Chapter 217 – Bear-san Heads For the Elf Village, For Real

After passing me the deed to the house, Letobell-san boarded the carriage and left me behind on my own.

I used the keys that were inside the deed to unlock the door. When I entered, I immediately noticed a lot of dust drifting around in the air, so I decided to open some windows to air out the house.

It really seemed like the house hadn’t been occupied for a long time.

They had mentioned that the house was cleaned about once a month, so this was about what I had expected. Had it been left uncleaned for all these years, the condition would have been a lot worse.

I then began using my wind magic to sweep the floors. Luckily, there was only large furniture in the house. Had there been any small objects, my wind would have blown them all away, making my job much harder.

As I walked through the house, I noticed that the arrangement was really basic.

There were a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom with a tub and toilet on the first floor, and two bedrooms on the second. It kind of gave of the newlywed vibe. Not that I really cared much about that as I only planned to use it as a hideout for my Bear Gate.

The gate would make it much easier for me whenever I wanted to travel over this border. It would have been even better if I had a place over the river, but this should be good enough.

Once I finished going through all the rooms, I decided to set up the Bear Gate in one of the bedrooms. I didn’t plan on staying in this house, but I still decided to set it up in the one I would be using, just in case if I had someone sleep over. I made sure to put it in the corner, though, so I had space to move around.

Now I could come to this city whenever I wanted. After cleaning up the place a bit more, I locked the door and walked back to the inn. I wouldn’t want the sisters to worry about me being kidnapped or something.

「Yuna-chan, you took a while. Is everything alright?」

I must have still taken longer than expected as Sanya-san was already worried. Yeah, I should have come back sooner. If I had taken any longer, they would have likely stormed up to Letobell-san’s home and broken down the door.

「It went well. I met his granddaughter and had to read some books to her. Then, they even served me some tea when I wanted to leave.」

I explained what took me so long, leaving out the matter of the house for now.

「I see. That’s good, then. Still, if they forced you to do anything, please tell me.」

After I thanked Sanya for her concern, Ruimin came over as well.

「Yuna-san, thank you so much for getting the bracelet back.」

Ruimin said and bowed deeply.

I looked at her wrist and saw that the bracelet was now safely back on it.

「I’m glad you were able to get your bracelet back.」

「It’s all thanks to you, Yuna-san.」

「Actually, Sanya-san was the one who paid for it.」

I didn’t really have any idea how much she had paid, as gemstone value was a complete mystery to me.

Also, it was thanks to my Bears that we had been able to cross the river, so I hadn’t actually done anything myself.

Crossing the river might have been the hardest part, and the Bears were indeed my summoned beasts, but it it weren’t for the God presenting me with the Water Walking skill, it wouldn’t have been possible. I really didn’t think I should take any credit here.

「I heard about what happened from Onee-chan. She would have no way of getting it back without your help.」

「Sanya-san still did most of the work.」

「Even if she did, I must say your bears are really amazing; they can even walk on water.」

Sanya-san had told about that, huh.

I had asked Sanya-san not to tell anybody about the summoned bears and my Water Walking skill, but I did make an exception for Ruimin when Sanya-san asked if we should keep it from her as well.

Ruimin already knew about the Bears, I saw no problem with her learning about the skill. We might even need to use that skill again anyway.

「Then you should thank them instead as they were the ones to work hard to get us across.」

「Of course! Swaying Bear-chan and Hugging Bear-chan really did their best for me, didn’t they?」

We continued to chat for a while and soon Miranda-san’s party entered the room, most likely wanting to know if we got the bracelet back.

They had actually wanted to come along in the morning, but something came up, and they weren’t able to.

「I’m glad that everything worked out.」

「I’m sorry for causing you all so much trouble.」

Ruimin apologized to Miranda-san’s party once more.

「Still, I can’t believe you actually managed to cross such a rapid river and then even got the bracelet back despite the odds. I guess this just shows the power of a guild master.」

「Yeah, it would have been impossible for poor adventurers like us.」

Bitter smiles appeared on their faces when Miranda-san said that.

「Yuna-chan, how exactly did you two cross the river?」

Erielle-san asked me, while also taking a step towards me. I made sure to also take a step back before answering.

「Sorry, but that’s a secret.」

「You can tell us.」

She said, looking quite displeased.

While I didn’t really mind telling them how we crossed, I decided to keep it to myself for now.

「Sanya-san, how did you two cross the river?」

Since I wouldn’t tell her, Miranda-san targeted Sanya-san instead.

「Guild masters don’t leak information on other adventurers, you know.」

「Uuuu, too bad, then.」

Finally moving away from the bracelet and river crossing conversation, we jumped into discussing our current plans.

「When do you think the boats will be able to depart?」

「Hmmm, about three days, probably? Yeah, they should be able to set sail by then.」

「Still, since the boats haven’t been working for the last few days, they will probably be crowded on first few trips.」

Since Miranda-san’s party was from this city, their estimates should most likely be right, and that meant that we wouldn’t be able leave for next few days. Not to mention I really didn’t want to ride a crowded boat... I wanted to experience a comfortable journey where I could relax and look at the scenery; a crowded boat would be the exact opposite of that.

「Are you all going to Sorzanark, Sanya-san?」

「Yes, we are going to our hometown.」

「Could it be that something happened there? Was that why Ruimin went all the way to the capital to find you?」

How sharp. She didn’t know any of the details but was still able to figure out what had happened.

「It’s nothing serious; the village chief just asked me to return home.」

「Is that so?」

「I haven’t really heard any details, either.」

Everyone then turned to Ruimin.

「The chief only told me to bring Onee-chan home.」

The two of them had decided to keep the barrier problem a secret.

Well, it was a vital part of elven defenses, so it made sense to keep quiet about it.

Hmm, they had told me, though...

「Anyway, we plan on departing tomorrow if at all possible, so I would like to thank you again for taking care of Ruimin. If you ever come around to the capital please visit the Adventurer’s Guild. I would like to express my gratitude to you there.」

「You don’t really have anything to thank us for, but I promise we will definitely stop by if we ever head that way.」

Well, they were adventurers, so it would make sense for them to stop by the Adventurer’s Guild anyway.

I could maybe also meet with them if I were at the capital at the time, but it would most likely be hard, considering I wasn’t there often.

「Yuna-chan, do you live in the Capital as well?」

Erielle-san asked me. I didn’t really want her to ever come to my house, but Crimonia was quite a distance away, so it should be fine.

「I live in Crimonia.」

「Crimonia? That’s far.」

Yea, it was, so I really hoped she would never come to visit me.

「Well, please let us stay at your house if we ever come around.」

No, that couldn’t happen! I tried to just laugh off her request, letting Ruimin take over.

「Everyone, thank you so much. I’m really happy I got to meet you here.」

「But, we didn’t really do anything.」

「Yeah, that’s true.」

「No, it’s not! Everyone was very nice and welcoming to me. I was really happy when you helped me out.」

「Well, I’m glad to hear that. If any of you ever come past here again, let’s meet up and have a chat, okay?」

「Okay!」

We only finished chatting late in the afternoon, so Sanya-san decided to treat us all to dinner.

After it, we finally parted from Miranda-san’s party and returned to out room.

「Yuna-chan, since the boats won’t be able to depart anytime soon, I was wondering if it would be okay to ride your bears again.」

Sanya-san wanted to return to the Elf Village as quickly as possible.

I had already set up a Bear Gate in this city, so I had no reason in sticking around, either

The only regret I had was not being able to ride on the ferry boat.

Well, that was only a trivial matter, so I agreed to her request.

The next day, we left the city by the same gates we had entered.

The weather was nice today, so we couldn’t summon the Bears at the docks, much less walk across the river from there. That was why we had to walk a bit upstream this time around.

「This spot should be good.」

We had gotten quite a distance from the city, where nobody was in sight.

「Yay, we can finally cross the river.」

Ruimin said and immediately climbed onto Swaying Bear.

She was was excited for this after hearing that Bears could walk on water.

Earlier, she had kept asking stuff like, 「Are we there yet?」 and 「This is far enough, right?」

「Don’t get too excited once we are crossing. It won’t be my fault if you fall off.」

Even though weather was fine, the river was still flowing rapidly, so I warned her in case she got too excited and accidentally jumped off.

Once we were all set, Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear leapt onto the river and began running across.

「This is amazing! We’re really running across the river!」

Ruimin wasn’t going completely crazy, but she was making quite a ruckus.

「Ruimin, calm down.」

「But Onee-chan, we’re running on top of a river!」

「Yes, I know.」

Sanya-san tried to get her sister to calm down, but it didn’t really work.

Well, the crossing only took a couple of minutes, so we should be fine.

「The two of you are amazing!」

The moment we arrived to the other side Ruimin jumped off Swaying Bear and started stroking its fur.

Even though the crossing was already finished, it didn’t seem like she would calm down anytime soon.

I left dealing with the hyperactive Ruimin to Sanya-san, and slowly rode forward, hopefully in the direction of the Elf Village.

Author’s Note:

We’re finally going to the Elf Village.