Chapter 290
Chapter 290 – Bear-san Accepts the Request
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The king rested his chin on his hand and began to talk .
「Let’s see . You know how, down in the south, there is the Triform Kingdom, right?」
He told me like it was something obvious, but clearly, I didn’t know much about other kingdoms, so I shook my head .
「Well, that’s fine… If you head south from the capital, you will eventually reach a large desert, and once you cross it, you reach the Triform Kingdom . 」
So, there was a country down south, huh? Still, past a desert he said . Was it more like the Sahara Desert or the Tottori Sand Dunes?
Well, I had never been to either of those places, so I didn’t know how big they were, anyway .
「So, I guess that country wants the Kraken’s magic stone, then?」
I thought for sure that I was correct, but the king shook his head .
「No, that’s not it . The place that needs it is Deserto, a town in the middle of the desert . 」
「Deserto?」
Another new name came up .
「Yes, it’s located in the dead center of the desert . Our Elfanica Kingdom and Triform Kingdom are trading with each other, so people naturally gathered together and created the town they now call Deserto . 」
If this was the game, it would surely be one of those desert towns located next to an oasis .
Was in the same in this world, and this town had an oasis as well?
「Deserto has become very important for both kingdoms as a stopping point on our trade route . Yet now, I hear that the water magic stone that supplied the people of Deserto with water broke apart . With the stone broken, their water reserves are rapidly decreasing, and soon, the town might become uninhabitable . We absolutely have to prevent that, so I brainstormed for a solution and remembered that you defeated a Kraken, which is how we ended up here . 」
「Okay, I now get why you called for me, but doesn’t the castle have any such magic stones of their own to spare?」
Even though this was a big stone, a royal castle should have some to spare, no?
「I think you’re misunderstanding something: there aren’t many magic stones that are the size of the one you have . That’s ignoring how difficult water magic stones are to obtain . Water magic stones of this size are almost impossible to find . 」
Well, when I thought about it, that made sense considering it was indeed tougher to fight a monster in the water than on land . I very clearly recalled the amount of effort I had spent to defeat the Kraken . If I had battled it on land, the fight would have been way easier . Using that metric, it should be difficult to fight against other water monsters as well .
Us humans lived on the land, so of course it was easier to stick to fighting land monsters .
「Hence, I was hoping they could use your stone . You will be reimbursed for it, of course . 」
Would they give me money in exchange? I honestly didn’t need money but it would leave a bad aftertaste if I were to abandon the town just because I didn’t like their reimbursement .
Still, no matter how I looked at it, a single magic stone shouldn’t be enough to support an entire town, even with how big the Kraken’s magic stone was, so I decided to confirm it with the king .
「From what I heard, its power will be amplified by the means of a magic circle . I’m not really an expert in that regard, so I don’t know the details of how it works . 」
There was even such a thing as amplifying magic?
Well, that was quite a normal setting considering this was a fantasy world .
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At least I now understood why they needed the Kraken’s magic stone .
「Okay, if that’s how it is, I don’t mind giving them my stone . 」
Since it would be of a big help to the town, I saw no reason to refuse, especially since it would only continue to rot in my Bear Box otherwise .
「Thank you . There was something else I wanted to ask you… Are you and your bears okay with the heat?」
The king asked, taking a glance at the Bears as he mentioned them .
「If I have to choose between liking it and disliking it, I’d say I dislike it . What about you two? I don’t really think you care too much . 」
Personally, I was bad with the heat . Air conditioning was a big necessity in the summer .
Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear only responded with 「Kuun」, and I had no way to judge what they meant by their innocent expressions .
「I’m sorry to ask this of you, but would you be willing to go to the desert with your bears?」
「Go to the desert? I think that should be fine . 」
I had my Bear Suit, so the desert heat should have no effect on me . Well, I had never tested its heat resistance to such an extent, so it might not stop the heat completely . Same with the Bears, I had no idea how they would handle the desert heat .
We had all been fine inside that blizzard on the snowy mountain, so a desert should most likely be okay as well . Only a volcano would probably be able to stop us .
「In that case, I would like to make an official request to you, adventurer Yuna . Can you please bring your magic stone to the town of Deserto?」
「You want me to do it?」
「Yes . If you do it, the stone will get there quickly without the chance of being stolen . Your bears can cover large distances in no time, and you are strong enough to defeat even a monster of the Kraken’s tier . You will be fine with any attacks you might face on the way . 」
Shouldn’t he be a little more concerned for a fifteen-year-old maiden getting attacked by monsters? Well, as long as I had my Bear Suit, I should be able to do away with most of them, but that wasn’t really the problem .
Still, a town in the desert, huh . While I would love to visit such a place, I already had my plans for the seaside trip . Well, if I only went there as a one way trip, maybe I would be able to return in time? After all, once I arrived at the town, I could just set up a Bear Gate to return home .
「What kind of place is Deserto?」
「Let’s see . Like I told you before, the town was built by people who gathered there on their own . Hence, it does not belong to any country and is a neutral town . 」
「Really? Since they requested the water magic stone from us, I was sure they were a part of our country . 」
「Well… There were some complications between the previous generation of Elfanica and Triform kingdoms, so the town was set as a neutral ground by our signed non-aggression pact . The town most likely asked both of our kingdoms for the stone . I would like to deliver the stone before the Triform Kingdom does, so the town will be indebted to us instead of Triform Kingdom . 」
Indebted? Even when concerning kingdoms, such things came into play, huh .
Some hidden conflict must be happening between the two countries for sure .
「Why are you making such a strange expression? You are misunderstanding something again, aren’t you . Our kingdoms presently have good relations with each other . 」
「Really?」
「Yes . As I mentioned earlier, it was our previous generation that had the conflict . We are friendly now . 」
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「And yet you want the town to be indebted do you…」
「You never know how long peace will last . Something may happen when the next generation takes up rule . Having more information about the areas near the borders is always useful . 」
So, he was trying to invest in the future generations .
If the town owed our country a favor, then they might be willing to sell us information when the opposing country did something suspicious .
A king always had to act while taking the future into account… Such a troublesome job would be impossible for me, and I would have definitely offloaded it to someone else .
「Anyways, this will be treated as a rank B request . 」
「A rank B request?!」
「Yes . Subjugating the Kraken would be considered harder than a normal rank B mission . Since this mission will include its stone, then of course the request rank has to reflect it . 」
Certainly, a request to obtain a Kraken’s magic stone and bring it somewhere would entail either subjugating a Kraken or buying the stone off of someone . Buying such a stone from someone required finding such a person and then negotiating with them .
So, looking at it like that, maybe it being a rank B request made sense…
「I just have to bring it there, right?」
「Yes, that’s it . 」
「Okay, I accept this request . 」
「Thank you . Just to make sure, are you going to go in that suffocating outfit?」
The king asked as he glanced at my Bear Suit .
「That’s the plan, why?」
Actually, there was no way I would enter a desert without it .
With my feeble body, I wouldn’t even be able to stand still at a desert for more than a few minutes before collapsing from heat stroke .
「Are you sure you’re going to be fine in such an outfit?」
「Yes, I’ll be fine . 」
「Alright, that’s fine, then . I was only worried you might collapse in the middle of the desert . 」
Just like Noa had already pointed out, my outfit seemed really hot to others, but the appearance couldn’t be farther from the truth .
The king reached into one of his drawers, pulled something out, and handed it to me .
「Here is a letter for you to deliver to the lord of Deserto . He’s called Balima . I wrote about you in this letter, so that you won’t cause too much of a commotion when you arrive . 」
「I wouldn’t intentionally do that…」
「I’m just kidding . A girl wearing a bear costume most likely won’t be able to meet him, at least without a letter with the royal seal . Just show them the crest, and you should be treated properly . 」
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「Wait… Since you prepared this letter beforehand, doesn’t that mean you planned for me to go in the first place?」
「I prepared two letters, actually . One regular and one that talks about you . 」
It seemed like the king had a back-up plan, after all .
He had prepared another letter in case I refused his request .
I unsummoned my Bears, and put the Kraken’s magic stone and the letter into the Bear Box . Just as I stood up from the sofa to leave, something came to my mind .
「Ah, that’s right . I wish to go see Princess Flora today . Would that be okay?」
I wanted to bring her the cakes that Elensan had made .
「I don’t mind, but I would appreciate it if you would depart for Deserto soon . 」
「Okay, I will be quick . 」
Having received the king’s approval, I left the office and headed to Princess Flora’s room .
The king followed me, though . Was he going back to work?
As I was getting closer to Princess Flora’s room, the king was still behind me, so I started to wonder where he could be going .
When I stopped in front of Princess Flora’s room, the king stopped right next to me . It was then when it dawned on me .
「Um, you’re following me, aren’t you?」
「Well, you’re bringing Flora the cake you were eating earlier, no?」
「Yes, but why are you here as well?」
「Obviously, I should have some as well . 」
What did he mean by obviously?
I was pretty sure that made no sense… Well, it was too late to rebuke him now, so I decided to ignore him and entered Princess Flora’s room .
「Flora, are you here?」
「Father?」
Princess Flora noticed us, and started to quickly trod our way . The king knelt down and spread his arms wide, but just like a scene from an anime or manga, Princess Flora completely ignored him and flew into my embrace instead .
「Bear-san!」
I could see the king’s back shiver slightly from being ignored . He had trouble figuring out what to do with his hands that were now reached out to greet only air .
I should probably act like I saw nothing .
「Princess Flora, I brought you some cake, so let’s have some together, okay?」
「Okay!」
「I will go and prepare some tea, then . 」
Anju-san also decided not to mention the king’s stature and quickly ran away to the other side of the room to make tea .
I took Princess Flora’s hand and led her to a table . Once she was comfortably sitting down on a chair, I brought out the newly-made cakes .
「Anju-san, could you bring these to Zelef-san afterwards? I will ask him for his opinion on them later . 」
「Okay, I will do so . 」
「 I also have some for you too, so please eat it later . 」
「Thank you very much, Yunsama . 」
Anju-san couldn’t eat together with us when the king was here, so she would have to wait until the king was gone .
「All of you, don’t just ignore me…」
The king finally managed to recover and came to sit with us .
「Give me my share, too!」
「Father, are you mad?」
「No, I’m not . 」
「You’re being so petty just because your daughter ignored you . 」
「Obviously I’m upset, losing to a bear . 」
「Well, all you have to do wear a bear costume yourself, then Princess Flora will be happy with you, too . 」
「There’s no way I could ever do that!」
Well, I actually didn’t want to have the same look as the king, either, so this was fine by me .
I gave the king a share of cake to appease him .
「Oh right, is Eleanorsan not here today?」
At this point, she should have sniffed me out already .
「She doesn’t know you’re here because I ordered everybody not to contact her unless I have a need for her personally . 」
So, she wasn’t here yet because the king blocked out her informants .
Still, I was sure that if she found out about this later on, she would complain without end, so I decided to ask Anju-san to bring Eleanorsan some cake as well .
After we ate the cake, I played with Princess Flora for a while then left the castle .