by Kumanano
“This isn’t really a souvenir, but you can have this, Milaine.”
I took a pudding out of the bear storage.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a cuisine called pudding. I made it from kokekko eggs. Put it in the refrigerator and eat it on your break. Let me know what you think about it when I get back from the capital.”
“Thank you very much. I’ll eat it later. Please take this in return.”
Milaine wrote something down and handed me a sealed letter.
“What’s this?”
“It’s my letter of introduction. If you give this to the royal capital’s merchant guild, I think they might give you favorable accommodations. Use it if you run into trouble with them.”
Since I was planning to visit the merchant guild, I gratefully accepted the letter.
“Don’t forget about the pudding. Make sure you chill it before eating it,” I said on my way out.
After that, I just needed to visit three more places: Fina’s house, the adventurers’ guild, and the orphanage. The adventurers’ guild was the closest on my route. When I got there, it wasn’t all that busy. I hit up Helen at the reception desk.
“Oh, Ms. Yuna.”
“Could you help me with this?”
I handed Cliff’s letter to Helen. Her eyes scanned its contents.
“I’ll process this at the reception desk, so if you could let me have your guild card, please.”
I passed it to her.
“Well, I suppose this means you won’t be in town for a while.”
“I’m not sure for how long, though.”
The Guildmaster appeared from who knows where and called out to me.
“Yuna, you going somewhere?”
“It seems she’s going to the royal capital at Lord Cliff’s request.”
“Oh, for the king’s birthday celebration?”
The Guildmaster looked carefully at me.
“Yuna, hold on a sec.”
He ducked away into an inner room. I got to wondering what it might be just when he returned.
“Take this with you.”
Another stop, another letter.
“What is this?”
“It’s so you won’t cause a ruckus at the capital’s adventurers’ guild.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You’re going to the capital looking like that, aren’t you? Did you forget your first day here?”
No one tried to pick fights with me when I came into the guild anymore. I didn’t even get as many strange looks walking around town anymore. Actually, kids had started following me around more lately. It was like I was becoming some kind of hometown mascot. I couldn’t expect the same treatment abroad.
“I think if you give this letter to the adventurers’ guild, they’ll look after you a little.”
I’d be thankful for that. I mean, knocking people down one by one gets tedious after a while. After I thanked him for the letter, I took off.
My next stop was Fina’s house. Gentz wasn’t there, but all three of the women were.
“Oh, come right in, Yuna. What brings you by?”
“Yuna is here?!”
Fina came down from upstairs. Shuri followed after her.
“I came to let you know that starting tomorrow, I’ll be going to the royal capital for a while.”
“You’re going to the capital?” asked Shuri.
“I’m there for an escort job. Tiermina, I think you’ll do fine, but if you could look after the orphanage stuff?”
“Got it. I’m sure we won’t run into any trouble, so please take your time sightseeing at the capital. It’s your first time, isn’t it?”
“I wish I could go,” Fina mumbled softly as she listened in on us.
“You haven’t gone before?”
“I haven’t.”
I guess with no father and Tiermina sick, she wouldn’t have been able to.
“You want to come, too?”
“Oh, are you sure?”
“Well, it’s a two-person trip with just me and the person I’m escorting, so adding another person won’t cause any problems.”
“Are you sure, Yuna? Isn’t it a job?” Tiermina asked.
“I’ll ask the person I’m escorting tomorrow, then. If I get permission, we’ll go together. Otherwise, guess you’ll need to keep shop.”
“I’m so jealous, sissy,” Shuri said, giving her sister an envious look.
“You can’t go, Shuri. You’ve got to look after the house with Mommy.”
“Waaaah.”
“You really don’t want to be alone with your mom then, huh?”
Shuri shook her head from side to side, “Nuh-uh.”
Tiermina gave Shuri a hug.
“Well then, I’ll come for you tomorrow morning. You don’t need to prepare anything, but if there’s something you’re taking, get it ready so I can put it in my bottomless bag.”
Finally, I went to the orphanage to let the headmistress and the kids know I wouldn’t come by for a while and left them some wolf meat.
Chapter 50:
Fina Thanks the Bear
JUST RECENTLY, Dad came home looking really glum. I wonder why?
I heard that apparently a black viper came out and was attacking a village nearby. It was a huge deal at the guild. Apparently Dad got to come back from his job butchering and trading, but the other employees couldn’t change shifts.
The black viper is supposed to be a ginormous snake. I haven’t ever seen one before. They say you needed a party of C-rank adventurers to beat it, at the very least. Yuna and the Guildmaster both went to beat it alone. My dad seemed worried. He was mumbling, There’s no way they’ll be able to defeat it.
A few days later, Yuna and the Guildmaster came home safe and sound. When my dad got home, he was so happy telling me about it. Since they’re harvesting the black viper tomorrow, they called me in to help.
I went to the guild with Dad early in the morning, but it looked like Yuna wasn’t there yet. Since she was so tired from going out slaying, she wasn’t going to come in at a specific time. I decided to help out the guild like old times until she came, but then Yuna came to the guild looking really energetic. I couldn’t really tell how strong a black viper was supposed to be anymore.
I waited in cold storage for them to tell me what to do to harvest the black viper, but then they called everyone to come outside. They said it was so big that we couldn’t even harvest it inside cold storage. We ended up harvesting it outside town. When Yuna pulled the viper’s body out of her bear puppet’s mouth, I wondered how she could beat something so huge on her own.
Once I got my directions, I got to butchering. I paired up with Dad. First he would skin it; then I would cut up lumps of meat from where he skinned and put them in a bottomless bag. I wasn’t sure if we could finish it all in one day. Anyway, I decided to work hard.
A lot of hours later, there was no viper left to process. I was so relieved. I let other people carry the materials and brought Yuna back to the guild from her place like the Guildmaster asked. Then I was done with a whole day’s work. I decided I would head home and go to bed early today. I was tired, but I was glad I could help Dad.
Lately, we’ve been on cloud nine.
Mom got better, and Dad tries to make us laugh when we eat. Mom always says, “That’s not funny,” but she’s laughing when she says it. I’m not sure how long it’s been since we’ve cracked up at the dinner table. Maybe it was the first time it was like that for Shuri.
Then, one of those days, my mother said something I didn’t expect.
“Maybe I’ll work as an adventurer.”
We all stopped her. Dad especially wouldn’t allow it.
“Are you planning on dying and leaving your kids behind?! Is that how little you trust me to be the breadwinner?!”
I was scared just imagining Mom going to fight a black viper, but I could imagine Yuna beating it without breaking into a sweat. I wonder wh
y that was? The only time I’d seen her fight was when we first met.
Shuri hugged mom too, and shook her head so hard her whole body trembled. In the end, we reached a compromise so she would get work through the merchant guild.
… I wonder why she ended up working for Yuna instead? Apparently her job was trading bird eggs. What was Yuna doing? Maybe she was going to quit being an adventurer so she could be a merchant?
One day Yuna told me, “Come over to my house with Shuri tomorrow.”
She said she wanted us to sample some food. I was a little worried, but I was excited about it. After I ate breakfast the next morning, I went with Shuri to the bear house and Yuna brought out a sweet called “pudding.” It was yellow. It was supposed to be made out of eggs. Was it really okay for me to eat something that fancy?
But then again, Yuna made it for me. I gratefully scooped up a spoonful. It was soft and sweet. I’d never heard about it before, let alone tasted anything like it. I finished eating the whole thing before I knew it.
Shuri’s cup was empty, too. When we both looked disappointed, Yuna smiled and brought out one more for each of us. This time, I ate it slowly.
Mmhmm, it was so good.
Yuna is already amazing since she’s such a strong adventurer, but being able to make food like this is pretty incredible, too. I was so happy it was scary.
While I was teaching Shuri the alphabet at home during the afternoon that day, Yuna came over. I wondered if she wanted something. When we asked her about it, she said she was escorting someone to the capital. She came to ask my mom to watch the orphanage.
“I wish I could go.”
When I said that, she ended up deciding to bring me too. Is it really okay for me to go? We’ll find out if I can go tomorrow after she checks with her client. I don’t know whether I can go, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
Extra Story:
The Rookie Adventurers
Part One
I HEADED OVER to the adventurers’ guild to kill time today. I came to the guild in my bear onesie like usual, but I didn’t hear anybody making fun of me. Inside, I checked the quest boards, hoping for something interesting.
I thought about how I wouldn’t have minded another black viper now that I knew how to defeat them as I perused the D-rank and C-rank boards. What rank would a black viper end up being, anyway? If it was higher than B-rank, I obviously wouldn’t find one on the boards I was looking at. I gave the B-rank boards a quick peek just in case, but I didn’t find any quests with new monsters or that seemed interesting.
Just when I was thinking about taking my business elsewhere, I took a step without looking where I was going.
“Ah!”
I’d knocked the girl in front of me over onto her butt. We seemed to be around the same age. She was taller, though. Why was she the one who ended up falling, then? I guessed I could thank my bear gear for that.
“Sorry. Are you okay?”
I offered a bear puppet to the grounded girl. After she got a look at me, she looked around the room.
“A bear?”
A bit hesitantly, she grasped my puppet. Once she was standing upright, she thanked me.
“M-much obliged.”
“You’re not hurt, are you?”
“No, I’m fine.”
Right when I was about to take my leave, this boy rushed over to her.
“Horn, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just bumped into that bear.”
The kid looked at me once again.
“A bear?!”
He only just noticed?!
“Sorry about that. I was kind of lost in thought.”
“No, it’s fine. I wasn’t looking where I was going, since I was looking for everyone,” Horn said, bowing her head.
“Guess we get to share the blame.”
“Yes, it seems so,” Horn replied with a smile.
The kid was looking over at me.
“What?”
I knew what he wanted to say, but I called him out on it since he was staring. He probably didn’t have a clue that his life hinged on what he said next. Jokes aside, the kid started talking.
“Are you that bear from the rumors?”
Well, if anyone talked about bears in this town, they were definitely talking about me.
“I might be.”
If there were any other bears around, I’d like to see them. Well, that’s what I thought, but all I could picture were older guys with very few mutual interests. After looking me over, the kid opened his trap again.
“Oh c’mon, they must’ve been teasing us!” the kid said. He tsked.
“Oh, sorry,” said Horn. “It’s just that someone was telling us there’s this scary adventurer who dresses like a bear in this town and that we shouldn’t go near them.”
“On top of that, they were trying to get us all riled up and saying that this bear took down a tigerwolf, goblin king, and black viper alone.”
Yup, that was true.
“So you’re supposed to be that bear all the rumors are about?”
The punk bopped my head, and I started counting backwards from ten. When I looked around, the other adventurers were watching us, wide-eyed and gaping like fish. Uh, I thought, are they thinking I was going to do something?
Well, I was. A pair of boys rushed over like they could see the bloody thought forming in my head.
“Horn, Shin, what do you think you’re doing?”
“I mean really. We were looking for you two.”
If I had to describe them in a word, one was hyperactive and the other one seemed belligerent.
“This bear ran into Horn.”
Put that finger down, I thought. It’s rude to point at people. Where’d you learn your manners?
“A bear? You don’t mean that one from the rumors?”
“Oh, you mean the one the front desk told us about…”
“I heard about it from the senior adventurers…”
“But they were telling me that the bear was terrifying.”
“What a joke. When they said it was a woman dressed as a bear, I was imagining a giant lady.”
The punk bopped my head all over again. I’m allowed to be angry soon, right? I thought. The nearby adventurers were making themselves scarce. The guild workers weren’t allowed to run away, and I could see on their faces that they knew they were in for it. I was just about to grab the little punk’s hand…
“Yuna! Please wait!” Helen was yelling at me.
“Wasn’t the guild supposed to be neutral to disputes between adventurers?”
“It’s also the guild’s job to make sure you don’t get pulled into any trouble.”
Right, I guess they had promised me that. I wished she would’ve come to my rescue a little earlier.
“Umm, what’s the matter?” the girl said, not seeming to understand what Helen was saying. I would’ve loved to dangle them by the legs over a long drop, but cooler heads prevailed.
“Did none of you listen to what I told you the other day?” Helen cautioned the boys.
“You mean about the bear?”
“That’s right. I told you that there’s a girl who dresses as a bear and that under no circumstances should you mock her or approach her for fun.”
“You mean this bear?”
He bopped my head.
“Stop that. If you don’t want to die, you should apologize immediately and get to your work,” Helen grabbed the kid’s hand and pointed at the door.
“All right, we’ll go. Let’s get going, everyone.”
“Okay. I’m so sorry, bear miss.”
Horn and the boys left the guild.
“Miss Yuna, I apologize. I thought I explained things well enough, but it seems they didn’t understand.”
I was kind of dubious about whatever she’d told them. I guess they thought she’d pulled one over on them when they saw me in this onesie.
“Wait, so what’s the explanation you’ve been
giving?”
“That there is an adventurer who dresses like a bear and that they should never approach her for their own amusement.”
“That’s it?”
“No, I also tell them about the monsters you’ve slain so they know how strong you are, so they shouldn’t make fun of you or tease you. I also tell them about the D-rank and E-rank adventurers who tried laying a hand on you and ended up shells of their former selves.”
What was that about shells now? Was this supposed to be like some travel advisory warning about a dangerous bear on the loose or something?
“When it seems like they don’t actually believe me despite all of that, I ask the seasoned adventurers to talk to them.”
When I looked around the guild, everybody averted their eyes simultaneously. What the heck did they tell those kids? I had no idea any of this stuff was going on in the guild.
“Those were the instructions we received from the Guildmaster himself. We took these measures so you wouldn’t be involved in unnecessary incidents.”
I wish they’d stop describing me like some indiscriminately attacking bear. If anybody picked a fight with me, on the other hand…
“I made sure to give those kids the whole explanation too,” Helen said. She let out a sigh.
Well, after everybody had told them I was a holy terror, lo-and-behold, they just see this girl in pajamas. No wonder they thought it was a joke. Not that that was any reason to forgive anyone for bopping someone else on the head.
“I wonder if those kids will be okay.”
“Is there something to worry about?”
“A bit. Those kids are just rookies, but they took a quest for wolf slaying. That’s why I’m a bit concerned.”
“What’s their rank?”
“They just joined the other day, so they’re still rank F. Apparently they can handle wolves, though.”
“Then shouldn’t they be fine?”
“Yes, but this time they’re going a bit out of the way, so I’m a little worried.”
“But it’s just wolves.”
“It seems that a large pack’s been seen too near one of the neighboring villages, so they put in a quest. It’s not much, but there’s a reward, so the kids chose to go.”