At the Northern Fort V3C15: Delivery Job
The next day, when I headed to the fort, I told the One-Eyed Knight that I had some business with Tina-san and left his office.
However, while I was searching for Tina-san, I was caught by a dark brown-haired knight carrying a large box—Gilles.
“Oh, ain’t this Mil? You came at a good time.”
“Wah, what is it?”
Gilles placed the box down in the corridor, captured me with one hand, and then placed me into the lidless box.
Then, he picked it up once more and opened the door to a nearby room.
This was the small room where all the letters and packages sent to the Northern Fort were left.
Upon entering, I saw that on top of one of the two large desks in the room was a large package as well as a light brown parcel, with a mountain-load of letters piled up next to them.
“Ueehh, there’s a lot today.”
Gilles made a reluctant expression.
The packages sent to the fort were received by the gatekeepers, and the ones that weren’t urgent were placed inside this room and left to Gilles to distribute to everyone.
However, distributing packages was an incredibly tedious and uninteresting job. It was common for knights who yawned during work, or those who idled during training and lost focus to be assigned to this job as a form of punishment. Thus, it was often left to Gilles, Kix, and Jetz to take care of in rotation.
If they hated distributing packages then they should just be more serious about their work. However, it was amazing how determined the three of them were to never change their attitudes. Not that it was something to respect them over.
Gilles had captured me to have me help out with this troublesome job. While I didn’t do it every day, the truth was that I have helped out with transporting the letters before.
I had to work for all the delicious food I received from the fort after all.
“There’s a lot of big packages. It’s started to get cold, so there’s probably a lot of blankets, hand-knit sweaters, and other heavy clothes to block out the cold being sent.”
It seemed like their families worried about the knights spending their time in the harsh winters of the Northern Fort.
“Ah, I’ve also got one. It’s from mom.”
Gilles vigorously ripped apart the package wrapped in brown paper that was addressed to him.
Inside of it were gloves made of a navy blue yarn, and five pairs of warm-looking socks.
“I told her that I have gloves and socks provided for me already.”
Even as Gilles said that, he had a slightly embarrassed, yet happy expression.
“I guess I’ll wear the socks on top of the ones I’ve been provided. I realised last year that it was warmer with two layers of socks.”
Somehow, having packages sent by families worried for their children was kind of nice. Looking at it made me feel warmer inside.
Gilles put his own package to the side and started to sort out the remaining packages.
“This is a letter addressed to the Branch Cap. It’s from his home, so it’s probably the usual letter. As usual, it’s quite hefty.”
Branch Captain-san’s father apparently cherished his communications with his son, and every month, he would send an envelope bulging out with his letter. On top of that, according to Branch Captain-san, the contents of the letter were always about trivial matters. Aware of that fact, Gilles made an exasperated expression as he quietly returned the letter onto the desk.
Then, he slowly dragged a rectangular package towards him.
“So heavy! Just what the heck’s inside of this? ……ohh, it’s for Bauns, so it’s probably the usual foodstuff they send every month.”
Every month, the Scary-Faced Squad’s fatty, Bauns, would receive food from his mother in the countryside. She was apparently worried that her son would starve, so I wanted to tell her that rather than getting skinnier, Bauns was growing even larger every day.
“Ah, this one’s for Tina.”
It was then that Gilles’ voice grew more lively.
“I’ll bring it to her later.”
It seemed that Gilles found Tina-san cute. But Tina-san got along better with Kix, and didn’t seem to be aware of Gilles at all, so even if his love were to bear fruit, it was really a matter of when in the world it could happen.
While I wanted to cheer on his love, I placed my forepaw on the small package meant for Tina-san.
“I’ll bring this to Tina-san. I was just thinking about heading over to where Tina-san is.”
“Is that so?”
Gilles thought about it for a moment, and after considering the advantage of being able to talk to Tina-san to having some of his package-delivery work decrease, he chose the latter.
“Then, I guess I’ll leave it to you, Mil.”
I did think that it was because he wouldn’t choose the former option that his relationship with Tina-san wasn’t progressing, but I didn’t say that out loud. Gilles was like Kix in that he was an elementary school boy mentally, so it couldn’t be helped.
Unaware of the fact that a fox cub was making such an analysis of himself, Gilles took a white bunny rucksack off of one of the shelves. It was the same one I used when I went to the Capital on my errand. Lately I’ve been helping out a lot with carrying packages around, so it was left in this room.
Gilles stuffed the small package for Tina-san into the bunny rucksack.
I’ll leave this and the letter for Branch Cap to you. And also……”
After saying that, he surveyed the rest of the packages on the desk, but today it was all large packages, none of which looked like they would fit into the bunny rucksack.
Gilles said disappointedly.
“Those two are probably the only ones that Mil can carry. Even though I was thinking of having you help with at least half of them.
After taking me out of the box, Gilles placed the delivered packages into it. Usually he’d put all of the letters and small packages into it to be delivered to each individual person, but since there were only large packages today, he was only able to put two into the box.
Gilles grumbled complaints as he then helped me put on the bunny rucksack.
“Ow.”
“Ah, my bad.”
Both Gilles and Kix were terrible at helping me put on the rucksack. I really wish they’d hurry up and get used to it, since they kept trying to bend my leg in directions that it absolutely wouldn’t bend in.
Gilles apologetically stroked my head.
“It’s not too heavy?”
“Yup, it’s fine.”
The two of us carried the packages and left the room together. I didn’t know how many round trips he’d have to make after this though.
“Then, I’m leaving it to you.”
“Got it.”
We split in front of the door and went in opposite directions. Let’s head to Branch Captain-san’s office first.
I thought about which route would be the most direct path to his office as I advanced down the hallway. It was quiet, except for the sound of the bunny rucksack’s swaying and my footsteps.
At the end of the hallway, I could see the backdoor. Now that I think of it, last time that was where Rekka-san flew out from. Then, I realised it.
In other words, this hallway was the hallway where ghosts might come out.
I immediately came to a stop and looked over my shoulder.
Other than myself, no one else was in the dim and icy cold corridor.
Up until now, I had been fine coming through here on my own, but as expected, after thinking that Rekka-san had encountered a ghost here, I started to get more and more scared of it.
Right now, neither the cheerful Tina-san, nor the One-Eyed Knight, who seemed like he could defeat any ghost, were here.
(Now that I think of it, I’ve heard that there’ve been some people who froze to death in this fort before.)
A cold sweat pooled in my paw pads.
What if those people still haven’t gone to heaven? What if they resent the snow spirit who caused the heavy snow to fall?
Such thoughts made my spine freeze.
All the fur on my body bristled, blowing up like a hot air balloon as I clumsily moved my stiffened legs forward.
I have to hurry up and get through this gloomy hallway!
My trot turned into a canter, until finally, I dashed through the hallway at full speed.
I maintained that momentum without dropping in speed one bit as I ran up the stairs, aiming for Branch Captain-san’s office. For some reason, it was only at times like these when no one was walking in the hallways.
Was the fort this quiet before?
I couldn’t hear any voices, but was there nobody training outside today?
I grew anxious at the feeling that I was the only one who existed in the fort.
When I arrived at the office, I scratched at the heavy wooden door and called for Branch Captain-san.
When I urged him on, whining ‘kyun kyun’, the door slowly opened inwards.
“Mil? What’s wrong?”
Branch Captain-san looked at me with a happy expression like always.
Thank god! Branch Captain-san is here! -I clung to his leg and had him let me into the room.
After sitting on a chair and placing me on his lap, Branch Captain-san looked at my puffed up fur and said.
“You’re rounder than usual. Did Tina’s mushroom fall in the hallway or something?”
The office had a large window, so it was bright. After regaining my composure, I started to feel embarrassed about the fact that I had been scared of a ghost, so I said, “It’s not like that but……” as I tried to gloss things over.
“M-More importantly, you have a letter.”
When I turned the bunny rucksack towards Branch Captain-san, his brow furrowed as he murmured, “Oh, from my Father?”.
He reluctantly took out the letter, then perfunctorily threw it onto the desk.
“You’re not gonna read it?”
“Even if I read it, it probably doesn’t differ much from the letter he sent last month. [It’s probably starting to get cold] [Don’t catch a cold] [Make sure to keep warm at night when you sleep] and such.”
“But, he did spend the effort to write it after all.”
After I said that, though he still made a face that said ‘what a bother’, Branch Captain-san still opened the envelope and started to read the letter for the time being.
He used one hand to stroke me while skimming through the letter that was countless pages long. Read it more carefully, would you?
However, when he reached the final page, Branch Captain-san finally seemed to have found something that drew his interest. It was at that page that his reading became slower.
“Brushing teeth, huh……”
Branch Captain-san lowered his gaze towards the letter as he muttered to himself.
Brushing teeth? What about brushing teeth?
Without answering the question floating in my head, Branch Captain-san went to the next topic.
“[The next time you take a vacation, you must bring the Child of Snow back with you.]”
After reading part of the letter his father wrote out loud for me, he turned his eyes towards me.
“-is what it says, so how about it? You wanna come stay at my house? Going home will be a pain, but if I can sleep together with Mil then it’d be nice.”
Branch Captain-san said excitedly.
“Hmm, sure. Bwanch Captain-san’s home seems like fun.”
“Really? Meaning that I’ll eat together with Mil, bathe together with Mil, sleep in bed together with Mil—”
His eyes sparkled as he counted things out on his fingers. His dreams seemed to be rapidly inflating in various ways. But just when would the busy Branch Captain-san be able to next take a proper break?
I had such thoughts, but it would be pitiful to shatter his dreams, so I kept quiet.
Kiriko Translations 
Pingback: At the Northern Fort V3C14 | Kiriko Translations
Pingback: At the Northern Fort V3C16 | Kiriko Translations