Chapter 182: The Bear Departs for Sheelin

Chapter 182:
The Bear Departs for Sheelin

 

I BROUGHT FINA WITH me to Cliff’s estate like I promised—it was time to head out to Misa’s birthday party. Three horses waited in front of the gate. Cliff was there, too, accompanied by two guards. But wait, where was the carriage?

“Finally here, I see,” Cliff said.

“Yuna, Fina, good morning!” Noa said.

Fina and I gave her a good morning in response. “You’re full of energy right from the morning, Noa,” I added.

“Of course I am. We’re going out with Kumayuru and Kumakyu. Naturally, I’m quite ‘psyched,’ as you say.”

Her eyes had the sparkle of a kid going to an amusement park. I guess that was just how psyched she was to head out with Kumayuru and Kumakyu. But wasn’t she going to even mention Misa? Oof. Poor birthday girl.

“Shall we be off?” said Cliff, and before I knew it, he mounted a horse.

“We’re not going with a carriage?” I asked, just to make sure.

“There’s no point to having a carriage no one will ride in,” Cliff told me.

There were three horses, but Cliff had two guards. That meant Noa was left out.

“Noa insisted that she would ride on your bears,” he explained, “so we won’t need a carriage. This is also faster, of course.”

I mean, I guess it was fine? But what if it started to rain? I guess we could find shelter if that happened, but…what an inconvenience.

“Is it okay if I ask about one more thing?” I said.

“What is it?”

“You’re going with just two guards?”

Last time Cliff went to the capital, there had been five of them.

“Two should do fine since it’s closer than the capital. Of course, we also have you here. I actually hadn’t wanted guards for this trip at all, but Rondo insisted that was unacceptable, so we’re going with two of them.”

“No one’s paid me an escort fee,” I said.

“You can ask Rondo for payment once we get back.”

“I’m joking. I don’t need payment, but…let’s say you owe me a favor in the future.”

I’d probably cause trouble for Cliff at some point, right? Well, I’d just cash that favor in, eh?

“I’ll repeat what I told you at the start,” said Cliff. “There are some things I’m capable of doing and other things I’m not.”

“If that becomes an issue, I’d just go to the king.” He owed me a favor, too, after all.

“How perfectly foreboding of you, Yuna. And worse yet, I know you’re serious about this sort of thing. Well…for the time being, just let me know if you want something.”

Excellent. I successfully won a small favor from Cliff. He probably didn’t realize the little favors could pile up into a huge debt.

But I didn’t have anything to ask for, so I just kept that in my back pocket…for now.

 

When we got out of the town, I summoned Kumayuru and Kumakyu. I thought that’d spook the horses for a second, but they seemed fine.

“Always an impressive sight, that summon of yours,” said Cliff.

“Kumayuru! Kumakyu!”

Fina and Cliff didn’t react—they knew it all already—but the two guards were shocked when I summoned my bears.

“Yuna! Which one can I ride?!” Noa said. “I’d like to ride both of them, if I can!” She was the only one getting worked up about this.

“We’ll take turns riding like last time,” I said. “You start with Kumayuru, then we’ll swap along the way.”

“Got it!”

“I think you already know this, but you’ll be riding with Fina like last time.”

“Of course. Fina! Let’s go.” Noa grabbed hold of Fina’s hand and headed to Kumayuru.

“L-Lady Noa?!” Fina stuttered.

Kumayuru let the two of them climb on and stood up. I got on Kumakyu as well, not wanting to fall behind. “Okay, we’re heading out.”

We left with one guard ahead of us and one guard behind.

A few minutes passed. Even if I expected it, it was a whole different thing to feel the sluggishness of the journey. We were matching the horses’ speed, which was…slow. Slower than Kumayuru and Kumakyu, at least. Enough to make me wonder how fast my bears were, kilometers-per-hour-wise. At times like these, you really want a car or motorcycle speedometer, you know? Maybe some people could tell how fast things were going without a speedometer, but I sure couldn’t. I’d never even gotten a license.

“Noa, don’t you think we’re going slow?!” I called out.

“Do you think so? We may be going slightly slow, but I am happy enough just having the opportunity to ride a bear.”

“Have you been to Sheelin before, Noa?” Sheelin was the town where Misa lived.

“To Sheelin? I have.”

“What’s it like?”

“Not terribly different from Crimonia.” Noa smiled. “I suppose the difference is that there is no bear house there.”

Which was quite a difference, considering only three towns had a bear house in them: Crimonia, the capital, and Mileela.

 

We took several breaks on the way to Sheelin to give the horses some rest. With each break, we swapped between Kumayuru and Kumakyu. If I didn’t give them equal time, they’d start to sulk.

As the sun began to set, the guard in front looked back at Cliff. “Lord Cliff. I think it is best if we stop here for today.”

“I guess so. We’ll make camp,” Cliff announced.

I thought it was a bit early, but the horses had different limits compared to my bears. We had to let them recover.

“Father, are we sleeping here?” asked Noa.

“Well, we can’t count on beasts and monsters not coming out of that forest.”

The forest stretched nearly end-to-end before us. If we tried going through, night could fall before we reached the other side. Making camp seemed like the right call; it’d give us enough daylight to get through the next day.

“Not using a carriage has already allowed us to cover a considerable distance. There’s no need to push forward unnecessarily.”

Cliff dismounted from his horse and tied its reins to a nearby tree. The two guards did the same. I hopped down from my bear and stretched my stiff body. I didn’t have a need for speed (did I?) but I felt kind of uneasy about how slow we were going. A few times, I had to fight myself not to rush forward.

“Yuna, you will bring out your bear house, won’t you?”

“My house? Oh, you mean the bear house.”

“The two guards already know you have a house on you. I had them swear to keep it a secret, of course.”

The guards probably knew from when I’d slayed the ten thousand monsters. If they knew, I didn’t need to hide it. Plus, using the bear house meant soft beds and a bath. Most importantly, we could sleep without worrying about any trouble.

“Just for the girls, at least,” Cliff said.

“Father, we don’t have to do that! We can sleep with Kumayuru and Kumakyu,” said Noa. Poor kid had really taken a liking to last time’s bear sleepover. I felt bad for Noa, but I’d still rest easier sleeping in a house over camping.

“Fine by me, but people might pass by if we’re here. How about that spot over there with the three trees?” The spot was just a slight distance away.

“Yes, that’s fine,” said Cliff.

With that, we moved to the three-tree spot, and I took out the bear house to a place where it’d be obscured by the foliage. It’d be harder to see through that come nightfall. The guards and Cliff tied the horses’ reins to a nearby tree.

“You could fit a black viper in there,” Cliff mused, “and I know I shouldn’t be surprised that you can store a house. But seeing you take it out…it’s really something else, I’ll admit.”

“Aww, but I was fine sleeping outdoors,” Noa muttered, looking gloomily at the bear house.

“It’s okay, Noa,” I said. “I’m going to keep the bears summoned as guards, so you can cuddle them to your heart’s content.”

“Really!”

I nodded.

“Yuna, I want to sleep with them too!” said Fina.

“How about all three of us sleep in the same bed then?”

“Are you sure?” Fina squealed.

I cubified Kumayuru and Kumakyu. That one surprised the guards. “C’mon, you must be tired. Head inside and rest.”

I started heading toward the house, but the two guards stopped at the entrance.

“We will be keeping watch outside,” they said. Even though guarding was their job, it would be awkward if they were the only two left outside while we were inside.

“No need.” I pointed at my bear cubs at my feet. “The cubs’ll let us know if people or monsters come close, so you don’t need to keep watch.”

The two guards looked at Kumayuru and Kumakyu, and then at each other. They were both silent for a while. Finally, the two of them looked at Cliff.

“Yuna, are you sure? We can have these men keep watch outside,” said Cliff.

“It’s fine. They can just keep guard during the daytime instead.”

Travel was monotonous, so I’d probably end up drifting off while riding my bears tomorrow.

“Are you both fine with that?” Cliff asked.

The two guards nodded. “Thank you very much, Master Yuna.”