At the Northern Fort V1C16

At the Northern Fort V1C16: Expanding Friendship

“Now then, what should we do with you?”

After we left the Branch Captain-san’s office, the One-Eyed Knight suddenly called out to me. Wondering what he was talking about, I tilted my head.

“You’d hate to spend the entire afternoon housesitting, right?”

Hmm……I’d hate it.

But if the One-Eyed Knight told me to do it, then I would. This time for sure, I’ll show him that I can be a good kid and housesit. 

I wouldn’t want to move around too much and knock something over or break anything again, so I’ll stay in my bed. Just imagining it made me frighteningly bored, but it can’t be helped.

As I thought about such things, the One-Eyed Knight suddenly burst out laughing. What is there to laugh about?

“You’re easy to read. The moment I said [housesit], your tail dropped, you know?”

If I were a human, I’m sure that my face would’ve turned bright red. It was true that my tail would expose my honest emotions. Right now it was hanging down depressedly in a feeble manner.

“Do you want to play outside? If you stay still inside too much then you’ll probably end up with a lack of exercise after all. You also need to practice hunting, right?”

Nope, it’s not really something I have to practice? Even if I don’t hunt mice, I can still survive. 

“Wild dogs only really start to get active when it gets dark. You don’t need to worry much about being attacked during the day. And if they do appear, you can run to the guys training outside, or the guards near the gate for help.”

Now that I think of it, it was getting dark yesterday when I was attacked by the wild dog. During the day, there is a lot of human presence outside, so the wild dog probably won’t come onto the grounds.

The One-Eyed Knight crouched in front of me and gently stroked my head. His hand was big, so just one of them completely covered my head.

“If Mil were human, then I probably would’ve had you stay in the safe indoors to housesit even if it made you feel a bit cramped. You’re still small after all. But you’ll eventually have to return to the wild. Rather than having you learn how to obediently housesit indoors, you should learn about what kinds of dangers there are outside.”

If I had taken the form of a dog or cat, then he probably would not have thought of returning me to the wild, and would’ve taken me in as a pet. Taking in a fox does make for a bit of a delicate situation.

I nuzzled my head against the One-Eyed Knight’s hand. Pet me more.

But I should probably be very thankful for the One-Eyed Knight’s plan for me. If I continued to live closely with him around the clock, then I’d end up attached to him, which would make it even more difficult when we had to part.

No, it was already a little bit late. I’ve already come to completely trust the One-Eyed Knight, and I like him very much. I liked him as much as I liked Mother and the fluffy snow after it has piled up nicely. Incidentally, next on the ranking is jerky.

I wonder how many more days it’ll be until Mother returns? Being unable to talk myself, I wonder how I’ll be able to say my farewells to the One-Eyed Knight? He’d probably get worried if I suddenly disappeared……

When I thought of that moment, I grew a bit despondent.

***

The outside really is fun! Snow is the BEST!

Saying, “I’ll come to get you before it starts to get dark”, the One-Eyed Knight released me in the corner of the outside training grounds. He also said things like, “Don’t go off the grounds”, or “Don’t get near any dangerous places”, or “Don’t fall in the pond”, mentioning a mountain-load of precautions, but after seeing the snow in front of me, I got so excited that barely heard any of it.

My depression from thinking about my future farewell with the One-Eyed Knight just a few minutes ago has disappeared to who-knows-where. The instant I got outside, I went – BAM! – and dashed at full speed away from him. I feel like I heard the One-Eyed Knight go, “Oi……”, behind me with a sad voice. He said things like, “I’m gonna go back inside”, or, “I really am going back, is that okay……?”. Please, go back to do your work.

I ran around the empty training grounds, but even that couldn’t calm my excitement as I made a lap around the grounds, going along the building wall. The time of boredom during the morning seemed like a distant memory.

I thought that my mind was that of a human, but I wasn’t as sure when I saw how happy frolicking in the snow made me. It seemed that I also did possess the heart of a spirit that loved snow, and the heart of a young animal. 

Just how fast could I turn a corner without dropping my speed? I challenged those limits. I chose the narrow paths where the snow had been cleared, so that I wouldn’t lose my footing even if I ran while making a turn.

Just how long could I maintain my high speed?

Most of the time, I ended up failing and charging straight into the snowbank. It was fun doing that where the snow was soft, but sometimes when I hit parts that were a bit frozen and hard, it hurt quite a bit. 

After failing to make the turn and crashing into the hard snow twice, I finally calmed down.My human mind returned.

Before I knew it, my entire body had become covered in snow, so I shook my body to throw it off.

But, many clumps of snow clung to my prided ruff and belly fur, plus the fur around my feet. It didn’t seem like I’d be able to get them off myself just from moving around a little bit.

When I tried walking on top of the snow once more, even more snow started to gather on the clumps, causing them to grow even larger. They’re starting to get a bit heavy.

I tried to get them off somehow on my own, but wasn’t able to do anything with my short legs, and I couldn’t reach them very well with my mouth.

What’s with this snowball! I’m a spirit of snow, you know? Get off!

As I struggled atop the snow on my own, I suddenly heard the sound of footsteps crunching on the snow, indicating someone’s approach. When I flusteredly whirled around, two knights who were properly dressed in snow gear had stopped a short distance away from me, laughing a bit while looking this way. They were probably the guards that were at the gate. Since I could see the front gate behind them. 

“You can’t get it off?”

One of them crouched down and beckoned to me.

A stranger. I’m a bit scared. But I want to get these darn snowballs off. If I keep playing with them on me, then they’ll probably end up snowballing, literally. 

The two knights did not try to approach me themselves, as they patiently waited for me to go over voluntarily. Yeah, these kinds of people somehow give me a sense of calm. Though if they vigorously tried to approach, I’d run away reflexively.

I cautiously approached the crouching knight. I was a bit nervous. With an exception of the One-Eyed Knight, this was the first time I’ve tried approaching someone of my own accord like this.

Unconsciously inhaling in a deep breath, I sniffed the scent of the knight in front of me. There aren’t any particularly dangerous scents; it’s alright.

My heart thumped as I stopped in front of a knight that I was meeting for the first time. Please……take off the snowballs.

“Ohh……she really came. Has she started to get used to humans because of the Vice Captain? Stay still.”

Even as he expressed surprise at my willingness to approach, he helped to crush the snowballs one by one with his glove-covered hand. 

“The dog I have back at home also has long fur. He also gets snowballs stuck on him on snowy days.”

He spoke with a nostalgic tone.

As soon as he finished taking off all the snowballs, I quickly ran away from him. Haa, that was nerve-wracking. But thanks!

My tail started to wag at feeling how light my body had become.

“Today I’ll be over there until dusk. Call me if you need anything.”

The knight said that and pointed at the gate behind him. After giving a light wave with his hand and saying, “See you”, he went back to his post together with the other knight.

Thanks, Aniki*!

• *T/N: Aniki = sort of like saying “big bro” or “brotha”

In the end, on that day I was taken care of by Aniki two more times.

The snowballs form really quickly……

Well, now that the sun’s started to set, the One-Eyed Knight came to get me.

I figured it was about time for him to come, so I was already waiting for him at the place where he dropped me off during the afternoon. I was still a bit out of breath from running around.

“Did you have fun?”

Seeing me panting with my mouth open, going ‘haa haa’, the One-Eyed Knight let out a faint laugh. It was fun, very fun!

Up until now, I’ve lived at the mountaintop and was surrounded by snow all my life so I never realised this, but after being stuck inside all morning, I had an epiphany. I really do love snow. I also love running around outside. Since I have my fur, it wasn’t that cold, and the snug warmth of a kotatsu……or such similar sources of warmth, strangely didn’t feel as attractive to me now. When I was a human, I tried to stay in the house during the winter as much as possible without going out. 

“As expected, you like the outdoors better.”

The One-Eyed Knight said that with a slightly lonely tone, so I bit his boot’s shoelace and gave it a tug. Cheer up.

“You found something new to mess with?”

He tapped my head, as if to tell me ‘bad girl’. 

No, I was trying to console you! I actually wanted to lick the One-Eyed Knight’s hand, but my mouth can’t reach that high!

When I released his shoelace, he then pet my head to tell me ‘good girl’. The warmth of his hand felt good, so it made me feel like letting bygones be bygones.

I was then told, “Let’s go eat”, so my mood got even better.

But, the dining hall was a place of ordeals.

While it seemed that he had brought me a bit before the most congested time of day, there were still far more people in the hall compared to the morning. Seeing me shrivel up, the One-Eyed Knight called out to me asking, “You wanna wait in the room?”. But I can’t keep letting these kinds of situations make me lose my nerve. Since I’ll be staying here until Mother returns, I have to get used to people other than the One-Eyed Knight.

I gave a small bark to say, “I’m alright”. Although I was only able to make a more feeble-sounding bark than expected.

Amidst the congested dining hall, I walked closely to the One-Eyed Knight’s leg. A murmur of, “I’m a bit scared of accidentally stepping on you”, came from above.

When we arrived at the counter, the uncle that looked to be one of the chefs said, “So you’ve come!”. This person makes delicious things, so I like him, but his voice is loud, which makes me jump a little.

Taking both my portion and his own into his hands, the One-Eyed Knight sat in a seat at the corner of the dining hall. It was the same seat as this morning. I wonder if it’s the One-Eyed Knight’s special seat?

Today’s menu is soup with a bit of broth made of finely cut vegetables, a number of bite-sized pieces of meat, and a soft-boiled egg on top of it.

An egg…….! The soft-boiled egg looks delicious! The egg made my eyes sparkle more than the meat.

As the dish was placed before me, I immediately stuffed my cheeks with the egg. The dense egg yolk melted in my mouth.

“I knew you’d be here! Mil-chan~”

And then, the one who appeared before me as I enjoyed my egg was Tina-san, who I had also met this morning, and……the Blond Knight-san. I swallowed down the egg that I had been chewing.

Tina-san is fine, but I might be a bit bad with the other knight-san. His eyes as he stared at me with a gaze filled with curiosity gave me an indescribable sense of nervousness. My instincts sensed the same kind of danger that I had come to understand from my encounter with the children I met prior to coming here. 

“You’re a furball like always!”

Just when I noticed the Blond Knight-san suddenly running my way, he suddenly grabbed my small body and lifted me up, going [Fly high, fly high].

Gyaaa, so high! Scary!

As expected, my instincts were right. This person is dangerous. He has a dangerous innocence, the [heart of a young boy]. 

“Kix!”

Tina-san hurriedly stopped him. So this dangerous person’s name is Kix. I’ll remember that.

The moment I was placed on the ground, I fell back on my butt. M-My hips gave out. That might’ve been scarier than the roller coasters from my previous life.

As I absentmindedly started to tremble, the heavy sound of a ‘BAM’ resounded next to me.

“Ow…….ouch!!”

When I turned to see what happened, Kix was holding his head while squatting. Before I knew it, the One-Eyed Knight had stood up with his fist clenched. Did that fist smash down on Kix’s head?

The One-Eyed Knight’s fist seemed like it’d be as hard as rock, so it probably hurt a lot. That wasn’t something that you could describe with lower-case letters like [fist], or with all-caps like [FIST]. It’d be all-caps in bold, [FIST]*.

• *T/N: In the RAW, Mil refers to hiragana, katakana, and kanji instead, but for cultural localisation purposes, I think this is the best equivalent I can think of. 

After the One-Eyed Knight finished the silent corporal punishment by fist, he lightly stroked my head before sitting back down in his seat.

“You idiot!”

Turning towards Kix, Tina-san rolled her eyes with exasperation.

“Kix, what are you doing?”

At that moment, a bunch of spectators began to shuffle around and gather. Seeing the faces of the 5 or 6 men that gathered, my complexion underneath my fur grew even paler.

Why are all of them knights with such scary faces……wait, ahh! Aren’t they the guys who were trying to save me yesterday?! The bearded person and the cropped-hair guy are also here. Their faces are scary as always!

They greeted the One-Eyed Knight with a, “Thank you for your work today” and then—— while this may be a bit rude to think, it looked like a picture of a yakuza head receiving bows from his subordinates——they turned towards me and broke into smiles. Even their normal smiles are scary.

“Yo, you doing well?”

“You didn’t get sick?”

“Did that idiot Kix bully you?”

But the things they said were kind. I really shouldn’t say that they’re scary just based on their outer appearances. 

“Do you remember me from yesterday?”

The bearded person pointed at himself while saying that. Of course I remember him.

But being surrounded by them, with their scary faces and large frames, my knees involuntarily started to shake. I might just pee myself. While I know I shouldn’t judge them based on how they look, my tail was going between my legs, and started to grow round from the fur standing on end.

“Oi, she’s super scared of ya.”

“Ain’t it cause your face is scary?”

“You should look at your own face before saying that!”

Stop, don’t should with such an angry tone! My tail is going to grow even rounder!

“You guys, you’re too loud.”

The One-Eyed Knight continued his meal at his own pace as he calmly warned them. Somehow he seems used to this.

“Sorry.”

After the Scary-Faced Squad lowered their heads in remorse, their shoulders fell in a dejected manner as they murmured.

“But, if she’s this scared, then it’ll probably be impossible for us to hug her.”

“Probably. It can’t be helped. She doesn’t seem to remember meeting us yesterday either.”

“Dang……I wanted to try stroking that soft-looking fur.”

Hearing them say that with voices that sounded like they were truly sad hurt my conscience. Naturally, I remembered meeting them yesterday, and I was grateful that they drove away the wild dog and tried to save me.

It’s just, since I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t tell them that directly with words. I can’t explain that, “Although my knees are trembling, it’s not like I hate you guys. I’m truly thankful”. 

“While I’m used to having both women and children being afraid of me, to think that even animals would fear me-”

“I resent my parents who birthed me to have such a face……”

Seeing the Scary-Faced Squad consoling each other, Tina-san tried to back them up in a small voice by saying, “I’m not scared of you”, but after they retorted, “You were scared stiff when we first met, weren’t you?”, she fell silent. Incidentally, Kix still hadn’t recovered from the pain of the One-Eyed Knight’s fist. 

“We’ve been like this all our lives. When trying to take lost kids into custody, we’d be mistaken as kidnappers——”

“Even though we were wearing our knight uniforms.”

“When we tried to save a lady being bothered by some guy hitting on her, we’d instead be mistaken as being the scoundrels hitting on her——”

“Even though we were wearing our knight uniforms.”

While the One-Eyed Knight continued his meal silently, I could not help but feel sorry for them after hearing such a pitiful confession. I could feel something warm welling up at the corner of my eyes.

It was true that the current me couldn’t express my feelings through words.

But, who needs words? So what if I can’t talk?

I could just show them through my actions!

After picking up a [certain object] with my mouth, I mustered all my courage to approach the Scary-Faced Squad. Noticing that, they held their breaths in surprise.

It’s okay, these people are completely different from how they look. They really are good people. While repeating that to myself, I forcibly silenced my animal instinct that was screaming, “That face is dangerous! It’s the face of an incredibly strong guy! I gotta run away!”.

My tail was still extremely round, and my hips were still giving out a little. However, I stood in front of them, and dropped the thing I was holding in my mouth onto the ground. It was one of the pieces of meat that was in today’s dinner. 

Pushing the meat forward with the tip of my nose, I presented it to the guys whose eyes had gone round as their bodies stiffened. 

And then in the next instant, the Scary-Faced Squad, whose movements had come to a complete stop from the shock, broke into chatter in excitement.

“Eh, EH!? This…is your dinner, right? You’re giving it? To us?”

“Weren’t you scared of us……?”

“I was certain that we were hated.”

“Wait……could it be that she remembers us from yesterday? That’s why she’s giving us this meat as thanks.”

“I see, that makes sense! Thanks for yesterday! Well, the one who actually jumped into the pond and saved her was the Vice Captain, so we didn’t really do anything worth giving thanks for!”

It’s fine, it’s fine. I ended up experiencing a different kind of fear from the wild dog after being surrounded by you guys in the pond, but I was happy that you were trying to save me.

It’s not much, but split up this meat amongst yourselves. It’s my expression of gratitude.

“Uwohh! Somehow I feel incredibly happy!”

“Being thanked is great. I almost feel like crying!”

“There aren’t many occasions when we’re rewarded for being kind to others after all.”

The Scary-Faced Squad were wiping away tears in front of the tiny fragment of meat. Just how hard has the life they’ve been living up until now been……?

After that, I gave a piece of meat each to the One-Eyed Knight, who saved me from the pond last night, and Tina-san, who nursed me while I was unconscious. Rather, I pushed it onto them.

Even though the two didn’t seem to know what to do with the meat, they both appeared extremely happy. I wonder if my feelings of gratitude reached them~?

Incidentally, Kix was still down from the One-Eyed Knight’s fist.

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Translator Comments:

Phew, that was a long chapter. A whole 8 pages of translated text! Still, it’s nice seeing Mil starting to get along with more people other than the One-Eyed Knight! The poor Scary-Faced Squad though……they only got one tiny piece of meat to split in between them……lol.