Chapter 158: The Bear Leaves the Mines

Chapter 158:
The Bear Leaves the Mines

 

BEARYLLIUM, THOUGH?

I didn’t have enough info to solve that particular mystery yet, and it wasn’t going to be a problem anytime soon, probably. I put those weird stones I’d found out of my mind and headed home.

When I climbed up a level, I used my detection skill to check for golems.

What?! No way, they were still there?

I guess all the golems wouldn’t just stop functioning after I defeated the mithril golem. What if they were totally unrelated? What a pain. My quest had been to slay all of the golems in the mines, after all.

Doing it all on my own would be a hassle, though. I was considering asking Jaden and the others for help when Kumayuru and Kumakyu came up to me.

“You want to help me out?”

“Kwoom.”

Seemed like bearspeak for “Leave it to us.”

“Thank you. I’ll take you up on that,” I said and gave them a hug. “I’ll slay the iron golems, so you guys have fun with the rock golems and mud golems. Once it’s over, let’s meet up at the entrance.”

Kumayuru and Kumakyu nodded and started to run down the tunnel.

“You two play nice with each other!”

A distant “Kwoom!” echoed.

I let my bears handle the upper levels and went to go slay the iron golems myself. There weren’t many forks on this level, so I didn’t think it’d take much time. I used my detection skill to figure out my route, then headed off.

The iron golems were nothing compared to the mithril golem. After that, I went up to the next level to help my bears…and detected no golems. Kumayuru and Kumakyu were already waiting at the entrance, huddled together and happy.

“Quick work, guys. Good job,” I said, and sent them home with a few more head pats for good measure.

Obviously, I was pretty beat after slaying the mithril golem and cleaning out the golems in the tunnels. I was hoping to go back to the inn so I could turn in early. I attracted a few curious looks on my way from the mines to the inn, but I ignored them and kept going.

When I got back to the inn, Jaden’s party and the bozo rangers were there.

“You’re late, Yuna,” said Jaden.

Mel nodded. “I didn’t think you’d have issues, but I was a little worried since you hadn’t come back after so long.”

I’d been cleaning the inside of the mines for a while, after all. “I was slaying golems, so that kept me.”

“They’ll be back tomorrow,” Senia said bluntly. “Remember?”

“Jaden, there’s something I wanted to ask you about that.”

“What is it?”

“I killed all of the golems, including the one that was furthest in. Could you check on them tomorrow?”

“Sorry. What did you say?”

“The golems? I killed them all, so...”

“Yuna, you’re joking right?” Mel asked.

“I slayed them, but I don’t know if they’ll revive or not.” It would take a day to know, at least.

“You there, pet,” snarled Bozo Red, coming over to us with a beer in his hand. “Don’t you lie! Are you saying that a pet like you defeated the golem on your own when the five of us couldn’t even take it down? Don’t make me laugh.”

Apparently, he’d been eavesdropping on our conversation. I’d spent a while sweeping the tunnels after I’d slayed the mithril golem, and it had given me time to practice moderating my electricity magic. Might as well test it out.

I charged my bear puppet slightly and gave Bozo Red a light little touch.

“Uagh-ha?” With a strange sound, he fell over.

“Barbould?!”

His companions immediately rushed over to him. Bozo Red was out cold. He was still alive...right? Hmm, maybe I’d tone it down next time. I guess I needed more practice. Okay, yep, he was alive and he’d been rude, so you get what you get.

“Wow, how drunk was that guy?” I pointed to the beer in Bozo Red’s hand. The beer had spilled, but it was mostly empty. He hadn’t lost much…

“There’s no way he’s that drunk, he barely...”

“But he is sleeping it off.”

Everyone thought I had done something, but nobody could prove anything. Nobody even knew what I’d done. Bozo Red’s companions didn’t say anything more and carried their hulking leader back to his room.

As for me, I sat down in an empty seat and ordered a meal from the proprietress.

“Yuna,” she said, “did you really not do anything to that man?”

I tilted my head to the side and played innocent.

“Yeah, Yuna didn’t do anything. Barbould got drunk and fell over.” Mel was the only one who nodded.

“Okay, Yuna, but what did you really mean that thing from earlier?”

“What thing?”

“About the golems.”

“Oh, that. You don’t have to believe me, but I took them all down, including the one furthest in the back. If they don’t revive, I think it’s over.”

Jaden sighed. “I guess it’s true then.”

“Looks like we were beaten to the punch,” said Mel.

Beaten to the punch? But hadn’t they given up last night?

“To tell you the truth, we kind of hit it off with Barbould and the others while we were drinking yesterday. We started discussing whether we could team up to take down that golem in the back. If the kingdom was about to take the credit from all of us anyway, we figured it’d be better to split the reward.”

“After that we made plans to slay it the next day…” Senia began.

“…and I went out and did it.” Oh. I’d just thought they’d all given up.

“Still, can’t believe you took it down.”

“Well, I had to try some wild stuff.”

“Aww, I wanted to see you fight.”

I wouldn’t have been able to use the bear transport gate if they’d been with me, though.

“Sorry, Yuna, but could you show us the golem? You must be carrying it, right?”

Hmm, they wouldn’t notice it was made from mithril if they saw it up close, right? I reluctantly went outside and took out the mithril golem.

“Whoa. Brutal.” The golem was in rough shape.

“You took this thing out even after Barbould’s group couldn’t defeat it.”

“Yep. Bear power’s nothing to mess with.”

“Bear power is really this strong?”

As Jaden leaned in to inspect it more closely, the proprietress’s voice rang out from inside the inn. The food was ready.

“Coming!” I stashed away the mithril golem. I hadn’t wanted them to take a closer look, so this was great timing. I went inside, pretending like I was really looking forward to the meal. Behind me, the party talked on…

“If Yuna defeated the golem, maybe there’s been a change in the state of the mines.”

“That’s right. We’ll check on it tomorrow.”

“We were planning on going with Barbould’s group anyway.”

 

After eating, I went back to my room and visited the place I’d fought the mithril golem with my bear transport gate. I wanted to sleep, but I couldn’t leave the gate there forever.

It was dark at the beach. I’d thought the same thing yesterday, but the ocean at night was eerily quiet. I could only hear the crashing waves, could only see by starlight.

Still, I was glad that my movements were obscured by the darkness. Good thing I was wearing black too, even if that just made me look like a huge black bear. I got to my gate on the beach and headed to my bear house in Mileela like a bear-shaped assassin cloaked in midnight.

Once I got to my Mileela house, I used the gate there to head back to my room at the inn. I changed into my white bear outfit and dove into bed, and that was that.

Oh, and of course I summoned my bears in cub form for safety and all. And then I was out like a light.

 

The next day, Jaden’s party and the Bozo Rangers headed to the mines. They also invited me, but I pretended to be tired from the day before and stayed behind. Incidentally, Bozo Red didn’t remember what happened yesterday. Even he thought he’d gotten black-out drunk and passed out. I was sure glad he was too much of a bozo to realize otherwise.

I finished breakfast, returned to my room, and plopped onto bed to fall back asleep. Ahh…finally, a day to relax. Fina seemed to be having fun in the capital too.

I’d asked Ellelaura to take Fina sightseeing at the castle. Princess Flora had latched onto me last time, so we hadn’t actually been able to see the inside of the castle. When I checked in with Fina over the bear phone, I found out she’d worn beautiful clothes, gone to the castle, and seen the garden. And to think I’d worried about her.

I’d asked Shia to show her around the capital if they had time too. Since I’d brought Fina into this mess, I needed to make sure she at least enjoyed herself.

 

I woke up a bit late from my nap and went to ask about lunch when Jaden’s party and the Bozo Rangers came back.

“That was quick,” I said as I sipped my soup.

“Yeah. There wasn’t a single golem, so we just walked around and just came back.”

“I can’t believe it,” muttered Bozo Red.. “Not even one?”

Had the golems been caused by the mithril golem? Or was it the bearyllium? No way to know right now, but they probably weren’t coming back.

“Did this pet of yours really take out that golem by herself?” Bozo Red looked down at me.

Pet? Again? Had he forgotten about the electricity? I guess he had, but I could reacquaint him…

“It was gone. You saw it with your own eyes.”

“And you think that’s enough to prove your pet took down a golem that five of us couldn’t handle?”

“How many times do I have to explain Yuna to you?”

“Ha! Are you going to tell me about tiger wolves, black vipers, and goblin kings again? Load of bull is what that is.”

Mel sighed. “He has a point. It’s a little hard to swallow for most people.” When I looked around, it wasn’t just Mel. Everyone was nodding. “But Yuna went to the mines alone yesterday, and now the golems are gone. You can’t pretend that isn’t true.”

“I guess...” Bozo Red sank into his chair and sulked.

My bear garb probably didn’t inspire much confidence. “So, Jaden, is the quest done now?” If it was, I’d head back right away, since Fina was waiting.

“For now, we’ll give a report to the person in charge of the miners. We’ll discuss what to do from there.”

Oh, yeah, I guess there would be someone in charge of the miners. I’d forgotten all about them, thinking I could just head back to the capital and report to the people there.

“Can you give the report yourself, Yuna?”

“That’s such a drag. Could you handle it for me, Jaden?”

Jaden gave me a look at that. Seemed to think it over. Looked over at Bozo Red. “I guess I can give the report. Come with me, Barbould.”

Oh, nice—Jaden actually listened to me. What a good guy. I was pretty grateful.

“Why do I have to go?” Red Bozo groaned.

“They would probably believe us more if you all were there too.”

“Shouldn’t you bring along your pet—considering she supposedly killed them all entirely by herself?”

“You think if she went over there and told them she did, they’d believe it?”

Bozo Red gave me a long look. “Guess not.”

“So come along now”

“Guess I have no choice.”

Wait, was Jaden badmouthing me too in a subtle way? Or was it my imagination?

Whatever. I’d forgive him this time, since he was making that report for me. Next time, I might get him with a bear punch too.

 

Jaden’s party and the bozo rangers headed to the leader of the mines to give the report. I waited around, trying to decide whether to head home.

I ended up napping with cubified Kumayuru and Kumakyu until Jaden and the others returned. As I lazed around, there was a commotion outside my room. When I opened the window and looked, Jaden’s party and the Bozo Rangers were surrounded by townspeople.

The people showered them with thanks. Jaden’s party looked kind of bothered by it, but the Bozo Rangers were eating it up.

I wondered what had happened.

Jaden and the others got into the inn even while they were still being thanked by the townspeople. The townspeople didn’t follow them inside at least.

I dismissed Kumayuru and Kumakyu and headed to the first-floor dining room. “Did something happen?”

“Oh, uh, Yuna…”

“Uh. We ended up getting the credit for defeating the golems at the mines.”

They walked me through what had happened.

First thing in the morning, the nine of them were witnessed going to the mines.

Then the nine of them were seen returning safely.

Then all nine of them were seen reporting to the leader of the mines.

The leader of the mines had thanked them, the story spread that the golems weren’t appearing anymore, and…yep, I got the gist of it.

“They thought we had defeated the golems,” said Jaden, “no matter what we said.”

Senia glared at the Bozos. “You can blame those idiots for waving.”

“Shut your trap. All we did was wave ’cause people were thanking us.”

“Anyway. We tried to explain that you’d slain it, Yuna.”

“…But no one would listen to us.”

“Sorry.” Jaden bowed his head.

Hmm. This…actually worked out well for me, though. I didn’t want to be surrounded like Jaden and the others had been, and I didn’t want the fame, so what was the problem? All I wanted was credit from the guild. So I told them as much.

“Of course. We’ll report that properly to the guild. That’s okay with you too, right, Barbould?”

Bozo Red nodded. “Obviously. We’re not petty enough to take credit for someone else’s achievements.”

“Sure, says the one waving earlier.”

“They were calling out to me, so I just waved,” said Bozo Red blandly.

I didn’t have any issue with Jaden’s party getting credit for the slaying. Besides, I think hearing that they defeated it would make the townspeople feel better than hearing it was me, and I was fine with that.

Now the quest was complete and I could head back to Fina, and I told them so.

“That’s fine,” said Jaden, “but we’re going to keep an eye on the situation for a while.”

“The situation...?”

“This is the first time the golems haven’t reappeared after a single day, but we don’t know what will happen tomorrow or the day after.”

“Right. We’re going to stay for five days.”

“Huh?” Five whole days...but Fina was waiting for me…

“But you can head back, Yuna.”

(Oh, good. No way could I leave Fina with Ellelaura for five more days.)

“If you’re going to the capital ahead of us, could you report back to the Adventurer Guild for us?”

“Sure,” I said, “but what happens if the golems reappear?”

“We’ll leave it to the kingdom then. If that golem revives just like that, I think we’ll just throw up our hands and give up.” Jaden actually raised his hands.

“Got it. In that case, I’ll head back to the capital tomorrow.”

It was time to rescue the imprisoned princess.