At the Northern Fort V3C21: Mousehole
That night, I went to the fort to stay overnight in Tina-san’s room.
However, right now it was a bit early to go to sleep, so I was relaxing in the lounge together with everyone. I had an hour-long afternoon nap at Granny Hyderin’s place, so even though it was already past 8, I wasn’t sleepy.
Kugalg had also come with me, so I invited Woodbaum while we were at it to sit in a corner of the lounge with us.
We had a picture book spread on the ground, as Woodbaum read it to Kugalg and I in his deer form.
“And then, the prince proposed to the princess, and the princess happily accepted.”
Woodbaum skillfully used his nose to turn the page.
I was listening while sitting, but Kugalg was lazily lying on the ground, bored.
And behind us, I could hear the knights whispering to each other.
“A deer is reading a picture book to a fox cub and a panther cub……”
“Who the heck brought a picture book here?”
“It was probably the Branch Cap.”
Everyone then glanced to our right side. Sitting on the sofa closest to the wall was Branch Captain-san, who had taken off his jacket and was relaxing with a book in hand.
It was rare for Branch Captain-san to come to the lounge, but he was probably pretending to read a book while actually watching us.
Woodbaum didn’t pay any attention to Branch Captain-san’s ardent gaze as he continued to read us the picture book.
“The two returned to the castle and had a wedding ceremony, and lived happily ever after.”
Bam, he closed the picture book and then started to open up the next book. Just how many picture books did Branch Captain-san bring?
Kugalg had already closed his eyes, and I was also starting to get tired of picture books. Thus, I softly sat down on the picture book and forcefully ended the reading time.
“Milfiria, I can’t read like this. How troubling.”
I flopped over, showing him my belly as I laid down. My four legs pawed at Woodbaum as I observed the state of the lounge.
Gilles was strumming a guitar-like instrument today as well, but this time Kix was singing along with him as he liked. When the two of them started to get carried away and got too noisy, the nearby Gregorio gave an intense, “Shaddup!” as warning, making the surrounding knights laugh.
The One-Eyed Knight and the gatekeeper big bro were chatting, while Branch Captain-san was eagerly looking this way as usual.
And Rekka-san and Tina-san seemed to be chit-chatting happily together.
However, as I thought, Tina-san’s smile appeared a little awkward, as she was worried that she might be hated.
I remained face-up on the picture book, hugging Woodbaum’s face as I restrained him and watched over the two of them.
“Milfiria, I can’t move……”
I wanted to quickly clear up the negative feelings that were swirling around Tina-san, so if I’m not able to establish the cause with tonight’s sleepover, perhaps I will ask Rekka-san directly. Though I don’t know whether or not she’ll tell me honestly.
“Milfiria……”
“Ah, that’s right!”
I let go of Woodbaum’s face and jumped up.
Speaking of the lounge, I realised that the mousehole still hadn’t been closed off.
Today, the One-Eyed Knight didn’t seem to be drunk, so I figured that I should tell him to do so, when suddenly another thought came to mind.
The wall where the mousehole was, was made of wood, unlike the fort’s wall. The mouse had bit a hole into that wood wall, but if we were to temporarily plug it, we would still be using a wood plank.
“Say, Woodbaum. Could you plug up that hole?”
I pointed my nose towards the small mousehole and said.
“Hmm, I probably could with a thin vine. Though it won’t look too great visually.”
Woodbaum stood up and clip-clopped towards the hole in the wall. I also followed after him.
“Then, I’ll give it a try.”
“Please do.”
Woodbaum concentrated his gaze towards the hold, when—
“-!?”
A brown vine wound around my feet, and started entangling my two forepaws, causing me to reflexively cry out.
The vine stopped growing once it had reached my chest area, but with my forepaws stuck to the floor, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything on my own, so I whimpered and cried for help.
When I did so, the sleeping Kugalg woke up, and all the knights noticed the disturbance and stood up.
“Ahh, s-sorry Milfiria! What should I do!?”
Woodbaum flusteredly stomped his hooves and circled around me.
However, as long as Woodbaum did not calm down, I wouldn’t be the only casualty.
“Wah, my legs are-!”
“Ahh! The table is-!”
Tree vines started to grow out of the ground from seven, no, eight places in the lounge.
Some were thinner than human fingers, while some were thicker than two arms. All of them twisted around the knights’ legs and the table, rendering them immobile.
“I-I’m sorry, everyone, I’m really sorry……!”
Woodbaum apologised as he witnessed the disastrous scene spreading out in the lounge.
“It’s okay, nobody’s hurt.”
I quickly said.
“And I’m sorry too. I should’ve known that Woodbaum still can’t control his power properly.”
“No. I also thought that I should at least be able to close up a small hole like that. But it seems like it’s better that I don’t use my power yet.”
Seeing the dejected Woodbaum, the knights also started to speak to cheer him up.
“Don’t worry about us.”
“We just can’t move our legs for a little bit, that’s all.”
“Thanks, you might look scary on the outside, but everyone really is kind.”
Woodbaum said in a moved manner. Rather, Woodbaum also thought that the knights of the fort looked scary on the outside, huh.
The knights that hadn’t gotten tangled up left the lounge to get a saw. The thin vines could be loosened up by hand, but since they were tree vines, tearing them off seemed to be difficult. For the thicker vines, they probably wouldn’t be able to do anything without a saw.
“Ow, ow.”
Kugalg tried biting off the vines that were winding around me, but he was biting my forepaw together with the vine, so I’d rather he stop.
“Mil.”
In the end, the One-Eyed KNight and Branch Captain-san came to my rescue, and I was able to safely escape the vines. Since my legs were that of a tiny fox, once they loosened up the vines a little, I was able to easily get out, since I didn’t have the top of my foot, nor a heel to get caught in it.
And then, after an axe was carried over, the knights split up the tasks in order to cut the vines that were entangling the legs of their immobile comrades.
However, it was at that moment that Gilles let out a frightened cry.
“Kix! Stop! It hurts!”
Gilles was also caught by a thick vine, but after seeing Kix holding an axe in hand, his face paled.
“Rekka or Tina! Rekka or Tina doing it is better!”
“Don’t be modest.”
“I’m not being modest! If it’s you, you’ll definitely end up cutting my leg too!”
“I’ll stop just before I hit it, I swear.”
“No, stop, you idiot!”
Kix really isn’t trustworthy.
In the end, Gilles called Rekka-san over to cut the vine. Having seen Tina-san’s handiwork when she made plushies, Gilles was anxious when she came over and rejected her with a, “Actually, Tina also seems clumsy, so it’s scary”. There were apparently things he couldn’t concede to even towards the girl he likes.
All of the knights who were caught by the vines appeared worried at their comrades’ crude control of their strength. Thus, Branch Captain-san, the One-Eyed Knight, Rekka-san and Gatekeeper Big Bro, as well as Rhodes of the Scary-Faced Squad were popular choices as vine cutters.
“Even though I went out of my way to help them. How rude.”
“Honestly.”
Those who had been rejected for having crude control said such words resentfully. However, probably if they had been in the opposite position, they would also want to depend on the One-Eyed Knight and the rest as well.
Woodbaum said, “I’m sorry” in apology as he went around the knights that were caught in the vines. In the end, everyone managed to safely escape the vines without getting any of their legs cut off.
As expected, I should just ask the One-Eyed Knight to close up the mousehole, -I thought to myself while turning around, only to notice that the hole had been skillfully covered by a number of thin tree vines.
“Woodbaum! Look, you did it! Thanks!”
“Eh? Huh? I really did!”
The person in question apparently didn’t seem to have noticed, but the mousehole was properly closed off in the end.
However, with this I shouldn’t have to worry about a curious mouse nibbling on my leg again, so I’ll be able to sleep relaxedly in the lounge from now on. What a relief.
Kiriko Translations 
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