Chapter 27 – The Rumored Bear Girl
Xant: TLC done by Estelion
Author’s note: Volume 2 will start from here.
Several days after the Bear House was built, it had become a famous landmark.
Before anyone noticed, a house was built in the vacant lot. Many were surprised that the house was shaped like a bear, and even the person living inside looked like a bear.
Around the Bear House, there were a lot of spectators observing from a distance.
For that reason, I haven’t gone outside at all recently.
On the first day, I went outside for meals, but now I’m making and eating my meals at home.
「Big sis Yuna, I’ve finished dismantling today’s portion.」
Fina came by every day for her dismantling work, so I’ve been giving her one day off for every three days she works.
Furthermore, her dismantling quota was five bodies a day.
For that reason, she was normally finished in half a day.
「Thank you, be careful on your way back home.」
「Un. Big sis Yuna, aren’t you going to work?」
「I’ll go...eventually.」
Certainly, I’ve been acting like a hikikomori recently.
At this rate, it’s only going to get worse, huh.
Tomorrow, should I go to the guild first thing in the morning?
The next day, for the first time in a while, I woke up early and headed to the guild.
「Ah, Yuna-san! You finally came!」
Helen shouted as she caught sight of me.
You’re being a nuisance to everybody!
「Good morning, Helen.」
「Geez, what have you been doing? I was waiting for you.」
「You were waiting for me?」
「Yes, there is a designated request for you.」
「A designated request?」
「Yes, the request came from Cliff Foschurose-sama.」
「...Who?」
I don’t know a person by that name.
「You don’t know of him? Count Foschurose-sama is the honorable Feudal Lord of this city.」
「Honorable Feudal Lord?」
「Yes.」
It seems like it will become extremely troublesome.
If you were to ask me what I thought about nobles, my opinion would be based on the royalty from manga or light novels, where they were an existence that invited trouble.
If possible, I don’t want to get involved with them.
So,
「Pass.」
「Eh-」
「I refuse.」
「Eh-」
「I’m going home, bye!」
「H-hey! Hold on a second!」
Helen jumped over the reception desk and grabbed onto my bear clothes.
「What do you want?」
「What, do you really plan on going home?!」
「I want to sleep, so I’m going home.」
「I-it’s still morning.」
「It’s fine for me to sleep whenever I want, right?」
「In that case, please listen to the request, because although Yuna-san doesn’t come to the guild very often, Foschurose-sama has come many times for this request.」
「That has nothing to do with me, right?」
「If nothing else, please at least listen to the request!」
「Don’t wanna.」
「Please~ I’m begging you!」
「Is it okay to refuse after listening?」
「Why are you so against this?」
「My grandmother’s dying wish was for me to stay far away from nobles and royals.」
「What is that supposed to mean?!」
「It means that nobles and royals are the kind of people who will immediately kill or imprison someone that they don’t like. Upon seeing a beautiful woman, they’ll demand her body and threaten her if she refuses. They’ll condemn innocent people without proof or extort money from commoners. They’re the kind of existence that lets their money do the talking, always getting away with whatever they want. Furthermore, their children are arrogant, boastful, selfish and self-important, right?」
「What is with that biased way of thinking?」
「Am I wrong?」
「It’s true that the nobles Yuna-san described exist.」
They do exist.
「However, Foschurose-sama is different. He’s a gentleman.」
「Have you met him in person?」
「I haven’t.」
「In that case, you wouldn’t know for sure.」
「I haven’t heard any bad rumors like that though.」
「If people were killed secretly, you wouldn’t know. After all, dead people can’t talk.」
「Why do your thoughts go that far?!」
I couldn’t say that it was due to the influence of mangas and novels.
「Oi! What’s with the ruckus on such a crowded morning!」
Muscle Daruma = Guild master has arrived.
「Guild master!」
「Helen, you know it gets crowded in the morning. What in the world are you doing?」
「It’s not my fault! Yuna-san has a designated request from Foschurose-sama but, because she has a strange prejudice against nobles, she won’t even listen to the request.」
「Prejudice?」
「She was saying things like nobles will kill people they don’t like, demand women’s bodies when they see them, or that their children are arrogant and selfish.」
「Yeah, that’s true.」
「As I thought.」
「Guild master!」
「Ahh, my bad. Of course, those kinds of aristocrats do exist, but Foschurose is different, so you don’t need to worry.」
「Absolutely?」
「Aah, because he’s an acquaintance.」
Certainly, it’s not strange for the Adventurer’s Guild’s guild master to have personally met the Feudal Lord.
「Please listen, if you refuse, it will affect the guild’s credibility.」
「U-un, fine! I’ll listen to the request, at least!」
「Thank you very much...though I say that, there’s not much to the request. It’s just a request for you to visit his house.」
「The heck?」
「Perhaps he just wants to meet the rumored bear girl?」
「Bear girl?」
「You didn’t know? It’s Yuna-san’s nickname.」
「I knew about Bloody Bear, but not that one.」
It’s an unpleasant nickname though.
「The Bloody Bear is what the male adventurers call you. The female adventurers and children just call you Bear Girl or Bear-san.」
I didn’t know.
「But, what are the rumors?」
「You look like a bear, defeated packs of wolves and goblins by yourself, defeated a goblin king, and completed a large amount of subjugations as a beginner. Then you summoned bears and even built a Bear House. Of course there would be rumors.」
「What bear house?」
Apparently, Helen hadn’t heard about that.
「What, you didn’t know? This girl rented a plot of land and built a house, ya know. It’s even shaped like a bear. Moreover, it was built so quickly that nobody knows when it was built, which is why everyone has been talking about it.」
「Is that what she did with the land from the other day? I had no idea.」
「So, because I’m the rumored bear girl, the Feudal Lord wants to meet me?」
「Yeah, I guess that’s how it is.」
「After all, everybody is reporting information about you, be it the Adventurer’s Guild, the Commerce Guild, the town gate, or the town guards.」
「Information?」
「Ah, the Adventurer’s Guild reported about a promising rookie in a bear suit. The Commerce Guild reported that a bear girl built a Bear House without anyone noticing and the gate soldiers reported about the summoned bears. The town guards would have also submitted a report when you walked around town with that appearance. With so many reports about you reaching him, of course he would want to meet you.」
What? That’s scary.
Is there no law like the Protection of Personal Information Act?
All I did was complete the Adventurer’s Guild’s requests normally, built a Bear House with magic normally, used magic to finish my subjugation quests faster by summoning a mount normally, and strolled around town in my casual bear clothes.
「Can’t I refuse?」
「Beats me. At the very least, the average adventurer wouldn’t refuse a commission from a noble. If they did, they would be skipping town. In any case, adventurers would normally agree to requests like this one and meet the noble.」
「So troublesome.」
「Don’t say that, he’s probably just curious. Why don’t you just try meeting him?」
「By the way, assuming I go meet him, when would be a good time? Since he’s a Feudal Lord, he should be pretty busy, right?」
「Yes, I received his schedule for the next few days. Any time tomorrow or in the afternoon five days from now should be fine.」
Had everything already been decided, including the day we meet?
「Fine, whatever! I’ll go meet him!」
Reluctantly, I decided to meet him tomorrow afternoon.
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I didn’t have a mind to work today, so I bought lunch at a street stall on my way home.
Because I wrote about meeting the lord on a whim, I haven’t thought about what comes next at all.
I’ll figure it out by tomorrow.