Chapter 171 – Bear-san Reaches The Faren Gramm Residence

The day after we helped out the family with their carriage, we finally spotted Sheelin in the distance, just before lunch time.

Its gates seemed similar to those of Crimonia.

「Cliff, wait a moment.」

I called out to Cliff and stopped Hugging Bear.

「What’s wrong?」

「There will be panic if we approach the town with Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear. Would you mind if I unsummoned them here?」

It was my first time coming to this town, so I didn’t want to do anything that would make me stand out.

「You’re right. You may unsummon them here.」

Cliff said while nodding towards Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear.

「Ehh, I have to part with the bears?」

Noa protested and clung onto Swaying Bear’s head. Meanwhile, Fina obediently climbed off of Swaying Bear.

「I’m just unsummoning them for a while. I would feel bad for them if the villagers were afraid of them.」

「Just make them into baby bears, then.」

「Even if she summoned them in their cub forms, we would still have to put them in a cage while we’re in town.」

Cliff helped me convince her.

「Noa, do you want the bears to go into a cage?」

Noa shook her head.

「Besides, you’ll be together again when we head back home.」

「Okay...」

Noa said and obediently climbed down from Swaying Bear.

「Swaying Bear, Hugging Bear. Thank you for letting us ride you. Please take care of us on our way back as well.」

Noa patted them one last time before saying goodbye.

I then unsummoned the Bears and started walking towards the town. It was already close, so we shouldn’t have any problems getting there on foot.

Noa and Fina both followed me without complaining.

It didn’t take long for us to reach the town gate, where I went through the usual ordeal of inquiring looks and ‘bear’ whispers. Even though I was used to this happening in every new town I entered, it still felt uncomfortable, so I pulled down my hood to cover my face.

「Your identification cards, please.」

A guard at the gate asked us.

As soon as he saw Cliff’s card, though, his facial expression changed.

「You’re free to enter.」

As expected, once the guard realized Cliff was a noble, his attitude changed drastically.

Cliff took back his card, touched the crystal board that checked if he was a criminal, and stepped ahead into the town, allowing for others to get checked as well.

Noa and Fina had no trouble, either; all they had to do was show their citizenship cards.

Once it got to my turn, and I showed him my guild card, though...

「You’re the adventurer Yuna-san?」

「Yep.」

The guard asked, comparing the card with me.

Was he surprised that a young girl like me was an adventurer? Or, was it my rank which surprised him?

Wait, could it be my new commerce rank, maybe? Yeah, he was probably shocked to see a merchant Bear.

「Is there a problem?」

「No... Please touch the crystal board and head in.」

I took back my card and did as he said.

The crystal board didn’t turn red, of course, since I wasn’t a criminal.

「These people are all guests of the Faren Gramm family. No need to report their arrival to the higher ups as I will be taking responsibility for them.」

Cliff said, turning back to face the guard.

「Yes, sir!」

The guard said after straightening his back.

How admirable of Cliff to vouch for us.

Anyway, we were able to head to Gran-san’s residence without any additional trouble.

A few minutes later, however...

「They are staring at us.」

「Yep, they are.」

「Why are they looking at us, though?」

「Well, everyone is staring at us, so...」

「......」

Cliff, the guards, Noa, and finally Fina all commented before looking at me.

「Maybe they are staring because Cliff and Noa are nobles.」

With the guards escorting them, the two of them stood out for sure.

If I saw nobles walking out and about, I would look at them and wonder what was going on as well.

「No, they’re all looking at you! You’re wearing a bear suit, after all.」

Cliff said exasperatedly, finally remembering what must have been the reason.

「Why didn’t you say so in the beginning, then?」

「I had just forgotten how out of place and weird your suit is. You corrupted me before I knew it!」

「Yuna-san’s suit is not weird but cute! People are looking at her because they think she looks cute.」

Noa didn’t seem to be lying when she said that. Thank you for always having my back, Noa.

Well, I was used to people staring at me, and I just wouldn’t be able to live in this world worry free without my suit.

「If you really don’t like standing out so much, we can split up, you know.」

「If we do that, I will go with Yuna-san.」

「I’m going with Big Sis Yuna as well.」

Noa and Fina said, grabbing onto me.

What nice children they were.

「We can’t do that. It would be too dangerous with just the three of you. Instead, we should hurry along and get to Old Man Gram’s place as quickly as we can.」

We couldn’t really hurry, though, since we couldn’t ride Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear here, so our only option was to walk.

Cliff wanted to bring Noa up onto his horse, but...

「I will walk together with Yuna-san.」

She rejected him, leaving him slightly hurt.

Quickly walking down the road, while attracting more stares, we eventually arrived at a large mansion, about the same size as the Cliff’s one.

Nobles’ mansions were huge no matter where I went, huh.

There were even two guards standing in front of the main gate.

「Good day, I’m Cliff Foschuroze.」

「We’ve been waiting for you, Cliff-sama. Would you mind showing us your identification and invitation cards, so we can make sure everything is in order?」

Cliff did as they asked.

「Thank you, everything seems to be in order. I’m guessing the girl next to you is your daughter, Noire-sama? Somebody will be coming shortly to guide you inside, so please wait just a moment.」

One of the guards headed into the mansion while the other one looked at me curiously.

「By the way, is this girl wearing a bear suit your attendant?」

Rather than being suspicious of how I was dressed, it felt like he was troubled by how he should interact with me.

「No, the ones accompanying me are these two guards. She is here to attend Miss Misauna’s birthday party.」

「Misauna-sama’s party... If you have an invitation, would you please show it to me?」

Fina and I both handed over our invitations.

The guard quickly scanned them over and then completely changed his attitude.

「Please excuse my rudeness.」

He said, straightening his back.

It seemed that as long as one had an invitation, they were treated as guests, no matter if they were a commoner, an adventurer, or a bear.

Soon after, a maid came out of the mansion.

「Cliff-sama, sorry to keep you waiting.」

The maid said and gave Cliff a polite bow.

She looked to be about twenty years old and had brown hair. She was quite pretty, in fact.

I had already thought about this with Lala-san, but did nobles choose their maids based on their looks?

Most of them were beautiful, after all.

「Meshun, it’s been a while.」

「Yes, it has. I’m glad that you’re doing well, Cliff-sama. Noire-sama, you’ve grown so big.」

「Yup, I’m taller now.」

They already knew this maid, it seemed.

After the maid finished giving her greetings to Cliff and Noa, she turned to me.

「Thank you for waiting, Yuna-sama, Fina-sama.」

「You know about us?」

「Yes. I’ve heard about you from Misana-sama and Gran-sama.」

Meshun-san said and smiled.

What had they said about us, I wondered. We hadn’t spent that much time together, so it shouldn’t be anything strange, right?

「Please follow me. I’ll be showing you to your rooms.」

「Would it be possible for me to see Old Man Gran first?」

Cliff asked Meshun-san as we began walking.

「Yes, no problem, but he’s greeting some other guests right now.」

「When he has time, then. Could you let him know?」

「Yes, of course.」

After walking through the mansion for a while, Meshun-san stopped in front of a door.

「Cliff-sama, Noire-sama, please use this room.」

「Eh, I have to be in the same room as Father?」

「Yes, Yuna-sama and Fina-sama will be staying in the room next to yours. The guards will stay in a room down the hall.」

「I want to be in the same room as Yuna-san and Fina.」

「There are only two beds in each room, unfortunately.」

「I can sleep together with Fina. Fina, you’re okay with that, right?」

「I will just sleep on the floor, then.」

「I can’t let you do that. Let’s sleep together.」

「If you really are okay with that, Noa-sama...」

Meshun-san gave Cliff a troubled look.

「Sorry about this, Meshun. I’ll be fine by myself.」

「Okay. In that case, Cliff-sama, please use the room here. Yuna-sama, Fina-sama, and Noire-sama, please use the room next to his.」

「Thank you.」

「Would you like to have lunch?」

「Lunch would be good. Will you prepare it for us?」

「Yes. I will bring it to your rooms immediately.」

I wanted to take a walk through the town and eat at some food stands, though. Well, I probably shouldn’t be going off on my own, right?

「Well then, I will now show your guards to their room as well.」

Meshun-san said and took the two guards with her.

Well, we were inside a guarded mansion, so letting them leave shouldn’t be a problem at this point. Heck, Noa even took walks around Crimonia all on her own from time to time, so there should really be no reason to have them still tagging along.

Cliff didn’t seem to be concerned at all and entered his room.

「Yuna-san, let’s go into our room.」

Noa said and dragged me into our room, which really, as I immediately noticed, only had two beds.

「Ahh, I’m so tired...」

Noa said, flopping down on top of one of the beds.

「Big Sis Yuna, is it really okay for me to be here?」

Fina worried about what to do while standing by the door.

「I kind of want to ask the same thing about myself....」

A commoner and an adventurer. Neither of us had the social standing to participate at a noble’s party.

We wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have to.

「Big Sis Yuna, why did your expression turn dark all of a sudden?」

「Sorry, I was just thinking about the party, but at least the one we are going is Misa’s and not Gran-san’s..」

Misa’s party was only for friends and family, after all.

「That’s not fair. Yuna-san and Fina should go to Grandpa Gran’s party too.」

「We don’t have invitations, though. Also, unlike Misa’s party, Gran-san’s party will have many nobles attending, not just his family and friends.」

Just that fact alone was enough for me not to want to attend.

「If I had a choice, I wouldn’t want to attend either.」

Fina backed me up.

「Uuu, even you’re against me, Fina...」

Noa started pouting.

Fina tried to comfort her just as somebody knocked on the door. It was Meshun-san, bringing our food.

「Your meal is ready.」

「Thank you.」

「Where’s Father?」

「Cliff-sama went to give his greetings to Gran-sama.」

「Is it okay for us to eat without him, then?」

「Yes. I already set his portion aside, so you don’t have to wait for him.」

Cliff was giving his greetings to Gran-san, huh. Was it really okay for us not to go as well?

Well, if we had to, Cliff would have told us to accompany him. I really didn’t know much about this world’s etiquette, though...

We proceeded to eat our meal and discussed what we were going to do in the three days before Gran-san’s party. Then, the door swung open....

Author’s Note:

I will be releasing once every three days for now and see how it goes.