Kuma – Chapter 72

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Bear-san, Baker GET | Part 1

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The next day, after obtaining the eggs, I went to the capital.
With this, it would be okay for now.
While I was taking my time inside the Bear House, I heard a voice calling me from outside.
When I went out, Noa stood there imposingly with puffed cheeks.

「Yuna-san, did you go somewhere while leaving me here all alone?」

「Can I ask something too?」

「What is it?」

「I don’t understand, does Noa have nothing else to do? Aren’t there any courtesy greetings or preparations that need to be done as a noble for the birthday party?」

「There aren’t. It’s basically because mother lives here that there is no need for greetings. The only greetings needed would be ones in the hall, during the birthday party. I will be accompanied by mother and father for that; and since the leading part will be going to my big sister, I’m just a bonus. More importantly, I came with Misa yesterday. She wanted to see the bears.」

「Sorry, I had some business outside the capital.」

I couldn’t tell her that I went back to town through the transfer gate, so that was my response.
As an apology for yesterday, I will be Noa and Misa’s playmate today.
Well, their playmates will be the bears though.

As the days passed gradually since I came to the capital, the day of the king’s birthday approached.
Of course, as the day of the birthday party approached, Cliff and the other nobles were moving around busily.
Noa was no longer free to come to any more outings, and the times where I would go out with just Fina started to increase.

「Although I thought that there was a lot of people when we came to the capital, there are even more of them today.」

「This is the first time I’ve seen so many people!」

「Because of that, there are a lot of gazes.」

「Well, it’s because Big Sis Yuna’s suit stands out after all.」

The gazes of the people we crossed were always focused on me.
It had been a few months since I came to this world, and I had become accustomed to these gazes being fixated on me.
Although I would be lying if I said that it didn’t bother me, but human beings learn to adapt.

「Being bothered by it won’t do anything. Let’s enjoy the few days before the birthday party.」

「Yes.」

While buying, eating, and window-shopping at the street stalls, we walked around the capital.
The capital was too big, it was almost as if we wouldn’t have enough time to visit everything if we slowly took our time.
I even got various unusual things too.

「Ah, what a great smell.」

There was the scent of freshly baked bread coming from somewhere.

「Yes, it smells great.」

「It seems it is coming from the bakery over there. It’s just about time, so let’s eat?」

From where I could see, there was the signboard of a bakery.
It was a little shop, but a delicious smell was coming from there.
Inside the shop was a crowd of people.
All of them had been lured in by the scent just like us.
Fina and I lined up for the bread.
And after waiting for around ten minutes it was our turn.

「This bread looks delicious.」

A girl around my age was at the counter.
She seemed surprised by my suit, but she soon started talking with a smile afterwards.

「Thank you very much.」

「Then, I will take two pieces of bread please.」

「Yes.」

The girl gave us two pieces of bread that had just been brought out of the oven.
What a nice scent.

「If it’s good, I will come back!」

「Yes, thanks for the patronage.」

After buying the bread, we went outside to eat them.

「This may be the best bread I have ever had.」

「Yes, it’s delicious.」

It was fluffy bread.
It brought back the memories of the bread I ate back in Japan.
With this bread…making sandwiches or cheese toast…
Making all sort of things would be great, I bet.
Without forgetting, I decided to buy some before going back to Crimonia.
But…with all those customers…it would definitely be difficult to buy it…
Maybe if I came here first thing in the morning.

With that in mind, after taking into account the hour at which the bakery would open, I departed on the next day.
For now, since I didn’t have rice, bread would have to be the center of my eating habit.
If it had to be like this, I wanted to eat delicious bread.
Thinking that, I arrived at the bakery.

Ara, there was a lot of people in front of the bakery…
Was I too late?

「Please stop!」

From the opened door, a woman past her thirties was shouting.
Next to her was the girl that was at the counter yesterday.
They were most likely mother and daughter.
The mother protected her daughter by shielding her and resisting with all of her strength.
The people watching this scene didn’t try to help them…

「Hurry and get out! This shop is not your property!」

About three men were acting violently in the shop.
Because they were acting so violently inside the shop, bread was flying everywhere.
*Puchi*
(TL note: it’s the sound of a vein that is contracted on Yuna’s head: “Yuna angry!” feels like that…)

「But, we had an agreement that until the birthday party—」

「There are other people who want to do some business here!」

Not finished, the man stepped on the bread that fell and was rolling on the floor.
*Puchi*

「But, the agreement—」

「Agreement, agreement…Just shut up! If you want to work here, you have to repay your husband’s debt! If you want, you can repay it with your daughter’s body…」

The man grabbed the arm of the girl.
*Puchi*

「Let go of my daughter!」

The mother grabbed the man to save her child.
But the man hit her.
*Puchiーn*
I snapped.
I barged into the shop.

「What is it, you bitch!」

I punched.

「What are you doing?」

I kicked.

「You bitch, we are—」

I flung him away.

「Who wants to die first…?」

I asked the men that were collapsed on the floor.

「You think that it will end just like that?」

The man drew the sword he had on his waist.

「If you are drawing, I guess you don’t have any complaints about dying right?」

「Don’t fuck with me!」

I launched a Bear Punch into his solar plexus.
The man collapsed while holding his stomach.

「Who’s next?」

I looked at the remaining two guys.

「You bitch, I’ll remember those clothes. Don’t think that you’ll be able to leave the capital safely!」

The remaining two guys shouted while dragging the man who collapsed.
At that moment, an applause came from the audience.

「Are you okay?」

I approached the mother and daughter and asked.

「Yes, thank you very much.」

「By the way, that’s terrible.」

All the fresh bread was scattered on the floor.
From them drifted a really great scent, so I think I sensed even more cruelty.
It was bad, just looking at all the bread on the floor, my anger was welling up.
I should have punched them some more.

「Before, I think he said something about a debt?」

「Yes, it was a debt from when we purchased this store. But when my husband died not too long ago, they started to coerce us into repaying the debt.」

「But, with such delicious bread, you could reimburse the debt with no problem, right?」

「Yes, if we had the time, it would be possible. But there is someone who wants this land, and more precisely this place.」

That’s why the men started harassing them, so that they would leave this place.
Hmmm, what to do?
I wanted their bread, so I needed the bakery to continue.
Would this problem finish if I paid the debt?

「But, before leaving this place we wanted to earn enough money, so we could open our next bakery.」

「You will continue the bakery elsewhere?」

「Yes, it’s the bread that my husband entrusted to me after all. I want to continue the bakery until I die.」

What a wonderful love between this husband and wife.
I couldn’t stand doing nothing.

「Okay, I understand. Then, why don’t you work at my shop?」

「Your shop?」

「Yes, I was planning on opening a shop, but I am a bit troubled because I don’t have enough personnel to do so.」

It was the new shop I was planning on opening in Crimonia.
I wanted to let the children at the orphanage do it, but an adult was necessary if I wanted to entrust it to them.
Even more so when it was a talented baker who could bake delicious bread, which was needed in my shop.

「Is it a bakery? I can only bake bread after all.」

「Of course, I will ask you to make some bread, but you will also have to make other things. While we are at it, the thing I want you to make is this.」

I brought out two puddings and gave it to the them.

「What is this?」

「This is a dish named pudding.」

The two of them ate the pudding.

「It’s delicious!」

「I want to sell this with the bread, but what do you think?」

I was planning on selling pizza too.
If you have bread dough, you could make pizza.
Killing two birds with one stone.

「Who are you exactly?」

「I am an adventurer from Crimonia. For various reasons, I will open a shop.」

「Hmmm, is it okay if my daughter comes too…?」

「Of course it’s okay.」

「Thank you very much. I am Morin. My daughter’s name is Karin.」

「Then, before those men come back, let’s go.」

「But…our luggage…」

I took out 10 item bags that I previously took from the thieves.
I haven’t used them at all, so I didn’t really know just how much they could hold, so I took out this much in case it wasn’t sufficient.

「This is?」

「These are item bags. You can put the little things you have in it, and the big ones will go into the item box I have on me.」

Since we didn’t know when the men would come back, we immediately began moving.
I asked Morin-san to assemble all the utensils needed to make bread.
Fina and I helped Karin take the household goods.
I gathered all of the western clothes inside each closet and the books from the bookshelves and put them away.
For the small stuff, Karin-san was taking care of them and placed them inside the item bags.

「Excuse me, Yuna-san.」

While tidying up, Karin-san called my name in a little voice.

「What is it?」

「Will we really be able to open a store in Crimonia?」

「Yes, but it won’t be just bread.」

「Why are you doing so much for us?」

「I want to eat delicious bread.」

「Huuuh?」

「I want to eat delicious bread. Just that is largely sufficient, right? Let’s stop blabbering, hurry and finish tidying up. We don’t know when those men will come back after all.」

As if we were running away at night, we placed all of the items in the house and the bakery inside the item bags and the Bear Box before running through the back door.

「Excuse me…where are the two of us going now?」

「For now, you can just come and live at my house. We shall see how things turn out, and we’ll head to Crimonia after that.」

Without encountering those men, we arrived at the Bear House.

「Bear?」

Seeing the house, the two of them tilted their heads.

「Well, stop with that reaction and come inside.」

I took them inside the house.

「I’ll let you see the bedrooms later. You can use the second floor.」

「Ummm, I want to thank you again.」

「Don’t worry about it.」

「But, at that rate, I don’t know what would’ve happened to Karin.」

「So, who were they?」

「Well, they were the subordinates of a merchant called Jorz. He’s the merchant that said he would sell the place cheaply to my husband, but it was a scam. The place wasn’t cheap, and an enormous price was written on the contract. My husband wanted to sue him, but we couldn’t do anything about it since it was written in the contract. My husband, saying that complaining was no good, decided that we just had to make delicious bread. And once we could finally make delicious bread, he died. At that moment, Jorz started to say that we had to repay him at the same time, and that’s why they were harassing us.」

「I don’t understand all of it, but what happened to the money you paid before? You purchased the bakery, so isn’t it yours now?」

「The problem is that there was a term saying that if my husband died, the shop would return to Jorz, it seems.」

「Simply put, you thought you bought it cheaply, but it was really pricy, and in addition to this, if your husband died, the shop would return to the hands of the merchant Jorz…Your husband has been deceived a little too much, don’t you think?」

「Yes, my husband didn’t know how to distrust strangers.」

「What an incredibly perfid merchant!」

‘As one would expect, he was a stupid husband!’ I couldn’t say that…

I guided them to the rooms, and told them that I would rest for a bit.
We ate lunch afterwards, and while I was taking my afternoon nap, it became noisy outside.

「Get out here!」

「We’ll break the door!」

「You bear! Come out!」

It’s so noisy outside…
I will have to construct a soundproof barrier…

「Big Sis Yuna…」

「Don’t worry, nobody can enter.」

「But…」

「You just have to wait here.」

When I came out, around 20 men were here.

「You came out, Miss Bear!」

A fat man with a bulging stomach and a smiling face started talking to me.
A creepy face.
He had a face that made me think that even if someone told me that he had toads as relatives, I would believe it.

「Who the hell are you?」

「I am the merchant, Jorz-sama!」

「Then I will recommend you to change your name to Jorz The Toad.」

「Bitch!」

「Stop! More importantly, I heard that you’ve hurt my subordinates!」

「He started it by trying to attack me with his sword. Would you prefer that he cut me in half with it?」

「You think you can just simply oppose Jorz-sama here in the capital? You want to end up like the baker girl, and sold somewhere?」

He said that with his smug face.
Ah, I wanted to hit his face!
I wanted to see his face twisted with pain.
I wanted to see his face filled with suffering.

「But if you give me the baker mother and daughter, I will forgive you for what you’ve done this time…」

「Excuse me, but aren’t you misunderstanding the situation if you think that it’ll all go as you’ve planned?」

「I know that missy is an adventurer. It’s impressive that you are a D‐rank while being a woman at this age, but these men here are former C and D‐rankers you know! They aren’t the sort of people you can win against! And lastly, look at their numbers!」

「No more…It stinks, so please don’t open your mouth anymore.」

「You bitch!」

I invoked earth magic.
The men’s footsteps disappeared instantly.
They all fell down a pitfall, leaving the Merchant Jorz alone.
The holes were around five meters deep, so some might’ve gotten bone fractures. If they had no luck, there was a chance that they might’ve died.

「You bitch…You were a magic user?」

「Didn’t you say you investigated me?」

「When I investigated at the guild, your occupation was that of a Bear, you know.」

So nostalgic! The time I wrote that my occupation was a Bear!
But, well, that’s not a mistake…

「There is no way an occupation like that exists, you know? Now, what will you do? Will you dive into a pit too? Or will you overlook me? Which is better?」

「Is it okay for you to do this to me? I am a man that can influence the guild master of the adventurer guild you know! I could pinch and crush an adventurer of your caliber easily!」

「Ara, was I so intimate with you?」

Sanya-san had been standing behind Jorz for some time, listening to the discussion.

「San–ya-san? Why are you here?」

「There was a guild staff member that was attending you, and when he spilled out what he knew, he said that the infamous merchant Jorz ordered him, and so I came after you.」

「And you said that you can affect the guild master Sanya-san…What are you going to do now?」

「Don’t joke with me! What is a guild master? I am intimate with the king you know? If I told the king, what could you do?」

If you’ll say something once, you’ll say it again.
Wasn’t there a saying like that?

「Who are you, you bastard. I don’t know someone like you!」

「W–why is the king in a place like this???」

「Ah, I’m just taking a stroll and I have a request for my best friend, the adventurer Yuna. That’s why I slipped out of the castle.」

Is that really okay, your majesty???
Also, since when did we become best friends???

「The king? That’s a lie!」

「It’s your problem if you think it’s a lie, but using the king’s name is a criminal act. Don’t think it will end smoothly. Sanya, cuff this nasty man. I will let you contact the castle.」

「I don’t have a choice, huh…I’m the only one here who can do this.」

Sanya-san arrested Jorz and tied him up.

「Let me go! Who do you think I am?」

「Shut up!」

Sanya-san knocked him out.

「So, what does his Highness want?」

「What? Are you not going to let me enter?」

「You want to come inside?」

「When you see a house like this, you would want to see the inside too, right?」

The house in front of him was the Bear House.

「Why do you know where my house is?」

「Of course, it’s because I heard it from Eleanora.」

「Haaa…I understand. I will hear your story inside.」

Why do I have to guide the king inside my house?

「Big Sis Yuna, who is this uncle?」

Fina asked because I let an unknown uncle enter the house.

「It’s the king. He wanted to request something of me, so don’t worry about it.」

「Ummm, the king?」

She tilted her head cutely.

「Yes, the king.」

「The most eminent person in this country?」

「Yep.」

「W–Why is someone like him here???」

「No idea. Why not try asking him directly?」

Fina shook her head furiously.
Did they know the king’s face? Morin-san and Karin-san had ghastly pale faces.

「So what do you want?」

I enquired the king who was looking around the room.

「Ah, that’s right. I want you to make pudding for the birthday party. If it comes out for the dinner event, I am sure that all the people present will be surprised.」

What is this king thinking??
Can I refuse?

「By the way, is a refusal…」

「What? You want to decline a personal request from me, the king?」

I knew it…The king is someone that would just think about himself and wouldn’t accept refusals from anyone.

「It’s not that, but making pudding costs money.」

「If it’s just that, I will pay.」

「 I need clucker eggs…」

「Eleanora said that you would have plenty of them inside your item bag.」

This man…

「By the way, how many should I make? If you require too many of them, I won’t be able to do it, you know.」

「If you’re doing it, that would be 300.」

「Impossible. The exit is this way.」

I pointed at the entrance.

「Then, how many can you produce?」

「If I do my best, the limit would be 200. If you prepare eggs, I can make more of them, though.」

「That’s impossible. Well, I understand. Then 200 of them, please.」

「Hmmm…When is the birthday party again?」

「Hey!」

The king retorted.
I didn’t have any interest, but there was no choice, right?

「Big Sis Yuna, it’s in five days.」

「Then you are asking me to bring it on the morning of that day, right?」

「Yes, that would be great.」

「I don’t want anyone to know I am the one who made them…」

「I see. Then I’ll have you enter the castle secretly and put them in a room prepared for this.」

「If you don’t put it in a cold place, the deliciousness would be reduced by 50% though.」

「In that case, I will prepare a refrigerator in the room.」

If he was ready to go that far, I didn’t have any reasons to refuse him.
Thus, pudding was added as the dessert for the king’s birthday dinner party.

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