Chapter 212 – Bear-san Negotiates with the Merchant – Part 2

Author’s Note: I’m sorry that the chapter is on the short side.

The Bear Water-Walking skill.

As the name suggested, using it gave me the ability to walk on water.

I could also use the skill on my summoned beasts, so they could do it, too.

I had learned the skill quite a while ago but never had the chance to use it.

It was pretty fun when I tried using it at a river near Crimonia.

I felt like a ninja, running across the water like that.

Testing it further, I had summoned Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear and got them to run across the river as well.

There was no way something like that would happen without the skill.

If I had learned the skill before I fought the kraken, that battle would have been a whole different story. Well, I had managed to defeat it using the Bear Wall trap anyway, but it would still have been way easier with Bear Water Walking.

「Yuna-chan, you’re kidding, right?」

「Yuna-san, please don’t do anything reckless just to get my bracelet back.」

The elf sisters were worried about me, but I didn’t think I was being reckless here.

The Water Walking skill would feel like walking on normal ground. The flowing water make the ground feel a bit uneven, that’s all. Also, the river would only be a few hundred meters wide, which shouldn’t take me more than a few minutes. Yeah, there shouldn’t be any problem at all.

「Have you thought of some other way to get across?」

Sanya-san asked me with a serious expression. She must know I was the only hope for this to end smoothly.

「Don’t worry, I have a plan.」

I said and smiled to reassure them.

「Okay, that’s enough for me.」

Sanya-san made her decision and looked at Dogrude-san.

「Please leave the matter of retrieving the painting to us, Dogrude-san.」

「How do you plan on retrieving it? Are you saying you’ll cross the river and get it? The boats can’t move, and it would be impossible to swim across as well.」

「If Yuna-chan says she can do it, then I know she will find a way.」

Sanya-san stated with an unwavering conviction.

I appreciated the fact that she believed in me, but it was embarrassing to see her act this way.

Dogrude-san slowly moved his gaze towards me.

「Please excuse my rudeness, but I don’t see how a girl dressed like a bear could do anything about this.」

Well, I couldn’t blame him for thinking that way.

This time around, it wasn’t just because of my Bear Suit; with how rapid the river was, it was pretty unbelievable that anyone could cross it.

「Well, even if we end up failing, that doesn’t change much for you, does it?」

「You’re right, but...」

If we didn’t end up bringing the painting back, that just meant the present situation wouldn’t change, but if we did get the painting, then we could give it to the client and get Ruimin’s bracelet back without any further problems.

「If we fail to deliver, we will give up on negotiating with the client, which means you can give the bracelet to the client freely. That’s why, could you please leave the matter of retrieving the painting to us? And, if we do manage to bring it to you by tomorrow morning, then I would like for you to let us buy back the bracelet.」

Sanya-san negotiated with Dogrude-san, while putting her full trust in me. She didn’t even ask me how I planned on getting across the river.

Dogrude-san started to ruffle his hair, deep in thought. It took him quite a while before he finally spoke up to respond.

「Okay. I will leave the painting to you. And, if you do bring it to me by tomorrow, I will sell you the bracelet as promised.」

「Thank you for trusting us and being so understanding.」

「Wait, could I at least check your guild cards?」

Having no real problem with that, Sanya-san and I both took out our guild cards to show him.

The cards did show if we had gotten into any trouble or had failed any requests, so it was completely understandable for him to want to have a look at them.

It would be a big problem for him if I was someone bad and decided to steal the painting instead.

Dogrude-san first took a look at Sanya-san’s guild card and looked at her in surprise.

「You’re the guild master of the capital’s Adventurer Guild?!」

Sanya-san seemed rather gleeful to see his shocked expression.

「I hope you can trust me a bit more knowing this?」

「Of course. I’m just surprised that Ruimin’s sister is actually the guild master of the main Adventurer’s Guild.」

Miranda-san’s party had also been shocked when they learned she was a guild master, and of the capital’s Adventurer Guild, no less. They had even confronted Ruimin and asked her why she had kept quiet about it. Well, she actually hadn’t even known her sister was the guild master until she reached the capital, so it wasn’t really her fault.

Next, Dogrude-san took a look at my guild card.

He should be surprised by mine, too, as I was a rank C adventurer, which I had only recently learned was considered to be quite a high rank.

I was really glad that they hadn’t raised my rank to B when I defeated the Kraken. If they had, I couldn’t even imagine how shocked people would be when they saw it.

Well... they were usually already plenty surprised by the fact that a young girl dressed as a bear was an adventurer, so maybe it wouldn’t really make that much of a difference.

As expected, Dogrude-san seemed very surprised when checking my guild card.

「Your occupation is bear?!」

Wait, that was what he was surprised about?

For a while, he just switched between looking at me and the occupation on the card before reading onward.

「And, you’re a C rank adventurer, huh.」

Shouldn’t he be more surprised about that rather than my occupation?!

Well, it was a really weird occupation, so it made sense to leave people puzzled, but still...

「Eh?! You’re really a C rank adventurer, Yuna-san?!」

It turned out that Ruimin didn’t believe me all the way up until now. Miranda-san’s party was shocked as well, while Sanya-san was simply laughing at their reactions.

「You are really rank C?!」

「But, you’re so small and cute...」

「You must be kidding, right?」

Everyone got up from their seats to look at the guild card Dogrude-san was holding.

Didn’t these people know not to judge others based on appearances?

In games, it was impossible to tell how strong another player was without looked at their stats or at least taking a good look at their equipment.

「Yuna-chan may be dressed like a bear, but she is still an excellent adventurer.」

Sanya-san tried to convince them, or rather, save me from having them all look at my guild card. None of them really seemed convinced, but they did all return back to their seats, still wearing puzzled expressions.

「I think I get it now. I don’t know how you plan on crossing the river, but I will leave retrieving the painting in your hands.」

Dogrude-san then proceeded to explain where the painting was and gave me a sealed letter.

「Please take this with you. It’s the contract showing that you have accepted the request of bringing it here. If you show it to the shop owner, they should give you the painting without any further trouble.」

I stashed the letter into my Bear Box.

「I just have to bring you the painting by tomorrow noon, right?」

「Yes. It should be fine as long as you make it back by noon. And, I promise that, until then, I will not hand over the bracelet.」

I thanked him and headed out of the shop. The others followed me out. It was already evening with how long everything had taken us.

「Yuna-chan, if you don’t mind letting me know, how exactly are you planning on getting across?」

「I’m just going to head over first thing tomorrow morning.」

Miranda-san and her party were here, so I didn’t want to reveal too much. Sanya-san quickly grasped what I was trying to do and changed the topic.

「Okay, let’s go to an inn and rest for the night, then.」

We followed Miranda-san to an inn where we treated her party to a meal as thanks for everything they had done for us.

Author’s Note:

The bracelet arc should finish in the next chapter... I think.