Kagari-san asked me about the bear's contract magic, but since I didn't know the details, it was difficult to mislead her.
"It's strange that it can be activated with a magic circle like this." (Kagari)
As a test, Kagari-san tried to imitate a bear's magic circle, but it did not activate.
Apparently, the bear's magic circle wouldn't activate unless I gave mana.
It seemed like it's my own magic circle.
"There's probably a mechanism built in somewhere that won't activate unless it's in your mana." (Kagari)
"Is it possible to do that?" (Yuna)
"It's probably a magic circle that you made." (Kagari)
"No, I mean, acquaintances, how can I say it?" (Yuna)
"Well, if you don't want to talk about that, I won't ask. Mana has a way to identify individuals." (Kagari)
"It's probably similar to the identification when entering the sacred tree." (Mumloot)
Mumloot-san added to Kagari-san's explanation.
It certainly made sense when he said it.
Only a few people, including Mumloot-san and Sanya, could enter the area where the sacred tree was located.
"As an application of this, the island where concubine was, was also prohibited from entering, depending on whether concubine was male or female, based on mana." (Kagari)
After asking them, I realized that it wasn't impossible.
It seemed like God created a magic circle just for me so that it wouldn't be misused.
Not only the bear equipment, but also the Bear's Transfer Gate and the bear phone were all exclusive to me.
Considering that, it wouldn't be strange for the magic circle to become exclusive to me.
This might be a measure to prevent it from being misused even if it was known.
Then, I left Mumloot-san's house alone to check on Fina and the others, leaving Kagari-san to investigate the magic circle in Mumloot-san's house.
Well, I wondered where Fina and the others were.
Everyone knew about the bear phone.
The problem was, there's someone around me so I couldn't use it.
In that case, I didn't think I would bring it out, so for now, I moved to a place where there were no people, and I took out my bear phone.
Then, I gave mana to connect to Fina's bear phone.
Immediately, Fina's voice came from the bear phone.
"Yuna-onee-chan?" (Fina)
"Fina, where are you now?" (Yuna)
Looks like she was in a place where she could use bear phone.
"It's near the river." (Fina)
Was it a river? In that case, I knew where it was.
"I'm going now, so don't move." (Yuna)
After hanging up, I headed over to Fina and the others.
The river had been here before. If you went a little further, you would see a waterfall, which is where the bear house was placed when I first came to the elf village.
I had fond memories of being attacked by Volgrass at that time.
When I got to the river, I used my detection skill.
There were people's reactions and Kumayuru and Kumakyu's reactions.
Looked like they were ahead.
I moved at a short trot.
……there.
"Yuna-san" (Noa)
Noa was waving her hand.
As if to imitate them, Shuri waved as well, Misa and Sakura were smiling as they looked at me, and Fina seemed to be having fun.
I could also hear Kumayuru and Kumakyu's "Kuu~n" cries.
Shinobu also seemed to be working as an escort.
"Were you playing in the river?" (Yuna)
"Yes"
Everyone gathered around me.
"The stones Shinobu throws bounce on the river."
"Did the stones bounce?"
"Yes. The stones bounced, hop, hop, hop, over and over again."
"It won't fall into the river."
"Even if we tried, it wouldn't bounce once and would fall into the water."
I had seen it on TV and the internet.
Was it a stone skipping?
The one where you throw a stone into a river or lake and the stone bounces on the water.
"It was dangerous to go into the river and play, so I taught them." (Shinobu)
"Shinobu, it's not really magic, is it?"
"It's not magic." (Shinobu)
"That's a lie. There's no way a stone can jump on water."
Apparently, the ladies here didn't know how to stone skipping.
Well, Sakura, Noa, and Misa were real ladies. I didn't think they would play with stone skipping, and I didn't think they would know about it.
Fina and Shuri also didn't have a father, and their mother, Tilmina-san, was sick before, so I didn't think they would have played like that.
"Luimin doesn’t know too?"
"No, I don't know." (Luimin)
Luimin, the only one who seemed to know, shook her head.
"Hehe, do you want to try it too, Yuna?" (Shinobu)
With that said, Shinobu threw a stone toward the river.
The stone hopped on the river, hops, hops, hops, hops, about six times, and then sank into the river.
"I can't lose to Yuna when it comes to this." (Shinobu)
I didn't mind losing though.
When I saw Shinobu's smug face, I felt like crushing her.
However, I had never played with stone skipping. I wasn't the kind of kid who played at the river.
I didn't have any friends to invite me...
Just saying that made me sad.
Also, I didn't think girls would play stone skipping when they went to the river.
It's a boy's game.
However, what I had never done was in the real world.
At the game event, there was a stone skipping competition.
It was an event where you competed to see how many times you could bounce.
They were given 100 stats, which they could freely divide into three categories: strength, speed, and luck.
Even beginners were able to get into the top ranks, so it was quite popular.
I also tried it, but it was an event where people with real-world experience were better placed to win because it required experience in how to swing your arms, the angle, the size of the stone, its weight, and its shape.
Although I wasn't able to break into the top ranks, I did some research and participated in the event, so I could make up for it to some extent.
I saw a stone lying on the ground.
I had enough knowledge about what kind of stone to use.
A flat stone was best. A round stone like a baseball wouldn't bounce.
I found a thin pebble that looked like a disk.
Is this all right?
And how to throw?
I threw horizontally.
Throw the pebble in the bear's mouth toward the river so that it was parallel to the river. The pebble left my hand and bounced across the river. Hop, hop, hop, hop.
Finally, the pebble sank into the river.
"Yuna-san is amazing."
"You jumped more than Shinobu."
"It splashed a lot!"
Noa, Misa, and Shuri made a noise.
"It's no big deal." (Yuna)
"Ugh, I lost to Yuna, that's not that big of a deal." (Shinobu)
Shinobu became depressed.
Ah, that's annoying.
Shinobu felt depressed and I decided to leave her alone.
"Yuna-onee-chan, what happened?" (Fina)
"That's right. The trick is to throw it parallel to the river." (Yuna)
"Shinobu-san was also throwing the ball the same way, so we tried to throw it the same way, but we couldn't."
"The rest is the stone." (Yuna)
"Stone?"
I looked at the pebbles lying on the ground.
I picked up a stone from among them.
"A flat stone like this." (Yuna)
I showed them the stone I picked up.
"Then, if you throw this stone as parallel to the water surface as possible..." (Yuna)
I threw it into the river again.
The pebbles hopped, hop, hop, hop.
"It jumped."
"I didn't know about the shape of the stone."
"Yes, me too."
"Shinobu was silent." (Sakura)
Sakura looked at Shinobu with contempt.
"I don't want you to look at me like that. I just wanted everyone to praise me." (Shinobu)
"If you taught me properly, I would praise you." (Sakura)
"Ugh" (Shinobu)
As Shinobu hung her head, Noa and the others began searching for the stone.
Then, each person found a stone and began to throw it.
"I did it."
"It jumped three times!"
"For me it's five times."
"Uh, twice."
After Luimin, Noa, Misa, and Shuri threw, Fina and Sakura threw.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6..."
"It was six times."
Fina and Sakura bounced the same number of times.
"One more time." (Noa)
"Me too"
In order to try again, Noa and the others started looking for stones and throwing them into the river over and over again.
Then we played in the river and saw waterfalls. Each time, Noa and the others cheered.
The daughter of a nobleman might not have much experience.
I didn't think Fina and Shuri would go deep into the forest or see a waterfall.
By the way, this time it was peaceful, and we weren't attacked by Volgrass.
After playing in the elf village, we decided to return to the Land of Harmoni.
On the way, I collected Kagari-san and canceled Sakura's contract magic.
"Well then, Mumloot. I'll be back." (Kagari)
"Oh, come anytime." (Mumloot)
We're back in the Land of Harmoni.
Among them was Luimin.
This was because Luimin wanted to be with everyone a little longer.
At everyone's request, Kumayuru and Kumakyu of normal size were summoned, and everyone slept surrounding them.
Since we were to part ways tomorrow, we all talked happily until late into the night.
Shuri was the first to fall asleep, and the room became quiet.
She seemed tired from playing in the river.
I approached the window and looked outside.
It's quiet.
The lake was beautiful.
"So, you don't sleep?" (Kagari)
"That’s what Kagari-san is." (Yuna)
Kagari-san came next door.
"I just wanted to say thank you to you. It's been a while since I last met Mumloot, and it was fun." (Kagari)
I felt a little happy when Kagari-san thanked me.
"Then, that's good." (Yuna)
"Maybe I can stay for a few days next time." (Kagari)
"In that case, please think about what you will do to deceive Suzuran-san before you go." (Yuna)
Shinobu came into the conversation between me and Kagari-san.
"I'll be worried if Kagari-sama isn't there when Suzuran-san comes here." (Shinobu)
"She's a worrier." (Kagari)
"That just shows that she cares about Kagari-sama." (Shinobu)
"Well, if you think you can deceive her, please let me know. As long as we just move it, it's fine." (Kagari)
After that, the three adults, Kagari-san dressed as a little girl, me dressed as a bear, and Shinobu dressed as a ninja, talked for a while and then went to bed.
...we're adults.
By the way, I did not cancel Shinobu's contract.
Author's Note
Please note that I have not written too many details about stone skipping, as it would feel strange if Yuna knew the details. It's just the basics.
...
*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.