Chapter 263 – Bear-san Enjoys the School Festival, Part 2

With everybody (but me) getting a hairpiece of their own, we left the knife throwing stand.
Shuri’s hair piece was huge and very pretty, so she was skipping happily as we walked around, looking for the next attraction that would catch our interest.
「If you’d have let me try once more, I would have gotten the same one as Tilia-sama’s…」
Noa had missed two of her throws, so I had no idea where that confidence was coming from…
「If I were to try again, I could have gotten a better prize as well.」
Tilia declared, clearly competing with Noa.
「If we’re going to do it once more later then I will give my prize to Fina next.」
「That’s unfair.」
Well, with how the girls running the stand had looked at us when I had claimed the grand reward, I had a feeling they wouldn’t let me try anymore. I had taken the grand prize too easily, after all, so I would surely trouble them if I were to return.
As we chatted, we spotted another interesting attraction: a ball throwing game.
「Yuna-san, you’re amazing.」
「Yuna-neechan is so cool.」
「Yuna-oneechan, you’re great at this.」
Well, I was kind of cheating.
I hit the furthest target with the ball without much of a problem. It even had obstacles in the way, but that didn’t hinder me in the slightest.
「You were good at knife throwing too. I’m amazed that you can hit targets like this, without missing even once.」
「Yes, and that one is pretty hard to hit as well.」
The ball-throwing targets were placed from ten to twenty meters away from the challenger. The difficulty of hitting them ranged from A to E grades, where the E grade was for the closest targets and the A grade for the farthest ones. The A grade targets were also much smaller than the large E grade ones, not to mention all the obstacles littering the path towards the A grade targets.
Similar to the knife throwing game, the challenger received three balls to throw, and the prizes were split into five categories, from A to E grade, with a prize awarded depending on the targets hit.
Hitting targets A, B, and C earned one enough to win an A grade prize. On the other hand, hitting the E grade target three times only netted them an E grade prize.
Tilia had aimed her first ball at target A, but after missing, she had given up on it and went with target C next, which she had successfully hit. With her last ball, she had aimed at target B but had sadly missed again.
Noa had aimed all three balls at target A and had naturally missed everything. I couldn’t understand why she hadn’t tried for the easier targets after her first throw when she must have realized how hard it was to hit target A.
With her first ball, Shuri had hit target E. She had then aimed for target D with the second but had missed the mark. Her last throw had managed to hit target D, though.
Fina had done the same as Shuri and had gone for the target E first. Seeing she had hit it easily, she had gone for target D on her second throw and had scored again. She had then proceeded to try for target C with her last throw but had sadly missed.
At first, I had been worrying over which target I should go for, before realizing this was just a game and the most important thing was to have fun.
With that settled, I had taken a closer look at the target A. There was a board hanging above the target, so I couldn’t have lobbed the ball to arc it above the obstacles. On the other hand, right in front of it were various poles a ball could bounce off of, making a forward approach quite difficult.
Noa had aimed for it even though it was reckless to do so for a normal person.
However, hitting it was just the perfect challenge for me.
I had held the ball in the Bear-san Puppet’s mouth and aimed straight for target A. Adding a little bit of curve to my throw, the ball had weaved in between the obstacles and slammed against the target without much trouble.
Seeing my first ball hit its mark so easily, the girls had all complimented me, and even the crowd watching had applauded me.
Two more balls later, I received a grade A accessory without any issue while showing off once again.
This time, I gave the prize to Noa.
For the next attraction, we joined a rolling ball challenge. It was like an obstacle race, but with a time limit. This time around, I won a homemade bracelet, which I gave to Fina.
We continued to participate in all sorts of games, and the number of earned prizes kept increasing.
「Thank you very much.」
Fina, Shuri, and Noa now each wore many pieces of accessories I had won for them. They were wearing hair pieces, necklaces, bracelets, and brooches. At the last game, we had even received flowers grown by the students. Only at this point did I realize that it was possible to wear too many accessories.
「We’ve been invaded by all the prizes.」
Tilia shared her interesting take on the situation after also inspecting the three girls.
Well, she was also wearing all the prizes she had won herself, so she shouldn’t have been the one to talk…
「Since Yuna keeps winning all the best prizes, the students running the stands end up looking stiff.」
「Well, they made it difficult on purpose, so it only makes me want to challenge them more.」
I wasn’t someone to shy away from a challenge, after all.
「Normal people cannot clear challenges of such difficulty, though.」
Well, even I was only able to do it thanks to my Bear Skills. Without them, I wouldn’t have won a single prize. Forget hitting the targets, I doubted my throws would have even reached them.
Chatting happily, we moved on to the next attraction…
「Hey, what’s that over there?」
There was a large cloth surrounding a small area so we couldn’t see what was inside.
「I wonder what its purpose is?」
It seemed like Tilia didn’t know, either. Well, it was impossible to know all the programs in every area, especially with how big the academy was.
Anyway, judging by how the cloth surrounded the whole area, it could be a haunted house?
Hmm, the cloth didn’t cover the top, so light could come in, which meant it couldn’t be that. Maybe a maze, then?
We walked around the enclosed area until we came across the entrance and a student standing next to it.
「A bear…? And Tilia-sama?!」
The male student was first surprised to see my outfit but was then even more shocked when he recognized the princess.
「What kind of attraction is inside of here?」
「This is an area where you can experience the dismantling of monsters and animals. I’m not sure if it’s a place you would like to enter, Tilia-sama.」
The student explained while pointing at the sign by the entrance.
The sign explained that they showed the dismantling of monsters and animals, with an additional warning at the bottom: “Dismantling of monsters and animals in progress. Participant discretion advised.”
「There are even programs like this?」
「Well, that’s because there are many students who are aiming to become knights, soldiers, or even adventurers, and they will often have to dismantle monsters they subjugate while on duty. Also, if they run out of food while on the road, they will have to hunt down and dismantle animals so they can eat. Of course, there are students who won’t ever need to do something like that, but there are quite a few who would find this skill useful.」
That made sense. Knights and soldiers might indeed have to distmante animals in a pickle.
「Does that mean we can see the dismantling process inside?」
「Yes, but it would be of no use for us, so let’s go somewhere else.」
「I wanna see it!」
Shuri said while raising her hand.
「I want to take a look as well.」
Fina agreed with her sister. Well, Fina dismantled monsters for a living, while Shuri had often been helping her lately, so it made sense that they would want to watch other people do it and maybe learn a trick or two.
「You two, this isn’t something for children to see. Let’s go somewhere else.」
Tilia tried to pull on Shuri’s hand, but she didn’t budge.
「I wanna go inside.」
「Why? It’s not something pleasant to look at. You might not be able to eat meat after seeing it anymore.」
「I’ll be fine.」
「What do you mean, you’ll be fine…」
「Tilia, those two will really be fine. They’ve both dismantled many monsters and animals before.」
If anything, I was the one who wasn’t okay here since I couldn’t stomach doing such a thing myself.
「Really?!」
「That’s right. I think it will be a good learning experience, so I want to see it.」
「Uu, I guess it can’t be helped, then. But, just for a bit, okay?」
Tilia relented to Fina’s request but looked rather displeased in doing so. I completely understood how she felt since I also didn’t want to enter.
「Can we go inside?」
Tilia asked the student who looked surprised.
「I wouldn’t suggest entering if you’re only curious.」
「We’ll be fine.」
Shuri answered for Tilia.
The student looked over at Tilia, a bit concerned.
「I’ll take responsibility for them.」
「I understand… Still, if any of you feel sick please leave the area immediately.」
「If that comes to pass, I promise I will take them outside before it’s too late.」
Tilia promised the student who gave up on stopping us.
「Okay, the showing is about to begin, so please head inside and wait for it patiently.」
When we went in, there were already about twenty people inside. Some of them were students wearing their uniforms, but there were also a few other visitors. This was just a school festival program, but for some reason it gave of a feel of a full-blown presentation. Since there were students showing off their sword and magic skills, maybe it was reasonable for there to be a display of dismantling techniques as well?
「There’s less people than I thought.」
「Well, there aren’t that many students who are into dismantling to begin with, and most of them are busy handling their own programs, so they might not get the chance to come. This seems to be a reasonable amount of people.」
When she put it that way, it made sense for there not to be that many people here.
The center of attention was a large table, already surrounded by the small crowd. As we stood in the back waiting for the presentation to start, Shuri started to squeeze her way towards the front. I grabbed her arm right away.
「Yuna-neechan?」
「You shouldn’t cut in like that.」
「But, I can’t see anything if I don’t stand in front.」
With Shuri’s height, she really couldn’t see a thing from here…
Even so, she shouldn’t butt in since we had come in later than others.
「There’s a platform here.」
Tilia said and pointed at a platform near us.
The students managing this program must have placed one here so that people in the back would be able to see as well.
We climbed onto the platform and could now see the table clearly. There was a student along with two adventurers standing in front of the table. Looking a bit more closely, I realized I knew who the adventurers were.
「Jade-san?」
It was Jade-san and Mel-san, who had helped out with the golem subjugation in the iron mine.
「Yuna?」
「Yuna-chan?」
「What are the two of you doing here?」
「That’s our line. We were requested to come and assist this student’s dismantling. And you?」
「I came to have fun at the school festival. And by assist you mean?」
「The student here will do all the work; we’re only here to give instructions.」
The conversation that had suddenly sprung up between us, one sitting on the platform and the other standing by the table, naturally attracted attention.
「A bear?」「It’s a bear.」
Thanks to Jade-san, we were now standing out. Well, nothing much I could do about that at this point…
「Let’s talk later.」
Jade-san said, noticing the attention we started to receive, and I nodded in agreement.
Calling for everyone’s attention, Jade-san began the demonstration by taking out a wolf from his item bag and placing it on the table. The student moved next to it, ready to begin.
「Yuna, do you know that adventurer?」
「Yeah, we worked together before.」
I never expected to see him again here of all places. I didn’t see Toya nor Senya-san anywhere, so it looked like it was just Mel-san and Jade-san while the rest of the party must be up to something else.
The student started dismantling the wolf under Jade-san’s instructions. He proceeded slowly, carefully peeling the skin off of it. Fina and Shuri leaned forward as they observed the student’s motions seriously, while Tilia and Noa quickly climbed off the platform so that they could stop watching. I felt bad for leaving Fina and Shuri but I also got off the platform soon after.
Mel-san noticed and came over, hugging me immediately.
「Yuna-chan, it’s been a while.」
「Mel-san?」
「You’re still wearing this bear outfit of yours.」
Could she stop touching me like that, though?
「Mel-san, aren’t you going to help with the dismantling?」
「Jade’s there, so it’s fine. Yuna-chan, are you going around the school festival together with these girls?」
Mel-san said taking a glance at the two next to me before also looking up at the platform, where Fina and Shuri were still watching the demonstration intently. Since she wasn’t surprised to see Tilia, she must not know that Tilia was a princess.
「Yes, we received an invitation from someone attending this academy.」
「And now you’re bringing a bunch of cute girls around, huh.」
Well, I couldn’t deny that. Everyone with me was indeed cute, after all.
「Still, why did you come here? Only adventurers and those who want to be soldiers come check out this demonstration normally. There are plenty of better programs for young girls to look at.」
「Well, we came because those two really wanted to see it.」
I said, nudging my head towards Fina and Shuri, who were so immersed in the dismantling that they didn’t even notice we were talking about them.
「Ahh, if you use the knife like that…」
「You can’t do that, there will be a hole.」
「Also, the order you are doing it in…」
「The pelt…」
「You have to cut it more neatly.」
「Ahh…」
For some reason, they were criticizing how the student went about dismantling the wolf.
They didn’t speak loudly, though, so he shouldn’t be able to hear them. If he could, I was sure he would have already picked a fight with them.
「What interesting girls… That student is not very good but not bad, either. The Adventurer’s Guild would be willing to buy the materials dismantled at such a level.」
「Ahh, the meat…」
「Such a waste.」
For some reason, it was way more interesting to watch Fina and Shuri’s reactions than to watch the program.
「The things they’re saying are kind of amazing.」
「The older sister has been doing dismantling for the Adventurer’s Guild since she was very young. She has gotten really good at dismantling. Her little sister has started to join in as well, lately.」
I had my monster and animal dismantling mostly done by those two now. I even got a mythril knife for Shuri.
「So, you came here because they’re interested in dismantling, huh.」
「I don’t think it’s helping them much, though.」
「Ahh, if you cut it that way…」
Fina looked like she was reaching the point where she was about fly off the platform right at the student.
The dismantling continued for a while longer before the student finally finished, unharmed.
Realizing the show was over, Fina and Shuri got off the platform and came back to us.
「How was it?」
「It was no good.」
「Mhm, Onee-chan is way better.」
I didn’t really know how good or bad the student actually was, but he clearly didn’t meet their expectations.
That was just how high Fina’s dismantling level had reached, huh. Gentz-san had really taught her well.
Author’s Note:
With that, Jade-san and Mel-san show up once more even though their role is a small one.
Next chapter should be about the dismantling master Fina? If it won’t be, sorry.