Chapter 250: 250

Once our talks were all settled, Cliff massaged the corners of his eyes .

「Cliff, you seem really tired . 」

He had been doing the same thing for a while now .

He must be even more tired than he looked .

「Thanks to a certain someone, the amount of traffic around Crimonia has increased, so I have a lot more work to do . 」

Oh right, Mylene-san had mentioned that a lot of merchants from other towns had been coming to Crimonia these days to do business, and things were getting out of hand .

Since it had nothing to do with me, I didn’t look into it to much . I did wonder who the certain someone was, however .

「Being a feudal lord sure is tough, huh . 」

「Yes, thanks to a certain someone . 」

「You keep saying a certain someone, but who are you talking about?」

「Are you seriously asking me that?」

「…?」

Cliff looked at me in shock .

Why would he look at me like that? I turned to Noa for an answer .

「Yuna-san…」

Noa had the same expression as Cliff .

Did something big happen and I was the only one left in the dark?

Until recently, I had been at the Elf Village, so it couldn’t be helped that I wasn’t up to date on the happenings at home .

「Did something happen while I was out?」

「While you were out? No, it was before that! Have you somehow forgotten that you dug a tunnel to Mireera?! Thanks to that, Crimonia had a huge increase in traffic . 」

Cliff said in a higher pitch .

「Oh right, that . 」

Yup, I had completely forgotten that happened . Lately, I always used the Bear Gate to travel around, so the tunnel never came to my mind .

Well, that should also be thanks to the fact I had been forced to make stone statues of my Bear-self at both ends of the tunnel and wiped out all the memories connected to it .

「Of course, the tunnel is very beneficial to us as there are now more people passing through Crimonia . More and more people want to see the ocean, and the sea trade has also hit a big rise . Yet, thanks to that, we don’t have nearly enough lodging available . Crime is also on the rise due to the influx of people . We need more people for security, but we don’t have enough personnel . This is happening in Mireera as well . We have expected this, of course, but it’s happening faster than we anticipated . 」

「It increased that much?」

It sounded like a big problem just hearing about it .

His job didn’t sound glamorous at all . I was glad I hadn’t reincarnated into a royal or noble family when I came to this world . If that had happened, I wouldn’t have had much freedom, would I?

「Yes, most people have never seen the ocean before, so a lot of them come through just for sightseeing, escorted by adventures of course . Merchants from everywhere are going in and out to do trading with Mireera . The sea of people is endless . 」

I had had no idea that was going on .

I wasn’t staying at the inn anymore, and I hadn’t been to the Commerce Guild or the Adventurer’s Guild recently, so I hadn’t been informed at all .

「Sounds tough . 」

Now I understood why Cliff was so busy and tired . And, I had learned so without getting in trouble for asking .

「So, is this still someone else’s problem?」

「Yeah, it should be, why?」

While I had been the one to make the tunnel, what happened after wasn’t my fault .

It was Cliff’s job to manage the traffic . I didn’t have anything to do with it, as I was just a commoner .

「While it isn’t your problem directly, this did only happen because you made that tunnel . How about being a little more apologetic? Thanks to you, I now have less time to spend with my daughter . 」

Basically, he was mad at me for taking away his time with Noa .

「Okay, do you want me to seal the tunnel shut, then?」

I tried joking with him . I had no intention of doing that, of course . If I did, we wouldn’t be able to get any more seafood, and Anzu would surely be troubled .

「No . If you do that, I will be ruined for good . 」

He clearly didn’t catch my joke, responding like that . I almost felt bad .

「Yuna-san, you can’t close it . If you do that, we won’t be able go to the ocean anymore . 」

Even Noa missed my joke…

「I was just kidding, you know? I wouldn’t actually seal it shut . 」

I tried to calm them down .

「Well, the only thing we can do is to hold on until we have the personnel . Once I have more people I can rely on, my workload will decrease . Mylene is doing her best as well, so the situation should improve soon . Well, as long as a certain someone doesn’t bring in even more trouble for us . 」

He was referring to me again, wasn’t he . I would prefer if he didn’t talk about me like I was some anime or manga protagonist who only brought trouble with them .

In detective dramas for instance, even more murders would trail in the footsteps of the detective or police protagonists . Or, in action movies, strong enemies would always appear to cause problems with the heroes . Just by being the protagonist of any genre, trouble would always happen nearby . So, I really didn’t appreciate him putting me into that group .

I was just a regular fifteen-year-old, costume-wearing girl, who had been dragged into this world by God . I was most certainly not a trouble bringing protagonist .

The only problems I had bothered Cliff with were the tunnel to Mireera and the ten thousand monster army incident . Oh, and the punch-out that had happened during Misa’s kidnapping .

Actually, considering the number of days I had been here so far, maybe that was actually a lot?

「Umm . Is there anything I can do to help?」

I asked, just in case if I could do something . I couldn’t help but feel a slight tinge of guilt, after all .

「No, it’s fine . Things just happened faster than we expected . I’m sorry, I’ve said too much; it’s really not your problem . 」

「Okay, good . Still, if you find anything I can help you with I will do my best to help . 」

「You bringing Noa to the school festival while I can’t is more than enough . Please let Noa have some much needed fun and company . 」

「Of course . No problem . 」

It looked like there was nothing I could do for him, as I had expected .

Seeing Cliff massage the corners of his eyes, he really seemed exhausted . I could maybe use some healing magic, but that might cause even more trouble for him in the long run .

Was there anything else I could do… Oh! I just thought of something good .

「Cliff, here, I’ll give this to you . 」

I said and took out some ground up tea leaves from the Sacred Tree and passed them to Cliff .

I didn’t have much of them, so I couldn’t spare too much . Once I picked up a new batch, I could bring him some more .

「What’s this?」

「It’s tea that helps with fatigue . Get Lala-san to brew some for you . 」

「This isn’t something weird, is it?」

He held the tea leaves in his hands and looked at them suspiciously .

「Have I ever given you anything weird?」

How rude of him for doubting me .

I didn’t recall ever giving him something weird to eat .

…I’m pretty sure I hadn’t .

…I hadn’t, right?

「Yes, you’re right . You may bring trouble with you everywhere you go, but your food is always delicious no matter what . Sorry for doubting you; I will gladly accept this . 」

He answered after considering for a while and then put the leaves away .

Had he acted badly, I would have regretted giving it to him .

It was hard to give something out of goodwill if they didn’t appreciate it, after all .

「Oh, and can you please tell me your opinion after you drink it?」

「Wait, you haven’t had this before?」

「I did, and it’s good . But, I still don’t know how well it actually works against fatigue so I would like to get your opinion on it . 」

I was almost always wearing the Bear Outfit, so even if I ran around all day, I never got tired, and my White Bear side would alleviate all of my weariness by the following morning .

Because of that, I hadn’t been able to confirm the effects of the tea, especially since I would never go as far as to try exercising without the costume just to test some tea .

「Yuna-san, I want to try some, too . 」

「You can have some as well, of course . It tastes pretty good . 」

「Yay, thank you . 」

「 I’ll get Lala to us brew some later, then . I’m going back to work now . Please take care of Noa for me . 」

Cliff then left the room, taking the tea leaves with him .

「Noa, you can go to the school festival as well now . 」

「Yes! And, it’s all thanks to you, Yuna-san . By the way, when are we leaving?」

That was something I couldn’t decide…

「You see… . I want to discuss that with you, so can you come over to my house tomorrow?」

「Your house? I don’t mind, but why the trouble?」

「I told you how we’re going with Fina and Shuri, right?」

「Yes . 」

「It’s something I want to speak with all three of you about . 」

I didn’t want to talk about the Bear Gate here, where someone might eavesdrop on our conversation .

「Is that so? Okay, then . I’ll come visit your house tomorrow, Yuna-san . 」

「Thank you . Then, let’s eat dinner together and talk after that . 」

With all said and done, I left Noa’s place and returned to the Bear House for a few hours . When it was about time for Gentz-san to be off from work, I headed to Fina’s house .

I was going to explain to him that I was planning on bringing his two daughters to the capital . Of course, I had prepared various phrases to convince Gentz-san and Terumi-san .

Things like: 「I will protect them, so please feel reassured . 」or「I’m a C rank adventurer, so don’t worry . 」and「I defeated a Black Viper before, so we’ll be fine even if strong monsters attack . 」or even「If monsters do attack us, my Bears will be able to bring them to safety . 」

I readied myself and entered Fina’s house .

「If you’re with them, that’s fine . 」

「I’m not worried if you’re going with them, Yuna-chan . 」

「Huh?」

My jaws dropped .

I didn’t think they were going to give us permission that easily .

Shuri and Fina both looked ecstatic, though .

「Is it really okay?」

「Yeah, it’s fine . When Fina went to the Capital, Shuri did her best to hold back . If both of them say they want to go, then who am I to stop them . Still, knowing that you will be with them fills me with ease . 」

She really trusted me that much, huh . I was very grateful for that .

「Also, there’s no way they could refuse Eleanora-sama’s invitation . 」

「Even if they did reject her invitation, Eleanora-san shouldn’t…」

She wouldn’t get mad, but maybe sad?

「We met her the other day; she is indeed a nice person . I also heard from you and Fina that she is nice and doesn’t hold grudges, but even so, it is not good to refuse a noble’s invitation . Of course, if it was something bad, then I would at least consider refusing . However, Eleanora-sama is inviting them out of good will, and the girls want to go, so there is no reason for me to stop them . 」

「That’s right! Eleanora-sama is very kind… She can be a bit of a force of nature sometimes, though . 」

Fina was right . When I had been subjugating the Mithril Golem, Eleanora-san dragged Fina around and turned her into a dress-up doll . While I would love to see Fina in dresses more often, I shivered at the thought of Eleanora-san trying to do that to me .

「Well, it would be hard for me to take my daughters to see the capital myself . It will be a good experience for both of them . I’m just worried they might cause trouble for Eleanora-sama . 」

「I won’t be a bother . 」

「Me neither . 」

Shuri pouted while Fina also followed up .

I missed the times when Fina would freak out over nobles . As her Onee-chan, I felt a bit sad seeing her grow up like that .

「Huhu, I know that you two are both good girls . I’m just worried as your parent . 」

Terumi-san said patted Shuri’s head . .

「Still, Yuna-chan, will you be fine taking care of all three of them? They won’t be a bother, will they?」

「They won’t wander off by themselves, and they’re not selfish, so it should be fine . 」

I wouldn’t take them if they were children who liked to wander off or acted selfishly . Actually, I wouldn’t even consider being friends with such children, let alone taking them on a trip with me .

Fina, Shuri and Noa all listened to me, so I could travel with them with ease . Not to mention the fact that all three were good girls who didn’t make fun of my Bear Outfit . If any of them teased me about it, I didn’t think I would ever even consider bringing them to the capital .

Anyway, just like that, we easily received permission for Fina and Shuri to go to the capital as well . When I was about to head home, Terumi-san invited me for dinner, and I gladly accepted her offer .

Before I left, I made sure to ask Fina and Shuri to come to my house tomorrow, of course .

Author’s Note:

Cliff will be our taste-tester for the Sacred Tree tea leaves . lol

I wrote a post about the differences between Volume 3 and the web novel .

There aren’t any big changes, but I will continue to write based on the changes made in the publication .

I hope you can understand that .