Chapter 157 – Bear-san Goes To Fetch Her Mithril Knives

Author’s note:

I’m sorry for causing you trouble in the previous chapter.

The pastry shop had more and more customers, but it was smooth sailing thanks to Rurina-san and Gil.

If I really had to point out a problem, it was that the popular cakes disappeared in an instant. More often than not, customers couldn’t buy the cakes they wanted since those cakes had already been sold out. We could just call it the customer’s fault for coming too late, but I would prefer if they could eat what they wanted, no matter when they came.

「Elena-san, could you please adjust which cakes you make more of, so that we don’t run out of the popular ones so quickly?」

「Can I really make that decision?!」

「Yes, of course. You also have popular foods at the inn, don’t you?」

「Yes. We make sure to stock up more ingredients for the foods that are ordered a lot. If we ran out of the ingredients, the customers would be dissatisfied. Most would probably just order something else, but some would surely decide to go to a different place, which would end up lowering our profit.」

「Well, it’s similar with the cakes. You should make more of the popular cakes and less of the others. If you have any questions, you can always talk to Morin-san and Terumi-san. Also, if you end up making too much of one cake, you can just tell the children to take it to the orphanage, where they will be happy to eat it.」

Over time, it would become obvious which cakes to make the most of. Even now, we could already guess it by which ones were disappearing first, and which ones were left over in the end.

It would be great if we eventually made just the right number of each cake, and they all sold out right at the closing hour, but that might be a bit too much to hope for. Well, I would be happy if we came close to that goal at least. If we managed that, I could come to the shop to eat any cake at any time.

I decided to leave everything concerning the shop to Morin-san and Elena-san and went to do something I had neglected: fetching the mithril knives from the capital. While I was there, I could also bring some cake to Princess Flora.

Like the last time, I decided to invite Fina, but…

「Ehm, I will pass this time.」

She declined my invitation.

This might be the first time Fina had ever refused me.

What was it, this pain piercing my heart? It was like the disappointing feeling I got when a pet ran away after I approached it.

I felt like crying.

「Big Sis Yuna?」

「Why? Did… Did I do something to make you hate me, Fina?」

「Y-you didn’t! I don’t hate you, Big Sis Yuna!」

「Why don’t you want to come with me, then? Is it because of my clothes?」

Did she finally reach the age where she found it embarrassing to walk around with me in my Bear Clothes?

「Big Sis Yuna, that’s not it, so please calm down.」

Fina reassured me before giving me her real reason, clearly embarrassed.

「I don’t remember what happened after I met King-sama, and if I did something rude…」

Oh right, she had mentioned this before.

「Eleanora-san was with you, and she didn’t say anything about it, so shouldn’t it be okay?」

「Still, I don’t remember it at all, so…」

「I think that the King wouldn’t mind it anyway, and if he did actually have a problem with it, I will just have to knock him out.」

I said and threw a few Bear Punches into the air.

「You will be arrested if you do something like that, Big Sis Yuna!」

「Don’t worry, I will punch him when nobody is looking.」

「Big Sis Yuna!」

「I’m just joking.」

Well, if he really did something to Fina, it wouldn’t be just a joke anymore.

After talking with Fina for a while longer, I learned that it wasn’t just the king’s fault that she didn’t want to come with me, but also Eleanora-san’s since she had treated Fina like a doll and had dressed her up in beautiful clothes, which had ended up traumatising her.

She couldn’t dirty or rip those high-class clothes… Such thoughts still seemed to bother her young mind.

She would recall those bad memories if she went there, so she wanted to avoid it for a while.

Those clothes really suited Fina, though… Still, I understood her feelings. If I were forced to wear a pretty dress, I would sustain psychological damage as well. I sympathised with Fina because of that and didn’t force her to come.

She promised me that she would accompany me next time, though.

Because Fina didn’t come with me, I had to transfer to the capital all alone this time around.

I had to pass by a lot of people on my way to Gazar-san’s smithy, and if Fina had been with me, she would have diverted my attention from all the stares. Yet, she wasn’t here, so I covered my face with the Bear Hoodie and scurried to the smithy.

「Excuse me!」

I shouted when I entered, and soon, Gazar-san showed up from the back.

「You finally came, huh.」

「I’m sorry. A lot was going on, so I couldn’t find the time to come here.」

「I don’t mind, really. You had to come all the way from Crimonia, right?」

Gazar-san said with an expression of: ‘You came from far away, so there is no helping it.’

Sorry. In truth, I could have come here anytime because of my Bear Gate.

When I wasn’t at the shop, I was either napping or just playing with Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear. If I really wanted to come and fetch it, I could have come much sooner. Honestly, I was postponing it just because it was troublesome. There was no way I could admit that to him, though.

「So, did you finish it?」

「Of course. How many days do you think have passed since you have commissioned them?」

Gazar-san handed me two things wrapped in cloth.

I unwrapped one, and a knife in a beautiful sheath appeared.

It had a splendid black handle, and when I looked at it more carefully,

「A bear?」

A bear head was carved on the handle, like some sort of a crest.

「It was a good idea, wasn’t it?」

「Did you engrave it, Gazar-san?」

「I didn’t plan on doing it at first, but since you didn’t show up for so long, and I had free time, I just went with it.」

「I’m sorry for being late.」

Now I was really sorry for not coming to get it sooner just because it was troublesome. Sorry for myself.

「No need to apologize. I did it because I felt like doing it. More importantly, unsheath it.」

I did as he said, and unsheathed the knife.

I wasn’t Fina, but I still knew that it had a beautiful edge. I raised the knife over my head, and it re