We went out of the house early in the morning.
"How do we get there? Kumayuru-sama and Kumakyu-sama are also here." (Sakura)
"Hayatemaru is here too." (Shinobu)
Hayatemaru was the name of Shinobu's horse.
The eight of us heading to town were Fina, Shuri, Noa, Misa, Sakura, Shinobu, myself, and Kagari-san.
I never thought that Kagari-san would follow me.
Kagari-san said it's a way to kill time.
The means of transportation were Kumayuru, Kumakyu, and Hayatemaru.
If you wanted to ride like 3, 3, 2, that's the number of people who could ride.
"Kumayuru, let's bring concubine on board." (Yuna)
"Kuu~n" (Kumayuru)
"Um, I am." (Sakura)
Sakura was looking at Kumakyu.
Of course, Fina, Shuri, Noa and Misa also wanted to ride Kumayuru and Kumakyu.
""Kuu~n"" (Both Kuma)
Kumayuru and Kumakyu look at me with expressions like "What are you going to do?"
If there was a battle for Kumayuru and Kumakyu, everyone's relationship might deteriorate.
There's also Hayatemaru. I felt bad for Hayatemaru if he didn't want anyone to ride other than Shinobu.
If we didn't deal with this in a way that prevented conflicts from occurring, things would get very serious.
I thought.
If you were moving a large number of people...
"We'll travel by bear carriage." (Yuna)
"What is a bear carriage?" (Sakura)
Technically it's a bear bus, but since bus didn't work, I called it a horse-drawn carriage.
It's faster to show them than to explain them verbally, so I took out the bear carriage from the bear box, brought out the bear bus.
"What is this?" (Kagari)
"It has the face of a bear." (Sakura)
"It’s big." (Shinobu)
Kagari-san, Sakura, and Shinobu were surprised when they saw a bear bus for the first time.
"Are Kumayuru-sama and Kumakyu-sama pulling the strings?" (Sakura)
"Huhu" (Noa)
Noa laughed when she heard Sakura's words.
"You're saying the same thing as me. Sakura, you're wrong. Yuna-san is the one who moves it." (Noa)
"Yuna-sama?" (Sakura)
"I'll give you a detailed explanation after we get on board." (Yuna)
I opened the door to the bear bus next to me.
"Sit wherever you like. But the front seat is mine, so that's all." (Yuna)
The front seat was the driver's seat, so it would be a problem if you were to sit on it.
"Misa, let's ride." (Noa)
"Yes" (Misa)
Noa got on the bear bus with Misa.
Then, they looked back.
"Sakura too." (Noa)
"Y-yes." (Sakura)
Sakura also rode the bear bus with Noa.
"Sister, we too." (Fina)
"Yeah" (Shuri)
Fina and Shuri also followed, after that, Kagari-san and Shinobu followed and got on the bear bus, and last I transformed Kumayuru and Kumakyu into cubs and we got on the bus.
When I got on the bear bus and looked at the back seat, I saw Noa and the others sitting there.
"It’s unusual to have Noa behind me." (Yuna)
Last time, she was sitting next to me as if competing with each other.
"If I go to the back, I can sit with everyone else." (Noa)
Noa looked left and right.
Sitting from the left were Shuri, Fina, Noa, Sakura, and Misa.
Kagari-san was sitting alone in the middle of the bear bus, and Shinobu was in the middle of Kagari-san and Noa.
Is that the position of an escort?
"Then, when we start moving, it will be dangerous, so please don’t stand up." (Yuna)
I told them the precautions and sat in the front seat with Kumayuru and Kumakyu, who had turned into cubs.
Then, I turned around and confirmed that everyone was seated properly before departing.
The bear bus slowly began to move.
"Oh, it moved." (Shinobu)
"Is it running with mana?" (Sakura)
"It’s an application of earth magic golem." (Yuna)
"I see. I had no idea it was used like this."
"I think anyone can come up with the idea of running it with mana."
I just used mana to move the wheels.
Autonomous driving was also possible if given simple instructions.
"Even if I come up with an idea, I don’t put it to use." (Yuna)
"Why?" (Sakura)
"That's because mana has its limits." (Noa)
Noa answered.
"It's just as the girl said. If adventurers were to use the same carriage, it would probably be moved by a wizard with a lot of magical power. However, when a monster appears, if you don't have much magical power left or your magic is so exhausted that you can't use it, you won't be able to participate in the battle. That won't help you." (Kagari)
Certainly, if you used the mana for fighting to move, you wouldn't be able to fight monsters.
"The opposite is also true." (Shinobu)
"The opposite?" (Sakura)
"If you use mana to fight monsters and use up too much mana, you won't be able to move the carriage." (Shinobu)
"So it means you can’t move until your mana recovers." (Sakura)
Sakura added to Shinobu's explanation.
I remembered when I fought the Kraken. I ran out of mana when defeating the Kraken. Even if I had been asked to move the bear bus back then, I didn't think I could have done it.
With horses, you could move even if you run out of mana or lack physical strength.
"So even if I think of it, I don't think I'll do it."
"It's more realistic to use horses." (Shinobu)
I knew I had more mana than other people, but now that you said it, it made sense.
"There is also a way to use magic stones, but I don’t know how many magic stones will be needed." (Kagari)
"It's a question of whether it's worth the cost." (Noa)
Noa added to Kagari-san's words.
"You said you were the daughter of an aristocrat, but you're intelligent." (Kagari)
"Um, thank you?" (Noa)
Noa was at a loss for a response when Kagari-san, who looked younger than her, praised her.
"Actually, it's not my idea. I talked to Father about it when I went on a trip in this bear carriage. At that time, Father said the same thing as Kagari-san. However, he said that if it was just a means of transportation, it would be possible." (Noa)
"I agree with that." (Kagari)
A discussion on bear bus begins, centered around Kagari-san.
"But she said there were a lot of problems."
"It’s weight and distance." (Kagari)
"Yes. The heavier it is, the more mana it will use. The longer the distance, the more mana it will use." (Noa)
"Yuna-nee-sama makes it easy, but it's not easy." (Misa)
"I see. A normal person can't do that." (Sakura)
"Even Kagari-sama?" (Noa)
"It's possible compared to others. Well, it's not necessary for concubine." (Kagari)
Well, Kagari-san alone could fly.
Having said that, if I were alone, I wouldn't need it because I had Kumayuru and Kumakyu.
The purpose of the Kuma Bus was to move large numbers of people quickly.
"Then I'll speed it up a little." (Yuna)
I put more mana into the handle.
The wheels spun faster, increasing movement speed.
"It's faster" (Sakura)
"It's faster than a horse-drawn carriage." (Noa)
"Don't let it happen if you run out of mana. If it stops, concubine won't move." (Kagari)
"It's okay" (Yuna)
I sped up even more to prove it.
Noa and the others looked outside with joy.
The bear bus continued without incident and its destination was in sight.
"Is it okay if I continue like this?" (Yuna)
I could see the entrance to the city.
"I think it's going to cause a lot of trouble..." (Sakura)
"I think it's better to stop." (Shinobu)
I stopped the bear bus after Sakura and Shinobu's advice.
"Are we going to walk from here?" (Shuri)
Shuri looked sleepy.
Fina pulled her by the hand and got off the bear bus.
Noa and Misa followed.
"Kagari-sama, please wake up." (Sakura)
"Have we arrived yet?" (Kagari)
Kagari-san fell asleep on the way and was woken up by Sakura.
"Yes. It's a little far to the city, but we'll walk from here." (Sakura)
Sakura explained why people were surprised when we took the bear bus.
"So, why don’t we ride Kumayuru and Kumakyu as well?" (Kagari)
"Even a bear carriage would surprise them, but if you approach them with a bear, they would be more surprised." (Yuna)
"It’s a hassle." (Kagari)
Kagari-san reluctantly got off the bear carriage.
After confirming that everyone had gotten off, I put the bear bus away in the bear box.
And then we all started walking toward the city.
"Hehe, I'm looking forward to it." (Noa)
"What kind of city is it?" (Misa)
Noa and Misa couldn't help but look forward to it.
However, Sakura and Shinobu's reactions were different.
"Well, I’m sorry if you’re looking forward to it, but it’s just a normal town." (Sakura)
"That's right. There's nothing." (Shinobu)
Sakura and Shinobu looked a little apologetic.
But Shuri denied it.
"Not at all. There were all kinds of unusual things, and it was fun." (Shuri)
"Yes. There are many things I've never seen before, and I think Noa-sama and Misa-sama will also enjoy it." (Fina)
"If that's the case, I'd be happy." (Sakura)
As Cliff said in the town of Mileela, it's commonplace for people who live there, and even if the scenery and food were the same, it's still attractive to people from other places.
"There are delicious foods, but there are also stinky foods." (Shuri)
Noa reactsed to Shuri's casual words.
"Stinky food?" (Noa)
"Yeah, it's sticky, gross, and smelly." (Shuri)
"Is that natto?" (Shinobu)
Oh, by the way, I ate natto when I came with Fina and Shuri.
"That's delicious." (Shinobu)
"I heard they don’t eat it outside of the Land of Harmoni." (Sakura)
"Are we going to eat that sticky, disgusting, smelly thing?" (Noa)
"Eat it. It's delicious." (Shinobu)
"I agree with that, but people from other countries seem to be reluctant." (Sakura)
"You won't know until you try it." (Noa)
Noa said that.
"Noa-sama, I think you should stop." (Fina)
"Have you ever eaten Fina?" (Noa)
"Yes. It had an indescribably mysterious taste." (Fina)
"When I hear that, it makes me want to try." (Noa)
Noa felt like eating natto.
I guessed this was how I ate the leftover natto.
Well, it's okay because I didn't hate natto.
While we were having this conversation, we approached the entrance to the town.
Author's Note
...
* Thank you to everyone who reports typos.
Please note that some kanji have been revised to match the book, so some may not have been revised.