Bear-san, Listening Part 1
A man in his late 30s and a girl around 15 years old appeared before us.
“Who are you? Where are you from? And what are you wearing?” (???)
The man asked suspiciously.
It was no wonder he was suspicious of us in this situation.
After all, we looked suspicious.
I was dressed as a bear, and Kagali-san was wearing traditional Japanese clothing. Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear were standing behind us, and to top it off, our house was a bear’s house.
Moreover, just being in a frozen town was enough to make us look suspicious.
For a while now, the man and the girl’s eyes have been looking at me and Kagali-san, at Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, and up at the Bear House.
“I’m Yuna.” (Yuna)
To ease the tension, I gave my name first.
“I am Kagali.” (Kagali)
“The black bear behind me is the Swaying Bear, and the white bear is Hugging Bear. If you don’t do anything bad, they won’t attack you, so don’t worry.” (Yuna)
The man turned his gaze back to us.
“I’m Bollard, and this is my daughter, Lize.” (Bollard)
When we greeted politely, he seemed to relax a little and introduced himself.
“I want to hear your stories, but let’s not talk while standing. Although it’s a strange house, it’s comfortable.” (Kagali)
Kagali-san said as she looked at the Bear House.
It was terrible for them to call the Bear House a strange house.
Even Kagali-san thought the Bear House was like that.
Bollard-san and Lize-san looked at the Bear House and then looked at each other.
“Okay. We would also like you to tell us about yourselves.” (Bollard)
We took the two of them into the Bear House.
“…Warm” (Bollard)
The temperature inside the Bear House was kept just right, so it was cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
I didn’t notice because I didn’t feel the cold thanks to my bear gear, but looking at Lize-san’s face, I could assume that it was certainly cold outside.
We each sat down in a chair, and I prepared a hot drink.
“Oh, thank you.” (Bollard)
“Delicious.” (Lize)
Bollard-san and Lize-san drank their tea happily.
“First, let me tell you about us to gain your trust. We found this place by chance and stopped by.” (Yuna)
I was not lying.
We really did discover snowy mountains and this town by chance.
“So you didn’t come to rescue us then?” (Bollard)
“Do you think we look like people who’ve come to rescue you?” (Yuna)
“…No.” (Bollard)
The man shook his head obediently.
A girl dressed as a bear and a little girl dressed in traditional Japanese clothing. It was difficult to imagine someone like this coming here to rescue them.
“I can understand that you stopped here by chance, but are there only two of you here?” (Bollard)
“We’re the only ones who went here.” (Yuna)
Bollard-san was disappointed by my reply.
I guess he thought that there might be adults with us.
Both Kagali-san and I were respectable adults, but at first glance, we didn’t seem like adults that people could rely on.
“Then how did you two get here? Didn’t you come by boat?” (Bollard)
One would naturally think that we came by boat.
“We didn’t come here by boat.” (Yuna)
“Then how?” (Bollard)
“Sorry, but I can’t answer that question.” (Yuna)
They wouldn’t believe me even if I told them about the moving island, Targui, so I couldn’t explain how we got here.
“Then can you help us?” (Bollard)
We could get them out of this town by using the Bear Transfer Gate.
“Before that, let’s confirm certain things. Why is this town frozen? What happened in this town?” (Kagali)
Normally, I should be the one to ask, since I looked like an adult, but Kagali-san was older in terms of mental age.
Bollard-san also seemed to sense that Kagali-san was not an ordinary young girl, so he began to answer Kagali-san’s questions slowly.
“I’m someone who was in the same position as the lord of this town.” (Bollard)
He was the lord.
Despite that, he was dressed shabbily.
Lize-san was also the lord’s daughter, but her hair was long and messy.
“This town had a mine, and it grew big by exporting iron ore. That day, I thought about the future and went to inspect the mine. Lize-san said she wanted to go too, so I took her with me.” (Bollard)
Oh, he took his daughter to the mine. Maybe she was studying.
“That’s when it appeared.” (Bollard)
“What is it?” (Yuna)
Bollard-san took a breath, then spoke.
“It’s a dragon.” (Bollard)
“A dragon!?” (Yuna)
I was surprised and cried out.
I had thought it in the back of my mind, but I didn’t really want to think it was a dragon.
“The dragon came and landed in the middle of the town.” (Bollard)
Landed on the place where we found that hole?
“As the lord, I should have returned to the town immediately. But just by seeing it from afar, I was so scared that I couldn’t move.” (Bollard)
Of course.
Anyone would be too scared to move if they saw a dragon.
And going to where the dragon landed would be suicidal.
If a monster appeared in the town, even if someone had a precious family there, it was not easy for them to have the courage to face such a monstrosity.
“Besides, I couldn’t leave this child alone in that situation.” (Bollard)
Bollard-san looked at his daughter Lize-san.
He couldn’t leave Lize-san alone, but he also couldn’t take her to where the dragon was.
“There was another reason why we couldn’t go. It was the cold air coming from the dragon’s body. There was a blizzard around the dragon, and we were unable to get close to the town.” (Bollard)
“So, was that what caused this town to be frozen?” (Yuna)
“The dragon stayed in the town for days, and I could only watch the town freeze from the top of the mountain.” (Bollard)
Bollard-san said with regret.
This time, the cause was neither man-made or natural. It was a dragon. Since humans could not resist against it, this could only be seen as some kind of natural disaster.
“Father.” (Lize)
Lize-san gently held the hand of her father, Bollard-san.
“Then, after a while, the dragon disappeared, and when we descended to the town, the town and its people were already all frozen.”
That was the state of the town we had seen.
Because of the dragon and the blizzard, people couldn’t escape the town, and they could only stay inside their houses, and in the end everyone froze. It was a difficult topic to mention…
“Just to confirm, is the dragon gone?” (Yuna)
That was the most important thing to confirm.
“No, it still lives at the top of that mountain.” (Bollard)
He pointed at a snowy mountain.
“You said you were inspecting the mine, but are there more people with you?” (Yuna)
“There are six of us.” (Bollard)
“Six? That’s a small number for the number of people who worked in the mine, isn’t it?” (Kagali)
Just as Kagali-san said, it wouldn’t be strange if there were dozens of people working in places like mines.
“The day the dragon appeared was a day off. So we were inspecting the mine along with discussing plans for the future with the people who manage the mine.” (Bollard)
Would that be considered good or bad timing?
“Do you live in the town?” (Yuna)
“No, we can’t stay in the town for long, so we live near the mine.” (Bollard)
“Was it because the town continues to freeze?” (Yuna)
“Yes. The ice in this city freezes anything nearby. So we can’t live in this town.” (Bollard)
I remember the door to the Adventurer’s Guild that Kagali-san melted.
The melted part was frozen in ice a few hours later.
If we stayed here overnight, we might freeze.
The fact that Bear House didn’t freeze might be special after all.
I got the gist of it.
An ice dragon appeared and froze the town.
It was a pretty obvious result.
But the core problem wasn’t solved.
“Just one more thing to confirm. When did that happen?” (Yuna)
They both looked haggard.
Bollard-san had a scruffy beard, and both of their hair was messy and damaged.
“…Three years ago.” (Bollard)
Hearing that, Kagali-san and I were surprised.
Three years was a long time.
It was difficult to describe how they managed to survive here for three years.
It was not surprising why they were unable to care about their appearance for that long. I didn’t think they even had a change of clothes.
“Kuuuu” (Lize)
I heard a small sound.
I looked around to see what it was, and saw Lize-san clutching her stomach in embarrassment.
Maybe she hadn’t even had a proper meal.
“Talking made everyone hungry, it seems. I’ll prepare breakfast, so let’s eat together.” (Yuna)
I and Kagali had yet to have breakfast because we were woken up by the Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear and had to deal with them soon after.
“Is bread and milk okay?” (Yuna)
“I prefer rice.” (Kagali)
“I’ll have any food.” (Bollard)
“Is onigiri okay?” (Yuna)
“I don’t mind.” (Kagali)
Put the onigiri in front of Kagali-san and bread in front of the two.
I didn’t need to prepare it because I simply took it out of my bear box.
I was grateful to Morin-san for making the bread.
By the way, the onigiri was homemade by me.
Kagali-san reached for the onigiri and started to eat.
But the two just looked at the bread.
“What’s wrong? Maybe onigiri would have been better?” (Yuna)
“No, it’s not that. Everyone else is hungry, and we can’t just be the only ones to…” (Bollard)
So they couldn’t just eat by themselves.
That was kind of him.
“I’ll prepare some for the rest as well, so don’t worry about it.” (Yuna)
The two of them looked at each other, reached for the bread, and started eating it with relish.
“How have you been getting food up to now? I suppose you can find food in the city, even in its current frozen state.” (Yuna)
There was food in the city, even though it was frozen.
“I can’t melt it.” (Bollard)
“… Can’t melt it? But Kagali-san…” (Yuna)
She was melting it.
“The ice in this city can only be melted by magical fire.” (Kagali)
“Then, how about melting it with magic?” (Yuna)
“Are you stupid? Everyone has magical power, more or less. But to use magic power enough to melt that, they will need a lot of it.” (Kagali)
“We don’t have enough magic power to use magic.” (Bollard)
“How about the others?” (Yuna)
“Some of them can use a little magic, but even if they manage to melt it, it freezes right away.” (Bollard)
“So how have you been getting food up to now?” (Yuna)
“Mainly by fishing. And whatever we can find in the mountains.” (Bollard)
That’s right, the sea could be reached.
“So it’s been a while since we’ve eaten bread.” (Bollard)
“There’s still plenty left, so eat as much as you like.” (Yuna)
“Thank you.” (Bollard)
Lize-san chews the bread as if she were eating something precious.
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