“Umm, could I ask you something?” said Rulina.
“If I can answer it, sure.”
“Why are you wearing that? I don’t know how strong you are, but I think it would be better if you wore something more fitting as an adventurer.”
It was a question I’d seen coming for a while.
Q: Why are you dressed like that?
A1: Because I like it. (I didn’t intend to lie like that.)
A2: I’d answer honestly that this equipment made me stronger. (No idiot would reveal their greatest secrets.)
A3: I could say I couldn’t use magic without the bears. (No idiot would reveal their weaknesses.)
A4: I could say it was a memento from my mother. (That wouldn’t explain why I was always wearing it.)
A5: It functions as equipment in its own way. (Maybe this one was the safest answer?)
“It’s stronger than normal gear.”
“Really?”
“I’m not sure what material it’s made out of, but the bear clothes have some physical and magic resistance, and this white bear is a bottomless bag too.”
She found out about the bear storage when I sold the wolves, so I didn’t need to hide that. I’d just let her think that the bear clothes were more effective than other normal equipment.
“Then what about the black bear?”
“I guess it amplifies my strength.” I threw a bear punch, aiming at a rock a little ways off the path. The rock crumbled.
“So, you punched Deboranay with that? That explains why his face swelled up so much.”
I was pleased by how quickly she’d accepted the little I shared.
“So, do the shoes do something too?”
“The shoes?” I said. I looked at the bear shoes and bear gloves “Right. I’ve thought of something.”
I grinned.
“What… Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Do you want to get to the village a little faster?”
“What’re you saying?” She drew away from me slightly, like she’d sensed that something was off.
“It’s such a pain walking three whole hours, so I’ll do this!”
I quickly moved around to Rulina’s back and swept her feet out from under her, then grabbed her the moment she fell. This was a girl’s dream. I was carrying her in my arms like a princess. Granted, I thought, I don’t think I’d want anyone ever doing this to me.
“Make sure you hold on tight. If you try talking, you’ll bite your tongue, so be careful.”
I started running.
“Wait—”
I pushed faster—faster than I’d gone before.
“Yuna, please stop—”
I ignored her and kept running. Because of the bear gloves, she was super, super light. Because of the bear shoes, I was super, super fast, and no matter how much I ran, I’d never get tired.
We reached the vicinity of the village. When I lowered Rulina to the ground, she glared at me with tears in her eyes. “Yuna, that was terrible. I kept telling you to stop, and that was my first time—I was so scared!”
“But didn’t we get here a lot faster that way?” We had gotten there in thirty minutes instead of having to hoof it for three hours. “Did you wet your pants or something?”
“No! I just never thought we’d get here so quick. I was planning to gather info on the goblin problem today, and then spend the night before doing the job tomorrow!”
“Then how about we go to get the goblins now?”
“If you’re not tired… Sure, let’s ask the village chief about the goblins.”
We greeted the gate guards at the village entrance.
“What’s with that outfit? Are you an adventurer?” After giving me a once-over, the lead guard looked Rulina over next.
I guessed that the outfit comment was meant for me, which meant that the other question must have been Rulina’s to answer.
“We are adventurers. We came to deal with your goblins,” Rulina explained.
“Just you two?”
He looked anxious. Of course he would be. Even though there were tons of goblins and they’d put out a quest, only two girls had shown up—one of them in costume. Everything about this was worrying.
“Yes. We’d like to hear more about it, so can we meet with the village chief?”
The guard led us to a building in the middle of the village that was slightly larger than the rest. “Is the chief in?” he called.
“What is it, Roy?” A man who looked like he was in his fifties emerged.
“Some adventurers came for us.”
“Oh, they came. Now we have some relief…” His face dropped the moment he looked at me. “Um, excuse me, but is it just you two?”
“Yes, it’s the two of us,” said Rulina, “but we’ll get the job done, so please don’t worry.”
“I see.”
He looked at us with the same unease the guard had. Appearances really are important, I thought. I’d be leery too if some little girl in a onesie turned up saying, “I’ve come to deal your goblin problem.”
“We would like you to tell us as much as you can about where you saw the goblins.” Rulina ignored the village chief’s attitude and continued the conversation.
“You’ll encounter the goblins in the mountain pass,” said the chief, pointing out a nearby massif. “The hunters have seen them multiple times.”
“The reports said you were dealing with about fifty. Is that just an estimate?”
“We sent several of our own into the mountain. One died to ensure the rest returned. They saw as many as you say.”
“I see. Then we’ll head over. If we don’t come back by tomorrow, please tell the guild.”
“Understood. We’re in your hands.”
We left the village, following the path to the mountain.
“Yuna, can you really do this alone?”
“It’ll be fine. I just have one thing to ask you to do. Please remove the mana gems.”
“I’m fine doing that.”
My skin crawled hearing her confirm my suspicion: bringing back proof-of-slaying meant cutting it out of a pile of goblin corpses. Yup, I thought, no way! Blessedly, goblins couldn’t be used for materials, so we had absolutely no reason to transport the whole bodies home.
“Then let’s go,” I said. “I’ll walk ahead,
