Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

Bear-san Tracking the Knights

Primme had gone to the mansion alone, and Noa and I were about to return to the inn when Noa spoke to me in a small voice.

“Yuna-san, a knight has come out from the shed.” (Noa)

I looked towards the mansion grounds and saw a single knight on horseback heading towards the gate from a shed.

He then spoke a word or two to the knight at the gate and rode away from the mansion on his horse.

“Is he going to hunt monsters?” (Yuna)

“I don’t think so. He’s going alone.” (Guild Master)

I saw the knights fighting with monsters before, but they were fighting in a group of several people.

Even for the captain who noticed my magic, it was unthinkable that he would go alone to defeat monsters.

“Then, is it just a normal shopping trip or something?” (Yuna)

That line of thinking was possible, but riding around on horseback?

The town was big, so at first glance it didn’t seem abnormal, but there was also the possibility of him riding out of town.

Hmmm…what to do? Should we follow him?

We wouldn’t get any new information if we stayed here after all.

I couldn’t follow Primme into the mansion, and even if I waited for Primme to return, I would still need to find out when she would return.

So, I decided.

“I’ll follow him for a bit… Noa…” (Yuna)

I needed to decide whether to have her wait alone at the inn, or stay with Carla-san at the Adventurers’ Guild, or use the Bear Transfer Gate to get to a safe place.

I was thinking about what to do.

“If you don’t mind, can I come with you?” (Noa)

Noa said a little reservedly.

What to do?

Noa was staring at me.

“If I think it’s dangerous, I’ll ask you to evacuate.” (Yuna)

“Yes!” (Noa)

Noa replied happily.

Noa and I decided to follow the knight, but my outfit was so conspicuous that I had to keep my distance, or he would notice us.

My outfit was unsuitable for tailing, as proven when I followed Jubei-san in the Land of Wa.

“Yuna-san, he will be out of sight.” (Noa)

“If we leave now, they will notice us, so we will move when he is a little further away.” (Yuna)

“But if he keeps going like this, we’ll lose sight of him and…” (Noa)

“Don’t worry, it’s going to be fine.” (Yuna)

I have already marked him with my detection skills. But that didn’t mean it was a point-on-point tracking since I was only following his marker on my map.

Unfortunately, my detection skill was not sophisticated enough that I could add a specific tracker per individual, so I was making sure I did not lose track of him.

I would love to have a tracking function, but that would turn it into stalker skills. But well, I would be able to stalk people and say, “I see you’re here now.” or “Maybe you’re at another woman’s place.” without actually following my target physically.

Well, even if such a tracking function were added, I wouldn’t use it for such things.

Once we had confirmed that the knight had left, we chased after him.

“Noa, let’s go.” (Yuna)

Noa and I followed the knight from a distance so that we wouldn’t be noticed. He was on a horse, but he was not galopping, so we could catch up with him if we ran at a short pace.

“Yuna-san, I don’t see him, but do you know where he is?” (Noa)

Noa asked me as I made good progress despite the Knight being outside our sight.

“Yes, well, you see…” (Yuna)

I told her that I was following him using detection skills.

“Is that what Yuna-san was looking at a while ago?”

I glanced at the map from my detection skill that Noa couldn’t see.

Probably, it looked to Noa as if I were looking at an empty space.

Fina had already confirmed this. The display of the detection skill was visible only to me.

“And so, by magic, I can tell where that knight is.” (Yuna)

“You can also do that with magic…” (Noa)

Noa didn’t even question my statement, she just agreed with me.

This was a skill, so it was different from magic, but I couldn’t explain the skills to her, so I had no choice.

The Knight was moving forward slowly.

Still, it was faster than a person walking. We tried keeping up by speed walking.

Noa was slowly becoming exhausted from walking. And well, I was also starting to gain even more attention not by the fact that I was walking quickly but because of my outfit.

So, to escape the attention and also let Noa rest, I decided to move to a deserted back alley.

“Noa, I’m going to give you a little hug.” (Yuna)

I said, and gave Noa, who was holding Hugging Bear, a princess carry.

“Yuna-san!” (Noa)

Noa was surprised, but I didn’t care, I just held her.

“Swaying Bear is clinging on my back.” (Yuna)

“Ku~~un.”

Swaying Bear jumped on my back.

“Hold on tight.” (Yuna)

I ran down a secluded back alley to avoid being seen.

It was also in the direction where the knight went.

I used my detection skills to monitor the knight’s location.

The Knight’s signal was moving away from the centre of the town, where the buildings were densely packed, and started to move toward the outskirts of the town.

On the outskirts of the town, near the walls, I could see a tall column that was not part of the town wall.

Looking up, it resembled a watchtower.

There was a door at the bottom of the column, and it looked like we could enter through it and go up to the top.

I put Noa and the bears down and looked at the Knight.

The Knight hooked the reins to a nearby tree and used a key to enter the door.

“Is it a change of guard?” (Yuna)

I followed him, but we might have just been wasting our time.

“Yuna-san, what should we do?” (Noa)

“Let’s go home.” (Yuna)

“”Kuh~n.””

As we decided to leave, Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear squealed.

It was not an emergency cry.

“What’s wrong?” (Yuna)

“Kuh~n.”

Swaying Bear looked behind me.

I used my detection skills.

There was a human response heading towards us.

Who was it?

Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear’s cries were not for emergency.

“Yuna-san, are Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear reacting to something?” (Noa)

Noa asked as if she could understand Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear.

“It looks like someone is approaching us.” (Yuna)

“Is it a Knight? Can Yuna-san tell with your magic?” (Noa)

“I’m sorry, I can’t tell.” (Yuna)

Noa meditated.

“I don’t feel any magical connection, so I don’t think it’s a knight.” (Noa)

“You can check something like that now?” (Yuna)

“Until now, I was confused because I felt the magic power coming from different places, and I couldn’t understand it. Now that I’ve seen the knights and I know the reasons why, I can kind of understand.” (Noa)

Noa may be better than me when it came to magic sensitivity in this town.

As we talked like that, the person’s reaction was getting closer.

We hid ourselves and looked around to see what was going on. It was the Guild Master who came toward us while being stealthy.

Why was the Guild Master here?

Hmm… It seemed that the Guild Master’s aim wasn’t us, but rather the watchtower.

Was he investigating something?

I appeared in front of the Guild Master to ask him.

“Ladies?” (Guild Master)

The Guild Master looked surprised.

I was surprised as well.

“Why are you here, ladies?” (Guild Master)

“We only came here after following a Knight. What about the Guild Master?” (Yuna)

“I can’t leave the job only to you, so I thought I’d come and check things out.” (Guild Master)

“What’s here? I thought it was just a watchtower.” (Yuna)

“It is indeed a watchtower.” (Guild Master)

“I know that, so what is in this place?” (Yuna)

“It used to be a job for soldiers or, for lack of a better word, a low-ranking soldier to guard this place, but after the new Lord took over, that position was transferred to the knights. The knights then started going into those towers, and the ones who previously guarded the towers were sent to do other jobs instead.” (Guild Master)

That was indeed strange.

There was no better way to put it, but guarding a tower was not a job that a knight would usually be assigned to, unless there was a war.

I could imagine those guards yawning and looking bored.

“So you think there is something on the watchtower, Guild Master?” (Yuna)

“You’re very perceptive, missy.” (Guild Master)

Noa looked a little pleased at the compliment.

“But I have some idea what to expect. There’s something here that is stealing the town’s residents of their magic powers.” (Guild Master)

“Is it a Magic Circle?” (Yuna)

Normally, if you want to steal and absorb magic power from the residents, you would make it so that the Magic Circle surrounds the town.

“Oh, and there are several similar watchtowers.” (Guild Master)

The Guild Master picked up a tree branch and drew a simple picture of the town on the ground, circling the locations of the watchtowers.

There were 6 locations.

“I’ve tried a few times to find locations in town where magic is not being taken from us, and those locations can be found either outside of the walls of the town, or near the walls.” (Guild Master)

Did that mean those locations were outside the magic circle?

“Were you searching alone?” (Yuna)

“Well, yes. When I was discovered, I could make excuses, so it was better for me to do it alone.” (Guild Master)

That’s true. The more people moving around, the more likely the knights would be suspicious of them. But if fewer people participated, it would take longer to spot them.

Maybe he wanted to avoid involving Carla-san or the adventurers of the Adventurers’ Guild, and was trying his best to do it alone.

To protect the Adventurers’ Guild, I think he even bowed down to the knights, whom he hated, and took on the task of dismantling the monsters that the knights had killed.

At first, I thought that if I relied on Primme’s sister’s handkerchief in Noa’s body, we could easily find her and bring her home.

But now, we know that the Lord was involved along with the knights while the Adventurers’ Guild and the town’s inhabitants were suffering.

Primme’s big sister had gotten many people involved and caused trouble for many people.

I just hope this was not Primme’s sister’s intention.

“So, what are you here to find out?” (Yuna)

“I was wondering if I could get inside.” (Guild Master)

That was a reckless move.

“That’s dangerous.” (Noa)

Noa seemed to think the same thing I did.

“I know. I don’t plan to do anything dangerous either. I was wondering if I could ask the fairy to check it out for me. A preliminary check. After all, they won’t be able to see fairies, right?” (Guild Master)

Since he didn’t seem to understand Fairies, I explained to the Guild Master about Primme and how he was able to see her.

I further added, “Also, even though they can’t see her, we can’t be reckless. It is possible that she can be seen by the knights that were involved in the likely event that it really is her sister who did this. If they find out, what do you think will happen?”

Noa also said, “Yes, that’s what I thought as well. Also, it’s not like you would be able to see them. I heard that even as sisters, they won’t be seen by the same people.”

“I see, but the fairy you brought with you holds the future of this town…” (Guild Master)

“We know, but I feel like the knights were also deliberately guiding you to investigate this place.” (Yuna)

“I might have indeed tried to check it out, but I have been stonewalled, right now. I’ve been looking into details on what I could find out, but I haven’t been able to find anything concrete and useful thus far.” (Guild Master)

Well, there were limits to what one person could do alone. And even if he had some helpers, I doubt he’d be able to make a big enough move. Moreover, if they made the wrong move, it would be the end.

Maybe I could understand why he wanted to join our group, as well as with Blitz and his group.

Since we were outsiders, it would be easy for him to let us escape and make some excuses in case something terrible happened.

Well, I might also be imagining bad things happening again, influenced by reading comic books and s.