Chapter 167: The Bear Has a Cake-Tasting Party — Part One

Chapter 167:
The Bear Has a Cake-Tasting Party
Part One

 

IT WAS THE DAY of the tasting, and the Bear’s Lounge was closed.

When I left home, someone was standing right in front of my face—just hanging out right there, this girl with a backpack looking up at the bear house. Where had I seen her before…?

“So you really do live here.”

“Who are you?” It was on the tip of my tongue. Where had I met her?

“You haven’t forgotten me, have you? I’m Nerin. We met in front of Auntie Morin’s shop at the royal capital.”

Aha! Yep, she was one of Morin’s relatives. She’d finally made it to Crimonia. So many things had happened since then that I’d completely forgotten to tell Morin. “But why are you in front of my house, Nerin?”

“They were talking about a girl in bear clothes and I heard she was living around here. Then I found this bear house, so...I wanted to thank you for what you did back then. I’ll make sure to work to pay you back.”

Work? Was she planning to work at my shop?

“Did you just get here?” I asked, and she told me that she’d gotten to Crimonia yesterday. She’d spent the night at an inn, and she was planning on looking for Morin’s shop after this. She’d just stopped by to see my house on the way.

“If you’re headed to Morin’s place right now, I can show you the way.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I was just about to head over there.”

“Thank you,” she said, and we began our walk together. “Your name was Yuna, right? Do you always dress like that? You were wearing the same clothes when we met at the capital, if I remember…”

At least she was being straight with me. I guess the average person wouldn’t want to touch on the subject. “As far as my clothes go…no comment.”

Nerin went silent for a second after I replied, but then she immediately started up on the next topic of conversation. “Still, I’m surprised you’d already gotten to Crimonia. I even took a faster carriage so I would get here as quickly as I could.”

“I didn’t use a carriage.”

“Oh! Do you ride a horse then, Yuna?”

“It’s…similar.” I rode bears as my mounts, but that time, I’d used the bear transport gate. If she was going to work at Morin’s place, then she’d hear all about Kumayuru and Kumakyu eventually.

Before long, we caught sight of the shop.

“That’s Morin’s shop. The two of them live on the second floor.”

“Huh? You mean this place? It’s so big. And what are those bears?” Nerin stopped in her tracks to look.

Since the shop used to be an estate, it was on the bigger side. A large statue of a bear holding some bread stood out front, accompanied by a bear on the sign and a couple bears on the second floor, visible even from here.

“Let’s head in,” I said, and she hurried after me.

“P-please wait.”

Once inside the shop, we were greeted by the kids on duty that day. “Good morning, Yuna.”

“Morning. Are Morin and Karin in?”

“Yeah, they’re here,” they replied, and headed over to get them. Morin and Karin came by immediately.

“Yuna, morning.”

“Karin? Morin? You have a visitor.”

“A visitor?”

“Auntie Morin! Cousin Karin! It’s been such a long time.”

“Nerin?”

“Nerin…”

Morin and Karin looked totally floored.

“Auntie Morin, you have to tell me when you’re moving! When I went to the capital, your shop was closed and I heard you’d been attacked by men. I was beside myself with worry. I have no idea what would’ve happened if I hadn’t met Yuna at the capital.” Nerin pouted and folded her arms.

“Nerin, I did tell my brother.”

“You told Dad? But…no one ever told me.”

“Then he must have forgotten. I wrote all about how my husband had passed away, that I was starting a new shop in Crimonia, and I even told him that he shouldn’t worry in a letter.”

Nerin groaned. “He forgot? He forgot? Ugh, unbelievable!”

 

From there, we explained how we’d met in the first place. Morin nodded thoughtfully. “You met at the capital then. Yuna. Thank you so much. I can pay you back for the carriage fee.”

“Auntie Morin, I’ll work off my debts. Let me work here at this shop.”

“If you want to work here, you’ll need to ask Yuna.”

“I need to ask Yuna?” Nerin looked at me and cocked her head to the side.

“This is Yuna’s shop,” she said.

“Uh. On paper, I guess, but…”

“Yuna, this is my older brother’s girl, Nerin. She’s been saying for a while that she’d like to work at my shop. My husband promised her that if she still felt the same way once she turned fifteen, we’d let her. I’d like to employ her, if you’re fine with it.”

Since she was Morin’s family, I didn’t mind. Of course, I’d ask her to quit if issues did crop up.

“Fine by me. But if she skips work or picks on the kids, I’ll ask her to leave even if she’s your family. You okay with that?” It would be an issue if she couldn’t do the work, lost her motivation, or picked on the kids. No way would I allow that.

“If she did anything like that, I’d kick her rear end right out of the shop myself. I’d never let her come near the place again.”

“I’d never do anything like that!” Nerin yelled.

 

Soon enough, Morin was introducing Nerin to the kids.

“Um, I’m Nerin. I’m going to be working with you from now on. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Are you Karin’s sister?”

“Oh, uh! Not quite, but you’re not far off!”

The kids introduced themselves right back. Looked like they’d accepted her right away.

“Wow. The bears aren’t just on the outside, huh? The shop is filled with bears too. Was this your idea, Yuna?”

My idea? No way. Not a chance! There was a god to blame for the way I dressed, and as for the shop, it had ended up looking this way because that was what everyone else wanted.

“So,” she continued, wrongly, “I guess you also dress as a bear because you like it, Yuna. When I first saw you, I was amazed at how you didn’t get embarrassed, even when you were in front of people. It was so cute!”

“Hahaha! If you think my bear clothes are cute, then you’ve got to wear the bear uniform, Nerin,” I said with a smile. I was only half-joking.

“What’s that about a bear uniform?” one of the kids asked.

It wasn’t a work day, so the kids were in their normal clothes.

“Mil,” I said, “can you change into your uniform real fast?”

“Mmhm!” She headed off to change into her bear jacket.

“Karin, what’s this about a bear uniform?”

“Uh! I know nothing, okay?” Karin dashed away, not wanting to get dragged into the whole thing. After a while, Mil came back wearing the bear jacket.

“I-it really is a bear. That’s adorable. You work while wearing these?” Did she look happy? Or was I just imagining things? Nerin gave Mil’s bear jacket a closer look. “There’s even ears and a tail! Okay, I got it. I’ll wear that while I work.”

“Uh.” I had been joking, but she’d agreed to it like it was totally normal. Even Karin was flabbergasted.

“Oh, I remember you saying something about today not being a work day. Is something happening?” Nerin asked. Come to think of it, I’d never told her about it…

“We’re having a tasting today for this, uh, confectionary I made. If you’d like, you can join in. Give me your thoughts.”

“A confectionary? And one that you made? I love sweet stuff, I can’t wait!” Just the word confectionary had Nerin practically jumping up and down.

“We’re planning on having others come to the tasting, so we need to wait for a bit.”

Tiermina, Fina, and Shuri would joining us too. We didn’t have to wait long for them to show up…but there was a party crasher with them.

“Why’s Milaine here?”

“Why am I here? Because Tiermina told me I’d be able to try out one of your new confectionaries, obviously.”

Uh. How was I supposed to respond to that? “Milaine, what about your work?” Wasn’t she and the rest of the Merchant Guild supposed to be super busy from that tunnel to Mileela opening?

“I am quite busy, as a matter of fact…thanks to a certain someone.” She’d just outright said it…

“If you’re so busy, maybe I should close up the opening.”

“You’re always so disagreeable, Yuna. You well know that would only cause more trouble.”

So she’d come all the way here despite being busy. Milaine was a hard worker and a good person. My impression of her had always been positive, but she was also the type who brought trouble with her everywhere she went. She enjoyed sticking her nose into entertaining things…or entertaining to her, anyway. I’m sure anybody watching would have fun, but I wish she wouldn’t pull me into it.

We introduced Nerin again and started the tasting. Morin and Karin brought over plates, forks, and drinks. The kids waited cheerfully happily. Milaine sat with Tiermina, Fina, and Shuri at their table.

I started cutting up the cake I pulled out of my bear storage, Morin and Karin put the slices on the plates, and the slices of cake lined the tables.

The kids immediately started asking questions. “Wow, Yuna, what’s this?”

“That’s a strawberry shortcake. It’s kind of like a pancake with fruit in it, I guess?”

“Yuna, what’s this white stuff?”

“That’s the main part of the cake: the whipped cream. Put that together with strawberries or some other fruit, plus a sponge cake, and it’s delicious. Anyway, try some.”

When I said that, they all started to dig in.

“It’s so soft.”

“It’s delicious.”

“The strawberries are so tasty, but this cream sure is sweet and yummy too.”

No one looked like they hated it.

“Yuna, wh-what is this food?” Milaine’s fork trembled in her hand…but she didn’t stop eating.

“Like I said, it’s a strawberry shortcake. We can switch up the fruit inside of it to make different cakes based on the season. I like strawberries best, though.” I wanted to buy a stockpile of strawberries so I could eat it at any time. Thank you, oh, revered bear storage.

“This thought crossed my mind when you made the pudding and the pizza, but I do think that you might be better off as a chef than an adventurer, Yuna.”

No, I wasn’t cut out for being a chef. I was lazy, got bored easily, and was all about taking the easy way out—absolutely not the kind of person who could spend every day hard at work in the kitchen. “It’s easier being an adventurer.”

“You’re just about the only person I know who would ever say dealing with monsters and dungeons and other adventurer things are easier, Yuna. Certainly, there’s no adventurer who’s this cute and odd and able to make things as delicious as pudding.”

C’mon, that was just my cheater bear skills and cheater knowledge.

“That’s right,” Morin piped up. “Thanks to Yuna, we have a lot more types of bread. Yuna is amazing at coming up with ideas, isn’t she?”

Even Morin had started praising me, but those weren’t my ideas at all. I’d just taught her about the types of bread we’d had in my former world. I hadn’t invented anything new…

“So, Yuna,” said Milaine, “I heard from Tiermina that we would be selling this at the shop.”

“I guess it depends on what Morin says. I’d like to sell it at the shop, but I don’t want to take time away from them baking the bread.”

Morin and Karin were the ones who did the baking, for the most part. The kids just helped out. I felt like it would be asking a lot to have them bake bread and cake before the shop opened.

Morin nodded. “I can’t say how long it’d take to bake a cake like this without trying it out myself. I might be able to manage with Karin and the kids’ help, but it would definitely add to our workload.”

Right, thought so. If it was going to be a burden to them, I didn’t need them to bake the cakes. It wasn’t like I was in a hurry to get them made. If Morin or the kids collapsed from overwork, that’d be way too awful.

I was the one who’d told Morin all kinds of things about this bread I wanted to eat, about that thing I wanted to try. We’d turned those into menu items and the number of bread options they offered had increased, making them even busier.

As I stood there hemming and hawing, Nerin raised her hand.