Chapter 126: The Bear Tours the Village

Chapter 126:
The Bear Tours the Village

 

THE RESIDENTS WELCOMED us at once. They led our carriage to a place at the center of the village, a sort of public square. Maricks stopped the carriage and got out, followed by Timol, Shia (who was hugging Kumayuru), and Cattleya (who was hugging Kumakyu).

The villagers were amazed by the little bears, but they started outright bustling when I came out.

“A bear?”

“A bear?”

“It’s a bear.”

“Why is she wearing that?”

“Is that the fashion in the capital?”

All kinds of stuff. I pulled my bear hood low to hide…which made the bear ears stand up taller, so I looked even more bear-like. Still, it was better than showing my face.

While that was going on, an elderly man approached us. “Welcome to our fair village, travelers. My name is Kaboss. I am the head of this village.”

“I am Maricks from the academy,” said Maricks, suddenly our polite representative. “The goods we’ve brought are in the carriage.”

Come to think of it, Maricks was the leader of our party. Maricks had been giving directions during the earlier goblin battle, and he’d been the one telling everyone how to keep watch. This stuff happened in the game too; whenever there was a party made up of men and women, some hotshot guy usually ended up becoming party leader.

“Thank you very much,” said Kaboss. “We’ll take care of your carriage. We have arranged rooms for everyone, so please rest.”

The village head pointed, and a man approached the carriage. Timol handed over the reins to him, but the village head looked quizzically at the carriage.

“Is something the matter?” asked Maricks.

“Ah. Well, you see, I thought that there would be an adventurer with you. Did you strapping young folk truly come alone?”

Uh, no? I was right there? Next to him? Did he really mistake me for one of the students? I wasn’t even wearing that uniform and navy mantle—I was dressed as a bear. A bear! Not exactly standard dress, as far as I knew. Sure, it wasn’t exactly adventurer-y, but, c’mon.

“I was told,” said old man Kaboss, “that there would be an adventurer serving as your guard.”

Shia and the other students looked over in my direction.

“If you’re looking for the adventurer, sir…” Maricks cleared his throat and smiled like his lips were being held hostage. “It’s her.”

“The adventurer is, ah. Her? This adorable bear girl?”

“Yes,” said Maricks. “Apparently.”

Rude little dork. I’d showed him my guild card! Rank C, and I’d be even higher if I wanted.

The village head looked at me like a side attraction in a traveling freak show. “We had some spirits prepared for the adventurer as part of the reception, but…” The village head looked troubled, which didn’t seem fair. I was the one being put on the spot. Was it my fault that I wasn’t drinking age?

“Well,” said the old man, changing the subject, “what shall we do about your rooms? Would you like to be separate from the students, or would you prefer their company? Naturally, we have separate rooms for the boys and girls, so please don’t fret.”

The village head gave me an appraising look. I felt like the mystery bag at an auction, but angrier. Sure, a bear onesie had to be unusual, but did he have to look at me like that?

“I don’t mind sharing a room with them.” If I was with the girls, I could guard Shia and Cattleya. If things somehow broke real bad, I’d at least be able to keep them alive.

“Yes, yes. Now: You must be exhausted after traveling from the capital. Please rest, won’t you?”

 

We were led to a house that was larger than the ones around it—the village head’s, I supposed. From there, they took us to rooms on the second floor that were split by gender.

“We will call when dinner is ready. Would you kindly rest until then?” With that, the village head ducked out to do old people stuff.

“Gracious, I am exhausted.” Cattleya sank down into a chair.

“For sure.” Shia also sat down in a chair next to her.

“You, on the other hand, seem positively full of spirit, Yuna!”

“I’m an adventurer.” My mouth twitched. “I am an adventurer, okay?” I wasn’t tired, but that was only because of the bear gear. Without it, I bet I would’ve been beat from the first day.

“Really, now? You’re being honest, Yuna?”

“Yep. I showed you my guild card, didn’t I?”

“You did, but… Well, now, don’t you and Shia know each other?”

“Err. Don’t we what?”

Shia turned away from Cattleya’s gaze. I pulled my hood low.

“Lie all you wish, but I’m no fool. Shia, you knew the names of the bears from the start,” Cattleya said, holding and patting Kumakyu’s head.

“Hh,” said Shia.

“Moreover, I can tell by the way you act with Yuna.”

“Mm,” said Shia.

“You were talking during the night watch, were you not?”

She’d seen right through us. She even knew we’d been keeping watch together.

“Don’t say anything to Maricks or Timol,” Shia finally said.

“I won’t. But tell me this, won’t you? Why must I keep this from them?”

“That’s…part of the test for the practical training,” Shia answered, her voice strained.

“Is it? I hadn’t realized. My apologies.”

“It’s fine. That isn’t the only part of the test.”

“Right. You must have known about Kumayuru and Kumakyu then, Shia?”

“Uh-huh, I knew about them. And their fuzzy-wuzzy little ears, and their widdle noses…” Shia placed Kumayuru, the bear she was carrying, on the table.

“And their ‘widdle’ monster detection abilities?”

“No. Yuna didn’t say a single world about that.” Shia turned her gaze to me—I don’t know, I was just sitting on a bed watching it all. Was I supposed to say something, or?

“That’s because it was a secret,” I said. “Besides, there wasn’t a good time to tell you.”

“Then, Shia, is Yuna really an adventurer?”

Uh. Yeah? I already said so? Was this about the bear onesie again or was it—

“I leave that for you to decide, Cattleya,” said Shia, which was very dramatic and cool and all, and the ambiguity about my abilities was honestly kind of rad, but she could’ve said that I was an adventurer at least. Right?

Right?

 

As we rested, the villagers finished prepping and called us down. The table was lined with food prepared by the old man’s wife. “We have plenty,” she said, “so please eat to your heart’s content.”

“Thank you very much,” said Maricks in his representative voice, and we dug in. Some small talk followed: The village head and his wife simply refused to believe I was an adventurer.

“Well then,” he said finally, “would you like a tour around the village tomorrow?”

Apparently, this was part of the assignment after we delivered the payload. Another thing Ellelaura had kept me in the dark about. Students living in the capital never went out to villages, after all, and even daughters of aristocrats like Shia probably didn’t go to villages often, so I guess it was educational?

Still, a village tour? I hoped it wouldn’t be too boring.

 

We finished our meal and headed back to our rooms to rest, but Kumayuru and Kumakyu weren’t with me. Nope—Kumayuru was with Shia, and Cattleya was holding Kumakyu. The both seemed pretty tuckered out. As soon as they got in bed, I could hear them snoring. I couldn’t just grab my bears back when they were so comfy, so I ended up sleeping alone.

Ugh. Very alone…

 

The next day, the village head guided us on a tour through the village.

It wasn’t much different from any other village I’d seen. Field. Cattle. Standard vegetables. Bog-standard village, aside from the village kids that were following us.

Apparently they were interested in Kumayuru and Kumakyu, who were still being held by Shia and Cattleya—and by me, too, I guess.

“Pardon them,” said old man Kaboss. “It’s just that your appearance seems rather unusual. Do people wear clothes like that in the capital?”

“Uh…” Obviously not, right?

“They don’t,” said Maricks quickly. “There’s no one in the capital who dresses like that.”

Okay, he didn’t have to be so definitive about it. There could be someone else, hypothetically. In the capital. Dressing in…onesies…maybe?

Anyway, next we headed to a slightly large warehouse, or was it a shed? Something like that. Did it have cows inside? Was it a barn if it had cows? Terminology, man…

The village head told the kids trailing us to wait outside, and we went in.

“Is that thread?” I asked. When we entered the shed, it looked like the women inside were spinning.

“This is the village’s specialty. We process silk thread.”

So this world had silkworms too. That was a high-quality material, wasn’t it? Did they make clothes with it, then? I looked around; there was something off. I couldn’t see what, but it made me uncomfortable.

I brooded over it while the village head explained: Apparently the silkworms lived in woods. They carried the cocoons to the village, made the thread, and wove it into cloth and stuff.

Cocoons…?

R-right. The issue was the…cocoons. They were huge. Bigger than a person’s head, even. Weird. Maybe something wasn’t amiss, exactly, but…

Anyway, the thread and cloth were to be sold to the capital. I looked at the shelves on the wall, where a variety of threads and cloth were displayed.

“Yuna, don’t you think this fabric is beautiful?” Shia asked, showing me a light blue fabric.

Cattleya shook her head. “Nothing compared to this, I’d wager.”

Cattleya and Shia were downright competing over it now, but they both looked pretty to me. Maricks and Timol looked a little bored, but they still listened in, even if they said nothing.

Maybe I could buy some fabric as a souvenir? Guess I’d ask when we were heading home.

The village head finished his little bout of exposition, and we headed outside.