Chapter 128.1: First Short Story

Author's note:

I wrote these three short stories as a commemoration of the second year anniversaryof the The Bears Bear a Bare Kuma.

I hope you enjoy.

My job was to guard the town.

My job had many different shifts. My main tasks were patrolling the town, watching the entrance of the town, and listening to the townspeople's troubles at the post.

That day, I was working at the entrance and my main task was to make sure that no criminals entered the town. Well, even though I said that, I only had to check the guild or citizen cards of the people leaving and entering the town, using the crystal plate to see if it turned red or not.

If it turned red, it meant that the person was a criminal; that almost never happened, though. To put it simply, it was an easy job with a lot of spare time, but even though it was easy and free, I still had to do it properly.

「Young lady, are you going out of the town?」

A ten-year-old girl wanted to leave the town, so I decided to warn her about the dangers.

The adventurers kept the monsters in the nearby forest in check, so it was relatively safe. If you went too far, though, you were bound to encounter some monsters.

「Yes. I'm going to gather some medicinal plants.」

「Don't go too far inside the forest even if you think it is safe, okay!?」

「Okay.」

The girl left the town with a little rucksack on her back.

After she left, a few people entered, but no one left the town. It was a really quiet time of the day.

I looked outside the town and saw a black silhouette walking towards me.

What was that?

The little girl, who went out not long ago, was walking next to it. A person wearing strange clothes?

As they approached, I got a better look.

A bear?

The identity of the black thing was a girl wearing a bear suit. Why would she wear that?

I spoke to the little girl.

「Did you find any herbs, young lady?」

「Yes!」

I was a bit worried, but it seemed that she found herbs without encountering any danger.

I proceeded to ask the girl, who was wearing the bear suit, what her clothes were all about. She told me to pay it no mind while looking embarrassed.

Well, she indeed wore suspicious clothes, but I didn't sense any danger from her. If she didn't want to talk about it, I wouldn't force her, as long as she wasn't a criminal. Anyhow, I asked for her identification card. The crystal would tell me if she was a criminal or not.

She didn't have a citizen card nor a guild card, so I had to check her magical power directly.

Well, if she really wasn't recorded, the plate wouldn't react.

There was no reaction, so I let her enter the town.

Hmm, I should make a report to the captain about this.

A few days after, the Bear Missy came to the gate again. Taking a closer look, those clothes were quite cute. How should I put this... Just looking at it made you feel at ease.

When I asked her where she was going, she told me she was going out and showed me her guild card; it seemed she managed to become an adventurer.

Anyhow, I told her to take care and saw her off.

When I was looking at her back, the bear's tail was swaying right and left; the suit was well made, it seemed.

Some time had passed while I was at my post, but the Bear Missy had yet to return.

Well, there were four gates to our town, all at key locations, so she might have used another gate. Still, I felt a bit anxious.

My worry was all for nothing, though, as the Bear Missy soon came back safely. I unconsciously petted her head when she passed by, and she scolded me. It was difficult to handle young girls...

Another day at my post, I heard rumors about Bear Missy.

It seemed that the first day she went to the Adventurer's Guild, some other adventurers picked a fight with her; I got nervous when I heard that. Why would something like that possibly happen?

「What happened then?」

I asked my colleagues, who were talking about it.

I couldn't believe what they told me; it seemed that she fought about 10 adventurers.

It was an unbelievable story, but they told me that some adventurers were really hurt.

She didn't look strong to me at all, though.

In the days that followed, I heard more and more rumors about Bear Missy, and they were all unbelievable things.

I heard that she had defeated a goblin horde with a Goblin King, and there were even rumors about her defeating a Black Viper. Everything I heard was simply unbelievable, but a colleague of mine knew someone at the guild, and he said that the stories were all true.

I still couldn't believe the rumors, though. Especially the one about the Bear House.

What was a Bear House, even?

「It's a house in the form of a bear, of course. You will understand when you see it.」

My coworker told me, so I decided to go and see the Bear House when I was finished with my patrol.

I should begin with the conclusion: it was a bear. No matter how I looked at it, it was a bear.

It wasn't a terrifying bear, though. How should I put it... It was a cute Bear House.

When I heard the rumor, I thought that it was a terrifying Bear House, but it was a really cute Bear House; it suited Bear Missy well.

She really was full of endless surprises.