Chapter 51: The Bear Heads to the Royal Capital

Chapter 51:
The Bear Heads to the Royal Capital

 

ON THE DAY I headed out with the convoy, I first dropped by Tiermina’s house to pick up Fina. From there, we headed to the feudal lord’s house to meet up with Noa.

“So who are you guarding, Yuna?”

“Oh? Did I forget to mention it? It’s the town lord’s daughter.”

Fina’s face turned pale. “The lord…then does that mean we’re headed to Lord Fochrosé’s house?”

I nodded.

“I’m going back home,” she blurted out. I grabbed her hand with my bear puppet to keep her from making a break for it.

“It’s fine—it’s not like they’re going to eat you. Besides, I’m guarding his daughter—she’s a kid named Noa.”

Considering Fina’s reaction, I guessed the divide between the nobility and commoners was pretty wide, even in this world. But Noa seemed like a sweet girl, even if she was a noble.

“Do you mean Lady Noir? But someone like me can’t go with you…”

Weird, I thought. I called her by her nickname, but Fina called her Noir. I guess people didn’t know her by that nickname, then?

“Anyway, let’s get going,” I said. “If they say you can’t come, we’ll go together on our own later.”

Fina reluctantly came along, though I kept a grip on her hand. When we got to the mansion, Noa was already standing haughtily by the gate with her hands on her hips.

“You’re late, Yuna!” she said, before even greeting us.

“We’re not late. When did you start waiting?”

“Ever since I woke up and ate breakfast, so about an hour ago…”

“You’re too early.”

“I just couldn’t wait, knowing I’d get to travel on the bears,” she said, looking embarrassed. That was pretty cute.

“Well, I’ve got a favor to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“I’m bringing her along, too—would you be okay with that?” I pointed to Fina, who flinched.

“Who is she?”

“This is my lifesaver, Fina.”

“Th-that’s not true. Yuna, you were the one who saved me!” Fina said. I wasn’t convinced.

“She said she hasn’t been to the royal capital before, so I thought I’d take her. I was hoping I could get permission from you and Cliff.”

“I don’t really mind, but I’m not giving up my spot on the bear.”

“I’m going to have you ride together,” I said.

“I suppose that’s fine, but I’m riding in front!”

“I’d like to get Cliff’s permission too, just in case. Could I see him?”

Noa went inside and came back with Cliff, who immediately gave his assent. “I don’t mind,” he said.

“Are you sure?”

“It’s only one extra person. Besides, having a girl about the same age as my daughter along isn’t a bad idea at all.”

Fina greeted Cliff nervously, “I’m Fina.”

“Please take care of my daughter.”

“Y-yeshir,” Fina stammered.

“Don’t be mean to her.” I pulled Fina’s arm, putting myself between her and Cliff.

“You make me sound mean. I was just greeting her,” he protested. I guess the fact that he was an aristocrat was just putting Fina on edge.

 

We headed for the city gates. Noa seemed to be enjoying herself, but Fina was a bundle of nerves.

“That reminds me, what’s your name?” Noa asked.

“It’s Fina.”

“I’m Noir. Nice to meet you.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

The formal introduction might have eased her worries, since a smile came back to Fina’s face. Once we got out of town, I summoned Kumayuru and Kumakyu, and Noa happily hugged Kumayuru the moment the bear was done manifesting.

“Kumayuru, it’s nice to see you!” She then hugged and greeted Kumakyu in the same way. “I said this already, but I get to ride in front, okay?”

“Yes, Lady Noir.”

“Well then, it’s a pleasure, Fina.” Noa offered her hand to Fina, who took it nervously.

“Yes, it’s a pleasure for me too.”

Now mounted on Kumayuru in their respective positions, they both couldn’t help but smile. I guess they’ll be fine, I thought as I mounted Kumakyu.

“Well then, let’s head out to the capital!”

Since we weren’t in a hurry, we set out at a leisurely pace.

“Kumayuru, I’m counting on you to get us to the capital, okay?” Noa gave Kumayuru a gentle pet.

“Lady Noir, you already knew about Kumayuru and Kumakyu?”

“Yuna brought them to the mansion and let me ride them once. They took a nap with me, too. I’ve been so excited for this trip that I could hardly wait. How do you and Yuna know each other, Fina?”

“Fina bailed me out when I was lost in the forest, back when I first came here,” I interrupted.

“That did happen,” said Fina, “but Yuna was the one who saved me from a wolf attack. I just led her to town.”

“And then, I became an adventurer, but because I couldn’t butcher monsters, I ended up asking Fina to do it for me.”

“Yes, and I’m really thankful for the money you pay me.”

“Fina, you can butcher monsters?” Noa looked surprised.

“Yes, I’ve done it for a long time at the guild.”

“For a long time? How old are you?”

“I’m ten.”

“That makes you the same age as me. I can’t believe you harvest monsters at your age…” Noa gave Fina a shocked look over her shoulder. So it was weird for ten-year-olds to be able to butcher monsters, even in this world. Fina really must’ve been special.

 

The two of them went on to have a friendly conversation. They were the same age, after all, regardless of class. While I listened to them talk, we followed the road to the capital at a leisurely pace. No monsters or robbers made an appearance, and the peaceful day soon turned to evening.

I looked around for the best place for us to set up camp. There was a stand of trees a little way off the main road that looked promising, so I headed there.

“Yuna,” said Noa, “you don’t mean to say that we’re camping outdoors here, right?!”

“Yeah, did you think we’d be staying at an inn?”

“Uh, well, yes. Whenever there were towns or villages nearby, we would stay at an inn. If that wasn’t the case, we slept in the carriage…”

Of course. She really was a nobleman’s daughter.

“Don’t worry. You’ll have something to sleep on.”

“…?”

I told the two of them to step back a bit and pulled a bear house out of bear storage. The bear house was in the shape of two seated bears: a mama and a cub. The mama bear was the actual house, and the cub was the attached storehouse where Fina could do her harvesting. The front door was set into the mama’s bears left paw pad.

I made it smaller so it wouldn’t be as noticeable, but it was still plenty eye-catching despite only being about half the size of the bear house back in town. I also redesigned the interiors a bit since the time Fina and I went tigerwolf slaying.

“Yuna?! Wh-wh...” Noa called out in astonishment.

“It’s a bear house. This one’s for travel, so it’s a little small.”

“I wasn’t asking what it is—I wanted to know where it came from. Well, I suppose I know where it came from, but can that really fit in a bottomless bag?”

“I’m not sure what the upper limits of my bottomless bag are.” The other, bigger house fit fine. So had the black viper.

“You’re not surprised, Fina?” Noa asked. She did look pretty nonplussed.

“No. I’ve seen her pull out a bear house before.”

“Also, this whole thing is a secret, so don’t tell anyone,” I warned Noa. “Anyway, why don’t we head inside? You’ve got to be worn out after we traveled all day.”

I unsummoned Kumayuru and Kumakyu, then led the girls inside.

“Oh Noa, sorry, but please take off your shoes here.”

I had indoor shoes that were kind of like slippers ready for Noa and Fina in the entryway. Beyond the entryway was the combo living-dining room, which was brightly lit with mana stones and spacious enough to fit ten people.

“What is this house?!” Noa exclaimed in surprise.

“Pick a chair and sit down. I’ll get dinner ready.”

I headed for the kitchen, oiled up a frypan, and got some ground meat and eggs ready to make Salisbury steaks. I made a salad while the steaks were cooking. Kids gotta have their greens. Once the hamburger steaks were done, I served up still-warm soup from the inn into bowls and set some fresh bread on a plate. Then I poured fruit juice into cups. Bon appétit.

“Yuna, what’s that?”

“It’s dinner. If you want a meal like the ones you eat at your manor, I can’t really do that.”

“No, I wasn’t thinking that at all. Actually, it smells even better than the meals I have at home.”

“Does it? Great. Make sure to eat it while it’s warm.”

Noa and Fina started eating.

“What is this yummy thing?”

“It’s just hamburger steak.”

“Ham-bur-ger?”

“Yeah, you don’t eat it in this country?”

“It’s not really that we don’t eat it so much as this is my first time eating something like this.”

“Really? All I did to make it was mince up wolf meat, beef, and pork and stuff.”

“Yuna, do you think we could make this at my house too?” Fina asked.

“I think you could, but maybe making the sauce would be difficult. It’s really good with grated daikon, too.”

“Please teach me how to make it next time. I want to let everyone in my family taste it!”

“Sure.”

“Me too,” said Noa.

“Noa, you wouldn’t need to know, would you? You’ve got a maid making your meals.”

“That’s true, but I don’t like feeling left out.”

“Well, it can wait till we’re back in town.”

“This soup tastes great, too.”

“The inn made that for me.”

“And the bread?”

“I found a good bakery, so I stocked up on it.”

After chatting a bit, we finished our meal. By now, Fina and Noa had gotten comfortable enough around each other to be conversing normally.

“Now we take a short break, then take baths. We head out at sunrise, so we need to get to bed early.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Are we really heading out that early?”

They had perfectly opposite reactions; Fina always rose early for work and house chores, while Noa was a noble who greeted the morning leisurely.

“It’s because I don’t want other people to spot the house. I want to break camp before anyone wakes up and starts looking around.”

“I understand. Also, I thought you mentioned something about a bath? Did I mishear?” Noa asked, rubbing her ears.

“You didn’t mishear. There is a bath, so get yourself warmed up before you head to bed. Fina, could you show her how the bath works?”

“I feel like everything I thought was common sense is crumbling away,” said Noa as Fina led her along to the bath.

While they were occupied, I cleaned up after the meal. Well, all I did was wash the dishes and cups. When the two of them came out, I gave them the dryer and told them to dry their hair while I got in the bath. When I got done and came back out, they were waiting.

“You’re not in bed yet?”

“In bed where?”

Right, I thought, I haven’t given them rooms yet.

The first floor had the living-dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and bath. The second story had three small rooms. One of those rooms was mine, and the other two were for guests. There were three beds in each of the rooms, for a total of six.

I showed the two of them the rooms. “What do you want to do? Wanna sleep in separate rooms?”

“I’m fine with either. You can choose, Lady Noir.”

“I want to talk before going to bed, so let’s stay in the same room.”

“Okay!”

“You can talk, but just make sure you turn in early,” I said, then went to my own room to sleep. It’d be embarrassing if I woke up late after warning them about that, after all.