Chapter 53 – Together with k.u.ma-san!
This week, I went back and read it again, little by little.
There were so many missing or wrong characters, that I cried.
I wanted to get rid of the “lacked writing ability” and “lots of errors and typos” parts.
However, there are probably some this time, too.
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「Did you come to help us?」
When I turned and looked behind me, there was an elderly man and a small girl there.
They weren’t wearing the type of clothing that commoners would wear.
If I had to say, it was closer to the type of clothes Noa wore.
…Which meant they were n.o.bles? Or the kind of people with lots of money.
「If you’re talking about the orcs, though that may be the case-」
「Is that so? It would be bad if we didn’t express our grat.i.tude as well. We are Gran Faren Gramm. We thank you, together with our granddaughter.」
「I’m an adventurer, Yuna. I only saved you because I was pa.s.sing by chance, so don’t worry about it.」
「Still, aren’t you dressed in some strange clothing?」
「Don’t mind it.」
「However, you sure took down those orcs quite easily. Isn’t that the missus from Cliff’s place over there?」
The old man who introduced himself as Gran looked over at Noa.
「Gran-sama, it has been a long time. It is I, Noire.」
Noa gave an aristocratic curtsy and greeting.
She called him Gran-sama. As expected, they were aristocrats.
「I see, it was Noire after all. Has it been a year since we last met? You’ve sure grown up. Is Cliff not with you?」
「Father is busy with work, so he is still in town. I was told to go to the Royal Capital by myself to see mother first.」
「You came out here all by yourself?」
「Yes, but my bodyguard Yuna-san is here, so I am alright.」
Gran-san looked me over.
「That fellow Cliff seems to have caught a strangely dressed, but competent adventurer.」
I wish you would stop calling me strange over and over.
「Misa, long time no see.」
Noa approached the girl standing beside Gran-san.
She was a few years younger than even Noa.
「Elder Sister Noire, it has been a while.」
「Misa is also going to the Royal Capital?」
「Yes, Father and Mother went to the Royal Capital earlier, so I am heading there with Grandfather.」
「I see.」
「I’m sorry for interrupting your conversation, but there are some post-battle things I want to talk about.」
Marina came over.
「If we leave the orc corpses like this, it’s likely that their companions, or other monsters attracted by the bodies, will come. I want to process the orcs, but what should we do?」
「Process them?」
「I want to divide up our share. Though you were the one who defeated them, you defeated them with a surprise attack from behind while we were engaging them. That’s why we also want a part.」
Ah, so you were worried about that.
「That’s fine. I’ll give them all to you. You can deal with them however you want.」
「Are you serious?! It’s six orc bodies, you know!」
If it was orcs, I had a lot in the Bear Box, so it wasn’t necessary to forcibly acquire more here.
「We’re going to go on ahead to the Royal Capital first, so it’s fine.」
I walked to and got on top of Hugging Bear.
「Noa, Fina, we’re leaving!」
「Please wait a moment!」
Gran hailed us.
「Since we’re both headed to the same place, why don’t we travel together?」
After thinking about it for a bit,
「There’s no merit for us, so I decline.」
「I’ll pay you an escort fee.」
「If it’s guards, don’t you have those girls? That’s rather rude to them, don’t you think?」
I said it loud enough for the adventurers nearby to hear.
If we talked about employing me, it would be like telling them that they weren’t trusted anymore.
「It’s not that I don’t particularly trust these girls’ power. Please believe me when I say that it is for my granddaughter, Misa’s, sake.」
「Misa’s sake?」
「Ah, during the journey here, it has only been the two of us in the carriage, so Misa has been bored. Which is why I was thinking that, if her acquaintance Noire was there, our journey would become more interesting.」
Hmm. I wanted to decline somehow.
It had absolutely no merit.
I couldn’t use the Bear House if we traveled together.
If it became unusable, neither the bed nor the bath could be used.
Our speed would definitely drop if we traveled together.
However, I couldn’t make a decision based on my judgement alone.
If Cliff were here, I would just abide by his instructions.
There was no point in naming someone who wasn’t here, though.
For now, I’ll ask the person being guarded, Noa, for her opinion.
「Noa, what do you want to do?」
「Me?」
I called Noa over and whispered quietly into her ear.
「By the way, if we travel together, the Bear House cannot be used, okay?」
I didn’t have any intention of bringing out the Bear House in front of a stranger.
Noa was mumbling “a bath, a bed, a bath, a bed…” under her breath.
Right now, in Noa’s head, a 『Bed and Bath VS Misa』battle was probably occurring.
After a few “unn, unn” groans, the battle seemed to have come to a conclusion.
「Yuna-san, I’m worried about Misa, so I was thinking of travelling together. Is that okay?」
In the Bear House vs Misa battle, Misa seemed to have been the victor.
「If Noa has decided, then it’s fine, but there are a few conditions.」
「What conditions?」
「The Bear House is a secret, of course, but if we run into an undefeatable monster, you must leave everyone behind and run away. You just have to promise me this.」
「I-I understand.」
I turned towards Gran-san.
「Has the consultation finished?」
「It was decided that we will travel with you.」
「Is that so? You’ve saved me some trouble.」
「Fina, please go help those girls with dismantling so we can depart quickly.」
「I understand.」
Fina ran off towards the adventurers, who were in the middle of dismantling.
After a short while, the adventurers returned to us, having finished the dismantlement.
「That child is really good at dismantlement. It was a big help. So, are you really okay with this, giving all the orcs to us?」
「It’s fine. Since we’ll be travelling together to the Royal Capital, I’ll have you listen to one of my requests in return. It’s not a big deal, of course, so don’t worry about it too much.」
「I-I got it.」
If our selfishness was compared to the orc’s raw materials, the orcs should be heavier.
Having decided to travel together with Gran-san’s group, we departed for the Royal Capital.
Noa rode in the carriage with Misa.
At that time, she had made a point of pointing at Fina with her finger.
「I’ll hand over Bear-san this time, but that is my reserved seat, okay?!」
After firing off that declaration, Noa climbed aboard the carriage.
Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear still belong to me, you know.
Marina and the attendant, who took the reins, sat in the front of the carriage.
There was an attendant there all along?
Did you hide somewhere?
It was a man in his late thirties.
There was enough s.p.a.ce for six people to sit in a commonly seen seating arrangement.
Elle, Masurika, and Euri sat inside the carriage, scanning to the left, right, and rear of the carriage. They sat in the spots next to Gran-san, Misa, and Noa, who had just boarded.
The bodyguards weren’t the type to walk outside?
That’s what I was thinking, but, as expected, asking them to keep up with the carriage’s pace on foot for a long time, while carrying weapons and armor, was impossible.
When I thought of having to walk for about ten hours a day, I was suddenly grateful to Swaying and Hugging Bear.
The coachman was checking the condition of the horses pulling the carriage.
Fortunately, the horses were safe, so we would be able to depart immediately.
I wondered why they didn’t decide to run away when the orcs attacked.
They were going to run away at first, but the orcs showed up in front of them when the horses began to tire, catching them in a pincer attack.
Since orcs were approaching from the rear, Marina and Euri went to engage them first, leaving only Elle and Masurika to deal with the orcs that came later. In the end, it turned into the situation from earlier.
We departed after having confirmed the status of the horses and the carriage.
Fina and I followed behind the carriage.
Clop, clop. Clop, clop.
Umu, our pace sure is slow.
At this rate, how long will it take to reach the Royal Capital?
We decided to go together though, so it couldn’t be helped.
I left the monster detection to the bears and decided to take a nap atop Hugging Bear.
The weather was good, and Hugging Bear’s warmth was luring me to dreamland.
The carriage advanced without incident until the sun set after our departure.
The leader, Marina, called the carriage to a halt.
It looked like they planned to sleep outdoors, right here.
The carriage stopped beside the empty road that lead to the Royal Capital.
Marina directed the adventurers as they began to prepare meals and bedding.
I wanted to take out the Bear House, but I endured.
For now, I called out to Fina and Noa and began to prepare dinner.
Misa looked like she would be eating over there.
Well, even if I said preparing dinner, I took out some simple foodstuffs from the Bear Box, and finished with just that.
The adventurers over there also took out and ate portable meals from an item bag.
The difference was that my bread was still freshly baked, so it was soft and warm.
I ate while enjoying just a small feeling of superiority.
Soon, the time to sleep arrived.
It seemed like we would be heading out when the sun rose tomorrow.
When I started to prepare to sleep, Marina came over.
「I want to decide on a rotation for night watch. Is that okay?」
When camping outdoors, there existed an enemy of sleep called the night-watch.
Which is why, I would use the favor from the deal regarding the orc materials here!
「If it’s about the watch, these children are here, so it is alright.」
I gestured towards Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear.
「If a monster or person approaches, these children will let me know.」
「Is that so?」
「Which is why there isn’t a need for a watch. If you’re still worried, can you handle it yourselves? Consider it as the exchange for the share of the orcs.」
If I bring up the point of the orc materials, the other party has no choice but to relent.
「Can those bears really be trusted?」
「Feel free to.」
There was nothing else that I could say.
Whether they chose to believe me or not was up to them.
「I understand.」
Marina headed back towards the carriage.
「Noa, where do you plan to sleep?」
「What do you mean by where?」
「Do you want to sleep together with Misa, or sleep together with the bears?」
「W-What do you mean, sleeping together with the bears?」
She asked me in a shaky voice.
「At night, it’ll be cold and dangerous, right? Hugging Bear, Swaying Bear, come here.」
I called Hugging Bear and Swaying Bear over, and had both of them sit down.
Next, I called Fina over as an experimental subject, and wrapped her in a blanket.
I laid the wrapped Fina next to where the bears were sitting so that she was leaning against Hugging Bear’s stomach, and tucked her in.
With the left and right arms hugging Fina, yes, this work t.i.tled, 『Together with Bear-san』, was complete.
「W-What is this, this wonderful way of sleeping?!」
「This way, it won’t be cold, right?」
「I’ll go tell Misa that I will sleep here. Fina! That’s my spot, so please vacate it, okay?」
Noa went to where Misa was, and soon returned.
However, why did you come back with Misa?
「Yuna-san, Misa also wants to sleep together with Bear-san.」
「May I also sleep together with Bear-san? Today, I heard a lot about the wonderfulness of the bears from Elder Sister Noa. I also want to sleep together with Bear-san. Please!」
She gazed at me straightforwardly, with pure eyes.
As expected, there was no way I could say no to Misa’s pleas when she was even smaller than Noa.
「It’s fine. The two of you can use Swaying Bear. I’ll sleep together with Fina.」
「Thank you, Yuna-san.」
「Thank you very much.」
Misa also expressed her thanks.
「Swaying Bear, unless danger approaches, you can’t wake these two up, okay? As for Hugging Bear, if a monster or person approaches, let me know. Sorry about this, Fina, but you’ll be sleeping with me.」
「Okay.」
「I might wake you up though, so sorry.」
「It’s alright.」
I conceded half of Hugging Bear’s stomach.
Umu, it was warm.
I went to sleep while hugging one of Hugging Bear’s arms.
「Fina, good night.」
「Yes, good night.」