Chapter 136: The Bear Spots Anz

Chapter 136:
The Bear Spots Anz

 

A FEW DAYS AFTER I got back from the capital, I was  just loafing around. You know, stuff like popping into the adventurers’ guild; taking Fina, Shuri, Noa, and my bears for walks; visiting the bears at the honey tree; just really enjoying this fantasy world.

So there I was, lying around on my bed with my bears since morning. You could call it lazy.

But I didn’t have anything to do, or anything I wanted to do. Every once in a while, when I ended up with free time like this, I was dying to have the internet and my video games back. This world was fun, sure, but it wasn’t a great place for hobbies, ya know? Hmm… Maybe I could get the orphans together and try setting up an old board game with them. Othello, shogi, chess, snakes and ladders, playing cards… I could’ve come up with more, too, if my stomach hadn’t suddenly groaned.

Oops, forgot about eating again. I’d been lounging around on my bed all day without even eating breakfast. I decided to head over to the Bear’s Lounge to fix that.

 

On my way to the shop, a familiar face came my way.

“What? You’re headed out?”

Cliff, my dude, you don’t even have a guard! It seemed aristocrats thought they could get away without bodyguards in this world. Noa slipped out and walked around the town on her own all the time too. The king had even dropped by my house once, though I think that one must’ve been a one-off. No way any regular king would waltz around on his own, in this world or any other.

Was Cliff really so safe or was he just way reckless? I hoped it was the former. The local guards checked for felons at the gate, after all, and I saw them doing patrols all the time, so maybe the streets really were safe.

Although, in the fantasy worlds from books and games and stuff, aristocrats and their daughters always had loads of guards. The daughters especially. And the guards would be mega-handsome, and then the daughter would fall into a sweeping forbidden love with one.

Noa, despite being the daughter of an aristocrat, didn’t have a handsome guard like that. I supposed giving a young lady some hot guy to follow her around might cause weird rumors and mess up the whole feudalism marriageability thing.

Granted, if Noa had appeared in a manga or novel, she probably would’ve lived a life surrounded by hot guys.

“I’m hungry,” I said to Cliff, shaking myself out of my hot guard analysis, “so I’m headed out to eat. What about you, Cliff?”

“I was on my way to your house.”

“My house?” Weird. Sure, Noa came by a lot, but Cliff rarely dropped by for home visits. I mostly got messages from him through their family maid Lala or from Noa herself.

“I had something I wanted to discuss with you. I’m feeling a bit peckish too, actually—may I join you?”

“I don’t really mind.” And I wasn’t going to say no to an aristocrat either.

Cliff and I headed to the Bear’s Lounge together, just a slight distance away from my bear house.

There wasn’t much of a reaction from anyone in the shop. Nobody gave us unpleasant looks or anything. If I’d been in the capital, on the other hand, it’d be all “A bear’s come in here!” followed by a commotion and staring and the word “bear” and probably at least one hijink. In this shop though, I heard nothing of the sort.

I came here to eat in my bear outfit all the time. Everybody knew this was my shop, and my outfit fit in with the kids in their bear jackets—kids that were milling around the place right then, matter of fact.

 

Cliff and I headed to the counter. A girl in a bear jacket greeted us. “What’ll it be, ma’am?”

Uhh, good question. Everything looked good. Eventually, I ordered two hamburgers (which were Morin’s new items), a serving of fries, and juice. Cliff just asked for the same as me.

As a rule, I paid whenever I came through the front as a customer. That was why I started to pull out money, but Cliff wouldn’t have it—this was on him.

“Are you sure?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

After picking up our order, we took a seat—me on one side, Cliff on the other.

“So, what did you need from me?” I picked at my fries.

“It’s not something I need from you so much as something I need to tell you. The tunnel improvements should be completed in a few days.”

“Cool. It’s about time.” I nommed down on one of Morin’s new hamburgers.

So the lord of the land himself had come all this way to tell me the tunnel was done.

“We didn’t have to modify it, but we needed carriages to be able to fit inside. We needed lights, too, a rest stop for the horses, and some prep for the surrounding roads. It took quite a while,” Cliff explained as he ate his fries.

Fair enough. That was why I’d left further tunnel stuff to the experts. This wasn’t something a layperson like me should butt in on. I’d rubber-stamp whatever as long as I had my secure stream of seafood.

“So people from here will be able to get to Mileela then? It won’t be a problem?”

“We were already bringing them flour and other necessities, but now people without a formal connection to the town will be able to go through the tunnel. From here forth, part of the toll will be transferred to your guild card, as per our agreement. If you want to know more, you can ask Milaine.”

Cliff and Milaine had brought a contract to my house a while ago. It had been too much of a pain to read it carefully, but I remembered that it said the tolls would be delivered to my guild card and I’d be able to use the tunnel for free. That applied to the people who traveled the tunnel with me too.

“Did you get some inns set up?”

“Two so far, though that may not be enough. Regardless, Mileela’s mayor and the trade guild will handle that. I told them to let me know if they didn’t have enough people. It should be fine.”

We really wouldn’t know how things would turn out until the tunnel was open. How many people would travel for trade, ocean viewing, work, or leisure? If there were a ton, two inns wouldn’t be enough to board them all. On the other hand, if only a few people used the tunnel, we were set.

Oh, if the tunnel was done, did this mean I’d see Anz soon? I’d asked Tiermina to help out with Anz, but the two of them didn’t know each other. Considering I’d finished up my work at the capital, it would be perfect timing to bring her over.

“Well, this shop’s cuisine is delicious,” Cliff said with a smile. Always nice to hear a positive review from a fancy aristocrat, eh? Then again, I’d secretly been feeding the bread to the king without telling Morin. This was officially royalty-approved product. It had to be good.

After I’d given Morin a vague description of what I knew about making Japanese breads, she’d used her own stores of knowledge and experience to pull off the recipes—and she was still doing research to make new varieties.

This was probably the best bakery in the kingdom!

Wait, nobody would try to poach my baker or anything right? Maybe I needed to give Morin a raise, just in case…

“Well, I have work left to do, so I’m heading back. If you need to ask about anything, come by the estate.”

Cliff ordered some bread before he left—possibly as a treat for Noa.

 

A few days after I heard about the tunnel stuff from Cliff, there was a formal announcement of the project’s completion.

Most people knew about the tunnel. Given the tree clearing, the roadwork, and the monster slaying, it wasn’t hard to put things together. Needless to say, the townspeople didn’t seem very surprised. They were happy, in fact.

 

A few more days passed and while I was walking around town, there was a slight commotion.

Had something happened? I didn’t have anything better to do, so I headed over and found a ton of carriages stopped at the town’s gate. All around, the crowd was talking about Mileela. The carriages came in one after another, carrying people from the seaport. A man who looked like a merchant was consulting with the gate guard about all kinds of things.

Where can we park the carriages?

Where is the trade guild?

Which inn do you recommend?

The guard courteously answered each question.

As I watched, people started leaving their carriages. Turned out they’d been packed in pretty tightly, as an absolute ton of them poured out. Among them was a familiar-looking lady who still, after all this time, didn’t look remotely related to Deigha Kong.

That was definitely Anz. I hadn’t expected her to come as soon as the tunnel was done. Four women stood next to her. Probably the ones she’d told me about.

They were looking around the place, seeming like total country girls out of their element. I headed over, trying to keep them from noticing me. My bear shoes were silent enough for the stealth approach.

But nope, Anz whipped around and looked right at me.

“Ms. Yuna!” Anz cried giddily, running over to me. I’d been hoping to surprise her, but I’d flubbed it. What gave me away?

“I’m surprised you noticed me.”

“I mean, if everyone nearby is saying, ‘There’s a bear here,’ ‘There’s a bear,’ then I think it’s a, ah, fair assumption.”

Yeah, the people from Mileela and Crimonia were all looking at me. Ugh, this bear gear was totally unbalanced. Even if no one could hear my footsteps, my appearance was a dead giveaway.

“Ms. Yuna, you didn’t come out to welcome us, did you?”

We’d arranged to meet at the orphanage. “Nah, just a coincidence. I was just walking around and saw the commotion. But I thought the tunnel was just opened? I didn’t think you’d come this soon.”

“There were so many carriage reservations to Crimonia that we weren’t able to get one at first, but the trade guild reached out to give us priority.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes! It’s Jeremo’s way of showing his appreciation. In exchange, he told us to talk Mileela up around here. As for my job, I look forward to it: Let me assure you that I will earn my keep!” Anz beamed at me.

She sure was cute. Flash that smile at a guy instead and I bet that’d get Deigha a son-in-law real quick. She was cute and could cook perfectly—honestly, I couldn’t figure out why she was still single. Didn’t have a boyfriend, that was.

Probably Deigha’s fault. He’d asked me to get Anz a fiancé… Maybe that would go a lot quicker without him around?

“Well, Crimonia’s so big! I feel like I might get lost.” Anz looked over the town. It really was a lot larger than Mileela, and more populated too.

As we talked, the women behind Anz gave us a look. One of them tugged on Anz’s clothes. “Anz, you haven’t forgotten us, have you?”

“Won’t you introduce us to the little teddy girl?”

The other women nodded along. Wait…what teddy?

“Oh, sorry. Ms. Yuna, these are the women I told you about the other day. They’ll help with the shop.”

Right, so these were the four women I’d heard about. They were between twenty and twenty-five years old…if they hadn’t just aged crazy well like Ellelaura.

“Can we call you Yuna? Or maybe Ms. Yuna is better, since we’ll be in your care from now on?”

“You can call me anything you’d like except for ‘Teddy,’” I said, looking at the woman who’d called me that. Her hair was tied up behind her head.

“Aww, but I think Teddy is so cute.”

Cute? It made me feel like a stuffed animal, or maybe a scraggly little bear cub! Nope, I didn’t like it. “Under my authority as a small businesswoman, I forbid it.”

“A small businessteddy…?” (I glared at her.) “Uh, all right. Then we can call you Yuna?”

I nodded. If anyone heard her calling me by my real name, others might copy her. I could deal with “Bear Girl.” I’d made a little life with Bear Girl. But Teddy? Nope. I had to put my footie pajama down on Teddy.

“In that case, I’ll call you Yuna too.”

They each introduced themselves. The oldest looking one was Neaf. She was lovely and had a magnanimous smile. The youngest (and the “Teddy” criminal) was Seno. She looked to be about twenty. Then there was Forne. She kind of gave off older sister vibes for Anz and Seno. Lastly, there was Bettle. Her hair was meticulously trimmed and she looked like she meant business.

“Are you sure you’re all right with all of this?” asked Neaf. “We’re not bothering you, are we?”

“Nah, not at all. I think Anz likely already told you, but you’re lifesavers. I don’t know anyone who can prep seafood.” There were rivers around here, but no ocean and no ingredients to learn with.

“The job is just to prep fish and cook?”

“Mainly that, yeah, though it’d be a lot of work for Anz if she had to stock and manage ingredients and manage the money.” There might be other things they’d need to do too. I’d been thinking of asking Tiermina to help out, but she was busy. All of this was a little bit my fault, so I wanted Anz and the others to manage the shop as much as they could on their own.

“Anz, we’re counting on you to teach us.”

Anz blushed. “All of this is a first to me, too, though.”

I shook my head. “We at least have someone who knows a lot about stocking up on ingredients and managing money, so you can consult her at the start.” Okay, I’d asked Tiermina for a little help as we got started here. She knew the most about where to get veggies and stuff and how to balance books as well. “Anyway, let’s talk business tomorrow. You must all be tired from your ride on the carriage, right?”

“Um, Ms. Yuna, could you recommend an inexpensive inn to us?”

“An inn?”

“I think we’ll need to get an inn quickly or other people will snatch up the rooms. We’ll just stay there for now, then we can find a place to live tomorrow.”

“You don’t need to do that. You can live above the shop; it’s pretty spacious.”

“Above the store?”

“Yeah, it’d probably make opening up shop easier, right?” They’d have a zero-minute commute. It was excellent real estate—going between the shop and home was easy, and they’d be able to rest right away if they got tired from work. “You can use the shop’s ingredients for your meals, so the lodging and basic board is free. Anyway, you can talk it over together and figure out what you’d like to do.”

Mostly I just wanted to get away from the crowd. The looks I’d been getting nonstop since my arrival were starting to hurt. In particular, there were a lot of eyes on me from the Mileelans. It’d be a pain if any of them tried to start up a conversation, so I took Anz’s group and left.