「Yuna-oneechan, how about we travel to the capital with Bear-sans, and then, on our way back, we use that.」
Fina tried her best to be vague when she talked about the Bear Gate.
Her idea wasn’t bad; they would get to travel with the Bears, but we also wouldn’t waste time coming back. Yeah, it was a good plan.
「Fina, what is that?」
「Um, it’s nothing.」
「Really?」
Fina kept her promise and kept the Bear Gate secret, while Noa didn’t press any further and returned to eating her rice.
「Okay then, let’s all go to the capital with Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear.」
After talking for a while longer, we decided to depart a few days before the festival began.
That way the three of them would get to enjoy the trip itself, and I could pick a different time to tell them about the door. Just like Fina had proposed, I could easily tell them about the door for our way back. Timing would also be much better, then.
After the meal, I pulled out some pudding for us as a dessert, and after that, the three of them played with the cub-sized Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear until sunset. Noticing they were getting tired, I let them sleep over with Bears.
Next morning, I began to prepare for our trip to the Capital.
Since there would be three children coming along, I should bring something to keep them entertained. We had reversi, but that would get boring after a while, so I decided to also bring a deck of cards. It would be the main feature of our trip.
I had worked on the cards little by little at any chance I got. For the Kings, Queens, and Jacks, I drew little Bears on the front of the cards.
The Bears on the King cards wore crowns, the ones on the Queen cards looked like queens, and the Jacks bore swords. Of course, the Jokers were also Bears in the end.
I planned on having chibi bears on the backside of the cards, but right now they were still blank. I wasn’t confident I could draw fifty-four of the exact same thing, after all.
I wanted to have them printed, instead.
If I accidentally messed up the card while drawing, the whole card would be ruined, after all the effort I put into drawing the front.
I had to check with the Commerce Guild to see if they could print the cards for me.
Just as Cliff had told me, there was a ton of merchants from other towns at the Commerce Guild when I went to see Mylene-san.
How did I know they were from other towns?
Of course, it was because Crimonian merchants wouldn’t keep staring at me, since they were already used to seeing me. On other other hand, foreign merchants would keep at it as if I were some kind of rare animal.
Based on what Mylene had told me, there probably weren’t a lot of merchants from Crimonia who didn’t already know who I was.
Information about the Bear who took down the Black Viper was a well-known secret, after all. Not to mention all the rumors about a Bear opening a shop and selling great egg dishes.
It was due to that, that there weren’t many people left in this town who looked at me with curious eyes. Only outsiders would stare at me.
On a side note, there was a certain piece of very important information that that the Crimonian merchants still didn’t care to learn. They had no idea what my actual name was and rather just called me「Bear」.
How rude of them to do so after all this time…
Once I got to the reception area, I saw a lot of female receptionists, but Mylene-san was nowhere to be found.
She must be busy as the guild master, and couldn’t just play around the receptionist desk all day long, huh.
Riana-san, one of the other receptionists I was familiar with, was there, but she was already with another customer. I met her gaze when she looked in my direction, and she nodded to say hi.
There was a long line and everyone was busy. I didn’t really feel like waiting, so maybe I could just come back tomorrow?
When I was about to leave, Riana called out to me.
「Yuna-san!」
When I turned around, I saw that she was done with her customer. Technically, it wasn’t my turn yet, but…
「What did you need today?」
「I have something I want to discuss.」
When I looked behind me, there were still many people in the line.
「Is Mylene-san busy?」
「There’s some work she has to do. If you’re okay with me, I can listen to what you want to talk about.」
「Really? But there are other people still waiting in line.」
「It’s fine. The other girls can take care of that.」
She said it pretty casually, but was it really okay?
Riana-san then proceeded to say something to a staff member working at the back, and they took her spot.
「Okay, we can speak back here.」
I felt like they were giving me VIP treatment, but was that really okay? I decided to inquire with Riana-san.
「This applies to any guild, but people who contribute a lot to the guild naturally have to be treated better. It’s the same treatment we give to all the important people in the town. If we make them wait too long, they might become upset, which might in turn cause trouble to the guild.」
「Well, it’s not like I would be mad for waiting a while.」
「I know, but we think of you as someone important to the Commerce Guild, so we have to give you priority.」
「Really?」
「Yes. With all the monster materials you sell to us, and the eggs you provide, not to mention the tax we get from the Mireera Tunnel and your shop, there’s no way we can let you wait in a line.」