Chapter 95: Bear-san Makes a Tunnel

The next day, after eating breakfast, I returned to my room while remembering Anzu’s words.

If it was closer, she would agree to go to Crimonia. Yet, for now, you had to take a large detour through the coastal road to get there. The only other option was to cross the mountain range. These two possibilities were both time consuming, and not very safe.

I wanted seafood to reach the town, though.

When I thought about, the best option would be to make a tunnel.

If there was a tunnel, the distance to Crimonia would be shorter, Anzu would come back with me, and seafood would be able to reach Crimonia.

There was a problem with making a tunnel, though.

You couldn’t make a tunnel by just digging through the mountain.

There was a difference in alt.i.tudes.

If I just started digging horizontally, it was possible that I would just come out in the middle of the mountain on the other side. Also, if this side was lower than the other side, I would just end up digging through the earth forever.

If I didn’t know what the difference in alt.i.tude was, I wouldn’t be able to make a tunnel.

I opened my map to check.

「Huh?」

The map had changed.

It had been a 2D map previously, but now it was a 3D one.

When I looked around a little, I was able to find the difference in alt.i.tude.

Had the map leveled up when I killed the Kraken?

I checked to see if I had any new skills, but it didn’t seem like it.

I looked at the map again.

I could see that the mountain range was very tall.

Ranya-san was really silly to even consider going up a mountain that tall.

It was a mountain that I absolutely wouldn’t want to climb if I didn’t have Swaying Bear with me.

The 3D map was a really useful thing for making a tunnel.

I looked for a good place to start digging on the map.

It had to be near the highway, as well as being close to a road that led to Crimonia.

Just as I found two possible spots, someone knocked on the door.

「Who is it?」

「It’s Sei. Yuna-san, is it okay to talk with you for a bit?」

When I opened the door, Sei was standing there.

「What is it?」

「I am really sorry to bother you while you are resting. The guild master wants to speak with you, so could you come to the Adventurer’s Guild?」

「Why does she want to talk with me?」

I refused anything troublesome.

「I believe she wants to talk to you about the city.」

About the city?

I was told that I would hear all of the details from Atora-san, so it wasn’t really possible to refuse the invitation. Therefore, I decided to go to the Adventurer’s Guild.

When we arrived at the guild, I was led to the room in the back.

Atora-san, Grandpa Kuro, and two other elderly men I didn’t know were inside.

「Yuna, you can sit wherever you want.」

「Huh, what do you want?」

I sat on a chair as I asked that question.

「I wanted to request something of you.」

「A request?」

I asked.

「I won’t ask for the king, but could you be our contact with the Feudal Lord of Crimonia?」

「A contact?」

「A lot of things happened here recently, didn’t they? The Mayor fled, there was a scandal with the Commerce Guild, and the Kraken appeared. If we leave everything as it is, we will have a lot of troubles moving onward. So, I had an idea. Would it be possible for you to go and talk with the Feudal Lord-sama of Crimonia for us?」

「That means you want to join the province, right?」

「Yes, that’s right.」

「Have the other citizens been informed of something that important?」

「They haven’t. However, they have entrusted us with what will happen to the city from now on.」

Grandpa Kuro responded.

「These three are the people who have been elected. There are normally five of us, but two fled.」

「So, after talking about it, we decided to join the province. When considering the future of the children of this city, the current system is inadequate.」

「Then, when we were pondering which province would be good, we thought ‘How about Crimonia, where Yuna came from?’」

「But, there are other cities that you are trading with, aren’t there? Aren’t those closer?」

「I don’t know the situation in your province, but the Feudal Lords of those cities aren’t any good. They only think about their own profits. Before the bandits appeared, we asked them to kill the Kraken for us, but they asked for an astronomical amount of money to do it.」

「That was also one of the reasons we didn’t try to stop the Commerce Guild. You see, they said that they were gathering money for the extermination fee, so we weren’t able to say anything. If the Feudal Lords didn’t ask for that much money, then maybe that b.a.s.t.a.r.d from the Commerce Guild wouldn’t have done it.」

「This is our fault as well.」

The three old men hung their heads in shame.

I was wondering why Grandpa Kuro would willingly accept those orders from the Commerce Guild, but this was the reason, huh.

When they were told that it was to raise money for killing the Kraken, they had no choice but to obey, huh?

「This is why we would like Yuna to go and talk with the Feudal Lord-sama of Crimonia.」

「Of course, we will pay taxes. In return, if something happens to the city, we want him to help us.」

The old men all bowed.

「For now, I understand what you want, but I don’t know what will happen.」

「We don’t mind. So, can we ask you to do it?」

「I understand. If it’s just talking to him, I will do it.」

「That would save us. Please give this to the Feudal Lord-sama. All the details are written inside.」

I took the letter and stood up.

If I had to go, the faster I did it, the better.

「Are you going back right now?」

「Yeah, it just so happens that I have something to do there as well. Ah. Don’t forget about the plot of land I asked about, okay?」

「I will arrange it before you return.」

A villa (Bear House) in a slightly elevated place.

That sounded great.

I left the Adventurer’s Guild, went to the inn, and told Deiga-san everything that had happened today.

「This is really sudden.」

「They asked me to do something, you see. So, I will return to Crimonia.」

「I see. Even though I was thinking about making you a really delicious meal if any good fish had been caught…」

He looked really sad, but I, who wouldn’t be able to eat it, was even more sad about it.

「What will you do with the rice? Want me to look after it?」

「Nope. I will take it.」

He brought me to the inn’s storehouse.

There was a barrel containing rice inside.

「Can I really take it all?」

「Yeah, this is what all of the residents brought for you, missy.」

I put the whole barrel inside my Bear Box.

With this much, I would have enough for myself for quite some time.

As I left the inn, I thought about saying goodbye to Ranya-san and everyone else, but I would be back really quickly, so I decided to leave without saying anything.

I left the city and summoned Swaying Bear.

I hopped on his back and brought up the map.

I then headed towards the place I had seen when I was at the inn.

We ran on the highway and entered the forest at the halfway point.

I decided that I would deal with this place later, and headed towards the area where I had chosen to dig the tunnel.

There was another possible one, but I finally decided on this one.

Next, I made an improvised changing room and changed into the White Bear Suit.

Even though I knew there was no one around, I didn’t have the courage to be outside in my underwear.

I changed into the White Bear because I would be using magic power.

That was why I didn’t forget to change this time around.

I really didn’t want to collapse as a result of using too much magic power.

I looked at the map and confirmed my destination.

There was a difference in alt.i.tude, so I had to make the tunnel at a slight angle. If I didn’t do that, carriages would have a lot of trouble pa.s.sing through.

It would be difficult to handle fine details while riding on Swaying Bear, so I decided to walk as I made the tunnel.

Considering the size of carriages, the tunnel had to be roughly this large. First, I decided on the dimensions of the tunnel. After that was dealt with, I would only have to dig. When I entered the tunnel that I had started making, it was really dark, so I decided to create a Bear Light inside of the tunnel.

I dug as I walked. I hardened them to prevent them from crumbling, and then smoothed the ground so that it wouldn’t be b.u.mpy. Surprisingly, it was a really troublesome task. It would be easy if I just had to dig a hole, but hardening the walls and flattening the ground took time.

Well, it just took time and didn’t use a lot of magic, so I was able to dig the tunnel while moving at walking speed.

I checked the direction and difference in alt.i.tude every now and then.

After digging for several kilometers while checking the map, I was on the brink of arriving at the opposite side of the mountain.

After just a few more minutes, the tunnel was completed.

I finally got out.

By the time I got out, the sun had already set, and it had gotten dark.

I would have to sleep here now, huh.

I flattened the ground by the entrance of the tunnel and brought out the Bear House I used solely for travel.

Even though I had just made a tunnel, the White Bear was still perfectly clean.

That was the Bear Suit for you.

I entered the Bear House and prepared for dinner. Tonight’s meal was fish with rice.

Before I took a bath and went to bed, I contacted Fina.

I told her that I would be returning tomorrow, and since I had souvenirs, we promised to eat lunch together at the orphanage.

I took a bath, and because I was mentally worn out from making the tunnel, I went to bed early.

The next morning, I went to Crimonia.

I waved at the soldiers guarding the gate and entered the town.

I made it in time for my appointment with Fina.

When I arrived at the orphanage, the children playing outside cheerfully approached me.

There were even more children I didn’t remember seeing before, but I decided to ignore it.

If they were on good terms with each other, I had nothing to say.

When I arrived at the entrance of the orphanage, Fina and the Headmistress of the orphanage came out to see me.

「Big Sis Yuna, welcome back.」

「I’m back. Nothing happened?」

Well, if something had happened, she would have contacted me. She hadn’t mentioned anything yesterday either. This calm atmosphere also told me that nothing bad had happened.

「Yes, nothing happened. The shop is doing fine, and mom and dad are intimate with each other.」

That was a good thing.

Fina could get a little brother or sister in the near future.

「Headmistress, here is a souvenir. Give it to the children during lunch please.」

I brought out the enormous amount of seafood I had received during the festival.

「Is this fish? You brought us something really unusual. It’s a little early, but I will call the children, and we can have lunch.」

「I will call them for you.」

Fina left the room to call the children.

「Headmistress, you know about fish?」

「I have only tried a bit of river fish.」

Well, river fish was something really high cla.s.s, so it was not something you could eat at an orphanage.

Considering this, I really had to make Anzu come here, by any means possible.

After finishing my meal with the children, I headed towards the Feudal Lord’s house to see Cliff.

Author’s note:

This time, I used a new skill that made it more convenient for me to write this chapter.

I don’t really like when new skills are used immediately, but this time, I really needed this 3D map to make the tunnel, so I decided to upgrade the map skill.

I thought about other ways to make a tunnel while considering the difference in alt.i.tude, with the skills that she already had.

① She would dig randomly. (bulldozing)

② The earth magic could also measure the difference in alt.i.tude.

③ Making the Bears stand at the entrance and the exit, and digging while taking that into account.

④ Using a worm made from earth magic. (I couldn’t find a good idea)

So finally, the simplest way was to use the 3D map.

It was for my own convenience, but please, ignore it for me.