Chapter 238: The Bear Meets Mumulute, Head of the Elves

Chapter 238:
The Bear Meets Mumulute, Head of the Elves

 

THE NEXT MORNING, Sanya and I finished our breakfast and headed over to meet with Sanya’s grandfather, the head of the village. Sanya was going to talk about the barrier; I just wanted permission to build my bear house.

The moment we went outside, people recognized Sanya and rushed over to us.

“Sanya, you’re back! And this must be that girl who dresses as a bear?”

It’d be weird not to do anything if everyone was looking at me, so I gave them a slight nod.

“The black and white bears aren’t around?” one of them said.

“The village head told me not to have them out and about,” I said.

They seemed a little disappointed at that.

Greeting other villagers as we went, we finally reached Mumulute’s house. It wasn’t too far from Sanya’s place and it was about as big, even though only her grandparents lived there.

Sanya opened the door and went inside without knocking. “We’re here, Grandfather!”

I went in with her, but were we really supposed to barge in like that? There was no response, but Sanya just went further in. Is this how they do things in the countryside? I followed after her anyway.

Mumulute was in an inner room sitting cross-legged on a big rug. A female elf around the same age sat beside him. “Is that you, Sanya?” the other elf said. “And you’re with the bear girl from yesterday?”

“I’m back, Grandmother,” Sanya said.

Sanya called her “grandmother,” but she didn’t look old enough for that. No, she looked about the same age as Mumulute—forty-ish.

“Welcome back!” she said, looking overjoyed to see Sanya. “And I guess there wouldn’t be any other bear girl here, hmm?”

“I’m Yuna.” I offered a small bow in greeting.

“I am Vena. Goodness me, you really do look like a bear. I’ll go make us some tea.” The yes-really-a-grandmother-somehow grandmother stood up and headed to another inner room.

“So, why are you with the bear girl?” asked Mumulute.

I explained why I’d come to meet Mumulute.

“Ah. You’re going to live in the village?” he asked.

“Yuna has travel homes,” said Sanya. “It looks like she wants to build one here.”

I did—temporarily, at least.

“Did you not care for Sanya’s home?”

“Some things are just more convenient with my own place.”

I hadn’t found a good time to use my bear phone yesterday, so I hadn’t been able to contact Fina. Honestly, I couldn’t even really relax without my own home. “The edge of the village, or even at the outskirts within the barrier would be fine. Would you let me set one up?”

Mumulute rubbed his chin thoughtfully. I really hoped he went with the outskirts of the barrier instead of inside the village.

“Yuna looks a bit unusual, but she’s a really good kid. She’s helped me several times, and Luimin too. I can vouch for her,” said Sanya. “I’ll even take responsibility if she stirs up trouble in the village.”

I was honestly glad that she trusted me. No way would I want to cause trouble for Sanya or the elves here.

“Why stay here, Miss?” Mumulute asked.

“She says she wants to know how we elves live.”

“A curious girl with even more curious tastes…”

“But…there’s one thing I should warn you about,” said Sanya.

“A warning?” The look in Mumulute’s eyes shifted.

Uh. Say what? I gave her an intense, please-don’t-say-anything-too-weird look, but I didn’t get through to her.

“Yuna is a collection of absurdities. You’ll always be surprised by her,” Sanya told Mumulute with a smile.

A…collection of absurdities? I wasn’t that weird, was I? Then I thought about it, and…uh. Well. Okay, yeah, I could see it.

“Absurdities…?” Mumulute repeated. “I’ll need to keep an eye on that.” He looked me over. “All right. You can build your house wherever you please.”

“Thank you very much.” There we go! Somehow I’d managed to get permission to set up my bear house. People were probably gonna treat me like a weirdo after Sanya said that, but at least I had permission. “Where would be a good place to set it up?”

“So long as you do not disturb the neighbors, you may build it anywhere you like,” said Mumulute.

“I won’t bother anybody!” That was all I wanted to talk about, so I got ready to leave.

Mumulute stopped me. “We’re already preparing tea for you. I’d also like to hear what Sanya has been up to in the capital. The meeting shouldn’t take too long. Won’t you stay?”

“You don’t mind me being around for the whole barrier thing?”

“It’s fine. Even if you listen to our discussion, you won’t understand it.”

Was he calling me stupid? Or maybe he was saying I wouldn’t get it because it would all be too elf-y. Eh… if I could stay put, why not? It’d be nice to know more about the barrier or what was happening in the village, even if I didn’t understand it all. Information is valuable.

Sanya’s somehow-really-a-grandmother grandmother came back with tea and fruit; I snacked while listening to their talk.

“Wel thanne, Sanya, howe muche hath ye heard?”

“Juste what Luimin and thine mother hath fpoke of unto me.”

Huh? They started talking, but I could barely understand what they were saying. I swear I’ve been cleaning my ears. I shook my head, as if it’d help at all.

“Aye, I fee, few knoweth of thif, but maniereall a monfter have entered the barrier.”

“Really?!” Sanya exclaimed.

Okay, okay: I was starting to figure it out. (Still…maybe I’d clean my ears when I got back home.) But for real, this sounded way different compared to what Talia had said earlier…

“Yes. That’s why Labilata and the others have been patrolling the village’s borders. They were guarding you when you returned home as well.”

Oh, so they hadn’t been following us because I was suspicious…! In that case, I felt bad for telling them I was uncomfortable with them tailing us. Okay, sure—it was Sanya who’d said that, but I’d certainly wanted to tell them off.

“Is the situation really that dire?” Sanya asked.

“Indeed. The barrier is unraveling ever more, and the monsters are steadily increasing in their number.”

Yeah, that sounded dire all right.

“So, you want to recast the barrier,” Sanya said.

Mumulute shook his head. “At first, we thought we could recast the barrier, but…that is no longer the case.”

“What do you mean?”

“The sacred tree that acts at the source of the barrier’s magic is infected with a parasitic plant.”

“A parasite?! In the sacred tree?!”

Sacred tree? What was that? Now that was a good fantasy name—perfect for a game or manga. And now a parasite had infected this sacred tree?

Actually, I remembered parasitic plant monsters from back in my game. They’d infect the trees in a forest and absorb their nutrients in order to grow. Since they wrapped around the trees like vines, it was hard to tell which trees were infected. Then, when people, animals, or monsters got too close to the parasite, it would ensnare them using its vines to prey on them.

“Lower your voice,” Mumulute warned Sanya.

“Sorry...But is that true?”

“We sent Luimin to retrieve you as soon as we realized it. It’s probably been infected for some time. We simply hadn’t realized.”

“Where did the parasite come from?”

“It could’ve been as simple as a bird carrying an infected seed to the wrong place. No matter the origin, it is infected regardless.”

“True. So even you and Father couldn’t defeat it?”

“If we had noticed earlier, Arutul and I could have dealt with it together. We were too late, though, and the parasite had grown. I had originally assumed that the barrier was merely coming apart. I hadn’t realized that the sacred tree was relevant at all.”

“But surely you checked on it.”

“At the time, it hadn’t seemed altered by any infection. I thought we had enough time to wait for your arrival. But shortly after Luimin left, the number of monsters coming into the village rose by the day. At that point, we checked on the sacred tree once more.”

“And by that time, the parasitic plant...”

“We were already too late.”

“I understand now. So, what do we do now? We can’t recast the barrier and if we can’t take out the parasite, the village will be in trouble.”

“We will dispel the barrier. Then those who can fight from the village will go to kill the parasite,” Mumulute said firmly.

“I had no idea things had fallen apart so completely…” Sanya said.

Neither had I. Then again, who could? “You only found out after Luimin left, so that was why she wasn’t shaken up by the situation,” I said. If they’d known how bad things were, they probably wouldn’t have sent Luimin out in the first place…

“I thought it would prove a useful experience for Luimin at the time,” Mumulute said.

“She had experiences both good and bad, without a doubt,” said Sanya.

Yeah, had to agree there. Sanya hadn’t mentioned the bracelet to her parents or Mumulute. She was a good sister.

But what was with this sacred tree thing? Based on the name, it seemed kind of legendary. Guess it wouldn’t hurt to ask? “Hey Sanya, what’s the sacred tree?”

“It’s a large tree that protects the elves. It possesses an immense amount of mana that we borrow to make the barrier that protects the entire forest from monsters.”

“I see.” A big tree full of mana—sounded legendary all right. “But why dispel the barrier?”

“There’s a separate barrier that protects the sacred tree. The barrier protecting the village and the forest keeps out monsters. The barrier around the sacred tree keeps out people. My grandfather, my father, and I are the only people who can enter that barrier around the sacred...” He trailed off.

In other words, there were two barriers, and only three people could enter the barrier that protected the sacred tree. I finally got what they were talking about.

“Wait a minute.” Sanya was staring at me in shock; actually, Mumulute was too.

“Yuna, you…you understand what my grandfather and I are saying?”

“I do. Why wouldn’t I, huh?” What was she trying to imply? What, did they think I was a dumb little kid who wouldn’t get what they were talking about?

“Miss, you can understand Elvish?” Mumulute asked.

Elvish? As in the language of the elves?

Based on their shocked expressions, had they been…speaking Elvish?! I guess it had something to do with my fantasy world language skill. Now I understood Elvish, huh? Another big mistake. At this point, lying and pretending not to understand wouldn’t do a thing.

“Yeah, sorry for not saying anything earlier.”

“No, I just never would’ve thought you knew Elvish. We speak the common tongue in the village, but we use Elvish when we talk of things we don’t want outsiders to hear,” said Sanya.

“I apologize for assuming you wouldn’t understand,” Mumulute said. “Few outsiders understand Elvish, you see.”

“Even so, I didn’t think that you could understand Elvish,” Sanya repeated.

Yup, neither did I. I hadn’t even known that Elvish existed till now. Still, I guess this is what Mumulute had meant when he said I wouldn’t understand earlier. He didn’t think I was a dumb kid after all. “Should I step out for a moment?”

“No, that’s all right. I just hadn’t wanted to worry you after you had come from so far away. I wanted you to be able to go back to the village to enjoy yourself as Sanya’s friend.”

His courteousness made me feel bad. I’d ruined his kindness with my language skill.

“So can you kill the parasitic plant?” I asked.

“If the entire village comes together, I think we can. It would be best if we could destroy the mana gem at its core—that would be the fastest way.”

You could also kill the parasitic plants in the game if you destroyed their core. I guess that was where the mana gem was located? In the game, you’d still get a mana gem even if you destroyed a plant’s core, so I’d figured it was more like their heart.

But it was difficult to locate the core mana gem in the game. It’d be hidden within the vines, and it was even more difficult if it was located way up high. That’s why the easiest way to take out a parasitic plant in the game was burning it with its host…which wasn’t an option this time, unless we wanted to destroy the sacred tree. And that would’ve totally erased the point!

It’d be hard, but I was sure that the elves could band together, fight the parasite, and find that core—or rather, the mana gem.

“Well, Grandfather, when would you like the barrier to be dispelled?”

“The sooner the better, but I’d like you to take a look at it first.”

Sanya nodded. “Understood.”

I wanted to see the sacred tree too—even if they wouldn’t let me come close, maybe I could see it from a distance…? But that was probably out of the question. I didn’t want to put them on the spot, so I didn’t bother to ask.

 

Mumulute finished his tea and slowly shifted his gaze to me.

“Now, then…girl of bears, how has Sanya fared at the royal capital? Is she working hard?”

“Grandfather?!” Sanya seemed surprised at that, but the whole reason he’d asked me to stay was so he could ask me how Sanya was doing at the capital.

“Do we have time for this?” Sanya asked. She was clearly trying to get out of the conversation. Admittedly, we did have more urgent things to discuss than Sanya’s escapades at the capital.

“Arutul shall join us later. Until then, we can talk. After all, it would be far too dangerous for the two of us to go alone.”

“My father? He never mentioned he would be coming.”

“He had a quick errand to take care of, but he shall be along shortly.”

Just as Mumulute asked, I ended up talking about Sanya and how she’d been doing at the capital until Arutul arrived. Sanya shouted for me to “stop already!” so many times that I lost track. Fair enough, to be honest—I mean, it’s embarrassing to be the topic of conversation. Still, it’s not like I said anything weird! I only talked about the cool stuff Sanya did.

 

Arutul arrived shortly after we finished lunch, and it was a delicious lunch—a mushroom soup paired with wild edible plants. I really would’ve loved to make tempura with the plants, and putting mushrooms on pizza would have been perfect to expand my cooking repertoire.

But real talk: gathering random mushrooms and plants in the wild would be dangerous for the average person, even if I really wanted them…