At the Northern Fort V1C2

The “home alone” part of the title technically means “housesitting”, but “home alone” sounds funnier, so I’m gonna stick with that.

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At the Northern Fort V1C2: The Beginning of Home Alone

“I will need you to stay at home alone for a short period of time.”

Mother said that with a pleasant voice, that sounded as if she were quietly singing.

Hearing that I needed to stay at home alone, my ears and bushy tail both drooped despondently. This body was too honest.

“The truth is that I’ve received summons from the King…….I’ve told you about the human king before, right? He governs this country of Aridora, and is the most important guy amongst humans.”

I was previously taught that this country was a monarchy. I also knew that Mother was [cooperating] with that King.

Spirits fundamentally hold affection for the humans who live in the same land as them, and at times will help them.

For example, in times of war, the spirits that live in Aridora will support the humans of Aridora. Because they dislike outsiders——that is, humans from other countries, brazenly entering their own land.

Of course, it is not like all spirits will proactively cooperate with humans. It seems that there are some that say ‘human problems should be solved by the humans’, and refuse to give any help at all, but in that aspect Mother is the cooperative sort.

“Lately it seems that they’ve had some disputes with the neighbouring country. Until matters have settled a bit, I shall stay by their side. That one (the king) is quite likeable for a human. I’ve been watching over him since he was a child, so it would be unfortunate if he died.”

Mother continued.

“Leaving you behind pains me, as only a year has passed since your birth, but I would not feel safe bringing you to the Capital with me. Because that is a place swept with human desire and ambition. There are people who would seek to make the power of a spirit their own. It would be a poison to one as pure as yourself.”

No way……I am not pure at all, so take me with you.

I’m also stained with desire anyways.

“I will return in about a month, so endure it until then.”

Hearing Mother state that sentence without hesitation, I doubted my ears. To think that I’d have to stay at home alone for a whole month.

Up until now, there’s been times when Mother had to go out to see the King, but she would usually return in about a day.

Kyun kyun, I cried while clinging onto Mother’s leg. Leaving an infant alone for a whole month is child abandonment! It’s abuse!

Mother made a troubled expression and spoke.

“I had thought that you had a strangely adult-like side, but as expected, you are still a child. However, as one that will inherit the name of Snowlea, you must live strongly. For one month, you must live without depending on this mother of yours, and fix that cowardly nature.”

Snowlea is apparently our family name that is inherited by each generation, and currently it is my Mother’s name.

Mother is normally kind, but with regards to my education she has a pretty spartan mindset. Rather than wanting me to grow up graceful like a girl, she seems to hope to raise me to be strong and tough.

There was even a time when she said, “Climb up from the bottom”, and dropped me off of a cliff. If I wasn’t a spirit, that would’ve killed me, surely.

“Well, you must persevere, Milfiria. My beloved child.”

After Mother dropped a kiss on my fluffy head, a small blizzard wrapped around Mother’s body from the ground up, and together with it, Mother’s figure disappeared. 

She went to the castle where the King was.

Waaah, Mother you dummy!

It’s impossible for an infant like me to live alone for a whole month!

Though I cried bitterly, if I thought about it calmly, it didn’t seem to be that difficult of a task.

A spirit like myself did not have the sensation of [hunger], so I could live even without eating anything. That is why there was no particular need to hunt.

The other problem would be regarding foreign enemies, but it didn’t seem like there was much need for worry. That is because I lived near the summit of a snowy mountain, and it was too cold so there were hardly any animals around.

When it came to large-sized carnivores, we would sometimes come across snow bears, which are bears that do not need to hibernate, but since we are spirits, they’ve never attacked us before. Since animals are rather sensitive, they seem to be able to instinctively sense that we were living beings on an entirely different level from theirs.

In other words, on this snowy mountain there were no animals that would become my enemy, and there were no concerns that I would die of starvation from failing to hunt.

Even if I was young, I could safely live through one month alone.

What. Ain’t that pretty easy then?

In my previous life I’ve had first-hand experience in living alone for several months, so this shouldn’t be too different from that. Easy peasy.

Or so I thought as I grew over-confident, completely forgetting about how homesick I had become when I had to live alone when going to university. 

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When I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night and realized that Mother wasn’t next to me, I somehow felt extremely lonely. The hole where we made our nest was quiet to the point where it hurt my ears. Snow was falling heavily outside.

I tried closing my eyes, intending on going back to sleep, but feelings of restlessness swelled up and I couldn’t sleep. It’s lonely being all alone up on this mountain.

“Kyuun!”

When I got up and exited the hole, I cried out towards the sky. It was a voice I used when calling for Mother, and was higher pitched compared to my normal voice. There was a certain trick to making it sound as heartbroken as possible.

Normally, when I cried with this voice after getting lost in the mountain, Mother would come to pick me up without fail.

“Kyuun! Kyuun!”

However, now, no matter how much I continued to cry out, Mother did not come for me.

Even when she dropped me from a cliff in the name of education, when I cried like this she said, “What a hopeless child”, and picked me up from the bottom.

I don’t wanna be alone for a whole month!

I won’t be attacked by enemies or die from hunger, but I’ll die from loneliness.

But right now Mother is in the Capital, and she won’t come back, no matter how loudly I call for her.

If that’s the case, then——

It’s decided.

Let’s follow Mother and head to the Capital.

If I manage to get to the castle where the King is with my own strength, I’ll be able to surprise Mother, and she’ll probably praise me for how tough I am.

Now that that’s been decided, let’s go down the mountain.

I lifted my tail up high and vigorously left the cave.

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