Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

Bear-san Escapes From Water

When I received the other notebook from Mia, the letters began to appear.

Without a doubt, there were no letters written on it when Mia was holding it. Otherwise, Mia would have reacted and read them.

“…………”

“What’s wrong, Yuna-oneesan?” (Fina)

Fina asked me since I kept staring at the notebook.

“No, it’s nothing.” (Yuna)

I’m curious about the contents of this notebook, but as the quote says, “it’s better neither knowing about this sort of thing nor to talk about it with the others”.

But I’m still curious about the contents, so I will read it slowly and alone later. I put the two notebooks in the bear box.

“Now then let’s search the other room.” (Mia)

“Mia-chan, don’t rush, it’s dangerous.” (Carol)

Mia and Carol are about to leave the room. At that moment, the room lights up.

“Wh- what!?” (Mia)

“I’m sorry. It looks like I touched the magic stone.” (Carol)

Carol abjectly apologizes.

“What, don’t surprise me like that.” (Kagali)

“Wait a minute, it didn’t light up when I touched it earlier.” (Mia)

Indeed, when I recalled prior events, yes.

When Mia tried to turn on the light in the room, it didn’t.

Mia approached the wall, and then Carol removed her hand from the magic stone. The light in the room went out, and when Mia touched it, it became brighter.

“Did you touch it properly?” (Carol)

“I did.” (Mia)

“Etto, it looks like I can use my item bag.” (Fina)

Fina takes out a towel from her item bag.

Seeing this, Mia and Carol also tried using their item bags.

“It’s true.” (Carol)

“But come we’re able to use it now?” (Carol)

“Well now that we can use magic tools, it’s easier to explore.” (Mia)

Mia takes out something like a lantern from her item bag and lights it up. The area around Mia becomes bright.

Fina looked saddened at Mia’s words and gently turned off her bear light.

I approached Fina.

“I don’t think it’s necessary anymore.” (Fina)

“Fina…” (Yuna)

“What are you talking about? This kind of light only brightens my hands. We still need your magic.” (Mia)

Mia said to Fina, who turned off her light magic as if she had heard Fina’s voice.

“…Mia-oneechan.” (Fina)

“It’s dark outside the room. Hurry up and turn on the bear light. It’ll still be useful.” (Mia)

Carol can do it, but Mia asks Fina.

“Y, yeah.” (Fina)

Fina casts the bear light once again.

“Thanks.” (Mia)

Fina looks happy when Mia thanks her.

Then, Mia screams as Fina’s bear light goes outside the door.

“What’s this!” (Mia)

“What happened?” (Yuna)

Piccha~

I heard a sound under my feet.

“What the?” (Mia)

When Mia looked at her feet, they were wet with water.

“Why is there water here?” (Mia)

Turning to the cistern outside the room, I saw it overflowing with water.

“Could it be that the rooms are getting flooded!?” (Yuna)

“It seems so.” (Kagali)

“You can’t search other rooms with this. But we still have a bit more time, right?” (Mia)

“Mia-chan, it’s dangerous. If this continues, you won’t be able to escape and will die.” (Carol)

This is underground. It’s different from above ground. If this gets submerged, it’ll surely be dangerous.

“It’s okay, just a little bit.” (Mia)

While Mia and Carol continued to go back and forth with each another, Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear cried, “Kuu~n!”.

At that moment, the water in the cistern rises.

“Wh- what the!?” (Mia)

“I don’t know what’s happening, but we’ve gotta get out of here.” (Kagali)

“Swaying Bear! Grab Mia and Carroll!” (Yuna)

Then I grabbed Fina and jumped behind Kagali-san, who was riding on Hugging Bear.

“Eh“

“Kuu -n“

Swaying Bear moves to get Mia and Carol.

“Quickly!” (Yuna)

Mia and Carol hopped on Swaying Bear’s back.

“Swaying Bear, Hugging Bear, run!” (Yuna)

“Kuu-n”

Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear started sprinting.

They ran along the aisle next to the cistern and headed to the destroyed door.

The water in the cistern swelled like a living creature and came at us.

It’s not ordinary water.

“Swaying Bear, Hugging Bear, hurry!” (Yuna)

“Kuu-n”

Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear ran through the door that I broke and down the passage.

“Fina, hold on tight.” (Yuna)

“Yes.” (Fina)

“Kagari-san, you too, try not to fall.” (Yuna)

“I know, but don’t treat me so carelessly though.” (Kagali)

Kagali-san complained to me, who was holding her so that she didn’t fall.

“I’ll listen to your complaints later.” (Yuna)

Right now, our immediate priority is to get out of this predicament.

“The water is coming at us.” (Mia)

Mia, who was riding on Swaying Bear, shouted.

When I looked behind me, the water was closing in on us.

“We’re almost there, there’s a staircase ahead, if we make it that far…” (Yuna)

Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear ran down the aisle and up the stairs.

I checked behind, and the water was rushing up.

“Swaying Bear, Hugging Bear. Keep going and go to where the horses are.” (Yuna)

“Kuu-n”

Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear accelerated further.

After getting out of the building, they run directly to where Mia and Carol’s horses are.

“Mia, horse!” (Yuna)

“I know.” (Mia)

Mia dismounts from Swaying Bear and runs over to her horse.

Fina also extinguished the bear light that was left out.

“Get out of town as fast as you can.” (Yuna)

Mia takes her horse and leads it out of the hole in the wall. We followed them.

I filled the hole with earth magic, just in case.

“What was that? It was like water just came pouring out of nowhere.” (Yuna)

“Well, it was a little strange. But it seemed like the water was moving like a living thing.” (Kagali)

“You too, huh? I noticed that, too.” (Yuna)

It looked like a living creature to me as well.

Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear cried “Kuu-n” as if to tell me something.

Could it be a monster?

I used my detection skills.

“You gotta be kidding me.” (Yuna)

The word slime popped out.

It’s not just one or two.

The town was filled with the word slime.

“What happened?” (Kagali)

“No, I mean…” (Yuna)

I don’t know how to explain it.

“You’re not making any sense. If you know something, talk.” (Mia)

Even if I stayed silent here, the conversation would not proceed, so I answered honestly.

“It’s slime.” (Yuna)

“You mean that thing is a slime?” (Carol)

“Huh? Slime? The harmless creature you sometimes see? That slime?” (Mia)

I don’t know how it works in this world, but the slime I know is both the weakest and the strongest creature.

“Don’t you know?” (Kagali)

“What?” (Mia)

“Slimes can stick to each other and get bigger.” (Kagali)

“I’ve heard of it. They attack animals and people.” (Carol)

“Is that so?” (Mia)

“Mia-chan, you should study a little more.” (Carol)

That could be a conglomerate of slime clumped together.

So, it’s a myriad of slime reactions?

But why didn’t they respond to my detection skills?

And why did Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear not notice it, either?

Maybe because they were hiding deep inside the cistern?

The answer is no.

“Wait a minute, I’m gonna go check it out.” (Kagali)

“Check, how?…” (Mia)

Before Mia could finish speaking, Kagali-san’s body floated up and rose higher than the wall surrounding the town.

“Wait, that little girl just flew through the air!” (Mia)

Mia pointed at Kagali-san flying in the sky in surprise.

“It would be helpful if you don’t mind it now.” (Yuna)

“Don’t mind it? She’s flying in the sky!” (Mia)

After all, it seems crazy to fly in the sky here as well.

Kagali-san comes down after confirming it in the sky.

“You can fly?” (Mia)

“Now is not the time to talk about that. It’s bad. It’s turning into a giant slime.” (Kagali)

“Giant slime? Is it about the size of these bears?” (Mia)

Mia asks while looking at Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear.

“Don’t be silly. I said gigantic. It’s about to cover the whole town. I’ve never seen or heard of a slime this size.” (Kagali)

“Why, where did that slime come from?” (Mia)

“It seemed to be coming from underground, not just from the entrance where we came out.” (Kagali)

Then it came from underground?

“Look at the wall!”

“Water?”

“A slime!?”

Water comes out of the gap in the wall.

“Let’s get out of here as fast as we can.” (Kagali)

“I’m going to take the horse, so let Carol ride on that bear.” (Mia)

“But-” (Carol)

“I’ll be fine. Besides, it won’t last long if it keeps running while carrying two girls. Yuna, take care of Carol.” (Mia)

Of course, I won’t say no.

Mia rides on a horse, Carol rides on Swaying Bear, Kagali-san, Fina, and I ride Hugging Bear and start escaping.

We ran along the town walls and headed towards the town front. From there, we’re taking the road no longer used to escape.

We moved to the front of the town.

“You gotta be kidding me.” (Mia)

“Yuna-oneesan!” (Fina)

Mia and Fina shouted.

Water is coming out of a gap in the rocks and blocking the entrance to the town gate.

“Slime!” (Fina)

“Just keep going!” (Yuna)

“But there’s a tree down on this road.” (Mia)

“I’ll pave the way for you, so keep running.” (Yuna)

I lead the way on the abandoned road.

“Yuna! The tree!” (Mia)

“Don’t stop!” (Yuna)

Even horses take a long time to reach maximum speed once they stop. It can be deadly in this situation.

Moreover, Mia is riding a horse. Unlike Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, it can’t reaccelerate easily.

“Yuna!” (Mia)

Mia shouted.

I used the bear claw to tear down the fallen tree before me and casted wind magic to blow away the fallen splinters.

A path opened up.

On that road, Hugging Bear with me, Fina, and Kagali-san on board, Mia’s horse, and Swaying Bear, carrying Carol, kept running.

“I thought it was incredible when you defeated the knight armors, but you’re doing unbelievable things really easily.” (Mia)

“It’s too early to feel relieved.” (Kagali)

“I know.” (Mia)

There’s more than one tree blocking the road.

I blew away the trees blocking the road in a similar fashion and kept going down the abandoned road.

======

Author’s Note:

Apologies. This is not a reboot.

I am posting this because I have a number of announcements to make.

First, volume 15 is being released today.

Again, there will be autographed copies and special offers for store purchases.

I have written the details in the activity report, so please take a look there.

Also, PASH! Books 5th Anniversary Fair will be held.

PASH! Books e-books will be 55% off.

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear will also be available up to volume 14.

Please see the activity report for the e-book store where the event will take place.

Please wait a little longer for the next resumption.

I am also looking for short stories for volume 16 in the activity report.

Thank you for your cooperation.

※ Thank you very much to all those who have been reporting typos.

Please note that some of the corrections of kanji characters have not been corrected since they have been adapted to the book.

-Kumanano

[Postscript]

PASH! Books is running a campaign where you can win a 5th-anniversary book card by following and tweeting on Twitter.

The illustration will be Yuna, by 029-sensei.

For more details, please refer to the activity report.

======