At the Northern Fort V1C4

At the Northern Fort V1C4: Trespassing

Though my head got a bit stuck, I somehow managed to get through the iron fence and infiltrate inside. The inner grounds were vast, and it seemed like I’d get lost if I haphazardly walked around.

I sniffed the scents in the air, searching for a place with people. As might be expected from a military facility, there were a lot of male scents. It was different from Mother’s sweet, fragrant scent.

The paths that were often used by people were shovelled, so when I followed along it, I eventually came across an open field. It looked like a training ground that had been covered with snow.

Discovering that there were ten-odd people gathered in a corner of the training ground, I temporarily concealed myself in the shadow of the building.

And then, I once again peeked my face out stealthily. They appeared to be in the midst of sword training, and even though it was this cold they weren’t wearing any winter clothes. There are likely people working and people receiving other sorts of training, so the people here were probably only a portion of the inhabitants of this fortress. Compared to how large the building is, there were far too few people here too.

Everyone held a sword in hand, but the only ones swinging them were two people standing in the middle of the wall of people.

“You’re backing away. Do you really think you can be a knight with guts like that?”

The one who said that with a calm, yet stern voice while watching the two exchange blows was a man clad with a sharp atmosphere who appeared to be their superior.

Since there weren’t any [knights] in my previous life, I got a little excited.

The man who looked like their superior had short, tidy gray hair and a fierce-looking face. He was tall and muscular, and had a well-maintained physique, kind of like a boxer’s. It looked like his body fat percentage was no more than 3%.

However, his most conspicuous characteristic was a large scar on his face. It ran straight from his forehead to his jaw on the left side of his face, appearing as though he had been sliced with a sword. Because of the scar, his left eye remained closed.

As I observed the one-eyed knight from the shadows, he suddenly looked this way without any warning at all.

There was quite a bit of distance between us, so I didn’t think that I would be discovered. Thus, I was startled the moment our eyes met and my fur bristled up as I withdrew my body into the shadows of the building.

His right eye saw right through me. I wonder how he noticed? I didn’t move or make any noise at all.

Don’t tell me he sensed my gaze? Maybe my gaze was too presumptuous.

There weren’t any signs of him approaching. Since the sound of metal clanging as the swords clashed continued to resound, the training should have continued without incident.

After getting my breathing back under control and calming down a little, I once again tried peeking——

——and he was still looking.

That one-eyed guy is still looking this way!

When our eyes completely met for a second time, my body turned around and – pew! – ran off. As I kicked off the ground, soft snow flew up.

My short legs rattled as they turned round and round for a few tens of metres, only slowing down once I had turned around the corner of the building. It’s alright, nobody chased after me.

As I breathed a sigh of relief while catching my breath, it hit me that there wasn’t any particular need to run away.

To begin with, I had come in here with the intention of asking someone directions on how to get to the Capital. ——though I still hadn’t solved the problem regarding how I would ask that when I couldn’t speak words.

In any case, nothing will start unless I come into contact with a human. What am I supposed to do when I run away just from making eye contact. I was human in my previous life. I know that humans aren’t some ferocious animal. There is no need to run away.

Alright, I put one paw forward after gathering my courage.

However, after finding a number of knights walking in the distance, I quickly shook my tail and hid in the shadow of the outside staircase.

Mother……

Like you said, I may be a bit cowardly.

In reality, from the point of view from the tiny little me, a human is surprisingly large. Seeing one from point blank can be quite scary.

And I didn’t know what sort of reaction the humans of this world would have when seeing me. They might catch and kill me, and skin me for my fur.

From outer appearances, I simply look like a white fox cub, but there might be people who will notice that I’m a snow spirit. If they become aware of that, what will that person do? I don’t think there’d be anyone who’d attack me but……

In short, it’s scary because I cannot predict how the other party will react. Would it be safer to me to just act as a fox, or would it be better to give a more “spirit-like feeling”? Hmm.

Though I was seriously worrying about things, my honest body has been attacking my mind with sleepiness this entire time. I spent all of today moving around without taking an afternoon nap, and I also had to go through that dreadful event of being mobbed by children.

It’s already evening, and while there is some time before sunset, let’s go to sleep early.

I made a large yawn with my mouth wide open——since I’m in this form, I can’t cover my mouth and make a cute yawn. Instead, both my fangs and gums were completely bared as I gave a hearty yawn——and then, I moved stealthily to search for a bed.

Touring the premises so that I wouldn’t come across any humans, I ultimately decided on sleeping behind a building that looked like the knight’s barracks. It was not a very vast space, and it had short trees growing here and there. When spring comes, there will surely be plenty of grass appearing from underneath the accumulated snow.

It seems like people seldom pass by here, and there aren’t any scent markings from stray cats.

On the edge of this rear garden was a small shed, whose existence seemed to have been half-forgotten, so I decided to turn it into my bed. The shed’s door had been taken off, perhaps because it broke, as it was nowhere to be found.

The inside was narrow, and was just about big enough for an adult to lie down in. All that was left in the shed were a number of shovels likely used for shovelling snow. As there wasn’t any door, a little bit of snow was blowing into the shed, but for a furball like me, it was nothing.

I entered the small shed, curled up my body and lied down on the floor.

If there was one thing to worry about, it was that the inside of this shed could be completely seen from the windows on the first floor of the nearby barrack. The entrance of this shed does face the barrack windows after all.

But once the sun sets, the outside will be covered in darkness. The inside of this shed will also become completely dark, so even if someone in the opposite room looks outside their window, they shouldn’t be able to see me.

I closed my eyes and made that sloppy conjecture with one foot in the land of dreams……zzz……

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