At the Northern Fort V3C19

At the Northern Fort V3C19: Consulting Hyllis!

“Wow, so this is Fort Cord.”

When I raised my head after transferring, a stone fort towered in front of me. It gave a sturdy feeling like the Northern Fort, but was a bit more compact.

The stones of the outer wall had some chips and cracks, so the fort seemed old, but there wasn’t any mud or dirt on the walls. There were some marks indicating that the moss had been cleanly scraped off as well.

The height of the grass was even, without a weed in sight, and appeared to have been precisely managed. It was almost certainly done on Captain Sarrell-san’s orders. There’s no doubt that the inside would be even cleanly polished. 

By the way, where is Hyllis? -it was the moment when I started looking around for her.

“Where are you looking? I’m above you.”

Just as I saw a black shadow falling down, Hyllis landed on my head in her colourful bird form. While she was light, my head was suddenly grabbed, and as usual her claws stung as they dug in.

“Hyllis! It’s been a bit!”

I raised my chin and tried to look at Hyllis, but doing that also made my head move. When her foothold became unstable as a result, Hyllis moved to Kugalg’s head before she fell. 

And then, she tilted her head at my words.

“A bit? Didn’t I just go to play at your place a month ago?”

“That’s right.”

I answered honestly. I subconsciously looked at time from a human perspective, but for spirits who lived for a long time, a single month probably felt like what a single day would be for a human. 

“So what’re you up to today? Did you come to play?”

“No, I had something I wanted to ask Hyllis for advice about.”

“Advice? From me?”

Hyllis then made a slightly happy expression.

“This is the first time someone’s ever come to me for advice! I don’t know if I’ll be able to give you any proper advice, but I’ll do my best to help! Now, tell me anything. Just what is troubling—”

At that moment, Hyllis’ beak stopped moving. 

She temporarily stopped her conversation with me, then turned her head to the left and said, “The knights from here have come”. 

The fort itself was blocking my line of sight so I couldn’t see them, but apparently the knights were approaching from around the bend. 

My ears were also picking up on the sound of human footsteps, and I started to walk in that direction, my interest drawn by it. Kugalg still had Hyllis sitting on his head as he remained motionless, wary of the humans he was meeting for the first time.

Eventually, seven of Cord’s knights came along the round fortress walls and walked towards us.

“Right, so then that guy ended up being lectured by Captain Sarrell for an hour.”

“Captain Sarrell’s gotten kinder, letting him off with just an hour-long lecture.”

“Wahaha! You’ve said it. Last time too—”

I couldn’t tell whether they were in the middle of work or in the middle of their break, but the knights who had been walking while making idle chatter suddenly came to a stop as they noticed us in front of them. 

Their expressions stiffened, as though time had stopped for them in the middle of their conversation.

The knights of Cord appeared to have bodies tempered by training like the knights of the Northern Fort, but they had a more subdued feeling to them, and they didn’t look nearly as rugged outwardly. 

They didn’t look like the Scary-Faced Squad, whose faces made it seem like they had one or two previous convictions, nor did they give off the air that they could defeat a bear with their bare hands. They also weren’t like the knights of the castle, and didn’t appear particularly gorgeous or good-looking. 

But, their properly arranged hair and uniforms gave a clean and favourable impression. 

“A white……fox cub?”

After the knights awkwardly stared at me, their gazes turned towards Hyllis behind me. They looked at me, Hyllis, and then Kugalg in turn, with all seven of them making the same motions at the same time.

“If Hyllis-sama is with them, does that mean that’s the rumoured child of the Spirit of Snow!?”

“And that’s the Child of Fire?”

The knights, who had apparently realised Kugalg and my identities, suddenly raised their voices in excitement.

“I’ve always wanted to meet them once and try petting them.”

“We’ve only heard rumours about them after all.”

“I wanna pet her too. But we’ll have to be careful and make sure no fur gets on our uniforms.”

The knights were extending their hands towards me, one after the other, so I took advantage of the gaps between them to dodge past them. I don’t particularly hate being touched, but it was the first time we’ve ever met, so somehow I didn’t feel like it.

And after all is said and done, I like people who can accept both me and the fur I shed. 

“Ah, wait a sec-”

“Look, come he-……ow! Oi.”

“My bad, I bumped into you. Ah, she went over there.”

The knights clamoured as they crouched down on the ground and crawled on all fours to catch me as I ran too and fro. Hyllis took flight and ended up bumping her small and thin legs against the head of the knight right in front of her. 

“What are all of you playing at!”

“Ow ow, no, it’s not like we were playing……”

“Do your work. We have important matters to discuss.”

After Hyllis said that in an exasperated manner, the knights stood up and left disappointedly.

“I wanted to touch that fur……”

I found the knights who were looking back at me with such longing that it made the hair at the back of my neck stand on end pitiful, but I figured that I would just let them touch me the next time I came to play at Cord. 

“So, what did you want to consult me about? I’ll listen, so tell me.”

Hyllis returned to Kugalg’s head, puffed out her chest, and said that in a big sister-like way. 

However, when I gave the same explanation that I had given to Daphine-san to Hyllis, Hyllis’ eyes narrowed as she made an iffy expression.

“That’s what you wanted to discuss? Something about how two human knights are sharing a room and something about a single room……you say?”

“Yup. Why do you think Rekka-san wants a single room? -is what I wanted to ask.”

Wondering if she’d give me a fresh and novel response, I stared at her with expectant eyes. However, Hyllis gave an even more exasperated expression compared to the one she gave the knights earlier and said.

“Does it really matter?”

Then, apparently having completely lost interest, she raised a wing while still sitting on Kugalg’s head and started to use her beak to groom herself.

Kugalg got angry in my stead and spoke.

“It’s something that’s important to Milfee!”

“Then you should give her advice, Kugalg! Why does the knight Rekka-san want a single room?”

“I dunno.”

He immediately answered, clearly having not given any thought into it at all, so I turned to Kugalg and shooed him with my front legs, pretending to hit him. You, you!

“I thought that Hyllis might know more about knights. Ah, now that I think of it, is Captain Sarrell-san doing well?”

“He is. Right now he’s not a captain, but a vice captain though. Every day during his breaks between work, he spends his time cleaning the fort. He cleans quite well. Apparently Winst and the others will be coming here soon, so he’s been happy about that recently.”

“Hyllis, have you become friends with Captain Sarrell-san?”

“Friends, you say……I’m not as clingy as you, Milfiria. The only one I want to cling to is Hilg! I go to Sarrell’s office a lot, but there’s not much to talk to him about…….ah, right.”

Hyllis apparently remembered something, as her eyes widened as she continued.

“The Branch Captain of the Northern Fort sent a small basket to Sarrell to be used as my bed, but what’s with that? There‘s a ribbon wrapped around the handle, and the inside is lined with an awfully frilly fabric. On top of that, there’s a similarly flutteringly cute and soft cushion inside of it…….was that really bought by that Branch Captain? He’s the black-haired man that was together with you in the spring, right? My impression of him changed after learning that he picked such a cute thing.”

Hearing Hyllis’ words made me feel like I was about to burst out laughing.

“And I don’t know what kind of advice that Branch Captain’s letter had, but after that Sarrell’s been buying me all sorts of things, so I’ve been in a real fix. It’s been things like that shawl you wore before, or toys, or sweets. While it does make me happy to get gifts, the shawl gets in the way when I’m flying, and I don’t play with things like toys anymore. I also don’t eat, so it’s all gone to waste.”

“I’m sorry.”

I reflexively apologised. 

Just what kind of advice has Branch Captain-san been giving Captain Sarrell-san?

“But you know, I actually rather like that bed basket! I had them leave it by the window in a nice, sunlit place in Sarrell’s office.”

Hyllis would sleep in the cute, frilly basket under the pleasantly warm light of the sun. Meanwhile, Captain Sarrell-san would work silently, sometimes glancing at her as she did so.

As such a scene came to mind, I felt that Hyllis was building a rather nice relationship with Captain Sarrell-san while maintaining an appropriate distance between them.

“I’ll tell Bwanch Captain-san that Hyllis likes the bed. I’m sure he’ll be happy.”

“Yes, give him my thanks, and tell him not to give Sarrell any more weird advice. Also, while I do like the bed basket, that doesn’t mean I want more of them, so don’t send them – remember to tell him that. Somehow I feel like he’d start sending a bunch out of happiness…….I don’t know much about that human, but I just have a feeling that would happen.”

I did feel like her gut feeling on that was on the dot, so I’d have to make sure to remind Branch Captain-san. 

After that, Hyllis did not mention Rekka-san’s matter at all, so I brought the conversation back to it.

So, about the thing I wanted to consult you about…….”

Hyllis resumed grooming herself as she spoke.

“If it was Sarrell, he’d probably say this: “That knight Rekka probably does not like how dirty the knight Tina makes the room”.” 

“Tina-san doesn’t make the room that untidy though.”

She probably still had a ways to go compared to Captain Sarrell-san, but amongst those in the Northern Fort, she was on the side that liked to keep things clean. Well, it’s relative to the other knights are just bad at keeping things clean.

“Then I don’t know.”

Hyllis took out a feather that was about to fall out with her beak and then carelessly tossed it away as she said that. Ah, that feather’s pretty so I might want it.

As I thought about how it’d get dirty if I picked it up with my mouth to bring back, I sniffed the pea green feather that had fallen onto the ground. 

Even though we knew it was Hyllis’ feather, somehow when we caught a whiff of someone’s scent, we had to verify it with our noses, so Kugalg’s nose was also drawn to it.

“I know!”

After getting his fill of the scent with a single sniff, Kugalg returned to his former position. Hyllis regained her balance on his head as she raised her voice.

“How about I bring the two of you to Hyderin’s place after this? She’s a strict spirit, but she likes looking after others, so she might be able to give you advice. She’s also lived a long time, so she might be more knowledgeable about human emotions too.”

“Granny Hyderin’s place? Is it okay if we go too?”

I’ve heard her name before, and I knew that Hyderin had raised her granddaughter Hyllis in the stead of her free-loving daughter Hyllin. But this would be the first time I ever meet her in person. 

Hyllis was apparently not very good with Granny Hyderin, but she was grateful to her for educating her and loved her despite everything. She seemed a bit excited as she spoke.

“Yeah, all spirits love children, and Hyderin’s naturally like that as well. She’s someone who can’t help but take care of small children when she sees them. She would never find Milfiria and Kugalg visiting to be a nuisance! Then, let’s head off!”

“Okay!”

Hyllis was on Kugalg’s head, so I hastily stuck close to Kugalg. When I did so, a wind soon burst out and enveloped us, and the three of us disappeared from the spot. 

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