At the Northern Fort V1C10: Crisis (2)
The instant I jumped into the water, I did not feel the freezing cold that I had imagined I would. I had been worried that the temperature would be so low that it would stop my breathing, but it seems that was a groundless fear.
A pond with snow floating in it. The reason why I wasn’t feeling too cold even after entering its waters was likely thanks to my fur.
In particular, my undercoat that grew densely close to my skin was filled with air to prevent water from penetrating through it.
Since the water wasn’t in direct contact with my skin, my bodily heat wasn’t immediately being stolen away.
However, the chill in the water was different from the chill on land, and feeling that caused my muscles to stiffen. Though, being a snow spirit that’s strong against the cold, I don’t think that I can freeze to death……
I fervently moved my legs that had stiffened from the cold and started to doggy paddle. I had thought that my fluffy fur would become incredibly heavy after getting wet, but unexpectedly, the air in my fur acted as a float, so it wasn’t too hard to keep myself above the water’s surface.
As I expected, the wild dog that had been chasing me was stopped by the edge of the pond. It drooled while letting out a low growl, its eyes not leaving my frame once as it restlessly circled the pond’s circumference.
At times it would paw at the water’s surface with its forepaw, but either because it was scared of the water itself, or it sensed danger from the icy cold water, it did not dive into the water after me. It simply glared my way in a vexed manner.
For the time being, I’ve escaped the crisis of being eaten by a wild dog, but the dog in question doesn’t appear to have any intentions of giving up. It continued prowling around the pond, vigilantly aiming for the moment I went back to the pond’s shore.
While giving the wild dog a sidelong glance, I continued to move my short legs underneath the water, swimming in the centre of the pond. If I stay here then the wild dog’s fangs won’t be able to reach me even if it stretches its neck out, so it’s even safer.
Splash splash splash
Splash splash splash
I continued to move my legs in the water, but they were already getting sluggish due to the full-speed escape that I had been doing earlier. However, if I lost focus and stopped moving them, my nose would quickly end up sinking into the water. Rather than freezing to death, the possibility that I might drown to death first might be higher.
Just give up already.
Though I wished for that while looking at the enemy, the hungry wild dog didn’t seem to have the slightest bit of intention of giving up on capturing its prey.
I might look round and delicious, but most of my body is just fur!
As we hit the stalemate, water started to penetrate my undercoat. The moment my skin felt the chill from the water, I let out a human-like cry, going, “Hya!”. Even if I was strong against the cold, cold things still felt cold to me.
My fur was steadily growing heavier and heavier. It felt as though a viscous mud was clinging to my body.
My legs grew tired, and I started to lose the energy to even paddle in the water.
This is bad…….! This is really bad!
While floundering about as I started to drown, I desperately tried to breath air in.
“Found her! Over there!”
——-and, in that instant.
The knights who I had run past earlier came running over.
“The one in the pond is that rumoured fox cub, right? The one that’s been living here recently.”
“So she was being chased by a wild dog.”
After saying that, one of the knights picked up some of the snow that had accumulated on the ground, pressed it together and threw it at the wild dog. As the other knights also started to attack it with snowballs, they began to approach the wild dog.
After being struck with hard snowballs a number of times, the wild dog that had initially been growling at them eventually surrendered.
Even as it continued to give me a gaze filled with reluctance, the wild dog ran away from the knights, slipping through the fence as it fled out of the fortress.
However, I did not have the time to be happy about that.
My fur after absorbing the water was heavy like lead! I’m gonna drown!
“Look, come this way!”
A knight crouched down in front of the pond and called out to me. I also wanted to quickly return to shore, so I was thinking of heading that way, but after seeing the knight in front of me, I hesitated.
The bearded man looked very stern……
“Hurry up! You’ll drown!”
His low voice as he shouted made me feel as though I were being yelled at in anger.
This person is scary!
The shouting voice of an adult man had a dreadful impact. My large ears twitched and started to tremble. I don’t want to go over there.
Though I had been swimming towards the shore, I got scared of the knight waiting there and changed course. Let’s get out from a different place.
Paddling and splashing water about as I displayed my clumsy swimming, I headed in the exact opposite direction of the bearded knight.
But standing in wait there was another knight who had anticipated my change in direction——-a knight with cropped hair and a fiendish look in his eyes.
“Over here! Come up!”
I feel like I might’ve seen a vicious criminal with that kind of face on the news in my previous life…….
While it was just my arbitrary internal image of knights, I had imagined them to be [brilliant, beautiful young men], but the knights surrounding the pond right now were all muscular, and had scary faces on top of that. If they weren’t wearing uniforms, nobody would think that they were knights based on their faces.
These people were probably good people but——-they helped drive away the wild dog after all——-unfortunately, their outer appearances just had too much impact.
“Come on, hurry and come this way!”
Don’t open your eyes so wide while screaming. It’s scary! I’m bad with such low and loud voices.
I tried turning around again, but 5, then 6 grim-looking knights surrounded the pond, leaving me no space to go ashore. With my escape routes blocked off, I circled around the centre of the pond, about to drown.
“Why won’t she come ashore?”
“It’s ‘cause your face is scary.”
“Your face is the same!”
Don’t fight! You’re all at the same level of scary! You’re all the same!
“Hey, I brought a pole that we might be able to use!”
Then, yet another burly knight arrived. In his hands was a long wooden pole, its original use unknown. Then, he used it to nudge me inside the pond.
“Alright, keep pushing like that!”
“Attaboy!”
Pushed by the pole, my body approached the opposite shore.
——-the opposite shore where the vicious criminal was laying in wait…….
(Kyaa!!)
I frantically paddled the water. Panicked, I attempted to escape the pole.
“Ah, hey! Be good! I’ll push you to shore!”
I think I had probably fallen into a half-panicked state. Chased by the wild dog, I jumped into the cold pond, was surrounded by fierce-looking men while in my agitated state, and then was poked by the pole…….
Fierce-looking or not, if I thought about things calmly, I knew that these knights were trying to save me.
But, right now I was all confused, and on top of that, I had my animal instinct. Even if my life was at stake, I could not dive into some unknown person’s arms to seek aid.
I was desperate to somehow run away from both the knights standing in wait around the pond, and the wooden pole that was pushing my body.
At this point, I couldn’t even do a proper doggy paddle. I simply flailed my limbs about, staying in the centre of the pond, focusing on keeping my nose above the water’s surface.
However, I had already swallowed in water together with air a number of times, causing me to choke violently. My throat hurts. I can’t breathe properly.
My legs were exhausted, my body felt heavy, and it felt like I was about to sink right this instant.
(Mother! Mother!)
I felt like crying, and let out a pitiable voice without a hint of dignity.
It’s no good, my wet fur is too heavy. Even though I was still moving my legs, my body wouldn’t stay afloat.
As I steadily started to sink, my nose and mouth were covered by water.
I can’t breathe. It hurts.
My eyes, head, and ears sunk into the pond, until finally my small body was completely swallowed up by the water.
Ahh, I’m gonna drown——!
The moment I had a premonition of my death, the fur on my back was grabbed by someone, and I was pulled upwards by a strong force.
Ow! -I thought, as my fading consciousness returned. Just as I thought that, this time someone’s hand went underneath my stomach, pulling my body out of the water.
*gasp* -I sucked in a deep breath of air, exchanging it with water as I coughed and vomited it out. My front legs that entered my field of vision looked painfully thin. It was because my wet fur was clinging closely to my skin. Without its usual fluffiness, it didn’t feel like it was my own leg.
The person who saved me made splashes as he walked inside the pond towards the shore. It was a fairly deep pond, so the water level reached up to around his chest region.
Ahh, to think someone would enter this freezing pond that even had snow floating in it on such a midwinter evening. Putting aside myself since I’m a snow spirit, couldn’t the cold potentially cause a heart attack for a human being?
Even though it was such a dangerous action to take, he dove in to save me?
I raised my head to confirm who the brave person who saved my life was.
Was it the bearded knight, or perhaps the vicious criminal?
However, the face that was illuminated by the moonlight showed a tragic scar that ran down over his left eye.
——it’s the One-Eyed Knight.
He dove into the cold pond and pulled me out.
As I felt a sense of relief from seeing his face, I had an impolite thought.
This guy’s also got a pretty frightening look himself.
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