Chapter 164: The Bear Reunites with Blitz’s Group

Chapter 164:
The Bear Reunites with Blitz’s Group

 

AFTER I LEFT GOLD’S SHOP, I headed over to Tiermina. I was going to apologize for keeping Fina away from home so long, even if I did technically have permission. Fina said that I didn’t need to do that, but I couldn’t feel okay till I did.

“I’ll let you borrow her anytime, so take her wherever you want,” Tiermina told me. She seemed way too comfy about all of this, but I wasn’t about to tease her for it. I’d come at this with a serious approach.

“Well, then, I’ll keep borrowing her in the future,” I said, very seriously.

From the other room, Fina yelled out “Moooom!” (It was pretty great.)

“Now that I think of it, I have a message for you from Anz,” Tiermina said.

“From Anz?”

“Someone you know came by the shop, apparently.”

“Someone I know...? Did she say who?”

“Not really. That’s all she said, so I don’t have a clue.”

Someone I knew had come by? Who the heck could that have been?

The cheese guy? Zamol, with the potatoes? But if either of them stopped by, they’d go to Morin’s shop, and Tiermina would’ve known them if they had. I thought it over, but I couldn’t come up with anything. Thinking about it wasn’t getting me anywhere, so I left Fina and the others and went to Anz’s shop myself.

 

I caught sight of Anz’s shop ahead of me. The stone bear holding a fish stood out front, promising seafood.

When I passed by the bear, Seno noticed me. “Yuna?” She rushed over, wearing her apron embroidered with a bear. They’d all seemed embarrassed about those bears at first, but now they’d all either gotten used to it or even liked the things.

“Is Anz in?” I asked Seno.

“She is. Aaaaanz! Yuna’s here!” she yelled toward the kitchen.

Anz came out of the kitchen, bear apron over her clothes. “Ms. Yuna, where were you?”

“I went for a little expedition. I heard from Tiermina that somebody I know stopped by. Who was it?”

“It was Mr. Blitz. I saw him at the shop a few days ago.”

“Blitz?”

Blitz was one of the adventurers I’d met in Mileela. He’d helped me get rid of some robbers. Actually, hadn’t he said he’d come by once stuff in Mileela settled down?

“He didn’t know where you were. When I asked Ms. Tiermina, she said you had gone out with Fina. That’s why I asked her to let you know.”

“So did you ask Blitz where he’s at? Like, the inn he’s staying in or something?”

“I didn’t ask for the name of his inn, but he did say he was working in town for a while. I think you’ll see him if you head to the Adventurer Guild.”

If he was gonna come say hi, he could have at least told her which inn he was at. “Thanks, I’ll head over to the Guild.” He probably wouldn’t be there, but maybe Helen knew something.

When I headed into the guild, it was quiet—maybe it was the time of day. Unlike the capital, nobody shot me awkward looks. Even when they did look at me, they’d just be like, “Oh, it’s just the bear,” and that was that.

I looked around but didn’t see Blitz or the others.

“Ms. Yuna, what brings you here at this hour?” Helen called out from her seat at the reception desk. She looked bored, and I was thinking about asking her anyway, so…

“I heard that an adventurer named Blitz came by recently. Do you know where he is right now?”

“Mr. Blitz?”

“He came from Mileela. He’s also got this entourage of three women. One of them is beautiful, one of them is cute, and one of them is way cool. It’s very manly-man harem stuff. Probably even makes guys jealous.” That seemed accurate enough, yeah?

Helen hesitated. “Um, are you possibly talking about the person…right behind you?”

I whirled around, and yep—there was Blitz, standing tall as ever.

“Been a while.” I lifted my bear puppet up in greeting.

“Don’t you ‘been a while’ me. What were you just saying about me?!”

“I thought I was giving a recognizable description of you.”

“How is that recognizable?”

I looked at the three women behind Blitz. There was a beautiful woman, a cute one, and a cool-looking one right there. “You don’t think I was wrong, do you?”

The three of them gave me ambiguous smiles.

“Ha! Yuna, it’s been a while.”

“Nice to see you again, Rosa. You all look like you’re doing great.” I looked back at Ran and Glimos, standing next to Rosa.

“Of course we are.”

“You’re not looking too shabby yourself.”

Ran and Glimos were their usual selves.

“Yuna, you didn’t come here looking for us, did you?”

“You were the one to stop by Anz’s shop. What’s the job today?”

“We haven’t gotten one,” Blitz said bluntly.

“We were sightseeing around the town until just now,” said Rosa.

“This place is gigantic,” added Ran.

“Then what’re you all doing at the Adventurer Guild then?”

“We were thinking of doing a job tomorrow,” said Rosa, “so we came by to check out the quests.”

“Yeah, before this bear started bad-mouthing me.”

“Don’t play the victim. I haven’t said a bad word about you, Blitz.”

“How’s that? You said I have an entourage of three women...”

He must’ve heard the whole thing. “Do you not?”

There really were three women surrounding Blitz. Blitz looked at them for a moment and finally seemed to get it.

“Then what was that whole thing about me making other guys jealous?”

“Just take a look around.”

I pointed to the other adventurers in the place. Blitz turned to look at them, too, and the men just nodded in agreement with what I’d said, rendering him silent.

With the cat firmly holding Blitz’s tongue yet again, Rosa took over the conversation. “I asked all kinds of people about you, Yuna. It seems like everyone knows you. They say you even started a fight at the Adventurer Guild.”

Nah, I’d only shaken someone off for having a go at me.

“And I can’t believe you beat a black viper and a goblin king solo,” Ran said.

“Also, we went to the shop you run, too,” said Rosa. “It was so busy.”

“Yep. We went to eat lunch at the Bear’s Lounge. The bread was delicious.”

Glimos broke in, her stoic face cracking into a smile. “That bear bread? Pretty cute.”

“We went to Anz’s shop too,” said Rosa. “She gives Deigha a run for his money.”

“You already ate there? But I was hoping to treat you…”

Rosa grinned. “I didn’t know we could only eat there once. You might just have to treat us to a second meal.” Because Rosa and the others were C-Rank adventurers, I thought they’d had more than enough money to afford it, but a promise was a promise.

“Fair enough. Where do you guys want dinner?”

“Anz’s food is great, and that bread was so good,” said Rosa.

“I can’t choose one,” Ran groaned.

They looked tortured.

“You guys helped me out a ton, so I’ll treat you to both. You’re going to be in Crimonia for a while, right?”

“That’s the plan. We’re going to accept some quests and enjoy the town.”

“Then let’s go to Anz’s shop today. You had the bread this afternoon, right?”

We decided to eat at Anz’s shop for dinner. Even though it was a little early for a meal, we ended up heading over right away.