Chapter 131: The Bear Returns to the Village

Chapter 131:
The Bear Returns to the Village

 

AFTER WE CHECKED on the silkworm nest, we headed back to the village. Kumayuru and Kumakyu would’ve given the villagers a shock if they were still huge, so I cubbified ’em. Maricks and the others were a little startled by that, but they didn’t pry.

The village head and several armed villagers stood at the entrance.

“Garan, Geld, Gewn. You’re safe?” The village head looked at us expectantly.

“The students and that bear girl saved us,” said Garan, nodding at us.

The village head ran right over. “You…you saved people of the village. I can’t thank you enough. Words fail me, young heroes.”

“Young heroes” apparently did not include bears, because the mayor ran right past me to shake the hands of literally everyone but yours truly for a positively embarrassing amount of time. Look, I didn’t need the thanks—all in a day’s work, etc., etc.—but it still made me feel left out. Maricks really had saved the villagers from the goblins, and I’d just saved the students with the whole village and all as a tiny, accidental bonus. Maricks’s group deserved the gratitude, but I would’ve liked something. Maybe one handshake? An awkward glance? Anything?

“We didn’t really do much,” said Maricks, looking from the village head to…me? “The one who defeated them was…”

“Pa,” said Garan, “you’re not wrong that they saved Gewn and Geld from the goblins, but this bear girl singlehandedly slew a black tiger and—well, about a hundred wolves.”

The village head turned from his son to me and back. “A black tiger, you say? A black tiger really appeared?” As if it was too much to believe.

But the others backed Garan up. “I understand if you don’t believe it. I hardly can, and I saw it, but, it’s just as Garan said. This bear girl defeated a ferocious black tiger and over a hundred wolves all on her own.”

Everyone looked at me.

“Well, I guess any normal person wouldn’t believe that,” said Maricks.

“I don’t think I would’ve,” added Timol.

“I don’t think anyone would have,” admitted Cattleya.

Rad, cool, thanks…

“But the reality is that Yuna slayed a black tiger.”

“Indeed. Yuna defeated the black tiger and the wolves to protect us, without a doubt.”

“I still can’t believe it even after seeing it, though.”

More stares. Aggggghhhrhhhrhgh.

“Then what happened to the black tiger?”

Oh, that was an easy one—I plopped it out of my bear storage. “It’s right here.”

“This is…” The village head was shocked. “My goodness, it’s massive.”

There we go. All it took was the testimony of seven-odd people and a monster corpse, and finally he believed me. Truth prevailed.

From there, Garan gave a quick report to confirm the safety of the silkworm nest. “We can thank the students and the bear girl for that too.”

“Really, everyone, thank you so very much.” The village head gave another round of thanks but (finally) included me in it.

“Thanks,” I said lamely. “But I do think you should put in a quest at the adventurers’ guild to check the forest. I only killed the monsters that attacked us.”

“Yes, we intend to send a fast horse today.”

Then I guess everything would be fine?

Maricks and the others didn’t offer to do cleanup, but they were pretty shaken…and the past few days were more than enough proof that they could do the job if they had to.

 

Once we were done with the report, we rested in our rooms.

“Ahh, I’m beat.” Shia flopped on the bed, immediately hugging Kumayuru.

“That is so true,” said Cattleya, scooting on her bed to cuddle with Kumakyu. “I shudder to think of what would have happened had Yuna not been there.”

Nice to hear, but I still missed my Kumayuru and Kumakyu. I don’t know exactly how to put it, but I felt like my hands were weirdly empty. When I saw the two of them petting Kumayuru and Kumakyu, I wanted to get some of that action, too, you know?

“You were so strong, Yuna,” said Cattleya.

“No one said I was weak.”

“Yes, but…that simply adorable outfit, you know?”

That adorable outfit, yeah. If I were wearing a bear pelt like some cool hunter, people might have thought that was at least a little badass. I tried imagining it, but…nope, even with a bear pelt, I couldn’t imagine myself with any aura of badass whatsoever. Appearances do matter, huh?

 

Someone knocked while we were resting, then Maricks whispered from the door. “Can I come in for a moment?”

Once Shia and Cattleya okayed it, Maricks and Timol came into the room.

“What is it?”

“Well, it’s…that is, uh…” Maricks looked at his feet. Wait a minute…was this some kinda confession?!

Oh no. Everybody said this happened all the time on field trips, or…I don’t know, I’d seen it on the internet. I’d never actually been on a field trip before, but supposedly field trips mass-produced couples. Maybe a practical training trip was also something like one of those?!

Were they going to profess their love to Shia? Or was it gonna be Cattleya? Love was in the air, Cupid was fluttering his tiny wings, but who would be struck?

I listened closely to Maricks. He said…

“I wanted to apologize before we head out tomorrow.”

“Apologize?” Shia repeated, and I could practically see a question mark appear over her head. There was one on top of my head too, though I couldn’t see it without unlocking Bear X-Ray vision or something. What was going on? So this wasn’t a spicy confession? “Do you need to apologize to me?”

“Not you. It’s Yuna. I came to apologize to Yuna.”

He did say “Yuna” just now, didn’t he? I wasn’t hearing things, right? Up till now I’d been “bear” or “girl,” but now I was “Yuna”? It kinda made my skin crawl. Wait, err, back on topic…he was apologizing?

“I talked it over with Timol, and I wanted to apologize before we head out tomorrow.”

What was he apologizing for? He’d ignored me and teased me about being a bear, but that was about it? I mean, I was used to that by now, so…

“We didn’t believe that Yuna was an adventurer.”

What, the girl in the bear onesie, not an adventurer?

“We didn’t believe she was strong.”

Along with everyone else I’d ever met at first. Even I wouldn’t think much of a girl in a bear onesie if I didn’t know any better.

“We made fun of you and said you dressed weird.”

Okay, true, but I would’ve made fun of someone dressed so weirdly too. Maricks hadn’t really laughed, though. I can’t say I’d have done the same.

“We were supposed to listen to the directions of the adventurer we were traveling with when things got dangerous, but I didn’t do that.”

They were supposed to what? News to me. Well, they hadn’t thought I was an adventurer, so what else could they have done?

“Also, I wanted to say thank you to your pet bears.” Kumayuru and Kumakyu, who were in Shia and Cattleya’s arms, tilted their heads to the side. “Thank you for protecting us.”

Kumayuru and Kumakyu had intimidated and driven away the wolves who tried to get close to the group.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “I was the one who was hiding things. Ellelaura asked me to let you do what you wanted. I wouldn’t have done anything if things hadn’t become dangerous.”

“But you were actually protecting us from the shadows, weren’t you?”

“It was a job.”

“When I thought we’d need to fight a black tiger, I was ready to die,” said Timol. “You saved us.”

Maricks nodded. “You were the one who had to clean up my mess. I was overconfident thinking I could beat those goblins. Everyone is alive in the end because of you, Yuna.”

Err. Okay, all of this yammering about me doing this or doing that was true but was also making my back all itchy for some reason. They could stop now. Aaaaany minute.

“Like I said before, don’t worry about it,” I said quickly. “No one could have predicted the black tiger, and you just acted to save the villagers. Besides, no one would think I was an adventurer.”

“But…”

“Besides, the two of you didn’t really do anything at all. If you’d picked a fight with me, on the other hand, I would’ve knocked your butts flat before you thought about blinking. So, you know. We’re good. Okay?”

Maricks and Timol shifted quietly, looking like they wanted to say something. Shia and Cattleya silently listened in. I can’t stand long silences…

 

A knock at the door broke the silence. Shia answered, and the village head’s wife entered the room.

“Gracious me, Mr. Maricks and Mr. Timol were here all along? I was wondering where you might have been; I did not see either of you in your room when I visited.”

“Sorry, we needed to talk to them about something for a bit,” said Maricks.

“We have the meal ready. What would you like to do?”

“That should be fine. Thank you very much,” Maricks said, and everyone nodded.

“Then shall we all go?” Cattleya asked.

And we did.

 

We were treated to the village head’s wife’s extravagant cooking that night. The village head thanked us over and over again. Then, finally, he said he wanted to thank me in particular, which I…

“No, uh, protecting the students is my job. Don’t worry about it.”

“But had the black tiger come to the village, I…oh, I simply can’t find the words to thank you.” Yeah, he wasn’t wrong—it would’ve killed tons of people. “This isn’t much of a thank you, but…”

The village head looked at his wife, who headed to the adjacent room and brought back some beautiful cloth and thread. “Please accept this from us,” she said with a bow.

“These are…are these from those cocoons?”

“Yes,” he said, “from those cocoons. Please make any outfits you like from this cloth.”

That, uh, seemed like a pretty roundabout way of telling me that I could stop wearing the bear suit, to be honest.

“Oh, Yuna, I’m jealous!” Shia said as she picked up the cloth.

Cattleya nodded. “These are both high-grade materials.”

So this was top-notch stuff then. I was a little put off thinking about the massive silkworms they’d came from, but the things themselves weren’t bad.

“I had them select the finest goods,” said the village head.

“Are you really sure I can have these?”

“My son Garan told me everything. You can’t judge a person by their looks. If you hadn’t been there, everyone would have died, and terrible things would have come to our village. Please do accept these gifts. They express our gratitude.”

“Okay, I slew the black tiger and the wolves, but it wasn’t like I really did it to save the village. I was just protecting these kids.” I looked at Shia and the students helplessly. I’d just come here as their guard, it was all just—it was an accident, you know?

“Nevertheless, you saved the people of the village. Please.” The village head slowly bowed his head. I waited. He didn’t raise it.

Yeah, I was just gonna have to agree. “Um, well then, thank you very much.”

The village head stopped bowing. He seemed happy.

Between you and me, I’ll admit that I did kinda want some nice silk after seeing those cocoons. A little bit. And, you know, if he was going to give it to me anyway and wouldn’t take no for an answer, then. Well.

Accepting gratitude could be part of the job.

 

That night, Shia and Cattleya fell asleep the moment they hit the bed. Maricks and Timol were probably out just as quick.

As for Kumayuru and Kumakyu, they spent the night huggled by Shia and Cattleya. I managed to sleep without a fuzzy-wuzzy widdle guy to huggle and snuggle.

For the record, as a professional, I was not bitter in the slightest.