Bear-san Meets Another Fairy

“Kuu~n”

While we were talking, Swaying Bear suddenly squealed.

I looked in the direction the Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear were facing and saw the knight exiting the door from earlier.

We closed our mouths and ducked for cover. The knight went to his horse, untied the reins hooked on a tree, got on his horse, and rode away.

It seemed like he didn’t notice us.

“He must have gone somewhere else. I’ve seen the knights making their regular rounds a few times.” (Guild Master)

Really, they must be checking things out.

It was good that we notified the Guild Master why we came to this town.

Information sources genuinely do matter.

After that, Noa and I left the place, leaving behind the Guild Master, who said he would investigate this place.

We went to check the other watchtowers that the Guild Master had mentioned to us.

If these watchtowers played an essential role in stealing the town residents’ magic power, it would be better to know their locations.

…

We returned to the inn after confirming the location of all the watchtowers.

We told the innkeeper that Blitz and the others had some work to do and might be unable to return.

They were supposed to join us in looking for Primme’s sister in town, but they ended up subjugating monsters instead.

We were told, however, by the innkeeper, to inform them that if they returned late, the inn would not be able to prepare dinner.

Well, Blitz and the others would probably know that.

After informing the innkeeper about the Blitz and the others, we moved to our room. Then, a large bug jumped on us.

“Yuna! Noa!” (Primme)

It was Primme, not a bug.

Apparently, she had returned safely.

“You’re late. Where have you been?” (Primme)

Apparently she had been waiting in front of our room, unable to get inside.

“Primme, why did you suddenly go to the mansion without a plan? We were worried.” (Yuna)

“Sorry.” (Primme)

“It’s fine, anyway, are you all right?” (Yuna)

“Yes, I’m fine. But I was scared.” (Primme)

We entered the room to hear Primme’s story.

Primme climbed on top of the Swaying Bear, which I re-summoned, and then told us about her experience.

Once Primme got inside the mansion, she searched various places, but failed to find anything useful. However, when she was beginning to lose hope, she finally came across a fine door and entered it. Inside, she discovered a picture of her sister.

She said that while she was searching for clues about her sister in that room, a man came in and started looking for something, and she thought he was looking for her, so she ran away.

“If the picture of Primme-san’s sister is in there, then we can conclude that she is also in that mansion, right?” (Noa)

“Yes, I think she’s in there. Besides, the guy saw my sister’s painting and said she was his.” (Primme)

“So, I guess she’s being held captive, then?” (Noa)

This reminded me of the scene in a manga where a fairy was trapped in a birdcage.

If she was being held captive, we had to get her out of there as soon as possible.

“But there are servants working in the mansion, right? I thought there was no one inside since the Guild Master mentioned that there was no source of information about the Lord.” (Noa)

I certainly forgot to factor in this minor detail.

I took it for granted that a noble would always have knights and servants.

I could understand that the knights might be at the Lord’s beck and call, but what about the servants?

I was wondering if there was any information we could extract from them.

Maybe we could ask the Guild Master and Carla-san about it.

“So, where did you two go?” (Primme)

We explained to Primme.

“We still haven’t confirmed if there was anything there, but that’s what we’ve been doing.” (Yuna)

Well, from Primme’s point of view, the actions of the knights and the town’s stolen magic power were probably low on her list of priorities.

For me, the matter of Primme’s sister was important, but I was equally concerned about the matter with the Lord, the knights, and the magic power being stolen.

Even if we find Primme’s sister, I doubt that we would be able to leave the situation as it was.

Above all, from what I have heard from the Guild Master and Primme, the Lord seemed to be quite obsessed with fairies, so it was unlikely that we would be able to bring Primme’s sister back home easily.

It would be better to assume that the Lord and the knights would interfere with our objectives. In any case, we needed to gather as much information as possible.

The next day, we headed to the Adventurers’ Guild to meet with the Guild Master and Carla-san.

The Guild Master looked sleepy, but he was present.

Apparently, he lived here in the Adventurers’ Guild.

“Can’t you get any information from someone who works at the Lord’s mansion?” (Yuna)

I asked about the servants in the mansion, based on the information Primme had obtained.

“Many of the servants were given time off before the rumors about fairies started spreading.” (Guild Master)

Rather than being given time off, it sounded more like they were forced to quit.

“But Primme said she’s seen people working in the mansion.” (Yuna)

“That is to be expected, but they never come out of the mansion grounds.” (Guild Master)

“What about shopping? If they are alive, they will need supplies.” (Yuna)

“A favored merchant brings foodstuffs and other necessities directly to the mansion.” (Guild Master)

“So, what about that merchant, did you not get any information from them?” (Yuna)

“Information and trust is the lifeblood of a merchant. Even if a merchant knew something, they would not talk about it. Especially if they are dealing with the Lord of this town. There is no way they would give up something that would continuously make them plenty of money.” (Guild Master)

Even merchants needed money to survive. And if they were dealing with a Lord, that would make them the best customers. It may be the worst situation for the town, but it could be the best situation for that merchant.

“Yes, that’s right. If you are a merchant who has a contract with a noble, you wouldn’t tell the noble’s information to anyone. If it becomes known that you have told someone about it, you would not be able to do business with other nobles at best. Even worst, your existence will be ‘erased’. Even if you survive, your client might also spread a bad rumor about you that would also greatly damage your reputation. After all, people who easily spread their client’s information are not people one should trust.” (Noa)

“…” (Carla)

“…” (Guild Master)

The Guild Master and Carla-san looked surprised at Noa’s words.

“Noire-chan, are you really a village girl?” (Carla)

“Um, well, yes, of course. I’m just an ordinary village kid.” (Noa)

Noa smiled deceptively.

That deceptive smile practically screamed that she was not.

Now that I think about it, it might have been difficult for Noa, who had been raised as a noble’s daughter, to play the role of a village child.

If she didn’t speak, she would just be a pretty little girl, but if she did speak, her amount of knowledge would be vastly different from that of a village girl. It would be difficult to mask her identity.

“Well, anyway, it will be difficult to get information from the merchant, just as the young lady said.” (Guild Master)

But the Guild Master and Carla-san did not pursue Noa’s reply, which was obviously a lie.

“Also, you’ve mentioned finding the picture of a fairy inside the mansion, right?” (Guild Master)

“Yes.” (Primme)

“So can we assume that Primme-chan’s sister is definitely there?” (Guild Master)

“Yes, I’m sure she’s there.” (Primme)

“But you didn’t find her, did you?” (Guild Master)

“No, I was too scared when I saw that man. I ran away.” (Primme)

“I think that’s good. If they managed to capture you, it would have been a big problem.” (Guild Master)

If Primme had not returned, it would have been difficult for us to do anything else.

It would have also been difficult to locate her since we wouldn’t know where she was imprisoned.

And at worst, she could have been used as a hostage if we were in a confrontation with whoever kidnapped her.

It was good enough for me that she came back safe and sound.

After that, the Guild Master asked me to do something for him.

It was regarding yesterday.

He wanted Primme to explore the inside of the watchtower if possible.

But he also asked her to run away if she felt something was wrong.

Primme agreed.

***

We were now located near one of the watchtowers.

“So you want me to check this one then?” (Primme)

“Yes, as the Guild Master said, don’t do anything careless.” (Yuna)

“I know.” (Primme)

Primme said and flew up.

It sure was nice to be able to fly.

Although I could not fly, I could jump up to the watchtower, but then I would be noticed, and people would scream, “A bear is flying in the sky!”

I decided to wait with Noa for a while.

“Yuna-san, I’m sorry.” (Noa)

“Yeah? What do you mean?” (Yuna)

“I haven’t been able to act like a village girl.” (Noa)

“You were worried about that? It’s okay. Noa can act as herself.” (Yuna)

“But…” (Noa)

“You are thinking about information that only nobles are supposed to know, right? Since we don’t know how nobles behave, only Noa, a noble among us, will be able to understand their motives or what their behavior entangles.” (Yuna)

“Yuna-san…” (Noa)

“Besides, it appears that the Guild Master and Carla-san are aware of it, but they don’t seem to want to pursue it too deeply. So, if Noa notices anything strange about Lord’s actions as noble, don’t hesitate to tell us.” (Yuna)

“Yes!” (Noa)

Noa replied happily.

“I wonder if Primme-san will be alright.” (Noa)

“If she thinks it’s dangerous, she’ll run away.” (Yuna)

We looked up where Primme was headed. She was able to return safely from the house where her sister might be held hostage. She could make a reasonable judgment about such things.

If something did happen, we could go in and retrieve Primme. However, that would hinder our future actions, so I hoped she would return without any problems.

After waiting for a while, Primme returned safely.

According to Primme’s report, she was unable to confirm if there was something that resembled a magic circle or at least a part of it, but she did mention that there was a large amount of magic stones placed on some kind of vessel inside the watchtower.

Considering the situation, there was no need for a large number of magic stones to be placed in the watchtower.

It seemed sure that the watchtowers were being used to steal the magical power from the town’s residents just as the Guild Master had thought.

After reporting this to the Guild Master, we returned to the inn.

That night, after everyone had fallen asleep, I heard someone’s voice.

I listened quietly.

Someone whispered, “Primme, wake up.”

“Ugh, who?” (Primme)

“Hurry up and wake up already.” (???)

“Eh, Sister!” (Primme)

“Primme, it’s been a long time!” (???)

Primme’s shout awakened my half-asleep brain.

Primme’s sister was here?

I continued to pretend to be asleep to grasp the situation.

“Sis, why are you here? I came here looking for you.” (Primme)

“Yes, I know you did. You came to that mansion the other day, right?” (???)

“Did you notice me? Then why didn’t you come out? No, it doesn’t matter. Let’s go home, sister.” (Primme)

“I came here today to tell you that I’m not going back, so you go back to the fairy forest by yourself.” (???)

“Sis!” (Primme)

Primme shouted.

I couldn’t stand silent any longer.

“What is that supposed to mean?” (Yuna)

I got up.

In addition to Primme, there was another fairy in the room.

It was Primme’s sister…

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