Chapter 75: The Bear Buys a Store

Chapter 75:
The Bear Buys a Store

 

THE DAY AFTER I said my goodbyes to everybody at the capital, I used the bear transport gate to head back to Crimonia with Fina.

“Yuna, that was so much fun!”

Army of deadly necromancer-controlled monsters aside, I really enjoyed my time at the capital. Best of all, I’d gotten my hands on potatoes and cheese.

“I’m glad to hear it. If you ever wanna head on back, just hit me up and we can use the bear transport gate.”

“Yeah! I wanna go with my whole family next.”

“As long as you keep the bear transport gate secret, got me?”

“I will.”

We headed to the orphanage so I could get Fina back to Tiermina, who should’ve been busy with the kokkeko at the orphanage around then. When I got to the henhouse near the orphanage, I found the kids hard at work. One of them noticed me before I could do anything about it…

“It’s the bear girl!”

…Which meant that all of them noticed and ran up to me.

“You all been doing well?”

“Yeah!”

The kids were all smiles. Cool, looked like things were A-okay. “Is Tiermina around?”

“Uhuh!” said one of the boys. “She’s counting eggs over there.” He pointed at a small shed next to the henhouse. I thanked the kids for telling me that and headed on over. I found Tiermina inside, counting the eggs with Shuri next to her.

“Mom!” The moment Fina saw Tiermina, she ran over and gave her a tight hug.

“Fina?!”

“Sis!”

Shuri dashed to Fina and gave her a big hug, beaming.

“Shuri, we’re back!”

“Good to see you, Tiermina.”

“Welcome home, you two.”

Fina was finally home, safe and sound.

“How was the capital?” asked Tiermina, and Fina practically exploded with details.

“No fair!” said Shuri, folding her arms and aiming a powerful little kid pout. “You get to do everything, sis!” If I went anywhere else, I’d need to make sure to take them both, the poor kid.

“So, Tiermina, I’ve got something to ask you about—or rather, to ask you for.”

“What would that be?”

I gave her a simple explanation about Morin and her daughter, and how I was going to start a shop.

“So on top of the eggs, you’re selling pudding and bread. And you’re saying that you’ve got bakers coming in from the capital?” Tiermina rubbed her temples. “What am I supposed to do then?” She seemed a little exasperated, but I guess it wasn’t a no.

“I’d like you to handle the shop’s sales, stock, and, most of all, the money.”

“All right. I don’t have to figure out the details until this Morin person comes, right?”

“And there’s also the pudding stuff, so can you talk to Milaine about the eggs? That’s how we’ll decide how much pudding to sell.”

“Understood. I’ll talk to her next time I’m at the trade guild.”

She wasn’t the only one with questions for Milaine. There was the stuff with the eggs, but the shop was going to be bigger than I initially planned, now that we were baking bread and pizza. I needed to consult with her about that too.

That was enough bugging Tiermina at work, so I decided to swing by the headmistress before going home. She was out, though, so maybe I’d just drop in later.

 

Next, I headed to the adventurers’ guild. “Ms. Yuna,” said Helen, “back already?”

“I’ve got a souvenir for you.”

I pulled the gift from the capital out of my bear storage and handed it over.

“An accessory? Why, thank you so much!”

What a relief. I didn’t know what was in style in the fantasy world, so I just bought what the person at the store recommended. Looks like things ended up just fine.

“Is the guild master in?”

“Yes. I’ll check on him right now, just a moment.” She went to the back room to call the guild master and came back right away. “He will see you in his office. Please come this way.”

I thanked her and headed to the back room where the guild master was.

“You sure came back fast,” he said.

“You summoned me, so here I am. Thanks for the letter of introduction, by the way.”

“It came in handy?”

“Oh yeah. I got in some trouble for a while, but after that the capital’s guild master helped me out a ton.”

“So long as it was useful. How’s good old Sanya?”

“She was fine. I think I might’ve left her a couple messes to clean up. Or, uh, maybe more than a couple.” The guild master burst into laughter. Sanya had dealt with the adventurers who’d given me trouble, that monster slaying mess, the promise with the king, and the whole Morin deal. I couldn’t tell him about the monster army thing, so I told him that, through Ellelaura, we got to see the castle, met Lady Flora, and that I served the king and Lady Flora pudding.

“Pardon me, you…cooked for the king and princess?” He straightened a few papers, as if trying to make something, anything a little orderly.

“Yep.” Then I told him about the mother and daughter baker pair I met, the corrupt merchant, Sanya’s help, and finally the heaping serving of royal pudding.

“What do you think you were doing at the capital?”

“Look, it’s not like that’s all my fault.” I couldn’t just turn the other way when it came to Morin and her daughter, and getting a request from the king himself was the last thing I wanted.

“Yes, yes. Err. That pudding you mentioned. Is it really that good?”

“Want to try some?”

I offered him a little pudding as a thank you for his letter of introduction. The guild master sniffed it, took one bite, then another.

“Hm. Goodness, this is tasty.”

Even the guild master gave it high marks. Maybe my audience was a little broader than I thought, eh?

 

After leaving the adventurers’ guild, I headed to the trade guild to find Milaine and consult with her about the shop…

“Yuna!” …but she was the one to find me.

“Please don’t shout my name,” I complained, heading over to her usual spot at the reception desk.

“My apologies, it just came right out.”

“Here, I got a souvenir for you.” It wasn’t an accessory quite like Helen’s souvenir, but it was close.

“Thank you ever so much,” she said, beaming. “Now, Yuna, about the shop we talked about the other day—
I found a few candidates for the location. How would you like to proceed?”

“I was going to ask just that.”

After a quick explanation of what happened at the capital, I told her I was going to sell bread alongside the pudding, and that we’d have to make the shop pretty large to compensate.

Milaine nodded thoughtfully. “Now, when you say large, how large are we going?”

Well, let’s see. I needed a dine-in place for customers and, since I wanted to employ the orphans, I needed the kitchen to have a lot of space just in case. Anyway, I described my requirements for the shop as they came to mind.

“The rent will be rather expensive, in that case. Then again, I was the one who suggested that you should start a shop, so I’d be happy to offer you a discount. If you need a large place though, that’s still quite a lot of money…” Milaine looked troubled.

“Don’t worry about the price. If it’s in a good location, I’ll snap it up.”

“Yuna, a shop isn’t something you simply purchase on a whim. Not for most people, anyway.” Milaine seemed exasperated, but thanks to the god and his weird bear items, I didn’t have any problems with money. Still, I couldn’t share that with Milaine. I smiled and waved it off.

“Well, as long as you can afford it, the trade guild has no problem with this. The price will be high, but there is one shop that has the things you’re looking for.”

According to Milaine, the building was large and close to the orphanage. Perfect. Now all I had to do was check the price and see it for myself.

“How much would it cost?”

Milaine pulled out a file, thought over it for a bit, then wrote a sum on a piece of paper before handing it to me.

“With a discount, I suppose this is the best I can do.”

The amount she proposed really did seem on the high side. At the very least, it was more expensive than that land I bought near the orphanage. Still, it was well within my magical bear budget. I decided to look at the building and then decide.

“Of course. I’ll lead you there now.”

Just as Milaine told me, the shop was pretty close to the orphanage and, though there weren’t buildings near it, you’d get to a road with foot traffic after walking a bit. Even if a line formed in front of the shop, it wouldn’t bother anyone.

The only issue was…

“Is this a shop?” Because it looked an awful lot like a mansion. Maybe I was imagining things? I rubbed my eyes, but it didn’t become any less mansionly. “It doesn’t look like one.”

“Not yet. The mansion will need some remodeling.”

A mansion turned into a shop, huh? Well, it wasn’t like I had any problems with the location. And the price wasn’t bad, the more I looked at it. “Can I see inside?”

“Naturally.”

Milaine took out the key, opened the door, and we went inside. There was a massive staircase at the front and a vast, empty floor area around it. If I set up tables and chairs here, it might make for a good dine-in area. Going further inside, there was a hallway to the left, and down that hallway I found a kitchen. It looked more than large enough. There was enough room for Morin and Karin to work, and for the orphans to help them.

“It also has a cold storage, so you’ll have plenty of room for food.”

I peeked into the storage room. Pretty spacious. In fact, this was big enough that I’d be able to store the eggs and pudding along with the ingredients for the cheese and bread. This might’ve been even better than I was expecting.

“What about the other hallway?”

“There are rooms that way. You can even see the courtyard from them.”

When I went to check it out, I did find several rooms, each with a garden view. I could probably make these into deluxe rooms. Next, I went to check out the second story.

When I got upstairs, I found several rooms and a spacious floor area, though it wasn’t as big as downstairs. Apparently, this was an aristocrat’s mansion and the room’s beds, closets, and other furniture were left as-is. If someone wanted to live here, it was move-in ready.

I could make the first floor into the shop and have Morin and her daughter live on the second floor. It looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a while and, on closer inspection, the walls and carpets were dirty. But hey, nothing some professional cleaners couldn’t handle.

I decided to splurge and buy this small mansion. The details I could save for tomorrow. Today I’d just handle all the formalities that came with buying the place.