Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear Vol. 1 Read online

  It had worked! You had to hand it to the fantasy genre. I needed to fill in the class column next.

  “My class?”

  “It’ll be referenced for companion recruitment and limited quests.”

  “Companion?”

  I didn’t just react to the word “companion” because I’m a loner, mind you. I totally had friends. Just not…

  a lot.

  When I was playing the game, I was a magic swordswoman. It was the optimal choice for the sort of solo play I preferred; it gave me good options for handling enemies that couldn’t be killed by either physical damage or magic alone. It wasn’t really popular for playing in a party; swordsmen did better melee damage, and when you needed magic, you’d just recruit a sorcerer. That was why I never ended up joining a party.

  It wasn’t like no one ever invited me or anything.

  “I don’t need one, so can I leave it blank?”

  “It’ll help if you could write something.”

  “Umm.”

  It wasn’t like I was a magic swordswoman right now, but I had to write something. What was my current class? I couldn’t use magic. I had no sword. Was I a fighter?

  I tried my best to ignore the voice that seemed to issue from the heavens to tell me, “Your class is Bear, isn’t it?”

  Name: Yuna

  Birthdate: Month ** Day ** Year 20**

  Class: Bear

  I ended up writing it down. Helen looked at it with disgust, but I guess she wanted to get this over with, since she didn’t say anything.

  “Well then, please put your hand on this crystal panel.”

  It was identical to the one at the gate. These things supposedly checked your mana, which made me revisit a question that had been bugging me—was magic something unique to each person, like fingerprints? While I was puzzling that over, Helen operated the crystal panel.

  “It’ll take some time for your registration to go through, so I’ll explain how the guild works in the meantime. Your guild card has your name, age, and class on it, plus your adventurer rank and the number of quests you’ve accepted. This includes information about each quest, how many times you’ve succeeded, and how many times you’ve failed. Your currently accepted quests will be recorded. This information can be accessed from any guild.”

  Right, so that meant that the number of times I failed would be recorded, too. No one would want to hire an adventurer who’d failed a lot, after all.

  “You don’t have records for how many monsters I’ve slain or something?”

  “No, we don’t. There’s no point.”

  “Huh?”

  “Even if you brought in a mana gem as a trophy, we couldn’t tell whether you beat it yourself or had help from a hundred people.”

  So things didn’t get automatically recorded like if you beat a monster in a game. That was fair enough—if ten thousand people teamed up to battle a dragon and only the person who dealt the finishing blow got credit for the kill, things would get ugly real quick. On the flip side, giving ten thousand people the title of dragon slayer didn’t make much sense, either.

  “Next I’ll explain the guild ranking. The ranks start with F, and you rise to E, D, C, B, A, and S. You increase in rank based on your successes and failures while fulfilling quests. If you have a lot of failures, you won’t advance, so please accept quests that are within your skill level. Also, if you continue to accept quests of the same rank as yourself, you won’t increase in rank.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “You can accept quests up to a rank above yours. Because of that, no matter how many hundreds of F-rank quests you accept, as someone in F-rank, you won’t rise up.”

  “In other words, if I complete a quest a rank above mine, then I’ll go up a rank?”

  “The standard criteria is to complete more than ten quests a rank above yours. Then, the guild makes the final call.”

  “What happens if I accomplish a quest by teaming up with people a rank higher than mine?”

  “That’s a very specific situation to explain, but when you take on a quest, everyone must present their guild card. If someone with a high rank is in the group, your inspection rank goes up.”

  “Which means?”

  “The number of quests you need to complete increases. For example, if someone from D-rank were to complete quests with the aid of an adventurer of C-rank, then they would need to complete over twenty quests to rise to C-rank. If they get the help of an S-rank, they won’t rise in rank no matter how many times they complete quests.”

  “What happens if they secretly do that?”

  “The guild can’t do anything about that. But it’s true that there are aristocrats who use the method you spoke of to rise in rank.”

  In other words, they would hire a high-ranking adventurer to help them to rise in rank. I figured hiring someone with a high rank would take more money than a normal adventurer could spare.

  “And lastly, only you can use this card. If you lose it, reissuing the card will require a ten-silver coin handling fee.”

  She handed me the finished silver card, and I looked it over.

  Name: Yuna

  Age: 15 years old

  Class: Bear

  Adventurer Rank: F

  That was all the information on it. This receptionist lady actually wrote “Bear” in for my class. I noticed Helen was grinning.

  “The quests are put up on that board. If you see a quest there that you’d like to accept, please bring the written quest to the front desk.”

  The board she pointed out was surrounded by a small crowd, but there were other boards that went completely ignored.

  “What about that one?”

  “That board has high-ranking quests.”

  “I see.”

  Fina was standing outside when I left, looking concerned.

  “What’s wrong, Fina?”

  “I was worried about you.”

  “Oh, sorry for making you worry. I got registered, so everything’s fine. Did you find any work?”

  “There wasn’t any. Most of the adventurers brought their things in already butchered. They get more money that way. There aren’t a lot of monsters that get brought in intact.”

  “Really?” I didn’t want to get my hands dirty butchering monsters, and I didn’t care whether they were cheaper, so I was planning to bring them in unharvested. It wasn’t like a modern-day hermit like me could butcher an animal or a monster in the first place, anyway.

  I gave Fina a pat on the head and was just thinking about parting ways with her to search the town when I stopped. “Oh, right. Fina, you don’t have anything to do, right?”

  “I don’t. There isn’t any work anywhere else today, either.”

  “How about you show me around the town today? I don’t know how much you make in a day normally, but how does a silver coin and lunch sound for compensation?”

  “You already paid me too much yesterday, so that’s too generous. A ten-year-old can’t make a silver coin in just a day.”

  “Then today is special. And once I figure out the town, this job will be gone.”

  I gave her a second, gentle pat on the head. I never had a younger sister, but I wondered whether it would have been like this.

  “Thanks, Yuna.”

  “Let’s go. Could you start by showing me the best place I can go to buy a weapon?”

  Chapter 7:

  The Bear Goes to the Weapons Shop

  BEFORE FINA led me along, I checked my status. My bear punch was stronger, and I definitely felt like I’d grown a level.

  Name: Yuna

  Age: 15 years old

  Level: 8

  Skills: Fantasy World Language, Fantasy World Literacy, Bear Extradimensional Storage, Bear Identification

  GEAR

  Right Hand: Black Bear Glove (Nontransferable)

  Left Hand: White Bear Glove (Nontransferable)

  Right Foot: Black Bear Shoe (Nontransferable)

  Left
Foot: White Bear Shoe (Nontransferable)

  Clothing: Black and White Bear Clothes (Nontransferable)

  Underwear: Bear Underwear (Nontransferable)

  I really had leveled up, and I’d gotten another weird new skill.

  Bear Identification

  By looking through the bear eyes on the Bear Clothes’ hood, one can see the effects of a weapon or tool.

  Doesn’t work without wearing the hood.

  That’s a suuuuuuper useful skill, I thought, but why’d my bear gear get skills when I was the one who leveled up?!

  If I was going to live in this world, I might have to do it dressed as a bear for my whole life.

  Fina led us towards the weapons shop. “What kind of weapon are you going to buy, Yuna?”

  “Umm, I haven’t decided yet, but I think I want a sword and knife at least.”

  “Actually, do you not have a weapon, Yuna?”

  “I do.” A cypress stick totally counted.

  “Right. There’s no way anyone would walk around the woods without a weapon. In that case, why are you going to the weapons shop?”

  “W-well, that’s because I might find a real gem there, right? There might be a weapon that really strikes my fancy. So, what kind of weapons shop are we headed to?”

  My “secret technique!” When I’m in hot water, I deflect the conversation!

  “It’s a shop that Mr. Gold runs.”

  “Mr. Gold?”

  “He’s in charge of the weapons that the guild has. I got my knife from Mr. Gold, too.”

  “He gave it to you? He must be nice.”

  “He told me, ‘This one’s meant for the scrap pile, so I’ll let you have it,’ when he gave it to me.”

  Is he a secret softie? I thought.

  “And when he comes to check on the weapons the guild is keeping, he sharpens my knife because he ‘might as well.’”

  Definitely a softie.

  “This is it.” Fina stopped in front of a building with a painted sign of a sword hung by the door. Did they not sell any armor, then?

  I heard clanging coming from inside as we approached and wondered if they were forging stuff right now. Fina entered first, and a short girl greeted her. ‘Weapons shops’ in a fantasy games tend to come part and parcel with dwarven shopkeepers, so I wondered if she was one. Or was she just a normal kid?

  “Oh welcome, Fina! Did you come to get your knife sharpened?”

  “No, I brought Yuna here today. Apparently, she wants a weapon, so I came here to introduce her to Mr. Gold.”

  “Oh, so you’ve brought a customer. Thank you.”

  “Yuna, this is Mr. Gold’s wife, Mrs. Nelt.”

  Okay, dwarf confirmed! I thought, a little relieved. Otherwise he would have been a pedo.

  “Did you just look at me funny?”

  “No, actually, I was wondering whether you were a dwarf.”

  “That I am indeed. Have you never seen a dwarf before, by any chance?”

  “No, this is my first time.”

  “Well, I suppose you can’t help it, then. You’ve got quite a peculiar look, miss.”

  “My name is Yuna. Nice to meet you.”

  “So, what kind of weapon do you want?”

  “I haven’t decided, so could you show me what you have?”

  “So, you’re a beginner! Of course I can. My husband has some work he needs to attend to, so he can’t speak with you at present, but you may look around at your leisure.”

  I could hear Mr. Gold clanging away at something in the back. I supposed I didn’t need to meet him, since I was just going to buy a sword. Fina looked disappointed, though. She probably wanted to see him.

  Since I’d gotten permission to browse, I inspected the weapons in the shop. I tried picking up a nearby sword. It…wasn’t heavy? I wondered if it was because of the bear gloves. To test it out, I took off a glove and tried lifting it again.

  Okay! I thought. Definitely can’t hold this thing! I could pick it up, but that was all I could manage. I couldn’t even try swinging it, or anything.

  I put the bear glove back on and held the sword. It was light…

  I wasn’t going to be able to make it in this world without the bear gear, was I?

  I tried out Bear Identification next.

  Iron Sword

  Skills: None

  I tried checking the other swords in the same way.

  Iron Sword

  Skills: None

  Iron Sword

  Skills: None

  Iron Sword

  Skills: None

  They were all the same, only varying in shape and length. Swords without magical abilities were probably just the norm. They weren’t selling anything subpar, but I didn’t see any hidden gems. If this were a game or light novel, they would’ve had a legendary sword stashed in the corner all rusted and unrecognized, or something.

  After all the fuss I’d made to get it, my identification skill was useless. I decided to cut my losses and picked a sword that looked like it would be easy to carry one-handed.

  Iron Sword

  Skills: None

  “I’d like to also look at the knives.”

  “For skinning and butchering?”

  “Sure, one of those, but I’d like throwing ones too.” I wanted to have something better than rocks to throw if the situation ever called for it. Nelt showed me a small knife.

  “Do you have a hundred of them?”

  “You want that many?”

  “Yes, and if you don’t, I’d like all the ones you’ve got.”

  “We have a hundred, but please give me a moment. They’re in the back, so I’ll bring them over. But are you really going to use a hundred of them?”

  “They’re useful for defeating monsters.”

  “I know throwing knives are cheap, but aren’t you going a little overboard?”

  “They’re cheap?”

  “They’re basically disposable. We make them with leftover iron scraps. Imagine it: you’re battling monsters in the woods. You might be able to hit your prey with a throwing knife, but it’s just as likely it’ll bounce off, or miss, or fall out after it wounds them. You don’t want to be spending real money on something you might not be able to retrieve, right? That was why I asked you whether it was for butchering earlier. Of course, we have knives for battle as well.”

  As a newbie adventurer, I was grateful to have her explain the little details of the industry. “I’d also like a butchering knife,” I told her.

  “Alright.” She brought out a knife that seemed sharper than the throwing knives. I might not have needed it, but it wasn’t like it’d cause trouble if I had it, so I’d buy it. I pulled out the money my white bear glove and Mrs. Nelt brought the knives from the back room in multiple trips.

  “So, when will you come to get them?”

  “I’ll take them home right now.”

  I started putting away the hundred knives in the bear’s mouth. To finish it off, I put away the sword and butchering knife.

  “Is that bear doll a bottomless bag?” She was looking at the bear in surprise.

  “A bottomless bag?” I cocked my head at the unfamiliar term.

  “A bottomless bag’s a bottomless bag,” she said. “They each have their own restrictions, but they’re useful bags that you can put items in to carry. They’re useful for merchants and blacksmiths like us, who have to handle heavy luggage.”

  “Are bottomless bags rare?”

  “You don’t even know that?”

  “I got this from somebody I know. That’s why I don’t really know much about it.”

  “There are some generous people out there. If you ask me, they’re not incredibly unusual. A bottomless bag’s value is dependent on how much stuff it can hold. You’ve got a range of types, but the more it can hold, the higher its value is. I was surprised because it was my first time seeing a bottomless bag that’s a bear like yours.”

  I wondered whether this bear had an item limit. I
supposed that if it ever ran out of space, I could just buy another bottomless bag.

  “But Yuna, if you had something useful like that, couldn’t you have used it when we were carrying back the wolves?” Fina asked,

  “I was lost, so I got confused and forgot.” I tried to come up with the best lie I could. I actually had been confused, since I’d only just changed worlds back then.

  Since I’d finished buying the sword, throwing knives, and harvesting knife, I left the weapons shop. Next, I needed new underwear.

  Chapter 8:

  The Bear Goes Shopping

  “WHAT KIND OF CLOTHES do you want?”

  “For now, things that I can wear under these clothes.”

  I tugged on my bear onesie. I was wearing underwear underneath. I wanted a shirt, at least.

  “So…there’s an expensive store and a cheap one.”

  “Either one is fine, but how are they different?”

  “The expensive one has clothes that the aristocrats wear. I haven’t gone in before, but the prices are high, so they seem finely made. The cheaper store sells things priced so that normal residents can buy things. And there are also stores that sell secondhand clothes. Sometimes there are good finds there, so I like checking it out. Which would you like?”

  Personally, I wouldn’t have minded going to the expensive store, but when Fina explained the expensive store, she didn’t seem very positive about it. I wondered

  if there was an issue with it—were they selective about their customers? Considering how I looked, there was a chance they wouldn’t let me in.

  Maybe the normal store was for the best. I’d pass on the secondhand one this time around.

  “For now, could you take me to the normal store? I’ll consider going to the other stores later.”

  Fina led me where I asked. A woman in her mid-twenties greeted us inside. When she saw my clothes, she looked shocked for a moment, but immediately went back to smiling at us.

  “Welcome. What kind of clothes are you looking for today?”