At the Northern Fort V1C1

Happy New Year!!! Welcome to 2021, everyone! New year, new series, so let’s get to it~ kyun~

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At the Northern Fort V1C1: The Foxy Little Me

When I was still living my previous life as a Japanese person, I heard an urban legend that went something like this.

 

A mother and child went out shopping after a recent move. But because they were in an unfamiliar area, the mother was stumped after getting lost.

However, at that moment, the one to tell her the way to the store was none other than her own child who had not even reached the age of 5 yet.

 

“You have to turn right at the lights over there. I know this road.”

 

Of course, this was the first time he had ever come to this place. There’s no way he could possibly know. 

But in reality, the store that she was looking for was exactly where the child pointed her towards.

Though she was surprised, the mother followed his directions, and as they were waiting to cross at the traffic lights, the child said this in an adult-like voice.

 

“I…….in my previous life, I was hit by a car here and died.”

 

Kyaaaa!!

 

-is how me from my previous life reacted after hearing the story, terrified.

However, now that story does not scare me anymore. After all, I was in a similar situation from the child from that story.

——in other words, while still retaining my memories from my previous life, I had reincarnated.

 

Not only that, but in this life I wasn’t human.

What was reflected in my eyes were hands with paw pads, wrapped in white fur. No,  forelegs.

Peering into the frozen spring that lay before my eyes, I looked at my appearance reflected in the ice.

 

“Kyun……”

 

I let out a sigh. No matter how many times I looked at it, I was not human.

Right now, I was a baby fox with fur the same colour as snow. More accurately speaking, I was rounder than the foxes that I knew of, and around my neck was a thick muffler-like ring of fur, while nine-tenths of my tail probably consisted of fur.

If I curled up, it’d probably look like a furball was falling down.

 

But the reason I was this fluffy was likely because I lived on a snowy mountain. This fur acted like a natural coat. Even on top of a mountain with below freezing temperatures in the midst of a blizzard, I was completely fine.

 

And the other reason why I was strong against the cold was because I was not just a fox.

According to my mother from this life, it seems that we are of a race classified as [Spirits]. In other words, far from even being human, I couldn’t even be counted as an animal.

 

We seem to be snow spirits that took up the form of a fox, but I didn’t really know much other than that.

Since Mother doesn’t know that I have inherited the memories from my previous life, she thinks of me as a child and does not speak much of difficult matters.

The current me was still young, and unfortunately, I could not speak like a human.

No matter how hard I tried, all I could do was make animal noises and go, ‘kyun kyun’. 

 

“Kyun……”

 

My second sigh of the day.

Even when I sigh, it wasn’t, “Haa”. It was, “kyun”. It’s a little silly and I don’t like it. There’s no ‘feeling of downheartedness’ in it.

 

And then, at that moment. I saw the tiny shadow of a fish from the spring in front of me.

My ears perked up, and I alighted onto the thick ice that covered the spring. I knew that it was impossible for my weak, squishy paw pads to break through the ice and catch the fish.

However, I could not stop the itching in my heart, no matter what I did.

 

In my previous life, I died at the young age of 18, and I have lived for about one year since I was reincarnated here. In other words, if you do some basic calculations, my mental age should be nearing 20. However, occasionally there are times like this where I was lured into performing behaviours consistent with my bodily age and animal-like traits.

I’d want to chase after things that move, and would become unable to control myself from doing so.

While it was embarrassing to admit, sometimes I wouldn’t realize that my tail was my tail, and then would target it, causing me to endlessly go round and round.

 

I chased after the small fish that moved around underneath the eyes, running around with little pitter patters. My feet slid on the ice, and every one in five steps I took, I would fall over. Even under normal circumstances, my head was quite heavy due to my infantile build, so my running was rather unsteady.

 

As though the little fish was mocking me, it continually swam about nimbly.

Darn it, darn it! I absolutely wanted that fish.

As I grew more insistent, and started to scratch at the ice with my claws-

 

“What are you doing in a place like this, Milfiria?”

 

I heard the dignified and clear voice of a woman from behind me. Milfiria was my name in this world. 

Momentarily forgetting about the little fish’s existence, I turned around and saw a beautiful fox that was about 1 metre tall gazing at me with her light blue eyes.

She was my Mother.

 

“Kyun!”

 

Letting out a high-pitched cry, I ran up to Mother and began rubbing my head against her foreleg.

 

“The sun is about to set. Let us return to the den, my beloved child.”

 

Unlike me, Mother was capable of speaking words. I wonder if I’ll be able to speak once I grow up.

Gently biting the scruff of my neck, Mother lifted me up. She walked across the hardened snow and headed to our den. 

Our home was a cave that was around the summit of this snowy mountain. Snow would not blow into it, so there was no need to worry about being buried while we slept.

 

After Mother advanced to the depths of the cave, she placed me on the ground, and then quietly closed her eyes as though she were concentrating on something.

Then, in the next instant, the huge white fox disappeared, and in her place stood a peerless beauty with skin that almost seemed to be transparent.

 

Her charmingly long hair was a silver that neared white in colour, and a white fur muffler was wrapped around her neck. That isn’t the pelt of a fox, is it?

She was wearing clothing that resembled Japan’s kimono with a faint Chinese essence to it, and she gave off a slightly flashy sort of yuki-onna (snow woman) feel.

The chest portion of the kimono was widely open, and her prominent bosom valley could be seen. Though she is my mother, what a splendid chest. By all means, I hope that it is hereditary.

 

Indeed, she is my Mother in her humanoid form. She often took the appearance of a fox when in front of me, but at a [certain time], she will always take on a humanoid form.

That [certain time] was when Mother would descend to the towns where humans lived.

 

“Milfiria, I have something to talk to you about.”

 

In the same beautiful voice that she had in her vixen form, Mother spoke to me.

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ToC | Next Chapter–>