Chapter 14: The Bear Reaches Rank E

After returning to town, I headed straight to the guild.

The gate guard guy patted my head again.

I wish he’d stop treating me like a child.

When I entered the guild, all the adventurers inside turned their gaze toward me at once.

When I looked back at them, they all averted their eyes.

Since no one said anything, I headed to the reception desk.

“Yuna, what can I help you with today?”

“I defeated some wolves in the forest—what should I do in this case? If there’s a request on the board, can I just take it and have it immediately counted as completed?”

“If the request is simply for subjugation, bringing back proof such as magic stones will count as completion. However, the magic stones must be from within the time limit.”

“Time limit?”

“If you accepted the request today but brought back magic stones from a hunt a month ago, that would be a problem.”

“Can you tell the difference?”

“Yes, we can.”

So they can tell.

As expected of another world.

“Wolf requests are standing requests, so we accept them at all times. However, we require the meat and fur as well. The meat is used in dining halls and households—it’s a food source for the town. The fur is used for clothing, so the guild maintains it as a standing request.”

“Then can I take that wolf request?”

“Yes. One wolf counts as an F-rank request. Three wolves count as E-rank.”

“Wait, didn’t you say defeating wolves meant you had E-rank ability?”

“Yes, sorry—more precisely, it requires defeating three or more. One alone doesn’t prove combat ability.”

“I see. Well, I’ve got about forty, so please process them.”

“…Excuse me, Yuna. How many did you say?”

“I have about forty.”

As I said that, whispers started from behind me.

“Forty wolves, she says.”
“No way.”
“How could someone take that many down alone?”
“But that bear… it’s that bear, right?”
“That bear, yeah.”
“Then maybe it’s possible.”
“If it’s that bear, I can believe it.”
“I didn’t see it myself—the fighting bear.”
“I saw it. Don’t mess with that bear.”
“I fought the bear once. Don’t. You’ll die.”

“That’s what I’m hearing.”

“Excuse me, but where are they? Magic stones alone won’t be enough.”

“I didn’t dismantle them, but they’re properly stored in my item bag.”

“You have an item bag? And one large enough to hold forty wolves? Then please, could we go to the building next door?”

Helen guided me to the adjacent building.

Several men followed behind us—probably spectators.

We arrived at the same place where I sold wolf materials with Fina before.

Gentz wasn’t there—another male staff member greeted us.

I couldn’t tell whether Gentz was off or just in the back.

“Helen, what brings you here?”

The staff member noticed Helen and approached us.

“We’ve brought in wolves. Is it okay?”

“Yes, that’s fine. The storage area hasn’t been processed yet either.”

“Then, Yuna, please come this way.”

I began taking the wolf corpses out of the Bear Box.

I discovered something new—I didn’t need to put my hand into the white bear’s mouth to retrieve items.

By holding the white bear’s hand over the counter and imagining the item I wanted (the wolves), they appeared.

That’s convenient—not having to touch them is great.

From behind, I could hear:

“There really are forty wolves…”
“As expected of the bear.”
“If you mess with that bear, you’ll end up like those wolves.”
“I want to get punched by it.”
“I want to get stepped on.”

I decided to completely ignore that last one.

“That should be all of them.”

“Y-Yuna, did you really defeat all of these by yourself?”

“I was just practicing magic.”

“…I see, just practicing. There are forty-two in total.”

“The condition of the meat and fur is also good. We’ll purchase the magic stones as well, if that’s alright?”

“I don’t mind, but are wolf magic stones even useful?”

“Yes. They’re not very powerful, but they have various uses.”

In the game, only boss or high-tier monster stones were really useful, so I mostly just sold lower-tier ones.

“Then we’ll process everything. Please return to the guild.”

When I turned around, the adventurers were still making noise, but since there were weirdos among them, I ignored it and went back inside the guild.

“We will process this as E-rank requests. May I have your guild card?”

I handed it over.

Helen received the card and looked at me again.

“May I ask one thing?”

“What?”

“Did you defeat those wolves one by one?”

“There was a pack, so I took them down.”

“A pack of forty… that would normally be a D-rank request. Please wait a moment while I consult the guild master.”

Helen went to the back and quickly returned.

“We will count this wolf subjugation as fourteen completed E-rank requests and promote you to E-rank.”

“That easy?”

“We have the guild master’s approval. You defeated what would normally be a D-rank subjugation alone, so you more than qualify.”

“D-rank?”

“Yes. A pack of over thirty wolves is considered D-rank. Over fifty becomes a lower-tier C-rank request.”

“Well, if you’re promoting me, I have no reason to refuse.”

“Then I’ll process it now.”

She began working at the counter.

“First, here is your reward. This includes the meat, fur, and magic stones for forty-two wolves. However, since they were not dismantled, we’ve deducted twenty percent.”

That must be what Fina mentioned.

Most adventurers dismantle the monsters themselves before bringing them in.

The twenty percent must be the processing fee.

Since I already knew that, I nodded, accepted the pouch of money, and put it into the Bear Box.

I also stored the updated guild card.

“That completes everything. Yuna, you are now E-rank. Please continue to do your best.”

“Thanks.”

I returned to the inn, had a late lunch, and went back to my room.

Since I had defeated wolves, I opened my status screen.

Name: Yuna
Age: 15
Level: 13
Skills: Otherworld Language, Otherworld Writing, Bear Dimensional Box, Bear Appraisal Eye, Bear Detection
Magic: Bear Light, Bear Body Enhancement, Bear Fire Magic, Bear Water Magic, Bear Wind Magic, Bear Earth Magic

Equipment:
Black Bear Gloves (Non-transferable)
White Bear Gloves (Non-transferable)
Black Bear Boots (Non-transferable)
White Bear Boots (Non-transferable)
Bear Suit (Non-transferable)
Bear Underwear (Non-transferable)

One new skill had been added.

Bear Detection
Allows detection of monsters using the bear’s wild instincts.
(Can detect the positions of monsters and bandits.)

I think this was originally a skill thieves could learn in the game.

A bear that can even learn this kind of skill…

Still, this will make finding monsters much easier.