Chapter 210

The next day, I woke up to a sun shining through the window . The completely clear sky made yesterday’s heavy rain seem like a dream . We should be able to depart easily .

We quickly ate our breakfast and set out for Raruuze .

Yesterday, our enemy was the rain, but today, it was the road . It was full of puddles, and some areas were even in such a poor state that a carriage couldn’t pass them . Luckily, my Bears didn’t have much of a problem . They walked when the road got really bad and ran the rest of the way . Over time, their feet got really dirty . Even though they would be clean again if I unsummoned them, I still felt bad for them . It looked especially bad for Hugging Bear; since its fur was mostly white, the dirt stood out even more than on Swaying Bear . During our breaks, I petted their heads to thank them for their hard work .

「That’s it . That’s the city . 」

I immediately looked up front when Sanya-san said that and saw the walls of a city… A massive city . It was way larger than Crimonia, which wasn’t small to begin with .

「We’ll cause a commotion if we ride the Bears to the gates, so is it okay if we walk from here?」

People would surely panic if they spotted the Bears, so I asked the elf sisters if we could walk the rest of the way .

「You’re right . If we ride any closer, people might spot us . 」

Sanya-san agreed, so we all got off the Bears .

「Thank you for taking us all this way . 」

Ruimin thanked the Bears, with Sanya-san following suit . They both petted the Bears’ heads, eliciting happy cries in reply . After thanking them myself, I returned them to their gloves .

「Should we get going, then?」

Thus, we began our walk to Raruuze . Since the city walls were already in sight, it shouldn’t take us too long . As we got closer, we saw a few people exiting the city on horses, while we were the only ones heading for it . I thought there would be a lot of traffic, especially with how the elf sisters had described the city to me . Well, maybe it was due to the rain . At least we wouldn’t have to wait in line to get inside this way .

When we reached the gates, the gatekeeper looked at me in surprise .

「What’s with that outfit of yours?」

「It’s just a bear suit . 」

No matter how many times people asked me that, this way the only way I could respond . The answer must have been enough for the gatekeeper, as he didn’t pry further, but rather simply told us to place our guild cards on the crystal board . The board didn’t turn red, of course, since none of us had committed any crimes . The gatekeeper then just notioned us past with a 「Go ahead,」and looked away . He must have dealt with all sorts of people and was skilled at ignoring people like me . Well, I was happy that he just let us past without any complaints . However, the moment we entered the city, we drew all sorts of gazes .

「We’re being stared at . 」

「Yeah, we definitely are . 」

I was obvious that we would be getting the looks: a girl dressed as a Bear had suddenly entered the city . It happened to me all the time . For the sisters, however, this must be the first time something like this happened to them .

「I was thinking of heading straight to the Adventurer’s Guild, but maybe you want to wait at the inn instead, Yuna-chan?」

That was probably Sanya-san’s nicer way of saying 「It’s too embarrassing to walk next to you, so go wait at the inn instead . 」 Too bad for her, though, as I wanted to go to the Adventurer’s Guild, too . As a former gamer, there was no way I could just sit still and wait at an inn right after entering a new city . I was also curious about the adventurers Ruimin had gotten involved with, and we might even have to deal with the merchant afterwards . I wouldn’t have cared if Ruimin was just a stranger to me, but during our journey to here, we kind of became friends, so I wanted to tag along .

「If I won’t cause you too much trouble, I would prefer to come with you . Still, if you insist, I’ll stay at the inn . 」

Sanya-san did not expect my answer and became slightly flustered .

「Yuna-can, I’m sorry . I didn’t mean it that way . It’s just that everybody is staring at you all the time, so I thought you might prefer to stay at the inn because of that . 」

Oh, it seemed like I misunderstood her intentions; she was actually worried about me .

「This happens all the time, so I got used to it . If you two won’t be too uncomfortable with being in the center of attention I would prefer to join you rather than stay behind . 」

「I’m fine with it . 」

「Ruimin?」

「I’d feel bad about making Yuna-san wait for us by herself, so I’m okay as well . 」

Ruimin’s kind response brought a smile to my face .

「Alright, then we’ll go to the Adventurer’s Guild together . 」

Just a few minutes after we set out towards the adventurer’s guild, however…

「We’re getting stared at . 」

「Yeah, we are . 」

The two of them complained again . They were right of course, as whether they were just passing by or doing something in the area, everybody took time to look at us . As usual, I pulled down my Bear-san Hood to at least hide my face .

「We should hurry . 」

「Yeah, we should . 」

The elf sisters started walking faster to escape everyone’s attention quicker .

Maybe it would be better if I distanced myself from them a bit? I slowed down to let them get ahead .

「Yuna-san, what are you doing? You’re lagging behind . 」

Ruimin noticed I had tried to separate myself from them, so I had no other choice but to catch up again . Once I did so, Ruimin grasped my hand and started to pull me along . She most likely missed my intentions, but it still made me happy to see Ruimin do this for me . She proceeded to pull me all the way to the Adventurer’s Guild, which was just about the size of the one at the capital .

「I’ll go greet the guild master here . Ruimin, you should go and check if those adventurers are around . As for you, Yuna-chan…」

Sanya-san looked at me and fell silent .

Why would she…

「Please stay out of trouble . 」

Well, that was a hard request… It wasn’t like I tried to get in trouble on purpose . Trouble just always found a way to get to me . Well, it was mostly due to my Bear Suit, though…

I promised I would try my best, and Sanya-san went off to go meet the guild master . For now, I decided to just follow Ruimin around as she looked for the adventurers she had dealt with before . If it turned out that they had indeed deceived Ruimin, I would punish them accordingly . Inside the guild, the amount of attention we got was even greater than what we had gotten out on the streets .

「A bear?」 「What’s with her outfit?」 「That’s a bear, right?」 「A girl?」 「What’s a bear doing in the Adventurer’s Guild?」 「How cute . 」 「Is that Ruimin?」 「There’s a bear . 」

Among the whispers, only one stood out . As we started to look for the person responsible, they came to us instead .

「Miranda-san!」

「I knew it was you, Ruimin . 」

A young female adventurer in her early twenties stood before us .

「Is Ruimin really here?」

「She is . 」

Two more young women approached .

「It’s been a while, Miranda-san . 」

「It hasn’t been that long, but you really disappeared on us so suddenly . We were all worried about you . 」

Miranda said and hugged Ruimin tightly .

「I-I can’t breathe . 」

Ruimin seemed like she was in pain from being hugged so tightly, but was luckily released soon after .

「Geez, we were so worried about you . 」

「I’m sorry . 」

After Ruimin apologized to Miranda, one of the other two women, who both looked like they were in their mid-twenties, spoke up .

「That’s right . Not to mention that you gave Dogrude-san such an important bracelet . 」

She said and pinched Ruimin’s cheeks .

「I-I’m showwy for causing you so much trouble . 」

「You really shouldn’t have just disappeared on us without telling us first . 」

「I’m showwy . 」

She was finally released from the pinching attack .

「Anyway, I’m glad you’re alright . 」

She said and embraced Ruimin gently .

「Did you make it to the Capital safely?」

Finally, the woman dressed like a magician spoke up .

「Yeah, somewhat safely . 」

「You know what Miranda said? She went like: ‘We need to chase after Ruimin . ’」

「And you said we should hurry, didn’t you?」

「Of course, with Ruimin involved it would have been an obvious thing to do . 」

These adventurers must have been the ones who had helped Ruimin . Based on their reactions just now, they didn’t seem like they had deceived her in any way . It had just been me imagining the worst case scenario .

「By the way, Ruimin, is that girl dressed like a bear-san your acquaintance?」

Their attention suddenly turned towards me .

「Yeah, she decided to come along with Onee-chan and me when we set out from the Capital . 」

「What an interesting outfit she wears . 」

Ruimin didn’t even comment on that; she just laughed back, instead .

Miranda-san kept looking at me, so I decided to introduce myself .

「I’m Yuna . As you already know, I came here with Ruimin and her sister . 」

「I’m Miranda . I worked with Ruimin for a short while . 」

「My name’s Erielle . I must say, your outfit is really cute . 」

Erielle then shuffled closer to me, so I instantly took a step back .

「Stop that, you’re scaring her . 」

「But her outfit is just so cute . Even if I don’t hug her now, I’ll hug her eventually . 」

「Don’t just make it worse!」

Miranda-san said and smacked Erielle-san over the head .

「I must apologize for her . You see, Erielle really likes cute girls . 」

The woman dressed like a magician apologized in her stead .

「Don’t worry, I’m not a weird person . 」

Erielle said and started to approach me again, but I took another step back, regardless .

「Uwaah, don’t run away . Just let me hug you once, at least . Let me feel how soft you are . 」

Suddenly someone behind the crowd laughed at her persistence .

「I thought it was getting noisy . And, of course it was because of you, Yuna-chan . 」

What were they trying to say? It wasn’t my fault this time at all . Oh, it was Sanya-san .

「Sanya-san, are you already done with your talk with the guild master?」

「Yes . I’m guessing you are the adventurers who took care of Ruimin for me?」

Sanya-san turned her focus to the female adventurers in front of us .

「I heard that you helped out my sister when she was in need . I thank you for that . 」

「Oh no, we have to apologize for not being able to prevent her from losing her bracelet . 」

Sanya-san and Miranda-san then started talking about what happened, and we headed to the back of the guild .