Chapter 221: The Bear Goes to See Sanya

Chapter 221:
The Bear Goes to See Sanya

 

THE DAY AFTER I picked up the elf girl, Luimin, I headed to the Adventurer Guild. Luimin wanted to get over there right away, but we had to go after the morning rush unless we wanted to run into trouble.

“Um, Yuna...” Luimin hid in my shadow.

“What is it?” I knew what she wanted to say, but I asked anyway.

“Everyone’s staring.”

Sure were—just like usual. There were even kids pointing at us.

“So, your outfit really is weird...I mean, uh…it’s unique? Per…sonalized?” Jeez, choosing your words carefully doesn’t really help when you say the whole process out loud…

“Maybe they’re staring at you because elves are so rare, Luimin.”

“I do not think that’s true. I’ve never been stared at like this before. Not even once!”

Yeah, I knew the stares were for me—but she really didn’t have to be so blunt about her disagreement. I couldn’t avoid the stares while walking through the capital. Unlike Crimonia, the capital was huge and populous. There probably weren’t a ton of people who knew about me.

That’s why I ended up the center of attention, since I was dressed as a bear.

“Uh!” Luimin shrunk into herself. “I feel kind of embarrassed...”

I was the one being stared at. Was there really any point to hiding behind me? If she really hated it so much, she could’ve just kept her distance while we walked. The only reason she felt like she was being stared at was because she was hiding behind me while I was being stared at.

Plus, it only bothered her because she let it; I really wanted to tell Luimin that. I mean, I’d learned that lesson myself over the last few months. But I was getting kind of anxious because of the stares too, I admit, so I pulled my bear hood low over my face to shut out the rest of the world.

“Are we almost at the Adventurer Guild, Yuna?”

“Almost.” While we walked down the main road, we caught sight of a building that was bigger than the rest. “It’s that big one ahead.” I used my bear puppet to point out the Adventurer Guild, which was way larger than the one in Crimonia.

“It that where my sister is...?” Luimin suddenly broke into a sprint toward the place.

“Wai—Luimin!” I ran after her.

When I got inside the guild, Luimin was searching all over the place. The stares gathered on us after we barged in. I heard the adventurers saying “bear” this and “bear” that, but none of them approached us.

Guess rumors from the last time had spread around? Still, it didn’t seem like I’d be running into trouble, so that worked out fine.

“What’s wrong?” Luimin asked.

“Hold up a sec.”

We’d be in the way if we hovered around the entrance, so I grabbed Luimin’s hand with my bear puppet and headed to the back. I looked at the reception desk. We’d avoided the rush, so they were free.

I pulled Luimin over to one. “Could I ask you something really quick?”

“Yes, what do you need?” the receptionist answered, even after getting a good look at me. Yeah, I guess most guild workers wouldn’t need to ask who I was.

“I’d like to see the guild master, Sanya. Is she in?”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“I don’t, but could you let her know Yuna wants to see her?” She owed me one, after all.

Luimin nodded. “Please tell her that her younger sister, Luimin, has come to see her. I’m Sanya’s little sister.”

“You’re the guild master’s sister?!” The receptionist seemed shocked. The other guild workers nearby looked just as startled. Was it really all that surprising?

“So…please.” Luimin bowed her head. “I’d like to see my sister, no matter what it takes.”

“O-of course. I will let her know. Just one moment…” The receptionist left her seat and headed into a back room.

I guess you had to schedule something in advance to be able to see the capital’s guild master. I mean, normally, she’d too busy for just anyone to come in and see her. While I was thinking that over, the whispering about bears I’d heard earlier had turned into whispering about the guild master’s sister. It spreading from adventurer to adventurer like wildfire.

Luimin looked around, seeming surprised herself, but that just made the adventurers stare at her even more, eager to get a look at her face.

“Wh-what is this?!” She hid behind me.

…Really? Like I’d said earlier, I really wished she wouldn’t hide behind me. “Looks like they’re all staring because they overheard that you’re Sanya’s little sister.”

“Uhn…but that’s so embarrassing!”

This time the stares were meant for Luimin, so I thought she ought to be on the receiving end of them. She looked pretty embarrassed about it. Then, at once, the door to the back room flung open.

“Luimin?!” Sanya hurried out of the room.

“Sanya!!!”

Sanya ran over and hugged Luimin. “It’s been five years, hasn’t it? You’ve grown so big!”

“Sanya, it’s been ten years.”

“Oh, my, has it?”

They both broke into laughter. Yeah, there was no helping these elf siblings. Their sense of time was totally different from mine.

“So, what happened?” Sanya asked. “What brought you all the way to the capital?”

Then she noticed the eyes around us. The stares were coming from adventurers and guild workers alike.

“All of you, back to your jobs!” she snapped. “Don’t loiter around all day. You’re adventurers! Hurry up and get on with your quests!!!” The peanut gallery looked away at once. Sanya sighed and led us to the guild master’s office.

(I went with the flow and followed them, not quite sure if I was supposed to.)

“Luimin, it’s been too long. What are the two of you doing together?” Sanya looked at each of us.

“Well...” Luimin started awkwardly.

I jumped in—not like she could just say I’d found her collapsed in the street. “She bumped into me after getting lost, so I brought her over here.” I left out the bit about her fainting, to protect Luimin’s honor.

“Really?” Sanya looked dubiously at Luimin.

Luimin’s eyes wandered away as she nodded. “Yes, really.”

Hey, as long as she was fine with the lie, no harm done.

“Yuna, I’m so sorry,” Sanya said. “My sister must have given you quite some trouble.”

“We just happened to run into each other, so don’t worry about it.” Wouldn’t you know it, I thought to myself, I just so happened to find your sister’s unconscious body in my front yard! Surprise, surprise!

“What brought you all the way to the capital? Did you come to see me?”

“The barrier around the elven woods has weakened, so the elder asked me to bring you back.”

Sanya looked shocked at that. “Luimin, the barrier has weakened?!”

Just hearing the words “elven woods” brought up the image of some supernatural, mystical forest, so the barrier had to be something important.

“Yeah. There’s a tear in the barrier and monsters have been getting into the woods. We’re going to patch it back up and the elder wants you there.”

“I see what’s going on now, but…the barrier? It’s fading? It should have held up for another hundred years…!”

“Wishful thinking isn’t going to change anything. It has weakened. Monsters have started slipping past.” I could understand why Luimin was being so insistent. You could whine all day about what should’ve been, but monsters were getting in regardless of all that—the should’ve-been wasn’t so.

Maybe Sanya had a kind of point too, though. Was there a reason that the barrier was weakening all of a sudden? In games and manga, there’d usually be some villain trying to attack pretty much any elven village they could. That mysterious someone might’ve broken the barrier around the village to try to steal their treasure. You know, as you do if you’re a villain who stumbles upon an elven village. Made sense to me.

“Um, if I could interject…?”

“What is it, Yuna?”

“Are elves the only ones able to get through the barrier?”

“Others can too. Only monsters can’t.”

So, people could get in, and monsters couldn’t. That sank my evil villain theory, I guess. But could just anyone really get in? That meant I could get in too, right? Elven woods and villages were standard fantasy stuff. If I asked, maybe they’d let me visit?

Well, when in a fantasy world...go visit the elves’ village? I guess?

“What a headache…” said Sanya. “But I suppose I can’t refuse.”

“Do you have to be the one to fix the barrier, Sanya?” I asked. I wasn’t going to go so far as offer to go in her place, but…

“It’s not like others couldn’t do it, but the magic used to create the barrier is a secret among the family of the elder.”

“And the elder is…who?”

“My grandfather. He needs me to make the barrier.”

“Why not Luimin?”

“She’s still too small.”

“Ugh, I’m not small!”

“You’re right. You’ve grown bigger. Still…you knew I was alive, and you knew where I’d be, so you came searching for me.” I suppose if it was a family secret, I wouldn’t be able to just do it in her place.

“Still,” Sanya continued, “the village is somewhat out of the way from here.”

“How out of the way are we talkin’?”

“The next kingdom over.”

Which meant what, exactly? What was the scale of that? Luimin must’ve traveled all that way on her own. Sure, she’d fainted on my doorstep, but now I was impressed she’d made it to the capital at all.

“Which inn are you staying in right now, Luimin? You should stay at my house for a while.”

“A while?”

“Well, we can’t just leave immediately. I need to transfer my duties over to someone and finish up any urgent work. I’m the guild master, after all. I need to make sure everything is in order, or I’d cause trouble for lots of people.”

Right. Sanya was the guild master in the capital. She probably had a lot of work and needed someone else to do it while she’d be gone. That was just working life, you know? Compare that to me…I was basically on a perpetual vacation.

“Where are you staying?” she asked.

“Well...” Luimin glanced at me.

“Answer me honestly…” Sanya pressed Luimin for the truth.

Luimin answered honestly. “I got to the capital yesterday and Yuna let me stay with her.”

“Ah, that’s what I thought. Thank you, Yuna, truly. She’s a little scatterbrained, so I’ve been rather worried about her. Still, I’d like to thank you somehow. Since I need to figure out my replacement, could I pay you back after I get back from the elves’ village?” Sanya seemed apologetic.

“Or…” I said without hesitation, “you could just take me with you.”