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear both leapt towards the river.
Sanya-san screamed in fear, but I decided to just ignore her.
The Bears safely landed on top of the river and ran on it quite gracefully despite how rapid the current was. To them, it was like the river wasn’t even flowing. There was an abundant amount of driftwood floating down the river, but the Bears leapt over them easily.
「Yuna-chan, what if I fall off!?」
「You would be swept away, of course.」
Why would she ask something so obvious? She clung onto Swaying Bear even harder after hearing my reply. By now she should know that she didn’t really need to cling on that tightly, as it was impossible to fall of my Bears, but she still seemed to cling on for her dear life.
As the bears dashed through the waves, dodging driftwood left and right and taking the current head-on, I suddenly felt like we were in an obstacle course (not that I had actually participated in one of those).
It took us a while, but we eventually reached the docks on the other side.
I quickly used my detection magic to see if anyone was hanging around. If people saw two bears climb onto the docks from the river, it would definitely cause quite a commotion.
I would have had to go all around the city and enter through the gates if the was someone, but luckily, there wasn’t, just like on the other side.
Once safely up on the docks, I informed Sanya-san that the river-crossing was officially over.
Looking back, my Bears really closed all this distance in no time.
When Sanya-san got off Swaying Bear, she immediately fell on her back.
I was sure she was bound to get even more drenched doing that. I was surprised to see that she was quite dry. Was it thanks to the raincoat she was wearing?
I thanked the Bears and unsummoned them.
「We really crossed the river...」
Sanya-san looked back towards the other bank in pure disbelief.
「I had always known that your bears were amazing, but this experience truly convinced me. I have never heard of bears that could walk on water before. 」
I had never seen any, either. I hadn’t even read about anything of the sort.
「Sanya-san, we should start moving.」
We shouldn’t stay out in the rain for too long, after all.
I asked Sanya-san to lead us to the shop where the painting was at. Sanya-san had been to this city a lot of times, so she knew it quite well.
I would have been completely lost if I came alone. When I had asked Dogrude-san about the location of the shop, he simply replied with, 「Yeah, umm, it’s just around that area.」
Sanya-san started to lead us to the shop.
Due to the heavy rain, we didn’t pass by many people, so my outfit didn’t draw too much attention. Also, my Bear Hood looked kind of similar to a raincoat from a distance, so some people didn’t even take notice of it. Well, even if they did notice, I would just ignore them as usual.
When I had woken up this morning, I thought that this rain would be a bad thing, but in this situation, it proved to be quite useful. Hmm, leaving so early in the morning might also have helped.
We reached the shop without anyone freaking out about my outfit.
I had a sneaking suspicion that things wouldn’t have gone this smoothly had I gone alone.
「It’s closed...」
We weren’t sure if it was closed due to the rain or because we were here too early.
We weren’t familiar with shop hours of this area, but most people in this world tended to wake up early, eat breakfast, and then head straight to the shop to open up.
「Let’s try knocking at least.」
I was about to knock when I looked at my hands.
The Bear Puppets were looking right back at me. Oh right... I couldn’t knock.
I looked over to Sanya-san.
「I’ll do it. I don’t want you to surprise the people here, so could you please step back a bit, Yuna-chan?」
She made sense. If someone were to open the door only to be met by someone wearing a Bear Suit, they would surely be confused, maybe even startled.
I could take off my Bear Hands and knock with bare hands, but that would be just too much of a hassle, so I stepped back and let Sanya-san do it for me. Sanya-san knocked on the door and also called out for the owners.
Just as we were about to give up, we heard some shuffling from the other side of the door.
「Who is it?」
A voice called out.
「We are adventurers, here on behalf of Dogrude-san.」
We heard the sounds of a lock being undone and the door just slightly cracked open.
Through the crack, we could see a young lady in her mid-twenties staring at us.
「On behalf of my husband?」
「Sorry for coming at such an early time.」
「Oh no, that’s okay. The rain is coming down rather hard, so please, come inside.」
The lady started to open the door and welcome us in before finally noticing me.
「A bear?!」
「I’d tell you to ignore her outfit if I thought it would work, but she is actually an adventurer as well, here on Dogrude-san’s request.」
The lady gave me one final confused stare then let us in. Thank god I had taken Sanya-san with me.
It was only because of her that we found the shop so easily, and that the owner wasn’t too suspicious about my looks. If it was just me, I was sure that the shop owner wouldn’t have believed that I was an adventurer.
The lady took us to a nice room and served us some warm tea.
「So, why did my husband send you here?」
I took out Dogrude-san’s letter from my Bear Box and handed it to the lady.
「Is that an item bag?」
The lady said in surprise when she saw me take it out of my Bear Puppet’s mouth.
Merchants must tend to notice such things, huh.
The lady proceeded to unseal the letter and started to read it. After nodding several times, she then looked back up and smiled at me.
Wait, why was she smiling at me?
「I understand the situation, but it’s still hard to believe. This letter was written just yesterday, and you two managed to arrive here early in the morning, despite the heavy rain.」
「Do you doubt us?」
「Oh no, I have my husband’s letter here in hand, so I completely believe you. Anyway, he wrote that I should pass over a painting to you.」
Having heard her positive reply was a huge relief to me. I was so glad that we didn’t get simply sent back after coming all this way. Sanya-san must have felt the same way as she looked quite relieved herself.
「Still, I am a little curious on how you two managed to cross the river in this rain?」
「Sorry, that’s a secret.」
Sanya-san replied to her in my stead.
「Is it okay if I at least take a look at your guild cards to confirm your identities?」
We both took out our guild cards and handed them to her.
She proceeded to check them and giggled a few times as she read them.
「I’m sorry. You really do have Bear labeled as your occupation. My husband actually wrote in the letter. Here: ‘The two adventurers that will come to pick up the painting are Sanya-sama, the guild master of the capital’s Adventurers Guild, and Yuna-sama, occupation: Bear’.」
She kept smiling as she threw another look at me.
Couldn’t he just have written my adventurer’s rank instead of my occupation?
I would rather have merchants know that instead of thinking of me as a bear.
「He also mentioned that you would be dressed as a bear.」
At this point, Sanya-san let out a giggle as well. Although it was completely true, I really didn’t want to be known as the Bear Girl. I asked for my guild card back and returned to enjoying my tea.
「Okay, enough of that. Please wait for a moment while I get the painting.」
Good, at least we would get the painting without a problem.
We quietly drank our tea as we waited for her, and after a minute or two, she returned with a large wooden box.
Sanya-san quickly got up to help her.
「Thank you, let’s put it there.」
The two of them gently placed the box on the table.
The lady then opened the lid and unraveled a painting of a landscape inside.
Was this thing really that valuable?
I didn’t know much about the art of this world, so I couldn’t really tell what was considered expensive.
「Great, now we just have to take it back to Dogrude-san.」
I said and placed the wooden box into my Bear Box.
「You’ll be heading back immediately?」
「Yes, Dogrude-san is waiting for us, after all.」
「I do not know how you plan on returning, but you can stay here and rest for a while, too.」
With the Bears, it shouldn’t be a problem if we stayed a bit longer. The lady seemed to assume that we would take her up on her offer as she already began serving us some snacks.
We didn’t want to refuse her generosity, especially since she had already served them, so we decided to stay for at least a short while.
Author’s note:
Sorry, I lied. Bracelet arc continues. w