<b>Princess Honoka meets Bear-san</b>
After the match with s.h.i.+n.o.bu and Jubei-san, I was speaking with Noa and the others when I noticed a girl coming towards our group.
She seemed around my age or older.
The girlās clothes were different from those of bureaucrats, officials, and servants. She was wearing a kimono like those worn by higher-ups.
āHonoka-sama!ā (Jubei)
Jubei-san was surprised to see the girl.
āJubei, who are they?ā (Honoka)
āThey are guests of the King, Yuna, let me introduce you. This is Honoka, the Kingās daughter.ā (Jubei)
āIf she is the Kingās daughter, does that mean sheās a princess?ā (Yuna)
āIām Honoka.ā (Honoka)
Clasping her hands together in front of her, she bowed her head slightly and introduced herself.
Was it alright to let someone like a princess introduce herself first?
āHonoka-sama, these are Yuna and her friends, guests of the King.ā (Jubei)
āFatherās guestsā¦ā (Honoka)
āUmm, Iām Yuna.ā (Yuna)
After I introduced myself, Fina and the others nervously introduced themselves too.
āThey are important guests of the King. Please donāt treat them rudely.ā (Jubei)
Jubei-san uttered those words, but not to me, but to Princess Honoka.
Shouldnāt he have said to us, āPlease donāt be rude to the princessā?
āThe girl dressed as a bearā¦Jubei.ā (Honoka)
Princess Honoka looked at Jubei-san for confirmation.
āI canāt speak of it, but I think it is as you have guessed.ā (Jubei)
āSo she was really as father described.ā (Honoka)
ās.h.i.+n.o.bu, what did the King say about me?ā (Yuna)
āI donāt know what the king had revealed to Honoka-sama, but he might have told her just as much as I have told the King about you.ā (s.h.i.+n.o.bu)
Well, there was a big fuss when the serpent was resurrected, so it would not be surprising if Honoka had heard something about me.
As I walked through the castle, I could hear the voices of the people working in the castle saying things like ābearā.
Because of curiosity, I asked one of the servants who was also saying something about ābear.ā
āWhat bear?ā (Honoka)
āHonoka-sama! Well, there is a person dressed as a bear in the castle right now, together with Sakura-sama.ā (Servant)
āSakura is here?ā (Honoka)
She was the only child of my fatherās sister.
I adored her like she was my own sister.
Sakura came with someone dressed as a bear?
The servants had not been told the details. They had only been informed that if they saw someone like that, they should stay away from them.
But I had not received any such notice yetā¦
What, was I also not allowed to approach her?
āWhose instructions are those from?ā (Honoka)
If a personās name was mentioned in instructions, whether they were related to the military, commerce, or politics, I would most likely know who or what family they were related to.
āI have heard that the King himself has given such orders.ā (Servant)
āWe have even been ordered to avoid Sakuraās House and were told to share these instructions with other workers about it.ā (Servant)
Normally, when a guest visited, he never gave such extreme orders.
If an important person arrived, someone of a certain rank would escort them.
If the guestās rank was high enough, there were times when servants would not be allowed to approach them carelessly.
But would Father really be that strict with only someone who was connected to Sakura?
Moreover, that person was even dressed as a bear.
āThank you for the update..ā (Honoka)
The word ādressed as a bearā and the fact that she was with Sakura caught my attention.
There was once a big fuss in this country over the apparent resurrection of a giant serpent. I was not let in the full details of the story, but at the time, through Sakuraās dream, she saw a future in which there would be a light of hope to save the country.
Sakura had always been able to predict the future through dreams.
It was not something she could rely on, since the future dreams only appeared spontaneously and intermittently, but it was something she could rely on.
In her dreams, Sakura witnessed the great ominous serpentās resurrection and the light of hope.
After that, the light of hope really appeared, but apparently it was a girl dressed as a bear. Only a few people knew about Sakuraās dream, and I remembered that the FatherĀ and the n.o.ble ministers had a great argument about it.
At that time, I tried to obtain information about the giant serpent and the light of hope. However, before I could obtain any information, the giant serpent had revived and was just as quickly defeated.
In fact, the entire incident was over and done with before I even had an inkling as to what had happened.
But I remembered that Father was very busy during the whole incident, and it was a very difficult time for him.
Then, after the matter of the giant serpent was settled, Father took me to the room where the giant serpentāsĀ magic stone was kept.
The magic stone was largeā¦ That giant serpent had this humongous magic stone inside its bodyā¦
In that room, previous records and accounts of the serpent were kept.
The total length, size, and material of the serpentā¦ Everything about the serpent was doc.u.mented and stored.
At that time, Father told me a story.
A girl dressed as a bear saved this country.
If we ever encounter a girl dressed as a bear, we should never make fun of her, but instead we should treat her with the utmost deference.
Although it was weird, I nodded my head seriously as Father did not seem to be joking.
After a while, I heard that a girl dressed as a bear came to the castle, but I was unable to meet her at that time.
Right now, that girl dressed as a bear was visiting the castle again.
I asked the servants at the castle about her whereabouts.
They told me that she had gone upstairs, so I went up there, but she was already gone.
I then searched for her again, and was informed that she had gone toward the soldiersā training grounds.
So I hurried to the training grounds.
When I arrived at the training ground, there were a group of people there.
I noticed Jubei, s.h.i.+n.o.bu, and Sakura.
Yet, there were also some girls I didnāt recognize.
They were all dressed in clothes I had never seen here before. Among them was a girl in dark clothes.
I couldnāt see clearly from the angle, but it looked like a bear.
I had heard that she was dressed as a bear, so I imagined a scary bear, but she was different. It was a cute bear.
The bear girl and s.h.i.+n.o.bu moved to the center of the training area with weapons in their hands. Sakura and the other girls gave a wide berth.
Was she going to have a match with s.h.i.+n.o.bu?
s.h.i.+n.o.bu was a girl, but she was stronger than most of the men around.
She sometimes worked with Father, and sometimes as my personal escort.
I had seen her sparring with the male soldiers, so I knew how strong s.h.i.+n.o.bu was.
Thatās why I thought s.h.i.+n.o.bu would win.
s.h.i.+n.o.bu was moving around and attacking in a dominating way, but the girl dressed as a bear easily fended off all of her attacks.
Whenever there was an opening, she would attack s.h.i.+n.o.bu mercilessly.
s.h.i.+n.o.bu eventually lost.
How could she beat s.h.i.+n.o.bu so easily?
Next, they fought many times, but s.h.i.+n.o.bu never won.
In the end, s.h.i.+n.o.bu was knocked off her feet, and she couldnāt move because of exhaustion.
But the bear girlā¦ She didnāt seem to be tired even after all those fights with s.h.i.+n.o.bu.
I had only seen s.h.i.+n.o.bu get beaten so one-sidedly in a match against Jubei.
That meant that the bear girl was one of the best in the castle, as strong as Jubei.
I tried to approach her to say h.e.l.lo as the match seemed to be over, but it seemed that Jubei and the bear girl were going to have a match this time, and both of them were holding their swords at the ready.
I missed the chance to call out to them, so I decided to spectate the match between Jubei and the girl.
And I wanted to see how far the bear girl, who had defeated s.h.i.+n.o.bu, could go against Jubei.
The match between Jubei and the bear girl began.
Weapons were moving so fast that my eyes couldnāt keep up.
Jubei was going for the jugular from the get go.
This was not a practice match to teach his subordinates.
Jubei moved left and right, trying to deliver a blow to the bear girl, but she blocked every attack.
At one point, when I expected an exchange of blows to occur, Jubei lightly moved backward and readied his weapon.
I had seen that attack several times.
There were very few people in the castle who could defend against that attack.
Almost everyone who was. .h.i.t by that attack was killed.
Even those who could defend themselves said it was 50-50.
That attack on that bear girl?
It was a three-stage thrust.
My eyes couldnāt catch up with it.
In a flash, all three thrusts were delivered, but the bear girl blocked them all.
Just when I thought it was over.
Dirt rose from the ground before the girl.
I didnāt know what happened.
Even the three-stage thrust attack was already too fast for me.
But when I sawĀ what happened after the melee exchange, I immediately understood.
Jubei had pulled out a different weapon from his left hand and was holding it in a back-handed grip from his waist.
It looked like the bear girl managed to block that attack with her earth magic.
Did she judge in that split second and used magic?
I was so caught up in Jubeiās thrust that I didnāt notice that his hand was reaching for his side.
But the bear girl not only noticed it but also blocked the attack.
I opened my hand, which I had been holding tightly, and it was wet with sweat.
It was the girl dressed as the bear that Sakura and Father had told me about.
She was the light of hope that had defeated the giant serpent of doom.
The match seemed to have ended in Jubeiās defeat.
I waited for the right moment to appear before everyone.
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