Extra Story: The Nerin Chronicles — Part One

Extra Story:
The Nerin Chronicles
Part One

 

MY NAME IS NERIN. I turned fifteen a few days ago. I made a pact with my Auntie Morin that I’d work at her place in the capital when I turned fifteen. When I found out that Uncle died, I was so sad, but…according to my dad, Auntie Morin was still running the bakery. A promise was a promise, so I’d come to the capital hoping to help out, even if only a little.

Except the bakery was closed. No matter how much I called inside, I didn’t see any sign of anyone coming out. I asked people walking by what happened, I asked the neighbors, I asked everybody I could.

They said that some frightening men had barged into the bakery. They’d trashed the place and had been violent with Auntie Morin and Karin. On top of all that, a giant man as big as a bear had apparently led the men away!

Some people had seen Auntie Morin and Karin after that, but they’d never reopened, and the two of them had disappeared.

Were they safe? Were they even alive? What happened to them?

I sat down and hugged my knees in front of the bakery. My vision seemed to darken. What could I do? Home was far away from the capital, so I couldn’t contact my parents immediately…not that anyone was home. I’d lost my mom when I was young. There was Dad, but he worked all over the place as an architect in all kinds of different towns. I probably couldn’t get a hold of him right away. I had no idea what to do anymore…

While I was hugging my knees in front of the shop, someone called out to me.

“What are you doing sitting in a place like this?”

I lifted my face and saw…an adorable girl in a bear outfit? She looked like she was about ten. That gave me a shock. I’d been to the capital many times before, but no one had ever dressed like that.

The bear girl started talking to me.

“If you’re trying to get in, the bakery closed down.”

I’d already found that out from the people nearby, and I already knew that Auntie Morin and Karin had gone missing.

“Where did you go, Auntie Morin? If you’re safe, let me know...” They had to be alive right?

“Um, do you know Morin?”

Wait, did she know Auntie Morin?

When I asked her that, the girl told me that they’d gone to a town called Crimonia. On top of that, they’d opened up a shop there. It was such a relief to hear that! Auntie Morin and Karin were alive! I felt a weight lift from my shoulders.

But where was this Crimonia place? Even if I headed out there, I had no idea whether I’d have enough to pay the carriage fare.

I checked my purse. It didn’t have much in it. I’d expected to lean on Auntie Morin a little, after all…

“I’ll need to find work somewhere to save up…”

I’d need to find a cheap inn too. I’d finally been able to figure out where Auntie Morin had gone, but it didn’t seem like I’d be able to join her for a while. Maybe it’d be best if I went home? No matter what I did, it was going to cost money.

“You can use this.” There I was, agonizing over what to do, and the bear girl thrust her bear hand out at me…to give me enough money to get to Crimonia! It wasn’t a small sum either. With that money, I’d be able to reunite with Auntie Morin.

But I couldn’t just accept money from a complete stranger, could I?

“But, um, I—I can’t accept money from a girl I never even met. I’m already in your debt for you telling me where Auntie Morin is. And you really can’t just hand out money to people you don’t know. Didn’t your mom and dad ever teach you that?”

When I told her that, the girl in the bear outfit looked a little upset. Had I said something wrong? Still, she told me that she couldn’t abandon me since she knew Auntie Morin. If I was worried about the money, she said, I could return it when I got to Crimonia—she lived there too.

After some thought, I decided to take the money. There wasn’t any guarantee I’d be able to find work at the capital, so I’d work at Auntie Morin’s in Crimonia and pay the girl back with that.

I asked where she was living, and she told me that I’d see it on the way to Auntie Morin’s shop. (What was that supposed to mean?) Then she told me Auntie Morin worked at a shop called the Bear’s Lounge. That seemed way cuter than something Auntie Morin would pick.

The girl told me not to forget the shop name, then left with the younger girl who was with her. I put the money away and headed out to the travel stop. I suppose it was time to get a shared carriage.

Shared carriages made stops in all sorts of towns and villages. The bigger the town, the more carriages you could find. On the other hand, if you were heading to a village, there might only be one carriage every few days or none at all.

When I got to the travel stop, I found tons of carriages lined up. Many of them would leave early in the morning. Most of the carriages there had arrived from other towns.

I headed into the building in front of the station and went to the counter.

“Excuse me. Are there carriages to Crimonia?”

“To Crimonia? Just a moment, please.” He sounded bored, like he’d heard that a hundred times before. “We got some spots open on the following days for you…”

I chose the one leaving the soonest, then paid with the money the bear girl had lent me. Even after paying, I still had a lot left. I couldn’t believe she’d hand so much to someone she’d never met. I definitely had to pay her back once I made it to Crimoni.

“All right, kid—don’t be late now!”

I took the ticket, which had the carriage’s departure time and date written on it. Now that I’d secured myself a carriage, I needed to find a cheap inn until it left. Sure, I had the money from the girl, but it wasn’t as though I could stay at a fancy place. I found some budget lodgings and hunkered down until it was time to leave.

 

Nothing of note happened in the intervening time.

Several days later, I left the capital, headed for Crimonia. There were tons of people on the road with us, and we were traveling alongside another merchant’s carriage. We had an adventurer as a guard, so that was reassuring.

As the carriage rocked me to and fro, I wondered why Auntie Morin would move to Crimonia and open a shop there. She’d been so excited to open the bakery in the capital with Uncle. I guess it was because of the commotion that people kept talking about. More and more questions accumulated in my head on the long, multiday journey to Crimonia, but I had nobody to aim them at.

Since we arrived late in the day, I decided to stay at an inn and then head to Auntie Morin’s shop first thing in the morning.

“I’m pretty sure it’s somewhere around here.” When I’d asked where they had an inn at the station, they’d told me it was nearby. Finally, I managed to spot the inn’s sign. This was the place.

“Excuse me.” When I opened the door and went inside, a girl a little older than me spoke to me.

“Welcome, traveler.”

“Is there room for me to stay here?”

“Are you alone?”

“Yes.”

“Then it should be fine.”

Thank goodness. The sun had almost set. Now I wouldn’t have to search for an inn in an unfamiliar town.

“Would you like a meal?”

“Yes, please!” I was famished. I hadn’t eaten anything but a light lunch.

“I’ll bring you to your room first. Oh, and I’m Elena—the innkeeper’s daughter. Please let me know if you need anything.”

“I’m Nerin.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” Elena guided me to the room. That was super helpful, since I had luggage with me. “Did you come here alone, Nerin?”

“Uh-huh, I came here to see my aunt. She lives in this town.” Maybe I could ask about her. “Elena, do you know where a bakery called the Bear’s Lounge is? I heard it’s in this town.”

“The Bear’s Lounge? I do, actually. It’s a little famous around these parts.”

“Do you really?! Do a mother and daughter work there? Named Morin and Karin?!”

“Ms. Morin and Ms. Karin? Yes, they do. Their bread is delicious.”

They were here. Both of them were here! Thank goodness. Even when I stepped off the carriage and into Crimonia, I’d still had doubts that I’d see them again, but… it looked like I would! Elena told me she would draw a map to the shop later.

I left my luggage in the room, then headed to the dining room on the first floor.

 

Now that I knew that Auntie Morin was here in this town safe and sound, I could really enjoy my meal. I’d been almost too worried to eat for days. After the meal, Elena came over and put a piece of paper on the table.

“This is a map to the Bear’s Lounge where Ms. Morin and Ms. Karin work.” She’d drawn the map starting from the inn.

“Thank you. Oh, right. Do you happen to know whether there’s a girl in a bear outfit in this town?”

The town was large, so there probably wasn’t much point in asking, but I had to try. Even if a girl in a bear outfit stood out, that didn’t mean that Elena automatically knew her. But she surprised me.

“You must mean Yuna. She wears an adorable black bear outfit.”

“Oh! Yeah, that’s her. Do you happen to know where she is? She helped me at the capital, so I’d like to thank her.”

I told Elena the rest of the story from there.

“Wow,” Elena exclaimed. “So Yuna dresses as a bear even in the capital? And she’s saving people right and left, just like usual.”

According to Elena, the girl was an adventurer who saved people and rescued whole villages. That bear girl was supposed to be an adventurer? Was she joking? Nothing I remembered of her matched my image of an adventurer. But adventurer or not, I still had to thank and repay her. She’d told me that I’d come across her house on the way to the shop, but I wanted to make sure.

“I think you’ll figure it out when you go. Yuna’s house is very obvious,” Elena said, and smiled. She’d marked the map with a drawing of a bear.

“You might be in for a shock when you see her house,” she added, implying…something. Anyway, I thanked her and took the map.

I guess finding out that the two of them were in this town had put my mind at ease; when I got back to my room, the trip from the capital caught up to me. I fell asleep the moment I hit the bed.