Chapter 188

Chapter 188 – Bear-san Returns To The Mansion After Subjugating The Moles

We managed to exterminate the Big Mole without anyone getting injured .

「Now we don’t have to worry about this place anymore . 」

According to Marina, there shouldn’t be any more Big Moles appearing .

Big Moles went to places with lots of food and gave birth there .

They gave birth to many moles at once, so the damage got worse the longer people took to subjugate them .

As expected of another world’s biology . The moles here were nothing like the moles from my former world .

We just had to finish off the leftover moles now, but it was about time we called it a day .

The people waiting for us at the mansion might get concerned if we stayed out too late, so we decided to head back .

「Marina, Elle, thank you for letting us tag along today . 」

「No problem . I’m happy that I got to spend time with Misana-sama today . 」

「Misana-sama, please call for us if anything happens, okay?」

The two of them decided to stay until Elle’s magic ran out, so the three girls and I headed back on our own .

We passed by the big tree where someone was taking a nap . I tried to catch a glimpse of them, but didn’t see anyone . They had still been there when we were exterminating the Big Mole, though… They must have left because we were making such a big commotion about it .

Halfway to the mansion, I took a look at the three girls . Their clothes and faces were all dirty, which was normal after walking around a field . Their skirts were especially bad .

I was pretty sure that people would get mad at me if I brought them home like this . Yeah, it would be awkward to go back without cleaning ourselves first .

We couldn’t do anything about the clothing, but we should at least wash our faces .

「Okay, stay still everyone . 」

I soaked a towel with water magic and wiped their faces .

Their faces were clean now, but their clothes were still dirty… The maids would get mad about that, right?

I thought up some excuses as we continued our way back to the mansion . When we got to the gate, we were met by someone unexpected, who was also about to enter .

「Mother!」

Noa called out and ran to her mother, who turned around in surprise .

「Noa?!」

Eleanora-san smiled when she recognized her daughter .

「How have you been doing?」

「I’m doing well, but why are you here, Mother?」

「I’m here to see my beloved daughter, of course . 」

Eleanora-san was about to reach out and hug Noa but stopped .

「Noa, you’re a bit dirty . 」

Noa took a look at herself .

Her pretty clothing was indeed covered in dirt .

Since we had no excuses for this, Eleanora-san should get mad at me, as I was the one in charge of the girls .

「Eleanora-san, I’m sorry . I took the girls to a field . 」

「It’s not your fault . It’s because I said I wanted to go . 」

Misa tried to take the blame .

「Big Sis Yuna did nothing wrong . 」

「Huhu, I’m not mad . When I was a child, I got my clothes even dirtier than this . 」

Elearnora-san laughed and hugged Noa, not minding her dirty clothes at all .

「Mother, you’ll get dirty too . 」

「There is no mother in the world who won’t hug her own daughter even if she gets dirty in the process . 」

「M-Mother!」

Noa sounded concerned, but her smile told a different story .

「Okay, but why are you really here, Eleanora-san?」

「Hmm… It’s true I came here to see my daughter . I guess it’s 10 percent work, 10 percent Cliff, and 80 percent Noa . 」

I didn’t even know how could I begin to retort to that .

Shouldn’t she split it equally between Cliff and Noa?

Also, wasn’t the work most important here?

「I also wanted to talk to you, Yuna-chan . I just have to greet Gran-san first, so let’s head inside . 」

It didn’t take long for Meshun-san to approach us once we entered the mansion . As soon as she got a closer look, however…

「Why is everyone so dirty?!」

Meshun-san cried out, seeing the three girls covered in dirt . She looked quite angry .

「Meshun, I’m sorry . It’s my fault . 」

Misa apologized and told her about going to the fields with Marina .

「I said I wanted to go, too, so it’s not just your fault, Misa . 」

「Me too, I said I wanted to go, too . 」

Noa and Fina stuck up for Misa .

Seeing them support each other like that, Meshun-san’s expression softened .

「I’m not really that mad . 」

「You’re not?」

Misa was happy to hear that .

「That’s right; I’m not angry, so could the three of you please head into the bath and clean yourselves? I cannot let you eat looking like that . 」

The three girls did as they were told and headed to the bath as Meshun-san saw them off with a smile .

「It’s been a while since I’ve seen Misana-sama this happy . Yuna-san, please join them, too . 」

「I’ll go later . I need to talk to Eleanora-san first . 」

「…Eleanora-sama?!」

Meshun-san seemed to have only noticed how dirty the girls were and was shocked to realize Eleanora-san was there the entire time .

「It’s been a while, Meshun . 」

「I’m terribly sorry, I did not notice you at all . 」

Meshun-san apologized with a bow .

「It’s okay, you don’t have to worry about it . I showed up unannounced, so I’m partly to blame . I want to see Gran-san if that is okay?」

「Yes, I think it should be fine right now . He has no more guests for the day . 」

Based on their conversation this morning, Gran-san had been speaking with a lot of people .

「Yuna-chan, I’m going to talk to Gran-san first, so you can head into the bath, too . 」

「Okay, thank you . I would just create more work for the maids if I kept walking around like this…」

Meshun-san looked at me .

「Yuna-sama, you also went to the fields, right?」

「Yeah, I did . 」

「You’re not as dirty as the girls . I can’t tell from your black foot, but your white foot is still clean . 」

I lifted up my foot and looked at the sole .

「This suit is made of some special material, so it doesn’t get dirty . 」

My Bear Suit required no cleaning . It remained clean even after I had worn it for a year, with no stain or odour .

Even if muddy water splashed onto me, the Bear Suit still wouldn’t get dirty .

「How mysterious . 」

Meshun-san tilted her head as she observed the Bear Suit .

「Yuna-chan, take your time in the bath . I’m sure you’re tired from having to look after the girls all day long . 」

I didn’t think I could relax if I took a bath with them, though .

Well, maybe it would be fine since Noa and Misa were well-educated nobles, and they wouldn’t play around in the bath (the Bear Bath was a different story) .

Also, Fina was a good girl and knew how to behave herself .

I headed towards the bath after promising Eleanora-san I would meet her later .

Once I entered the changing room, the three girls were already undressed .

「Yuna-san, you’re so slow . 」

「I had to talk to Meshun-san and Eleanora-san . 」

「Let’s go inside!」

「I’ll come after I undress, so you three should go in first . 」

The three of them did as I told them to while I took my time to take off my Bear Suit before following them .

Gran-san owned a spectacular bath, being a feudal lord and all . It was so big that all four of us could get in with plenty of space to spare .

When I entered, Noa was already washing Misa’s body .

「Fina, come over here . I’ll wash yours . 」

「I’m okay, I can wash myself . 」

「Let me do it for you anyway . 」

I got Fina to sit down in front of me and washed her back and hair then proceeded to wash myself as well . The girls tried to help, but I politely refused their help and told them to get in the bathtub ahead of me .

Noa complained, but I ignored her .

After we all spent some quality time soaking in the tub, we got out together and used my hair dryer to dry our hair .

I didn’t want to have them catching a cold, after all .

We headed to the bedroom, where the girls resumed their game of Reversi, and I just watched them from the side, taking a long earned rest .

After a while, Eleanora-san entered the room .

「Mother?」

「Wow, you’re all nice and clean now . Maybe I’ll borrow the bath as well . 」

Eleanora-san patted her daughter’s head before speaking to me .

「Yuna-chan, I want to thank you . 」

「…?」

「 Cliff and Gran-san told me what happened . Things would have turned out badly if you hadn’t brought Zelef-san here . 」

「True, I did bring him here, but Zelef-san was the one who did his best to make the party succeed . 」

「I know, they told me how he got mad at Gerardo for criticizing his food . I wish I could have been here to witness that . 」

She said in a disappointed tone .

Speaking of which, I would have loved to see that stupid noble brat’s disappointment as he left the party as well .

「Oh right, about Zelef, I’ll be taking him back to the capital with me, so you don’t have to worry about taking him back yourself . 」

「You will?」

「Yes, but in exchange, please take care of Cliff and Noa, okay?」

I was glad that I didn’t have to take a detour to the capital before going home . It would have been a pain .

「Great, but did you come here by yourself, Eleanora-san?」

「I have a few subordinates accompanying me, but they are staying at an inn until we leave . 」

That made sense . As amazing as Eleanora-san was, there was no way she would come all the way here by herself .

「Honestly, I would have come here by myself, but His Majesty was being nosy and kept telling me to bring others with me, so I had no choice . 」

She was a noble, after all . Nobles had to have escorts with traveling .

「Mother, will you stay with us?」

「I can stay for a bit, but I still have my job to take care of . 」

「Your job?」

「That’s right, it’s an order from our mean king . I would love to to ditch this job and stay with you, though . 」

Eleanora-san apologized .

Oh right, she had mentioned that she had come here for work, even though it was just 10 percent .

「Will you be able to finish it quickly?」

「Hmm, I think it will take the most of the day, but I should have time to spend with you in the evening . Yuna-chan, please take care of Noa during the afternoon, okay . 」

「By the way, what is this job of yours? If you can’t tell me, I won’t pry any further, of course . 」

I didn’t want to get involved in anything messy, after all .

Still, if the girls were to somehow got involved instead, maybe it wouldn’t be bad to hear her out .

「It’s just an inspection of this town . His Majesty planned to send a civil officer over, but I snatched the chance to, I mean, I asked to go instead . 」

She just said she had ‘snatched’ it, didn’t she?

「I’m surprised His Majesty allowed that . 」

「I had to beg him, more or less . I told him that I wanted to see my daughter and my husband . Let me see my daughter, my daughter, oh and my husband . I just kept chanting that to His Majesty until he agreed . 」

Your Majesty, she must have been really annoying, huh .

「So, what exactly are you inspecting?」

「Not much . I will just go around town and collect information . I will hear what Gran-san and Cliff have to say before I decide on where to go, of course . Oh, and I also plan to attend Misana’s party since I’m here . 」

That was a lot of freedom for an inspection…

「I guess I won’t start a full-scale inspection until after the party . I’ll have to look around town, and make sure to visit the Adventurer’s Guild and the Commerce Guild . I also need to see the Salbert family . 」

Then, Eleanora-san noticed the Reversi board and joined in until Meshun-san called us for dinner .

Author’s Note:

With Eleanora-san’s arrival, the net around the Salbert family is slowly closing in . w