Chapter 74: The Bear Goes Home to Crimonia

Chapter 74:
The Bear Goes Home to Crimonia

 

I ATE BREAD MORIN MADE this morning too. It really was delicious.

“Your stone oven is pretty great, Yuna.”

I was happy she said that. As I took my time eating breakfast, Ranzel came to the bear house.

“Why are you here so early this morning?”

“I had a report on Jowlz, whom we caught the other day.”

“Right, that lard.”

According to Ranzel, Jowlz tried to wheedle and threaten people by using the names of other countries’ kings. He was also involved in violence, scams, and a whole bunch of other things. Morin’s bakery had also been part of that report. Morin listened in. This is how the talk basically went:

The debt would be wiped clean. The bakery would officially become Morin’s.

“Is that really true?”

“Yes, Jowlz’s property has been confiscated, and he will be receiving the death penalty based on the results of the investigation.”

“The death penalty…”

“To use the king’s name for crime is to tarnish it. In addition, His Majesty himself saw it happen. We cannot turn a blind eye.”

Well, I suppose not. His threat was that he was close with the king. It wouldn’t have been odd for the people to have thought that the king was involved with criminals from that. Ranzel brought the deed to the shop for Morin. She cried happy tears as she accepted it. Ranzel bowed his head and left. A hush came over those of us who were left there.

“Isn’t that great? The shop your husband created is safe.”

“Yuna…”

“I really wanted you to come to Crimonia, though.”

Morin was beside herself and had no idea what to do.

“Don’t worry about it. Your husband probably would have wanted you to protect the shop.”

“I’m so sorry. You’ve done so much for us.”

“This is when you’re supposed to be happy.”

“Yuna, thank you.”

After that, Morin and Karin went back to their shop. It was too bad, but what was I supposed to do? Things had gone in a good direction, so I had to see Morin and Karin off toward that horizon. All I had to do was just go buy bread.

 

While I was making dinner with Fina, Morin and Karin came by.

“What’s up?”

“Could I talk to you for a bit?” said Morin.

I wondered what she wanted to talk about. I brought the two to a room.

Morin and Karin were just sitting in their seats looking at me. Morin took a deep breath, pulled a paper out of her pocket, and offered it to me.

“Yuna, we’d like you to have this.”

It was the shop’s deed.

“…?”

I had no idea why they’d give me that.

“Please let us work at your shop.”

“Why? You don’t need to come to Crimonia. You can keep your shop open in the capital.”

“I talked it out with my daughter today while we were cleaning up the shop. You saved us, Yuna, and you trusted us and showed us how to make the pudding the king himself came to ask you for. We can’t go back on our agreement just because we got our shop back.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

Morin shook her head.

“Please take it.”

Morin once again forced the deed over to my side of the table.

“I’m happy, but I can’t take this.”

“Yuna?”

“If you end up not liking my shop, you can always go back. But, if you like my shop, you can stay as long as you like.”

I gave the deed back to Morin.

“Please cherish the shop that’s a memory of your husband.”

“Thank you.”

The two of them bowed their heads. They decided to head out to Crimonia the day after the birthday celebration. After the birthday celebration, the people who gathered would head back to their respective homes. Since the people going back to Crimonia would be going as a crowd, they wouldn’t end up attacked by monsters or bandits as they traveled. The two decided to head to Crimonia as part of one of those groups.

Apparently the two of them would be cleaning the shop and going to see people who helped them in the capital until they headed out. For their sakes, I really needed to make sure this was a good shop.

On the day of the festival itself, I was waiting for Ellelaura so I could take the pudding to the castle. There were tons of people going in and out on that day, and even with a permit, I couldn’t go into the castle by myself, so Ellelaura would be going with me.

“Fina, do you really not want to come?”

“Yes, I’ll watch the house.”

It seemed like meeting Lady Flora while we were looking around the castle the other day had sort of become a trauma for her, though nothing bad actually happened to her. As a commoner, even meeting royalty was enough to make her tense up. I didn’t want to force it, so I ended up deciding to go alone. I told her I’d come home as soon as I could, though.

Eventually Ellelaura came by.

“Morning.”

“Good morning.”

“Ha ha, I’d like to see everyone’s faces when they eat the pudding as soon as possible.”

Ellelaura looked fiendish. She was the same as the king.

“Please make sure you really don’t spread that I made them.”

“I won’t. You know, His Majesty comes up with some fun ideas.”

“The people who end up being roped into those ideas sure end up with a lot of trouble, though.”

“Ha ha, you’re right. But it is fun to watch.”

When we got to the castle, carriages that looked about right for bluebloods entered the castle one after another. There were a lot that were beautifully ornamented. I wasn’t Fina, but seeing these sure made me want to run off. It was like going to a friend’s wedding and finding tons of people in high-class cars while I was the only one who came by bus.

Well, all I was doing was leaving the pudding, and I wasn’t going to be part of the party, so it was fine. When I got into the castle, I was taken to a deserted room where someone’d set up a refrigerator.

“Please put the puddings in there.”

I pulled them out of bear storage and started loading all three hundred into the fridge.

“Those look delicious.”

“You can’t eat them.”

“Of course, even I wouldn’t dare do that. But I won’t be able to have them anymore once you go back to Crimonia.”

“I’ll treat you if you come by.”

“I’ll head home there once my daughter has a break from the academy, so I’ll take you up on it then.”

Well, by then I’d probably have the shop done; it might be nice to have her come by.

“In that case, I’m heading home.”

“Are you really not going to come to the party? I can get a beautiful dress prepped for you.”

“I’ve left Fina waiting all alone, so I’m going to head back.”

Leaving Fina on her own would just be sad.

“Fina should have come by, too.”

“Having her and I go to the king’s birthday party is too tall of an order.”

“Is it? I don’t think there would be issues for the hero who slayed the horde and her friend to come.”

“I don’t intend to become a hero, so I’ll have to respectfully decline.”

 

When I returned to the bear house, I found Fina looking lonely as she waited for me. Coming back was the right thing to do. Fina perked up when I got home.

“Yuna, welcome home.”

“Thanks. So, want to go see the parade or something?”

“But there won’t be a spot open if we go now.”

“I have some special seats, so it’ll be fine.”

I took Fina outside. When we headed to the main road, just as Fina said, a crowd formed, and we couldn’t see the parade through that.

“Yuna, I don’t think this will work.”

“How about over there? I’m going to leap, so hold on tight.”

I held Fina and jumped, first to the roof of a small house, and from there to a tall rooftop. Finally, I jumped onto the tallest structure around.

“We have a great view from here, right?”

Since people were going to see the parade, everything down below was overflowing. Everyone gathered to catch a glimpse of the king. Maybe it was like seeing a performer? Kind of like a parade after a pro baseball victory?

“Look, Fina. The people look like garbage from here.”

“Yuna…”

Fina was looking at me coldly. I did a magnificent job of ignoring that and brought out bread I bought ahead of time. While I ate and drank watching the capital from the top of the roof, the parade started. The cavalry led it. They were looking good as they held up their spears and swords. After the knights came the band. They accompanied the already lovely king’s parade with beautiful music. I saw a large carriage behind the band that the king and a woman were riding on top of.

Was that the queen? She was beautiful. When a beautiful man and a beautiful woman had a kid, I guess you ended up with a cute girl like Lady Flora. Genes were nothing to trifle with. The king, who was waving at the people, noticed me on the roof. He said something to the queen and as she turned to look at me, she waved her hand.

What had he said to her? I couldn’t ignore them, so I waved back at them feebly. The king’s carriage passed by. The parade circulated through the capital and seemed to end with them entering the castle. The festivities continued late into the night on that day in the capital, and everyone celebrated the king’s fortieth birthday. The next day, Morin and Karin headed to Crimonia. I also headed out to see the people who helped me before heading back to town. The adventurers’ guild came first.

“Thank you again for slaying the monsters. You’re welcome here anytime, so just let me know when you’re working in the capital,” said Sanya.

Next, I headed to Ellelaura’s house.

“Yuna, thanks for everything you did for us. Thank you on behalf of my daughters, too,” Cliff told me.

“Yuna, you’re heading home before us,” Noa said.

“Yuna, please have another match with me next time we see each other,” Shia said.

“Yuna, if Cliff does anything odd, just let me know,” said Ellelaura.

“I’ll make sure that the flowerbed is blooming by the time you come back, so please come to see it soon,” Surilina said.

Once Cliff’s work was done, Noa would be going back to Crimonia with him. I was invited to stay until then, but since they didn’t need me to escort them this time, I politely declined.

 

Next I went to Gran’s house.

“Next time you come to my town, do come by my house. I will welcome you with open arms,” he said.

“I want to say goodbye to the bears,” said Misa.

I called the bears out, just like Misa asked, and she said goodbye.

 

At the very end, I headed to the castle.

“I wish I could have shown you the faces of the aristocrats when they had that pudding. All of them came and asked me to introduce them to the person who made it,” the king said. He laughed at the memory.

“Please make sure you don’t tell anyone about me.”

“So, what would you like to do about payment?”

Oh, I forgot. I wasn’t hurting for cash.

“Hmm, keeping quiet is enough payment for that.”

“What? You don’t trust me?”

“I don’t really have any money issues, so if Lady Flora seems like she’s about to say something, please figure out some way to fix that.”

“Understood. So aren’t you going to see Flora?”

“I’ll bring pudding again. She seems like she would cry if I see her.”

I just couldn’t do kids crying.

“I see. I’d like to eat pudding again too, so please come back sooner rather than later.”

After finishing my goodbyes to the people who had been so kind to me, I decided to head back to Crimonia. Then again, I could come back whenever I wanted.