Bear-san, Went to see Rica-san
When I returned to the bear house after negotiating with Sanya-san, I hugged Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, which had been turned into cubs, to heal yesterdayâs psychological damage.
Sorry for the bug lovers, but I donât like bugs. If Iâm going to cuddle, it will be with fluffy fur.
âUuh, so soothing~â (Yuna)
âKuun.â
âFluffy.â (Yuna)
âKuun.â
âUuh, so soft.â (Yuna)
âKuun.â
âUuh, happy.â (Yuna)
âKuun.â
I thought about Fina as I hugged Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear.
When I returned from the Adventurerâs Guild, Fina asked me to bring out some wolves for her to practice dismantling.
Fina doesnât need to practice dismantling wolves now but she seemed restless as the event approached.
I didnât think she was like that until yesterday, or was she hiding it from me? n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
I put out the wolves, and Fina started dismantling them.
Tirumina-san went shopping for dinner with Shuri to give Fina something tasty to eat.
I was a little worried about Fina.
Fina, I hoped she would be ok.
ââ¦Yuna Onee-chan?â (Fina)
As I hugged Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear while thinking about Fina, she suddenly called out to me.
âUwah, Fina, youâre here?â (Yuna)
Fina was standing in front of the door.
âDid you see that?â (Yuna)
âNo⦠but Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear are so cute.â (Fina)
Fina then approached Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear and patted them on the head.
âAre you alright?â (Yuna)
âYes, Iâm fine when Iâm dismantling them, but when Iâm done, I start to wonder if this is the right thing to do.â (Fina)
âYou shouldnât be too uptight about it. Besides, Gentz-san taught you how to do it, so just do it as usual, and youâll be fine.â (Yuna)
ââ¦Yeah.â (Fina)
She nodded, but she didnât seem okay.
I guess a breather was in order on this one.
Tirumina-san and Shuri were out. That leaves me in charge.
But what should we do?
âI am thinking of dropping by Ghazal-sanâs place. Want to join me on my way to see Ghazal-san and Rica-san?â (Yuna)
I thought about it for a moment and suggested it.
It would be a nice change of pace for Fina, and it would be good to see them after a long absence.
Fina pondered momentarily, then said she would clean up the dismantling areademolition and prepare to leave.
So, we went to the Ghazal-sanâs store, where I gotmade my mithril knife.
The last time I came here was for Finaâs birthday present.
âYuna-chan, Fina-san, have some tea.â (Rica)
âThank you, Rica-san.â (Yuna)
Rica-san puts the tea in front of us.
Looking at her face, she looks happy.
Ghazal-san might be making a sword, and I could hear him pounding iron from the back of the room.
âRica-san, how is life in the Royal Capital?â (Yuna)
âGhazal is here, and there are good people around, so Iâm fine.â (Rica)
Rica-san smiled at me with a big smile.
From her expression, she didnât seem to be forcing herself to comment.
âBut Iâm a little worried that Ghazal is being mistreated because of my arrival.â (Rica)
âGhazal-san is being mistreated?â (Yuna)
âFufu.â (Rica)
Rica-san smiled happily, even though Ghazal-san she said he was being mistreated.
Rica-san and Ghazal-san were unmarried, but she said that people around her looked at her as Ghazal-sanâs wife. So their fellow blacksmiths around them, who were unmarried and did not have girlfriends, were jealous of them.
According to the story, blacksmiths have difficulty finding partners because they are dirty, noisy, hot, etc.
If they did get married, they would help out in the store. Craftsmen tend to be shunned because they work with sweat, make a lot of noise from hammering iron, and use fire, which is extremely hot, according to some.
Furthermore, because of the nature of their work, they rarely meet women, so they have even more of a hard time finding women.
It was a tricky issue.
So, Ghazal-san, who had never had a shadow of a woman in his life, was tormented with jealousy when Rica-san appeared on the scene.
And because Rica-san was cute, things escalated even more.
âIs Rica-san okay with it?â (Yuna)
âMe? I am the daughter of a blacksmith. Iâve been raised in such an environment since I was born, so I donât mind it. My father smelled of sweat, but my mother told me it was proof that he was working hard for us. I think sheâs right, too, and the sound of iron being struck was like a lullaby to me as I slept, so Iâm okay with it.â (Rica)
So Rica-san was a girl born ready to be a blacksmithâs wife. It would be easier to get married if one had an understanding of the otherâs profession, as with any profession.
For me, who had no feminine instincts, it was challenging to accomplish.
âBy the way, Yuna-chan and Fina-san donât live in Royal Capitalâ¦I was surprised when I tried to go see Yuna-chan and Ghazal told me that you donât live here even though you have a house here.â (Rica)
Oh, I just remembered that I should mention that.
I used my Bear Transition Gate to get back to the Royal Capital, and when I came to Ghazal-sanâs she was already there, so she might have arrived when I was still in Crimonia.
âI didnât have the time to tell you. Sorry.â (Yuna)
âBut I thought it was strange, because I could have sworn I heard that you came to the capital when you heard about me from Gold.â (Rica)
âI bought a piece of land and built a house in Royal Capital because I do drop by here once in a while.â (Yuna)
âIâm surprised that you only come here once in a while, but bought some land, but Iâm also surprised about the bear house. But Iâm glad you camecome to see me like this, and thank you Fina-san for visiting me too.â (Rica)
ââ¦â (Fina)
âFina-san, whatâs wrong? Youâve been quiet for a while now.â (Rica)
âIâm sorry.â (Fina)
It seemed like she was out of it.
I let out a sigh.
âFinaâs going to be at the upcoming dismantling event at the Adventurers Guild, and sheâs a bit overwhelmed.â (Yuna)
âOh, that? Fina-san, youâre going to participate?â (Rica)
âWell, Iâve decided to participate. But Iâm getting more and more worried about whether Iâm the right person for the job, and whether Iâll disappoint Sanya-san.â (Yuna)
âAs long as Fina does the dismantling as usual, youâll be fine.â (Yuna)
âBesides, I didnât think it would be such a big place to do it.â (Fina)
âBut Fina-san, I didnât know you could dismantle things.â (Rica)
âFina is excellent at dismantling.â (Yuna)
âIâm not so good at it. I donât think Iâm good enough. Besides, Iâm mostly dismantling wolves. (Fina)
âFina-san is in the category under the age of 19 years oldthe underis under 19 years old, so I donât think other participants have dismantled any rare monsters before. I donât think such monsters will be at the event in the first place.â (Yuna)
âIf I knew more about it, I could tell you what kind of monsters were present. Iâve only been in the Royal Capital for a short time, and itâs only recently that I found out about such an event. Oh, I could ask Ghazal.â (Rica)
Fina tried to stop Rica-san from turning her attention away fromto the workshop.
âRica-san, thank you for your concern. I am fine.â (Fina)
Then we listened to Rica-sanâs story about her time in the Royal Capital, and Fina seemed to enjoy listening to Rica-sanâs story as well.
âGhazal is so sloppy, he canât do things without me.â (Rica)
âHe seems like a solid man though.â (Yuna)
âAs far as work is concerned, yes. But his personal life is totally messed up. Iâm really glad I came.â (Rica)
Ghazal-san, could it be that youâre being wrapped around the neck?
âRica, donât talk to the girls about that.â (Ghazal)
Ghazal-san came out from the back with a stern look on his face.
âGhazal-san, hello. sorry to bother you.â (Yuna)
âHello.â (Fina)
âWhatâs up today? Are you here to have your knives maintained?â (Ghazal)
âNo, no. Iâm in the Royal Capital, so I thought Iâd drop by and show my face. Also, I thought it would be a nice change of pace for Fina.â (Yuna)
âA change of pace for Fina?â (Ghazal)
I told him that Fina would participate in a dismantlingdemolition event organized by the Adventurersâ Guild.
âGhazal, do you know anything about it?â (Yuna)
âIâve been to a few, but Iâm a seasoned veteran. Sometimes there are rare monsters and such in my category. But the Bear Girl is right, Iâve never heard of any rare monsters appearing in theon the category under the age of 19, which is the age group you belong to.â (Ghazal)
âSee, I told you so. So, Fina will be fine.â (Yuna)
âUn.â (Fina)
âIâm sorry, I canât help you with that.â (Ghazal)
âNo, that information is enough, thank you.â (Fina)
âWell, thereâs nothing I can do about the event, but I can give me a hand in maintaining your dismantling equipment, right? Itâs the least I can do for you.â (Ghazal)
âOh, no, you donât have toâ¦â (Fina)
âIt would be more of a problem if something happened to the dismantling tools while you were taking part in the event, and you couldnât use them to your full potential.â (Ghazal)
Certainly, if it was a monster she had never dismantled, it could not be helped. But the most frustrating thing would be not being able to do it because the dismantling tools had problems, even if it was a monster she was familiar with.
âFina-san, itâs okay, Ghazal wants to do it, so donât worry about it.â (Rica)
âButâ¦â (Fina)
âThen, why donât I pay him and ask him to do it, and then it will be a job?â (Yuna)
If they did so, there would be no problem for either of them.
When I tried to pay, Fina stopped me and tried to take out her wallet, but Ghazal-san stopped her again.
âYuna Onee-chan, let me do it myself then.â (Fina)
âI donât need money. You girls have taken good care of me. Besides, Iâve already got the money from the bear girl.â (Ghazal)
âOh, you mean the Iron Golem.â ( RicaYuna)
I wondered what he was talking about, but then Rica-san reminded me.
âThatâs enough money. I could take care of your weapons and tools hundreds of times and still have enough change.â (Ghazal)
âFina, since he has said so far, why donât you do them a favor?â (Yuna)
It would be rude to keep refusing.
Above all, it would be disrespectful to Ghazal-sanâs feelings.
ââ¦Then, please, I leave it to you.â (Fina)
Fina worried a little and took her dismantling tools out of the item bag.
There were three knives. Two were mithril knives and an iron knife made by Gold-San, a blacksmith in Crimonia and Ghazal-sanâs colleague. The other knife was one I see every once in a while.
âSo there are three knives and this one is a set of dismantling tools.â (Ghazal)
Ghazal-san holds up a knife.
âGold made the Mithril knivesknife and this iron knife, right?â (Ghazal)
âYou can tell just by looking at them.â (Yuna)
Fina showed him the mithril knife the last time we were here, but not the iron knife.
âBecause we showed each other what we made. But this one is different.â (Ghazal)
Ghazal-san holds up one of the remaining knives.
âThatâs the dismantling knife my father used when he was an adventurer.â (Fina)
Father? It was probably not Gentz-san, but her late father.
âThat dismantling tool set is also the one my father used when he was an adventurer.â (Fina)
Ghazal-san looked at the set of dismantling tools.
âThis isâ¦â (Ghazal)
âWhatâs wrong?â (Fina)
âNothing. Itâs well cared for and beautiful. The blacksmith who made it must be very happy.â (Ghazal)
Fina always took good care of her tools after dismantling them.
Then Ghazal-san adjusted, polished, and cared for Finaâs dismantling tools.
âThank you very much.â (Fina)
âIf you do what you can do now, no one will complain. Of course, it can be hard to be as good as you always are. I canât make the same good sword every time either. But I must not deny what I have done until now. That would be denying the person who taught you how to dismantle it, missy.â (Ghazal)
Ghazal-san said to Fina as if saying to himself.
âNot deny what I haveâ¦â (Fina)
Fina reflected on Ghazal-sanâs words.
âIâm sorry Iâm not very good at explaining.â (Ghazal)
âNo, thank you. I will do my best to do what I can now.â (Fina)
Perhaps Ghazal-sanâs words had reached Finaâs ears because the look of distress on Finaâs face had disappeared.
I was glad I dropped by.
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