While I was relaxing at my home and thinking about the seaside trip, one of Cliff’s servants knocked on the door, completely out of breath. He must have run all the way here.

Once he caught his breath, he told me to come to the mansion immediately.

I asked him for the reason, but it turned out he didn’t actually know why.

Just what was all this about? Had I made Cliff angry or something?

I always asked Cliff for permission before going out with Noa. The only thing I could think of was the lack of the Sacred Tree’s tea leaves I got from the elves, but Lala-san had told me just the other day that Cliff was keeping the promise of having one cup a day, so they should still have some left in their storage.

I kept pondering it as I walked, but couldn’t think of any plausible reason for this emergency.

Once I arrived at the mansion, I was promptly brought to Cliff’s room.

「Oh, you’re here. Sit down, please.」

I did as I was told and sat down on a chair he gestured at.

I glanced at Cliff, and he didn’t seem angry, so maybe I wasn’t called here because of something I did?

Still, what else could it possibly be?

「So, what is it that you need me for?」

I went straight to the point.

「A letter from His Majesty just came to my residence. He asks you to come to the capital.」

「Huh? So, what you are saying is that I’m actually being summoned by His Majesty and not you?」

To think it was the king that was behind this abrupt interruption of my relaxation time. What could he possibly need me for? This was the first time he ever summoned me, so I really had no idea. He had already lectured me about the school festival, so it clearly wasn’t that.

「There was something I wanted to confirm with you before you leave. You defeated the Kraken, right?」

「The Kraken? I thought you knew that already, Cliff. Don’t tell me you’re doubting me? Well, I don’t really care if you believe me or not.」

「I just said I wanted to confirm it with you, not that I don’t trust you.」

Okay, so why was he confirming it with me now?

「Anyways, what happened with the Kraken?」

「I defeated it.」

「I know, but I heard you got the Kraken dismantled, so what happened to its water magic stone? I figured you must have kept it for yourself.」

「The Kraken’s magic stone? Yes, I still have it with me. The old man who dismantled it for me said I should take it with me.」

I had first planned on giving it to Mireera to aid in its restoration, but Atora-san said that magic stones were the proof of subjugation, so they couldn’t accept the stone.

Because of that, the Kraken’s magic stone had been gathering dust inside my Bear Box as I had no real use of it as of now.

「Do you mind showing it to me?」

I took the stone out of my Bear Box and placed it on the table. The stone had a beautiful blue ocean-like shine to it.

「So, this is the Kraken’s magic stone, huh. It’s quite big.」

I could barely cover the stone with both my hands, so yeah, it was quite big.

「So, what is this all about?」

「Yuna, I’m sorry, but could you please take this and bring it to His Majesty?」

「You want me to take this magic stone to His Majesty?」

Cliff held the blue magic stone and looked at it.

「Yes. In his letter, he wrote that if you still had the Kraken’s magic stone, he needed it to be immediately brought it to him.」

Was this going to be a bigger pain than I had thought?

Had something bad happened, for him to need the Kraken’s magic stone?

「I know you can get there quickly with your bears, so could you?」

With my Bear Gate, I could go in an instant. Of course, I couldn’t tell him that, so simply nodded my head to agree.

「Was the reason for it written down?」

「I’m sorry, but he only wrote that you need to bring it to him. I guess he must have some use for it.」

Cliff went through the trouble to confirm whether I still had it, so even I could figure that out without him telling me. I just wanted to know what the king needed the magic stone for, but it seemed like that information hadn’t been written down in the letter.

I was a bit troubled that he wanted me to come immediately. While our trip to the sea was still a ways off, I had promised myself that I wasn’t going to the capital for some time. I really wished to stay away for a while longer.

「Will you take it there?」

「Not like I can refuse, can I?」

「Thank you. I appreciate it.」

Cliff said and bowed.

「Why are you lowering your head at me?」

「Obviously, because this is a letter from His Majesty. There is no way we can refuse his orders. If you said no, then I would have to go apologize to His Majesty personally.」

「If that happened, why not just forcibly take it from me or simply force me to go?」

「I obviously can’t do that. I am still in your debt, and Noa likes you a lot. Also, if the townspeople found out that I tried to harm you, they would surely come after me.」

He was definitely exaggerating way too much there.

Why would the townspeople get angry at Cliff for harming me? That made no sense. Well, Mylene-san might complain using her status as the Commerce Guild Master, but nobody else should go against the action of their town’s lord.

「To begin with, you subjugated the Kraken. I would much rather go apologize to His Majesty than forcibly take the stone from you. It’s also better to ask something of people than to order them around.」

Well, from my point of view, Cliff had been somewhat helping me out all this time, so I didn’t mind listening to his requests, as long as they weren’t too crazy.

「I guess that makes sense. You sure are lucky, though. If he had sent the letter a bit later, when it got warmer, I would have most likely said no as I plan on going to the sea to play.」

「Playing around is of a higher priority than His Majesty’s orders?」

Cliff asked before laughing out loudly.

Well, if I had to choose between going to an old man or playing with children… Of course, I would pick the children.

I had already made plans with them as well, so he couldn’t complain.

Still, if this was a request from Flora-sama or Tilia, I would rush to the capital. The old man just wasn’t worth it, though.

Anyways, I still had plenty of time before the trip, so going to the capital wouldn’t have been a problem if the school festival had been just a little farther behind.

「Okay then, I’ll be heading out soon.」

I put the Kraken’s magic stone back into my Bear Box, before remembering that I still had to confirm something with Cliff.

「Ahh, that’s right. I want to bring Noa to the sea with us, is that okay?」

「There’s no way I can say no given the timing. I already told her it’s fine as long as she studies properly until she has to leave for the trip.」

It seemed like Noa had already asked for permission herself and Cliff had no issues with it.

Well, if Noa decided to play around and not study, she wouldn’t be able to go, but that would be her own fault.

I left the mansion and went to tell Tirumina-san and Fina that I was off to the capital again.

「Tirumina-san, I’m going to come back as soon as I can, but if anything happens, please take care of it for me. Fina, if something bad happens, let me know using your phone, okay?」

「Yuna-chan, you sure are busy.」

「I’m really not, thanks to you helping me look after the shop and the orphanage.」

「Oh my, nothing will come out of you flattering an old lady like me, you know?」

「Tirumina-san, you’re still quite young.」

「Fufufu, thank you.」

Tirumina-san was being modest, but it really did help that she took care of things for me. I often went out on long trips, and without her, that wouldn’t be possible.

「Anway, I think you will be fine, but please take care of yourself, Yuna-chan.」

「I will. If anything unexpected happens, tell Fina and let me know, okay?」

「Don’t worry, she will call you if it does.」

I returned to my Bear House, but I didn’t know if I should move directly to the capital. I had only received the message today, so it would probably be better to wait out a day or two. Yes, I should stay back for two days, and teleport there after breakfast.

Two days later, I broke the promise I had made to myself not so long ago and visited the capital once again.

Why on earth had the king summoned me now?

There might be people that would recognize me here, so I tried to avoid contact with other people as much as possible and rushed to the castle.

「Why, if it isn’t Yuna-dono. His Majesty is awaiting your arrival.」

The guard at the gate greeted me. It seemed that he had already been notified that I was coming to the castle.

The guard then proceeded to lead me to a room, where I guessed the king would meet me.

「Please wait inside.」

I stepped inside what looked like an office. If my memory served me right, this should be the place where I had met the king for the first time.

However, he wasn’t here right now.

Well, the guard told me to wait, so should I just sit down?

There was a sofa by the desk, so I made myself comfortable, took out some tea from my Bear Box, and waited patiently while sipping on my drink.

Slurp. Ah, this tea sure was tasty. I had gotten this from Lala-san, so it was of a good quality.

Still, the king sure was taking his sweet time.

After getting half through my tea, I took out the sample cake that Elena-san made for me and began eating it.

Nom, nom, nom. The cake had a hint of sourness and was very delicious. Which fruit had she used to make it taste this way? Elena-san had been experimenting with many types of cakes, so she might have created a new type of cake that even I didn’t know about. Still, I was worried about her belly size after eating so many sample cakes. She could easily get fat from too much sampling.

Anyway, the king still hadn’t shown up. It was like he had forgotten about me. For a while, I had thought that maybe Eleanora-san was going to come instead, but she didn’t show up, either.

Since I was bored I summoned Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear in their cub forms and started to cuddle with them and let them ride on my shoulders to show my affection.

Their soft fur felt so nice… As I was enjoying my time with the Bears, the door suddenly opened and the king entered.

「Sorry, I’ve kept you waiting… What are you doing?」

I looked around myself when he asked that. On the table was a half-full cup of tea and a half-eaten cake. Then there was me, playing with Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear.

I sure had made myself comfortable, hadn’t I?

「I was summoned and left here in this room, but nobody came for a while, so I got bored.」

「I do apologize for that. Still, this is the first time I’ve seen somebody so relaxed while waiting for me.」

I could also hear him mutter, 「I may be like this, but I am still the king.」

「I think Eleanora-san is even worse than me in that aspect, no?」

「You’re quite similar to her, actually.」

That couldn’t possibly be true. I wasn’t nearly as evil as her.

「So, what did you summon me here for?」

「Ah, that’s right.」

As the king was sitting down by his desk, I cleaned up the table and made Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear sit next to me.

「You sure arrived to the capital quickly.」

「Well, you wrote that this was urgent, so I rushed here with my Bears.」

I blatantly lied. I had spent two and a half days chilling around in my home before teleporting here via Bear Gate.

「So, what is it? I only know you need the Kraken’s magic stone for something.」

「First, could you let me check the magic stone?」

I took out the Kraken’s magic stone and placed it on the table between us.

「This is the Kraken’s… it’s quite big. Can I touch it?」

I nodded.

The king picked up the stone with both of his hands, and looked it over seriously.

It seemed like he really needed it for something.

「Yuna, I’m sorry, but could you give this to me?」

「Sure, take it.」

「I understand that I’m being unreasonable here, but…」

「Like I said, you can take it.」

「You sure you’re okay with that…?」

The king looked a bit surprised by my immediate agreement.

「Yeah, it’s fine. You need it, right?」

I had no use for it, so giving it to someone who needed it wasn’t a problem for me.

Whatever he needed it for, it was important enough for him to summon me from Crimonia. Also, if I ever needed such a stone in the future, I could just think of something then.

「So, can I at least ask why you need the stone?」

He most likely wouldn’t be using it to commit a crime or something, but at the very least, I deserved to know what it was going to be for.

The king placed the magic stone back on the table and slowly began the story…

Author’s Note:

You thought it was a summons from Cliff, but it was actually the king.

I wonder what is going to happen now?

I posted some information about the in-store purchase bonuses you can get with volume 4.

I look forward to your continued support.

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