Chapter 200 – Bear-san Checks Her Goods from the Country of Wa

(ED Note: Country of Harmony and Peace (Cohap) is a mouthful, so it’s now the Country of Wa. Wa(和) is a kanji really associated with Japan, so just think of it as isekai Japan.)

The next day, after eating breakfast at my home, I decided to wash the bedsheets and towels we had used when staying in my Bear House on the way to Sheelin.

Well, it wasn’t like Cliff and his guards had really dirtied them, but I still wanted to always have fresh sheets in all the rooms.

After hanging them to dry, I headed to the tailor shop to meet with Sherry.

By the time I got there, they were already open. I greeted Narl-san and headed straight to the back, where I knocked on the door and entered, only to be met by Sherry, already in the middle of sewing.

「Morning, Sherry. Did you finish making the plushies?」

「Yuna-san? Yes, they’re all done. I lined them up over there.」

I looked over to where she was pointing and saw the plushies neatly lined up on the shelf. There were three sets, where Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear were placed alternately, showing off the black and white contrast.

With six of these plushies lined up, the room kind of gave off a pushie store vibe. It almost made me wonder what the shop would look like if all the shelves were stuffed with plushies.

「I was thinking of making some more...」

Three sets were more than enough for me, though. I needed a set for Noa and a set for Princess Flora. As long as I had those two covered, I had no pressing need for more plushies.

「That’s enough for now. You can make more when you have free time.」

I then approached the shelf and took a look at the plushies. It was only then that I noticed a bunch of palm-sized Swaying Bears and Hugging Bears hidden behind.

「Sherry, what are these?」

「Ah, those? Temoka-san was going to throw away the leftover fabric, but that seemed like such a waste, so I decided to use it, figuring it would be good practice to make some smaller size plushies.」

「They are really cute.」

Maybe the children at the orphanage would be happy to receive these.

「Thank you. The children at the orphanage really liked them.」

Oh, it looked like she had already brought some of them to the orphanage.

Given how many plushies she had made for me, it made sense for there to be a lot of leftover fabric. I had to admit that deciding to use it rather than throw it away was a great idea.

「Can I take these, then?」

「Yes, of course.」

「How much do I have to pay you for them?」

「I made them using the leftover fabric, so there is no need to pay me. The fabric was going to be thrown away anyway, and Temoka-san told me to use it as I saw fit.」

Hmm. Even though they were made from scraps, I could see Sherry had worked hard to make them.

I wanted to at least give her something as thanks, but I couldn’t think of anything right now... I would have to think about it later.

I placed all the Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear plushies into the Bear Box and left the shop after saying goodbye, of course.

With the pushies now in my possession, I decided to head straight to Noa’s house.

She had given me that beautiful dress, so I had to deliver the plushies to her as soon as possible. If I didn’t, Noa might even try to invade my house.

The guards let me pass without an issue, and Lala-san took me to Noa’s room.

「Yuna-san, why did you come here today?」

「I just wanted to bring you the plushies, as I promised.」

I gave Noa her set of plushies.

「Th-thank you very much!」

She accepted the plushies delightedly.

It felt quite nice seeing her this happy.

「You delivered them sooner than I expected you to.」

We had only returned to Crimonia yesterday, after all.

「I asked for them to be made before we left. I just went to pick them up from the shop today.」

「A shop? Did they make a lot of them?」

「I guess you could say that. They had made a set for Misa and some for the children at the orphanage. I also figured you would want a set of your own, so I ordered it in advance.」

Now, I just had to give a set to Princess Flora, and if Fina and Shuri wanted them too, I had an extra set for them to share.

「Really? But that means Misa and I are not the only ones with the Bear-san plushies...」

She sounded a bit disappointed there. Well, rare things had more value no matter what world we were in.

「Wait, you just said you asked a shop to make it, right? Does that mean I can get more of them?」

Her expression brightened suddenly.

「Why would you want to order more? I just gave you a set.」

I said, gesturing at Noa’s plushies that were now sitting on top of her table.

「What are you talking about? Obviously I need extras.」

She looked at me like I had said something weird.

Why would anyone need more than just one set of the same plushies?

I could understand if there were different versions of them, but there was no point in buying multiples of the same kind.

As I told her to just give it up, Noa puffed out her cheeks in anger in response, but that only made her look more cute than angry.

「By the way, did Leonardo-san go back home already?」

「Yes, he left early in the morning.」

Well, he had said he would leave as quickly as he could, but leaving so early in the morning...

I had wanted to treat him to some food if he stayed a bit longer, but well, he had told me I should save it for when he came back with Misa.

I had no intention of intruding on Cliff’s hospitality either, so I informed Noa I would be leaving.

「You’re going home already?」

Noa tried to stop me, but I told her that I had somewhere else to go today. After successfully managing to escape from Noa, I set my goal to Anzu’s shop.

Yesterday, when I had been eating dinner with Fina’s family, Terumi-san had notified me that a large quantity of packages from Mireera had arrived for me at Anzu’s shop.

There was no way I could postpone going there. Several times now, I had heard that a ship from the Country of Harmony and Peace had docked in Mireera, but apparently, it had never carried anything other than the regular goods, like rice and soy sauce. Mireera’s Commerce Guild Master, Jeremo-san, had made an order for several special goods from the Country of Harmony and Peace for me, so I hoped that those goods were finally here.

I practically ran to Anzu’s shop where I was met by the ‘closed’ sign.

Oh right, they were closed today. I completely forgot about that.

No wonder I hadn’t met anybody else on my way here. People otherwise always flocked here.

Hmm, what should I do? I could go to the dorm and get Anzu to open up the shop for me.

I thought that would be troublesome, but on the other hand, maybe it was better to do it today when she was off work, so I didn’t bother her while she was busy in the kitchen. I headed to the dorm, and as I was passing the orphanage, I spotted Anzu and Eris-san exiting it.

It didn’t take long for Anzu to notice me, and she quickly rushed up to me. She really didn’t need to be in a hurry....

「Yuna-san, you’re back!」

「I came back yesterday. Anzu, are you heading out?」

「That’s right. Since today is my day off, I thought I’d take a walk with Eris. Yuna-san, are you here for the orphanage?」

I tilted my head at her words.

「No, actually, I was wondering if you could open up your shop for me.」

「The shop?」

「Yesterday, Terumi-san told me that some packages from Mireera had arrived for me.」

Anzu immediately realized what I was talking about.

「Oh yes, I do. There were some goods that had to be refrigerated, so I decided to hold onto them until you returned.」

Since I didn’t want to bother her too much, I decided to ask her for the keys, so that she wouldn’t need to come with me.

「I will bring the keys to the dorm when I’m done. The two of you have somewhere to go, right?」

「No, we were just planning on taking a walk around town and don’t really have any errands to run.」

Eris-san nodded in agreement.

「It’s good that you’re taking walks. You’re holed up in your shop when you work, so going outside and taking a breath of fresh air is a nice change of pace.」

If they knew about the lifestyle I had in my former world, they would laugh at what I just said. It wasn’t convincing to hear something like that from a hikikomori. Luckily, nobody in this world knew about my past life, so it sounded like I just gave them some advice.

「Where is everybody else?」

「Peter went to the orphanage. Liliana and Forune went to see Morin-san to learn how to cook.」

Oh right, Morin-san now also lived at the dorm.

I really hoped everybody was enjoying their day off.

Still, had Peter gone to the orphanage to check on the children? Wouldn’t that just make him more tired? Also, learning how to cook meant that the girls were studying. They weren’t resting at all!

That was the complete opposite of how they were supposed to take their breaks. They didn’t even consider sleeping past noon. The people in this world worked way too much!

Chatting with Anzu and Eris, we arrived at the shop, and since Anzu had already come all the way here, she decided to just help me out.

「So, where are the packages?」

「They’re over there.」

She led me to a corner of the large storage where quite a few boxes were stacked up.

「The perishable goods are in the refrigerated pantry.」

The first thing my eyes landed on was a mountain of rice bags. There was more than enough for both the shop and me.

I would just ask now much I could take later.

Oh, and what was this?

I opened a wooden box and it contained a beautiful piece of cloth. I spread it out, unveiling a kimono.

「That’s clothing from the Country of Wa.」

I expected as much. Perhaps their culture was similar to that of Japan as well?

「As much as I would love to wear it, I just don’t know how to put it on.」

「Oh, I can show you how. Well, a person from the Country of Wa taught me quite a while ago, so I may not be very good at it.」

Of all people, Eris somehow knew how to tie a kimono.

Well, this was most likely my only opportunity to learn how to do it, so I made her promise to teach me when she had free time.

Even though I was Japanese, I had never worn a kimono before. I would have never thought the first time I would wear it would be in another world.

I took another look at the box and found a few yukatas and some kanzashis. Were they trying to tell me I should wear these too?

Well, they could be nice if there was a chance to see some fireworks...

Could I maybe watch some if I went to the Country of Wa?

Well, this world had magic, so there was a chance that they might not have gunpowder.

Could I maybe make fireworks with magic, then? I might be able to do it by shooting fire magic into the sky and then have the flames scatter. Wait, what about lightning magic?

I should probably try it out sometime.

(TLC note: A kanzashi (簪) is an ornate hairpin)

Okay, time to check the other goodies.

A katana?

Wow, it really was a real katana. It looked so cool. Knives and swords were nice, but a katana was a true Japanese weapon.

I unsheathed it, revealing a beautiful blade. It was comparable to my mithril knives, so it must have been expensive. I really appreciated it.

I opened another box, but there was nothing special inside, so I just threw it into the Bear Box.

I could always take my time looking through it at home.

I opened a few more boxes and found things like nori, soy beans, and azuki beans.

Oh, with these, I could make red bean paste, which meant I could eat red bean buns.

Should I stock up on these ingredients and serve the buns at my shop, maybe?

I returned to the pile of rice bags before heading for the refrigerated part of the pantry.

(TL note: Nori is seaweed, usually in a sor of paper. Azuki beans are the beans used in red bean paste)

「Anzu, can I take some rice?」

I asked her permission first since her shop also used it.

「The rice is yours, Yuna-san, so feel free to take as much as you want.」

I wanted to give some to Zelef-san, too, so I grabbed quite a bit.

Hmm? Some of the bags had a different color.

「Anzu, what’s in this bag?」

「Oh, it’s nothing special, just a different type of rice. Although the shape is supposedly different, I can’t really tell the difference. I believe it’s called mochi rice.」

「Mochi rice?!」

Wow, I had mochi rice now. This simply couldn’t get any better.

「Yuna-san, do you know what it is?」

「Yeah, kind of.」

It was mochi.

I got nori and soy sauce as well.

I just couldn’t believe I could eat mochi now.

Since I also had azuki beans, I could make ohagi or sekihan, too.

Before I could get to making mochi, however, I had to check out what was in the refrigerated pantry.

(TL note: Ohagi = rice ball coated with sweetened red beans, soybean flour or sesame, Sekihan = red rice, made during special occasions)

Author’s note:

The other day marked the one year anniversary of Kuma, and now we have also reached the 200th chapter milestone.

This was only made possible thanks to everyone who bookmarked or rated my series.

Without you, I most likely wouldn’t have been able to keep writing this far.

I look forward to working with you all in the future.

Hmm, now that goods from the Country of Harmony and Peace have arrived without any interferences, what should we do next?