The B-Rank Adventure Bear

A lot of people attended the combat tournament in costume.

Sometimes nobles disguised themselves so their identities wouldn’t be revealed, while ex-convicts hid their faces. Some were simply shy, while others wanted to create a distinctive persona for themselves. Everyone had their own reasons.

At first, only the competitors wore costumes, but eventually spectators started doing it too, and that became part of the tournament’s appeal.

There were even proper shops that sold costumes specifically for that purpose.

The armor shop in front of the arena carried especially large selections of masks, face coverings, and wigs.

“This wig is made from a Red Dragon’s mane, and it has excellent defensive properties too.”

The female clerk recommended a glossy crimson wig with flowing waves.

When Yuri tried it on… Whoa. She suddenly looked like a beautiful woman with a slightly mature allure.

“It really suits you, Yuri.”

Yuri smiled bashfully at my words.

That expression was cute too.

I asked the clerk.

“Do you have a mask that can hide her face too?”

“Ah, in that case, I think this would work nicely.”

What she brought out was… a half-mask that covered the area around the eyes.

She’d turned into quite the mysterious beauty.

Even without a disguise, I had the sort of face people didn’t remember easily, but with Yuri looking this beautiful, anyone standing beside her would probably end up taking concentrated fire from jealous men.

Just in case that happened, maybe I should disguise myself too.

“Do you have a mask that covers the entire face, plus some light cloth armor with high defense?”

“Ah, yes! We have something that isn’t metal armor, but comes as a matching headpiece and outfit! It’s made from Killer Grizzly fur, so its defense is excellent, and it’s surprisingly light too.”

“Oh, then I’ll take that.”

“Understood! I’ll bring it right away.”

Five minutes later, when I saw the full set of armor the clerk had brought out, I regretted not looking at the product before agreeing to buy it.

Belgion Arena—

“Um… so the young lady and… that gentleman will be entering, correct?”

The male receptionist alternated his gaze between Yuri and me before staring at me as though he’d encountered some bizarre creature.

W-Well… I couldn’t really blame him.

Right now, no matter how you looked at me, I was a giant stuffed bear.

The spectators were wearing all kinds of costumes, but somehow I had the feeling mine stood out more than anyone else’s.

I had planned to refuse when the clerk brought me this bear costume set, you know?

But then she started passionately explaining it.

How much care the craftsman had put into making it. Apparently, they had even spent years working with an alchemist just to perfect the squishy feel of the paw pads. As a result, both its defense and offensive power were extremely high, and if you poured mana into those squishy pads, they could even reflect offensive magic. Supposedly, their durability also changed depending on how much mana you infused into them.

She’d spoken about it with so much passion that I hadn’t been able to turn her down.

And now, against my wishes, I was attracting everyone’s attention.

Yuri showed the receptionist the Magic Stone proving she was an S-rank adventurer.

“That’s right. I… no, she and I will be entering.”

“I-I see. In that case, since you’re registered Guild adventurers, may I have your names?”

“I-I’m Julia.”

Just in case anything happened, we’d decided to use false names. They were only needed to fill out the seating chart, so they didn’t have to be our real names.

After writing Yuri’s alias onto the seating chart, the receptionist looked up suspiciously at me.

I showed him the Magic Stone proving I was a B-rank adventurer and gave him my name.

“I’m Bear.”

“Bear-san?”

“Got a problem with that?”

I glared at him through the face of the stuffed bear costume.

Apparently sensing the pressure behind my glare, he turned pale and shook his head furiously.

With an indescribable expression on his face, the receptionist wrote my alias onto the seating chart.

After successfully completing registration, Yuri and I stepped into the arena lobby.

The moment we did, the adventurers around us all turned to stare.

“Oh… pretty lady.”

“She’s seriously exactly my type.”

“Hey, miss. Wanna come hang out with us?”

A group of rough-looking men immediately approached Yuri with leering smiles.

Well, she was that beautiful.

It was unavoidable that she’d attract guys like these.

I stepped in front of Yuri.

“What the hell’s with this stupid-looking bear?”

One of the men punched me in the stomach.

“Go outside and entertain some kids.”

Another man kicked me in the backside.

“You’re probably just some second-rate adventurer below B-rank anyway, right? You don’t have any confidence, so you’re hiding under that thing—”

Before the man grinding his foot against mine could finish his sentence, I slapped him across the face with my right paw.

His body went flying lightly through the air and slammed into a nearby wall.

…I’d meant to hold back. But his eyes had completely rolled back as he lay there unconscious.

Well, he was wearing full-body armor, so I doubted he’d suffered any serious injuries.

The remaining men stared at me with eyes wide as saucers, their faces turning pale.

I glared at them through the stuffed bear’s face.

“Did you guys need something from her?”

“N-No, sir, nothing at all.”

“W-We were just saying hello.”

The remaining men hurriedly scurried away.

The adventurers who had witnessed the whole thing began murmuring among themselves.

“Wasn’t that guy lying over there B-rank?”

“No, I think he was bragging the other day that he’d just been promoted to A-rank.”

“That stuffed bear took him out in one hit!?”

“Even if he let his guard down… Bears are terrifying.”

I really was glad I’d worn the costume.

I’d knocked out an A-rank adventurer with a single punch.

Of course, that only made me attract even more attention.

Yuri already stood out just by being beautiful, and this costume amplified the attention by about ten times.

I wanted to curse myself for not turning it down when I had the chance…

Still, no matter how much attention I attracted, no one would figure out my identity when my entire body was covered by a bear.

I didn’t want to draw any more attention than necessary, so I took Yuri by the hand and led her away.

“Ahhh, that was hot.”

We were on the landing of an empty emergency staircase.

I sat down on the steps, removed the bear head, and exhaled.

Yuri looked at me with a complicated expression.

“Roy, just how strong are you really?”

“What’s this all of a sudden?”

“I mean, you took down that A-rank adventurer so easily, and you can ride a wyvern too, so you have to be at least SS-rank in actual ability, right?”

“Don’t worry about the details. I’m better at hand-to-hand combat than sword fighting.”

With my pawed hands, I threw out a rapid series of punches.

Yuri stared in surprise and muttered, “S-So fast…”

There were claws built into the bear’s hands as well, so if necessary, they could be used as weapons.

It was hard to believe, but apparently the bear costume I was wearing wasn’t sold as a costume at all—it was considered legitimate armor.

Yuri curiously poked and squished the paw pads with her finger.

Still, although it was certainly lighter than metal armor, this costume was unbearably hot.

Wearing something like this in a perpetually warm city was brutal.

My head was starting to feel hazy.

“Coolance.”

Yuri placed her hand against my forehead and cast a spell, causing my body to become wrapped in a blue veil that gradually cooled me down.

My overheated body slowly began to cool.

Even my hazy head started clearing up.

“You can get sick from the heat, you know. You have to be careful.”

“I let my guard down.”

“I’ll go buy us something to drink in case you’re getting dehydrated.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

There was a concession stand nearby.

She was probably planning to buy something there.

Thanks to Yuri cooling me down, I started feeling better almost immediately.

She really was an exceptionally capable partner.

She was almost wasted on a middle-aged adventurer like me who’d been stuck at B-rank forever.

Then again, she was even more wasted on that idiot Hero.

Why the hell would he ever expel someone as capable as Yuri?

The day would definitely come when he regretted throwing Yuri out.