Chapter 260

Chapter 260 – Bear-san Meets a Princess

I took out my guild card and held it above the crystal board . After I was cleared, I was given a piece of paper . Looking around, I could see that other people who were entering also received one . I took a look at the paper’s contents and realized that it was a survey; it was asking me to note down which programs I thought were interesting .

So, manga magazines were not the only ones that did this, huh? I wondered if surveys were a common thing here . Tallying all the results from different slips sounded like a pain, especially since people’s honesty could always be questioned . Some might just write something quickly, not caring about how that affected results .

Just as we entered the academy, some of the children who had surrounded me earlier also got past the check . They noticed me, and since we were all walking along a single path, I realized I had nowhere to escape to . I quickly walked over to Shia so that I wouldn’t get separated .

「If we are walking, I don’t think they will try to surround you again . Anyway, let’s head to our stand first . 」

Everyone nodded in agreement to Shia’s suggestion .

「By the way, I’ve been wondering this since the moment I spotted you, but why is Noa’s hairstyle different?」

She must have been surprised to find out that Noa’s hair had changed, huh . She had seen her just this morning, after all .

「Does it not suit me?」

Noa touched her hair in worry .

「No, it’s cute . Still, you made your hair just like usual this morning, so why is it different now?」

「Yuna-san took Father’s words seriously . 」

Noa then proceeded to explain why I had changed her hairstyle .

「Well, Father and Yuna-san worry too much . I understand Father and Mother being concerned about the marriage thing, but those people won’t directly approach Noa to discuss it . 」

「Still, you never know if one of those people really fancies Noa . For example, if they saw Noa at a party, thought she was cute, and wanted to talk to her when they had the chance, then they might try to get close to her if they spot her today . 」

Noa was a very cute girl . Also, she attended parties wearing beautiful dresses, so it might have been love at first sight for someone . However, Noa’s reply to that was quite frank .

「I’ll reject any guy that can’t bring up the courage to talk to me during a party . 」

She flat out rejected them before they even came up to meet her . Did she prefer guys who were more open with their words?

Still, womanizers often behaved that way, and I didn’t think she would like them, either . Although there shouldn’t be any boys around her age who were like that, the thought of it being a possibility was terrifying enough .

「Also, if they couldn’t talk to me during a party, there’s no way they would approach me in a crowded place like this . 」

That was true . The kind of guy I was thinking about wouldn’t call out to her in a place like this . Not to mention, we were here with her . It should be fine as long as we didn’t get separated .

「I think it’s good to change your hairstyle once in a while . It’s less likely that some annoying person you know will come up to you, and the hairstyle also fits you . 」

Many nobles attended this academy . It was possible that some annoying person could try to chat her up . We had to proceed with caution in case someone similar to that stupid noble we had met at Misa’s birthday party appeared .

「Still, with this many people around, I don’t think I would be spotted either way . 」

There were already quite many people walking ahead of us, not to mention the trail of children from earlier following behind us, many of whom were around Noa’s age . Trying to pick out Noa amongst this crowd should indeed be quite difficult .

「Where is your stand, Shia?」

「We are at the Number 3 Practice Grounds . 」

Shia proceeded to explain that each program had its designated location . Related activities were grouped together so that people wouldn’t have to search for them all over . With how large the academy grounds were, I kind of wished for an information pamphlet of some sort .

Instead, I noticed that the academy had placed signs at various areas, which displayed a map of the campus and the information on where each program was happening .

The Number 3 Practice Grounds was one of the places used for sword and magic training around the academy, but for the festival, it was home to Shia’s cotton candy stand .

We continued to chat about hairstyles as we followed Shia and took in the surrounding sights . After walking for a while, we reached the Number 3 Practice Grounds . In the open plaza, many food stands were lined up, as well as various clusters of chairs and tables . It looked like a fine place to sit down and eat something before rushing onward to see more attractions . Since it was already approaching lunch time, the place was starting to bustle with customers .

「The food stands are split into various locations on campus, so it shouldn’t get too crowded, I think . 」

Numerous attendees were lined up at the stands and many others were already sitting or standing around while enjoying their food . Once we arrived at the cotton candy stand, I noticed that unlike the other stands, there were no customers here . Had they not begun selling yet?

Cattleya greeted us when we arrived .

「How is it going?」

「Everything is in order . I look forward to how much we will sell . 」

Their enthusiasm was good; they clearly believed that the cotton candy would sell .

I looked around, and while some of the other stands didn’t have many customers, at least they had some . Turning back at this stand, which had no one coming to it, I was beginning to worry a bit .

「Fufu, we will definitely be the best among the food stand groups . 」

Marcus declared .

「Food stand group?」

「The academy is giving out rewards to get us, students, all fired up . If we win, we can get many luxurious prizes . You received a survey at the entrance, right?」

Oh right, we had received something like that .

I took a look at it again . It asked us to write down three of the programs we found interesting and liked the best . It seemed like this was how the students would compete for the prizes .

「You have to write down the number of the program you want to vote on, so remember the numbers of the programs you enjoyed the most . Our food stand is number 90, so be sure to write it down . 」

「Well, only if there are no better places . 」

I didn’t plan on being biased towards family and friends . If I had to vote, then I would do it fairly . At least, that was how I felt .

Fina and the others, on the other hand, took out their surveys and began writing down their number, which I promptly stopped . I told them they shouldn’t write down it yet when we hadn’t even tried their cotton candy or looked at the other stands .

「Shia-san, shouldn’t you introduce me already?」

A girl standing behind Shia tugged on Shia’s twintail .

I had noticed that the girl had been staring at me for a while now . She wore the same uniform as Shia, so she must be a student as well . Her face looked familiar, so I might have seen her somewhere before . Well, I didn’t think I would forget about such a cute girl like her, so it must have been a very brief meeting .

「I get it, so please stop pulling my hair . 」

The girl released Shia’s hair, and Shia immediately fixed her hair . Hair was a girl’s life, so nobody should pull on it, even lightly .

「You guys were leaving me out of your conversation . 」

「I’ll introduce you, so don’t pull on my hair anymore . Yuna-san, this is Tilia-sama . She is helping out with our stand . 」

When Shia introduced her, the girl stepped forward .

「I’ve finally got to meet the rumored Bear-san . My name is Tilia . Nice to meet you . 」

「Um, I’m Yuna . Nice to meet you, too?」

The girl named Tilia extended her hands towards me, so I did the same . She immediately grabbed my puppets with both hands . It seemed she knew about me, but this was my first time actually speaking with her . I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had seen her before, though . Had I passed her by sometime I had been at the capital? When I had accepted the student escort mission from Eleanora-san, I had come to the academy, so it was quite possible I had seen her there . However, what the girl said next was entirely different from what I was expecting .

「You really do go around wearing a Bear-san outfit . Thanks for always taking care of my little sister . 」

Um, her little sister?

She had said I often took care of her little sister, so she must be the older sister of someone I knew, right?

Out of all the girls I knew, I couldn’t think of many who she could be an older sister to .

There were Noa and Misa, and if this girl was older than she seemed, then Cattleya could also be a candidate . Going by her appearance, though, I couldn’t imagine a younger version of her would look similar to any of these girls . Well, I knew there were sisters who didn’t look alike, but that was quite unlikely right? Well, they might have a different mother or father, so maybe…

My first thought turned to Cliff being a cheater and neglecting to mention that he had a daughter with another woman . That would explain why this girl didn’t look like Eleanora-san at all .

「Yuna-san, I don’t know what you’re thinking of right now, but I think it’s wrong . 」

Shia rejected my in mind speculation . I thought it was a plausible story, though .

「My sister is always saying Bear-san, Bear-san, so I thought you were someone who wears bear fur around, but I guess I was wrong . I didn’t think you would be such a cute bear . Your hands and feet are also bear-shaped . 」

Tilia petted my Bear-san Puppets and then even moved to my feet and torso .

「Um, sorry, but can you stop touching me?」

「I’m sorry . Can you let me hug you at least?」

I thought saying it like that would be enough to make her jump away from me, but instead, she opened her arms for a hug . Why was this happening?!

「You’re so soft, just like my sister said . 」

She squeezed me tightly as she hugged me, not even waiting for me to allow it .

「Wa-wait, what?」

「This feeling might get addicting . 」

She kept rubbing her hands all over me, and finally she pressed her face against my chest .

「How unfair, me too!」

Shuri ran up behind me and hugged me, too . This was no different than the situation I was in earlier at the entrance .

I grabbed Tilia by the shoulders and pushed her off of me .

「Just what is going on here? Shuri, you let go, too . 」

「I’m sorry . My sister would tell me how soft and good you feel when she hugs you, so I’ve been wanting to hug you ever since . 」

「Even so, you shouldn’t suddenly hug someone like that . 」

Tilia apologized and finally stepped away from me .

She kept mentioning a little sister, but really, just who was she talking about?

No matter how hard I racked my brain, I still couldn’t figure it out . If it wasn’t Noa, could it maybe be Misa? They didn’t look alike at all, though .

「Father and Mother told me many stories about you as well . 」

Her father and mother? I had only met Misa’s parents once, and that was at her birthday party . I hadn’t seen them since .

「Especially how you always bring my sister delicious food . 」

Food? I didn’t recall ever bringing Misa food . The only thing I had brought her was a birthday cake .

「Still, I don’t get it why you always come when I’m not around? When I get home, they all tell me all about how delicious the food Bear-san brought them was, and I feel very left out each time . Also, Nii-san told me that when Bear-san comes, Father always stops working, which causes him a lot of trouble . Why can’t you trouble me?」

Wait, could it be?

This person’s sister called me Bear-san, and I brought her food often . Her father would slack off from work whenever I came, and her brother would be troubled by that . All the pieces of the puzzle slowly fell into place .

I turned to took a look at Noa, and it was clear that she was very nervous being in the presence of Tilia .

With that, there was only one possible answer left .

「Could it be that you’re Princess Flora’s older sister?」

「Correct . You didn’t know?」

Of course I hadn’t known!

I hadn’t even known that the king had another daughter, much less knew her name . Nobody had told me, and I hadn’t thought to ask .

I knew that his oldest son was around twenty years old, while Flora-sama was only four to five years old, so thinking about it now, it wouldn’t be strange for there to be another child between those two . I took another look at Tilia and could immediately tell why she looked familiar to me; her features were very similar to Princess Flora and Her Highness .

「So, all in all, when I heard that Shia-san knew Bear-san, and that Bear-san would be coming to the festival today, I asked if I could help out at her shop in exchange for introducing me to Bear-san . 」

Just what had Shia been thinking?

Making a princess help out at a food stand? Noa was also looking at Shia and Tilia like she couldn’t believe what she had just heard .

「So, Flora-sama has an older sister, huh…」

「Oh, and I wanted to thank you for taking care of for my sister so often . 」

「No, it’s fine…」

「Also, I wanted to tell you that she really loves the bear plushies you gave her . Oh, and the picture books are nice, too . Everytime I heard about you from Flora, I wondered just what kind of girl you are, making all these things for her . 」

I made food and drew picture books for her, but the plushies, I hadn’t made those . Well, I hadn’t specifically told her that, so no wonder she thought I had made them .

「I also appreciate your willingness to teach recipes to Zelef . The pudding is really delicious . 」

「Yes, it is . 」

「Mhm, it’s really delicious . 」

「I want to eat more of it sometime . 」

When Tilia started talking about the taste of pudding, Marcus and the others also joined in .

「If everybody works hard, I will treat you to some, then . 」

「Really?」

「Yeah . 」

「Okay, Timor, let’s do our best . 」

With pudding as a reward, everybody’s spirit rose . Well, giving them some pudding was nothing if that was what it took to motivate them…