Chapter 228: The Bear Negotiates with the Merchant Part Two

Chapter 228:
The Bear Negotiates with the Merchant Part Two

 

Bear Water Walking

Gain the ability to traverse water.

Summons gain the ability to travel on water.

 

I’d gotten the skill earlier, but I’d never had a good use for it. Still, I’d tested it once, though—it was a ton of fun, playing around with the skill on top of a river near Crimonia.

We’d run across the water, jumping all around. It basically made me feel like a ninja, and who doesn’t want to feel like a freakin’ ninja? I’d even rode on my bears and had them take me up the river. It wasn’t an experience you could have every day. If I’d had this skill when I’d fought the kraken, it would’ve been a total game changer.

I hadn’t needed it, of course, but it was a fun what-if.

“You’re not serious, Yuna…are you?” Sanya asked.

Luimin gave me a pleading look. “Don’t do anything reckless just for my bracelet, Yuna. Please?”

The elf siblings were worried for me, but it’s not like it’d be remotely difficult.

Basically, I’d just be…running. Even if the river had rapids, it’d be like dashing down a bumpy road. And even if the river was wide, it couldn’t be more than a couple hundred meters long. I’d probably be able to run across in a couple of minutes, max. No problem.

“Do you have a plan, Yuna?” Sanya asked—not patronizingly either. If we had another plan ready, Sanya wouldn’t have to strongarm a negotiation for the bracelet with the merchant. She was probably hoping to avoid trouble.

“It’ll be fine. Trust me with this,” I said, with a smile that I hoped was comforting.

“All right. I’m putting my faith in you.”

With her decision made, she turned back to Doglud. “Mr. Doglud, would you let us handle that painting?”

“Handle it? But how do you even plan on getting it here? The boats aren’t going out. Swimming across isn’t an option. How are you even planning on getting to the other side of the river?!” Doglud turned and fixed his gaze on me. “This may come across as impolite, but do you really believe this girl in a bear outfit can do it?”

Eh, I was used to hearing that kind of stuff. Even if I didn’t have the bear onesie, this would be a pretty wild claim on my part—anybody would reasonably doubt it.

“It wouldn’t hurt you, though, if we brought you the painting, Mr. Doglud?” asked Sanya.

“I suppose not.”

If we couldn’t bring him the painting, there was nothing we could do. He’d have to hand over Luimin’s bracelet if he didn’t get it by tonight.

“If we can’t get the painting to you, we’ll give up claims on the bracelet,” said Sanya. “We won’t even complain if you give it to that merchant.”

Luimin was taken aback. “Sister!!!”

Regardless, Sanya kept going. “So please, leave retrieving the painting in our hands. If we can bring the painting back by tonight, let that be compensation for the painting that Luimin destroyed. You won’t need the bracelet anymore either.”

She couldn’t have had any idea how I was planning on crossing the river, but Sanya was still negotiating with Doglud like she knew I’d get it done. She had full faith in me.

When he realized Sanya was serious, Doglud put his hands on his head and ruffled his hair thoughtfully. He seemed to make up his mind then, and he spoke. “Fine. I will leave the matter of the painting in your hands. I also agree to the matter with the bracelet. If you are able to bring the painting in tonight, I promise to trade Luimin’s bracelet for the cost of the painting she destroyed.”

“Thank you.”

The deal was struck. As long as I brought the painting over from the other side of the river, we’d be able to get Luimin’s bracelet back. It was a little past noon, which gave us plenty of time. Time to spare, even.

 

“Let’s get a contract drawn up, shall we? If I could have your identification card or guild card please?”

Right. We needed to prove who we were. If we lost the painting or damaged it on the way, we’d be responsible for it. Plus, someone could just run off with it. We’d be more likely to damage the goods than steal them, but I couldn’t blame the guy for precautions.

“It’s that girl in the bear outfit, then? She’s the one who’s going?” Doglud looked at me.

“Yeah, I’m going alone,” I replied, but Sanya broke in.

“Could I come with you? I don’t know how you plan on getting to the town, but I’m worried for you.” She looked quite serious.

Both of my bears could walk on water, so I could take her on one of my bears if I had to. Still, even I knew that bears weren’t supposed to walk on water. Maybe people could walk on water with magic or special items, but I didn’t know that for sure.

“Would it be possible?”

I couldn’t say no to her after seeing that look on her face. She was actually worried about me.

I considered it.

Sanya already knew a couple of my secrets, and I knew she wasn’t going around sharing those. She’d even gone out of her way trying to protect them. Plus, having Sanya around would be a huge help in the town. She could take me to the shop, and they’d be more likely to trust her. If I went over… even if I had a letter, there was a chance they wouldn’t trust me because of the bear getup. Which meant they wouldn’t hand over the painting. And with our time crunch right now, that was bad news.

On the other hand, if I had Sanya around, my credibility would go through the roof. She was the master of the capital’s Adventurer Guild, after all. Yeah, it was clear which was the right choice.

The number one thing was getting that painting back, and Sanya could help with that.

“You can come with me,” I said, “but you have to keep my methods for crossing the river a secret.”

“Of course. I’d never tell a soul if you told me not to. I’ll admit, though…it sure seems like I’ve wound up with a lot of your secrets.” Sanya smiled. Yeah, she really did know more than almost anybody.

“So, the two of you will go together?” Doglud asked.

“P-please let me come too…!” Luimin squeezed out her voice.

“You stay here,” Sanya said at once, as if she’d been waiting for Luimin to volunteer.

“Sister...”

“Luimin, we’ll be okay. We’ll be back before you know it.”

A round trip wouldn’t take too long—we really would be back right away. The only time-consuming thing might be trying to find the shop, but I was sure that Sanya could get that done quick enough. We’d be fine.

“Could you trust us and stay here?” I asked.

“Okay...I will, Yuna.” Luimin didn’t put up a fight.

“All right,” Sanya said to Doglud. “Looks like Yuna and I will be going.”

“All right. Now, could I have your identification cards or guild cards?”

We pulled out our guild cards. When Doglud took Sanya’s guild card first, he did a double take.

“You’re the capital’s Adventurer Guild master?!” He pried his eyes from the card and looked at her face.

She looked positively delighted by his surprise. “Now, do you think you can put a little faith in us?”

Miranda looked just as surprised. “Luimin, I had no idea that your sister was the Adventurer Guild master at the capital. Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”

Well, Luimin herself hadn’t known until she found Sanya.

Doglud looked at my guild card next and seemed surprised again. I guess he didn’t expect a girl in a bear onesie to be a C-rank adventurer.

“Your class is…bear?”

Wait, why was he hung up on that? Why not the fact that I was an adventurer at all, let alone a C-rank?!

Doglud looked at my guild card, then me. “I suppose you are a bear,” he said, sounding resigned. He looked at my guild card again and, again, his eyes widened with surprise. “And a C-rank adventurer at that?”

See, that’s what you were supposed to be surprised about. Sure, anyone would be confused if someone had their class written out as “bear,” but the guild rank should’ve been way weirder!

“You’re in rank C?!” Luimin looked flabbergasted too. Practically everyone was—Miranda’s whole group had the same look on their faces. Only Sanya was unfazed.

“But you’re so fun-sized and cute…!”

“And you’re a bear!”

“Really?”

Hopefully, they’d all learned a valuable lesson about judging a book by its cover. So what if I was small or dressed like a bear? That didn’t mean I was weak! I mean, even gamers would sometimes be really good and still wear joke equipment. Not that my bear gear was a joke or anything…

“Despite the cutesy bear outfit,” said Sanya, “Yuna is a great adventurer in her own right.”

Thanks? I couldn’t quite tell if she was backing me up or dunking on me a little, but I think Sanya was trying to defend me. Whether or not everybody believed her, they were at least smiling. Hooray...?

Doglud started writing something out on a slip of paper in front of us.

“Now, then, if you could take this with you…? It’s a written request from me, acknowledging that you may take the painting. If you show this to the shop on the other side of the river, they should give it to you.”

Apparently, he’d written up a letter of introduction for us. Fair enough. It wasn’t like we could just show up demanding a painting and expect them to fork it over, especially not to some bear.

He gave us the shop’s location, and then sighed heavily. “You have until this evening. We won’t be able to wait any longer than that, so please keep an eye on the time.”

I put the letter into my bear storage. We still had a time until evening. Way more than we needed, as a matter of fact.

Still, we didn’t want to lose too much time, so we tried leaving the shop…only to find sheets of rain waiting for us. Better to wait.

“No way...”

“Now that’s some rain. Wasn’t it clear skies just a bit ago?”

The rain was coming down when we left the shop—really coming down. Sure, it had been overcast earlier, but it was nothing like this.

Miranda and the others looked up at the sky. “Why’s it raining?”

“There’s no way you’d be able to cross the river like this.”

Luimin looked as downcast as the sky above her. “Ugh. I’m sure it’s my fault. This is just my luck…”

“Don’t worry about it. This is nothing.” We weren’t going to swim or anything. We were just going to run across a raging body of water. No problem—piece of cake.

“Yuna...” Luimin looked worried, but this was actually ideal. Thanks to the rain, there wouldn’t be many people out and about the town…and there’d be no one around the river. I wouldn’t have to worry about anyone seeing me use my Bear Water Walking skill. This rain had hit just in time, if you asked me.

Far from unlucky, Luimin was practically a good luck charm! Or…admittedly, if she was really a good luck charm, the rain wouldn’t have stopped the boats in the first place. But every (rain) cloud has a silver lining, you know?

“Are you really going out in the middle of the rain, Yuna?”

“I am. I have to get the painting before this evening, after all.”

“But...”

“It’ll be fine. Just stay put and don’t worry about us, Luimin.”

Since we didn’t know how long it’d take us to get back, we had Luimin wait at the inn.

“Please be careful, Yuna,” she said. “If anything happened to you or my sister...I don’t know what I’d...”

I felt like she was being pretty dramatic, but I guess this was pretty reasonable if you didn’t know what I knew? We were trying to cross the river in the middle of a monsoon, after all.

“We’ll come right back once we get the painting. Please take care of Luimin, guys. And make sure she doesn’t do anything rash on her own.”

In a situation like this, I could see her try to sort this out by going to the merchant by herself.

Miranda and the others all readily agreed.