「I obviously can’t do that. I am still in your debt, and Noa likes you a lot. Also, if the townspeople found out that I tried to harm you, they would surely come after me.」
He was definitely exaggerating way too much there.
Why would the townspeople get angry at Cliff for harming me? That made no sense. Well, Mylene-san might complain using her status as the Commerce Guild Master, but nobody else should go against the action of their town’s lord.
「To begin with, you subjugated the Kraken. I would much rather go apologize to His Majesty than forcibly take the stone from you. It’s also better to ask something of people than to order them around.」
Well, from my point of view, Cliff had been somewhat helping me out all this time, so I didn’t mind listening to his requests, as long as they weren’t too crazy.
「I guess that makes sense. You sure are lucky, though. If he had sent the letter a bit later, when it got warmer, I would have most likely said no as I plan on going to the sea to play.」
「Playing around is of a higher priority than His Majesty’s orders?」
Cliff asked before laughing out loudly.
Well, if I had to choose between going to an old man or playing with children… Of course, I would pick the children.
I had already made plans with them as well, so he couldn’t complain.
Still, if this was a request from Flora-sama or Tilia, I would rush to the capital. The old man just wasn’t worth it, though.
Anyways, I still had plenty of time before the trip, so going to the capital wouldn’t have been a problem if the school festival had been just a little farther behind.
「Okay then, I’ll be heading out soon.」
I put the Kraken’s magic stone back into my Bear Box, before remembering that I still had to confirm something with Cliff.
「Ahh, that’s right. I want to bring Noa to the sea with us, is that okay?」
「There’s no way I can say no given the timing. I already told her it’s fine as long as she studies properly until she has to leave for the trip.」
It seemed like Noa had already asked for permission herself and Cliff had no issues with it.
Well, if Noa decided to play around and not study, she wouldn’t be able to go, but that would be her own fault.
I left the mansion and went to tell Tirumina-san and Fina that I was off to the capital again.
「Tirumina-san, I’m going to come back as soon as I can, but if anything happens, please take care of it for me. Fina, if something bad happens, let me know using your phone, okay?」
「Yuna-chan, you sure are busy.」
「I’m really not, thanks to you helping me look after the shop and the orphanage.」
「Oh my, nothing will come out of you flattering an old lady like me, you know?」
「Tirumina-san, you’re still quite young.」
「Fufufu, thank you.」
Tirumina-san was being modest, but it really did help that she took care of things for me. I often went out on long trips, and without her, that wouldn’t be possible.
「Anway, I think you will be fine, but please take care of yourself, Yuna-chan.」
「I will. If anything unexpected happens, tell Fina and let me know, okay?」
「Don’t worry, she will call you if it does.」
I returned to my Bear House, but I didn’t know if I should move directly to the capital. I had only received the message today, so it would probably be better to wait out a day or two. Yes, I should stay back for two days, and teleport there after breakfast.
Two days later, I broke the promise I had made to myself not so long ago and visited the capital once again.
Why on earth had the king summoned me now?
There might be people that would recognize me here, so I tried to avoid contact with other people as much as possible and rushed to the castle.
「Why, if it isn’t Yuna-dono. His Majesty is awaiting your arrival.」
The guard at the gate greeted me. It seemed that he had already been notified that I was coming to the castle.
The guard then proceeded to lead me to a room, where I guessed the king would meet me.
「Please wait inside.」
I stepped inside what looked like an office. If my memory served me right, this should be the place where I had met the king for the first time.
However, he wasn’t here right now.
Well, the guard told me to wait, so should I just sit down?
There was a sofa by the desk, so I made myself comfortable, took out some tea from my Bear Box, and waited patiently while sipping on my drink.
Slurp. Ah, this tea sure was tasty. I had gotten this from Lala-san, so it was of a good quality.
Still, the king sure was taking his sweet time.
After getting half through my tea, I took out the sample cake that Elena-san made for me and began eating it.
Nom, nom, nom. The cake had a hint of sourness and was very delicious. Which fruit had she used to make it taste this way? Elena-san had been experimenting with many types of cakes, so she might have created a new type of cake that even I didn’t know about. Still, I was worried about her belly size after eating so many sample cakes. She could easily get fat from too much sampling.
Anyway, the king still hadn’t shown up. It was like he had forgotten about me. For a while, I had thought that maybe Eleanora-san was going to come instead, but she didn’t show up, either.
Since I was bored I summoned Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear in their cub forms and started to cuddle with them and let them ride on my shoulders to show my affection.
Their soft fur felt so nice… As I was enjoying my time with the Bears, the door suddenly opened and the king entered.
「Sorry, I’ve kept you waiting… What are you doing?」
I looked around myself when he asked that. On the table was a half-full cup of tea and a half-eaten cake. Then there was me, playing with Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear.