“Sorry. Are you okay?”
I offered a bear puppet to the grounded girl. After she got a look at me, she looked around the room.
“A bear?”
A bit hesitantly, she grasped my puppet. Once she was standing upright, she thanked me.
“M-much obliged.”
“You’re not hurt, are you?”
“No, I’m fine.”
Right when I was about to take my leave, this boy rushed over to her.
“Horn, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just bumped into that bear.”
The kid looked at me once again.
“A bear?!”
He only just noticed?!
“Sorry about that. I was kind of lost in thought.”
“No, it’s fine. I wasn’t looking where I was going, since I was looking for everyone,” Horn said, bowing her head.
“Guess we get to share the blame.”
“Yes, it seems so,” Horn replied with a smile.
The kid was looking over at me.
“What?”
I knew what he wanted to say, but I called him out on it since he was staring. He probably didn’t have a clue that his life hinged on what he said next. Jokes aside, the kid started talking.
“Are you that bear from the rumors?”
Well, if anyone talked about bears in this town, they were definitely talking about me.
“I might be.”
If there were any other bears around, I’d like to see them. Well, that’s what I thought, but all I could picture were older guys with very few mutual interests. After looking me over, the kid opened his trap again.
“Oh c’mon, they must’ve been teasing us!” the kid said. He tsked.
“Oh, sorry,” said Horn. “It’s just that someone was telling us there’s this scary adventurer who dresses like a bear in this town and that we shouldn’t go near them.”
“On top of that, they were trying to get us all riled up and saying that this bear took down a tigerwolf, goblin king, and black viper alone.”
Yup, that was true.
“So you’re supposed to be that bear all the rumors are about?”
The punk bopped my head, and I started counting backwards from ten. When I looked around, the other adventurers were watching us, wide-eyed and gaping like fish. Uh, I thought, are they thinking I was going to do something?
Well, I was. A pair of boys rushed over like they could see the bloody thought forming in my head.
“Horn, Shin, what do you think you’re doing?”
“I mean really. We were looking for you two.”
If I had to describe them in a word, one was hyperactive and the other one seemed belligerent.
“This bear ran into Horn.”
Put that finger down, I thought. It’s rude to point at people. Where’d you learn your manners?
“A bear? You don’t mean that one from the rumors?”
“Oh, you mean the one the front desk told us about…”
“I heard about it from the senior adventurers…”
“But they were telling me that the bear was terrifying.”
“What a joke. When they said it was a woman dressed as a bear, I was imagining a giant lady.”
The punk bopped my head all over again. I’m allowed to be angry soon, right? I thought. The nearby adventurers were making themselves scarce. The guild workers weren’t allowed to run away, and I could see on their faces that they knew they were in for it. I was just about to grab the little punk’s hand…
“Yuna! Please wait!” Helen was yelling at me.
“Wasn’t the guild supposed to be neutral to disputes between adventurers?”
“It’s also the guild’s job to make sure you don’t get pulled into any trouble.”
Right, I guess they had promised me that. I wished she would’ve come to my rescue a little earlier.
“Umm, what’s the matter?” the girl said, not seeming to understand what Helen was saying. I would’ve loved to dangle them by the legs over a long drop, but cooler heads prevailed.
“Did none of you listen to what I told you the other day?” Helen cautioned the boys.
“You mean about the bear?”
“That’s right. I told you that there’s a girl who dresses as a bear and that under no circumstances should you mock her or approach her for fun.”
“You mean this bear?”
He bopped my head.
“Stop that. If you don’t want to die, you should apologize immediately and get to your work,” Helen grabbed the kid’s hand and pointed at the door.
“All right, we’ll go. Let’s get going, everyone.”
“Okay. I’m so sorry, bear miss.”
Horn and the boys left the guild.
“Miss Yuna, I apologize. I thought I explained things well enough, but it seems they didn’t understand.”
I was kind of dubious about whatever she’d told them. I guess they thought she’d pulled one over on them when they saw me in this onesie.
“Wait, so what’s the explanation you’ve been giving?”
“That there is an adventurer who dresses like a bear and that they should never approach her for their own amusement.”
“That’s it?”
“No, I also tell them about the monsters you’ve slain so they know how strong you are, so they shouldn’t make fun of you or tease you. I also tell them about the D-rank and E-rank adventurers who tried laying a hand on you and ended up shells of their former selves.”
What was that about shells now? Was this supposed to be like some travel advisory warning about a dangerous bear on the loose or something?
“When it seems like they don’t actually believe me despite all of that, I ask the seasoned adventurers to talk to them.”
When I looked around the guild, everybody averted their eyes simultaneously. What the heck did they tell those kids? I had no idea any of this stuff was going on in the guild.
“Those were the instructions we received from the Guildmaster himself. We took these measures so you wouldn’t be involved in unnecessary incidents.”
I wish they’d stop describing me like some indiscriminately attacking bear. If anybody picked a fight with me, on the other hand…
“I made sure to give those kids the whole explanation too,” Helen said. She let out a sigh.
Well, after everybody had told them I was a holy terror, lo-and-behold, they just see this girl in pajamas. No
