Chapter 219: The Bear Gives Princess Flora Stuffed Animal Presents

Chapter 219:
The Bear Gives Princess Flora Stuffed Animal Presents

 

A FEW DAYS had passed since the mochi-pounding event. I was debating whether or not to head to the capital. I was curious about what had happened with the toad family, but Cliff didn’t know.

Ellelaura had said that because there was evidence, the toad would definitely be stripped of his title. In the end, the king would be the one passing down the judgment. The problem was what would happen after his status was taken. Would they return to Sheelin? If they did, Misa might still be in danger.

My worrying wouldn’t change a thing, so I decided to get moving instead. I’d go give Princess Flora the Kumayuru and Kumakyu stuffed animals. And if I just so happened to see Ellelaura, she could answer my questions.

I took my bear transport gate to the capital. It was the first time I’d visited in a while. The gate guards greeted me and, as usual, one of them ran off to make a report. I headed into the castle as they retreated.

Since I’d come many times before, I headed toward Lady Flora’s room without getting lost. I encountered people on the way to her room, but nobody stopped me. I always wondered what they were thinking, letting a normal person just waltz right into the room of the princess.

While I was pondering that, I got to my destination.

I knocked on the door like always, and Ange let me into room. Lady Flora was sitting at a desk against a wall. “Am I interrupting?” I asked.

“It’s all right. We were just about to take a break.” Ange looked over at Flora. “Lady Flora, Yuna has come to visit!”

Flora turned her little face over my way. “Bear?” She beamed at the sight of me and rushed over. It was worth coming just to see her smile.

“You doing well?”

“Yeah!” she answered energetically.

“I brought a present for you today.”

“A present?”

“It’s bears!” I pulled out the Kumayuru and Kumakyu stuffed animals from my bear storage.

Even though the cub stuffed animals were small, they were plenty big for Lady Flora. I wondered which one she would take first, but then she grabbed one paw of each stuffed bear and pulled. They toppled onto the floor, and she hugged them then and there.

“Lady Flora, you can’t sit on the floor!” Ange warned. Flora looked like she was gonna tear up, but Ange cautioned her gently. “It isn’t good for the bears to be on the floor, so please, stand up.”

Personally, I thought the floor was plenty clean. There was a lovely carpet, and I could tell it was well-maintained. I wouldn’t have minded lying down on it to play games, but I guess princesses couldn’t do stuff like that.

Ange carried the stuffed animals to the top of a table. “Lady Flora,” she said as Lady Flora sat in a chair, hugging her bears, “don’t you have something to say to Yuna?”

Flora looked back and forth between me and the stuffed animals. Then she got down off the chair and came over to me. “Thank you!”

“Take good care of them,” I said, and Flora nodded happily.

All things considered, Ange was definitely teaching her right. Not just with her studies, either—Ange was also teaching her morals and etiquette. Lady Flora would grow up to be a great member of the royalty.

Lady Flora went back to the table and grabbed the Kumayuru stuffed animal. “Ms. Yuna, thank you so much for everything.”

I sat down in the chair across from Flora as Ange brought out tea. “Thank you so much,” I said, and took a sip. Man, the royal family’s tea was so good.

I was taking my time—it wasn’t like I had any other plans that day—when there was a knock at the door. The queen’s voice called through it, and Ange headed over to let her in. Had the king come too?

The door closed after the queen entered. Huh? No one else was with her?

The queen greeted me. “Hello, Yuna.” Then she noticed the stuffed animals that were right in front of Lady Flora. “My, are these stuffed animals of Kumayuru and Kumakyu?”

“Yeah! Bear gave them to me.”

“Lady Flora seemed sad the other day when she had to say bye to Kumayuru and Kumakyu, so I thought it’d help if she had stuffed animals of them,” I explained.

The queen sat down in a chair next to Lady Flora, then borrowed the Kumakyu stuffed animal from her. “How adorable…!” She sat the Kumakyu stuffed animal on her lap and started to pet its head.

Uh. I’d made that stuffed animal for Lady Flora, and the queen was just…taking it? Come on now…

But Lady Flora didn’t seem to mind. She put her Kumayuru on her lap in the same way and hugged it. Like parent, like child. If Flora wasn’t making a fuss, I guess it was okay? Or maybe it’d be better if I got the queen her own set of stuffed animals…

“Good for you, Flora,” the queen said. The queen stroked her stuffed animal’s head while drinking the tea that Ange had set out.

“Uh-huh!” They both seemed happy.

“The real ones are cute, but these are pretty nice too.”

“Do you need a set too, Your Majesty?” I asked just in case.

“My, my, you’ll give me a set too?”

“If I do, you won’t take Lady Flora’s stuffed animals, will you?”

“I won’t take my daughter’s cherished possessions either way. But if you say you’ll give me a set, then I’ll gladly accept them.”

I placed another pair of stuffed animals on the table. Now there were four Kumayuru and Kumakyu stuffed animals.

“So many bears!” Flora seemed thrilled about the four stuffed animals. Ange was staring at them.

“Do you want a set too, Ange?” I asked.

“No, I was simply thinking that my daughter would love them. She loves your picture books.”

Argh. I couldn’t not give her a present now. “Please give these to your daughter, Ange.”

“Are you sure?”

“You said she loves bears, so you have to take them.” I took out one more bear set. Now there were six bears on top of the table.

“Thank you very much. My daughter will be delighted.”

After I’d gotten Noa’s set, Sherry had made more in her spare time. The bears were continuing to multiply, and I’d picked up more just a few days ago.

 

I watched Lady Flora happily hugging her stuffed animals as Ange poured a second serving of tea. “Ms. Yuna,” asked Ange, “what are you doing for lunch today?”

“Lunch?”

Lady Flora and the queen reacted when Ange said that. Maybe that was because I usually brought food with me? But if I made them food, I’d be causing Zelef trouble by not letting him know too.

I thought about it. I had bread and rice in my bear storage, but today I pulled out the mochi. In a way, I’d prepared something special specifically for today.

“I’m not sure if this will suit your palate,” I said as I took out the mochi. They were in a pot with various other ingredients.

“Ah, it looks like it’s hot pot today,” said the queen.

“Does royalty eat hot pot…?”

“We don’t all eat out of a single pot,” she elaborated, “but we eat what the chef serves us.”

So it was like soup, basically?

I lifted the lid of the pot and steam rose up. (Man, my bear storage was handy.) I prepared bowls, forks, and spoons. “Lady Flora, are there any vegetables you don’t like?”

“Nuh-uh!”

“You’re such a good kid.”

“Uh-huh!” I served her plenty of vegetables along with the mochi. “Yummy!”

I gave the queen and Ange their portions as well. When we all started eating, the door opened without a knock and Ellelaura came into the room. “Did I make it in time?”

What she was talking about? Ellelaura look at the table and murmured to herself. “Whew, looks like I did.”

I guess she was talking about the food. She hadn’t come to see me. then. “Do you want some, Ellelaura?”

“Of course! That’s why I hurried over.” Ellelaura happily sat down in a chair, so I served up another portion from the pot and placed it in front of her. “Thank you!”

Then, everyone started eating.

“My, what is this?” Ellelaura held the mochi.

“That’s mochi. You can eat it grilled or put it in a pot.”

“Goodness, it’s stretchy…!”

“Weally, weally stretchy!” Flora stretched the mochi.

“Lady Flora, dear, please don’t play with your food.”

“I’m sorry...” Flora ate her mochi normally.

“It’s quite delicious and springy! I don’t think I’ve eaten anything quite like this. It’s rather tasty.”

I guess hot pot really was more of a commoner food? I couldn’t picture nobles and royalty eating it.

 

“Yuna, you actually brought Lady Flora stuffed animals?” Ellelaura looked at the stuffed animals placed behind Flora.

“I promised, you know? Besides, I intended to make them gifts from the beginning. I gave some to Noa too.”

“Thank you. She was looking rather enviously at the stuffed animals Misana had.”

She’d looked really envious. Noa had been thrilled when I’d gifted them to her. She’d even tried to order more, which kinda got me worried about her future. I wanted to think that her penchant for bears wasn’t my fault.

I didn’t want to bear that responsibility.

It was so quiet without the king around. I thought the guard at the gate went to report to him, but he wasn’t here. “Ellelaura, is the king not coming?” I asked her.

She looked up from her mochi. “He’s busy with that matter today, so Zang and Ernat were standing guard so he wouldn’t get away.”

She must have been talking about that incident. Would she tell me what happened if I asked?

“He didn’t just kidnap Misa and the merchant children,” said Ellelaura. “Various other…misdeeds came to light. We’re investigating, interviewing witnesses, and juggling so many more processes.” Here I was, unsure if I could ask for details—now she was just opening up about it.

“So, you have evidence that he committed crimes?”

“The evidence is strong. They won’t be able to talk their way out of this one.”

Since they were nobles, I’d thought the process would drag on, but it looked like they were actually getting punished.

Then again, they’d kidnapped children. They had to be punished for something like that, and it looked like they’d committed even more crimes than that.

“It seems Gajurdo had his fun.”

According to Ellelaura, he’d participated in unfair business dealings with merchants, on top of coercion, violence, and various other misdeeds. Her wording was vague, but I got the sense that he’d even murdered people. I didn’t ask about the dungeon, and Ellelaura didn’t mention it either. I assumed I didn’t need to know more about it.

“The Salbard family will be stripped of their titles.”

“Which means they wouldn’t be lords anymore, right?” I asked.

Ellelaura nodded. “The Fahrengram family will now govern the town of Sheelin.”

That was a relief for Gran, since he wouldn’t be harassed any more. But I was worried that the father and son would return to the town—even if they lost their titles. I didn’t know what kind of punishments this country had, but if they went back to that town, there was a chance they would hold a grudge and attack Misa.

I asked about that too.

Ellelaura slowly shook her head. “All of their property has been seized, and Gajurdo will be executed. The son will be left in the care of some relatives in the capital.”

I was shocked that he was to be executed, but what could I say? There wasn’t much anyone could do. With the son going to a relative’s house in the capital, did that mean that Misa would be safe? If the son resented her, then we might have another problem if he kidnapped her or harassed her.

“It’s okay. The son, Randle, won’t be able to enter Sheelin for the rest of his life. The family looking after him will be monitoring him as well. They know they’ll be punished if he causes problems.”

In that case…I could relax maybe? I felt like he was likely to do something from the shadows, considering his nasty personality. He might’ve tried giving another order to the adventurer who’d kidnapped Misa or something. Just like Ellelaura had said, we had to rely on the people who had taken him in.

Just in case, and because I was interested, I asked about the adventurer in black who had kidnapped Misa.

“Oh, that adventurer? It seems that he’s committed other crimes, so we’re investigating him.”

Ah, so, that was the situation then.

“I suppose I ought to also tell you that Duke Gran has taken responsibility for the situation. He’s voluntarily stepping down. His son Leonardo will become the Lord of Sheelin.”

“Really?”

“With his granddaughter kidnapped, and with the way the merchants who followed him were in danger, he decided to retire.”

“It wasn’t Gran’s fault that Misa was kidnapped, though! And he’s definitely not to blame with what happened to those merchants, right?” He’d been harassed! After all, he hadn’t done anything wrong himself…

But I guess he’d had to step down since it’d been happening for a while, and he should’ve done something about it before it got this bad. From what Ellelaura said, he’d always been one step behind.

There were neighborly disputes even in this world, I suppose…although this was on a much larger scale, considering we were talking about squabbling lords.

“Though it may not be his fault, he also said that it was the right time to hand things off to his son. We really can’t criticize him, as far as the situation goes.”

I guess that was true. Leonardo was about the same age as Cliff himself, after all. If this was Gran’s decision, I didn’t have a right to butt in.

“Gran will also be free now to do as he wishes now. He said he’ll be taking Misana to your shop.” The old guy sure was spry. I’d have to welcome him if he came by my shop.