At the Northern Fort V1C6

At the Northern Fort V1C6: Frolicking

The next morning. I woke up as the surroundings started to grow brighter.

As I exited the shed and stretched, I heard the rattling sound of the window opening and-

“You’re an early bird……”

The One-Eyed Knight poked his head out. He was still in his nightclothes, and perhaps because he had low blood pressure, he gave off a listless air.

I envied the fact that his eyelids were not puffy at all even though he had just woken up.

“Wait a bit for breakfast.

After saying that to me, the One-Eyed Knight went back into the room.

When I jumped up onto the wood crates to peek at what he was doing, I saw that the One-Eyed Knight was half-naked inside and in the middle of changing, so I quickly averted my gaze.

As my face grew hot, I jumped down to the ground and started digging at the accumulated snow to distract myself…….oh, this is pretty fun.

By the time the One Eyed Knight came around with breakfast, I had dug through the snowy layer and reached dirt, so my front legs were covered in mud.

“Don’t dig too deep. You’ll end up falling into your own hole.”

The One-Eyed Knight said while sticking his arm out from the window and putting a plate with food on it on top of the wood crate.

How rude. Not even I would fall into a hole that I dug myself.

And just as I said that, I fell.

Distracted by breakfast, my front paw slipped into the hole, and from there I rolled right in.

“Told you so.”

The One-Eyed Knight laughed. How embarrassing. My face exploded with heat.

“Eat properly.”

With a smile still on his face, he said that and then closed the window, disappearing into the depths of the room.

When I escaped from the hole and looked into the room from the crate, the One-Eyed Knight had just gone into the hallway from the room’s door. Noticing me peeking inside, he lightly raised his hand and made a ‘see you later’ gesture. He’s probably heading off to do work or training now.

After ascertaining that the One-Eyed Knight had left the room, I descended to the first step of the wood crates and began my meal.

The breakfast menu was a warm soup. Soaking in the soup that contained carrots and potatoes was bread cut into bite-sized pieces. It sort of felt like cat food. Thank goodness they didn’t take things oddly into consideration and serve me raw meat instead.

While panting, I scooped up the food with my tongue and brought it to my mouth. The bread had become mushy, and while it looked bad outwardly, it was tasty.

With my tummy full, I licked the soup stuck around my mouth while thinking about what to do from now on. While I really want to go to where Mother is, as usual, I did not know how to get to the Capital. That’s why I might as well stay here for a bit, or something like that.

Inside this fortress, there are no innocent yet terrifying children, nor are there hunters that would target my fur. The only ones here are knights, so I think it’s a pretty safe place.

I don’t think that knights would do something like bullying a small animal. The One-Eyed Knight is pretty kind after all.

With my current legs, getting from here to the Capital would take an eternity. There is bound to be danger on the way too.

That being the case, I think it’d be better to not go any further and just wait here for Mother. Unlike the mountain, there are plenty of people here so I won’t be lonely, and above all else, I’ll be able to eat such delicious meals.

……the truth is that is probably my main goal.

After scratching my head with my hind leg, I avoided the hole I dug with a wide berth and started walking off. Since I’ll be under the care of this place for a while, I should make a proper round of the premises first.

While moving stealthily to avoid encountering any humans, I arrived at the same sports ground that I came across yesterday. Perhaps more accurately speaking it was a training ground? The place where the One-Eyed Knight was working his subordinates hard.

However, today there was no one there, and the snow-covered training grounds was completely silent.

Perhaps because someone had gone running, there were footprints left in the snow that made a large circle around the edge of the grounds. There were some footprints around the area where the knights had trained yesterday, but other than that, the snow was completely untouched. Nobody had tread on it.

Fidget fidget……

Right now, my large eyes are surely sparkling. I could not stop the throbbing of my heart.

No one could possibly win against that pure white temptation.

It’s impossible for me, impossible I say!

After making a perfunctory glance to ensure nobody was nearby, my tail shook side to side as I broke off into a run. I will leave my mark on this untouched snow!

The snow was probably about 20 centimetres deep. Both soft and beautiful, it was the finest snow. Panting, I ran, jumped, rolled, buried my face and dove into the training ground.

How fun!

It’s fine even if you laugh and say, “Are you a child!?”. Because right now, I am a child.

With my previous life’s appearance, I wouldn’t have the courage to do this, but now that I’m a baby fox, I wasn’t embarrassed at all.

As snow got stuck onto my prided fur, I panted, growing out of breath, while rolling around on top of the snow as I pleased.

And then, after I was satisfied, I went back to my patrol of the premises. It was also fun to prowl about so that I wasn’t found by any humans. It had a similar thrill to playing hide-and-seek or tag.

I secretly shadowed a knight going somewhere, and snuck up as close as possible to a knight standing on guard at the gate. If I was found out, then it’d be my loss, but right now I shouldn’t have been caught by anyone yet.

Normally I had a more human-like thought process, but right now my [Play Switch] was on, so not even I could stop myself. My instincts demanded for fun.

Even while being astounded at how childish I was, when I saw freshly fallen snow, I still couldn’t help but dive into it, unfortunately.

Leaving my pawprints on the snow, tailing the knights, climbing on top of the small mountain of shovelled snow, sniffing the scent of horses in the stable, accidentally going into an outhouse-like place and having my nose feel like it would fall off……

After playing with all my heart all day, before I knew it the sun was about to set.

Figuring it was about time for dinner, I returned to the barracks and found the One-Eyed Knight standing in wait in front of the small shed that I had turned into my nest. Apparently he moved all the shovels that had been inside it and spread out an old blanket.

After leaving the plate with dinner——-which seemed to be some kind of meat that was simply grilled——on the wood crate, he glanced in my direction and spoke teasingly.

“Was it fun running around on top of the snow? You looked like you were having fun.”

……………he saw?

For some reason, I suddenly feel embarrassed. Just where and when was I seen? Probably around the time I was frolicking on the training grounds?

I shook my tail to hide my embarrassment and swore that I would be a bit more prudent from now on.

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