Bear-san, Hears From Mia
“Can I ask you one thing before we get to the story?” (Yuna)
“What?” (Mia)
I asked what was bothering me.
“You have sisters, right?” (Yuna)
“Yeah, I have two cute little sisters.” (Mia)
“And you don’t have parents, right?” (Yuna)
“They’re missing.” (Mia)
“Then your sisters…” (Yuna)
It reminded me of myself back in my former world.
I remember my parents just playing around, rarely coming home, and always leaving me alone at home.
It allowed me to do most things on my own. But at the same time, I became a hikikomori gamer.
“Ah, about that. My sisters are fine, Grandma is taking care of them.” (Mia)
I am relieved to hear that.
It seems that they won’t be lonely waiting for their sister, Mia, to come home.
I was worried about the food, but the situation seemed fine.
“But we’re not that rich, and my parents are probably already dead somewhere. So I have to do my best for my sisters.” (Mia)
“Mia-oneechan, aren’t you lonely because you can’t see your mom and dad?” (Fina)
Fina asked a bit thoughtfully.
Perhaps she’s overlapping with her old self.
Fina didn’t have a father either.
“They haven’t been around since I was little, so it was my grandma who raised me up. She is getting old, and I want to get rich and let her live comfortably.” (Mia)
I thought she was just a silly girl, but she was kind.
“So I need money for that!” (Mia)
Mia raised her fist that was holding bread.
And when she lowered it, she started eating the bread.
“So how did Carol end up with Mia?” (Yuna)
“Carol was kind enough to follow me.” (Mia)
“That’s wrong. Mia-chan always protects me from the jerks. That’s why I want to help her in return.” (Carol)
“I just don’t like bullies.” (mia)
No wonder Mia tried to protect Carol with just a knife.
“I understand your purpose now. But then, how did you find out about this place?” (Yuna)
“Well, when I was cleaning grandpa’s room, I found a note that said about this place.” (Mia)
“Your grandfather?” (Yuna)
“My grandpa was a venturer, too.” (Mia)
“In other words, you’re a family of venturers for generations.” (Yuna)
“That’s right.” (Mia)
Mia said while proudly stretching her nearly flat chest.
“But it seems you’re poor for that.” (Kagali)
“Uu, that’s…” (Mia)
Mia bowed her head at Kagali-san’s words.
“Anyway, when I was cleaning my grandpa’s room, who was a venturer, to see if there was anything I could sell, I found a note about this place.” (Mia)
“Do you have anything to sell?” (Yuna)
“I can’t help it. I’m poor. Maybe there’s a treasure sleeping somewhere or something?” (Mia)
“Just to confirm, where’s your grandfather now?” (Yuna)
“He died a few years ago.” (Mia)
“I’m sorry to hear that.” (Yuna)
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not a child anymore.” (Mia)
It’s a delicate topic for someone about the age of a high school student.
But I am independent and about the same age, so when people call me a child, it makes me feel uncomfortable.
“But if there was a note that mentioned this place, isn’t it possible that your grandfather already found the treasure?” (Yuna)
“That’s definitely not the case.” (Mia)
Mia says emphatically.
“How can you tell?” (Yuna)
“If Grandpa had found the treasure, he would’ve definitely bragged about it.” (Mia)
“Mia-chan, your grandfather already said many times about the time he found the treasure.” (Carol)
Carol says nostalgically.
“Grandpa kept bragging about how he found the treasure. But since I never heard him talk about this place, I’m convinced that grandpa definitely didn’t get the treasure.” (Mia)
It’s a persuasive explanation.
Sometimes some people repeatedly brag about their past glory whenever they meet someone.
Some of my relatives would tell me stories of their company’s successes over and over every time we met.
I’ve heard it enough to have calluses on my ears.
“Then is it possible that someone else has taken it?” (Yuna)
“There’s no way I, a novice venturer, would know that.” (Mia)
Then don’t brag about it.
“But Mia-oneechan, does that mean your grandpa didn’t find it either?” (Fina)
Fina gets to the point.
“But that moving guardian knight? Everyone calls it knight armor, right?” (Carol)
“Whichever is fine.” (Yuna)
“Etto, I think the fact that the knight armor is moving means that it’s protecting something. That’s why I think there’s treasure behind it.” (Carol)
Carol indicates a possible treasure.
“Certainly. My hunch also said that it was suspicious. There’s a possibility that it’s protecting something.” (Kagali)
“It’s also possible that they’re protecting the treasure, not knowing it’s already been taken.” (Yuna)
“……”
“……”
“……”
“……”
They got silenced by my words.
“I can’t rule out that possibility, but that doesn’t mean we can’t go looking for treasure.” (Carol)
“Besides, we’ve come this far, so we can’t just give up now.” (Mia)
“Surely there must be something.” (Carol)
Well, even I have no intention of going home like this.
Besides, if I go home as is, I’ll be curious whether there’s treasure. I just want to confirm.
That’s why I’m going to go treasure hunting like everyone else.
“So what do you know about those knight armors?” (Yuna)
“As I mentioned earlier, there are two types of knight armors, those that move and those that don’t. The moving ones have a specific range of action, and if you go outside of that range, you won’t be attacked.” (Carol)
Carol explains.
“Will I be attacked if I enter that range?” (Yuna)
“It doesn’t seem to work unless you get close enough.” (Carol)
“So, from a distance, it’s hard to tell the difference between a moving and a non-moving knight armor.” (Yuna)
It’s undoubtedly annoying.
But there is a way to deal with it.
“In that case, all you have to do is destroy them all.” (Yuna)
“……”
Everyone looks at me as if my suggestion dumbfounds them.
“Well, it’s certainly as Yuna said. It doesn’t matter whether it moves or not. If you destroy it, there shouldn’t be any danger.” (Kagali)
“Uu, certainly, Yuna who can easily defeat a knight armor might be able to do it.” (Mia)
As for the knight armors, we agreed that if we find them, we will destroy them regardless of whether they move.
“Come to think of it, did your grandfather’s note say anything about this place?” (Kagali)
Mia and Carol look troubled at Kagali-san’s question.
“What, you can’t talk about it?” (Kagali)
“Not that I can’t talk about it, but I can’t read it.” (Mia)
“You can’t read it?” (Kagali)
“Grandpa’s handwriting was so bad, all I could figure out was the location of this place.” (Mia)
“Show me.” (Kagali)
“If you can read it, then by all means.” (Mia)
Mia hands out a dirty piece of paper to Kagali-san.
After receiving the paper, Kagali-san looks at it. Fina is also interested, and she peers from the side.
“What’s this?” (Kagali)
“I can’t read it.” (Fina)
“Isn’t it? Grandpa’s handwriting has been so bad since long ago that I couldn’t read it. He’ll just say “As long as I can read, that’s all that matters”. There’s a map of this location, so I somehow understood it. Even so, just reading the name of the town is already a big hurdle.” (Mia)
I received the paper from Kagali-san, who gave up reading.
Ugh, it sure is messy.
But it doesn’t seem impossible to read.
“I have finally found the city of Heschlag.”
“Wait, you can read it?” (Kagali)
Perhaps thanks to my otherworldly language translation capabilities, I can read the text as if it were normal Japanese characters. It seems that they are properly recognized as characters. However, the characters are expressed to the point of being even beyond messy.
But I can read it because it’s converted to Japanese.
“Etto, I guess, somehow?” (Yuna)
I gave a vague answer and decided to keep reading.
“Somehow I managed to find the town of Heschlag. I immediately began our search, but I immediately discovered that I couldn’t use any magical tools in the town. This is going to make my search very difficult.”
“So it was written that you can’t use magic tools.” (Carol)
“I was looking for something in the town, but the buildings are crumbling and there’s nothing of interest. Still, I can’t leave here without getting something. My first grandchild will be born soon. I want to find something for him.”
“Grandchild, could it be me?” (Mia)
“Unless you have cousins or cousins in your relatives, then I suppose.” (Kagali)
“I don’t think there are, as far as I know.” (Mia)
“There are knight armors in a certain place. Suspicious. There must be something ahead. However, when you get close, the knight armors will attack you. I don’t have the means to fight, so I can only run away.”
“Grandpa, he can’t fight like me.” (Mia)
“No, I think it’s amazing that he came back safely even though he can’t fight.” (Kagali)
“You’re right about that. If it wasn’t for Yuna, I’d be dead by now.” (Mia)
Mia said reluctantly.
I continued reading.
“It turns out that the knight armors are gathering at a certain place. That one big building.”
“That’s where Mia and Carol were attacked, right?” (Yuna)
“What about the rest of it?” (Kagali)
“I understand that part. There’s a map.” (Mia)
As Mia said, it was a simple map. It’s a map of the town, there’s a circle drawn on the map, and somebody wrote the word “armor” on it.
“Anyway, it said armor, it had a 〇 on it. You went to the place and saw the knight armors, right?” (Yuna)
Apparently, I couldn’t read the characters that were supposed to say knight armors.
“What was there?” (Yuna)
Mia shakes her head.
“I haven’t looked into it in detail. But, it wasn’t a big building. Besides, if there’s anything like it, it’s more likely to be the building where Yuna saved us, right?” (Mia)
“Yeah, that building is suspicious, since there are knight armors in that place. There must be a reason to have knight armors stationed there, right?” (Kagali)
“Doesn’t Grandpa’s note say something?” (Mia)
I look at the note.
“I can’t do it anymore. It’s too dangerous. I give up. I can’t die before I see my grandchild. If I tell my son, he will go. But he, just like me, will not be able to handle a knight armor. He will have a child. I don’t want him to do anything dangerous. So I will not tell him. I will take this place to my grave.”
“Grandpa……” (Mia)
He took it with him to the grave.
But it may have been difficult to tell his son about the knight armors.
“Regardless of grandpa’s feelings, father and mother went somewhere and never came home.” (Mia)
“…Mia-chan.” (Carol)
“I’m fine. Thank you for reading it, Yuna. It was nice to get to know Grandpa a little better.” (Mia)
Mia looks happy when she receives the note.
I’m glad I could help, even if it was just a little.
======
Author’s Note:
For some reason, I thought it would be better if the letters written by Fina were different from those written by others, that’s why Grandpa’s note was messy.
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