Chapter 63: The Bear Goes to the Castle

Chapter 63:
The Bear Goes to the Castle

 

I STARTED BY making a stone oven in my pointlessly large yard. I recalled how they made one based on what I’d seen on TV as I built it. Magic sure is useful in times like this. Things were easy to fix, even if I made a mistake. After some trial and error, I completed my inaugural stone oven.

While I was making the stone oven, I had the other two knead wheat dough for me. With the dough done, I could prepare the toppings: potatoes, poultry, bell peppers, tomatoes, and the cheese I bought earlier. I laid out the toppings and placed it into the stone oven. Then I just had to wait for it to bake through. The cheese melted, and a mouthwatering smell drifted around.

“That seems about long enough.”

I pulled it out right as it finished baking. The cheese was droopy and melty—it looked delicious.

“Is that ‘pizza’?”

“It smells very good.”

I sliced the pizza, placed some on plates, and handed them over to the two.

“It’s hot, so please don’t burn yourselves,” I warned them, then prepared my own portion. It looked delicious. There wasn’t any reason to hold back, so I dug right in. The cheese stretched. It was hot, but incredibly delicious. This was the taste of home that I missed. I missed being able to order it by phone and get it delivered within thirty minutes.

When Fina and Noa saw me enjoying it, they started eating too.

“It’s hot! But it’s tasty.”

“It really is very good.”

“Isn’t it? It makes you wonder why not everyone eats it when it’s this delicious.”

“Is this stretchy part cheese? So this is what happens when it melts.”

“The spuds are so soft and delicious too.”

“That’s because cheese and spuds go well together.”

I wanted to try making other kinds of pizza, but I didn’t have the ingredients. I wanted seafood pizza—one with squid and mini shrimp and clams on top. Sausage and bacon would be great too. For now, I decided I’d be patient with this one type of pizza. It wasn’t like I could eat it all if I made all of that. I had my doubts we’d be able to finish this huge single pie between two little kids and me.

“It’s not as good if you let it go cold, so eat it fast.”

As the three of us were eating pizza, I heard someone running over from far away. Shia appeared; she was wearing her uniform. Were the Fochrosés just the kind of family that ran everywhere?

“Shia, why are you here?”

“Academy let out early, and it looked like you hadn’t come home. I thought you’d be here and came over. Well then, what are you all eating?” she asked. She probably hadn’t seen it before.

“It’s called pizza.”

“‘Pizza,’ you say?”

“It’s like a food where you make really thin dough, put all kinds of ingredients on top, then put cheese on top, and bake it.” My explanation might have been a little inaccurate, but it was enough for a newbie.

“Would you like some, big sister Shia? It’s so very delicious,” said Noa.

I handed the remaining pizza over to Shia.

“Do you eat this with your hands?”

“In general, you hold it in your hands and eat it. If you don’t want to do that, I can get you a fork.”

Maybe nobles had an aversion to eating with their hands? Then again, Noa seemed to be eating with her hands just fine.

“It’s fine. I’ll eat it like this.”

“It’s hot, so be careful.”

Shia skillfully ferried the dripping cheese into her mouth and took a bite.

“It’s good…”

Shia also joined in, and the pizza dwindled. They had some healthy appetites.

“It’s such a shame we can’t eat this with Lady Misa.”

Now that she mentioned it, they hadn’t been with her today.

“There’s nothing that could be done about that. She was going out with her family today.”

So that’s why she hadn’t been around.

“If you all still want to eat more, I’ll bake it. What do you say?”

“I would like a little more.”

“Me too, please.”

“Me too.”

Looks like the three of them still had room in their stomachs. In answer to their requests, I decided to bake a pizza with the same ingredients as before. If this was how they were acting, maybe the kids at the orphanage would enjoy it too?

I sliced up the newly baked pizza and divided it among the three.

“Just be careful not to burn yourself.”

The three of them all replied with a cheerful “Yes” and began to eat. The two large pizzas disappeared cleanly into our four stomachs. Of course, we were uncomfortably stuffed by the end. I thought about making them a little smaller next time.

 

The next morning, Ellelaura came to the bear house.

“Good morning. What brings you here this early in the morning?”

“I heard from my daughters that it seems you’ve got some delicious food here.”

That had to be the pizza from yesterday, right?

“It’s not something that you eat for breakfast.”

Did Ellelaura come here this early in the morning just for something like that?

“You can’t eat it in the morning?”

“I guess there might be people who do, but it’s generally not eaten in the morning.”

It was heavy for a breakfast.

“Well that’s unfortunate. My daughters couldn’t eat dinner yesterday. Then when I questioned them about it, they said something about eating a delicious thing called pizza at your house, and they described it as though it tasted divine. It’s made me so bitter that I was the only one left out from having it.”

No matter how I considered the situation, I got the feeling I couldn’t refuse. It looked like I would be having pizza for the second day in a row.

“Ahh, all right. Then how about I make it for lunch?”

“Really? Well then, we have time until lunch, so how about I show you around the castle?”

“You mean the castle?”

“Yes, the other day Fina said that she wanted to see inside the castle. But, you can’t really get in unless you’re meant to be there. As long as I’m there, though, you can go in. So, let’s take a field trip to the castle this morning and do pizza in the afternoon.”

I guess there really wouldn’t be many opportunities like this. I knew that Fina wanted to see it too, so we took her up on the offer, and that was how Fina and I ended up at the castle.

 

The giant structure towered before us. Two soldiers carrying long spears stood in front of the castle entrance. Fina was tense as she gripped my bear hand. Ellelaura hadn’t said anything about it, but I wondered if it was okay for me to go inside looking like this. If we were stopped at the entrance, then I could just ask them to only show Fina around.

“Good morning, Lady Ellelaura. Who are these ladies?” Though he was polite while talking about us, he was giving me a look that said he didn’t trust me. Well, that was his job, so I guess he had no choice.

“These are my guests. I thought I would show them around the inside of the castle. Will there be a problem with that?” Ellelaura said to the gate guard, like she was overpowering him.

In response, the guard took a step back from Ellelaura.

“No, not at all. It’s just my job to check. Please, go ahead.”

The gate guard saluted and let us in. Was that really it?

“Is there anything you two want to see?”

Ellelaura smiled again as she looked at us. Maybe she was scary if you got her angry?

“Nothing in particular for me.”

I didn’t know what was in the castle in the first place.

“I don’t, either. I’m already happy with this.”

It looked like Fina wanted to go home after she only passed through the gate. She probably yearned to see it, but was at odds with how nervous she was from feeling out of place.

“Well then, let’s wander.”

“Are you sure we should have come without telling Noa?”

When we left the bear house, I asked about Noa. Just like last time, there was a chance that she would be sulky that I’d gone out with Fina without her.

“It’s okay. It’s her own fault for always sleeping in so late. I wonder if Cliff has actually been educating her. I need to make sure I ask next time I see him.”

 

And so the three of us ended up walking around the castle aimlessly. If I were to put it into words, the castle was large, pretty, and felt like a castle. Yeah, that really didn’t explain anything, did it?

Each time we passed someone, they bowed their head to Ellelaura. Then they look surprised once they saw me. I still had no idea what her job was here. I knew that she worked in the castle, at least. Her husband Cliff managed a fiefdom, so I thought the wife of a lord would normally help with that.

“What do you do in the castle, Ellelaura?”

“My job? Miscellaneous affairs.”

“Miscellaneous affairs?”

“I command the knights, process documents, do consultations with the king, and various things. The truth is I want to leave and go to where Cliff is, but the King, chancellor, knights, and others won’t let me go. So, I’m going to work at the castle just while Shia is attending academy. Then again, when Noa starts attending the academy, I’ll probably be stuck working at the castle again.”

I didn’t really get what her position was, but maybe Ellelaura was a super important person here? Was that why everyone bowed their heads for her? There was a chance things would become dreadful if I asked for more details, so I decided not to stick my nose into it.

“Well then, how about we see how the knight training is going next?”

We went through a courtyard in the center of the castle and came to a spacious training area full of armored soldiers practicing with swords and spears. When Ellelaura appeared in the training grounds, a knight came over.

“Lady Ellelaura, what brings you to a place like this? Are we due for an inspection?”

“I just came here to make sure you guys weren’t skipping out. You can return to your practice.”

The knight bowed his head and obediently returned to drills.

“Yuna, what do you think?”

“What do you mean?”

“Think you could beat these knights?”

I wondered how she could ask that with all of the knights in front of us.

“I couldn’t win,” I answered, at least.

All of the knights were giving Ellelaura fleeting glances.

“Looks like they’ve taken quite the interest in you, Yuna.”

Apparently it wasn’t Ellelaura they were looking at—it was me. Well, having someone as famous in the castle as Ellelaura bring some person in a onesie and a little girl along with her would attract curiosity.

As I watched the scene, I remembered my time as a gamer. There was an intensity to their training that was wholly unlike anything I saw in the game. While I was watching it eagerly, Ellelaura said something ridiculous.

“Yuna, want to practice with them?”

I did want to fight them to see how strong they were, but if I won here, they’d resent me for sure. It would’ve been one thing if this were the game, but I would still have to live in this world, so I didn’t want to do that. That was why there was only one answer to that question.

“I will have to respectfully decline.”

“Too bad.”

Maybe she brought me here because she wanted to see me fight? I don’t think anyone would normally bring girls over to a place like this. Even Fina was keeping quiet. I proposed going to a different place. Ellelaura seemed disappointed, but she showed us to another location. When I turned around to head back to the castle, I saw a small girl running toward me.

“It’s a bear!”

She latched onto my hip with a poomf. Uh, who is this? I thought. She was about four or five. She was wearing beautiful western-style clothes.

She was wearing beautiful clothes in a castle. Could this be…

“Why if it isn’t Lady Flora. What are you doing here?”

Lady Flora? Could it be? Maybe it really was?

“I was walking around the castle. Everyone said they saw a bear, so I looked for it.”

By “a bear” she probably meant me.

“Why is there a bear in the castle?”

“This bear is in the middle of a tour of the castle,” Ellelaura answered. Why was she calling me a “bear” too?

“Really?” All I could do was nod under the force of those wibbly puppy-dog eyes.

“You are? Then I’ll show you my room.”

Her small hand grasped my bear puppet. I didn’t know what to do; I gave Ellelaura a helpless look.

“Well, I suppose we’re being shown around.”

“Ellelaura?”

“You can’t turn down an invitation from the princess, of course.”

I knew it. This was the princess. But was this okay? This was the princess’s room we were talking about. I wanted to refuse, but I also couldn’t. Was I even allowed to go to a princess’s room? I only knew about these things from manga and novels, but normal adventurers weren’t supposed to enter these places, right?

“Ellelaura, don’t you think this is a problem? She’s the princess. We’re commoners.”

Next to me, Fina froze and her face became pale. Her mind probably ground to a halt more than mine after the entrance of someone who was practically above the clouds compared to her.

“I’ll be with you, so it’s fine. I’ll take all responsibility for this.”

“Bear, won’t you come to my room?”

She gave me another pitiful look. There was no way out. I guess I couldn’t do anything other than go. I couldn’t shake off the small hand grasping my bear puppet.

“I’m going, don’t cry.”

I gently patted her head with my free hand. It was already in the past, but was it really okay to pat the head of royalty? Ellelaura hadn’t said anything, so it seemed fine. Princess Flora seemed happy as she pulled my hand. Fina’s face still looked pale as she followed us. Ellelaura followed with a smile.

The king wasn’t going to appear out of nowhere, right?

 

And so we ended up in the princess’s room. I don’t know how to describe it other than as magnificent.

Though I called it magnificent, it wasn’t like it was gilded splendor, or had expensive vases, or world-class paintings or anything. There was a lovely rug. A bed with a canopy. A soft-looking mattress. Tables and chairs that looked high class. That was the kind of room it was. It was fine and dandy that we’d come to her room, but what were we supposed to do now?

“Lady Flora, what shall we do? Would you like us to read you a picture book?”

“Picture books are boring.”

The book Ellelaura brought over was a story about a princess and a prince. When I looked it over, my first thought was that the illustrations sure didn’t look cute for a picture book. This one was drawn so realistically.

“Ellelaura, is there any paper and something to write with around?”

“There is, but why?”

“I’m going to draw a picture book.”

Who hasn’t yearned at least once to take up the road to becoming a manga artist? It wasn’t like that had been my goal, but there was a stretch of my hermitage when I had abundant time to draw.

“Yuna, would this work?”

Ellelaura brought over paper and writing utensils. I took them and started drawing a picture book.