Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear Vol. 1 Page 3

  I asked Elena where the adventurers’ guild was, and discovered it was the next building down from where Fina and I went to sell the wolves. I’d be in for a lot of inconvenience without identification, so I decided to go there first.

  To my surprise, I ran into none other than Fina on the way out.

  “Yuna, good morning.”

  “Fina, what do you need?”

  “I wanted to say thank you again, and I was wondering how the inn was.”

  “It was great. The food’s delicious, and I’m thrilled they have a bath. Anyway, I’m staying for the next ten days.”

  “I’m glad that you like it.”

  “Did you do okay, Fina?”

  “Yes! I had my mom take the herbs. So, where are you going, Yuna?”

  “I’m going to the guild, and then I was thinking of taking a look around the town,” I said.

  “Can I go to the guild with you?”

  “I don’t mind, but I’m just going to get some ID made.”

  “I’m also going over to the guild in order to check for butchering work.”

  “Butchering work?”

  “I told you that I do butchering work yesterday, right? The one who gives me that work is Mr. Gentz.”

  “Mr. Gentz?”

  “Yeah, the man who bought the wolf parts from us yesterday. Sometimes the adventurers bring back a lot of monsters without butchering them. When that happens, I help out. That’s why I always go check in first thing in the morning every day.”

  “Oh, you did say something like that yesterday.”

  This little girl has a job butchering monster corpses? I guess that makes sense in a fantasy world. I bet no one even bats an eye…

  “Mr. Gentz always looks out for me.”

  Maybe he’s a pedo…

  “I think Mr. Gentz likes my mom.”

  Or maybe I just have a dirty mind. Assuming the worst of people from the available evidence was a bad habit of mine.

  Fina talked about Mr. Gentz and her mom as we made our way back toward the building where we sold the wolves. Needless to say, I was showered in stares the whole way over!

  Chapter 5:

  The Bear Visits the Adventurers’ Guild

  THE GUILD WAS PACKED with adventurers, each equipped with their own swords and staffs. I felt like I was back in one of the old quest hubs. Then again, not a single one of them was a player.

  “There’s a lot of people around for this time of day.”

  “That’s because it’s a scramble for the lower-level adventurers to get work. Everyone comes here early to get the best jobs.”

  I separated from Fina, since she was heading over to Mr. Gentz, and headed into the guild. It looked like most of the people there were gross old men. Their stares fixed on me, possibly because they were sizing me up, or because it was rare for girls to come into the guild. When I examined the crowd, there were female adventurers, but only a few.

  I ignored the stares and made my way to the receptionist, who looked like she was in her twenties.

  “So I’m new here,” I said.

  “Oh, yes. So you’d like to become a member of the guild?”

  “I heard that it would come with identification, right?”

  “Yes, you’ll be able to use the guild member card in any country.”

  “In that case, could you help me with it?”

  When I told her that, I felt eyes on me and flipped around.

  “Hey, is that gal in the weird clothes supposed to be an adventurer?” said one of the creeps behind me in line. “Looks like she’s really underestimating us. Little ladies like you drive down our market value.”

  Was this guy a walking cliché?

  “I just came here because I wanted an ID.”

  “All the more reason to say something. We don’t need any adventurers who don’t work.”

  “I never said I wasn’t going to work. I’ll do the things I can.”

  “And I said that’ll lower our value.”

  “Ma’am,” I said to the receptionist, “this man talks a lot, but is what he’s saying true?”

  “As long as you fulfill the minimum requirements for the guild, there isn’t a problem.”

  “There are requirements?”

  “You must be over thirteen years old and rise to E-rank within a year. If you aren’t able to, your membership will be revoked.”

  “What’s E-rank?”

  “E-rank requires proof you can slay low-ranking monsters like goblins and wolves.”

  “In that case, we’re good. I can beat a wolf.”

  “Gah ha ha. Don’t make stuff up,” chortled the creep behind me. “There’s no way a little girl like you could beat a wolf.”

  “What’s this guy’s rank?” I asked the front desk lady.

  “He is Mr. Deboranay of D-rank.”

  “And the ones laughing at me?”

  “They are all D-ranks and E-ranks.”

  The adventurers smirked. Players like these had existed in the game, too—idiots who leapt to conclusions about you based on how you looked. In games, as in life, there was only one way to deal with idiots: proving them wrong to their faces. That said, I’d take any fight anyone picked on principle.

  “Hmph,” I said. “This adventurers’ guild must be pretty lame if all these people are just D-rank.”

  “What did you say?” said Deboranay.

  “Didn’t you say it yourself? Are you an idiot? Do your ears not work? If someone like me can’t become an adventurer, then that makes you all garbage, since none of you can beat me.”

  “Why, you…you got a death wish?”

  “Is there a place around here where we can have a match?”

  When I was playing games solo, idiots like him picked fights with me all the time, and I always turned the tables on them with characters I’d funneled time and money into. If I didn’t nip jerks like these in the bud, they’d multiply like roaches and give me grief down the line.

  “Yes,” said the receptionist, “there is a place behind here, but…”

  “In that case, if you guys win, I’ll give up becoming an adventurer and I’ll leave. If you guys lose, you’ll stop being adventurers and leave. That good with you?”

  “You underestimating us even though you’re a girl? If we lose against you, we’ll quit! Right, boys?!”

  “Yeah!” Deboranay’s flunkies cheered, looking smug to the last.

  “Miss from the front desk, you heard all of that just now, right?”

  “Yes. However, I would suggest apologizing. Mr. Deboranay has his quirks, but he really is in D-rank.”

  But she’d confirmed she’d heard it all. I wouldn’t let them pretend they forgot what they said.

  The receptionist led us to a training pit in the back. A crowd of fifteen or so adventurers followed behind me, with Deboranay at their head.

  “Umm, are you really doing this?” said the receptionist.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Letting weaklings be adventurers affects the whole guild’s reputation, so I need to get them to quit early.”

  “Why you little—!” said Deboranay. “Don’t act like you’re leaving here alive.”

  “In other words,” I replied, “you’re prepared to die, too? They say the weak are all bark and no bite. Looks like they got that right.”

  “Hey,” said Deboranay as he readied his sword. “Let’s hurry up and get this started.”

  “Uh…”

  I had forgotten I had no weapon. All I had was the cypress stick.

  “Something wrong? Hurry up and get your weapon out.”

  While I was looking around trying to figure out what to do, I saw Fina heading over. That girl had great timing. It looked like she ran over after noticing the commotion. How adorable.

  “Yuna!”

  “Fina, could you lend me your knife?” I asked her as I approached. “I’ll make sure to give it back later.”

  “Are you fighting, Yuna?”

  “Things just sh
ook out that way. It’ll be fine; just watch.”

  I borrowed the knife from Fina and squared up with Deboranay.

  “That’s the weapon you’re fighting with?” he said.

  “I wouldn’t sully my own weapon against a goblin-tier enemy.”

  “I’ll kill you.”

  “I’ll say this as many times as I have to,” said the woman from the front desk, “but you can’t kill each other. You may begin.”

  Deboranay charged, hoisting his longsword. I leapt a whole three meters to the side with one step. Because of my bear shoes’ ability, I was more than quick enough. Immediately after, I closed in on Deboranay with one step and punched him just under the ribs using my black bear hand.

  My secret technique: Bear Punch.

  Huh? It didn’t end him. All it did was make him scowl. Maybe it’s because of the difference between our levels?

  “Why, you…”

  Deboranay, who had taken the bear punch without flinching, readied his sword. Excuse me, I thought, what’s this amateur doing using his sword when we’re close enough for hand-to-hand combat?

  WFO had hand-to-hand battle events. They were open to all, without level, weapon, magic, or gear restrictions, and occasionally featured battles where the admins would change the settings to make the fighters have fixed defensive and offensive abilities.

  In a fight where levels, weapons, and equipment didn’t matter, the match would be decided based on skill. From my time in those circuits, I knew that enemies who would rely on raw power to attack were no match. I bear punched Deboranay’s exposed wrist, and because he had was leaning into a sword thrust, he lost his balance. The next moment, Deboranay had a knife thrust to his neck.

  “Looks like this is over,” I told him.

  “Don’t screw with me!”

  He brushed aside my knife and tried to raise his sword, and I backstepped around it. These bear shoes were just way too useful.

  “Ms. Front Desk, I won the match just now, didn’t I?”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. The battle isn’t over yet.”

  I looked at the receptionist, but she had no idea what to do. She seemed beside herself. I wanted her to make a decisive call, though.

  “Okay, fine,” I said. “I won’t just end the match; I’ll end your life. Don’t think that I’ll let my knife stop this time.”

  When I said that, the man’s face twitched. He probably knew the difference between our physical strengths. I had evaded his attacks and was also faster than him, and if I had used the knife instead of my bear punch earlier, I would have stabbed him in the hip. On top of that, he definitely couldn’t deny that I’d pressed the knife against his neck at the end. That basically meant I had already stabbed him twice.

  “Are you really that scared of this little knife?”

  I let him get a glimpse of it.

  “Sorry. Using this against a person without no qualifications to be an adventurer was just so immature of me.”

  I hurled the knife at Deboranay’s feet, embedding it in the ground.

  “Not scary anymore, right?”

  I made a little come and get it gesture with my gloves.

  “Don’t take me for a fool.”

  He charged hard, like an idiot. I sidestepped him, but his sword followed me. Of course he’d figure it out after I’d used the same method twice to evade him.

  If one step didn’t work, then I just needed to take two steps, and if that didn’t work, I just had to leap three times. I evaded with three steps, got into his blind spot with the fourth, and in the fifth, I popped up right in his business. My bear punch collided with his face, and Deboranay’s giant body went down.

  I hit his face with my right hand, then left, right, left, right, left. Bear punch, bear punch, bear punch, bear punch, bear punch, bear punch, bear punch. It looked like the black bear hand really was stronger—only his left cheek, which was turned towards me, was super swollen.

  He didn’t move. Once I saw that, I disengaged. The whites of his eyes were showing; he was passed out.

  “So, who’s next?” I asked my audience. None of them stepped up. “Looks like no one. In that case, Ms. Front Desk, could you remove all the adventurers here from the guild? It looks like they’re weaklings.”

  I grinned.

  “But…” one of them murmured.

  “But all of you said it yourself,” I said, “didn’t you? Weaklings like me can’t become adventurers. Which means anyone weaker than me definitely can’t become an adventurer, right? Which includes this guy I’ve just beaten and people who won’t even try me in a fight.”

  I looked around, still grinning. It looked like there weren’t any adventurers who felt like they could win after seeing that fight. Deboranay must have been the strongest of them all.

  “I didn’t say that!” One of the adventurers broke the silence.

  “I didn’t say that, either,” another continued.

  “Deboranay was the one who said that, wasn’t he?”

  “That’s right.”

  It seemed they were going to sell out Deboranay to save their own butts.

  “But I said that, didn’t I? If you guys won, then I’d give up on being an adventurer and leave. If you guys lost, you would give up being an adventurer and leave, and then, when that guy said, ‘If I lose against you, I’ll quit! Right, boys,’ you all said ‘Yeah.’ I got the lady from the front desk to confirm that, didn’t I?”

  I looked at the receptionist.

  “Yes…” she answered in a quiet voice.

  The adventurers begin to stalk into the training area. They had nowhere to hide anymore, and nothing to lose.

  “You better wait to say that until after you beat all of us,” said one.

  “Or how about you face all of us together?” said another.

  One, two, then three people arrayed themselves around me. Looked like I needed to beat all of them at once.

  I guess if they’re only as strong as Deboranay, this won’t be so bad, I thought.

  The battle ended too soon, if you ask me. I couldn’t be sure without checking my status, but I’d probably leveled up from beating Deboranay. My bear step was even faster, and my bear punch’s power was several levels higher. I beat the poor fools with a single blow.

  “Hey, what do you think you guys are doing?!” A rugged, musclebound man came charging into the training area. “Hey, Helen, explain what happened!”

  Helen, the receptionist, tried to explain as best she could. Once she was done, the musclebound man looked at me.

  “You,” he said, “girl in that weird get-up!”

  “What?”

  “Were you the one who did this?”

  “It wasn’t my fault. They threatened me with violence, so I was just defending myself. You’re not going to make me shoulder the blame, are you?”

  “The guild is fundamentally neutral when it comes to fights between adventurers.”

  “In that case, you’re on my side.”

  “And what makes you think that?”

  “I haven’t joined yet, so I’m not an adventurer. I’m just a regular person. Since I was attacked by adventurers as a normal citizen, aren’t they the responsibility of the guild that’s in charge of them? You’re not saying you’re siding with multiple adventurers who ganged up on one normal girl citizen, are you?”

  “Well…”

  “In that case, you’re on my side as an average citizen.”

  Granted, I wasn’t a resident of this town, but he didn’t have to know that. The man scratched his head and hesitated. “So what do you want?”

  “I guess just to register with the guild and for them to be deregistered.”

  “I’ll approve your registration, but I can’t kick them out.”

  “They’re bowing their heads and pleading for you to let them quit because they’re weak. And you won’t let them? Is the adventurers’ guild really that tyrannical?”

  “What? You guys wanted to quit bein
g adventurers?!” the swole dude asked the handful of still-conscious adventurers on the ground. The men assumed ambiguous expressions and declined to answer.

  “That’s what they said. Someone as weak as me can’t become an adventurer, according to them. They said if they got beat by a weakling like me, they’d quit being adventurers.”

  “Did you guys really say that?”

  Several of them nodded.

  “Well, I’ve learned that these guys are idiots,” he said, “that’s for sure.”

  “Right. Good. In that case, can you do the needful?”

  “I’m going to ask again: Do you guys really want to quit? If you’re not going to answer, then just leave your guild cards behind and get out of here.”

  “SORRY!” the injured adventurers shouted, hanging their heads low.

  “Could you forgive them?”

  “On one condition.”

  “Why not? Just tell me.”

  “I want a guarantee that the guild won’t stay neutral if the other adventurers ever try anything with me again.”

  “I got it. If they give you any trouble, the guild will take responsibility.”

  “Well then, I have nothing more to say.”

  Chapter 6:

  The Bear Makes a Guild Card.

  Class: Bear

  WE CAME BACK from the training area and I had them make me a guild card. Helen, who had finished arranging for the adventurers to be treated, came back to the reception desk. I could see the exhaustion on her face. It definitely wasn’t my fault, I was sure.

  “Please fill out your name, birthday, and class.”

  “My birthday?”

  “Yes, we need it to check your age.”

  “Can’t I just tell you how old I am?”

  “If you do that, your guild card won’t update, even when your birthday comes.”

  Right, if I just told them my age, then I’d just end up being eighteen or whatever forever. But what would I do about my birthdate? This world had to have a different calendar from Earth, but I did have the skill Fantasy World Literacy, so maybe it’d translate. For the time being, I filled in my name in Japanese and the date I was born in Japan according to the western calendar.

  “So you’re fifteen, Ms. Yuna?” said Helen.