Chapter 223: The Bear Heads Out to the Elves’ Village

Chapter 223:
The Bear Heads Out to the Elves’ Village

 

WE HEADED OUT of the gate and into the hubbub of departing merchants and shared carriages.

“Um, we’re not walking the whole way there, are we?” Luimin asked nervously.

Well, who wouldn’t be worried after we walked out of the gate without explaining anything to her?

I headed to a relatively deserted place. “I guess here will work?” I stretched out both my arms and summoned my bears.

“Wh-wh-what are those?!” Luimin yelped.

“This is Kumayuru, and this is Kumakyu. I introduced them to you, didn’t I?”

“You mean little Kumayuru and Kumakyu? But they were so much smaller!” Luimin held up her hands to demonstrate how tiny they were.

“You saw them while they were in cub form.”

I shrunk my bears…and now someone else was shouting at me in surprise.

“Yuna! What are these little bears?!” Sanya watched the scene, wide eyed.

Come to think of it, Sanya hadn’t known anything about their cub forms. “I can switch my bears between their normal size and this small cub form.”

“I had no idea...”

Both sisters picked up a bear and cradled them in their arms in exactly the same way. Still, I did have to get them to let go of my bears so I could return them to their original size.

“How curious…!”

“How curious indeed…!”

It was time to move things along. “Okay, you two, get on Kumayuru.”

“You don’t mean that we’re riding them to the village?”

“I do. They’re a lot more comfortable than a horse.”

The two of them approached Kumayuru.

“I’ve never ridden a bear before.”

“It’s not any day that you’d get to ride on one, I suppose…”

Kumayuru turned around for them. Luimin got on first, then Sanya.

“Um…I’m looking forward to riding with you, Kumayuru.”

I got on Kumakyu and gave my bear a gentle pat. “I’m counting on you again.” Kumakyu gave me a small croon in response.

I turned to the elves. “I don’t think you’d actually fall off, but make sure that you’re not struggling while you’re riding. Ready? Let’s head out!”

We galloped away toward the elves’ village.

“They’re so fast!” Luimin marveled.

“They really are!” replied Sanya.

Luimin looked worried. “Is Kumayuru going to be okay running this fast?”

Even though she was calling this fast, we weren’t going that much quicker than your average horse. We could’ve really stepped on the gas, but we were in for a long journey. I didn’t want to put any stress on my bears, so I was having them take it slow. I also wasn’t sure how much I wanted them to know about my bears’ true abilities, so—for now, at least—I pretended that they had a little more speed and stamina than most horses. The stamina thing gave us a good reason to use them too—they’d be able to run a lot longer.

“We’ll have breaks,” I told her, “so it’ll be fine. Also, Sanya, you said that we were making a stop at Laluz first?” She’d mentioned as much the other day. I didn’t know its location, though, or how far away it was.

Still, I assumed that Sanya and Luimin would just tell me on the way. I left the pathfinding to the two of them as we continued on to the elves’ village. It was their trip. I was just giving them transportation and tagging along.

“Yes, we have to start there. Laluz leads to the neighboring nation—we’ll enter Solzonark from there.”

According to Sanya, there were other villages and towns on the way to Laluz, but we’d decide whether to stop by them depending on the circumstances. As much as I wanted to make my maps, stopping in those towns was a different matter. Honestly, I would’ve liked to go sightseeing if I weren’t stuck with this bear outfit. Irritating. I mean, it’d be one thing if I was traveling alone in the outfit, but I was with Sanya and Luimin today. I didn’t want to bring trouble down on them.

We’d woken up early today, so I was tired. Above us stretched nothing but clear skies. The sunlight felt nice—perfect nap weather. I was in the mood to leave myself to Kumakyu and just sleep…but I couldn’t with the two of them talking beside me.

“I’ve never heard of summoned bears being able to change sizes,” pondered Sanya.

“You never told me that they become bigger,” fumed Luimin.

They were both telling me off, but for entirely different reasons. What could I say? It wasn’t like I was trying to spread that info all around. And even if I wanted to tell them, there hadn’t been a good time for that.

“Still, they’re cute.” Luimin gave Kumayuru a head pat. She didn’t seem scared at all.

“Actually, Luimin, you weren’t freaked out at all when you first saw Kumayuru, am I right?” Surprised, maybe, but not scared. It was always sad when people were afraid of my bears.

“We have a cute bear family in the elven woods too. I think I’m not scared thanks to them.”

“The bears don’t attack?” I asked.

“They’re friendly, so they don’t. And even if they did attack, I can’t let a bear beat me.”

That sounded reassuring. I was glad she wasn’t scared of them, even if it was because of those other bears.

Then again, being scared of bears was pretty reasonable. Being around my bears could numb you to that fact.

The journey went smoothly on. Whenever we saw people, we’d keep a bit of distance so we wouldn’t give them a fright. Didn’t want to spoke somebody’s horses and bring chaos raining down on some poor travelers.

We took several breaks on the way, switching our mounts every time. I didn’t want either bear to sulk too much because I’d left them to the strangers, after all.

“They sulk? How cute!”

“It’s really not funny. When they’re sulking, they won’t even look at me. It takes a while for them to get out of their slump.” Which only meant spending an afternoon with them, really, but I wasn’t going to go out of my way to upset my bears.

After quite a few breaks into the trip, Sanya launched into our plans. The sun was just about to set.

“If your bears keep up this pace, I think we’ll make it to the next town.”

“Are we staying overnight in that town?” Luimin asked.

A town, huh? I didn’t really mind going to a town, per se, but I wasn’t exactly hyped either. “Do we have to keep going? I was thinking we could stop somewhere around here to camp out instead of pushing ourselves. What do you think?”

My bears could probably do it, though. If they ran, they’d definitely be able to get to the town. But Sanya was trying to be nice to them. She wasn’t going to force them to run, summons or not. I liked that about her.

“I’m fine with camping too. I don’t want to force Kumayuru or Kumakyu to push themselves. And we’ve made a lot of progress in just one day. Your bears are amazing!” said Luimin.

“They really are,” said Sanya. “I never thought we’d get this far this quickly. Do they never get tired?” She gave my bears a tender look.

I didn’t really know, honestly. I didn’t think I could figure out my bears’ limits, because learning that meant pushing the poor things as far as they could go. I wasn’t going to let that happen. That’s why I had them take breaks even when they didn’t seem tired, and that’s why I wouldn’t ask them to run at top speed for long periods of time.

“Are you fine with camping, Yuna?”

“I’m okay with that. What do you think of that spot?” I pointed at a thicket of trees that would probably prevent anyone from seeing my bear house from the road. I had no idea how long until we’d reach the elves’ village, but I figured we’d keep camping out. In that case, I might as well tell them about the bear house sooner rather than later.

“Yes, that works. Let’s camp under those trees then.”

They went right along with my plan without suspecting a thing.

I headed over to the trees. “Sanya, Luimin, could you hold up a sec?”

“Why?”

“I’m going to bring out something, and I’d really appreciate if you could keep a secret from others.”

“What’s that?” asked Sanya.

“I don’t really understand,” said Luimin, “but…if you don’t want us to talk about it, then I won’t say a word to anyone.”

I looked over at Sanya.

“All right. I won’t breathe a word to anyone either.”

After the pair promised, I pulled my mobile bear house out of my bear storage.

“Another bear?!”

“A house?!”

They’d blurted out two different things, but the looks on their faces was the same…and absolutely priceless.

“Yuna, what exactly is this?” Sanya pointed at my bear house.

“It’s a house.” What else could I say?

“Sister, do people from the capital carry around their houses with them?”

“Normal people can’t do this. I suppose Yuna can because her item bag is better than any other.”

Oh, right. I’d decided it’d be a pain to explain away the ten thousand monsters I’d slayed back in the day, so I’d told her about my bear storage.

“It’s an item bag better than any other?” Luimin looked at Kumayuru, Kumakyu, my bear house, and my bear puppet. Finally, her eyes finally settled on me. “Just what are you, Yuna?”

Uh. Hmm…how could I even answer that? “I’m just your everyday adventurer.”

I tried to play it off all cool and urged them to go into the bear house. They didn’t seem to buy it, but at least they didn’t pry anymore.