Chapter 121: The Bear Goes to the Royal Capital

Chapter 121:
The Bear Goes to the Royal Capital

 

BOTH FINA AND SHURI enjoyed seeing the ocean for the first time. They played on the beach, rode on a ship, dug up some bamboo shoots together, and even got to eat Deigha’s seafood cooking. But, at last, it was time for the three of us to go back home to Crimonia.

They thanked me again the moment we got back.

“That was fun. Thank you so much, Yuna!” said Fina.

“Thank you, Yuna,” Shuri said.

“No problem. Let’s go again sometime, eh?”

“Yeah!”

“Yippee!”

They were ecstatic. Now that I thought about it, next time we could go when it was warm enough to swim. Yeah, I’d want to bring the orphans along, too, for sure.

In the meantime, Fina and Shuri’s smiles really made me happy. Taking them along…yeah, I’d made the right choice.

 

From there, I headed over to Tiermina to return what I’d borrowed. That’s the trick to long-term relationships, you know? Gotta return borrowed stuff.

“Here, you can have these two back if you want ’em.” I gestured at Fina and Shuri.

“We’re back, Mom!” Fina and Shuri hugged Tiermina.

Tiermina stroked their heads. “Did you two have fun?”

“Yeah, tons! The ocean was so big. We even got to ride a boat.”

“The ocean was salty.”

Tiermina laughed. “Well, it is saltwater.”

The two of them talked on and on about the trip, and Tiermina happily listened. Great stuff, having a close family. It would’ve been nice if Gentz could be there too, but he was still at the adventurers’ guild like the breadwinner he was, working his butt off for the wife and kids.

“Yuna, thank you so much,” said Tiermina. “My daughters are going to treasure this forever, I’m sure.”

“Why don’t you come along with us next time?”

“You know what? Maybe I will.”

Around then, the exhaustion caught up with Fina and Shuri—either due to the trip or because they were finally home. They could barely keep their eyes open.

“Heh, aren’t you two sleepy?” I said. “I’ll get you up when dinner is ready, so go rest.”

“Okay. Thanks, Yuna.”

“No problem. Just take it easy.”

Fina took Shuri’s hand and led her to their room. Once Tiermina and I were alone, I told her about the Anz situation. I let her know we’d have more people working in the new shop, and that those women would be coming over once the tunnel was done.

“You just want me to keep an eye on them when they get here, then?”

There was no telling whether or not I’d be in Crimonia when Anz arrived, so I’d told her to go straight to the orphanage. As long as I let Tiermina know about that ahead of time, things would work out. “If I’m not here, just take her to the shop, ask what she needs for it, and get it all ready for her.”

“You won’t be here?”

“I’m planning on heading to the capital for a bit, so I might not.” It wasn’t like I wanted to go, but I still had that gig guarding students for Ellelaura. I had no clue when the tunnel would be done, but those events could coincide.

“You sure are busy, Yuna. Don’t push yourself too hard.” Tiermina looked toward the second floor, where her daughters slept peacefully. “Those two would be beside themselves if anything were to happen to you.”

“I won’t do anything dangerous, so it should be all right.”

“Says the girl who thinks killing tigerwolves and black vipers somehow isn’t dangerous.”

“That only happens every once in a while. And there were kids in trouble…”

Tiermina laughed. “I’m joking, Yuna, just, really, though. Don’t do anything dangerous.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied obediently, and we got down to brass tacks about what to do when Anz arrived.

 

I didn’t have much time to relax after getting back from Mileela. Soon the day of Ellelaura’s job came and blew away what little chill I’d managed to find. I really wasn’t feeling it, but a promise was a promise, so I headed to the capital through my bear transport gate to get on with it.

The quest was to guard students while they were doing some hands-on training. Annoying enough, but I was also basically guarding people the same age as me. Not great. Ellelaura and the king said they’d vouch for me, but I doubted the students would be cooperative about accepting a girl in a bear onesie for a guard. Sure, they might say they were okay with it, but who knew what would really be going on in their sneaky little minds?

I’d gone with the flow at that time, but I wish I could’ve Bear Time Traveled or something to stop myself from taking the job. (Come on, onesie, please? No?) Anyway, the only saving grace was that Shia would be there.

I got to the capital and headed to Ellelaura’s house, the gaze of passersby weighing on me as they always did in the capital. Of course, I didn’t have a totally stare-free life in Crimonia either, but I spent enough time there that it wasn’t this bad.

“Miss Yuna, it has been too long.” The maid, Surilina, greeted me when I arrived at the estate. She led me to a room where I met Ellelaura.

“Yuna, you came!”

“As promised. This whole thing’s tomorrow, yeah?”

“Oh, I’m glad you remembered. You hadn’t come by in a while, so I worried you might have forgotten.” (Ugh, I wish I had. That’s why I’d waited until the last minute.) “I’m glad you came. Shia was simply ecstatic that you’d be her guard.”

“She was?”

“Oh, yes. Surilina went to go get her just now, so she should be right along.”

And just as Ellelaura said this, Shia came into the room with her pigtails swinging back and forth. “Mother, is Yuna really here?” Our eyes met. “Yuna! It’s been so long. Still wearing that bear outfit, I see! It’s cute.”

Being called cute by a girl my age felt weird. What, was she trying to treat me like a kid or something? “Been a while since the birthday celebration, huh?”

“It sure has. Now—if you come to the capital, please do also visit our house. I’ve heard from mother that you’ve come to the capital on occasion. Supposedly you bring tasty food with you every time.”

“Oh, that’s for Princess Flora. Ellelaura just pops up out of nowhere, and we end up eating together.”

“Mother has an impressive information network.” Impressive sure was one way to put it, but I’d rather just call it mysterious. The seventh wonder of the world: the queen’s ability to invade my privacy whenever she wanted. “Oh, and how’s Noa?”

“She’s good. When she sees an opening, she sneaks out of the house and comes to my shop.”

“The shop! Yes, I heard from father the other day that you opened one. He said the food is so delicious that it’s been thriving. I envy Noa. I’d just love to go back to Crimonia soon,” she said with a wistful sigh.

“Still, I never would have thought that you would be in charge of guarding us for this exam, Yuna.” Shia really did look ecstatic. Ellelaura wasn’t exaggerating.

“Well, Ellelaura asked me. But hey, have the students really accepted having me for a guard?” Apart from Shia, I had my doubts. Who was going to convince them? The king? The queen? Maybe Princess Flora herself? Come on.

“It’ll be fine,” said Ellelaura. “We made sure to tell them you’re a girl prodigy of an adventurer.”

“And did you tell them I’m dressed up as a bear?” That had to be the sticking point, right? Any normal person would flip out at that detail.

“Why, ah…well, I haven’t told them that.” Ugh. “Now, I didn’t lie to them. I made sure to tell the teacher, and the students can take it as they will. But they’ll have points deducted from their final score if they insult you, so make sure to report any incidents to us.”

Cool. We were looking at a 99.9 to 110 percent chance of vicious teenage mockery. Love it. Gonna be great for my mental health. “That’s a bit out of line from what you promised.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just that I—ahem—I would like to see the student’s reactions when they meet you. Of course, I’ll be there the whole time for the introductions, so no need to fret!”

Oh yeah? No need to fret? I was brimming with frets. I was a bear-shaped clearance sale of frets.

Shia blinked. “Umm, so you’re going to guard us…in those clothes?”

I mean, I needed the outfit, so… All I could do was nod.

“Everyone was thrilled about having a high-ranking adventurer as our guard. I wasn’t surprised, having already heard about you from mother, but everyone else has definitely been given the wrong impression based on what they were told.”

What they’d…been told? “Uh. What did you tell them, Ellelaura?”

“I told them you became an adventurer at a young age.” (Pretty vague, that! They probably weren’t thinking I was fifteen, were they?) “I told them that, even though you’re a woman, you’ve slain monsters. Tigerwolves and orcs and worse.” Ehh, she wasn’t wrong. “Everyone’s imagined that you’re a cool lady.”

Okay, what? Cool lady? Me? You know what they say about assumptions. Come on, I’m not a cool lady. I’m a bear!

“Shia is going to follow your lead. After all, she’s being graded on mediating interpersonal relationships along with everything else.”

Shia groaned. “This is going to be such a nightmare.”

“That’s why we call it an exam, dear. Besides, you have an advantage: You know about the contents of the exam in advance.”

An advantage? Well…maybe. But even if you could cook up the right answer to a problem, you still had to remember the right formula to get there. What I would really need Shia for would be to keep me from exploding and tossing the twerps into a goblin’s nest.

“I’m not allowed to talk about how I know Yuna either, am I?” Shia mused. “You’re shorter than me and dressed as a cute bear. How am I supposed to back you up?”

How was I supposed to know? If she had a complaint, she could direct it to her mother.

“Those who lead,” said Ellelaura, “sometimes find themselves protecting forbidden subjects of conversation. Take that to heart. Find a way to maintain your relations without making anyone upset or uncomfortable. As a daughter of the aristocracy, you must endeavor to honor this truth.”

It definitely would be hard for Shia to cope with the students who didn’t know about me. I mean, when I first met Shia, she’d thought I was so unbelievable that she challenged me to a duel without warning. Which I brought up right then, by the way.

“What else was I supposed to think? Some adorable-looking bear girl coming out of nowhere, claiming to be protecting Noa? Anyway, it was mother who pushed us to have a match.”

Ellelaura tilted her head. “If I hadn’t, you wouldn’t have believed me. Don’t you think?”

“I suppose so…” Shia pouted slightly.

I cleared my throat, gave it plenty of phlegm for emphasis. “Whelp! Looks like this is going to really mean trouble for Shia, so can I just, uh. Not?”

Ellelaura smiled. “No.”

Shia and I sighed simultaneously. I half-wanted to say sorry for all the trouble, but it wasn’t my fault. Blame the smirking spymaster mom, thank you very much.

 

“So, where are the lot of us going?” I asked, having accepted my dark fate. I knew I’d be guarding them for multiple days, but not much more than that.

“It’s a village some ways out, no more than a two-day ride by carriage. You’ll be transporting luggage and flour. Back and forth, I suppose you’ll be looking at four, perhaps five days.”

Hmm. But if we used Kumayuru and Kumakyu, we could do a round trip in a single day, right? Or would I be allowed to use Kumayuru and Kumakyu? I would much rather ride my bears for any kind of travel…

“We’d travel by carriage then?” I looked as uninterested as possible, and… “Very good, I love it. But, you know, say that I might maybe use Kumayuru and Kumakyu? Or something?”

“Hmm, I really can’t condone that. It would be an issue if the students assumed the bears would protect them. On a related note, please hide how strong you really are in front of them.”

No bears, then. “What if they’re cubs?”

“Cubs?”

Even if I couldn’t use my bears for transportation, they could still sense danger. I’d rather have ’em out there at night just in case. I summoned my bears in their cub forms right in front of the two to demonstrate.

“Wh-what?!” Ellelaura almost stumbled back.

“They’re so cuuuuUUUUUTE,” said Shia, transforming into a siren before my eyes.

Ellelaura and Shia immediately got in on that good, good bear hugging from Kumayuru and Kumakyu, respectively.

“Wait,” said Ellelaura, looking up from the cuddly fur for a moment, “are these Kumayuru and Kumakyu’s cubs?”

Well, I saw how they would think that. “No, they’re original recipe. Kumayuru and Kumakyu, but tiny. My summons are special, so I can miniaturize them.” Not that I always could, but they didn’t need to know that.

“Well, if they’re just itty bitty guys…” (Ellelaura struggled to maintain her composure) “…in the sense that they won’t impact the scenario, given their small and cuddly presence, then I see no reason not to… Oh, come here, you little sweetie!”

So, I couldn’t bring the full-sized versions of my buddies, but I did get permission to use them at cub size. Cool—I’d secured a place for my fluffballs!

After that, the two of them wouldn’t let go of the cubbified Kumayuru and Kumakyu until I headed home.