Chapter 72: The Bear Snags Bakers Part One

Chapter 72:
The Bear Snags Bakers
Part One

 

THE NEXT DAY, once I got my eggs, I headed back to the capital. I’d have some peace of mind for a while with them on hand. While I was lazing around in the bear house, I heard someone calling to me from outside. When I went out, Noa was pouting and standing imposingly. She looked like she was mad, but she just looked so cute with her cheeks puffed out like that.

“Yuna, where did you go when you left me behind today?”

I couldn’t tell her about the bear transport gate, so I decided to redirect the conversation.

“Can I ask you a question too?”

“What would that be?”

“I don’t really know what’s up with you, but are you bored? Don’t you need to go around greeting the other aristocrats or getting ready to attend the birthday celebration?”

I’d think that aristocrats would need to get the clothes they’d wear while participating in the birthday celebration ready or something.

“I don’t have anything like that to do. My mother lives here, so there’s no reason to go around greeting people. Even if I did have to do that, I’d just greet them at the party proper. Even then, my mother and father would be attending with me, and besides, my older sister is the one who’s the star. I’m just an extra. More importantly, let’s talk about yesterday. I came over with Misa. She said she wanted to meet with the bears.”

Then I did something terrible. I couldn’t explain yesterday, so I just apologized obediently and invited Misa over to play with Kumayuru and Kumakyu. I spent the day watching the three of them, Fina included, play with the bears at home.

 

More and more days passed since I’d gotten to the capital, and the birthday celebration was approaching. Of course, the closer it came, the busier Cliff and the other nobles got. Noa and Misa, who were bored, couldn’t go outside anymore. Lately I was going out just with Fina a lot more.

“I thought there were a ton of people when we came to the capital, but there are even more today.”

“This is my first time ever seeing this many people.”

“But the more people, the more I’m getting showered in stares.”

“That’s because your clothes stand out no matter where you go, Yuna.”

Ever since I came to the capital, I started getting good at ignoring things. Though saying that it didn’t bother me would have been a lie, you can adapt to anything. As long as they didn’t try picking a fight with me, I decided to ignore them.

“There’s no point in worrying about that. Let’s just enjoy the birthday celebration.”

“Okay.”

We bought and ate stuff, browsed the stands, and wandered around looking at the capital. The capital was so vast that no matter how much time we had, there wasn’t enough to leisurely go around to see it all. At the same time, I was able to get my hands on all kinds of rare things.

Though a lot of things had been a pain, there were a ton of benefits to escorting Noa.

“Oh, that’s a nice smell.”

The scent of freshly baked bread wafted to us from somewhere.

“Yes, that smells very good.”

“Looks like it’s coming from that bakery. That’s perfect timing, so how about we get something to eat from there?”

I saw the signboard ahead in my vision. Though the store was sort of small, there was a crowd inside. Like me, it looked like everyone was lured in by the aroma. Fina and I got in line to buy bread. Even if anyone were surprised by my appearance, no one said anything to us. Then, after waiting about ten minutes, our turn came.

“Looks like some tasty bread.”

A girl about my age was helping customers. Though she was surprised when she saw how I looked, she smiled at me right away.

“Th-thank you so much.”

“Could I have two of whatever you think is best?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The girl handed each of us freshly baked bread. They smelled great.

“If it’s good, I’ll come again.”

“We will look forward to seeing you!”

Fina and I walked as we ate the bread. Fina copied me, but maybe I was setting a bad example by walking and eating? I apologized to Tiermina in my mind and kept doing it.

“This might be the best bread I’ve had, of everything I’ve eaten.”

“Yes, it tastes really good.”

The bread was fluffy. I remembered the breads I had in Japan. I’m sure this bread would have been delicious if I used it for sandwiches, or since I had cheese, I could make pizza toast. There were lots of options. I needed to make sure I didn’t forget to buy more before heading back to Crimonia. Then I considered how many customers they had. It wasn’t like I could buy them up. Well, I had the bear transport gate, so I could go buy from them anytime, but I preferred to just buy a ton of it up all at once.

After that, Fina and I kept sightseeing around the capital while eating and walking. Since we were passing by that bakery again on the way back home, I decided to buy bread for the next morning. Fina approved. I mean, the bread was really good. I hoped that the bakery was still open. When we got closer, I didn’t see any customers around. Maybe they’d closed up?

In order to check, I went around to the front of the shop when I heard a girl yelling, “Stop!”

Someone’d left the door open. I could see a women in her thirties yelling. The girl from behind the counter was behind her. They were yelling at three men knocking things around inside. The mother put herself between her daughter and the men, and was doing everything she could to stand up to them. The crowd outside was steadily distancing itself.

“Hurry up and get out,” said one of the men. “This store isn’t yours.”

The three men were on a rampage. Bread flew into the air.

Snap.

“But according to the agreement, we have until the birthday celebration.”

“There’s somebody who wants to sell in this spot!”

The men stomped on the fallen bread.

Snap.

“But the agreement…”

“You keep going on and on about agreements. Shut up! You wanna work here, then you better cough up the rest of your husband’s debt. You could pay it with your little girl’s body if you’re hard up.”

The man grabbed the girl’s arm.

Snap. Snap.

“Let go of my daughter!”

The mother grabbed at the man to save her daughter, but the man punched her.

I burst into the store.

“Who the heck are you?!”

I punched the first man.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

I kicked the second.

“Why you little—you think you can…”

I threw the third.

“Which one of you wants to die first?”

I stomped on their collapsed bodies.

“What are you?”

“Well, I’m a bear.” I didn’t have a name to offer to men like them.

“You think you can get away with doing this to us?” The man I’d thrown stood up and pulled out a knife.

“You pulled a blade on me, so you don’t get to complain if you end up dead.”

“Don’t screw with me!”

I gave him a bear punch straight in the solar plexus.

“Who’s next?” I looked at the remaining two.

“We remember what you look like now. Don’t think you’ll get out of the capital in one piece!” the surviving toughs said as they dragged their collapsed partner away.

“You okay?” I approached the mother and daughter.

“Yes, thank you.”

“But this is a terrible mess.”

All of their freshly made bread was on the ground. Since it all smelled so amazing, that just made it even worse. Just looking at it made me feel a surge of anger. I should’ve really let them have it.

“They said something about a debt earlier?”

“We took out a loan when we bought this storefront, but just when my husband passed some days ago, they told us to pay back the debt or leave.”

“But can’t you pay back the debt really easily, considering you make such great bread?”

When I came to buy it in the afternoon, there was a line. Plus, it tasted great. They should have been able to pay the debt back considering that. But the mother shook her head.

“Apparently my late husband was tricked, and it wasn’t a sum that we could pay back.”

There was no getting away from loan sharks, even across worlds.

“So they want our shop as collateral for the debt.”

What was one to do? Since I wanted the bread, I wanted the bakery to stay open.

“We were planning on saving up a bit of money before leaving here in order to have funds to build our next bakery.”

“The agreement was that we had until the birthday celebration.”

The daughter sorrowfully gathered the bread on the ground. The mother gently hugged her daughter over her shoulder. They were probably despondent. I wondered if there was anything I could do for them. A store, huh…

“Are you going to keep selling bread?”

“My husband entrusted me with the bread, so I plan on doing this until I die.”

I couldn’t stand by in silence.

“Okay, I got it. In that case, would you like to work at my store?”

“At your store, miss?”

“I have some small plans to make a store, but I’ve got a problem, since I don’t have people to work there.”

Tiermina and Liz were busy enough without extra duties at the new store in Crimonia, and it would sure be empty if we just sold pudding. It’d be great to sell the bread together with it. On top of that, the bread tasted divine. And they had management experience. They were exactly the kind of talent my store needed. Plus, if they could make bread, then we could sell pizza. Two birds, one stone.

“Who are you, miss?”

“I’m one of Crimonia’s adventurers. I’ve got this idea for a shop, because…never mind why.”

“You’re an adventurer…”

The mother and child looked at me with wonder. While I waited for their reply, Fina pulled on my clothes.

“Yuna, there are people gathering.”

People really started to form a crowd. There was a chance the men from earlier would be back.

“Let’s talk details at my house, so how about we get a move on? If we stay here, your daughter might be in danger.”

“But we would be causing you trouble, miss.”

“Don’t worry about it. Your daughter would be in trouble if I left her like this.”

After the mother checked the state of the shop, she finally looked at her teary-eyed daughter.

“If you would be so kind,” she said.

The mother’s name was Morin, and her daughter was Karin. While I walked, I told them about the shop in Crimonia. I explained that we were going to sell a confection called pudding and a food called pizza and that the shop would employ orphans, and that I wanted them to be the managers.

“Fina and Yuna, just who are you?” Karin asked.

“Yuna is a very kind adventurer and good person,” said Fina. “She’s saved me a lot too.”

“And what about those clothes?”

“Those are…well, it’s because she’s Yuna.”

I didn’t really get what she meant, but it was persuasive. I couldn’t say otherwise.

 

We didn’t see the men again on the way to the bear house.

“A bear?”

The two of them were slack-jawed at the sight of it.

“Yuna, what is that bear?”

“That’s my house. We’re going in.”

I took the two of them into the house.

“Anyway, just rest here wherever.”

“Um, Yuna, were you really serious about what you said earlier?” the mother asked, looking around the room.

“I was. I’d need you to leave the capital and come to Crimonia.”

They would need to say goodbye to the people they knew in the capital. I brought out pudding and pizza for the two.

“What is this?”

“These are pizza and pudding—the things I said I wanted to sell in the shop when I spoke to you earlier. I was hoping you could be in charge of these as well as the bread.”

The two of them were shocked when they saw the pizza and pudding for the first time. When I suggested they have the pizza first, they picked it up.

“What is this?”

“Yuna, it’s so good,” Karin said.

“Are you going to teach us how to make this?”

“Yeah, since I’m going to have you bake it.”

After they finished eating the pizza, they ate the pudding.

“This is also delicious.”

“It really is.”

Once they finished eating, I asked them again.

“Would you work at my shop?”

Morin and Karin looked at each other.

“Will you really give us work?”

“Are you sure you want us to do it?”

“Yeah, since I want to eat your amazing bread.”

For a few seconds, Morin closed her eyes and went into thought. Then, she slowly opened them.

“I don’t know how much help we will be, but my daughter and I look forward to working with you.”

Morin bowed her head. When she saw that, Karin also bowed hers. I’d snagged me some bakers.