“Yes, that was quite a valuable experience for me as well.”
Lala followed in the bears’ wake, looking haggard. It wasn’t my fault though, so I decided not to pay any mind to it.
“Well then,” said Cliff as he dismounted, “I have work, so I’m going back to the house. I’ll leave Noa with you. Please come back see me before you leave.”
Noa had to have taken a liking to Kumakyu, since she was showing no signs of getting off. “This feels so nice…”
The little girl was splayed out on top of Kumakyu. She stroked the bear for a while before her hand stopped moving; I thought it was weird how quiet she was being, so went over to take a look. Noa was fast asleep, snoring quietly. I told Kumakyu to ease its way into the shade of a tree. It wasn’t like I could let her sleep out in the sun. Lala watched Noa with concern.
“There’s no need to worry,” I said. “Still, we don’t want her to catch cold. Have you got something to put on her?”
Lala rushed back to the house and brought back a blanket, but since Kumakyu was so tall, she couldn’t get it over Noa.
“Kumayuru, could you help her out?”
Kumayuru put its forepaws under Lala’s arms and hoisted her up so she could tuck Noa in.
“Thank you so very much, Master Kumayuru.”
It looked like she’d finally stopped wigging out. Lala and I sat down with Noa in the shade as she slept. I pulled out a small cask of oran berry juice—I’d gotten attached to the stuff, since it tasted so much like orange juice—and two wooden cups from my bear storage. I magicked up some ice and served it on the rocks; Lala took a long draft of hers.
“This is delicious.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“I needed the pick-me-up. Thank you.”
“I have more, so drink as much as you’d like.”
“They’re much more docile than I expected.” Lala looked at Kumayuru and Kumakyu.
“Well, they are summons, after all. They’re not like wild bears.” Then again, it wasn’t like I’d ever seen a wild bear before.
“Yes, of course. Madame Noir seems to enjoy their company. We are grateful for your service.”
“You don’t need to thank me. This is supposed to be a job.”
Lala explained that she had been Noa’s caretaker since the girl was five, and her charge was very precious to her. After we talked for a while, Noa started to stir.
“Morning. Are you awake?”
“Huh, where am I…?” Noa rubbed her eyes as she looked around.
“You dozed right off, Noa.”
“I did. Kumakyu just felt so nice I fell right asleep.”
“Madame Noir, may we head inside soon? We don’t want you to catch a cold.”
“I want to stay with Kumakyu.”
Noa was clearly set on sticking with the bear. That wouldn’t do, so I gave Kumakyu a subtle signal as I said, “Kumakyu is tired. Will you let it rest?”
At that, the bear cooed quietly, pretending to be sleepy.
“Yes, that’s right,” Lala chimed in. “Madame Noir, Master Kumakyu was making sure that you did not fall down as you slept. Please allow Master Kumakyu to rest.”
Kumakyu turned its head slightly to Noa’s place and looked at her with teary eyes. Noa looked back. I could see the gears in her head turning.
“…okay, I understand. Sorry, Kumakyu.” She climbed off the bear and gently patted it. “Rest well.”
“Kumakyu, Kumayuru, that’s all for now.” I unsummoned the bears, sending them back into the gloves.
“Well then, Madame Noir, shall we head back to your room?”
“I’m going to pay Cliff a visit.”
“Oh, Yuna? Are you going home already?”
“Well, my job here is done.” I was pretty sure I’d fulfilled the quest.
“Yuna,” said Noa, “please eat dinner with us!”
She grabbed my bear glove. I tried to turn her down, but she just dragged me by the hand back into the mansion, where we ran back into Cliff and got to talking about dinner. Eventually, Cliff also invited me to stay and eat with them, so I did.
I excused myself after dinner. They asked me to stay the night, but I politely turned them down.
“Yuna, you have to come visit again, okay?”
Noa and Lala saw me to the gate. After promising Noa I’d return, we parted.
Chapter 30:
Fina Works
A FEW DAYS AGO, I went with Yuna to go tigerwolf slaying.
While Yuna went to work, I stayed in her bear house and worked on breaking down her old kills. At one point, I went out to look for herbs for Mom, but almost got lost. I only made it back thanks to Kumakyu.
I asked Kumakyu to wait outside, went to the storehouse, and pulled a wolf from the cold storage. It was small for a monster, but big for me, and I struggled to lay it out on the table. Yuna had set up a stool for me, so I didn’t have to stand on tiptoe.
I used my skinning knife to clean the pelt and separate the meat into cuts. I also took out the mana gem and set it aside. The parts we don’t need go into the trash bin. Apparently, the trash bin is a very deep hole; Yuna told me to make sure I don’t fall in.
It’s scary, so I made sure to be careful around it.
After I butchered a few wolves, the storehouse door opened. Yuna was back. I wondered if she already beat the tigerwolf? I wasn’t even done with the first batch yet. Yuna told me she wanted me to pull out the tigerwolf’s mana gem. It was part of my job, so I said I would, of course.
I was surprised by how massive the tigerwolf was. Yuna was so cool!
A tigerwolf is the same type of monster as a wolf, so its mana gem is in the same spot, kind of between the heart and liver. It was about twice the size of a wolf’s and had a different sort of luster to it. I washed it with water until it was clean
