The girl’s mother held her two daughters tightly, her hands shaking in fear.
They could hear voices shouting outside, as well as the howling of the monsters. There was no way the girl’s family could escape now.
The carriage began shaking; something was hitting the carriage from the outside.
Just as they lost all hope, everything went silent.
The girl’s family were terrified to look outside.
「Kuuun.」
A voice came from outside the carriage.
「Bear-san!」
The girl let go of her mother’s hand and jumped out the carriage, where Bear-san was waiting for her.
The girl, with tears in her eyes, ran to Bear-san and hugged it.
The mother and little sister were worried about the girl and climbed down from the carriage as well.
「I’m fine, Bear-san saved us.」
The monsters were all defeated.
There was nobody else around, and they didn’t know what happened.
The horses were all gone and the carriage was a mess, but they could not walk all the way to the town.
「Kuuun!」
At Bear-san’s loud cry, a black Bear-san and white Bear-san appeared from afar.
The mother and little sister were a bit startled, but the girl was not; she knew that Bear-san had called them.
Bear-san, Black Bear-san, and White Bear-san laid down and offered the girl’s family their back.
「Mother, Bear-san is letting us ride on them so we can get to the neighboring town.」
The girl said to her mother, and while the girl’s mother had been cautious of the Bears in the beginning, she now trusted them and climbed on one of the Bear’s back.
The girl’s family rode the Bear-sans towards to the neighboring town, only getting off when they were nearby.
「Thank you, Bear-sans.」
The girl said her thanks while her little sister refused to let go of White Bear-san; she didn’t want to part from them. Of course, the girl didn’t want to separate, either, but there was no other choice.
「Bear-sans are too big, so they can’t go into the town.」
The mother tried to pull the little sister away, but she clung onto White Bear-san’s neck.
「If only Bear-sans could become smaller…」
When the little girl said that, all the Bear-sans cried out and began to shrink.
They kept getting smaller and smaller, until they became so tiny they could all fit in the girl’s palm.
Now the girl’s family could carry Bear-sans into the town without having them noticed; they placed Bear-sans into their pockets and headed straight to the town’s gate.
The girl’s family explained to the guards that they were attacked by monsters and then went straight to the home of the mother’s friend.
A man greeted them happily, delighted to meet his old friend, and invited them to stay with him for as long as they want.
In no time, the girl and mother found jobs, and proceeded to live their lives in happiness.
All was well that ended well.
Jumping back to the beginning of the story, when the girl’s little sister Shuri, appeared, I made sure to draw her in a cutish, cartoonish style.
「Awww, so cute.」
Shuri was ecstatic to see herself drawn so cutely.
「So, Father isn’t in the same town as us?」
「Well I wanted to base this story on the trip Fina and I took to the capital. Since I couldn’t find a good reason for the family just to travel there, I decided to put Gentz-san in a neighbouring town to make things simpler.」
「That means we will only meet Father once we reach the other town, huh.」
「Yes, but don’t forget, at this point, he is still only the mother’s friend.」
Once I got to the point where I drew the scene of the girl bidding farewell to Bear-san, Shuri looked very sad.
「Are they really leaving Bear-san?」
「Don’t worry, Bear-san will come back at a later point in the story.」
Continuing on, I drew the page where they got on the carriage and were about to embark to the neighboring town.
「I thought for sure that Bear-san was going to appear and offer them a ride.」
It wasn’t the right time yet, though.
「They just parted from each other. Also, I don’t think the mother would want to ride on Bear-san when they haven’t actually met before.」
Next scene where they got attacked by the monsters was based on when Misa’s carriage had been attacked on its way to the capital.
I made sure to make everybody else run away, leaving only the girl’s family behind.