Chapter 164: Bear-san Receives An Invitation

Fina was at my door, completely out of breath.

Why are you in such a hurry?!

Because this. letter

I had no idea what she was trying to tell me.

Before I listened to what she had to say, I took a bottle of water out of the Bear Box and gave it to her. She drank the whole bottle in one go before catching her breath.

Thank you, Big Sis Yuna.

So, what happened?

I inquired again.

Didnt you receive a letter as well, Big Sis Yuna?

No?

Fina was grasping what seemed to be a letter in her hand.

Well, I didnt really check my postbox very often.

I thought n.o.body in this world would be sending me letters anyway. It had been the same in j.a.pan. I hadnt even gotten any personal emails either; the only ones I had ever received had been those from the game company.

Please go and check your postbox, then.

Okay.

Since Fina insisted so strongly, I went to check my bear-shaped postbox.

Oh, there really was an envelope inside.

I took it out and immediately noticed that it was of a high quality.

I knew you would receive one as well, Big Sis Yuna.

Fina said and sighed a breath of relief.

I had no idea who would send me this letter, though.

I looked at the senders name.

Who was Misana Faren Gramm again? I faintly recalled hearing that name before.

Is this person your acquaintance?

What are you saying? Its Misana-sama. We ran into her on our way to attend the kings birthday party. The n.o.ble, Misa-sama.

Ah, I remembered now.

Misa was Misanas nickname.

Still, why would Misa send me a letter?

I headed back into the house with Fina to hear the details.

Fina, did you read yours already?

Yes, I have Its an invitation to Misa-samas birthday party

An invitation to her birthday party?

I broke the seal on my envelope, took out the letter, and quickly scanned over it. Just as Fina had said, it was an invitation to Misas party.

So, leaving you aside, why did Misa-sama send an invitation to me, a commoner? This is a n.o.ble-samas birthday party!

Fina said while anxiously staring at her letter.

Well, if we compared the two of us, Fina, who made friends easily, was more likely to be invited to the capital than me. If I wasnt wrong, they had met with each other a few times in the capital while I had been running errands.

Big Sis Yuna, what happens if I refuse?

There was no point in asking me that since I didnt know, either.

Well, based on my common sense, refusing would most likely be considered rude.

She would probably need a good enough excuse to refuse an invitation of this sort. I honestly had no knowledge of n.o.ble etiquette, especially the one of this world. Also, this was a pain for me as well since I had never gone to any birthday parties back in my world. Not to mention, this was a party for n.o.bles. I had nothing against Misa, but if other n.o.ble families were attending, then I didnt want to go.

Also, attending a birthday party in a Bear Suit?

All the girls there would be wearing beautiful dresses; I would look like some sort of a comedian wearing my Bear Suit. So, for a different reason than Fina, I also wanted to refuse the invitation myself. Could we refuse it, though?

Since neither of us knew much about n.o.bles, we couldnt come up with a good answer no matter how much we pondered about it.

In that case, we had to ask somebody who did know.

Well have to ask Cliff and Noa, then.

Cliff-sama and Noa-sama?

If we got the invitations, Im sure one was sent to Noas mansion as well.

Yes, that makes sense.

Since it was already getting late, we decided to go to Cliffs mansion tomorrow morning.

The next day, Fina came to the Bear House again, and the two of us headed to Cliffs mansion.

We were greeted by the gatekeeper and taken to the same room as always. We sat down on the sofa to wait for Cliff when I noticed Fina seemed nervous.

Fina, are you okay?

Yes, Im okay.

She definitely didnt look okay, though.

Its just that, knowing Im about to meet Cliff-sama is making me a little nervous.

She had stayed at Eleanora-sans mansion and had even seen the king himself before, so there shouldnt be any reason for her to be nervous over meeting Cliff now, right?

Fina, youve already met the king, so Cliff shouldnt be a problem, right?

I just cant! Cliff-sama isnt someone I could normally meet, and Im not of a social standing to be let into his residence. Am I even allowed to sit on this sofa? What will I do if he gets mad at me? Big Sis Yuna, would it be better if I stood instead?

No, its okay to sit. Also, if Cliff gets mad at you, Ill fight him on your behalf.

I wont get mad, so please dont pick a fight with me.

Cliff said as he and Noa entered the room.

Were you eavesdropping?

We just heard the last part as we entered.

Its been a while, Yuna-san, Fina.

Noa, sorry for coming so early in the morning.

G-good morning. S-sorry for intruding.

I didnt stand up as I greeted them while Fina jumped up and stuttered her greeting.

No problem, youre welcome to come, no matter how early or late it is.

Cliff and Noa sat down on the sofa across of us, so there was now a table in between us.

Thank you. Well then, sorry if this comes out of nowhere, but mind if I ask you something?

Sure. Its regarding Misana, right? I was actually planning on sending someone to your place later today.

So, you received a birthday party invitation as well?

Yes, since the party will be hosted at Grans place.

Gran-sans place?

If I remembered correctly, Gran-san was the one who had helped me when I had been purchasing the plot of land at the capital.

In the letter, she also asks us to bring you two there.

Can we refuse it, though?

You plan on refusing it?

I mean, if commoners like us go to a n.o.bles birthday party, wont it cause trouble for Misa?

As I said that, Fina nodded furiously in agreement.

I think it should be fine. The people invited are mostly her friends and family.

But

Fina wanted to see Misa, but was still afraid of causing trouble by going to a n.o.bles party.

Noa and I will both be going as well, so if anything happens, I will deal with it.

Youll be going too, Cliff?

I realized it was the birthday party of a n.o.bles daughter, but should Cliff, a feudal lord, really be leaving his town just to attend a birthday party?

Well, my daughters will be attending that one. The one Im going to is for Gran himself.

Gran-san will have a party too?

Yes, he is celebrating his 50th birthday just before Misana hosts her own party. Ill be attending his party and since Im going there anyway, Ill just bring you all along. Normally, I dont really go to birthday parties, but its his 50th. It will be a bit troublesome, but I dont intend on missing it. Misanas party is basically a bonus, so you dont have to worry about anything.

You guys should go; itll be fun. Im sure Misa wants to see you two as well.

But, Im just a commoner.

Fina said and lowered her head in shame.

You two are both members of the Bear-san Fanclub, so it doesnt really matter that youre a commoner.

Wait a second, when had that fanclub been made?

Fina, dont you want to see Misa?

I do, its just

If you dont go, Misa will be sad. She might even cry.

Ugh

Misa went out of her way to ask me for your addresses and sent the invitations herself, you know.

That was how it had been sent to our homes, huh.

I will feel sorry for her if you dont go.

Well, it certainly made sense that she had sent the invitations because she wanted us to come.

She surely hadnt sent them for some malicious reasons.

Think of it this way: wouldnt you be sad if you sent an invitation to Yuna-san, but she decided not to come?

I I get it. I will go.

When Noa put it that way, she made it impossible for Fina to refuse.

Since Fina will be going, you will go as well, wont you, Yuna-san?

Fina looked at me. I couldnt possibly let Fina go by herself. If I said that I wouldnt go now, Fina would surely cry.

Also, unlike Fina, I had no real reason to refuse the invitation; it was just that I found it troublesome.

I will go.

Yay! That means I can go on a trip with Bear-sans.

That was her real aim, huh.

Well then, Fina. We should choose what we will wear for the birthday party.

Eh?

Noa grabbed Finas hand and started to drag her away.

Fina looked at me as though she wanted me to save her, but I sent her off with a smile instead since I didnt want to get involved.

Big Sis Yuna?!

Since Fina couldnt do anything to stop Noa, she got dragged out of the room.

It was just picking an outfit; it wasnt like she was going to die.

Anyway, we will be departing from my house in the early morning five days from now.

Cliff ignored his daughters actions and continued our conversation.

Is Misas town far from here?

Not really. It takes about three days by horse carriage.

In that case, my Bears would probably only take a few hours to get there.

Im sorry, but I will have you to travel with us this time around.

He was right; since we would be gathering at Cliffs mansion, I couldnt just go on ahead with my Bears.

Just so you know, I know nothing about n.o.bles birthday parties. Is there something we must bring?

We will prepare the basic things you will need, but could you get a present that will make Misana happy?

Ah, a present.

Can we give her jewels or clothing?

I dont think Misana will be happy receiving those as presents.

You say that, but I have no idea what presents make n.o.ble girls happy.

Why dont you give her those bear figures you decorated your shop with?

Would something like that really be okay?

If it was for our daughter, she would have been delighted.

Well, he made sense.

Wait, if she would be happy with the bear figurines from my shop, then wouldnt Sherrys plus.h.i.+es be good too?

Giving girls plus.h.i.+es as a present had been a pretty standard thing back in j.a.pan.

Thank you. Ill take it into consideration. So, you said we only need to prepare the present?

Yes.

Okay, Ill be heading home, then. Can you take care of Fina?

Yea, well look after her properly, so no need to worry about her.

I was abandoning Fina

Cough, cough. Fina would take a while to find an outfit for the party, so it was okay for me to head home alone, right?

A n.o.bles birthday party, huh. I sure hoped it wouldnt turn out to be too troublesome.

Was what I thought leaving the mansion.

Authors note:

I planned on starting the birthday arc after finis.h.i.+ng up with plus.h.i.+es, but I just had no idea how to transition between the arcs So, thats why the plus.h.i.+es arc will now continue together with the birthday arc.