Chapter 250: 250
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Once our talks were all settled, Cliff massaged the corners of his eyes .
「Cliff, you seem really tired . 」
He had been doing the same thing for a while now .
He must be even more tired than he looked .
「Thanks to a certain someone, the amount of traffic around Crimonia has increased, so I have a lot more work to do . 」
Oh right, Mylene-san had mentioned that a lot of merchants from other towns had been coming to Crimonia these days to do business, and things were getting out of hand .
Since it had nothing to do with me, I didn’t look into it to much . I did wonder who the certain someone was, however .
「Being a feudal lord sure is tough, huh . 」
「Yes, thanks to a certain someone . 」
「You keep saying a certain someone, but who are you talking about?」
「Are you seriously asking me that?」
「…?」
Cliff looked at me in shock .
Why would he look at me like that? I turned to Noa for an answer .
「Yunsan…」
Noa had the same expression as Cliff .
Did something big happen and I was the only one left in the dark?
Until recently, I had been at the Elf Village, so it couldn’t be helped that I wasn’t up to date on the happenings at home .
「Did something happen while I was out?」
「While you were out? No, it was before that! Have you somehow forgotten that you dug a tunnel to Mireera?! Thanks to that, Crimonia had a huge increase in traffic . 」
Cliff said in a higher pitch .
「Oh right, that . 」
Yup, I had completely forgotten that happened . Lately, I always used the Bear Gate to travel around, so the tunnel never came to my mind .
Well, that should also be thanks to the fact I had been forced to make stone statues of my Bear-self at both ends of the tunnel and wiped out all the memories connected to it .
「Of course, the tunnel is very beneficial to us as there are now more people passing through Crimonia . More and more people want to see the ocean, and the sea trade has also hit a big rise . Yet, thanks to that, we don’t have nearly enough lodging available . Crime is also on the rise due to the influx of people . We need more people for security, but we don’t have enough personnel . This is happening in Mireera as well . We have expected this, of course, but it’s happening faster than we anticipated . 」
「It increased that much?」
It sounded like a big problem just hearing about it .
His job didn’t sound glamorous at all . I was glad I hadn’t reincarnated into a royal or noble family when I came to this world . If that had happened, I wouldn’t have had much freedom, would I?
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「Yes, most people have never seen the ocean before, so a lot of them come through just for sightseeing, escorted by adventures of course . Merchants from everywhere are going in and out to do trading with Mireera . The sea of people is endless . 」
I had had no idea that was going on .
I wasn’t staying at the inn anymore, and I hadn’t been to the Commerce Guild or the Adventurer’s Guild recently, so I hadn’t been informed at all .
「Sounds tough . 」
Now I understood why Cliff was so busy and tired . And, I had learned so without getting in trouble for asking .
「So, is this still someone else’s problem?」
「Yeah, it should be, why?」
While I had been the one to make the tunnel, what happened after wasn’t my fault .
It was Cliff’s job to manage the traffic . I didn’t have anything to do with it, as I was just a commoner .
「While it isn’t your problem directly, this did only happen because you made that tunnel . How about being a little more apologetic? Thanks to you, I now have less time to spend with my daughter . 」
Basically, he was mad at me for taking away his time with Noa .
「Okay, do you want me to seal the tunnel shut, then?」
I tried joking with him . I had no intention of doing that, of course . If I did, we wouldn’t be able to get any more seafood, and Anzu would surely be troubled .
「No . If you do that, I will be ruined for good . 」
He clearly didn’t catch my joke, responding like that . I almost felt bad .
「Yunsan, you can’t close it . If you do that, we won’t be able go to the ocean anymore . 」
Even Noa missed my joke…
「I was just kidding, you know? I wouldn’t actually seal it shut . 」
I tried to calm them down .
「Well, the only thing we can do is to hold on until we have the personnel . Once I have more people I can rely on, my workload will decrease . Mylene is doing her best as well, so the situation should improve soon . Well, as long as a certain someone doesn’t bring in even more trouble for us . 」
He was referring to me again, wasn’t he . I would prefer if he didn’t talk about me like I was some anime or manga protagonist who only brought trouble with them .
In detective dramas for instance, even more murders would trail in the footsteps of the detective or police protagonists . Or, in action movies, strong enemies would always appear to cause problems with the heroes . Just by being the protagonist of any genre, trouble would always happen nearby . So, I really didn’t appreciate him putting me into that group .
I was just a regular fifteen-year-old, costume-wearing girl, who had been dragged into this world by God . I was most certainly not a trouble bringing protagonist .
The only problems I had bothered Cliff with were the tunnel to Mireera and the ten thousand monster army incident . Oh, and the punch-out that had happened during Misa’s kidnapping .
Actually, considering the number of days I had been here so far, maybe that was actually a lot?
「Umm . Is there anything I can do to help?」
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I asked, just in case if I could do something . I couldn’t help but feel a slight tinge of guilt, after all .
「No, it’s fine . Things just happened faster than we expected . I’m sorry, I’ve said too much; it’s really not your problem . 」
「Okay, good . Still, if you find anything I can help you with I will do my best to help . 」
「You bringing Noa to the school festival while I can’t is more than enough . Please let Noa have some much needed fun and company . 」
「Of course . No problem . 」
It looked like there was nothing I could do for him, as I had expected .
Seeing Cliff massage the corners of his eyes, he really seemed exhausted . I could maybe use some healing magic, but that might cause even more trouble for him in the long run .
Was there anything else I could do… Oh! I just thought of something good .
「Cliff, here, I’ll give this to you . 」
I said and took out some ground up tea leaves from the Sacred Tree and passed them to Cliff .
I didn’t have much of them, so I couldn’t spare too much . Once I picked up a new batch, I could bring him some more .
「What’s this?」
「It’s tea that helps with fatigue . Get Lalsan to brew some for you . 」
「This isn’t something weird, is it?」
He held the tea leaves in his hands and looked at them suspiciously .
「Have I ever given you anything weird?」
How rude of him for doubting me .
I didn’t recall ever giving him something weird to eat .
…I’m pretty sure I hadn’t .
…I hadn’t, right?
「Yes, you’re right . You may bring trouble with you everywhere you go, but your food is always delicious no matter what . Sorry for doubting you; I will gladly accept this . 」
He answered after considering for a while and then put the leaves away .
Had he acted badly, I would have regretted giving it to him .
It was hard to give something out of goodwill if they didn’t appreciate it, after all .
「Oh, and can you please tell me your opinion after you drink it?」
「Wait, you haven’t had this before?」
「I did, and it’s good . But, I still don’t know how well it actually works against fatigue so I would like to get your opinion on it . 」
I was almost always wearing the Bear Outfit, so even if I ran around all day, I never got tired, and my White Bear side would alleviate all of my weariness by the following morning .
Because of that, I hadn’t been able to confirm the effects of the tea, especially since I would never go as far as to try exercising without the costume just to test some tea .
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「Yunsan, I want to try some, too . 」
「You can have some as well, of course . It tastes pretty good . 」
「Yay, thank you . 」
「 I’ll get Lala to us brew some later, then . I’m going back to work now . Please take care of Noa for me . 」
Cliff then left the room, taking the tea leaves with him .
「Noa, you can go to the school festival as well now . 」
「Yes! And, it’s all thanks to you, Yunsan . By the way, when are we leaving?」
That was something I couldn’t decide…
「You see… . I want to discuss that with you, so can you come over to my house tomorrow?」
「Your house? I don’t mind, but why the trouble?」
「I told you how we’re going with Fina and Shuri, right?」
「Yes . 」
「It’s something I want to speak with all three of you about . 」
I didn’t want to talk about the Bear Gate here, where someone might eavesdrop on our conversation .
「Is that so? Okay, then . I’ll come visit your house tomorrow, Yunsan . 」
「Thank you . Then, let’s eat dinner together and talk after that . 」
With all said and done, I left Noa’s place and returned to the Bear House for a few hours . When it was about time for Gentz-san to be off from work, I headed to Fina’s house .
I was going to explain to him that I was planning on bringing his two daughters to the capital . Of course, I had prepared various phrases to convince Gentz-san and Terumi-san .
Things like: 「I will protect them, so please feel reassured . 」or「I’m a C rank adventurer, so don’t worry . 」and「I defeated a Black Viper before, so we’ll be fine even if strong monsters attack . 」or even「If monsters do attack us, my Bears will be able to bring them to safety . 」
I readied myself and entered Fina’s house .
「If you’re with them, that’s fine . 」
「I’m not worried if you’re going with them, Yunchan . 」
「Huh?」
My jaws dropped .
I didn’t think they were going to give us permission that easily .
Shuri and Fina both looked ecstatic, though .
「Is it really okay?」
「Yeah, it’s fine . When Fina went to the Capital, Shuri did her best to hold back . If both of them say they want to go, then who am I to stop them . Still, knowing that you will be with them fills me with ease . 」
She really trusted me that much, huh . I was very grateful for that .
「Also, there’s no way they could refuse Eleanorsama’s invitation . 」
「Even if they did reject her invitation, Eleanorsan shouldn’t…」
She wouldn’t get mad, but maybe sad?
「We met her the other day; she is indeed a nice person . I also heard from you and Fina that she is nice and doesn’t hold grudges, but even so, it is not good to refuse a noble’s invitation . Of course, if it was something bad, then I would at least consider refusing . However, Eleanorsama is inviting them out of good will, and the girls want to go, so there is no reason for me to stop them . 」
「That’s right! Eleanorsama is very kind… She can be a bit of a force of nature sometimes, though . 」
Fina was right . When I had been subjugating the Mithril Golem, Eleanorsan dragged Fina around and turned her into a dress-up doll . While I would love to see Fina in dresses more often, I shivered at the thought of Eleanorsan trying to do that to me .
「Well, it would be hard for me to take my daughters to see the capital myself . It will be a good experience for both of them . I’m just worried they might cause trouble for Eleanorsama . 」
「I won’t be a bother . 」
「Me neither . 」
Shuri pouted while Fina also followed up .
I missed the times when Fina would freak out over nobles . As her Onee-chan, I felt a bit sad seeing her grow up like that .
「Huhu, I know that you two are both good girls . I’m just worried as your parent . 」
Terumi-san said patted Shuri’s head . .
「Still, Yunchan, will you be fine taking care of all three of them? They won’t be a bother, will they?」
「They won’t wander off by themselves, and they’re not selfish, so it should be fine . 」
I wouldn’t take them if they were children who liked to wander off or acted selfishly . Actually, I wouldn’t even consider being friends with such children, let alone taking them on a trip with me .
Fina, Shuri and Noa all listened to me, so I could travel with them with ease . Not to mention the fact that all three were good girls who didn’t make fun of my Bear Outfit . If any of them teased me about it, I didn’t think I would ever even consider bringing them to the capital .
Anyway, just like that, we easily received permission for Fina and Shuri to go to the capital as well . When I was about to head home, Terumi-san invited me for dinner, and I gladly accepted her offer .
Before I left, I made sure to ask Fina and Shuri to come to my house tomorrow, of course .
Author’s Note:
Cliff will be our taste-tester for the Sacred Tree tea leaves . lol
I wrote a post about the differences between Volume 3 and the web novel .
There aren’t any big changes, but I will continue to write based on the changes made in the publication .
I hope you can understand that .