Bear-san Arrives At Mireera
When I blew away the snow that piled up in front of the cave, we were met with beautiful weather.
The weather was so beautiful, it was as if the snowstorm was just a dream.
It was to the point that it was almost too bright for an ex-hikikomori like me.
I asked the two of them to leave the cave before I put away the Bear House.
When I left the cave, the two were having problems walking on the fresh snow.
"Yuna-chan, what will you do about your house?"
Since we had grown closer during yesterday’s meal, they were now using “chan” instead of “san”.
It was more comfortable for me this way.
"I made it with magic, so I can put it away with magic as well."
"Yuna-chan, you are really a strong adventurer, aren’t you?"
"I am just a normal, rank D adventurer, you know."
It was a really dubious phrase, if I had to say so myself.
If there were any other adventurers wearing a Bear suit, going through the snowy mountain alone, and even bringing out a house, I would really want to meet them.
"Then, as I explained yesterday, I will bring out my summoned beasts, so don’t be surprised, okay?"
During the meal yesterday, I told them that I could summon Bears and showed them their cub forms.
Today though, their sizes would be different from yesterday.
"So big…"
「Damon-san, Ranya-san, please ride Swaying Bear, who I introduced to you yesterday.」
"Is this really the same bear you showed us yesterday?"
Damon-san approached Swaying Bear timidly.
"Is it really okay?"
"If you don’t do anything bad or badmouth him, it will be okay."
"Badmouth…the human language…?"
"He understands it. Swaying Bear, squat to let them on."
Hearing that, Swaying Bear lowered his body.
Seeing that, Damon-san was at a loss for words.
"This is…Swaying Bear…I am counting on you!"
Damon-san said so and climbed onto Swaying Bear.
Swaying Bear turned his head to Damon-san and nodded.
"Amazing, he really understands human speech."
"Ranya-san too, get on. We will depart soon."
Ranya-san nodded and positioned herself behind her husband. When the two of them were on, Swaying Bear rose slowly.
Carrying two adults was probably the limit for Swaying Bear.
"You shouldn’t be able to fall, but hold on tight."
I hopped on Hugging Bear and we embarked towards the city.
We started off slowly at first, at walking speed, but as they got used to it, we gradually raised the speed.
We were on the snowy mountain so we couldn’t move as fast as we could on the flatlands, but it was still faster than a human’s walking speed.
"The weather on the mountain can change quickly, so we will go a little faster, okay?"
We raised the speed some more and ascended the mountain range.
The Snow Darumas that appeared during this period were easily killed with fire magic.
I thought that the two of them would be okay with Swaying Bear there, but it would be troublesome if they got attacked.
"This is simply…"
"Amazing!"
It seemed that before meeting me, the two of them always hid or changed routes when encountering monsters.
Well, a Snow Daruma couldn’t be killed by normal attacks, so defeating it was impossible for normal people.
After moving for a while, we arrived at the other side of the mountain.
We could see the blue sea spreading out in the distance.
Oh, it’s the sea that I saw in my dreams.
If I descend this snowy mountain, the sea is waiting for me.
The Kraken was waiting there too, though.
If the Kraken hadn’t been there, it would have been the best…
Even though we could see the sea from here, it didn’t mean that it was close.
We could see it, but how far was it?
It should be around the same distance as going down from the top of Mount Fuji, I think?
Of course, a hikikomori like me had never gone to the top of Mount Fuji. Even if I tried, I didn’t think I would be able to reach the top with the strength of a hikikomori.
The bears descended the mountain.
The two who were on Swaying Bear were somewhat noisy since a while ago.
They were saying something like “Stop!” or “Too fast!” or “We will die!”.
Well, we were going down the mountain, so there was nothing we could do about it.
Was this how it felt to ride the roller coaster I saw on TV? I couldn’t really tell, because I never rode one.
Some hours passed and we arrived at the base of the mountain.
"Are the two of you alright?"
"Yes, somehow."
"I…I’m fine."
The two stopped screaming midway and did their best to hold on to Swaying Bear.
"Still, thinking about how much time it took us to climb this mountain, it makes me sad."
After descending the mountain, around halfway to the city, we climbed down from the bears and started walking.
The reason was that I didn’t want to cause an uproar.
At dusk, we finally arrived at the city.
"We really returned in just one day."
The two were muttering something like “What was the point of our hardships…”
As we arrived near the town, we felt a salty breeze blowing.
We could feel that we were coming closer to the sea. I say this, but even in Japan, I never went to the sea.
Still, I went there in the game.
It was a sea packed with monsters, though…
As we approached the city, we saw the city guards standing by the gates.
"Damon, you are back!"
"Yeah, this missy saved us from near death."
The city guard turned to look at me.
"Huh? A bear?"
"I am the adventurer Yuna."
I brought out my guild card.
"Rank D…"
He seemed surprised that a little girl like me was already a rank D adventurer.
I probably seemed to be rank E at best.
"Damon, finally. Did you manage to reach Crimonia?"
Damon-san shook his head.
"We ran out of strength midway."
"I see. Still, it’s great that you two were saved. Bear missy, thank you."
"I found them on my way here, so don’t worry about it."
"I see. I believe you have heard about the city’s current situation from Damon, but I welcome you nonetheless."
He said, before letting us enter the city.
"What are you planning on doing now, Yuna-chan?"
"It’s already late today, so in order to be in shape tomorrow, I will just go to sleep. I would be saved if you introduce me to an inn."
"An inn, huh. It is possible that you won’t be able to get a meal, you know."
"It’s okay. I have my own food after all."
"But, Yuna-chan, you don’t have to go to an inn, you can just come to our house."
"Hmm… I will pass. You didn’t see your family in a long time, right? You don’t have to mind me."
"But you gave us so much food."
Yesterday, I gave them an item bag packed with 3 wolves, wheat flour and vegetables.
The two of them went to buy things from Crimonia without an item bag…
Surely they decided to go together because they didn’t have one.
Still, saying that they would climb the mountain while carrying food, I could only think of them as reckless.
That proved the extent to which they had their backs against a wall.
"If you want to thank me, you can just guide me through the city."
"Thank you. If you have something you want to see, just tell us. We will show you around tomorrow."
Even after walking around a little, I noticed no liveliness.
There was next to zero pedestrian traffic.
Even in the big plaza, there was almost nobody to be seen.
Well, it was good for me, because it reduced the number of gazes on me.
"Normally, there are a lot of stalls around here."
Ranya-san said, looking sad.
"Because of the Kraken, we can’t fish anymore."
"And the Commerce Guild is monopolizing the spots by the shore, right?"
"Yeah. Even in these circumstances, they are just thinking about making money."
Well, my image of the Commerce Guild was something like that, though.
They would say something like “Are we making any profit?”, while rubbing their hands.
"Damon!"
A voice called to Damon from behind us.
When we looked back, a man around Damon-san’s age was approaching us.
"Juremo…"
"When did you return?"
"Just now."
"I see. I was really shocked when I heard that you would climb the mountain to go to Crimonia."
"We had nearly no food left after all."
"I apologize for that."
The man apologized when he heard Damon-san’s words.
"It’s not your fault, Juremo. Yuna, this is Juremo, who is working at the Commerce Guild."
"The corrupted one?"
"He is on the good side."
"The good side, that’s not a good way to put it, isn’t it?"
"Even so, you are better than your comrades."
"Maybe, but you didn’t introduce this girl in strange clothing yet."
"She is the adventurer Yuna. She is our saviour. She saved us on the snowy mountain when we collapsed."
"You had such a difficult time. Thank you for saving Damon."
He thanked me.
"So, did you procure food?"
"Yuna shared the food she had on her."
"I see. An adventurer just arrived to kill the bandits, so you will be able go through the coastal road with him, somehow."
"That’s impossible. In the end, he will flee."
"He is a rank C adventurer, so he won’t do something like fleeing."
"If he is a rank C, then…."
"The only problem would be if he accepted a request from someone who wants to leave the town."
Were rank C adventurers strong?
Even if he couldn’t kill the Kraken, it would be nice if he defeated the bandits.
A bit later, we arrived at a crossroad and parted ways with Juremo.
"Yuna-chan, here is the inn."
Unexpectedly, there was a big inn.
"It’s because there were a lot of people who came here from other cities by boat to buy fish. There are no people coming now, so I am sure that there will be open rooms."
"Thanks. Then, I count on you tomorrow."
I parted with the two of them and entered the inn.
After entering, I saw a tanned macho sitting at the counter.
As I stepped inside, I locked eyes with the macho.
"Muscle?"
"Bear?"
The two of us uttered the characteristic of the other.
"I want to stay here."
"Oh, sorry. I didn’t think a client would come, so…How many people?"
"I am alone, though."
"Bear missy, you can’t say such lies. You couldn’t have come all the way here alone. There is a Kraken in the sea and bandits on the coastal road. The fact that there is no way to come to this city alone safely, is something well known by the people living here."
"Well, I came through the mountain range after all."
"And that is even harder to believe. Coming through the impregnable mountain range…"
"I don’t care if you don’t believe me, I just want to stay here."
"There are a lot of free rooms. But I can’t make food."
"I don’t need it. Uncle, do you have something to eat for yourself?"
"Yeah, it’s an inn after all. I have some preserved food. But, I have to divide it amongst the people I know. It may be bad to say this, but I do not have enough food to share with a stranger. If you give me ingredients though, I can make it for you."
I had the bread I asked Morin-san to bake and other things to eat, but it would be troublesome if he continued to look at me with a dull expression, so I decided to give him the ingredients.
I took out wolves, vegetables, and flour from the Bear Box.
"Then, make it with this, please."
"This much!?"
The muscled uncle looked at the ingredients that appeared before him with surprise.
"Well, I don’t know how long I will be staying here, so if it isn’t enough, just say so."
"Okay, understood. Then, I will do the preparations for the meal immediately. Honestly, I really wanted to make you a delicious fish meal, though."
"I am Yuna."
"Yeah, nice to meet you, Bear missy."
Why didn’t he use my name even though I told it to him?
It seemed that the equation “Me = Bear missy” would spread to the world if it continued this way.
Well, compared to that, “Me = Bear girl” was already the equation in Crimonia.
_____________________________________________
Translated by: Xant & Minions