Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

Bear-san, Concerned About A Runny Nose

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Author’s Note:

7/13 Major revisions to the second half

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I rode on Swaying Bear while Fina and Kagali-san rode Hugging Bear. We kept running ahead.

“I hope they both escaped.” (Fina)

“Those two are not stupid. If they see the slime approach, they’ll probably run away.” (Kagali)

Mia escaped on horseback, but unlike Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, it couldn’t continuously run for long. And besides, this time, the horse would be carrying two people.

“Swaying Bear, Hugging Bear, hurry up!” (Yuna)

“Kuu~n“

Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear accelerated further.

Because of the slime, we made a long detour, but we passed through the area where we parted ways with Mia and Carol.

The slime is here.

If they ran away, it should be in the opposite direction from where the slime is coming from.

Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear kept running.

Mia, Carol, where are you?

I waited for a reaction from my detection skills.

But there was only one human reaction.

Why only one?

Is it Mia or Carol? Or is it someone I don’t know?

Anyway, we head to where the reaction is.

“Yuna-oneesan. It’s Mia-oneechan!” (Fina)

Fina shouted. Yeah, I can see her too.

Mia is standing alone.

“What the hell is she doing out here all alone?” (Kagali)

“Carol-oneechan is not with her!” (Fina)

“Neither the horse. Perhaps she stayed behind by herself to let Carol go? That idiot.” (Kagali)

“Once I grab her, Swaying Bear, Hugging Bear, shake off the slime at once.” (Yuna)

“Kuu~n“

The distance between Mia and us gradually shrank.

Mia closed her eyes and remained still, oblivious to our presence.

She may have already given up.

“Mia!” (Yuna)

I shouted.

To my voice, Mia opened her eyes. And she looked at us in amazement.

“Mia, grab my hand!” (Yuna)

Mia reached out her hand. I grabbed her arm with my bear puppet and placed her on the back of Swaying Bear I was riding.

Mia hugged my back.

“Yuna, why?” (Mia)

“Why? Well, the slime split and started to move in both ways, so we came back in a hurry.” (Yuna)

I briefly explained why we came back.

Mia buried her face in my fluffy back.

“Uu, I’m sorry.” (Mia)

“What are you apologizing for?” (Kagali)

“I was thinking that you and Yuna used us as decoys and ran away by yourselves.” (Mia)

Indeed, if we say that we’ll attract slime, yet the slime goes towards them, it may be unavoidable for them to think so.

“So you were crying out of despair?” (Kagali)

“Mia, are you crying?” (Yuna)

Mia is on my back, so I can’t see her face.

But I can hear a sniffling noise.

“I’m not crying!” (Mia)

“Don’t put snot on my back!” (Yuna)

“I told you, I’m not crying. Guju.” (Mia) (ぐじゅ)

“No, I can hear the sound of sniffling.” (Yuna)

“More importantly, what about Carol-oneechan?” (Fina)

Fina is more worried about Carol than the snot on my back.

Well, she’s right.

Besides, the snot shouldn’t stain the bear gear, so it should be fine.

It’ll be okay, right?

“I put Carol on the horse and had her escape by herself.” (Mia)

As we guessed, that was the case.

“So you stayed behind to save Carol?” (Yuna)

“Carol is my best friend. Besides, it was my fault that Carol followed me to Heschlag, and I would rather let her live than both of us die.” (Mia)

“I understand how you feel, but when you meet Carol, you should apologize properly. You should also think about the feelings of those you’re leaving behind. Especially if they are important to you.” (Kagali)

Kagali-san answered like an elder.

Kagali-san has lived a long time. Perhaps she has lived through the death of a loved one.

Although, this would have been more convincing if she wasn’t in her little girl form.

“Thank you. If I see Carol, I’ll apologize.” (Mia)

“For that to happen, I have to meet up with Carol first.” (Yuna)

As if reacting to my words, Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear accelerated.

And we were able to catch up with Carol in no time.

“Mia-chan, you’re so cruel!” (Carol)

Carol hugs Mia.

“Sorry.” (Mia)

“I, I- I thought you were dead, Mia-chan.” (Carol)

Carol is angry, with tears in her eyes.

“Mia-oneechan, Carol-oneechan, I’m glad to see you both safe.” (Fina)

“Yeah. If we didn’t make it in time, Mia would have been eaten by the slime.” (Yuna)

Mia would have died in that case, just as Carol said.

I’m happy we made it in time.

Carol scolded Mia for her behaviour, and I asked Fina to make sure there was no snot on my back.

“It’s fine.” (Fina)

Fina smiles while touching my back.

Relieved, Fina and I took care of the horse Carol was riding.

The horse seemed tired and started drinking happily when I offered it water.

“You did a great job.” (Fina)

Fina gently caresses the horse.

“I see you can handle horses too.” (Yuna)

“The adventurer’s guild has horses, so I’ve also taken care of them.” (Fina)

I let Fina take care of the horse, I brought out the cart for it to ride, and Kagali-san cast a levitation spell on it.

Fina pulled on the horse’s reins and placed the horse on the back of the cart.

Now we are ready to move.

Even though we made some distance from the slime, we couldn’t stay for too long.

I looked at Mia and Carol. They’re still hugging and talking.

“Hey, how long are you girls going to keep flirting with each other?” (Kagali)

“W, we’re not flirting!” (Mia)

Mia screamed, and Carol looked embarrassed, and then they moved away from each other.

“Everyone, thank you for helping Mia-chan.” (Carol)

“Don’t worry about it. We were naive.” (Kagali)

“We never thought it would split up and move both ways.” (Yuna)

We explained the behavior of the slime.

“So part of the slime came to us, so I thought, Yuna-chan’s group, we…” (Carol)

“Mia told us. Even if you think so, it can’t be helped. We don’t mind it.” (Kagali)

“I’m sorry guys, but you have to come with us to Heschlag.” (Yuna)

“Yes, of course!” (Mia)

“It seems that there is no other way.” (Carol)

Mia and Carol ride Swaying Bear, and then Fina, Kagali-san, and I ride Hugging Bear. I’m also pulling the cart with the horse on it.

We ran a large detour while checking the movement of the slime.

“It seems fine now.” (Yuna)

Combining Kagali-san’s eyesight from above and my detection skills, we confirm that the slime is moving in one mass and is currently trailing us.

“Now we can go back to Heschlag.” (Kagali)

We confirmed that no matter how much distance we created, it would follow us. So we decided to put this knowledge to good use.

We hurried to the town of Heschlag.

“These bears are really unbelievable.” (Carol)

After running for a long time, Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear arrived at the town of Heschlag.

“So we’re looking for something that Kyna-Hark made somewhere in town to stop the magic tools, right?” (Mia)

That’s why I rushed back here.

We thought there might be a device or contraption of sorts that Kryna-Hark may have made that could affect the giant slime lying in some part of town.

A little information to point in the right direction would be nice, though.

“Fufu, then my grandpa’s notes will come in handy.” (Mia)

Mia happily takes out the notebook.

Mia’s grandfather’s notes show where the knight armors were. In other words, the researcher in the basement must have had the knight armors protect what Kryna-Hark had made, so there must be something that Kryna-Hark had made in the place where the knight armors used to be.

It’s like they’re saying since we let some knight armors protect it, you’ll find something important there. This time we have to thank that idiot because we don’t have to randomly look for something made by Kryna-Hark, which we don’t even know where in the town it is.

“This way. Swaying Bear, let’s go!” (Mia)

Perhaps happy to be of help, Mia gave instructions to Swaying Bear and started walking in the lead.

“According to the map, it should be around here.” (Mia)

I look around while looking at the notes.

All around us are abandoned buildings.

“There should be a knight armor here, look for a knight armor.” (Yuna)

“Yuna-oneesan. There’s a knight armor over there.” (Fina)

Indeed. A knight armor is lying on the ground.

“Last time I saw it, it was moving.” (Carol)

Carol approaches it.

“Carol, be careful.” (Mia)

Carol begins investigating the knight armor.

“It doesn’t have a magic stone.” (Carol)

“You mean someone killed it and took the magic stone?” (Mia)

“I don’t think so. In the first place, you don’t need to reassemble a knight armor after taking the magic stone.” (Carol)

“That’s right, but……” (Mia)

“The fact that the knight armor was laying down here means that there must be something near here to stop the magical tool that Kryna-Hark must have made. Let’s split up and look for it.” (Kagali)

“Then, some knight armors may still be active, so Swaying Bear should go with Mia and Carol.” (Yuna)

“Swaying Bear-chan, please take care of us.” (Carol)

“If something happens, I’m counting on you.” (Mia)

“Kuu~n“

“Then Carol, Swaying Bear. We’ll take a look over there.” (Mia)

Mia and Carol walk into a nearby building with Swaying Bear.

“Hugging Bear, follow Kagali-san.” (Yuna)

“Hey, I’m fine by myself.” (Kagali)

“You know you’re not in your top shape. Sakura will be sad if anything happens to you, Kagali-san.” (Yuna)

“Uu, I understand. Hugging Bear, let’s go.” (Kagali)

“Kuu~n“

Hugging Bear picks up Kagali-san and starts walking.

“Then Fina, you’re coming with me.” (Yuna)

“Yeah!” (Fina)

We split into three groups to investigate the area where the knight armor had fallen.

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Author’s Note:

Postscript 7/13/13 21:30

※Sorry about this…

I have made significant changes to the second half of the story.

I had written the rest of the story, but the tempo of the story became slow, so I decided to revise it.

Thank you for your patience.

I apologize for the inconvenience to the readers who have been correcting the spelling errors.

I am using the first half of the story that I was able to correct.

I apologize for wasting the second half.

-Kumanano.

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

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

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