At the Northern Fort V1Ex2

At the Northern Fort V1Ex2: Child of Flame

Today we’ve come to the Capital.

To meet the human king.

It seems that Mother had hid my existence to protect me, but after the recent incident, my existence was exposed to the One-Eyed Knight and the rest of the knights. Thus, she changed her way of thinking.

Naturally, the One-Eyed Knight and them would have to report my presence to their liege, the King. That being the case, we might as well beat them to the punch before they started investigating things on their end.

She would introduce me to the King and his people, and give them a proper warning by saying, “When it comes to my child, I do not know what sort of actions I might take”, or, “Tell that to the rest of the humans”. 

Being a coward myself, my heart was pitter-pattering from hearing Mother speak to the royals in such a commanding tone of voice. I didn’t know if the King was just used to that, or if Mother herself was actually that important, but in any case, I was relieved at the fact that they didn’t get angry at her for that.

“But she really is quite cute.”

The King’s face broke into a broad grin as he looked my way.

Mother and I had been led to a spacious and luxurious-looking room that seemed like an audience room for honoured guests. Surrounding us were delicate and refined furnishings that were a bit gaudy as we sat on an elegant couch that faced the royalty. The royals that were currently here include the King and Queen, as well as the First Prince. The First Prince was already an adult, while the King and Queen were around 50 years old. All of them had glistening blond hair. They looked very royal-like.

“Truly. Just looking at her feels soothing.”

“Petting her would probably feel really nice.”

The Queen and Prince followed.

Ever since the moment we met, they’ve been giving off a sort of [‘Really want to pet you’ aura], but I had slipped behind Mother’s body, with half of my body stuck between Mother and the back of the couch, motionless. No, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t say that I felt too nervous in front of royalty. In my previous life I was just a young girl, you know. 

The King and his family sitting across from us all had their bodies slightly tilted in order to see me as I hid behind Mother. Incidentally, the Guard Knight-sans standing behind them were also tilted slightly in a similar manner, so it looked a bit funny. 

“But you know, I really was born in a great era. It’s quite rare to be able to see a spirit when it’s still young, right? Not only that, but to see two child spirits – both the child of snow and fire.”

The Prince turned towards the Queen and the rest, asking in a manner as though to prompt their agreement.

“The child of fai-ya?”

When I unconsciously murmured the words that I was curious about, everyone across from us suddenly turned their gazes back towards me. Since this was the first time I had spoken since coming here, I was afraid of surprising them, but the Queen praised me, and said, “So she can already talk! What a cute voice”. How embarrassing~.

“Snowlea-dono hasn’t heard? There is a Fire Spirit living in the southern region of this country, and he also has a child. He’s about half a year older than Milfiria.”

The Prince politely informed us with a friendly smile.

A Fire Spirit? A child around the same age as me? I hadn’t the slightest idea.

When I stealthily peeked at Mother’s face, she looked slightly displeased. I wonder if she doesn’t really like the Fire Spirit-san.

“Cease that topic. Do they not say……speak of the devil, and he shall appear? What do you plan on doing if that guy appears?”

Ah, so she really doesn’t like him.

The King made a wry smile at Mother’s response, but then he suddenly turned his gaze towards the window and once again laughed while speaking in a troubled manner.

“It appears that it’s already too late.”

I also turned to face the direction that he was pointing in.

When I did so, I saw a bright red ball of fire floating there that reflexively caused the fur on my back to stand on end. For a moment I thought it was a monster, but then that fireball started to flare up, growing long and thin as it whirled round and round, swelling up like a vortex.

Then in the next instant, the fire had disappeared, and standing in its place was a dark-skinned man.

He had flaming red hair, and crimson eyes. Based on the flow of the conversation, he was likely the Fire Spirit.

His upper body was bare, exposing a tattoo that ran from his collarbone to both his arms. On his neck and wrists were accessories made of gold. He was wearing loose-fitting pants that ran tight around his ankles, and an embroidered sash was coiled around his waist. His attire kinda resembled Aladdin.

Even though Mother wore a kimono, he didn’t have any Japanese elements to his attire. I guess there are all sorts of forms of dress even amongst spirits.

“Oh, Snowlea! It’s been a while!”

 The muscular Fire Spirit-san lightly waved his hand and gave mother a friendly smile. His sparkling white teeth were wonderful.

I had thought that the Fire Spirit would give a more egotistical feeling, but he seemed very friendly. He didn’t seem like the sort to become completely unmanageable when losing his temper either, though at a glance he made the place feel a bit too hot. Also, his voice is loud.

“Don’t come near me.”

The Fire Spirit-san had been approaching in an awfully intimate manner, but Mother hastily picked me up and stood from her seat. Unlike her usual self, she was breaking into a cold sweat.

“Have I not told you since ages ago not to carelessly approach me! We are weak to your [energy]. When you approach it feels as though our bodies will melt.”

She said while glaring at him.

I had also collected myself a little and tried probing out the Fire Spirit-san’s [energy]. This certainly is a little……it might be a bit rough for us. It was like hot air was jetting out from his body. The heat made my body feel a bit sluggish.

“My bad, my bad! But you don’t need to avoid me that badly! I’m also not that used to that chilly [energy] of yours, but I don’t hate it that much either!”

‘Wahaha’, the Fire Spirit-san laughed heartily, causing a heat wave to assault us. Kyaaa, I’m gonna melt! Mother and I huddled together to endure it. The human King and his people didn’t seem particularly affected, so they probably weren’t as sensitive to the change as we were.

So this is the Fire Spirit……I kind of get why Mother was trying to avoid him.

To be frank, it wasn’t just that we were poorly compatible. For instance, if fire and snow were brought together, which one would be the first to disappear? Obviously, it’d be the snow. Because before the fire goes out, the snow would end up turning into water first. And even if the fire is put out by the water after that, the thing that won against the fire was the water, and not the snow.

In other words, fire and snow weren’t on equal standings with each other. Fire is the stronger one.

“Oh, so you have a little one……”

The laughing Fire Spirit-san faintly tilted his head, curiously looking at me as I rested in Mother’s arms.

As though to hide me from that gaze, Mother hugged me tighter.

“She’s my child! Don’t come near her!”

“Child? I didn’t know that you had a child!”

“Because I just told you now. And I said, don’t come any closer!”

“She smells like water. Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Based on her size, it’s only been about a year since she was born. Is she your child with ‘Water’? Even though you rejected having children with me!”

“Of course! Copulating with you is simply unthinkable. It’d be unbearably stuffy!”

“You two shouldn’t have such conversations in front of the children……”

The King said something quite reasonable. Rather, I don’t really know how spirits reproduce. Based on Mother’s conversation, they perform the deed similar to how humans do. Wait a sec, I have a father? 

“Ohh, that’s right! The topic’s a bit too early for the children’s ears.”

The Fire Spirit once again displayed his white teeth as he smiled and shifted his attention to his feet. I was also drawn in by his gaze and looked that way as well.

——and there, I found some sort of small black mass, leading me to unconsciously stare at it.

“My, how delightful! What a wonderful day this is. To be able to see two lovely child spirits together!”

The Queen clapped her hands in delight.

A child spirit other than me……

“Grrr……”

Looking carefully, I realised that the black mass was an animal that resembled a black panther. His body had a child-like roundness and was enveloped with glossy black fur, with his size being pretty similar to my own. But his sturdy-looking stout legs signaled how he would probably grow much larger in the future.

On the tip of his long and thin tail was a small red flame, bringing about an appropriate appearance for a fire spirit. Does it not feel hot to have a flame there?

Though this was the first time I had ever seen a child spirit other than myself, I had but a single word for it.

“Wahh, how cute.”

I subconsciously murmured my thoughts.It’s obvious that a tiny panther would be cute. While all children are cute, I personally think that the children of large carnivores are particularly cute.

However, perhaps because my statement was rather peculiar, the Fire Spirit-san laughed as he said-

“You’re also quite cute, you know.”

The King and everyone else was also laughing. It certainly is a bit strange when a child looks at another child and says, “Cute”. 

But as child spirits that were around the same age, I wanted to make friends with him. Thinking that, I jumped down from Mother’s arms.

“Hey, Mil!”

“Isn’t it fine? It’s a good thing for children to get along.”

“But……”

Mother seemed worried, but after being chided by Fire Spirit-san, she decided to watch over things for the time being.

As I walked towards the small panther that was at his father’s feet, I could feel the surrounding gazes mercilessly piercing into me. There was Mother’s worried gaze, and as for the others——Fire Spirit-san’s, the King’s family’s, and the Guard Knight-sans’ gave a bit of an excited, cheerful feeling. 

If it were me, I’d also probably end up observing the interactions of a baby fox and panther if it happened right in front of me. They were probably eagerly anticipating the sight of an explosively cute interaction.

In order to show that I didn’t have any hostile intent, I lightly shook my tail while approaching the child. Naturally, my approach also meant getting closer to Fire Spirit-san too, so it was a bit hot, but I endured it. The child was hiding behind his father’s leg while glaring at me cautiously and growling. His eyes were red, as though they contained flames within them. 

“Kugalg, you’re a man, aren’t you? It’s unbecoming to be intimidated by a girl younger than you!”

After being reprimanded by his father, the child——Kugalg, stopped growling. As I had guessed, he was a boy after all. If I had to say, I wanted a female friend, but whatever.

“Did I not teach you that intimidation is something a weakling does?”

“I’m not weak!”

Denying his father’s words, Kugalg raised his voice. Thicker fangs than my own could be seen peeking out from his mouth. 

The small black panther seemed to gather his determination as he swung his tail side to side——with the flame at its tip mysteriously looking as though it might go out, while not doing so——and readily stepped forward. He was a bit taller than me. 

As might be expected from a fire spirit, I could feel heat being emitted from his body. However, as he was a child, that heat was a bit weaker than his father’s, which relieved me a bit.

“Hey, you!”

While he used an overbearing tone of voice, his lisp made it lose its impact. 

“I’m nyot weak!”

He snorted while declaring that, but I wasn’t particularly thinking about whether or not he was strong or weak. I just thought that his small and fat legs were cute. I wonder if his paw pads are black? Could he show me a bit~?

“I’m stwong! Watch——”

As Kugalg said that while lowering his stance, a bad feeling came over me.

And then, as predicted, he threw himself onto me. Kicking off the ground, he made a large jump and instantly covered the distance between us. I didn’t have any time to run away before I was pinned down by Kugalg, and let out a pitiful cry of, “Kyan!”.

“Milfiria!”

“Kugalg!”

However, I only felt Kugalg’s weight for a moment, as we were soon pulled apart. The scruff of Kugalg’s neck was roughly grabbed by his father, and I was in Mother’s nice and cool arms. It seemed that the royalty and knights had also tried to help, as their bodies were bent forward, but Mother and the Fire Spirit had acted faster. 

“Kugalg! You stupid son! What did I tell you about spirits showing off their own power!”

“Hmph, are you truly in any position to say that? You battle-loving sore loser. Your son is just like you.”

Mother talked down on Fire Spirit-san as he reprimanded his son.

“Ugh……but I don’t raise my hand against weaklings.”

Fire Spirit-san as he murmured his excuses was a bit cute. I kinda want to see him turn into his beast form. A big black panther is sure to be cool~.

And while still detained in his father’s grasp, Kugalg didn’t show any signs of remorse as he looked up at his father and fixated on a weird point.

“Father, let me down. That guy smells kinda gud. I wanna smell her again.”

You don’t care about who’s stronger or weaker anymore? Kugalg flailed about in struggle, but he could not escape from his father’s hands. “No!”, he was flatly rejected.

I simply ducked into Mother’s arms, huddling into them. Yup, let’s wait until Kugalg has grown up a bit mentally and gets a bit calmer before becoming friends with him.

“Never let your child approach my cute Milfiria again.”

Mother raised her eyebrows while declaring.

Fire Spirit-san appeared troubled as his eyebrows lowered.

“Well, I’ll teach him to treat girls more kindly in the future. But after that it should be fine to let the two meet. There aren’t any other child spirits around the same age as them, so it’s possible that they might pair up in the future, isn’t it?”

“There is no such possibility! Don’t say such a dreadful thing!”

Mother refuted, her face pale. I don’t know much about becoming a ‘pair’, but it’s probably something like becoming lovers or a married couple. Though I think it’s a bit hasty to be thinking about stuff like that.

But thank goodness Mother refused. I was about to get a slightly violent fiancé for a moment there, despite only being 1 years old.

The potential fiancé in question, Kugalg, was still struggling as his nape was held by his father, his red eyes boring into me. And he was still making perverted statements like, “I wanna sniff her”. Thank goodness he had the appearance of a cute black panther. If he were an old man, I’d report him without any hesitation at all.

Not long after that, Mother said, “I’m going home. I can’t stand this heat.”, and we returned to our nest on the snowy mountain. However, a few days later, Kugalg used the transfer technique and appeared on that very mountain.

He pushed me down and thoroughly sniffed me all over——and while saying that sounds kind of obscene, I’m a fox cub, while he’s a little panther, so it didn’t look erotic at all. If I had to say so myself, it just looked kind of cute——and after leaving me completely dazed from the sudden situation, Kugalg left with a satisfied expression.

Just what the heck was that?

A random attack?

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Translator Comments:

Next week’s release might be delayed because I’ve been busy with RL and just got my second vaccine dose a couple days ago which put me out of commission for a day or two. I’ll try to get next week’s chapter ready on time, but I give no promises. For now, all I wanna do is sleep~ =.= Nyaaaaa~