Chapter 105: The Bear Runs Many Errands Before Heading Home

Chapter 105:
The Bear Runs Many Errands Before Heading Home

 

THE SEAPORT GATEKEEPER at the entrance gave me the weirdest look when he saw me. Well, whatever—I just showed him my guild card and headed inside. He wasn’t the usual person, so maybe it was his first time seeing me?

But…as I headed to the inn, I noticed the townspeople also giving me the same looks. No one said a word.

Okay, so the weirdness was on everyone, then, because they’d definitely say something to me if everything was normal. Had something happened? I walked a little faster toward the inn.

When I got back there, I found Cliff in the middle of his meal. I ran over to him at once.

“Cliff, there’s something up with the seaport. Did anything happen?”

“Oh, I guess there was something.”

I knew it—something was up. Cliff gave me a dead serious look.

“What was it?”

“A black bear turned into a white bear,” he said, still completely serious.

A black bear turned into a—wait. I looked down at my onesie. Oops.

“So you’ve got a white version of that too, huh?”

“Gyaaaaaaaahh!” When all else fails, scream and run away. I did just that, rushed up to my second floor room and changed into my black bear clothes. Ugh, I know it was just a different color, but it felt so…so embarrassing!

I’m sure I just hadn’t gotten used to wearing them in front of others, but the white clothes made me bashful. Why? Well, I kinda used them as pajamas, right? And so it felt like I was wearing PJs in public, even though they were exactly the same other than the color.

It still must’ve been weird for the townspeople, though. Milaine hadn’t said anything about it, but then again…maybe she’d been looking at me oddly because I’d been wearing the white bear onesie.

 

I headed back to Cliff. “Are you the only one here? Is Milaine around?”

“She hasn’t come back yet. How’s your house shaping up?”

“You knew about that?”

“I bumped into Milaine and she told me.”

“I guess it’s mostly done. I need to set up the inside, but I’m going to buy everything I need once I get back to Crimonia, so I’m done with things here for now.”

“I know there’s hardly a point in saying these things with you, but any normal person wouldn’t be able to build a house in just a day or two,” he said with a laugh. He was joking, but…well, he wasn’t wrong, was he? I let that wash over me and ordered a meal from Deigha.

“So, Cliffy, what’ve you been up to?”

“Well, we’ve set up an official announcement tomorrow morning—that’s where I’ll tell them about the tunnel and that the seaport is joining my territory. Then we start recruiting workers to level that area. We decided the wages for that particular project today. Tricky business…if we don’t pay enough, we won’t get any takers, but if we pay too much, we’ll strain our economy.”

Of course, I knew nothing about that kind of stuff. Market prices and wages and recruiting…great, cool, but nothing I could do anything about. “Will things be okay?”

“We’re going to take the materials they have from the kraken, so we should pretty much be fine now.”

“You’re taking the kraken?”

“Yes—you donated the kraken parts to the seaport, did you not?”

“Sure I did, I didn’t need them.”

Cliff rubbed his temples. “Yuna. Yuna. How much do you think kraken parts sell for?”

(Ugh, here he was getting worked up again just because I didn’t know what he knew…)

“Kraken hide,” he said, “is some of the best waterproof material you can get, and it alone sells for a fortune. You can even sell the meat for a high price. And you parted with it all for…nothing.”

“It helps the seaport get back on its feet, right? That doesn’t sound like nothing.”

“You really are an odd one. No normal person would donate something like that. You were the one to save them…and it would’ve been perfectly reasonable to ask them to pay you back.” Cliff sighed, but he smiled.

“I gave it to them so they could rebuild, so I’m fine with it as long as you use it for a good purpose.”

“Of course I will. I’ll sell it for a high price and use those funds to service the tunnel. More money always helps.”

Once we finished talking, Anz came in with my food. Cliff finished eating, so he was taking it easy and sipping his tea…and just as I finally started to dig in, Milaine came back.

“Oh, Yuna, you’re already having dinner? Are you still waiting to get yours, Cliff?”

“I’ve finished mine.”

“You did? Hmph. So I’m last?” Milaine called in the back for Deigha, who got to work on her meal at once.

“So, how did things work out for you?” Cliff asked.

“It’s a small trade guild to begin with, but now four of them are in jail, the guild master included. We’re going to be real shorthanded as it is, and then add the huge influx of travelers…” She shook her head.

“Shorthanded is the right word. We still don’t have a mayor, and we’ll need to really look for some advisers when a mayor’s chosen.”

“Did our runaway mayor not have any?”

“No, they kept everything within their family and friends before running out with all their assets.”

Yep, sounded like a run-of-the-mill family operation. The first leader would be great, but the second and third and every new generation would do a slightly worse job.

Cliff took a long sip of his tea, sighed. “At least you’ve still got people around, Milaine. I’m stuck in a situation where I have to rely on the adventurers’ guild and the three elders for everything.”

“Sounds tough.”

“Personally, it’d take a burden off of me if Atola would become the mayor, but then we wouldn’t have anyone running the adventurers’ guild. Which means I’ll have to to consult Crimonia’s adventurers’ guild…” he waved his hand in a vague circle.

“Looks like the only option we’ve got is to bring people over from Crimonia right away.”

“And train them.”

Looks like those two had their work cut out for them.

I ate while listening in, pretending to myself that I had nothing to do with the whole affair.

“If I’m going to solve that trade guild issue, Cliff, I’ll need to go back to Crimonia right away. When are you planning on heading back?”

“I’ve got my normal work to do and the guild master issue I mentioned earlier, so we’re looking at around the day after tomorrow, if possible.”

“Works for me. Crimonia it is, if we want to seal the deal on these things. Are you fine with that too, Yuna?”

Of course I was—I needed furniture for my bear house. “Fine by me.”

 

The next day, I went out early in the morning on my own after Kumayuru and Kumakyu woke me up, heading out to the harbor. There were things related to seafood that I wanted to ask Yuula and Damon for. I’d come looking for them here, but the ships were out at sea and they sure weren’t at the harbor.

I was there too early, then. I decided to kill time watching the ocean. I wandered the harbor and watched as, one by one, boats returned to shore from the gleaming water. All of them were carrying tons of fish, and every fisherman smiled. I’d defeated the kraken, and I’d brought all of this back. It felt good.

While I watched all the fishers return, someone called out to me: “Bear girl, what are you doing at the harbor so early in the morning?”

“I’m going back to Crimonia tomorrow, so I wanted to say bye to Yuula and Damon. Maybe buy some seafood for the road, too.” That’s right, that was the main reason—couldn’t not buy seafood before going back to Crimonia.

“What? You’re heading back already?”

The fisher looked glum.

“That’s why I came here in the first place, remember? To buy fish?” But then that kraken splashed around and got in the way…

“You did? In that case, you can take as much of our catch today with you as you’d like. It’s a token of my appreciation.” The fisher spread an arm out and gestured at the fish onboard the ship…and the other fishers joined in.

“Wait a sec. If you’re going to take anything, take my fish.”

“No, mine are much tastier.”

“How’d you like some octopus?”

“I have giant shellfish over here.”

And so the competition to sell me their fish began. All of it had just been caught, though, so I’m sure everything was fresh and delectable.

“Yuna, what’s wrong?” And there came Yuula and Damon from behind the fishers, interrupting my hemming and hawing.

“I came by to see you two since I’m leaving tomorrow morning. I also came by to purchase some fine, fresh fish from these guys right here.”

“In that case, take the fish I caught. Of course, we won’t take your money. You’ve helped us out time and again, after all.” Damon said that, and the people around him went into an uproar.

“Oi, Damon! You can’t come strutting in here from behind us all backstabbin’ and say that. We want the bear girl to take our wares too. You weren’t the only one she saved. We’re all grateful to her for being able to even catch fish like this. This is a chance to return the favor, if only a bit.”

“That’s right. And the elders told us we can’t go near her ’cause we’ll cause her trouble!”

The old guy gang had forbidden them from doing that for my sake?

Damon frowned. “But she also saved us while we were on the mountain in the snow.”

“That’s got no bearings here.”

“That’s right. You’re not the only one who wants to thank her.”

“All the fishers here want to show our gratitude toward the bear girl.”

Was this going to be a whole thing? In times like these, I guess you were supposed to strike a dramatic pose and tell all of them, “Stop it! Please don’t fight over me!” I mean, if you were a slave to tropes and couldn’t read a room.

“Umm,” I said, and cleared my throat lightly. “If you could all calm down, I’d be happy to pay a fair price if you’d be willing to let me have some of your fish.”

“We won’t take any money from you, bear girl!”

“That’s right. Right! It wouldn’t be a thank you gift if you paid us.”

“We’re trying to show you how grateful we are, so please just accept it.”

“No can do. I’ve got to put my foot down right now or I’ll have a hard time trying to buy your fish later.”

“I’d give ’em for free later, too, bear girl!”

“Nope. I’ve got a restaurant at Crimonia. I’m opening up a seafood business real soon, and I’d like to regularly buy seafood, so I can’t just take it for free.”

Sure, once or twice would have been fine, but once I took Anz with me, we’d need to stock up regularly. If I wanted to keep up friendly relations with the fishers, my first interaction with them would be crucial.

“All right…” said a fisher, kicking his foot a little into the air like a petulant kid. “You can buy it next time, but this time you’ve got to take the fish for free.”

Looking at the fishers, I could tell that they wouldn’t back down on that one point. So…fine, just for today, but they’d have to promise to let me buy the fish off of them next time.

“And let us know if anything happens! We’ll do anything you need, bear girl.” The other fishers nodded. Way to put me on the spot, guys, but…then again, it did give me an idea.

“Then can I ask you for a favor?”

“What is it?”

“The lord of Crimonia is here right now, talking to the old men about the future of the seaport. It’d be nice if you all could refrain from arguing with them about what they hash out.” There might be a lot of unexpected issues from merging with Crimonia. I didn’t want them to get into arguments over it.

“We wouldn’t object to anything the elders decide as it is, but especially if the girl who saved the seaport says so. You’ve got it.” Did they really trust me that much? Was it all right for them to?

It made me feel a little uneasy, but this was better than some ridiculous fight over me. Now I just needed Cliff to do his part right. I prayed that he’d progress trade talks amicably…and then I grabbed my heaps of fresh seafood from everyone and left the harbor.

 

Next I headed to the trade guild. I needed something from Jeremo.

When I got to the guild, the staff were as busy as always. Work ramped up like Milaine said—lots of the staff had been arrested over the earlier crimes, so there was a lot to do and not as many people to do it.

But Milaine was right in the thick of it giving orders, a fine example of a guild master.

“Milaine, you sure look busy.”

“Oh, Yuna, what brings you here? You haven’t come to lend a hand, have you?”

“Me? I don’t know anything about this stuff.”

“Nonsense, just you being here helps. Accompany me, and that should be enough.”

The hard work of…standing behind her?

“I’m kidding, Yuna. What do you need?”

“I had something I wanted to ask Jeremo. Is he around?”

“He’s buried in work in the back room.”

“Does that mean I can’t see him?”

“Hmph. I suppose we do need to give him breaks so he doesn’t simply collapse. You can see him if he wants a break.”

Good enough for me. I headed over to the back room with Milaine.

“We’re coming in!” Milaine went right in without so much as a knock.

“Milaine?! I-I’m definitely working. Not slacking off at all here.” Jeremo mumbled, shuffling four stacks of paper into one and clearing his throat.

“I was thinking of giving you a break soon, but looks like you don’t need one.”

“What? Of course I need one. I’m so tired.”

“Ahh, well then…you can pause your current work and talk to Yuna instead.”

“She needs something?”

“Looks like she wants to ask you something. I need to go now—plenty to do out there—but once you’re done, it’s back to work.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

When Milaine shut the door, Jeremo let out a huge sigh. Looked like working with Milaine was a real experience.

“So, miss, what did you need to talk to me about?”

“It’s about the Land of Wa. I wanted to ask you for something.”

“The Land of Wa?”

“Yeah. There’s something I’d like you to buy the next time a ship comes from the Land of Wa.”

“I could try, but we don’t know when a ship will come. We haven’t seen a single one of theirs since the kraken appeared.”

“Why do they have to come to you? You can’t go over to them?”

“Impossible. We don’t have any vessels large enough for those waters, not here in the seaport.”

Oh…they didn’t.

No rice, no soy sauce, and definitely no miso. I fought off a whole kraken, but…then…what was I fighting for? Very cool for the seaport to be at peace now, yada yada yada, but still. Sucks!

“As a seaport, we relied on them for a huge portion of our food. For the time being, we’re able to buy food from Crimonia thanks to you, so we’ll be fine, but there are a lot of folks here who like Land of Wa’s cuisine, so we’ll be in trouble if they don’t come by.”

Right. Them and a bear girl too.

“Once they know the kraken is gone,” Jeremo continued, “there’s a chance they’ll come. All we can do is wait and see.”

“Can you buy me some stuff, though? If they do come by?” I placed a bag filled with money on top of his desk. “Please buy rice, soy sauce, and miso with this. And really just whatever food you can get from ’em. Don’t forget their seasonings, though, you gotta have the seasonings.”

“Miss, don’t you think this is a hefty sum?” Jeremo seemed shocked after looking into the leather bag. Hefty as the bag was, it was a low price to pay for me if I could buy rice, soy sauce, and miso.

“Oh, and rare stuff—if you see anything that looks especially rare, make sure to get that too, could you?”

“Miss, that’s a lot of money. Aren’t you worried I might steal your money?”

“I don’t know you that well, but Yuula, Damon, Atola, and the old men trust you. If they’re wrong, I’ll just resign myself to assuming none of them are great judges of character.”

“Ha ha! So it’s not that you trust me, but the people who trust me.”

“I guess? I mean, I’ve just only met you recently.”

“Got it. I’ll take good care of your money. Take a look—these are the transaction records from their last visit.” He showed me the documents in question. Yep…rice, soy sauce, and miso. “Next time they come by, things might be slightly more expensive. What would you like me to do if that happens?”

“I don’t care if it’s marked up double or triple the amount, I’ll buy it.”

“Fine by me. What should I do once I buy everything?”

“Just send it to Crimonia’s trade guild.”

From here on out, the two trade guilds would be closely connected. In that case, it would be easier to send communications through Crimonia’s trade guild. I wrapped up a few last assurances and checks and left the room for the last step in my plan:

Hope and pray for ships from the Land of Wa.