Chapter 233: The Bear Gifts the Girl a Picture Book

Chapter 233:
The Bear Gifts the Girl a Picture Book

 

A LITTLE GIRL hid behind Retbelle and watched me.

Okay…I said it earlier, but I’ll say it again. She didn’t look like Retbelle whatsoever! I couldn’t really make out her face, but her hair was definitely a different color from his. Retbelle had black hair, but this girl had pretty, silvery locks. I was this close to accusing the guy of kidnapping.

“A bear…?” the girl said in a whisper when she looked at me.

“Hello, I’m Yuna. What’s your name?”

I crouched down so I was at eye level with her.

She got embarrassed and hid further behind Retbelle.

“Come now, give her an answer.”

“Alka...”

“Alka? What a cute name.”

Alka gave me a happy smile and appeared from behind Retbelle. Then she walked over to me and gave me a hug.

“Soft.” Well, I was wearing a onesie. “Why are you here, Bear?”

I’d just told her my name. Why was she still calling me “Bear”? Eh, that wasn’t something to get mad about. I’ve had a ton of character development since then, so to speak. “Your grandfather asked me to come here.”

“Grandpapa did?” Alka looked at Retbelle. “Do you know Bear, Grandpapa?”

“I met her while out and about. I asked her to come here so you could meet her too.” Retbelle watched as Alka burst into a huge smile.

If I didn’t know they were blood relatives, I’d be worried. They were related, right?

I ignored him and looked at Alka. “I’ve brought you a present, Alka.” I pulled out the first volume of my bear picture book from my bear storage. The moment Alka saw the cover, she broke out into a smile.

“It’s your book!” She took it happily from my bear puppets. “I can have it?!”

“Yeah, it’s a gift.”

“Thank you.” Alka was all smiles. Yep, she was getting the book for free. When I looked over at Retbelle, he had this victorious look on his face. I could practically hear what was going on in his head.

See how cute my granddaughter is? I’ve won this match!

I looked at my book and felt my own sense of victory. But she’s smiling because of my book, you got that? She’d taken the book with open arms. I’d won.

Doesn’t she have the most winning smile?

I had to give him that one, but it was all he was getting from me. Once our silent conversation was over, I realized someone was tugging on my bear puppet glove. Alka’s little hand was holding onto mine.

“Bear, will you read to me?”

She was looking at me with big ol’ puppy-dog eyes. It wasn’t like I could say no.

“I’ll be downstairs,” said Retbelle. “I’ll leave Alka with you for a bit.” With that, Retbelle left the room.

I sat down on the sofa and Alka got on my lap. I kind of felt bashful reading from a book I’d made myself. Once we were done with the first volume and I was reading the second for her, the door opened.

It wasn’t Retbelle this time. Instead, a woman with silver hair walked in.

“Why, it really is a bear.”

“Mommy!” Alka stood up and latched onto the woman.

That was her mom, I guess; Alka definitely took after her mom. Which meant…Retbelle’s son probably married this woman then? Hm. Maybe Alka looked like her grandmother, but there was no way she looked like her grandpa.

“Thank you so much for looking after her,” said the woman. “I’m her mother, Seffle.”

“I’m Yuna.”

“She wasn’t difficult, was she?”

“She was great. Totally charming!”

“Excellent. And this is the picture book?” Seffle looked down at the book in her daughter’s hands.

“Bear gave it to me!”

“Good for you.” She gave her happy daughter a pat on the head. “My stepfather told me about the book. Thank you so much for bringing it to her. One of her friends showed it to her at the capital. She was so taken by it, we hardly knew what to do. My stepfather looked for a copy, but he just simply never found one. He’d almost given up.”

“I’m just happy that she’s happy.” Alka had been thrilled when I’d gifted the book to her.

I thought my job here was done and had just been about to head out, when...

“I’m so sorry. We didn’t even offer you any tea!” Seffle quickly shuffled to the next room over.

“I’m all right. I’m heading home now.”

“Won’t you stay for a bit longer? My stepfather wanted to thank you. He asked me to keep you here—”

I’d already gotten Alka’s smile, which was payment enough. That was the promise, after all. But—

“I think he’ll be here shortly, so please have some tea while you wait.”

“I really don’t need any, thanks.”

“Bear, you’re going home…?” When I tried turning down the tea, Alka grabbed my clothes. I was defenseless against her tiny, little hands! Lady Flora was one thing, but this was just unfair. A hit below the belt! In the end, I stayed for tea just like they’d asked.

At least I let Alka know I wasn’t heading home right away, which got her to let go.

When I sat down on the sofa, Alka plopped down right beside me. Her little hands latched right onto my clothes. She’d only been planning to let me out of her grip for a moment…

“Ha ha! It seems Alka’s taken a real liking to you!” Seffle sat in a chair across from me and sipped her tea as she grinned.

“It’s because of my clothes.”

“When my stepfather told me that a girl dressed as a bear had brought a bear book for my daughter, I had no idea what to make of it. And then, wouldn’t you know it, I came over and actually found a girl dressed as a bear. You can imagine my surprise.”

Seffle flashed me a smile, then borrowed the picture book from Alka and started reading it.

 

Once we were done reading the book again, Retbelle came back. “Sorry. That took me longer than I expected.”

“Well then, I’ll be off!” I said—or rather, I was about to say that. I didn’t need a thank-you, but—

“Wait a moment. I still haven’t thanked you!”

“I’ve already gotten a thank-you from Alka, so...” That had been the condition for giving her the book, after all.

But Retbelle was having none of it. “Please, allow me to thank you as well.”

Now he was putting me on the spot. I really didn’t want his money. “I don’t need anything. We had a deal, you know? The price of the book was Alka’s smile. I’ve gotten plenty of those.”

I placed my hand gently on Alka’s head. She smiled and looked up at me.

“I know full well you don’t want money. But that isn’t enough to make me feel right. I’ve got influence in this town. Is there anything I can thank you with?”

Something did come to mind, now that I thought about it. “I guess there’s one thing, if you’d hear me out.”

“What is it?”

“Is it possible to buy a house in this town?” I needed one to set up a bear gate.

In certain parts of the capital, you needed a letter of introduction to buy property. If it was the same way here, I wanted to have one of those letters ready. That’d help me out a lot more than any money exchanging hands.

“Do you intend to settle down here?”

“Not really, but I needed a house for something.” I couldn’t tell him about the bear gate, but man, did I want one here. This place was so far away that it’d be really useful.

“I see. In these parts, so long as one’s identity is verified, anyone can buy a house.”

“I wouldn’t need a letter of introduction?”

“You wouldn’t need one, no. But some locations might be cheaper if you had one.”

So, if I had the funds and wasn’t picky about where the house was, I could pretty much pick any place I wanted. “I’d just go the Merchant Guild to handle that, right?”

“Do you really intend to purchase a house in this town?”

“I do...”

“The houses are not cheap enough for a child to buy, you know—not even the smaller ones.”

“That’s not an issue.” I had money from my original world, and even more was rolling in from the shops and the tunnel tolls. No matter how much it cost, I was sure I had enough.

“Stepfather, why don’t you sell her that one house?” Seffle asked. “Perhaps even give her a discount?”

“Ah, yes...that house. But it’s rather out of the way.”

They had a small house in an out-of-the-way part of town, but they didn’t have any use for it. No one wanted to buy it either, so the thing had been left abandoned for years. As long as I could set up a bear gate inside, I didn’t mind. I wouldn’t need to buy land and build a new bear house, which meant I wouldn’t draw crowds with that whole ordeal. Sounded good to me!

And it’d be a pain to go to the Merchant Guild and go through all the formalities of buying a place. Just thinking about the scene I’d make if I went there…nah, I’d prefer to just get a house here, if they were willing to let me have it.

Plus, if I bought a place from the guild, Sanya and Luimin would notice it and I’d have to explain myself, which would be even more of a pain.

“If you really will let me have it, that’d be a huge help.”

“Then I’ll show it to you now,” Retbelle said. “We’ll decide on the price once you see it.”

Retbelle stood up, and I did too, but Alka’s little hand wasn’t letting go.

“Sorry, Alka,” I said. “I need to go now.”

“Bear...” She looked so forlorn.

“I’ll come by again.”

“Really?”

Seffle laughed. “She really seems to like you. Alka is normally so shy with strangers. She’s never like this.” She smiled.

I was kind of happy, but I also had no idea what to do. But I had a new, special technique to placate kids: I pulled out stuffed animals of my bears from my bear storage.

“A black bear and a white bear?!” Alka shouted. Her vice grip loosened, and she grabbed the two bears.

“Goodness, what cute bear toys!”

“It wasn’t just the copies of the books?” said Retbelle. “You had stuffed animals with you too?”

“Don’t try to produce your own, okay?” I said.

“I would never.”

“Hey, Alka. These two are going to take my place, okay?”

“I can have them…?”

“Yeah. You keep them safe, okay?”

“Uh-huh, thank you!!!” Alka happily clutched the toys.

If they let me have the house, I could come visit her whenever I wanted. We left Alka, and Retbelle took me to the house. I thought we’d be walking, but Retbelle had his carriage bring us around instead.