Chapter 58: The Bear Builds a House in the Royal Capital

Chapter 58:
The Bear Builds a House
in the Royal Capital

 

GRAN ENDED UP DECIDING to take us in his carriage to the plot of land I purchased, and Ellelaura came along to see it. Since I didn’t know the royal capital all that well, this was helpful.

“I’m glad you’re here, but are you sure you two shouldn’t be at work?”

“Oh, I already finished that, so don’t you worry about it.”

“Yes, my work is fine too. I met with Lord Gran right as I finished up, and we were just talking.”

We found several guards posted next to his carriage.

“Hmm, is something the matter now?”

“Lord Gran, it’s you. So you were with Ms. Yuna—and also Lady Ellelaura?!” One of the guards seemed surprised by Ellelaura’s presence.

“Oh, Ranzel?” said Ellelaura. “What are you doing here?”

“I was going to report on the bandit incident from yesterday to Lord Gran, so I was on my way to pay a visit to his estate. I caught sight of Lord Gran’s carriage and decided to wait here.”

Oh! Now I remembered. The guy with the red hair was the head of the guards Gran was talking to when we handed over the bandits. He’d definitely been the highest-ranking person back then.

“The bandit incident, ah. Those were the bandits Yuna captured, correct?”

“So what’s this about a report?”

“I would like both you and Ms. Yuna to come to the guard station with me, Lord Gran, if you would be so kind.”

“I would not mind, but…” Gran looked at me. It wasn’t like Fina would get ulcers if we delayed moving house by a day.

“I’m fine with that too. How about you, Fina?”

“Yes.”

“Ellelaura, I apologize, but it seems that we are going to the guard station,” Gran said.

“It’s fine. I’ll go with you. Yuna is Cliff’s guest, so I’ll be her chaperone while she’s here in the royal capital.”

I wasn’t sure when she appointed herself my chaperone, but having an influential person come with me could be useful. When we got to the guard station, we were led into a room.

“So, what did you need us for?”

“First, we have determined the secret base of the Zamon bandits, as well as their total number. It seems they are in a cave in the mountains to the west of here. There are about thirty more of them left. It seems they also still have several women held captive there as well.”

“Well then, we must rescue them at once.”

“Yes, but there is a slight problem.”

“Problem?”

“Yes. A great many people are currently gathering in the royal capital for the king’s birthday celebration, and as a result, the soldiers, knights, and guards of the capital are all tasked with security. We have no one to spare.”

“Then why not send a request to the adventurers’ guild?”

“I agree, Lord Gran, but we would need Yuna’s permission.”

Everyone looked over at me.

“Mine?”

“Ah, because she has a private claim to the bandits’ treasure?” Gran said, as though he just remembered something.

Explain it so I know what’s going on too, please, I thought.

“Yes, that’s right. Yuna has already captured twenty-five members of the bandit clan, but we have not gained control of their hideout. There’s nothing to harvest from bandits the way we can with monsters, so instead, adventurers who aid in their capture or defeat have the rights to take any weapons, armor, or tools the bandits have. That includes the treasures the bandits have gathered.”

“In other words, if we put out a request to adventurers, the ones who accept the quest would get the bandits’ treasures?”

“We were only able to obtain this information because Ms. Yuna captured the bandits on her own. However, we can’t arbitrarily submit a request to the adventurers’ guild. If we did, we would first need to obtain Ms. Yuna’s approval and decide what recompense we would give her.”

“Seems like a pain.”

“Well, there’s no helping that. However, young lady, if you were to eliminate the bandits, this wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Seems like a pain,” I repeated.

“Yuna…” Fina seemed aghast as she looked at me. Don’t look at me like that.

If it was a pain, then it was a pain. We’d come all the way here to see the royal capital, so why was I getting roped into eliminating bandits?

“In that case, shall I gather some soldiers?” Ellelaura, who was silently listening to the conversation, came to my rescue.

“Lady Ellelaura?”

“Are you sure?”

“It’s fine. It’ll give the soldiers some real experience, and I’m sure some of them are sick of just working security.”

“But aren’t they defending the capital?”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I just have to shuffle around some paperwork for that.”

She said it like it was easy, but could she really do that?

“I understand. Well then, Ellelaura, we will entrust matters with you.”

“Are you okay with this, Yuna?”

“I don’t really get everything that’s going on, but sure.”

“I’m worried about the people they’ve captured, so I’ll arrange for the soldiers immediately.” Ellelaura looked over at me. “I have to go back to work. Make sure you come back home, okay?”

“I will.”

 

“Also, please take these, Ms. Yuna.” Filthy swords, armor, and tons of other things were lined up before me. “These were the things that the bandits you captured were holding. Just as I said earlier, these now belong to you.”

Again, they were all filthy. I didn’t really want all that trash.

“Would it be possible for you to dispose of these?” I tried asking.

“Understood.”

As I checked over the bandits’ belongings one more time, something that caught my eye: the item bags the bandits used. From what I heard, the amount that could fit inside item bags varied from bag to bag…

“Would I be able to take even the item bags?”

“Yes, you may take anything they were carrying. We checked the contents, but all of them were empty. It seems they planned to put what they stole into those.”

“Which one’s the biggest?”

“That would be this one. Since the head of the Zamon bandits was carrying this one, it’s on the large side.”

So one of them was the leader, then. Maybe that had been the loudest guy?

I took the item bag. It was about the size of a handbag. It looked about the same as all the other ones. The smallest one was about large enough to fit inside a pant pocket.

“Could I take all the item bags the bandits had?”

They handed all of the bags to me, and I gratefully put them away into bear storage. Other than that, my business was done, so I thanked Gran for accompanying me.

“Oh, it was no trouble. If you hadn’t captured them, we likely would have died, after all.”

I was done with everything I needed to do, but apparently there were a couple of other things they needed to talk to Gran about. I wouldn’t have minded waiting, but we ended up going home ahead of him.

 

We left behind the guard station and headed to the plot of land I bought at the trade guild. I at least had gotten a map, so I knew where it was, but the capital was so huge, they even had carriages running through it like buses. I had no idea which one was supposed to get me where I was headed. I wasn’t in a rush so I decided we’d make our way slowly to the plot I bought by walking through the capital.

“Are you okay, Fina? You’re not tired?”

“Yes, I’m okay, but there are so many people.”

“You’re right. There are a lot—I guess that’s just what we should expect from a royal capital, though it might also be because of the birthday celebration.”

“Yuna, is it okay if we hold hands so we don’t get separated?”

“You want to hold hands…” I looked at my bear puppet. “Is this okay?”

I held Fina’s hand in the puppet’s mouth.

“Yes, thank you very much.” Fina seemed happy.

 

We got to the plot of land I bought.

“This is the right place, right?” I checked the map and my surroundings.

“Yes, I think this is right.”

“Isn’t it kind of huge?”

“It is large.”

The place indicated on the map was sprawling. It was about four times larger than the plot where I’d built the bear house in Crimonia. In other words, I could put four bear houses end to end here, not that I had that many to spare. When I looked at the neighboring houses, they were spaced out pretty far away. To make sure I was right, I checked the names against the map.

“Yuna, did you really buy such a large plot of land?”

“Seems like it.”

I never would have thought it’d be this big. For the time being, I pulled out the bear house that I made for the royal capital. It was big, unlike the traveling bear house, but it felt small in comparison to how vast the land was when I set it up. It just looked wrong. Well, it already looked out of place, since it was shaped like a bear.

“It’s pretty dinky.”

“Yes.”

Maybe I should make a larger bear house next time? At any rate, we went inside.

“This is the same as your house in Crimonia, isn’t it?”

“Basically. I wouldn’t feel at home if it were different.”

I wasn’t tired thanks to the bear shoes, but Fina had to be exhausted from walking around, so we took a break and I pulled out some cold fruit juice.

“What will we do after this?”

“You’re not tired, Fina?”

“I am, a little.”

“Then I guess let’s go back to Noa’s house after we rest a little.”

“Yes, but I hope Lady Noir isn’t upset.”

“Yeah, we did leave without saying anything to her, but it was her own fault for not getting up.”

After we rested in the bear house for a while, we went back to Ellelaura’s house.

 

“Yuna! Why did you leave me behind?”

When we got back to the residence, an angry Noa was there to greet us.

“We didn’t do it just because. We waited for a while after breakfast, but you didn’t get up.”

“Hmph…”

“So, anyway, when did you get up?”

“A little before noon…” she answered, hanging her head in shame.

“And you’re blaming me?”

“You could have woken me up?” she said, pouting this time.

“If we were still traveling, I would have, but since you slept that much, your body must’ve needed the rest.”

“Ugh, fine. So where did you two go, then?”

“We went to the trade guild to buy a plot of land.”

“You bought land? Yuna, are you coming to live in the royal capital?!” her voice went up in surprise.

“I’m not living here. I’m planning on coming here now and then, so I bought it to make a house for that.”

“I don’t think people normally build houses when they’re just traveling now and then.”

Well, I needed it to set up a bear transport gate.

“Does that mean you’re not staying with us anymore, Yuna?”

“I just don’t really feel settled in an aristocrat’s room.”

I couldn’t say it was actually Fina who wasn’t comfortable.

“But I’ll be so lonely.”

“We’ll come to see you, and you can come over anytime you want to my place. It’s close by, so we can see each other any time.”

“Does that mean you’ve already built the house?” Normally that would be a weird question, but Noa knew who she was dealing with.

“I built a house about the same size as the one in Crimonia.”

“I guess that means Fina isn’t staying here, either…”

“Yes, since I came here with Yuna.”

“But I’ll be all alone if both of you and Kumayuru and Kumakyu are all gone.”

I could see the disappointment on Noa’s face, but it wasn’t like this was goodbye forever. Plus, we all lived in Crimonia, so we could see each other any time.

“We’re not leaving quite yet, so don’t look so disappointed. We need to see Ellelaura still.”

We ended up staying in their care for just one more day.

 

Ellelaura came home around dinner time.

“Mother, welcome back,” said Noa.

“I’m home.”

“What were you doing with everyone?”

“I heard what happened when they left me behind and went out. I can’t believe what happened at the trade guild—and that you got called out about the bandits. I wish I could’ve gone too.”

“All I did was listen in.”

“I hate being left out.”

When I told her about today, it made her contrary.

“Ellelaura, thank you so much for today.”

She’d done so much for me already.

“Don’t worry about it. All I did was write a letter of introduction. And the Zamon bandits were causing us trouble, too.”

I was still thankful.

“So, how was the location?”

“It’s quiet and there isn’t much foot traffic, so it’s great.”

I still hadn’t been expecting it to be that big, though.

“Well then, that’s good.”

“What happened with the bandits?”

“I dispatched troops right after that, so I think they’ll defeat them in a few days.”

Great, I thought. Looks like they made sure to send out their crackdown squad.

We ate dinner on the Fochrosés’ dime, and that night Noa ended up sleeping in the same room with us.