At the Northern Fort V3C22

At the Northern Fort V3C22: Room at Midnight (1)

As it started to get late, everyone began to retire to their rooms at their own pace. 

“So, what will Mil be doing?”

“Me? Tonight I’m staying in Tina-san and Rekka-san’s room.”

“Tina’s room? I see……”

After I explained that, the One-Eyed Knight made a disappointed expression as he said, “Good night” and trudged away.

Next time I’ll have to stay the night in the One-Eyed Knight’s room.

On the other hand, Branch Captain-san was silently pressuring Tina-san.

Tina-san made a desperate excuse.

“D-Don’t misunderstand! There’s a reason why I need her to stay over! By no means is it because I planned on stealing a march on every-……”

After gently driving out Branch Captain-san, whose eyes had narrowed as though he wanted to say something, Tina-san wiped away a cold sweat in relief. That looked rough.

“Is it prohibited to have Mil-sama and the other spirits stay in our room?”

Having perceived Branch Captain-san’s odd state, Rekka-san asked Tina-san thus. Rekka-san has still only seen Branch Captain-san’s icy mask, and apparently hadn’t noticed his other side. 

“No, it’s not like that.”

“I see, then it’s fine.”

Kugalg was collected by Hilg-papa, who had come to pick him up, so he had already returned to their nest. Thus, only Woodbaum and I went together with Rekka-san and Tina-san to their room.

Woodbaum appeared hesitant, but since I was going anyway, Tina-san also invited him. 

Tina-san had asked Rekka-san about having us stay over and received permission already—though she probably hadn’t explained that it was to verify whether or not she snored or sleep-talked loudly—thus, Rekka-san cheerfully guided Woodbaum and I to their room.

As we arrived at the room, Rekka-san unlocked the door and allowed Woobaum and I to enter first. The narrow room didn’t have a writing desk like the One-Eyed Knight’s room, and instead of a single bed, it had a bunk bed. 

Rekka-san and Tina-san had already bathed, but they had worn regular shirts and pants while in the lounge. Now, they could finally change into their pyjamas.

All of the knights were fast at changing, so Rekka-san and Tina-san also finished changing in the blink of an eye. The sole man in the room, Woodbaum, was checking the feel of the blanket that was laid out on the floor, and hadn’t at all noticed that the two women were changing. 

“Blankets are pretty soft.”

Woodbaum said as he sat down on top of the blanket, satisfied.

“I’m happy that you like it.”

“Well then, considering how late it is, shall we head straight to bed?”

“That sounds good. It wouldn’t be good if we kept Mil-sama and Woodbaum-sama up late. We all need plenty of sleep.”

“Yeah. Woodbaum-san, Rekka-san, good night.”

Tina-san carried me in her arms and climbed the ladder on the bed. However, the scene that was reflected in my eyes when she got to the top reflexively made me want to scream.

On Tina-san’s bed were a bunch of plushies laying next to her pillow.

If they were normal plushies, then I’d probably be in high spirits saying, “So cute!”. However, with these plushies, I couldn’t tell whether they were dogs, or cats, or bugs, or aliens, or mermen…….it was impossible to tell at a mere glance what their true identities were. My brain could only process the sight of the plushies as simply ‘strange’. 

The novel colouring of the plushies also made it impossible to guess at what they were supposed to be, and their shape couldn’t be depended on to determine their identities. Even if it had triangular ears and a pointed nose, I couldn’t conclude it was a fox. That was what was so difficult about Tina-san-made plushies. 

As I gazed at the plushies, filled with trepidation, Tina-san spoke happily.

“Do you like any of them? Take as many as you like.”

“Eh.”

I didn’t feel so strongly about it as to immediately decline with a, “I don’t need it” here, so I selected a plushie with a design that was easiest on the eyes and held it in my mouth. 

It was about as large as my head, and it was shaped like a squashed manju. 

Was this modelled after a slime? 

“So you picked the little birdie! I’m happy that you like it!”

So it was a little birdie.

I left the plushie next to Tina-san’s pillow and then laid my chin on it, taking on my sleeping stance. The height was just right, so it was good as a chinrest.

However, the possibility that these slightly eerie plushies were the reason that Rekka-san wanted a single room started to emerge within me.

“Rekka-san, I’m ready, so you can put out the light whenever.”

“Ahh……then, I’m putting it out.”

Rekka-san blew out the candle that they had lit when returning to the room, and placed it on the side table. It appeared that Rekka-san always blew out the light only after Tina-san had climbed the ladder so that she wouldn’t be put in danger from fumbling around in the dark. 

After blowing out the light, the room naturally went completely dark. Tonight it looked like the moon didn’t come out, as there was no moonlight trickling in through the rectangular window. 

“Good night, Mil-chan.”

Hearing Tina-san’s words, I snorted back with a ‘kun’. Good night.

After the room grew dark, I ended up falling sound asleep as usual. Even though I had intended on at least waiting for Tina-san to fall asleep and watching over things a bit before sleeping.

I woke up in the middle of the night and reflected upon myself. 

Meanwhile, Tina-san appeared to be deeply asleep, as she didn’t show any signs of waking up even after I stretched. Right now, she wasn’t snoring, grinding her teeth, or sleep-talking. 

I stood next to her pillow and peered at Tina-san’s face as she slept face up. I observed her intently from up close, but all I could hear was her very quiet breathing. 

(Huh?)

It was then that I noticed something abnormal about the room. For some reason it was bright.

There was a flickering candle light glowing on the wall. 

When I strained my ears, I could hear Rekka-san’s breathing and the faint sound of the floorboards creaking.

Just what is she doing in the middle of the night? -I wondered as I peeked down through the bed’s railing.

(Ehh!?)

When I did so, I was amazed to see Rekka-san doing push-ups on the floor.

By her head were three candles. One was on a candlestick, while the other two were left directly on the floor, dribbling wax onto the floorboards.

Though she was doing push-ups, she was doing it so silently that not even Woodbaum had been woken up.

But she shouldn’t need to do this in the middle of the night, I thought to myself as I called out to her in a whisper.

“Rekka-san…….Rekka-san.”

Hearing my voice, Rekka-san raised her body from the floor and looked up.

“Mil-sama…….my apologies. Did I wake you up?”

“No, I think it’s because I had an afternoon nap today.”

Rekka-san stood up, so I tried to draw my head back through the bed’s railing. However, since the spacing of the railing was just about the same size as my skull, it wouldn’t slip through the rails smoothly. Even though my head had gone through the rails rather easily when I had initially put it through them.

I braced my legs and pulled back strongly. Ow ow ow……

“M-Mil-sama.”

Rekka-san flusteredly waved her hands around.

When she squeezed my cheeks while pushing them through the railing, I somehow managed to get my head out.

“Are you alright?”

Rekka-san extended her arms out and picked me up. Then, she moved in front of the candle and started to check whether or not any of my facial fur had been pulled out.

“It’s hot……”

“Ah, that’s right. You’re bad with fire. Sorry.”

While keeping me in her lap as she sat cross-legged, Rekka-san turned her body around, using her body as a wall between me and the candle.

“Why are you doing push-ups at this time of night?”

“……I couldn’t quite get to sleep.”

She couldn’t sleep so she decided to train? Wow. She really is the female version of Iron Man.

But if she does that, she’ll end up being tired tomorrow. She has to rest when it’s time to rest.

“Even if you can’t sleep, you should rest your body in bed.”

Just lying down to rest is good. If she does her muscle training, I feel like she’ll have an even harder time trying to sleep.

“Rekka-san’s a knight, so your body is important, right?”

Regardless of the fact that she was off-duty tomorrow, she still had to wake up early to do her usual work.

I got down from Rekka-san’s leg and then used my nose to poke her body to have her obediently move towards the bed.

“Yes, it is as you say……”

-she said while walking.

After confirming that Rekka-san had covered herself with a blanket, I went around and blew out the candles one by one. It was a bit difficult with a fox’s mouth, but after I somehow managed to extinguish the three candles, the room returned to being pitch black.

I couldn’t climb the ladder on my own, so I wondered whether I should intrude on Rekka-san’s bed or sleep next to Woodbaum. As I was doing so, I could hear Rekka-san’s breathing getting noticeably louder, despite the fact that she wasn’t doing push-ups anymore.

Her breaths grew quick, and she seemed to be trembling as though she were nervous.

“Rekka-san? What’s wrong?”

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