At the Northern Fort V2C31

At the Northern Fort V2C31: Day Before the Decisive Battle

Like Hyllis had reported, the black-cloaked men did not appear to be planning on moving until we were closer to the Capital, so the day passed rather uneventfully.

At times Hyllis would fly up into the sky and search for any suspicious persons in the vicinity, but she reported that nobody was tailing us either.

After a few hours had passed, with some breaks inserted in between, we arrived at the town of Chedas just as the sun was about to set. 

It was a large town with an atmosphere that resembled Gouda’s, but by the time we had arrived, all the stores other than inns, bars, and restaurants had started to close their doors.

Before we went through the town gates, Hyllis gave us a warning.

“Those suspicious men should be waiting in this town for your arrival. While they don’t seem intent on making a scene in town, you should still be on your guard.”

If they make their move according to plan, then the second attack should occur in the forest just outside of Chedas.

In other words, since we don’t plan on leaving the town for today, the decisive battle will be happening tomorrow.

As the One-Eyed Knight and everyone dismounted their horses prior to entering the town, us spirits and fairies hid ourselves amongst their luggage.

Bringing around a fox, a panther, a snake, a flashy-looking bird, and a ball of light would stand out after all.

We’ll end up drawing the attention of more than just the black-cloaked men.

Kugalg and I went into the large backpack that the One-Eyed Knight was carrying and held our breaths.

While listening to Kugalg purr merrily as he stuck close to me, we swayed back and forth for a period of time.

“There should be a facility for knights to stay at here. If the enemy’s numbers have increased, then shouldn’t we also have the knights here cooperate to help protect Mil-chan and everyone?”

“……if Sarrell is the ringleader in this incident, then it’s possible that he’s already pulled some strings with the knights stationed here. He’s incredibly meticulous after all. Up until now, I’ve always admired his thoroughness. And it’s because I acknowledge that ability of his that I feel that we should be wary of anything happening. It isn’t like all the knights here will obey Sarrell’s command, but if even one of them is under his hand, then they’ll be able to pretend to cooperate while taking action to kidnap one of the spirits.”

Commander-san explained with a stern tone of voice, rejecting Tina-san’s suggestion. He appeared bitter at the thought that he had to doubt his subordinate knights, including Captain Sarrell-san.

Tina-san also nodded in understanding, and it was decided that they would cooperate with just the five of them until the Capital.

After about another five minutes of walking-

“We’ve arrived.”

I heard Commander-san’s voice say. It appeared that we’ve arrived at the inn we’d be staying at tonight.

“This isn’t the same inn that those guys are staying at, right?”

Commander-san turned to the luggage that Tina-san was carrying and said. Because Hyllis was inside those bags.

Perhaps because Hyllis peeked her head out from the luggage to check the inn, there was a rustling sound before she responded with, “It’s alright. Probably”. 

“Oh, by chance are you sir knights? Welcome. Will you be making use of the inn?”

“Yes, that’s right. But before that we’ll be heading out for a meal, so could we have you take care of our horses?”

“Of course.”

There, the innkeeper went outside and the One-Eyed Knight and everyone left Leader and Ilus in his care.

It seemed that Innkeeper-san saw the uniforms that everyone was wearing underneath their mantles and thus realised that they were knights.

“Kugalg, be quiet! You’ll be heard by someone.”

I warned Kugalg as he continued to purr, but it seemed like not even Kugalg himself could control the rumbling of his throat.

However, after a few seconds, the sound steadily got quieter and quieter.

(Huh? Did he fall asleep?)

Kugalg had blissfully closed his eyes, and had begun to breathe steadily in a slumber unnoticed. 

It’s said that cats feel more safe when in a dark and narrow space, so perhaps Kugalg felt more relaxed in the luggage and ended up falling asleep as a result.

Everyone once again began to walk in order to eat dinner, and the swinging movement of the bags felt so good that I also started to get sleepy.

But my stomach was empty, so I stubbornly refused to sleep until I had dinner.

It appeared that the One-Eyed Knight and everyone had found a notable establishment, as the jingling of a bell signalled their entrance.

I couldn’t see, but it seemed like there were a lot of customers, bustling about noisily. Rather than going to a quiet restaurant, a noisy one like this one might be more inconspicuous.

“Shaddup, to begin with you’re the one who……”

“Whadyu say? Ai’m-”

None of the drunken old men seemed to have realised that knights had entered the restaurant, as they continued their quarrel.

“I’m so hungry~”, Kix grumbled as the sound of him pulling out a chair and sitting down resounded. It sounded like the One-Eyed Knight and everyone had been guided to seats that were deeper into the store.

The bag that Kugalg and I were in was gently placed on the floor.

The waiter soon came to receive their orders, and everyone asked for a suitable amount of food and drink.

“I’ll give Mil’s portion once we’ve returned to the inn, okay?”

I heard the One-Eyed Knight say through the fabric of the luggage.

Meaning that I wouldn’t be able to eat here.

Eventually, after about ten minutes had passed, the ordered dishes were delivered. Everyone clinked their glasses in a reserved manner and started digging in.

Seems like someone was eating meat. I can smell the scent of the fragrant sauce……

My nose twitched as I sniffed from inside the luggage. Kugalg was still sound asleep next to me.

I tried letting out a small whine from inside the luggage, but the surroundings were too loud, so it didn’t reach everyone. It couldn’t be helped, so I tried using a paw to lightly scratch at the inside of the bag.

I want to eat with everyone too. I feel like it won’t be as fun to eat on my own at the inn.

This time I scratched a bit harder, using both my paws to claw at the bag.

“We’ll make sure to leave Mil’s portion behind. We can’t feed you here, so endure it until we get back to the inn.”

The One-Eyed Knight said that apologetically, but I didn’t give up.

When I silently started to scratch at the bag even more violently-

“Alright, alright.”

The One-Eyed Knight surrendered and opened up the rucksack a little bit, using his fork to put a piece of sliced meat in.

Yay!

After I ate the piece that was slipped into the luggage, another small piece of sliced meat was presented to me.

“Is Kugalg sleeping?”

“Yup.”

 

I nodded and bit into Kugalg’s portion of meat. Kugalg doesn’t feel the sensation of hunger so he’ll be fine. I’ll eat it all.

“Is Hyllis-chan not hungry?”

Tina-san tried peeking into her own luggage.

When you thought about it, Hyllis had probably lived about five times longer than Tina-san, but for some reason it didn’t feel weird for TIna-san to address Hyllis with ‘-chan’ as though she were a child.

“What does it mean to be hungry? Spirits don’t eat food like humans do.”

“Though there is a spirit right here that eats all the human food she wants.”

Kix said with a laugh.

“Milfiria’s a strange one.”

Hyllis, I can hear you!

As the meal ended and I had also finished eating my fill, the One-Eyed Knight and everyone left the store.

“There weren’t any suspicious people?”

I restlessly shifted about in the pure darkness of the luggage and said.

I had forgotten Hyllis’ words saying, “Those suspicious men should be waiting in this town for your arrival”, and while I was hiding amidst the luggage, I ended up forgetting myself in the meal.

Everyone fell silent at my question.

They all exchanged glances, seemingly asking each other, “What should we do?”. 

“I’m…not scared.”

Though the truth was that I was a little scared.

But it was even scarier to not know anything.

“We’ve been followed ever since entering the town. It seems to be one of the black-cloaked men.”

Perhaps because he was taking me into consideration, the One-Eyed Knight didn’t use a serious tone of voice, instead speaking as though it was nothing.

And then he soon followed with this.

“But considering the fact that his other comrades aren’t around, they probably don’t plan on doing anything yet. They’re just observing our movements.”

Like Hyllis said, they probably did not plan on attacking us in this town.

However, when I thought about how we were being followed, it creeped me out and I couldn’t relax.

While I wanted for that suspicious bunch to be caught as soon as possible so as to resolve this problem, I didn’t want for the One-Eyed Knight and everyone to have to fight.

“Hmm……”

As I groaned quietly in the bag, we appeared to have arrived at the previous inn. 

The light of the lamp passed through the orange cloth and reached my eyes, so I could tell that we had arrived inside a lit building from the dark outdoors. 

This inn was probably run by a married couple, as the missus at the counter gave us a warm welcome.

“My, my! Sir Knights, welcome to our humble inn.”

Hearing her bright voice, I could imagine the sincere smile that the missus was making. She probably felt more secure with having regular visits from knights preventing crime at the inn.

The One-Eyed Knight and everyone also seemed to understand that fact, as they did not try to hide their identities. They did the same in the previous towns we had passed through.

In all probability, passing through the towns also served as a form of patrol. 

“Are there any empty rooms?”

“Tonight there are 2 two-person rooms as well as 2 four-person rooms available.”

The one who asked was the One-Eyed Knight, but-

“Then we’ll be borrowing a four-person room and a two-person room.”

The one who responded next and paid appeared to be Commander-san.

Clink, the sound of coins being placed on the counter resounded.

“Will you be okay with just one two-person room?”

“It’s fine. I plan on staying in the same room as you guys after all.”

Commander-san said that happily, but behind him the sound of Kix going, “Geh-……” leaked out. 

It appeared that the four men were going to stay in one room, while Tina-san would use the two-person room.

“You’ll be in Rooms 4 and 5 on the second floor. You’d prefer to be neighbours, correct?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

After receiving the key and climbing the stairs, the One-Eyed Knight opened the door to the room.

“Kix, where are you going? Go in.”

“Ugh……”

The One-Eyed Knight seemed to have pulled Kix back with one hand. Kix responded in a reluctant manner.

He was like a problem student being forced to stay in a room with three teachers on a school trip.

Not only that, but his ‘teachers’ were the principal, the head teacher, and the guidance counsellor who was also the PE teacher—in other words, Commander-san, Branch Captain-san, and the One-Eyed Knight—thus, I could understand why Kix’s spirits would fall.

“Pardon me for using one room on my own……Mil-chan, Kugalg-kun, tomorrow morning I’ll brush your fur for you.”

Tina-san rubbed our heads inside of the luggage.

(Now that I think about it, today I didn’t talk to Tina-san much.)

I did ‘change seats’ several times while we were on the move, going from Branch Captain-san to Commander-san, then the One-Eyed Knight. Every time we took a break, I changed my riding partner, but I didn’t ride together with Tina-san nor Kix. 

“Then, see you tomor—”

“Wait!”

I enthusiastically poked my head out from the bag that the One-Eyed Knight was carrying. After confirming that there wasn’t anyone else in the corridor, I attempted to make a flashy jump down to the floor but-

“Uwah-……!”

I failed in my landing and ended up rolling forward.

However, this was probably flashy in its own way.

“Are you alright? That probably hurt.”

“I’m compwetely fine……”

Enduring the pain, I pretended that I had rolled forward on purpose and got up, running over to Tina-san, who was in front of the neighbouring room.

“Today I’ll sleep with Tina-san.”

“Eh, really? That makes me happy.”

“Then, me too!”

As I entered the door that Tina-san opened, Hyllis also followed, flapping her wings after me. 

“Let’s sleep with all us girls!”

“Yeah!”

“I want to hear about Hyllis-chan’s love stories.”

Right before the room’s door was about to close, Mother’s fairy hurriedly flew through the gap. Apparently the fairy was also a girl.

“Good night~”

Tina-san greeted the One-Eyed Knight and the rest before closing the door.

For a brief moment, I heard Commander-san’s lonely-sounding voice coming from the corridor.

“……make sure to lock up properly.”

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