Chapter 162: The Bear is Scolded by Fina

Chapter 162:
The Bear is Scolded by Fina

 

THE DAY AFTER we returned to Crimonia, Fina brought Shuri over to my bear house. Good kid, Fina—she always kept her promises.

“Good morning, Yuna.”

“Morning, Yuna!”

The pair of sisters gave me a friendly greeting.

“Morning to you both. Ready to head out?” They agreed and we left the bear house.

“Tiermina wasn’t upset with me?” I asked after a while. I was still a little worried about Fina going home alone yesterday.

“No, it was okay. She wasn’t worried because I was with you.”

I was glad she trusted me, but was that good parenting? Could I make a joke about that, even?

“Where are we going today, Yuna?” Shuri asked, holding tight to Fina’s hand and my bear puppet.

“We’re going to Gold’s place to make a knife.”

“Make a knife?”

She tilted her head a bit. Come to think of it, I hadn’t given her an explanation.

“When Fina and I went out together, we got some mithril ore. I’m going to have Gold make a knife with that ore,” I explained, summarizing real quick for little Shuri.

“But…why am I here too?”

“We’re going to make a butchering knife that will fit your small hands.” I held Shuri’s small hands, and yeah, they really were teeny.

“But you gave me a knife before.”

“It’s different from the one we’re getting you now.”

“A different knife?” Shuri tilted her head to the side again. Well, seven years old was a bit young to understand different kinds of ore.

“It can cut more than that other knife.”

Shuri had started showing more interest in learning things recently. When there were animals and monsters to butcher, she would come with Fina to my bear house to watch and lend a hand. If she went to the shop, she’d ask questions about Morin and Anz’s cooking. She’d poke her head into the kitchen, read up on things, help Tiermina, and even help take care of the birds at the orphanage. I guess she was at the age where kids were interested in a bit of everything.

Because of that, I’d given her the butchering knife I’d never used while she was watching Fina’s work. And yes, I was giving a seven-year-old a knife, but Tiermina and Gentz hadn’t said anything against it. Back in Japan, I would’ve gotten in trouble for giving a knife to a child, but in this world, it seemed reasonable for kids to have one in case they came in handy.

Not that she could just carry it on her at all times, of course. I kept it in the storage of my bear house, and Shuri only used it when she was helping Fina with butchering. I didn’t know where Shuri would go from here, but maybe she would get a job with the guild like her father Gentz. If so, picking up some butchering skills wasn’t the worst idea.

If I did wind up with mithril knives for butchering, I wouldn’t be using them myself. Best to make one for Shuri too, even if she didn’t use it much.

“Yuna, are you going to give Shuri a mithril knife too?”

“Yeah. Didn’t I tell you yesterday?”

“You just said to come to your house with Shuri.”

“Did I?”

“Yes!” Fina puffed out her cheeks at that. She seemed mad. “Yuna! This is weird! What is going on in your head?!”

“Why are you getting angry?” It was unusual for Fina to raise her voice like that. I couldn’t believe she was angry.

“Do you even know how much a mithril knife costs? I already wasn’t sure about whether or not I should accept one, but to just make one for Shuri like it’s nothing? I can’t even believe it!”

She wasn’t just scolding me now. She was…lecturing me? Shuri stared at her older sister in confusion.

“Um, Miss Fina? I don’t think this is something to get that mad about.”

Hold on, had I just called Fina a “Miss”?

Apparently, she wasn’t done lecturing me. “Listen up. Do you know how many months of my mom’s salary it would take to buy a single mithril knife? Huh?”

I hadn’t even known mithril existed until recently. I had no clue how much it cost. And I wasn’t even from this world, to boot, so…this felt like an unfair question. But it wasn’t like I could just say that, so I tried guessing.

“Umm, about three months?”

Engagement rings cost about three months’ salary in Japan, so that had to be about right…roughly. Maybe. Right?

“No! They’re not! That! Cheap!” Fina snapped.

I was getting publicly annihilated by a ten-year-old on a street with pedestrian traffic.

“I’ve been thinking this for a while now, but you have a strange sense of money!”

“I’m sorry.”

The conversation was going in a strange direction, but I couldn’t exactly point that out to Fina in her current state. I also couldn’t deny she was right, especially since there were plenty of examples to support her point that came to mind… All I could do for the moment was hear her out.

I mean, it did surprise me to hear that the price of a mithril knife wasn’t even comparable to Tiermina’s wages. Was her salary that low? That meant I was going to have to raise it…but that was a topic for another time.

“Please think before you act, Yuna!”

“Sorry.” I thought she’d get madder if I argued, so I just apologized.

When I did, something tugged my arm. I looked down to see Shuri pulling on it.

“Yuna, I don’t need a knife,” said Shuri. I guess her sister had frightened her into saying that.

“Okay. Your sister will get mad if I give you one, so…I’ll lend you one.”

I patted Shuri’s head.

“Yunaaaa!”

“There’s no harm in her borrowing one. It’s there if she needs it, and if she doesn’t, it’ll just be in the storehouse.”

Fina huffed. “But...!”

“But she can only use it when you’re there. Think about it a bit, Fina. Do you think I would use a butchering knife, even if I had one?” I thrust out my chest a little when I said that.

I’d thought about giving butchering a shot at some point, but hadn’t been able to bring myself to actually do it. I had experience cutting down monsters and animals in battle, so I could slice into the belly of a wolf…but sticking your hands all up in those warm guts? Nope.

Disemboweling animals was a tall order for a modern kid who’d been raised in a city. It wasn’t even like I had experience doing it in the game—the game had been merciful enough to just put all the loot right in my item storage without the need for butchering.

“Yuna, aren’t you an adventurer?”

I was, but it didn’t matter how dumbfounded Fina seemed—I just couldn’t do what I couldn’t do. Giving me a mithril knife was the equivalent of casting pearls before ursine. I wished I had some kind of butchering skill—like if I could touch a monster and have it instantaneously butcher itself for me? That would be great. But if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

Fina laughed as she saw me look dejected. “C’mon, Yuna, please don’t be that down.”

“Fina?”

“If you could butcher animals, I’d be in trouble. Butchering is the only thing I can help you with. Besides, if you could do it, I…don’t think we would be here like this together.” Fina gave the bear puppet in her hand a squeeze. When I looked down, she looked sad for a moment.

“Huh?”

“I think we’re like this now because I could butcher things and you couldn’t, when I first met you. So, um, it’s good that you can’t. Because I’ll do it for you,” she said, looking up at me.

She wasn’t kidding either. The look in her eyes was dead serious.

“Fina...”

“I’ll help too,” Shuri declared as she grabbed Fina’s hands and my bear puppets.

Did they think I’d abandon them if I learned to butcher my own kills? I would never do anything of the sort.

I was already holding their hands with my bear puppets, so I pulled them close in for a hug.

“You sure? Next time I’ll slay a whole dragon.”

“Yeah! I’ll do a great job butchering it.”

“I’ll work hard too.”

I patted their heads. They were such cute sisters.

“But please start taking money seriously.”

“I’ll work on it,” I said, and she just beamed.