“Throw it to the side!”
The bear roared in response to my order and surged forward. The guardian spirit’s struggling front legs lifted off the ground and then suddenly, with a loud thud, it was laid out flat. At the same time, I invoked my magic.
I gathered water in my right black bear glove. I loosed the spell at the guardian spirit, enveloping its head. Its struggles increased as it started to drown.
“Bear! Don’t let it escape!”
The bear braced itself and held the guardian spirit down. It thrashed around, trying to escape, but it couldn’t breathe, and the bear was using its full weight to pin it down. The guardian spirit gradually lost its strength to struggle. In the end, it stopped moving.
A subdued silence blanketed through the village.
“Thanks, bear,” I said, and the bear let out a soft coo, then backed off from the guardian spirit.
“Is it dead?” someone asked in a hushed voice.
“Is it actually…”
Brandaugh took a spear from one of the villagers and jabbed at the guardian spirit. It didn’t react.
“It’s dead.”
With those words, the village was filled with joy.
“Thank you, miss!”
“Thank you!”
Words of gratitude rained down on me.
“Are you really sure about this?”
I’d decided to donate the guardian spirit’s corpse to the village.
“This thing ate your food and caused you all that grief, didn’t it? You can eat it, or sell it, or do whatever you want with it.”
“But we haven’t given you anything in return. You made those walls for us, and even defeated the guardian spirit by yourself. How can we take the spoils of your kill after all of that?” The villagers nodded at the village chief’s words.
“You have pregnant women here. They need to eat well to keep up their health, and based on what I can see, none of you have been doing that, right?” They all had a slightly gaunt look to them. “I’ll come back again sometime, so you can thank me then.”
“You have our undying gratitude.” The village chief lowered his head in thanks.
I ended up staying at Brandaugh’s house for the night. When I headed out the next morning, the villagers all gathered at the main gate to see me off. It was downright embarrassing.
“Please come back anytime,” said the chief. “You will always be welcome here, miss.”
“Thank you, miss,” said Marie. “Tell us if you ever need anything. I’ll never forget the debt we owe you.”
“Thanks, Yuna,” said Brandaugh.
“Marie,” I said, “I hope the baby comes out healthy.”
“Be sure to come visit it!”
I hopped up on the bear’s back and left for Crimonia, grateful for its speed. It sure made long-distance travel more convenient.
Actually, I thought, idly patting its back as we sprinted homeward, I only tried the one glove, didn’t I?
I took a break once I’d made it past the mountain near the village and collected mana in the white glove to give summoning another bear a try. A giant white furball leapt out of the glove and landed on the ground. Okay, I thought, so this one is a white bear.
But the white bear had its back pointedly turned toward me and wouldn’t move. “Is something wrong?” I called out to it, but it didn’t react.
I circled around to the front of the white bear. The white bear let out a small whine and turned its face down. Maybe it’s sulking? I thought. It was doing everything short of tracing sulky circles on the ground. Cute as it was, I felt kind of bad. It had to be upset because I’d summoned the black bear, but not it.
It was cute, though.
“Sorry. It’s not like I didn’t want to summon you. I just forgot…”
The moment I said, “I just forgot,” the white bear turned its back on me again.
“Well, it’s not like I actually forgot…well, look, I’m just one person. It’s just impossible for me to ride you both at the same time, so how about I take turns? Will you let me ride you back home?”
I patted its furry white back as I asked it that. This time, the bear perked up its ears and looked at me.
“Would that be okay?”
The white bear crooned and stood up. All was forgiven, apparently.
I mounted the white bear and rode the rest of the way back home to Crimonia, using the time to think of names for my new steeds. Finally, it came to me. I’d name the black bear Kumayuru, and the white bear Kumakyu.
Afterword
TO EVERYONE who’s picked up this book, it’s a pleasure to meet you. To everyone who started reading it on Let’s Be Novelists, long time no see.
I wonder if everyone who writes on Let’s Be Novelists yells with happiness when they’re approached with an offer to novelize their book? I actually developed a stomachache when that happened. I was beside myself! Why would anyone want to publish such a terribly written work?
This book is about a girl who has gotten her hands on the strongest gear possible in a game world—a bear onesie. When she wears the onesie, she’s the strongest person there ever was, but when she takes it off, she’s a normal girl. I was inspired by the concept of the “strongest weapon and strongest shield.” The strongest weapon is the black bear glove, and the strongest shield is the white bear glove. But the gloves alone didn’t have quite the impact I wanted, so I also made the protagonist wear a bear costume.
You may be wondering, why bears? Well, when I pictured a fierce, strong animal, a bear was what came to mind. Besides, they make cute hand puppets, and would look really cute on a girl.
So that’s the reason I started writing this book.
The townspeople and adventurers who gawk at Yuna at the beginning gradually come to
