Extra Story: Nerin and Elena Part Two

Extra Story:
Nerin and Elena Part Two

 

AFTER WE LEFT the Adventurers’ Guild, we went to the Bear’s Lounge, which both served as my workplace and my home.

The first floor was the shop, and the second floor was our living quarters. It was a mansion in the past, so the rooms were huge, and the furniture was luxurious. It made me doubt whether I really belonged in a place like this. On top of that, rent was free. So long as I worked hard, I’d have a place to live.

 

I brought Elena over. We passed by the stone statue of the bear holding a giant loaf of bread out front and headed to the back. I promised to treat Elena to lunch, so Karin was supposed to be making bread around this time. After having some of Karin’s bread, we were going to have cake.

“Are you really sure?” Elena asked me.

“Yes, we made it just for you. Please try it.”

I made a cake the night before and put it away in the fridge. I really worked hard on it, so I wanted her to eat it.

Once we got to the back entrance, I smelled the freshly baked bread at once. She’d been baking with my uncle and aunt for years, so Karin’s bread was great.

“I can’t let the kids beat me,” Karin told me. She meant the orphans working at the shop—they were all very serious and hard workers. They couldn’t stand to goof off, apparently. I felt the same, truthfully—I couldn’t let the kids steal the cake baking from me.

Once we got into the kitchen, we found Karin baking bread. She was with Tiermina and Yuna, in her bear costume as always.

“Yuna, Tiermina, you’re both here too?”

Then again, Yuna did come to eat bread at the shop a lot. Tiermina would do the same to get bread for dinner or for breakfast the next day. Tiermina tried to pay for it at first, but Yuna told her that she didn’t need to. Since we were making the food for the orphans and for ourselves with the ingredients from the shop, Yuna told Tiermina that she couldn’t be the only one paying.

I’ll admit, that worried me. It probably cost Yuna a bunch. Sometimes I think Yuna is too kind for her own good…

“Are you two eating lunch?” Yuna asked, after swallowing a mouthful of bread.

“Yes.”

Elena nodded. “Nerin invited me over, so I took her up on it.”

The two of us sat down.

I didn’t see Auntie Morin anywhere. Whenever we had a break, Auntie Morin often went to the market to see the ingredients available, or maybe to the orphanage. That’s why she sometimes ate her meals somewhere else.

“They’re all freshly baked, so you can choose the one you want to eat.” Karin set the freshly baked bread on the table. Everything looked good.

Elena and I thanked Karin, then started to eat. I nibbled on the bread and looked at Yuna. She sat across from me, still dressed in her cute bear outfit even today. As I was looking at her, I remembered what happened at the Adventurers’ Guild. She looked like a little girl, though…not at all like someone that the adventurers would be scared of. She was super cute, actually. Could she even be an adventurer? Even if she was, could she really be that powerful?

“What is it?” Yuna asked, nibbling her bread as I stared.

“Um, I was just thinking about how cute you are today. Like you usually are.”

“You don’t have to flatter me. Is it the onesie? Are you thinking it’s weird?” Yuna turned to look away.

“That’s not true at all. You look adorable, Yuna.” I really did think so. I wasn’t a kid, but I still felt the urge to hug her. She looked so soft!

“So, Nerin,” said Yuna, “you know Elena?

“When I first got here, I stayed at Elena’s inn. Before long, Elena started coming to the shop and we became friends.” Just the fact that I made a friend made me grateful that I’d come.

“But when I went to the shop to see Nerin,” said Elena, “she was in her bear outfit. I was so surprised.”

“Ugh, please don’t mention that. I’m so embarrassed by it.”

“Are you?” Elena smiled. “I thought it was cute.”

“I was under the impression I wouldn’t be allowed to work at the shop if I didn’t wear it.”

I really wanted to work at the shop back then, so I’d taken Yuna’s joke seriously and gone right along with it. It really was a cute outfit, but I was still a little embarrassed, and even more so whenever a customer told me I looked cute.

“Nerin, is it really so embarrassing to be dressed like a bear?” Yuna squinted at me. She looked a little scary.

“No. It looks cute on you, but I don’t think it looks any good on me.”

Yuna gave me a dubious look. I did think it looked cute on Yuna and the kids, but it didn’t feel so cute on someone like me.

“Come to think of it, where are Fina and Shuri?” I tried changing the topic to escape from Yuna’s glare. The two of them normally hung around Yuna or Tiermina, but they were nowhere to be seen right now.

“They took the bread that Karin baked and headed to the orphanage,” said Tiermina.

Auntie Morin and Karin baked bread for the orphanage—it was a lot more economical than buying bread from somewhere else. Karin usually baked bread even when she had the day off. She even baked the bread the day before, if she had plans for the next day. Sometimes I even baked with her for practice, if I didn’t have anything to do.

 

Once I finished eating my bread, I went to the refrigerator for the cake.

“Would all of you like to have some too?” I asked everyone. Karin and Tiermina told me that they’d have some. Yuna just wanted some tea. I set the cakes on the table and prepared the drinks. Elena watched me all the while.

“You’re very good at brewing tea,” she said, which made me happy. I learned from Lala, a maid who worked at a noble’s estate. After that, I practiced really hard. I was so nervous when I’d been brought to the feudal lord’s house, but it ended up being a very valuable experience.

After I finished preparing the tea and cake, Elena started eating right away.

“Mmm, it’s been so long since I’ve had cake. It’s delicious. Thank you, Nerin.” Elena smiled as she ate. Just the sight of that smile made me happy. “Oh, and what would you say to serving this cake at our inn?” Elena asked. She seemed to savor every bite…

Yuna made me swear I’d never teach anyone else the cake’s recipe, so I really couldn’t say yes.

“Our tenants at the inn like to talk about the cake,” added Elena, “and I’ve heard that people heading home from work never get the chance to try it.”

“We have kids working at the shop,” I said, “so we can’t stay open late.”

Yuna didn’t like keeping kids up to work, so Auntie Morin told us not to stay open too late.

“In that case,” said Yuna, taking a sip of tea, “how about we sell the cake at the inn too?” Elena and I were both taken by surprise by that. Karin just smiled.

Tiermina looked exasperated. “Yuna, you can’t always blurt out the first thing that comes to mind.”

Yuna shrugged. “It’s not like we’ll teach anyone how to make the cake. If Nerin has extra time to bake, I think we could sell the cakes at the inn.”

“In other words,” said Tiermina, “we’d have Nerin make the cakes, but the inn would sell them?”

Yuna told us that was something called consignment. “But we’d need Tiermina and Nerin to talk to Elena’s parents about that. We’ll sell it at the same price as the shop. Tiermina, you’ll need to figure out the wholesale price for the inn to buy the cakes at.”

“I knew I’d be the one talking to them,” said Tiermina with a little sigh.

“But there really has been talk from people about wanting to buy cakes later in the day. Not everyone can get them before they close.”

The Bear’s Lounge closed early, but the inn was open until late. The dining hall was open not only to the tenants, but to people who weren’t staying at the inn.

“In that case, if they do start selling the cakes, then you’ll need to make a bear statue for them,” said Tiermina, beaming at Yuna.

Yuna looked…less than happy about it.

There were bears at any place that had to do with Yuna. There was a giant bear statue holding some bread in front of this shop. Her other shop had a bear holding a fish. There were bears at the orphanage, and Yuna’s very own house was shaped like a bear. Tiermina seemed to think of it as a good way to signal that a place was associated with Yuna. Branding, she called it.

“Um, I just blurted out the thing about selling cakes at the inn,” Elena admitted, “but I haven’t checked in with anyone to make sure it’s okay.” She said it as a whim, it was a big deal now, and suddenly she was on the spot. “And that seems like a lot of trouble for Nerin.”

Elena looked from Yuna to Tiermina, then finally to me for help.

But I didn’t reply back in the way that Elena was expecting. “As long as I don’t have to make tons, it should be fine.”

“Nerin?”

I was fine being a little busier if it was for Elena’s sake. And I was happy being useful for her, even in the slightest. Elena tried to turn us down, but when Tiermina started to feel a little motivated, the gears started turning...and a few days later, I was talking to Elena’s parents.

In the end, we decided to consign cakes at the inn every few days rather than daily.