After saying goodbye to Lise-san and the others, we left the mansion and walked through the city.
"Is Lise-san okay?" (Yuna)
"You saw the look on her face. There's a difference between being prepared and not being prepared. No matter what hardships lie ahead, as long as she has that family, she'll be fine. She's not alone." (Kagari)
Family.
Certainly she's not alone. She had kind parents and a younger sister.
And then there were the Bende-san and others who had worked hard together.
"It's no use for us to worry about this. It's Lise's problem. And it's up to the people around her to support her." (Kagari)
There was nothing we could do to leave this place.
"If you're that worried, you can come see her anytime. You promised to come see her. You can ask her then. There's no use worrying about it now." (Kagari)
"I guess so" (Yuna)
As for Lise-san, she could take care of her the next time we meet her.
For now, I just have to believe in Lise-san.
After parting ways with Lise-san and the others, we walked while checking the current state of the city.
I heard people glancing at me, and sometimes I heard them said "bear," but no one called out to me.
Even in that quiet, frozen city, the ice had melted and people were moving around.
Everyone was really alive.
Even in the places I have walked through several times, the scenery of the city was completely different from when it was frozen in ice.
Then, they came to the fountain where the ice dragon was appeared.
The broken building was cordoned off, with flowers placed nearby and people crying.
"Looks like someone died." (Kagari)
The damage was far from zero.
If the ice dragon appeared and caused this much damage, perhaps we should say it was a good thing.
If that huge body had been moving around the city, the damage would have been great.
However, I could not say to the crying person that it was a good thing because there was less damage.
"Some lives can be saved, and some cannot. You don't need to care." (Kagari)
"I don’t really care." (Yuna)
Even I didn't think I could save all lives.
The appearance of the Ice Dragon was an event that happened before I arrived. there was nothing to do.
To begin with, three years ago, I wasn't even in this world.
We passed a building destroyed by an ice dragon and move forward.
As Bollard-san said, the residents were working as if they didn't even know that they were frozen by the Ice Dragon.
The children were also running around happily.
"I don't think everyone realizes that they've been frozen for three years." (Yuna)
"If you look at Lise's mother and the servants in the house, I don't think they've noticed." (Kagari)
If they had noticed, there would have been an uproar.
No one knew the hardships of Lise-san and her group.
"I feel sorry for Lise-san and her group." (Yuna)
Lise-san and her group had been watching over the city for three years while the ice dragon was there.
Six people on a deserted island. With no help coming, and faced against the strongest creature, the dragon. Just thinking about it was terrifying.
If I didn't have the bear equipment, I wouldn't have been able to do anything and I would have died.
Those six people survived by helping each other.
When I thought about it, I felt indescribable.
"Poor me? There are more unfortunate people in this world. Rich families, poor families. People with parents, people without parents. People with healthy bodies, people with sick bodies. People who can use magic. No two people are the same. They are born into different circumstances. It's their fate." (Kagari)
"……fate" (Yuna)
"That's why people make efforts and try to move forward, even if just a little bit." (Kagari)
A person who practiced the sword became a swordsman or an adventurer.
A person who studied became a merchant.
Even some children at orphanages aspired to become bakers.
"Of course, even I don't believe that everyone can be happy if they try hard. However, those who don't do anything won't even have that chance." (Kagari)
Happiness would not come if you waited without doing anything.
Opportunities would come to those who moved forward and worked hard to seize them.
"So, whether or not they feel unhappy is up to them." (Kagari)
Kagari-san was actually an adult, contrary to her appearance.
"Now that I think about it, what are we going to do about that bear?" (Kagari)
"That bear?" (Yuna)
"You probably sent out a big bear to protect the town from the cold air that the ice dragon breathed out." (Kagari)
"……I forgot" (Yuna)
I was planning on cleaning it up.
But Lise-san's family was alive, and so were the townspeople.
I forgot about a lot of things.
If Kagari-san hadn't told me, I would have just left.
As we headed toward the giant bear created using earth magic, we saw it coming from behind a building.
I then headed towards the giant bear figurine, where a crowd of people had gathered.
"What is this bear?"
"It was there when I woke up yesterday."
"And what are those marks on the ground?"
"It looks like something amazing has passed over the ground."
There were marks on the ground from the ice dragon's blizzard.
"It looks like this bear was protecting us from something."
It protected them from the ice dragon's blizzard.
While we were watching, more and more people were gathering.
"We can't recover it like this." (Yuna)
If we suddenly recovered it, we would be questioned.
"Maybe you should report it to the lord."
"That's right. I think you should report it to the guild."
The story was getting bigger and bigger.
As I was wondering what to do, a man looked at me.
"Bear?"
Then, when he saw a stone statue of a bear, he murmured, "Bear?"
The man's murmurs spread.
The eyes of everyone here are focused on me.
"I have no choice but to give up on this." (Kagari)
In other words, do you mean to leave the bear ornament as is?
"If we suddenly remove it, there will be a commotion. If that happens, it will be troublesome the next time we come." (Kagari)
If I did as Kagari-san said and removed it without giving an explanation, there might be an uproar that a bear had disappeared.
Ugh, I should have removed it yesterday.
"Do you know this bear?" (A man)
"No, I don't know." (Yuna)
I pretended to be unrelated.
"Really?" (A man)
The man looked at me suspiciously.
"That's right. There's no way a young lady could make a bear like this in one night."
Kagari-san and I quickly left the place as it seemed like more people would gather if there were more people.
"With so many people, we can't recover them."
I could have forcibly retrieved it and run away, but considering that I would come in the future, I didn't want to cause a commotion.
If I didn't look like a distinctive bear, I would have been able to retrieve it.
My appearance stood out.
Maybe if I changed my clothes, people wouldn't notice me, but I couldn't take off this cursed bear.
I ran away from the giant bear figurine and further away from the city.
The city was not surrounded by walls, so you could exit from anywhere.
I led the city and summoned Kumayuru and Kumakyu.
"So, where should you put that?" (Kagari)
Kagari-san, riding Kumayuru, asked.
Yesterday, I was thinking about placing Bear's Transfer Gate somewhere a little far from the city, where Lise-san and the others wouldn't get close.
But now, Lise-san and the others weren't the only ones to worry about.
Bear's Transfer Gate must be placed in a place where all the townspeople would not notice it.
"What should I do" (Yuna)
I told Kagari-san what I was thinking.
"That's certainly true. If we were to find a place where the six of them wouldn't notice, and where everyone else in town wouldn't notice, the story would be different." (Kagari)
Kagari-san thought for a moment.
"I don’t know if that place is better." (Kagari)
Kagari-san said that she saw a small island on our way from Targui to this place.
"If it's a small island, no one can go near it except those who have a boat. Furthermore, even if they have a boat, no one will come to the small island without needing to do so." (Kagari)
Indeed.
If you were a fisherman, all you did was catch seafood. They never come to the small island.
Even large ships only travel between towns, but never visit small islands.
In the first place, if there was nothing on the islet, no one would land on the islet.
"These guys can run on the ocean, so there shouldn't be any problems."
I decided to adopt Kagari-san's idea.
Kumayuru and Kumakyu, carrying me and Kagari-san, jumped out to sea and ran across the sea towards the small island that could be seen from the shore.
There were about three small islands, and we landed on one with a small sandy beach.
If you went a little deeper, you would see that the trees were thick and there were no signs of anyone entering.
I used wind magic to cut down the overgrown grass and create a path.
Then, I used earth magic to harden the road so that it became cobblestone.
"Oh, it’s a mess." (Kagari)
"I won't like it if it's overgrown next time I come." (Yuna)
I didn't have any connection to it because I lived in an apartment.
Since coming to this world, I had done weed treatment many times.
Weeds grew even where I built my bear house.
I thought it was a hassle and left it alone, but Fina and Shuri took care of it for me.
When I tried to do it with magic, she scolded me and said, "If you don't remove it from the roots, it will grow back quickly, it's no good."
However, it was a pain to remove it from the roots, so this time I laid stone pavement.
This way, weeds shouldn't grow.
I set up Bear's Transfer Gate in the center of the islet.
From this location, Bear's Transfer Gate couldn't be seen from the outside.
I opened the door to Bear's Transfer Gate.
When the door opened, I found Land of Harmoni, where tatami mats spread out.
I was finally back.
My only regret was that I wasn't able to retrieve the bear ornament.
Maybe I would come and recover it in the middle of the night next time.
Author's Note
Maybe I'll write a continuation of the Lise arc, but this is the end of the Ice Dragon arc.
Thank you for joining us.
Thank you for your bookmarks, ratings, and comments.
I'm sorry, but as I said last time, I will be taking a break for a while to take time to write a new book and think about new stories.
I think it will take about two weeks[1].
If there is a delay, we will report it on the activity report and X (formerly Twitter).
...
*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.
Translator's Note
[1] It's actually 4 weeks