"Let me know if you need anything else." (Yuna)
I gave them a spare water magic stone and fire magic stone for the bath.
"Thank you. I've had enough here. I just..." (Bollard)
Bollard-san and others looked at each other.
I guessed it's something difficult to say.
Maybe they wanted me to defeat the ice dragon?
If I tried hard, I might be able to do something, but I wouldn't know until I saw the ice dragon with my own eyes.
The dragon might be stronger than I imagined, and above all, if it were to fly through the air, there would be nothing I could do.
"You can use magic, right?"
One of the old men asked.
"Yeah, well. I'm a mage, after all." (Yuna)
Although the occupation on the guild card was bear.
"Um... could you please let us meet our family?"
He said it with a bit of difficulty.
"Bende melted it for me before, but…"
"Even though he can use magic, he has less mana than a typical mage."
"And getting older."
The manager's grandfather and the mine's grandfather looked at Bende-ojii-chan, the only man who could use magic.
"I’m still young!" (Bende)
"That's what he says, but I don't want to push him too hard."
"Ugh" (Bende)
If he said that, even Bende-ojii-chan, who could use magic, wouldn't be able to complain.
From their conversations, it could be seen that they cared for each other and helped each other.
Therefore, I accepted his request.
"Sure" (Yuna)
"Really?"
"I appreciate it"
Everyone looked happy at my words.
Maybe he had wanted to meet them for a long time.
But maybe he couldn't say it because he didn't want to burden Bende-ojii-chan.
"Then let's go now." (Yuna)
"Wait, don’t rush the old people."
"It's a long way to town. There are preparations for the elderly."
Because they were transporting ore, there is a road that horse-drawn carriages could pass through. But it's a long way to walk.
As the people themselves said, there were many elderly people.
It seemed that there was a horse, but they told me that it was attacked by a monster six months ago and that there was only one horse left now. One of them was said to be used by Baran-san when he went to the sea to catch fish.
"Are there other monsters besides the ice dragon?" (Yuna)
"Sometimes there are blizzards. At that time, monsters come down here."
"That's when the horse was attacked."
"There hadn't been a snowstorm in a long time, so people were less cautious."
"If I keep the horses in the mine properly..."
"It's no one's fault. There hasn't been a snowstorm in months. Everyone was acting like a peace idiot."
"It's like we killed them."
They explained that they always slept in the mine shaft at night because they never knew when a blizzard would break out and monsters would descend.
"Yuna-san, can you give them a ride on Kumayuru-chan and Kumakyu-chan?" (Lise)
Lise-san asked apologetically.
There were 4 elderly people.
If we walked, there was nothing we couldn't ride.
But Kagari-san was a little girl. It's hard for her when it came to walking.
Well, Kagari-san could fly, so in an emergency she could move faster than anyone else.
I thought about it for a while and decided to use the bear bus.
I made a bear house to make a bath. Bear bus is smaller, so they shouldn't be too surprised.
I took out the bear bus from the bear box.
"What is this?"
"Bear?"
"It's a vehicle I made with magic." (Yuna)
"Vehicle?"
"If you think of it as a carriage, that's fine." (Yuna)
"It does have wheels."
"Will this bear pull?"
The old man looked at Kumayuru and Kumakyu.
"I give it mana and it will turn the wheel." (Yuna)
He was a little surprised, but he looked satisfied when I said that I had created a bath using magic.
Kagari-san, who had ride it in Land of Harmony, was the first to ride the bear bus.
With Kagari-san on board, everyone felt relieved.
"Everyone get on board."
"Ah"
I sat on the driver's seat, Kagari-san sat next to me, and everyone else also sat on their seats.
I had Kumayuru and Kumakyu stayed in the middle aisle.
I could have turned them into bear cubs, but it seemed like it would be a pain to explain, so I kept them big.
"Then, it might shake a little, so be careful." (Yuna)
The bear bus began to move.
I heard a voice from behind saying, "Oh" and "It's moving."
The bear bus moved slowly and continued down the road.
Lise-san and others riding in the back made a noise.
"Can we do something like this with magic?" (Lise)
"She said she was using mana to move the wheels. If you had a lot of mana, it would be possible."
"She makes a bath with magic. She's a really amazing girl."
Surprisingly, everyone seemed to be having fun riding the bear bus to the town.
"Where are we going?" (Yuna)
"Is my house the closest?"
First of all, one of the old men. He decided to go to his family.
I followed the old man's instructions and drove the bear bus to a house.
"Here"
I got off the bear bus and stood in front of the door.
"I will do it." (Kagari)
Kagari-san offered to help melt the ice on the door.
Kagari-san melted the ice on the door.
The old man opened the door with the key he had and entered the house. We waited outside.
After a while, sobbing could be heard coming from inside the house.
"Let's wait in the carriage." (Kagari)
"Yeah" (Yuna)
I followed Kagari-san's words, sensing that she probably didn't want her his crying voice.
After a while, the old man returned.
"Is it okay now?" (Kagari)
Kagari-san called out gently.
"Yeah, I met my wife. There are other places as well. I can't just take up your time alone. Let's move on."
"If you leave the door open, you can come anytime." (Kagari)
The old man properly closed the door and returned to the bear bus.
"No, when there's a blizzard, monsters wander around town. If the door is open, they might come in. If something were to happen to my wife, I wouldn't have a face to deal with."
There was a possibility that the next time it came, it would have been destroyed and shattered.
If something like that happened, I didn't think he could regret it anymore.
The old man looked at the house again and said, "Let's leave."
Following the old man's words, I headed to the next house, the house of Bende-ojii-chan, who could use magic.
After melting the ice on Bende-ojii-chan's door, we wait in the bear bus.
After waiting for a while, Bende-ojii-chan also came back with red eyes.
Next, we headed to the house of the son of the mine manager and his wife.
He told me that in addition to Baran-san the fisherman, he had another son.
The ice on the door melted and the caretaker couple and Baran-san went inside.
"Yuna-san and Kagari-chan, please come with us."
He stopped me and Kagari-san who were about to return to the bear bus.
"Is it okay?" (Yuna)
"Yes, please meet my son."
When I entered the house, I saw people frozen and hugging each other.
Among them was a boy around 10 years old.
"It's my son. That day, I was leaving my son with my brother because I was going to see his parents."
I thought he didn't have kids, but here they were.
The reason why Baran-san remained here was not only because of his parents, but also because his children slept here.
Kagari-san and I joined hands with the frozen family, then left the house and returned to the bear bus to leave them alone.
"Thank you, ladies."
"If I had a little more mana, I could have brought you here many times." (Bende)
When we returned to the bear bus, two old men spoke to me.
"Bende, what are you talking about? We all know how hard you worked to melt the ice last time. How grateful we are."
"That's right. You used magic until you were in so much pain." (Lise)
Lise-san agrees with the old man's words.
I didn't know, but I had heard that it's difficult for people with low mana to use magic.
"We are grateful to Bende-san."
"It would be helpful if you could say that."
Bollard-san also told him this, and Bende-ojii-chan looked a little happy.
Maybe he did his best because he was the only one who survived and was able to use magic.
Then, while I was talking with Lise-san and the others, Baran-san and four others came back with swollen eyes.
He thanked me and Kagari-san and took a seat.
It seemed like they were able to talk at length. I was glad they were able to meet them.
We finally headed to Lise-san and Bollard-san's house.
"It was this house after all." (Yuna)
In front of us is the large mansion that we broke into yesterday.
"Do you know my house?" (Lise)
"What can I say...I wanted some information about this town, so I decided to go inside." (Yuna)
I answered honestly.
"So that's it" (Lise)
"It's not like I started stealing. Kagari-san said that if you want to get information, you should go to a big house." (Yuna)
"You, don’t put the blame on me." (Kagari)
"Hehe, I don't have any doubts." (Lise)
Lise-san laughed, probably finding Kagari-san and me in a panic amused.
"But the gate is closed, what should we do?" (Lise)
Unlike a normal house, you couldn't enter the mansion unless you crossed a high gate.
"If you break down the gate, monsters might come in." (Lise)
"What happened the last time you came?" (Yuna)
"I used a ladder. But I forgot to bring it this time." (Lise)
Lise-san said apologetically.
"Then I will hold Lise-san and Bollard-san to jump over the gate?" (Yuna)
Bollard-san said, "If possible, in a different way."
Apparently, he didn't like being held in my arms.
I, too, felt a little reluctant to hold an uncle in my arms.
So, I decided to obediently create stairs using magic.
When I got out of the bear bus, I used earth magic to create a mountain staircase.
There were proper handrails and safety measures were perfect.
"Kumayuru, Kumakyu, please take care of everyone." (Yuna)
"Kyuu~n" (Both Kuma)
Leaving Kumayuru and Kumakyu in charge of the remaining six people on the bear bus, we used the magically created stairs to cross the gate of the mansion.
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.