Chapter 28: The Bear Goes to the Lord’s Residence

Chapter 28:
The Bear Goes to the Lord’s Residence

 

THE NEXT DAY, I followed Helen’s directions to the lord’s mansion. A guard with a scary-looking face was posted at its outer gates. She had told them that I’d be heading over today, right? This whole thing was a pain in the butt, but I resigned myself to it and approached the gate.

The guard turned and locked his eyes on me. He definitely thought I was suspicious, and it wasn’t like he had any choice. Somebody wearing a bear onesie was approaching him, in a world where onesies didn’t exist.

“What business do you have here?” He scanned me from head to toe.

“I’m the adventurer, Yuna. I was called here by the lord.”

“You’re the one…I heard about that. I’ll need you to show me your guild card to confirm your identity.”

Oh, good. I suppose you’d have to be real stupid to summon someone and not warn the staff they were coming. After he finished checking my guild card, the guard led me all the way to the entrance, where a maid in her early twenties took over.

So such maids really do exist, I thought. She was even wearing the picture-perfect black and white outfit. People with a real specific fetish would be ecstatic right around now.

The maid was clearly surprised by the sight of me, but immediately recomposed herself. She told me her name was Lala and, after lightly bowing her head, asked me to follow her. Lala walked silently through the mansion, stopped in front of a door, and knocked on it.

“Master Cliff, I have brought the adventurer Yuna.”

“Come in,” a voice answered from within.

“Excuse me.” Lala opened the door and urged me inside. I obeyed, and she shut the door behind me.

The room was expansive, containing a large desk and a table flanked by a pair of sofas. It felt like an office. A blond man in his thirties sat behind the desk.

“Please, take a seat on the sofa over there,” he directed.

I did as he asked.

“Looks like you really are dressed like a bear.”

The man came over and sat on the sofa across from me. A wry smile took over his mouth as he looked at me. Looked like he really was some slimy aristocrat.

“If you just called me over to laugh at me, then I’m going home.”

“Oh, no. I apologize.”

“What did you want with me, then?”

“I just wanted to meet the bear everyone was talking about.” Hadn’t the Guildmaster said basically the same thing? “My daughter wanted to meet you, too.”

“Your daughter?”

“I hear she spied you once in town. Since then, nothing delights her more than to have me relate all the reports about you that make their way to me.”

Wait a sec! Aren’t there privacy laws against that?!

“So does that mean you called me here for your daughter?”

“Partly, yes, but I also simply wanted to see the bear that everyone’s talking about.”

Like I’m a zoo exhibit, I thought. “My name isn’t ‘the bear’—it’s Yuna.”

“Right. I’m Cliff. You must already be aware of this, but I’m the lord of the town.”

“Well, are you satisfied now that you’ve seen me?”

“Don’t be mad. You’re ruining your adorable face.”

It was kind of embarrassing to be called adorable in a face-to-face conversation. I pulled my bear hood low over my head, so he couldn’t see me.

“Still, I find it hard to believe like a little girl like you could have possibly slayed a goblin king and tigerwolves.”

“Maybe it’s all a lie.”

“I did some looking into you before summoning you here—since I was going to have you meet my daughter.”

He’d been investigating me? That didn’t make me feel great, though there wasn’t anything I could have done about it.

There was a knock at the door. “I have brought Madame Noir,” Lala called.

“Come in.”

A cute girl about Fina’s age, with long, blonde hair, entered the room. “Father, is it true that the bear is here?!”

“This is my daughter Noir. She’s been wanting to meet you.”

When she caught sight of me, the little girl’s eyes glittered. She dashed over to me. “Are you the bear? My name is Noir. Please call me Noa.”

“Umm, I’m Yuna. Could you please call me by my name instead of referring to me as the bear?”

“Got it. Your name is Yuna.”

Noa sat down next to me and looked me up and down.

“Um, may I give you a hug?” she asked, seeming sheepish.

“Sure.”

I would’ve said no to a boy, even if they were a kid, but I couldn’t turn her down such a cute little girl.

“Thank you so very much.”

Noa hugged me. I gave her a pat on her head, which just reached my chest. Between Fina and this, maybe little-sister types were just my thing.

“You’re so soft. And you also smell nice.” She rubbed her head into my belly. “I saw you in town once, Yuna.”

Cliff just said something about that, didn’t he?

“I only saw you from afar, but you looked so cute that I couldn’t stop looking at you. Since then I have been asking father to tell me about you. I’ve wanted to meet you for so long!”

“So, what do you want me to do?” I asked Cliff.

“I haven’t decided on anything in particular. Why don’t you just talk to my daughter?”

“I want to hear about how you defeated the monsters!”

It wasn’t that exciting a tale—all I did was sling some magic around. Still, the little girl was clearly desperate for a story, and I didn’t want to disappoint her, so I told her about my fights with the goblin king and the tigerwolves, leaving out the grim and unflattering parts. Noa’s eyes glittered as she listened to me. Cliff remained silent and sipped his drink.

“That’s amazing!”

“You believe me? I might be lying.”

“I believe you. My father has told me the same stories, anyway.”

“As I said earlier, I looked into you. The least I could do was fact-check what I heard about your accomplishments,” Cliff said.

I guessed that since you could determine time of death from a mana gem, the only thing they couldn’t verify was whether I’d racked up those kills entirely on my own. Since my well of monster-slaying yarns had run dry, I figured I was done, but Noa was still watching me.

“May I ask you something, Yuna?” she ventured, as though it were difficult to say.

“What do you need?”

“Um…would you show me your bear summons?”

“My summons?”

“Yes. I’ve been wanting to see your beast summons ever since I heard about them from my father.”

“I’d like to see them as well.”

“You sure? Might be dangerous.”

“Is that so?” said Cliff.

“Well, I suppose it should be fine as long as you don’t try to attack them or hurt me.”

“I have no intentions of doing that. I have nothing to gain from attacking you—not to mention that my daughter would hate me if I did.”

With Lord Cliff’s assent, I decided I’d summon Kumayuru and Kumakyu in the mansion’s gardens. Noa led us there happily while Lala trailed behind us.