Chapter 251: The Bear Learns of Contract Magic

Chapter 251:
The Bear Learns of Contract Magic

 

SANYA CAME OVER after she’d finished checking on the sacred tree. “Yuna, can you move?”

“Yeah, I can. I’m a little more rested. But I don’t really want to go anywhere else today.” I’d recovered enough to move, but I didn’t really want to. I just wanted to latch onto Kumakyu and nap.

“Of course you wouldn’t,” said Sanya. “You battled a cockatrice and the parasite on the sacred tree all in one day.”

Mumulute nodded—he’d come up with Arutul after the two of them had disposed of the immobile vines from the dead parasite. Even if it was dead, the thing was still a parasite, so you never knew. “After accomplishing so much, girl, there’s little doubt you’d be tired.”

“I think that’s about all we can manage,” said Arutul. “The village will be curious about what happened too. Let’s go back for now.”

“Do you think the sacred tree will be all right?” I asked.

“I think it will, but we should observe it for a while.”

The tree was gigantic. It wasn’t like they could examine the entire tree that quickly. I had no idea how the parasite’s seeds spread…but if they didn’t check the whole place out, there was a chance they could end up with more parasite problems. All we could do was hope for the best.

 

We headed out of the sacred tree’s cavern, going back outside to the mountain. Just in case, the three of them checked to make sure they could get back in through the barrier. They poured mana into a stone, it glowed, and they could re-enter the cave—things looked fine.

“Um, Yuna,” said Sanya, “could you check that it works for you as well?”

I didn’t even touch the stone like the others had and just headed straight over to the cave on my own. I stretched out my hands as I went forward. If there was a barrier, there’d be something like a wall, but I didn’t feel any resistance against my hands. I just headed right into the cave.

Weird. “Wonder what’s going on…”

“Girl, do you think you might have an elf as a distant relative?” Mumulute asked.

There was no way, considering I’d come from another world. I shook my head in response.

“But just having elven blood wouldn’t be enough for Yuna to go inside,” Sanya protested.

Again, I wondered if the bear onesie I’d gotten from the god might’ve let me in…not that I could say anything about that.

“Pondering over the matter will not bring us to the answer,” said Mumulute. “The girl means no harm to the sacred tree. Knowing that is enough.”

Of course I didn’t mean any harm. If I wanted the leaves and branches, I could’ve just asked for them.

 

The village was a picture of peace itself. No monsters had come by since we’d left, thank goodness.

“Well, then,” I said, “I’m going home to rest.”

“By yourself?” said Sanya. “You could come back to my house to rest if you want.”

“I’ll ride Kumakyu, so I should be fine. And I’d be a lot more comfortable relaxing in my own home.”

“Yuna,” said Sanya. “Truly, thank you.”

“I’m so very grateful to you, girl,” said Mumulute.

“Yes, thank you,” Arutul said.

After they thanked me, I got onto Kumakyu and left for my bear house. Mumulute and the others would gather the people to tell them that the parasite had been slain and that the sacred tree was back to normal.

More importantly, they were going to keep any mention of me out of it. I mean, if it came to light that I’d been able to get into a place where only Mumulute and a few others were supposed to be able to get into, there’d be a panic. Some people would probably even wonder if I was connected to the parasite. In the end, Mumulute and the two others were officially going to be the ones who defeated the parasite. I didn’t intend to become a hero, and I didn’t want to cause any trouble. The smiles of the kids who’d played with me and my bears was payment enough.

 

Once we got home, I cubified Kumakyu, summoned Kumayuru in cub form too, scooped them up, and headed straight to bed. The mattress felt fantastic.

“Kumayuru…Kumakyu…good night,” I said, giving them a good cuddle.

Before long, I fell asleep with Kumayuru and Kumakyu in my arms.

I woke up in the middle of the night with my bears still sleeping in my arms. I left my room, careful not to disturb them, then went to get a light meal. When I got back to my room, I headed straight back to dreamland.

 

Thanks to my white bear onesie, I was in tip-top shape when I woke up the next morning. But I’d overslept, so I was still drowsy. After breakfast, I left my bear house to find Labilata waiting for me. “Uh, morning?”

“Yes, good morning.”

“Did you need something from me?”

“The village head would like to speak to you.”

Labilata knew the location of the bear house, so I guess he’d come all the way out here. Had he been waiting for me all this time? What did they need me for? Did it have something to do with yesterday?

“Thank you for your actions.”

My…actions? Oh, no, did everybody know about the parasite now?

“You defeated the cockatrice,” he continued, “and spared us much grief. If anything had happened to the village head, it would have been an absolute disaster. I’d like to thank you.”

Oh, right. That. “Please don’t worry about it. I just did what I could.”

“You’re one peculiar girl, though I suppose that’s why Sanya likes you.” Labilata seemed to have come to some sort of conclusion on his own—after that, he went silent.

 

“Sir! I’ve brought Yuna!” Labilata shouted into the door of Mumulute’s house.

For once, we actually heard a reply. “Please, come in.”

“Well, then,” said Labilata, turning to leave, “I’ll be off!”

“Thank you for having me,” I whispered, and stepped inside.

Mumulute and Sanya waited for me in the usual room. There was no one else around, including Arutul. “We were waiting for you,” said Mumulute. “Please sit.”

I sat right on the ground as instructed, legs folded to the side like any other run-of-the-mill girl.

Mumulute filled me in on what’d happened after I’d gone home. He’d explained that the parasite had been defeated to the others and they’d confirmed that no one else could enter the tree’s barrier.

“No one else could get in, then?”

“Yes. Several people have attempted since then, but not a single one was successful.”

They’d gone back to the sacred tree again after the battle too. For a sec, I was impressed with how active they were after the whole ordeal…and then I remembered that they hadn’t gone through the exhausting battle with the parasite.

“The barrier is back to normal. That was your doing, girl.” Mumulute lowered his head. “I would like to thank you.”

Apparently, the monsters had also disappeared from around the elves’ village. They’d been attracted by the parasite most likely, but the elves were still going to be cautious for a while.

“From what we’ve seen,” said Sanya, “it looks like things will be fine. But we’re keeping it a secret that you could go through the barrier. Still…I wonder how you managed to get inside.”

The bear gear, I thought for the gazillionth time: I couldn’t think of any other option. At the very least, I doubted I could get in without the bear gear. But I couldn’t tell them the truth, though, so I just pretended to be clueless.

“I have something I’d like to ask you, girl,” said Mumulute.

“What is it?”

“Are you sure you want to keep your deeds secret? We could put up a statue of you next to the sacred tree. We could tell your tale for generations to come.”

“Please, no!!!” I stopped Mumulute before he could continue. Elves extolling me for generations to come? No, thanks, I had enough of that stuff from Mileela. I’d asked for them not to spread it beyond the sea town, but who could tell how well they’d keep that secret?

“You saved us, so I think we really ought to pass this down through our kin for generations.”

“If you make a statue, I’ll destroy it,” I said, forming my bear puppet into a fist and raising it.

“Well...if you insist,” Mumulute said reluctantly. Looked like I’d made it clear just how serious I was. He looked genuinely disappointed. Sanya was snickering next to him—jeez, could she just stop?!

If the elves passed the story down to their children, it’d probably live for thousands—no, maybe even tens of thousands of years, worst case. No way was I letting that happen!

“But I would like to thank you, Yuna,” he said. “Is there anything you’d like?”

There we go. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.

First of all, I wanted a permanent place for my bear house. Then I wanted to know how to make an elven bracelet. Oh, and I also wanted leaves from the sacred tree. If I could use the branches for something, I wanted some of those too. I mean, it was basically a mythical tree, so it just had to come in handy somehow. Plus, if I kept the leaves and branches in my bear storage, they wouldn’t get in the way.

The only other thing I wanted was food. The village seemed to have plenty of mushrooms. I could roast them, eat them in a meal with some meat, or maybe put them on top of a pizza? But I was no expert in mushrooms, so it’d be dangerous for me to forage for myself. If an elf who’d been eating mushrooms for years foraged them for me, they’d probably be safe.

Let’s see, what else could I ask for…? There was still the issue of my bear house…and more importantly, my bear transporter gate. Since this place was far away from the capital, I’d seem suspect if I came and went as I pleased.

But what was I supposed to do? I wavered between asking about my bear house and not. Then again, there’d be no point in having a bear house if I couldn’t use my gate.

“Ummm…” What to do?

“Yuna, why do you seem so troubled? If there’s anything we can do, please tell us.”

“There’s something I’d like to ask for, but it’s related to one of my secrets. I’m trying to think of what to do…”

“One of your secrets?”

“Yeah. I want to tell you, but it’d put me in trouble if you did know.” How could I even explain it?

“You saved our village, girl,” Mumulute said. “We will protect your secret. We could even use contract magic, if you would like.”

“Contract magic?”

“When we elves must bind a secret of our people,” began Mumulute, “we make use of such magic.”

Sanya nodded. “When contract magic is used, one cannot break the contract.”

What? It sounded kind of scary. “What happens if you break it?”

“The gravest consequence is the death of the oathbreaker, but it rarely comes to that. You see, it becomes hard to breathe or say anything when attempting to speak of the secret. Writing the secret out has similar consequences.”

It sounded like a curse to me, and curses were bad news. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

“It is merely a contract. As long as the secret is not revealed, one is fine.”

“Right. If someone goes so far as to make a contract not to leak a secret, they really shouldn’t be talking anyway,” Sanya said.

That was true, I guess. But I didn’t want anyone suffering or dying over it. It’d only happen if they tried to talk about it, and I doubted either of them would. What if they let it slip by accident, though?

I mean, look at yesterday! I doubt Sanya had meant to let the thing about the bear panties slip to everyone around us.

“Is it possible to change the suffering bit of the contract?”

“Change it how?”

I thought for a moment. “Like, make it so someone can’t stop laughing or something?” I blurted. Laughing would be better than having a hard time breathing.

“You’re such a little fiend, Yuna,” Sanya said.

“What?”

“You’d have us laugh to death?”

What was she saying? I’d just been trying to think of a way to keep them from having to suffer.

“It’s not outside of our power, Yuna,” Sanya continued, “but are you sure this is what you’d like?”

“Wouldn’t non-stop laughter be better than, like, actual suffering?”

“You think that laughing forever isn’t actual suffering?”

Maybe so, but it sure seemed better than the alternative option of death. Anyway, it seemed fitting that for someone should suffer from nonstop laughter if they were going to try talking about my bear panties or something. If she didn’t want that to happen, then she could do exactly what Mumulute had said and kept quiet.

“All right, then,” said Mumulute. “I shall have it prepared by the morrow.”

“You can do it that quickly?”

“It is a paltry matter. We already have a magic circle to base the contract on. We must merely modify the psyche element of the spell.”

“So, who are you going to tell the secret?” asked Sanya. “Me? Or would you prefer to tell him?”

If I was going to tell anyone about the bear gate, I’d want it to be Mumulute, considering he was the head of the village, and probably Sanya too, so we could get back to the capital quickly. If I was going to set up a gate, of course I’d want to use it to get home. It’d save me a ton of trouble.

I guess I’d tell Mumulute, Sanya, and maybe also Luimin about the bear house and such. If we were going to make a contract, I could give them a bear phone too.

I told them as much.

“Luimin as well?” said Sanya.

“I think Luimin would keep it secret, so it’d be better to tell her.” Plus, I could ask her over my bear phone if I wanted mushrooms.

“In that case, I suggest you meditate on the specific secrets you wish to keep until tomorrow,” said Mumulute.

“I’m curious about what you’ll ask,” said Sanya.

That, too, would be a secret until tomorrow.