Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

Kuma-san Cheer for Fina in the Third Round

Fina and Sanya-san returned together after finishing the second round and leaving the commentary table.

“Yuna Onee-chan!” (Fina)

Fina ran up to me with a smile on her face.

“Fina, congratulations.” (Yuna)

Since a while ago, all I have said was congratulations, but that’s all I could offer her, so it couldn’t be helped.

I wish I could come up with something more thoughtful, but it didn’t come out immediately.

And everyone says “congratulations” to her. It seemed that everyone else could only say the same thing.

But Fina smiled happily at everyone’s words.

“That’s still rude,” she says. I’m so young.” (Sanya)

Sanya-san says, her mouth is a little agitated.

Apparently, she was offended by the master of ceremony’s words earlier.

“Age aside, I think you’re young for an elf.” (Yuna)

“That’s right. I wish you wouldn’t say it in human terms.” (Sanya)

Well, people wanted to look young, not just elves. Some kids wanted to be taller and look a little more mature, though.

“Sanya-san, what’s the next monster?” (Yuna)

“I can’t tell you that. But, as I said before, there will be no unusual monsters in the 19 and under section.” (Sanya)

That unusual monster would be the challenge. It may be different in Crimonia than in the royal capital.

Just like the food produced in the region would be different. Even in games, the zones inhabited by monsters were different. What might be commonplace in one area might be insane in another.

“But from the third round, it gets a little more difficult. There should be a difference between those who have experience in dismantling and those who don’t.” (Sanya)

What about the scorpions, I wonder. Perhaps they were rare in the royal capital, or perhaps they would not be unusual, I can’t say for sure.

If it were Scorpions, Fina would have enough experience to have a good chance of making it past the third round.

“If you want Fina to play an active role, I think you could give us a little more information.” (Yuna)

“Ugh, when you put it that way, I can’t deny, but actually, I haven’t been informed either.” (Sanya)

Sanya-san discloses.

“Normally, I would have been informed in advance, but since I recommended Fina-chan, the deputy guild master made sure that I was not informed. Don’t you think that’s terrible?” (Sanya)

The vice-guild master, I believe, was the one who was in charge of the Adventurers’ Guild while Sanya-san and Ruimin were away in the Elven Village.

I had never met this person, but I wondered what kind of person they were.

From what I’ve heard, this person was much more organized than Sanya-san.

“So Sanya-san wasn’t involved in the selection of the monsters to be dismantled?” (Yuna)

“Yes, I wasn’t involved. The selection of monsters is usually decided by guild officials. I then verify and pick up the right monsters to be used from the selection, but the deputy guild master stopped me this time from reviewing the selection.” (Sanya)

Well, the person at the top should do only some of the work in the guild. If they didn’t delegate where they could to their subordinates, they wouldn’t be able to develop their people, and the work would be concentrated on a single point, in this case a single person.

“So you’re saying that they don’t trust Sanya-san.” (Yuna)

“Yuna-chan, that’s terrible.” (Sanya)

Laughter escaped from those around us.

Fina was smiling as well. I hope it relieved some of the tension.

The preparations for the venue were finished, and the third round was about to begin.

Sanya-san accompanied Fina back to the event site.

“Is everyone ready? We are finally down to 40 players. Only half of them, 20, will advance to the fourth round. Gradually, it would be sad to see the beautiful flowers disappear, but this can’t be helped. If you are not good enough, you will just fade away. However, my feeling is that I want the beautiful flowers to do their best, not to lose to the men.” (Master of Ceremony)

There were about six women remaining, including Fina. The percentage of women did not even reach 20%.

That may be a sufficient number since there were many male participants.

“I wish Fina-chan, whom I am secretly rooting for, can go through with it, but this next one may be tough.” (Master of Ceremony)

As the master of ceremony said this, the next item to be dismantled was brought in by an attendant.

This time, it was covered with a cloth.

I could hear a voice from the audience saying, “What is it?”.

A cart was lined up next to each participant, and the cloth was taken all at once.

There was a buzz around the room.

“Mom, what’s that?” (Shuri)

Shuri leaned forward to see what was on the cart.

On top of the cart was a long, thin, greenish body with a long tail and a long, thin head. It had a long tail, a long, thin face, and a large mouth. If it bites you with that mouth, it won’t let go.

In conclusion, it was an alligator.

This was the first time I had seen one since I came to this world.

“That’s a gator.” (Tirumina)

“A gator?” (Shuri)

“Gators are monsters that live in rivers and swamps. They are dangerous monsters that appear out of the swamp and attack you when you are near a swamp.” (Tirumina)

They call them Gators.

Of course, there were other monsters that I didn’t know about.

There may be rivers and swamps near Crimonia, but I have never seen one. I guess not all rivers and swamps have these monsters.

It would be the same in my previous life as crocodiles did not live in every river in Japan.

But the fact that I didn’t know about it means that I have never asked Fina to dismantle it.

“Has Fina ever dismantled a Gator?” (Yuna)

As far as I know, there have been no such cases. So I asked Tirumina-san.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what kind of monsters Fina has dismantled in the past. She doesn’t talk much, and I was sick, right? I think she didn’t want me to be worried, so she rarely talked about dismantling. That makes me a bad parent.” (Tirumina)

When her mother was sick and down, Fina was getting dismantling jobs from Gentz-san.

Fina was a sweet girl. She might have kept quiet to not worry her mother, who was lying in bed sick.

“But instead, it’s good that Gentz-san knows, isn’t it? I think it would be good if one of the parents knew.” (Yuna)

My parents had no idea what I did for a living. Considering that Tirumina-san was being a good parent.

“Right. And now she is with Yuna-chan, too. And just because Fina doesn’t talk to me doesn’t mean she’s doing anything wrong, and more importantly, she’s my proud daughter.” (Tirumina)

“Proud of your daughter?” (Ellelaura)

I didn’t know where she was getting this from, but Ellelaura-san’s response to the “proud daughter” comment was…

“If you’re talking about proud daughters, I’d like to be part of the conversation. I could start with Noa, of course, but Shia is an excellent student at the school as well… and…” (Ellelaura)

“Oh, mother, you’re embarrassing me, stop!” (Shia)

Shia panicked and stopped her mother, who suddenly started talking about herself.

“What, it’s normal for parents to talk about how proud they are of their daughters?” (Ellelaura)

“Even if it is, don’t do it in front of your daughter.” (Tirumina)

Surely, it would be embarrassing if my parents did it in front of me.

“Well then, Tirumina-san, next time, let’s brag about each other’s daughters.” (Ellelaura)

“Well, I mean, I don’t know how to show off my daughter to Noa-sama or Shia-sama…” (Tirumina)

“You see, Tirumina-san is troubled.” (Shia)

I suppose she couldn’t compare her own daughter’s boasting in comparison to the daughters of the nobility.

Tirumina-san had not known Ellelaura-san that long yet, and it might be difficult for them to hit it off.

While we were talking, an alligator, or rather a Gator, was placed on the table to be dismantled by each of them.

Fina was staring at the gator.

She may be in trouble.

“Well, it’s good enough that Fina made it this far.” (Ellelaura)

I agree with that; only a few kids Fina’s age could have made it this far in dismantling.

Just being one of the 40 out of over 100 participants was amazing.

“If you can’t dismantle it, and then you can exit in the back, we’ll give you a proper reception.” (Master of Ceremony)

“Yes.” (Participant 1)

“Yeah.” (Participant 2)

“You made it through the second round, that’s great enough.” (Master of Ceremony)

Fina might come back depressed because that was just how Fina was. If she did, I would praise her.

“Then, let’s begin!” (Master of Ceremony)

At the same time as the master of ceremony spoke, drums were heard, and the third stage of the dismantling event started.

Everyone started moving at once.

Even Fina, who we thought could not dismantle the Gator, grabbed a knife, cut the Gator’s belly, and, without hesitation, started to dismantle it.

“Fina-chan, are you dismantling it?” (Master of Ceremony)

“Yes.” (Fina)

They all look at Fina curiously as she dismantles the gator.

“That girl could dismantle a Gator, huh?” (Tirumina)

Tirumina-san looked at Fina, dismantling the gator as if she was seeing a new side of her daughter for the first time.

I didn’t know what Fina was doing before I came to this world and met her.

Maybe Gentz-san taught her how to dismantle a gator around the time before we met. Since I had never visited the dismantling site of the Adventurers’ Guild, I knew very little about what Fina had dismantled before. I felt like I was seeing a new side of Fina, too.

“Some of the participants are still stuck, as if some of them have never dismantled a Gator before, but the youngest Fina-chan’s hands are moving!” (Master of Ceremony)

Fina’s hands continued to work as the master of ceremony continued to make commentaries, but at a slower dismantling speed. She seemed to be doing it slowly and thoughtfully.

But for some of the other participants, their hands have stopped altogether.

They may be a little uncommon monster for newcomers, after all.

“Fina-chan must have learned from somewhere and gained experience and knowledge. That’s great. But, not wanting to give up the win to such a girl, the two candidates for the championship, Deed-kun and Garde-kun, dismantle the Gator at a great speed, without even reading the air.” (Master of Ceremony)

The audience laughed when the master of ceremony said, “Let the girl win!”, “Go easy on her!” The crowd yelled.

“I understand how you people in the audience feel, but this tournament doesn’t care if you are under 19 years old, what your gender is, or what your background is. So please forgive Deed-kun and Garde-kun.”(Master of Ceremony)

The master of ceremony’s words brought laughter from the audience.

But Fina was dismantling the gator silently as if she didn’t hear the voices of those around her.

I guess that’s how focused she was in her dismantling.