Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

Bear-san, Starts Exploring

The following day, I asked Fina to check on Mia and Carol, who had yet to wake up, while I prepared breakfast. I only took out the bread from the bear box, though.

However, since Kagali-san insists on rice, I served her rice with pickled plums, miso soup with tofu and wakame seaweed from the Land of Harmony, and takuan (pickled radish).

Fina came downstairs with Mia and Carol when we prepared everyone’s breakfast.

“Uu, I’m sleepy.” (Mia)

“Did you stay up late?” (Yuna)

“I didn’t. I took a bath and immediately went to bed.” (Carol)

“My tired body, taking a bath for the first time in a while, and the soft futon kept me sound asleep until morning.” (Mia)

“Well then, good for you.” (Yuna)

I thanked Fina for waking up Mia and Carol and started eating breakfast.

“The breakfast is also good.” (Mia)

“Thank you for preparing breakfast, Yuna-san.” (Carol)

“You can eat as much as you want.” (Yuna)

“Ugh, I’ve never experienced such a comfortable adventure.” (Mia)

Mia puts the bread in her mouth as she says that.

After breakfast, we prepared for departure and began our exploration.

We left the horses that Mia and Carol rode in the same place as they were yesterday.

We continued where we left off yesterday, heading for the large building.

According to Mia and Carol, it’s possible to avoid the knight armors by detouring the path, but because we have to secure an escape route, we decided not to detour but to charge through while defeating the knight armors.

Fina and Kagali-san are riding on Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, respectively, while I walk so that I can respond immediately in case something happens.

“But what is the treasure?” (Fina)

“It is said that the magic technicians honed their skills to create the greatest magic tools ever made. Surely there must be some magical artifacts left that no one has ever seen.” (Mia)

Mia answers Fina’s monologue on Swaying Bear.

“Treasure, I hope we find it” (Fina)

“I will definitely find it.” (Mia)

Mia looks at Fina and then at me.

“Um…if I find treasure, will you really buy it from me?” (Mia)

Mia hesitated to ask.

“Well, if the thing you find is what I want.” (Yuna)

“I doubt there’s anything you could possibly want with such an awesome item bag that could fit a house.” (Mia)

“Even if Yuna-san won’t buy it, we’ll take it to the Adventurer’s Guild or the Commercial Guild, and they’ll pay a good price for it.” (Carol)

“Maybe so, but still.” (Mia)

I would love to buy it from them, but buying something I don’t want will become trash.

“But first, we have to find the treasure.” (Yuna)

Find the treasure first before we discuss the purchase.

“Oh, there’s a knight.” (Fina)

Fina points forward.

A knight armor stood guard in the aisle.

I told everyone to wait and approached the knight armor by myself. I came right in front of it, but it didn’t move. Well, just in case, I decided to destroy it with electric magic.

And regardless of whether the knight armor was moving or not, I touched the knight armor with my bear puppet, which was covered with electric magic. The knight armor collapsed.

“You really took it down so easily.” (Mia)

“Was that magic?” (Carol)

“……”

“It’s a kind of lightning magic.” (Kagali)

When I was thinking about how to respond, Kagali-san answered.

“Lightning?” (Mia)

“Um, like when it rains heavily, the sky shines?” (Carol)

“That’s right. Well, I won’t give you a detailed explanation because it’s too bothersome, but you can spread it to every corner of your body.” (Kagali)

Kagali-san also used lightning magic. I don’t know how much she knows about lightning, but she explained it to them for me.

“As I recall, when lightning strikes a tree or something, it can set it on fire, right?” (Carol)

“So you mean fire magic?” (Mia)

“It’s a little different, but well, you can think of it as advanced fire magic.” (Kagali)

It may really be troublesome for Kagali-san. Her explanation becomes sloppy.

Well, I don’t think they can understand electricity or electric shock. You can’t actually touch lightning, and even if you could, you would die.

You have to be extremely lucky to be struck by lightning and live.

Besides, I don’t think there are any who would want to be struck by lightning themselves.

“Such magic existed?” (Mia)

“So you’re destroying the knight armor’s magic stone that you don’t know where?” (Carol)

“That’s right. I was also surprised when I saw Yuna use it for the first time.” (Kagali)

“I’m more surprised that a little girl like you knows such things.” (Mia)

“Don’t call me a little girl.” (Kagali)

“Then a young girl, maybe?” (Mia)

Kagali-san didn’t say anything more, perhaps because objecting was troublesome. Are you going to keep your adult version a secret?

Her transformation into the adult version is even more insane than my magic, so she probably prefers for it not to be known as much as possible.

I know how she feels, so I won’t discuss it either.

“However, do the citizens of this country fight while wearing something that looks heavy? In my country, no one fights while wearing a lump of iron.” (Kagali)

Kagali-san looked at the collapsed knight armor and gave her impression.

I’ve heard that Japanese armor is also heavy, but I’ve never worn one, so I can’t compare. But from what I’ve seen, the western armor, like this one, is much heavier.

“My country, you say? Where do you live?” (Mia)

“I just mispronounced my village.” (Kagali)

“Well, surely there are no knights in a village.” (Mia)

Kagali-san’s lie convinced Mia.

“But it sure looks like it’s hard to move around.” (Yuna)

It will be either mobility or defensive power.

I can’t say which one is better. It depends on who you are fighting against. As far as anything goes, there’s no almighty equipment. It’s common in games to be strong in one thing and weak in the other. Some armor is strong against magic, some are strong against physical, and some are strong against attributes. So no single armor is strong against all attributes, magic, and physical.

No, I stand corrected. Only one almighty set of equipment exists.

I looked at the bear equipment that I’m wearing.

It’s durable, highly defensive, can withstand magic, even enhances my magic, can lift heavy objects, and has no weaknesses. Although, if I am to name one, it looks like a bear.

We continued down the aisle until we came to the area where we met Mia and Carol.

I think this is where Mia and Carol were attacked.

“We came here so quickly. Last time we had to take a lot of time-consuming detours.” (Mia)

Well, we went almost straight.

“It can’t be helped. We can’t defeat knight armors like Yuna-san.” (Carol)

Ignoring Mia, who’s complaining about such things, I move on.

From a distance, I thought it would be a continuous passageway, but it turned out to be a descending staircase.

Although, it’s pitch black.

“Isn’t that a magic stone that will turn on the light over there?” (Fina)

A magic stone is attached to the place where Fina is pointing.

It’s like a switch that turns on the light magic stones in the staircase.

“I thought so too, but when I touched the magic stone, the knight armor started to move.” (Mia)

“I tried to stop her, but she refuses.” (Carol)

“Because if it’s dark, we won’t be able to move.” (Mia)

“So did the light switch on?” (Yuna)

“No, it didn’t.” (Mia)

For some reason, Mia said it proudly.

Mia touched the magic stone attached to the wall to confirm once more, but the staircase didn’t light up.

“It’s been a long time, so it must be broken, isn’t it?” (Mia)

“If the magic stone still has magic power, it should light up.” (Carol)

“Have you forgotten that you cannot use magic tools? It should be the same with magic stones to light the passage.” (Kagali)

“Ah, I see.” (Mia)

Mia seemed to think that magic tools could only be held in hand.

Well, so did I.

But without light, we can’t move forward.

However, in this world, there’s something convenient called magic.

“I will make light with magic.” (Yuna)

“Yu- Yuna-oneesan!” (Fina)

When I tried to use light magic, Fina raised her voice.

“Yeah? What’s wrong?” (Yuna)

“Ca- can I do it?” (Fina)

“Light magic?” (Yuna)

“I can’t fight, so I want to do what I can to help out.” (Fina)

Perhaps she thinks she’s being useless.

Going solo is fine. But I also feel lonely sometimes.

So this time, I’m having fun going on an adventure with Fina. Even if she’s just following me around without being able to do anything.

So I’ll accept Fina’s feelings here.

“Can I ask you to do it then?” (Yuna)

“Yes!” (Fina)

Fina looks happy.

Fina gathered magic power in her hands, and when she said “glow” a glowing little bear floated above us.

“Bear?”

“It’s a bear.”

“A bear indeed.”

The three looked at the glowing bear and muttered their impressions.

“Fina. It doesn’t have to be in bear form, you know.” (Yuna)

“Well, I’ve practiced with Bear-san many times, so it’s easier for me to visualize it.” (Fina)

“But it’s cute though.” (Carol)

Well, as long as it lights up the place, there’s no problem.

We went down the stairs while being illuminated by the bear light that Fina made.

“Mia, Carol. Can’t you use magic?” (Yuna)

“I can’t, but Carol can.” (Mia)

“Yes, a little bit. So, if Yuna-san and Fina-chan didn’t start talking about it, I was going to do it myself.” (Carol)

“In that case, Mia will be the only one who can’t use magic in this group.” (Kagali)

“You can’t use it either.” (Mia)

“Fufu, I feel sorry for you, so I’ll just leave it at that.” (Kagali)

It’s common knowledge that people cannot use magic until they are about 10 years old. It’s only natural that Kagali-san, a supposedly little girl, cannot use magic.

Therefore, if Kagali-san were to use magic here, it would be troublesome to explain, so we should certainly refrain from doing so.

This time, it felt that Kagali-san was hiding more secrets than I do.

======

Author’s Note:

During this adventure, Fina used magic for the first time.

In the beginning. I had the idea of having Fina learn magic early on and go on her own adventure, but I decided against it.

I also have fond memories of thinking about dressing Fins in a bear suit and having her use magic.

Thanks for the many comments on episode 600.

As well as your ratings.

I may be late in posting due to animation and bookwork, but I hope you will continue to support Kuma.

※ As always, thanks to everyone who has reported typos.

Please note that some of the corrections of kanji characters have not been corrected since they have been adapted to the book.

======