Chapter 199 – Bear-san Returns To Crimonia
After a few leisurely days, the inspector finally arrived from the capital and released Cliff from his work. Eleanora-san and Gran-san now formally took over to resolve the issue, meaning today was the day we could finally head back to Crimonia.
「Noa, listen to Cliff properly, okay? I will be coming home as soon as I get my next vacation.」
A few people had gathered to send us off, with Eleanora-san in front, making sure to say goodbye to her daughter.
「Okay. Mother, please tell Big Sister Shia I said hi.」
Eleanora-san would be departing back to the capital tomorrow, and Gran-san intended to join her, too. They were going to take the toad man and his son along with them, of course, as well as the black-clothed man. At the capital, they would finally be officially judged by the king.
A few of the servants working for the toad man would also be brought along while the rest of them would be sentenced by the town instead.
Their sentences would surely vary depending on who would be making the judgment, but I was sure they would be able to distinguish between those more guilty than others.
The only one I was worried about was the maid who had been taking care of the abducted children. Eleanora-san had told me that she had cooperated and confessed everything, so I hoped she would only receive a light punishment. Either way, she seemed like a nice person to me, but sadly, I would get no say in her judgement.
Eleanora-san patted her daughter’s head, then turned to Fina and me.
「Please continue to take care of my daughter. She can be a little selfish sometimes, but she’s a good girl at heart.」
We nodded in reply.
We knew that Noa was a good girl; she had become such good friends with a commoner like Fina, after all.
She did go a bit nuts over anything bear-related from time to time, but she was usually just a simple, kind child.
Looking to the side, I noticed that Noa looked embarrassed as if she wanted to tell her mother to stop.
With Eleanora-san’s goodbye all done, Zelef-san decided to speak up next.
「Yuna-dono, I would like to thank you for all the valuable experiences I received on this trip.」
「Sorry that it got a bit out of hand.」
「Oh no, I’m really happy that I was able to meet up with an old friend. There is nothing you need to apologize for, Yuna-dono.」
I was glad that he thought of it that way.
Zelef-san had really saved us this time around even though we had only ended up causing him a lot of trouble in return.
「It is unfortunate, however, that I will be unable to ride on Swaying Bear-dono and Hugging Bear-dono on the trip back. I would have loved to experience that again.」
Zelef-san looked rather glum.
Zelef-san would be taking a carriage back together with Eleanora-san, which was why he was so disappointed.
Since Zelef-san had taken his time to help us out, I decided I would make sure to bring him a new recipe next time I visited the castle.
After Zelef-san said goodbye to everyone else, the Faren Gramm family approach me.
「Yuna, thank you for your help. If you weren’t here, my family would most likely end up in ruin.」
Gran-san said with a bow.
「It’s fine. You’ve already thanked me plenty of times.」
Gran-san and Misa’s parents had thanked me so many times in these past few days that I had completely lost count.
Since they wanted to show their gratitude, they kept asking me if there was anything they could do for me, but it felt wrong to receive something for simply doing what I wanted. I most certainly hadn’t rescued her because I wanted a reward, so I had no intention of receiving money from them.
If I accepted it, all the anger and feelings I had felt when saving Misa would just be a lie.
「Everybody’s going home…」
Misa looked sad, but we couldn’t really help it.
Crimonia was our home, after all.
Misa then looked at her father enviously.
「Uuu, Father, this is unfair. I want to go, too.」
Misa’s father, Leonardo-san, was coming to Crimonia with us because he wanted to apologize to Fina’s parents for what had happened here. Originally, the plan had been for Gran-san to go, but he was required at the capital, so it was decided for Leonardo-san to accompany us instead.
Fina had told them that it wasn’t necessary, and tried to stop them from going, but to no avail.
She had looked at me many times for support, but I didn’t really have any say in that matter, either. I had to apologize to Terumi-san and Gentz-san for putting Fina in danger as well, so I understood how Gran-san and Leonardo-san must feel. That was why I had simply kept quiet.
Still, it was because of how things had turned out that Misa was now envious of her father, who got to accompany us to Crimonia.
「I’m going so that I can apologize to Fina-dono’s parents. I won’t be long, so be a good girl and stay at home, okay?」
Leonardo-san patted his daughter’s head to soothe her.
「Misa, you can come along next time, and I will even take you to my shop.」
On the side note, both Misa and Noa really wanted the shop’s bear uniforms, so we decided to let them keep the uniforms.
What would they use the uniforms for, though? I couldn’t think of any other use for them other than pajamas…
Anyway, when I got back to Crimonia, I would have to order two new Bear Uniforms for Fina. Luckily, I could just ask for them as I pick up the plushies.
「Okay. I’ll come for sure!」
Crimonia was not that far away from here. At the very least, it was a distance we could travel fairly quickly, so we could meet whenever we wanted. Thanks to the ‘Play with Bear-sans’ event, I could now safely come back to this town without having to worry about causing another Bear incident. Well, someone might still try to bother us, but that was just the usual reception I could receive at any town.
Once everyone finally said their goodbyes, we departed for Crimonia.