Maybe, with time, I might be able to get to a point where I could use magic without the bears?
In the end, Elena and I chatted until it was time for dinner. I was happy to have found something to do, but Elena got a talking-to from her mom for not doing her work.
Chapter 17:
The Bear Gets into Trouble and
Rises to D-Rank
AFTER SLAYING THE GOBLIN KING, I accepted more quests at the guild and got a lot of experience…
…in applying magic, at visualizing spells, at figuring out how powerful my bear magic was.
…in using the goblin king’s sword and channeling mana through it.
…in using throwing knives.
…in finding out how powerful my bear offense and defense was.
I had verified all kinds of things in the past few days. Most recently, I confirmed how much I could put into the bear storage and how big it was. I put away the wolves that had been my guinea pigs for the day and went to report to the guild.
“Ms. Yuna,” said Helen, “did you just bring back wolves today, too?”
“Yeah,” I said, “that’s right.”
“Really?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
“Lately adventurers on slaying quests have been coming back emptyhanded.”
“…”
“It seems there are no monsters out there to slay.”
“…”
“When adventurers go to slay goblins, the goblins are nowhere to be seen.”
“…”
“If there’s a village requesting orc slaying, the orcs are gone before they know it.”
“…”
“When they go out to slay kobolds, there are none.”
“…”
“Some go to just slay horned hares and find none.”
“…”
“And this hasn’t just happened once or twice. Do you know anything about this?”
She gave me an inquisitive look. The answer was a most definite YES. Everything she named, I’d killed. I still had them put away in my bear storage.
“I see,” I said. “That sure is too bad for the adventurers who took those quests.”
Helen sighed deeply at my attempt to play dumb. “It seems that they’ve witnessed a girl in a cute black bear costume many times before going out to slay monsters. Is she possibly a friend of yours?”
She silently looked me right in the eyes. I kept myself from looking away, even though I wanted to.
“Maybe my outfit is just trending right now?”
“There’s no way that’s the case! The only one dressed that way is you! It’s only you!”
“If you knew already, then you could have just said so from the beginning.”
“The guild master told me to call you over if you came in.”
“Why? It’s not like I was stealing their quests or anything. It’s just when I happened to head over there, I just happened to defeat some monsters because they were around.”
“Yes, there’s no issue with that. Especially since you haven’t taken the quest money.”
“In that case…”
“But, since you’re registered at the guild, we’d like you to report the monsters you’ve slain as part of your duties. In that case, the adventurers who took those quests won’t be given failures.”
“I got it. I’ll report it from now on.”
“However, I still need you to meet with the guild master today.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously. I’m going to escort you there right now, so come with me, please.”
Helen dragged me to the guild master’s room.
“Guild master,” she said, knocking at the door. “I’ve brought over Ms. Yuna.”
“Come in.”
Helen led me inside. The guild master was there, working at a desk.
“So, you’ve arrived. You can go back to work, Helen. Yuna, you sit down right there.”
He pointed at a table in the middle of the room. There were about six seats lined up in front of the table. I picked one at random.
“So, what are you up to?”
“What am I up to?”
“Just as I thought, you’ve slain monsters that were part of other people’s quests and never reported them. You didn’t even try to retrieve the quest money. You didn’t try to sell the materials, either. What is your goal?”
Killing time, practicing magic, practicing with my sword, checking out monsters, making maps—there were a ton of things.
“I just got to this town, so I’m getting familiar with the area. I just killed monsters when I happened across them.”
“In that case, why didn’t you report to the guild?”
“I just joined, so I had no idea.”
I hadn’t known it was my duty to report monsters I’d slain, other than the ones I accepted quests for. It was Helen’s fault for not telling me that.
“And why didn’t you sell back the materials?”
“I don’t need the money.”
“But won’t it be bad if they start rotting in your bottomless bag?”
Right, I thought, normal bottomless bags couldn’t stop time.
“Umm, could you keep this between us?”
“What is it? I’m not the type to give away other people’s secrets.”
“My bottomless bag can stop time, so it’s fine because nothing spoils.”
“Really?”
I laid out a couple of older wolf carcasses on his desk to prove my point. “I defeated these three days ago.”
The guild master looked them over. “They’re still warm.”
I popped them back into my bear storage so they wouldn’t bleed on his desk. “They won’t rot, so it’s fine.”
“I’ve heard enough. Make sure you report your kills from now on. If you don’t, you’ll get the other adventurers into trouble.”
“Okay, I got it. Can I go now?”
“One more thing. Did you slay some orcs?”
“I did.” There was no point in lying, so I answered honestly.
“I see. Then we’ll promote you to D-rank, starting today.”
“Is it really okay for me to go up in rank that easily? I haven’t accepted any quests from rank D yet. Don’t I need to accept at minimum ten quests?”
“If you can defeat orcs and goblin kings on