Chapter 216

Chapter 216 – Bear-san gets a House

The little girl hiding behind Letobell-san was staring at me .

She looked to be about five years old, like Letobell-san had told me, and was easily comparable to the children from the orphanage .

And, I couldn’t stress this enough: she looked nothing like Letobell-san .

While Letobell-san had black hair, the little girl’s hair was of a beautiful, silver color .

He hadn’t simply kidnapped her, right? I was beginning to doubt him at this point .

「Bear-san?」

The little girl finally spoke up, looking up at my face .

「Hello, my name is Yuna . And you are?」

I said, crouching down to make it easier to converse .

She acted shy, though, and quickly hid behind Letobell-san again .

「Go on, tell her your name . 」

「… Aruka . 」

「Aruka? What a cute name . 」

Aruka finally came out from behind Letobell-san and looked at me happily then walked over to me and hugged me .

「So soft . 」

Well, it was a costume, after all .

「Why are you here, Bear-san?」

I already introduced myself, so why was she still calling me Bear-san?

Well, I wouldn’t ever get angry over something like that anymore .

I was a mature adult now, after all .

「Your grandfather asked me to come . 」

「Grandpa did?」

Aruka looked at Letobell-san .

「Grandpa knows Bear-san?」

「I just met her today so I asked her to come meet you straight away, Aruka . 」

Looking at Aruka’s face more closely now, I failed to see the resemblance between her and Letobell-san .

If it turned out that they weren’t actually blood related then that would mean that this old man was dangerous . Still, based on their conversation, they had to be related, right?

I looked back at Aruka while deciding to ignore the potentially dangerous old man for now .

「I brought a present for you, Aruka . 」

I took out volume one of the picture book from the Bear Box and Aruka immediately smiled, recognizing it .

「It’s the Bear-san’s picture book!」

She took the book from the Bear-san Puppet excitedly .

「I can have it?」

「Yes, it’s a present for you . 」

「Thank you . 」

Aruka was now smiling from ear to ear, and I needed no more; the book was hers .

I glanced at Letobell-san only to see he was clearly wearing an expression of a winner .

He then whispered to me .

『So, what do you think? My granddaughter is adorable, right? It’s my complete victory . 』

『Although, the smile is all thanks to my picture book, not your hard work . 』

I looked back at Aruka, and seeing her smiling face while she read the book also made me feel like I had won completely . She accepted it happily, after all . I would have only considered it a loss if she said she didn’t want it .

『Yes, but Aruka’s smile is still the best, right?』

I had to agree; her smile really made my heart warm up .

Completely focused on our whispers, I suddenly felt a tug on my hand .

I looked down and saw Aruka had grabbed onto my Bear Hand .

「Bear-san, read it . 」

She asked while looking up at me with big, excited eyes .

I had no reason to refuse, so I took the book from her .

「I’m going to head downstairs for a moment . Can I ask you to take care of Aruka while I’m away?」

I agreed, so Letobell-san left the room, leaving us on our own .

Somehow, we ended up reading the book with me sitting down, and Aruka between my legs, so that she could look at the book as I read it to her .

And then, I performed the very embarrassing act of reading out the book I had made myself .

Just as we got to the second volume, the door opened . It wasn’t Letobell-san, however, but rather a woman with silver-colored hair .

「There really is a bear in here, huh . 」

「Mother!」

Aruka got up and ran over to the woman, who appeared to be her mother . Unlike Letobell-san, she actually looked like her daugher . Letobell-san was most likely not related to her, but rather the father of Aruka, judging by the stark difference .

Well, this woman could still be his daughter if she had only inherited her mother’s genes .

「Thank you for looking after my daughter . I’m Sefull, by the way . 」

「I’m Yuna . 」

「Has my daughter made any selfish requests?」

「No, she’s very cute and obedient . 」

「That’s good to hear . Oh, is that the picture book?」

Sefull-san said, noticing the book her daughter was holding .

「Bear-san gave it to me . 」

「That’s great . 」

She patted her daughter’s head happily .

「I heard the story from father-in-law . Thank you for giving my daughter your picture book . Someone showed it to her while we were at the capital, and she really liked it but was sad that she couldn’t get a copy of her own . Father-in-law did everything he could but to no avail . He was just about to give up before he found you . 」

「Well, I’m glad he did, seeing how happy it made Asuka . 」

Well, my job here was done, so it was about time for me to leave . As I stood up, however…

「I’m sorry, we didn’t even serve you tea . 」

Sefull-san hurried towards the door .

「It’s okay, I was about to head back anyway . 」

「You can stay a bit longer if you would like . Father-in-law would like to thank you as well, so he asked me to keep you here a little longer if you wanted to leave . 」

I had already gotten to see Aruka’s smile as payment, so there was no real reason for him to thank me .

「He’ll be coming soon, so please have some tea while you wait . 」

「He doesn’t really need to thank me, though . 」

「You’re going home, Bear-san?」

Aruka asked me while grasping my Bear Suit .

There was no way that I could shake off an attack like that .

It was the same unfair tactic that Princess Flora used . I could only call it cheating .

Knowing I couldn’t run away with this, I obediently accepted the tea .

I still made sure to tell Aruka that I would have to go home soon and gently made her let go of my suit .

As I sat down on a chair, Aruka quickly climbed onto the chair next to me and grabbed onto my costume again . My gentle request didn’t work it seemed .

「Huhu, looks like my daughter likes you very much . 」

Sefull-san laughed while sitting in front of me to sip on a tea of her own .

「It’s because of this outfit of mine . 」

「At first I didn’t really understand what Father-in-law was talking about . He told me a girl dressed like a bear gave my daughter a bear’s picture book, and that this mystery bear girl was taking care of her at this moment . I was confused, and was still thrown off when I saw you and your bear suit . 」

Sefull-san explained and smiled . To hide my embarrassment, I took the book from Aruka and started to read it again .

「By the way, where is Letobell-san?」

「He’s downstairs doing some work right now, but I think he should get here pretty soon . Sorry for making you wait . 」

After I finished rereading the picture book, Letobell-san finally returned .

「Sorry for taking so long . 」

「All right, I’ll be going, then . 」

I tried to use my chance to escape .

「Please wait, I haven’t expressed my gratitude yet . 」

「I already received my payment, so it’s fine . 」

Our deal had completed the moment Aruka smiled for me .

Letobell-san just shook his head at my response, though .

「No, that just won’t do . Could you please let me give you something to show gratitude?」

Even if he said that… I really had no intentions on taking money for it .

「I really don’t need anything . We had a deal, right? Picture book for Aruka’s smile . I had received generous amounts of those, so it’s more than enough . 」

I said and gently patted Aruka’s head, who looked up at me and smiled again .

「Yes, I do understand that you don’t need the money . However, it just doesn’t sit right with me to give you nothing . If there’s anything you want, within the limits of my power, I will give it to you . 」

I was still troubled, but since he offered it like that, I could actually think of something I would love to have .

「Okay, can I ask you something, then?」

「Of course . 」

「Would it be possible for me to buy a house in this city?」

To use the Bear Transfer Gate to get to this city, I needed a house to put it in .

I recalled needing a recommendation letter to purchase a plot of land in the capital, so I hoped he could do same for me here . That way, he could help me out, and we would both be happy .

「Do you plan to start living in this city?」

「Not really, but I do have a reason for wanting one . 」

Obviously I couldn’t tell him about my Bear Transfer Gate .

This city was quite far from my previously traveled zones, so a gate here would be great .

「I see, in that case, as long as you have the money and something to prove your status, you should have no problem buying it . 」

「Don’t I need a reference letter or anything of the sort?」

「Not particularly . The price of the house will differ on the location, though . 」

In other words, it would be fine as long as I had the money . Which I did .

「That means I can just head to the Commerce Guild and chose a location, right?」

「You’re seriously about this, aren’t you?」

「Yep . 」

「Well, I must warn you that for a child like you even a small house most likely won’t come cheap . 」

「There’s no need to worry about that . 」

I had plenty of money from my former world, not to mention all the income from the shop and the tunnel . Hmm, I hadn’t ever checked how much I had been getting, but I was told that it was quite a reasonable sum .

「Father-in-law, why don’t you just sell her that house cheaply?」

「Oh, you mean that house . It’s quite far from the center, though . 」

Further listening to their conversation I learned that they owned a small house somewhere on the edge of the city . They took it over a few years ago, but found no use for it, and because nobody was interested in buying it, it ended up just sitting there .

I had no problem with that if I could set up my Bear Transfer Gate there .

I also wouldn’t have to buy a plot of land and suddenly pop out a Bear House there, so I wouldn’t draw attention to myself that way .

Not to mention that it would be troublesome to go to the Commerce Guild to purchase a house, especially with all the paperwork that went with it . Also, with all the commotion I would cause just by going to the guild, having Letobell-san directly sell me a house was definitely a better idea .

「If you’re willing to sell it to me cheaply, it would be of great help . 」

「Okay then, let me take you there, and we can decide on the price if you are still interested after seeing it . 」

Letobell-san got up from his seat, so I tried to follow him, but Aruka still hadn’t let go .

「Aruka, I’m sorry but I have to go now . 」

「Bear-san…」

She looked really sad .

「I’ll come again, don’t worry . 」

「Really?」

「She really likes you, Yuna-chan . Aruka is quite shy, so it’s rare for her to get so attached . 」

I was happy to hear that, but it also troubled me to see her sad .

Luckily, I had just obtained something that could easily soothe any child; I took out a set of bear plushies from the Bear Box .

「Bear-sans!」

Aruka cried out when she saw them and loosened her grip on me .

「My, how cute . They are Bear-san plushies . 」

「Not only did you draw picture books, you even made plushies?」

「Please don’t try to copy them, okay?」

「I wouldn’t do something like that . 」

「Aruka, just think of them as me . 」

「You’re giving them to me?」

「That’s right, so take good care of them, okay?」

Aruka finally let go of me so she could hug the plushies .

「I’ll come again . 」

「Okay!」

Letobell-san would sell me a house, so I could come here anytime by just using my Bear Gate .

I parted from Aruka, who still looked at me with a sad expression even while hugging the plushies, and headed out, where a carriage was already prepared for us .

I noticed that Rodis-san would be driving us again . I was sure he would say something to complain, but surprisingly, he stayed quiet .

The carriage set out, and quickly turned off the main road . After a while, it stopped outside a small, cute looking house with a red roof .

「This is it . What do you think of it?」

It was away from the main road, so not many people passed by; it was a great location for me .

「Hmm, I see no problems with it . How much would you like for it?」

Letobell-san whispered something to Rodis-san, who took out a piece of paper .

「I don’t need your money; I’m giving you the house . 」

「Master?!」

Letobell-san shushed him and proceeded to explain .

「You gave the picture book to my granddaughter and then even presented her with plushies . I think this should be an appropriate return gift . 」

「I don’t think that the value of what I gave to your granddaughter and this house are equal at all, though . 」

「That’s not for you to decide . I couldn’t get my hands on that picture book, no matter what I did . So, it was quite priceless to me . That’s why please don’t worry and accept it . 」

Letobell-san handed me the piece of paper he had gotten from Rodis-san; it appeared to be the deed to the house .

「Please, take it . 」

「Thank you…」

I was a bit concerned with how this turned out, but I thanked him anyway and reluctantly accepted the deed to the house .