Chapter 142: The Bear Orders Embroidery

Chapter 142:
The Bear Orders Embroidery

 

WE WERE DECIDED: Anz and the others would work in aprons embroidered with bears. But that got me thinking. There was the orphan girl a while back who’d embroidered a cushion for me. That big, bear-embroidered cushion had come in handy when I’d been a guard for the academy. Thanks to that thing, I’d been able to travel in that carriage in comfort.

“Milaine,” I said, “about the embroidery. Where are you going to get it done?”

“I’m planning to ask the tailors who did the Bear’s Lounge uniforms. What about that?”

“I’ve got this thing that one of the girls at the orphanage made for me.” I pulled out the cushion with bear embroidery from my bear storage and showed Milaine the little cartoon bear.

“Wh-what is that?!” Milaine stuck out her hand and snatched the cushion from me.

“A girl named Sherry from the orphanage gave it to me.”

“Why, it’s simply adorable. And such fine work.” Milaine touched the embroidery hungrily. Even in my eyes, the bear was cartoony enough to look cute. I suspected Sherry had used the ornaments in the shop as references.

“Right? So if you’re going to ask for things to be embroidered, why don’t you ask this girl to do it?” Sherry was nimble with her hands and was always sewing in the corner of a room. The cushions and curtains of the orphanage were decorated with embroidery, all Sherry’s handiwork. She’d given me a towel, too, and it was just as cute.

Forne stared at the cushion. “Are we really going to wear these bear aprons while working?”

“How cute.”

“But isn’t it embarrassing?”

“Yeah, a little.”

The only person who seemed totally on board was Seno. The other three seemed too embarrassed to go along with it.

Milaine gave the three a scheming look. “In that case, would you prefer the same clothes as the children?”

Aaaaand just like that, they were all enthusiasm.

“N-no, an apron with this embroidery is fine.”

“I’m fine with it too.”

“Right. It’s nice and cute.”

“Yeah, I’m fine with an apron too…I think.”

Milaine clapped her hands and giggled. “In that case, let’s have Sherry do the embroidery.”

Agree and get an apron or disagree for a bear outfit…brutal.

With that decided, Milaine and I immediately headed to the orphanage to see Sherry.

 

Sherry’s job was taking care of the birds, so we headed to the henhouse. It looked like everyone was taking a break and playing for the moment. I asked one of the kids about Sherry and found that she’d headed back to the orphanage.

Inside, I found Neaf talking with the headmistress and Liz.

“Sherry? She should be in her room on the second floor.”

We made our way there, knocked—

“Sherry, are you in?”

And headed in.

“Yuna?” A girl of about twelve sat on a bed, embroidering—this was Sherry, of cushion-and-curtains fame.

“Could I talk to you for a minute?”

“Yeah, sure.” Sherry was a little nervous at this sudden surprise. It was probably Milaine putting her on edge. The guild master had a habit of mildly terrorizing people, after all.

“Were you embroidering?” I asked.

“Yeah. I like doing it.” In fact, she was holding a half-finished piece right there in her hands.

“Could you show me?” Milaine and I peeked at Sherry’s hands. She was embroidering a cartoon bear like the ones at the Bear’s Lounge.

“A bear, huh?”

“Mmhm! I was hoping it could be a decoration for the shop.”

“I think you could even sell this,” Milaine said with a gleam in her eye.

“You’re pretty good.”

“Pretty…good…” Sherry blushed, but she seemed happy.

Milaine took charge. “We have something to ask you. Are you ready?” She held onto Sherry’s small hands as she explained about the shop aprons.

“You want me to do that…” Sherry looked flabbergasted.

I nodded. “Yeah, think we can count on you?”

“But…”

Sherry turned her face down. I came closer to her and Milaine stepped back. If she didn’t want to do it, I didn’t want to force her, but… “Hey. If you don’t want to do it, that’s okay, all right? Do you not want to?”

“Nuh-uh, that’s not it. But…”

“But?” Then what was wrong?

“What if people don’t like my embroidery and it makes them stop going to the shop? And then we won’t be able to buy food, and…and the orphanage will go away, and…” Sherry looked dead serious. That was what she was thinking? I know I wasn’t supposed to, but I couldn’t help but smile. She cared so much about her home, about Liz and the headmistress, about Neaf, about everyone…

“Sherry, it’s all right.” I gently patted Sherry’s head with my bear puppet.

“Yuna?”

“The shop wouldn’t go belly up because of something like that. I’m setting it up, after all. You remember how the bakery was flooded with customers, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And the eggs are selling, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, it’s the same me making this shop. And it’s the same me that wants your embroidery. This bear isn’t gonna let something bad like that happen, you hear?”

“But I…” she started.

I pulled the cushion Sherry had given me from my bear storage.

She gasped. “That’s…”

“It is. I was so happy when you gave this to me. I think it’s really well made. Won’t you make some aprons with cute bears like this? I know you can do it.”

“Yuna…” Sherry raised her face slightly.

One more push would do the trick. “Anyway, if anything goes wrong, it’ll be Milaine’s fault. Since it was Milaine’s idea. But if things go well, then it’s all thanks to you.”

“Wai—” Milaine coughed. “Um. Yuna?”

Whatever that was could wait. “And hey, this cushion?” I gave the little embroidered bear a poke. “Too cute to fail.”

“Are you sure you’re fine with me doing it though? I’m just an amateur.”

“Amateur shmamateur,” I said. “You’d be surprised at how fast you can pick stuff up.”

Sherry bit her bottom lip. She thought it over, struggled, then came up with her answer. “Yeah, okay. I’ll do it. I’ll work really hard for you, Yuna.” She finally raised her face.

“Thank you.” I gave her another pat on the head. Sherry broke into a full smile, but there was somebody around to spoil the mood.

“In that case, I’ll be taking you with me, Sherry,” Milaine said, totally killing the vibe as she wrapped her arm around the kid’s waist.

“Um, Yuna?” Sherry strained against Milaine, looking puzzled.

“Milaine?!”

“We have business at the tailor, she and I. I’m going to talk to them about the aprons, so I need her, don’t I? So I’ll be taking Sherry.” She tugged on Sherry’s hand again.

“Eep! We’re going where?”

Unable to resist Milaine’s sinister might, Sherry was yoinked out of the room, asking confused questions all the way.

I made sure to tell Liz that Milaine had taken Sherry and that she’d need to bow out of taking care of the birds for a while.