I had wolves to butchered today, too. Apparently, they were brought in by the same person—a girl wearing a bear outfit. It was Yuna! Yuna had been helping me indirectly.
Today, there were horned hares. Their pelts are soft and fluffy and feel so nice. I’ve heard their horns can be turned into some kind of medicine, but that’s not really part of what I do, so I don’t know much more. My job is just butchering. I split the hares into their pelts, horns, and meat.
I wish I could make clothes out of these pelts for my sister. I wanted them so bad, but I’d never steal them. If I did that, I’d be betraying Mr. Gentz’s trust after he gave me work.
I had work again today. I was happy as a clam.
While I was working on skinning wolves, I listened in to the guild workers and heard there a big heap of monsters coming in that needed butchering. Maybe it was Yuna? I would have liked to go check, but I couldn’t leave my workstation.
But right after that, Mr. Gentz came in to fetch me. Apparently Yuna wanted me to work exclusively butchering things for her! He took me to Yuna, who said she would pay me to butcher all her kills while she was in town. I was over the moon to hear I would have a steady job!
Since I still had work that day, we promised to meet tomorrow and went our separate ways.
The next day, I woke early in the morning and went to the inn Yuna was staying in to meet her at the time we’d agreed on, but when I got there, she was having breakfast. Maybe I was there too early? Yuna asked me to sit with her, though, and gave me juice. It was really good.
We talked about what we would do today, and she asked me if I wanted to go with her or stay here. If she was going to the woods, I wanted to accompany her. I might be able to find herbs that would help my mom, but I would stay behind if I’d just get in her way. But Yuna said she could protect me, so I chose to go with her.
When we got to the guild, we went over to the quest board. I waited for Yuna a little bit away from the board, where I wouldn’t get in the way. Yuna looked like she might be arguing with some adventurers again—I think that bear outfit just draws attention—but nothing happened after all, and she left the adventurers behind. What a relief. It looked like she’d found a quest she liked, so I asked her what kind of quest it was.
She told me, “Tigerwolf slaying.”
I was speechless for a whole second. I don’t know much about how adventurers work, but can D-rank quests really be completed by a single person? It looked like everyone else was making parties to fight together.
Was it really okay for me to tag along on a quest like this?
Chapter 23:
Fina and the Bear
Part Three
WE LEFT TOWN through the gate. Actually, I’d never asked Yuna where we were going. Maybe there were tigerwolves in the woods nearby? Then Yuna said that we were going far away, so she would take out things to ride on.
I didn’t know what she meant by “take them out.” She told me to step back a little.
When she held up her gloves, black and white things came out of them. I was wondering what they were when then they started moving. They were big, scary bears! They stood up, and then snuggled up to Yuna. She hugged them and petted their heads.
I was watching her, and then she told me, “It’s okay. They’re my summons, so they won’t hurt you. Here, try petting them.”
I was scared, but I got closer to them really slowly and touched them. They were soft. They were a lot cuter than I was expecting. The white one was called Kumakyu and the black one was Kumayuru. I ended up riding on Kumakyu. I was up so high, I was a little scared of how everything looked, but Kumakyu was really stable and I didn’t feel like I was going to fall.
We started at a normal speed, and then went faster once I got used to it. It was fun. The scenery was rushing by faster and faster. I’d never gone this far from the town before.
We started climbing up a mountain.
Yuna stopped. She told us we would take a break on a flat part of the mountain. I really was tired, even though I was just riding Kumakyu. I said thank you to Kumakyu and got down.
When Yuna got off of Kumayuru, she looked around. Then, when she held up her glove, a house suddenly appeared in front of us.
That couldn’t be right. I really had no idea what’s going on. Are houses that easy to build? I’m just a kid, but even I know that can’t be true. Carpenters are the ones who make houses. Also, why was the house shaped like a bear?
“Anyway, how about we go in and take a break?”
When Yuna said that, all I could do was nod okay. I’ve never seen a room like the one in the house. She told me to take my shoes off at the door. The floors were pretty. They were floors you definitely wouldn’t want to get dirty. I took off my shoes and went inside.
Yuna told me to, so I sat down in a chair. I was looking around nervously when Yuna brought me some juice. It was cold, which really surprised me, but it was really good juice.
I asked Yuna something I really wanted to know. “Are you part of the nobility somewhere, Yuna?”
“I’m not.”
“Then are you a princess?”
“No real princess would look like me. I’m just your ordinary adventurer.”
She said she wasn’t a noble or a princess, but I don’t think she’s an ordinary adventurer, either. I
