Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

When I opened my eyes, the bears were snuggled up next to me.

What time was it?

I climbed out of the bed and opened the curtains and window.

I could see the sun rising over the sea.

I went to sleep at lunch time, and woke up in the morning. How long had I slept for?

From a rough calculation, it was at least 16 hours.

As expected, with this much sleep, my weariness had disappeared, and my magic power was restored. It was a bit early, but I changed back into the Black Bear and unsummoned my bodyguards.

When I left the room and went to the first floor, I saw Deiga-san leaving the room at the back of the inn.

「Missy, you woke up! Are you feeling okay now?」

「Good morning. I am feeling fine. I was just tired because I overused my magic power.」

「I see. So, you are okay now.」

He seemed to be relieved. He was probably worried about me.

「Missy, you really are a great adventurer, huh. Even though you are so cute…」

「You heard of what happened with the Kraken?」

「I asked Atora-san when missy returned to the inn.」

Well, I came back looking really rough, so it was natural for him to ask.

「So, are you hungry? You haven’t eaten anything since breakfast yesterday, have you?」

I touched my stomach.

It was flat.

I wasn’t talking about my chest! My stomach was flat.

「It seems that I am hungry.」

「Then I will prepare something right now, so please wait.」

Deiga-san moved to the kitchen.

「You can take your time.」

While I was waiting for Deiga-san’s cuisine in a daze, Atora-san entered the inn.

「Yuna, you were awake!?」

「I just woke up.」

「Do you have any injuries, or any other problems?」

「I’m fine. Because I went to sleep early, I recovered my magic power and am now back to normal.」

「I was really worried when I saw that you still weren’t awake when nighttime arrived.」

She looked like she was really worried.

It seemed that I troubled both Deiga-san and Atora-san.

「Still, it’s great that you are okay.」

While I was talking with Atora-san, Deiga-san came back with a meal.

「Rice? I thought you didn’t have it anymore?」

「The people from the city brought it.」

「Why?」

「Yesterday was really crazy, you know. A lot of people came and assembled at the inn to thank you, missy.」

「It was intense, wasn’t it?」

Atora-san nodded at Deiga-san’s words.

「As soon as we returned to the city, the entire town found out that the Kraken had been defeated. When they heard that Yuna had defeated it, and that you were staying at this inn, they all rushed over.」

I wondered how many people there had been.

I didn’t really want to imagine it though.

「You were tired and asleep though. We couldn’t just wake you up. So, we persuaded them to not make too much noise and go back. But even after that, there were a lot of residents who came, one after the other, from every direction, and it was just terrible.」

While I was sleeping, something that troublesome happened, huh.

「Then, they all said that they wanted to thank you somehow. So when I said that you loved rice, all of them decided to gather the rest of the rice that they had left, and brought it here. They didn’t have much individually, but when all of it was assembled, we ended up with quite a lot of rice.」

That made me really happy.

Even though I had killed the Kraken, I didn’t know where the country of Harmony and Peace was. I also didn’t know when the boats would come. Due to that, I had believed that I couldn’t have any more rice for quite some time.

「This makes me really happy, but can I really take it? That’s some of your scarce and precious food, isn’t it?」

「What are you saying? Since you killed the Kraken, the food shortage is not a problem anymore. There’s plenty of food in the sea.」

Since it was like that, I would accept it gratefully.

Hmm, now that I think about it, did I do something bad for Blitz and the others, who went to buy food from Crimonia?

Well, I thought that they would buy things other than fish, so it should be okay.

「Since the residents came to thank me, that means that everybody knows that I killed the Kraken, doesn’t it?」

「There were people who saw your fight with the Kraken. That’s why the news spread out quickly.」

There had been people there?

I had not noticed at all.

If the fight had dragged out a little longer, I would have done a strip show in front of them.

Well, that was not the main problem, but still an important one.

In reality, I didn’t want to make a big fuss out of it, just like in the capital, but this time, there seemed to be no choice.

It would be impossible to say that it was an S rank adventurer who had killed it.

「They all agreed that they won’t cause any problems, but what are you so afraid of?」

「I just think that it will become really troublesome if the fact that I killed the Kraken spreads…」

「You don’t have to worry about that. It won’t spread to places outside this city. Other cities and towns don’t really interact much with this city anyway, so there aren’t a lot of people who know about the Kraken. And even if they heard about it, they wouldn’t believe that it was a 15 year old girl wearing a bear suit who killed it all by herself. Even I wouldn’t believe such a story if I only heard it.」

She was right. Nobody would believe that I had killed the Kraken alone.

It was more important to ask if anyone could even kill the Kraken by themselves?

I hadn’t really seen any strong people around here.

I really want to meet an rank S adventurer one day.

「I will try asking them to keep quiet about it. However, you shouldn’t count on it.」

Just thinking about it wouldn’t solve anything.

I could only pray that the rumors wouldn’t spread.

With the Kraken subjugated, I should just be happy that I would now be able to procure rice and soy sauce.

After eating my fill of the rice that the citizens had collected, Atora-san and I went outside for a morning walk. Even though it was still early in the morning, there were a lot of people outside.

They were all smiling, and conversations were blooming everywhere.

When they saw us leaving the inn, some older women approached us.

「You are the missy who killed the Kraken, aren’t you?」

「Such a cute girl killed that monster, huh.」

「Thank you very much. My husband went out to sea early in the morning. That was also thanks to you, missy.」

「Mine set sail as well. He had a really gloomy face before, but after he saw the dead Kraken, he came back crying.」

「In order to show our gratitude, we are going to have a seafood festival. So please, come and participate.」

「The men were making a real fuss yesterday, but you just collapsed and fell asleep after saving the city, right?」

「Atora said that you would be okay come the next day. That’s why the men departed early this morning, to procure some fresh fish and make a really delicious meal.」

「We will make really delicious food, so please join us for the festival.」

While the aunties were saying whatever they wanted, I decided to take my leave.

As we were walking through the city, many words of thanks flew my way.

If it continued like that, we probably wouldn’t be able to run away, so we left the city and returned to the cliff where I had fought the Kraken.

Atora-san told me that, because the sea was boiling, people weren’t able to approach the Kraken.

When we arrived at the cliff, we saw rising steam, as if we were at a spa town.

「It is becoming more bearable.」

When we approached the cliff, we noticed an elderly man looking at the sea.

「Kuro-san.」

「Miss Atora, huh.」

「Kuro-san, why are you here?」

「I thought that if I stayed here, I would be able to meet the one who killed the monster, you know.」

「What about fishing, though?」

「I left that task to the young’uns. I have to say my thanks to the person who did this. So, the one who killed it, is it the missy in the Bear Suit behind you?」

「Yeah, she’s the one.」

The grandpa, Kuro-san, approached me.

「I heard the story, but to think that it really was such a little girl. I am the person in charge of the fishing industry in this city. Thank you for saving our city and the sea.」

The grandpa bowed.

『Telling a grandpa like this that the reason I had done it was for rice would be just…』

「The fact that the boats can set sail is thanks to you as well, missy.」

The grandpa looked at the sea, gazing at the boats on it.

『For the soy sauce…』

「I thought that no one would be able to kill this monster. It’s a monster that even the army might not be able to defeat. The people of this city don’t understand what an incredible thing you did.」

「……」

『This situation makes it impossible to reveal the real reason I did my best.』

「You don’t have to mind it that much. I just had a way to defeat it, that’s all.」

Those were the only words that I could think of.

「I see. If there’s something that causes you trouble in this city, just come and tell me. For you, Missy, I will do anything.」

「So, Yuna, what do you plan on doing with the Kraken?」

Atora-san asked me while looking at the Kraken that was floating in the sea.

「Is it possible to eat the Kraken?」

「Now that I think about it, it is.」

「What about the worm?」

「I heard that it’s a delicacy.」

That strange thing was a high quality ingredient?

I wouldn’t want eat it even if I was paid to, though…

「I will give it to the city then.」

「You sure? It’s worth a fortune, you know.」

「If it can be of use to the city, it’s okay. There are people who had their boats destroyed by it, aren’t there?」

「Are you really sure about this? This will help us a lot.」

「If you really want to give me something in return, just present me with a good plot of land in the city.」

「Yuna, you will live in the city?」

I shook my head.

「I will just make it my holiday villa. And I want to come back here with my acquaintances once it’s warmer.」

「If you want to swim, I recommend this city’s shores.」

Speaking of which, what sort of clothing did the people in this world swim in?

Did they wear swimsuits?

I didn’t think that the people of this world would swim naked…or at least, I hoped they didn’t.

「Anyways, bringing this Kraken back it to the city would be impossible because of its size. Disassembling it on the sea is also impossible.」

(ED: The author removed some text where they mention making a swimsuit out of the Kraken, so the transition is somewhat sudden.)

「Just wait a little.」

I used earth magic to make a stairway down the cliff, all the way to where the Kraken was.

I descended the stairs and removed the water that was within the boundaries of the Bear Wall using Water Magic.

After I finished, only the boiled Kraken and worm were left on the seabed.

When I got down to the seabed, I put both of them inside the Bear Box and proceeded to return to the top of the cliff.

「I really don’t want people to know about this item bag, so please don’t talk about it.」

「Understood. Now that the water is gone, it really is a beautiful spectacle.」

With the water gone, we could now see the bears that formed the earth wall, towering over the surroundings.

「I will make them disappear now.」

「Wait a minute.」

Grandpa Kuro stopped me.

「Couldn’t you leave it like this?」

「Why?」

「So that we won’t forget about what happened here. People are beings who forget things after time passes, including the fact that a Kraken appeared, and that missy saved us. It’s so we do not forget about the people who disappeared into the sea.」

Honestly, I didn’t want to leave any traces behind and wanted to make it disappear, but when this grandpa said that much, I couldn’t do it.

I accepted the grandpa’s request.

「So, where do you want to dismantle it?」

「Let’s see. It should be fine doing it on the nearby beach, right?」

「You’re right. If someone asks how we transported it, we will just say that it was thanks to Yuna’s magic, and everyone will acknowledge it.」

I pulled out the Kraken and the worm onto the sandy beach near the cliff.

They were boiled really nicely.

「Using the seawater here, we can wash out the filth, so this will do. The ones who went out to sea should be coming back soon. I will call them.」

「I will also go and call the guild employees who know how to dismantle.」

I put the nervous grandpa on Swaying Bear, and returned to the city.

I didn’t know how much time it would take for him to go back if he were to walk there alone.

「Missy, you made me experience a great thing at this age. I really didn’t think that I would ever ride on a bear. I will go to the harbor then.」

「And I will head to the Adventurer’s Guild.」

The two of them went in their respective directions.

When I was thinking about what to do now that I was left alone, Ranya-san approached me.

「Hello, Ranya-san.」

「Hello, Yuna-chan. Thank you so much for killing the Kraken.」

「I just did it for myself.」

「We were saved by Yuna-chan so many times. On the mountain, the food shortage, the bandits, and even the Kraken. Oh right, speaking of which, what will you do about the Kraken? I went to see it yesterday, but you won’t leave it like that, right?」

「Just now, the fisherman grandpa, Kuro-san, went to the harbor to fetch people to dismantle it. Atora-san went to the Adventurer’s Guild to assemble more people as well.」

「You will dismantle it?」

「We moved it to the sandy beach, so when it’s dismantled, I plan on giving it to the citizens to eat.」

The worm was just a supplement.

I wouldn’t eat it though.

「Then I have to go as well. Since Kuro-san went to the harbor, I will assemble the women. Yuna-chan, we will see each other soon.」

Ranya-san walked away.