Chapter 241: The Bear Calls Fina
Chapter 241:
The Bear Calls Fina
RIGHT WHEN Labilata was headed home, Kumayuru and Kumakyu raised their heads a little. “Cwoom…”
What’s up, guys? I turned my gaze to where my bears were looking. There were black dots in the sky. Were they moving? Were they birds? But if Kumayuru and Kumakyu were reacting to them…were they monsters?!
I used my detection skill. There were monster signals—volkrows, bird monsters larger than eagles. They were quick monsters, too—it looked like there were ten of them.
“What is it?” Labilata asked, noticing how strangely I was acting.
“Monsters are coming.” I pointed at them.
Labilata shifted his attention, looking to where I was pointing. “That’s Mt. Orval. Wait, are those volkrows?!”
So the volkrows were flying from a mountain? I guess that was where they normally roosted. “Shouldn’t the barrier help?!”
“At this range, they’re already inside of it.”
The volkrows were already close enough that I could even make out their characteristic red beaks. In the game, their beaks contained a paralyzing poison—they were a huge pain.
Labilata stared down the volkrows. “Take shelter!”
“Are you sure they’ll attack?” Maybe they’d fly in a different direction.
“Those things attack elves, so you need to get back.”
Just like Labilata said, the volkrows were gliding closer—picking up speed, even. Labilata readied himself to meet the volkrows. I moved behind him to cover his back. It wasn’t like I was going to make a break for it just because monsters had shown up, but I also didn’t want to get in Labilata’s way.
Labilata attacked the approaching volkrows with a blade of wind, but the close-flying volkrows opened their formation and dodge. From there, they swooped down on us from all four directions.
“Don’t worry about me!” I yelled, getting ready to deal with some nearby volkrows.
Labilata glanced at me. “Got it!”
I fired off some wind blades at the volkrows near me just like Labilata had. They tried to dodge, but my blades were closer and quicker than what Labilata had cast—they didn’t have time to dodge these babies!
My wind blade sliced a volkrow’s body right in half, killing it instantly. I took the other approaching volkrows down, one by one.
Labilata was taking down his fair share of volkrows, but a few had escaped. He fired off another wind blade, but it didn’t reach them in time. “Damn!” Labilata snarled at the fleeing volkrows. He relaxed his stance, then, and looked over at me. “Thanks. You have my gratitude for slaying those volkrows.”
“But a few of them got away.”
“It’s fine. There are other people patrolling,” he said. “They’ll be able to handle volkrows as long as they’re not taken by surprise.”
True—if you could hit a volkrows, you could take one down. They were a pain for anyone who couldn’t use magic, but elves wouldn’t have that kind of problem.
“I’ll head back to the village to report on this,” Labilata told me. “What will you do?”
“I’ll stay here.”
“Understood. But please, come to the village if anything happens.” With that, Labilata nimbly headed down the waterfall, ran off toward the village, and vanished into the forest.
He’d left me and my bears behind...plus the seven volkrows on the ground. Could I sell these? Actually, was I even allowed to take these? For now, I’d put them in my bear storage. If they told me to hand them over later, I would.
I transformed Kumayuru and Kumakyu into their cub forms, then we headed into the bear house. Yep, home is where the heart is!
When I sat on the sofa, my bears hopped up to either side of me and curled up. This was their usual spot when no one else was around. I took a quick break, then pulled out my bear phone to call Fina. She’d probably be at home around now, or maybe helping Tiermina out at the orphanage.
Fina didn’t pick up for a while. I told her not to answer while people were around, so maybe there was someone close to her? The moment I was about to hang up, I heard Fina’s voice from the bear phone.
“Is that you, Yuna?”
I could hardly believe it—we were so far away, and I’d still managed to get through! Well, guess that made sense for an OP item gifted by a god. My original world had satellite phones, so we could pretty much take a call from anywhere…but how did the bear phone work? Very mysterious.
“Is right now a good time?”
“Uh-huh, now works perfectly! We just finished cleaning and doing laundry, so I was just about to take a break.”
I guess she was helping around the house today. What a good kid. “Nothing strange going on over there?”
“No, it’s been fine. Is everything okay with you, Yuna?”
“We got to the elves’ village in one piece,” I said.
“That’s good. I’d like to go there sometime too.”
“Oh, then you want to stop by?” She could come right away with the bear transporter gate.
“Sanya would be shocked if I suddenly showed up...”
She had a point. I could bring her with me next time, though I’d need to set up a gate somewhere. “Sounds like you don’t have a lot going on, then?”
“Nope...oh!” It sounded like Fina had remembered something.
“What is it? Did something happen?”
“Well, Uncle Zelef and Ellelaura came by. It was a little after you left.”
“Zelef and Ellelaura?” I understood why Ellelaura would come by, seeing as how her husband governed the town, but why Zelef? “Did they need something from me?” That’s the only reason I could think of for a visit.
“They wanted to meet with you as well, but I think they came to see your shops.”
“My shops?”
“Yeah, they said something about an inspection…? Ah, and they ate at the Bear’s Lounge and the Bear Dining Room.”
Ah, right, they’d said at one point that they wanted to see my shops in Crimonia, so I guess they’d finally made the trip. “What did they say?”
“They said it was really yummy!”
Well, it was Morin’s bread, after all, and Nerin had worked her butt off to learn how to make those cakes. Plus, the kids were working their hardest to help. Anz’s cooking was to die for, too. As always, everything at my shops tasted amazing.
“Then they looked at the bear dolls decorating the shop and laughed.”
Rude! The place was called the Bear’s Lounge, so there had to be bears. Besides, they were popular with the guests, and I’d heard a lot of people wanted to take the decorations home with them. “Was everyone surprised when Zelef and Ellelaura showed up?”
“Yeah, mom was.”
“How about everyone else?”
“Lady Ellelaura told us to not tell anyone that she’s a noble, so only Mom, Shuri, and I knew. I think she wanted to see how the shops normally run.”
“Were you okay?”
“I was surprised, but not as much as Mom was.”
I guess Fina was slowly getting used to nobles? She used to be a nervous wreck around them. Then again, she’d been hanging out with Noa more lately, and she went to Misa’s birthday party, so I guess she was toughening up. But Tiermina hadn’t had much contact with nobles, so meeting one must’ve been a real surprise.
“So, they just showed up out of nowhere? They could have at least let us know ahead of time.”
“I think they were trying to surprise you.”
Well, yeah, I’m sure I would’ve been surprised if they’d randomly shown up. I had mixed feelings about this. I would have liked to see them, but they didn’t have to make it a surprise.
“They seemed disappointed.”
I could imagine Ellelaura looking disappointed. I wondered if she’d mention it next time we saw each other.
“Did they go home?” I asked.
“Yes, they were here for two days, but they had to go back to the capital right away.”
I guess they really had come to just see my shops.
“They told me to say ‘hi’ for them!”
“And there’s been nothing unusual besides that?”
Fina thought for a moment. “Umm…nothing in particular after that.”
We chatted for a while longer, then hung up. I wish Fina had let me know about them showing up…but then again, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything in the first place if she’d called me earlier. I couldn’t just use my bear phone in front of Sanya and Luimin; and returning to Crimonia would be completely out of the question. Besides, even if I’d been able to use the bear phone in secret, it would have been awkward to just give instructions to Fina.
Maybe things had turned out for the best.