Chapter 257 – Bear-san Caused Misfortune Without Realizing I (1/2)

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After we entered the castle without any issues to speak of, Eleanora-san commenced our tour. We went through passage after passage, each lined beautifully with decorations. This was all familiar to me, but Shuri, who was visiting here for the first time, couldn’t stop her eyes from glittering as she looked around. On the other hand, Fina, who hadn’t been here in a while either, looked a bit nervous.

I soon realized that Eleanora-san was taking us around to the same places that I had been to when I had first visited the castle. Was there a designated sightseeing tour?

Well, since the castle wasn’t a place where commoners could enter freely just to take a look around, perhaps this was indeed the set route for guests.

We visited many sights and eventually made our way to the training grounds for soldiers and knights, which caused a wave of nostalgia to sweep over me.

This was the place where I had met Princess Flora.

I remembered how surprised I had been when the moment I had walked in, a little girl had come up and hugged me. I had only later been told that she was the princess.

Fina was so nervous at the time that she claimed she didn’t remember what had happened at all. Such a beautiful memory…

At the training grounds, a large group of knights and soldiers were practicing their swordsmanship. The sounds of metal clashing rang through the air as they swung their swords at each other. As a former gamer, I enjoyed the sight, but would personally prefer to see the magic training. I really wanted to see how powerful the castle’s mages were.

「Huh? The third knight platoon is training right now…」

Eleanora-san muttered as she looked at the knights training. She rolled her eyes, looking a bit displeased.

「Okay girls, let’s go somewhere else.」

We hadn’t even looked at them for a few seconds when Eleanora-san already ushered us to leave. Well, this might not be something that the children should see, so I didn’t object. I wasn’t too interested in knights and soldiers practicing myself, either.

「Why, if it isn’t it Eleanora-dono?」

Just as we were about to leave, a bearded, forty-something-year-old man called out to Eleanora-san with a big grin on his face. The moment she saw him, her feminine face looked like it was physiologically repulsed. His eyes were disagreeable enough with me that I reflexively pulled my Bear-san Hood down. Fina and Shuri hid behind me while Noa was already behind Eleanora-san.

「Luteum…」

Eleanora-san uttered his name as she turned to face him. She looked as if she had accidentally chewed on a bitter bug.

「This must be the rumored Bear. And your daughter, I see.」

The man walked up to us. He looked at Noa and me as if he was going to run his tongue all over us.

「My daughter is timid, so could you stop looking at her?」

「My, excuse me. She reminds me of her older sister, how cute.」

「Yes, both of them resemble me, that’s why.」

Eleanora-san returned the man’s comment with a polite smile.

「Anyway, are you giving them a tour of the grounds, Eleanora-dono?」

「Yes. We didn’t want to get in the way of your practice, so we were just leaving. We’ll appreciate it if you didn’t mind us.」

「No, no. Please look around at your own pace. The other knights will work harder knowing that you are watching them.」

「I appreciate your offer, but we still have many other places to visit, so please excuse us. Come on girls, let’s go.」

We silently followed Eleanora-san as she began walking off. When I turned to sneak a peek at the man, I saw him glaring at Eleanora-san.

「Mother, is everything okay?」

「Don’t worry about it, Noa. I won’t let him lay a single finger on you.」

She placed her hand on Noa’s head and smiled gently.

That man seemed to know who I was, but I couldn’t recall a pair of eyes that looked so nasty. I felt that might be a good idea to at least know who he was, so I planned to ask Eleanora-san about him later. Fina and Shuri luckily hadn’t been involved, and I would like to keep it that way.

To help brighten the mood, Eleanora-san brought us to the gardens.

「Uwah, there’s so many flowers.」

「So beautiful.」

「How about we take a break here?」

「Fina, Shuri, let’s go over there!」

「Don’t run and trip, okay?」

「Okay!」

Noa grabbed the two by their hands and led them further into the garden while Eleanora-san and I slowly strolled towards the center.

「Those three look like they’re having a lot of fun.」

We looked at the girls getting along and smiled.

「Eleanora-san, who was that man earlier? His attitude towards you was kind of bad.」

I asked her when the girls were out of sight.

If that guy was a danger for the girls, I would consider him my enemy.

「That guy hates me.」

I could tell that much. The man had scowled at Eleanora-san when we were leaving, after all.

「Do nobles have factions or something?」

I still didn’t know much about this world. I hadn’t ever had to deal with these kinds of politics, since I hadn’t been actively going to school nor had to learn about it in order to get a job. The only things I could presume about such politics was based on the stories of manga and novels.

「Of course there are factions, but perhaps it is more accurate to say that he bears a grudge against me.」

Could it be that Eleanora-san had given him some crazy orders to carry out? Or, maybe he was simply resentful because she kept skipping out on her work?

「I’m pretty sure what you’re thinking of right now is different from the actual reason.」

「I’m not thinking of anything.」