At the Northern Fort V3C31

At the Northern Fort V3C31: Tooth Brushing

“Got it, tomorrow right! I’ll come with you two.”

Just as I was raising a forepaw in agreement, Kix’s figure appeared from inside of the fort.

“Tina and Rekka are skipping out on work together.”

For some reason, Kix’s left foot was bare, and he was holding his boot in his hand while walking. I felt a momentary chill, thinking that he had overheard what we had just been talking about, but Kix didn’t appear to doubt anything as he said this.

“What are the four of you talking about? Lately you’ve been getting pretty friendly.”

“We’re not skipping out! We were just chatting a bit. And we’ve been friendly for a while now.”

When Tina-san hugged me up and said that, Kix shot back with a teasing tone of voice.

“Heh~, Rekka and Woodbaum are both quite kind, for being willing to accompany Tina in her endless chitter-chatter.”

…….what about me? You’ve forgotten to mention my name when speaking about kind people, you know?

I extended a paw out from Tina-san’s arms and tried to tap Kix with it.

“Gosh! I’m not chitter-chattering endlessly!”

Blehh, Tina-san stuck out her tongue. Cute.

Letting out a smile from their friendly, unreserved exchange, Rekka-san asked Kix a question.

“So? What happened to your boot, Kix? You didn’t step in horse dung again, did you?”

“I didn’t-”

Kix lifted up the boot in his hand and explained.

“Look at this. The sole is coming off. I came to ask you where I could find a new one, Rekka.”

It was true that half of the sole had peeled off.

“Me? Why would you ask me? You should know more about it than I do, Kix. You’ve been here longer than me after all.”

“No, I dunno about that sorta thing.”

Rekka-san let out a sigh, but being depended upon seemed to make her happy as her voice perked up as she responded. 

“Leave it in the equipment room. Rhodes-san is the one managing it, so if you talk to him about it, you should get a new one.”

“Ueh-”

Kix made a strange response and then waved his hand as he departed. 

My eyes followed his retreating figure as I heard Rekka-san and Tina-san saying things like, “What a hopeless guy”, and “Agreed”. 

However, it was then that I suddenly looked up in realisation. 

Because the One-Eyed Knight was at the window of the fort’s second floor, and he was looking down at us.

As soon as he met my eyes, he gave a light smile towards me before disappearing further into the room. When did he get there?

I started squirming about, and Tina-san let me down on the ground.

“What’s wrong? Mil-chan.”

“I just remembered I had something to do! See you tomorrow!”

After saying my goodbyes to everyone, I entered the fort. I ran up the stairs and down the hallway, but the One-Eyed Knight figure was nowhere to be found.

“One-Eyed Knight!”

Even when I called his name, there was no response.

“One-Eyed Knight!”

All that came back where the echoes of my own voice bouncing off the stone walls of the corridor. 

It couldn’t be helped, so I changed my strategy and began whining ‘kyun kyun’ in a high-pitched voice. When I continued to cry out in a lonely voice, it didn’t even take ten seconds before the One-Eyed Knight poked his head out from around the corridor and came back towards me.

“I can’t win against Mil.”

He hugged me and gave a troubled smile.

I know. If Rekka-san’s weakness was the dark and narrow places, then the One-Eyed Knight’s weakness was most certainly me. Even Iron Man had a weakness. 

I looked directly at the One-Eyed Knight and asked.

“One-Eyed Knight, just how much have you noticed about the matter with Rekka-san?”

“……I more or less got it. I said this before, but I have been paying extra attention to her state.”

As expected of the One-Eyed Knight.

“But she’s been steadily getting better, right? I’ve been watching over things in case I needed to step in, but it doesn’t seem like there’ll be an opportunity for me to do so.”

As he said that, the One-Eyed Knight placed me on his shoulder and began walking towards his office. 

“Yup, right now things are going well.”

My head was facing the opposite direction from where we were heading, so I turned my head while responding. 

“I see. I hope tomorrow goes well too.”

“Yeah.”

-rather, he’s even aware of tomorrow’s plan. 

As we talked while he walked, we eventually arrived at the One-Eyed Knight’s office and he temporarily placed me on top of the table. The One-Eyed Knight opened the table’s drawer and appeared to be rummaging around, so I also stuck my head out and looked inside it.

“I prepared it ahead of time, but where did I put it……ah, found it.”

What the One-Eyed Knight had been searching for was a small bundle. When he spread it out atop the table, a pile of large white pieces of gauze were revealed to be within it. 

I tilted my head and observed the pile. Though I stared at it with a piercing gaze and sniffed it, as expected it was just some ordinary gauze. 

“Are you hurt?”

Based on the size of the gauze, the wound couldn’t be all that small, so I got worried.

However, the One-Eyed Knight shook his head.

“No. This is for Mil’s use.”

“For me? But, I’m not hurt.”

When I tilted my head across from him, the One-Eyed Knight laughed and answered. 

“This is for brushing your teeth.”

“Brushing……my teeth?”

My honest tail gradually started to lower.

The baby fox inside of me perceived toothbrushing as an unpleasant event, and thus started to come up with excuses to avoid it.

“But…I’m…a fox.”

“Unlike wild foxes, Mil eats sweets, so Branch Captain—or rather, Branch Captain’s father, Duke Callain, mentioned that you might get cavities apparently. In one of his letters.”

“Letter?”

Don’t tell me it was the letter I carried to Branch Captain-san the other day.

I transported something that contained information that was inconvenient to myself with my own paws, and then encouraged Branch Captain-san to read it. 

“Apparently lately amongst nobles, it’s become recognised that pets also require toothbrushing.”

“B-But, even though I haven’t brushed them before, my teeth are still shiny, and there aren’t any—ANY cavities.”

I said ‘any’ twice to emphasise how okay I was. 

However, the One-Eyed Knight was heartless.

“Even if you’ve been okay up until now, you might still get an illness in your mouth if we continue to leave it be. And if that happens, it might be something that won’t just heal with rest, unlike with Woodbaum’s case. We might end up having to pull out your teeth if that happens.”

That……I wouldn’t want. Even in my previous life, I was scared of going to the dentist. In a world like this where the level of medical technology was lower than Japan’s, just thinking about having a tooth extracted made my tail puff up with fear.

“Look, it’s okay. Just brushing your teeth won’t hurt.”

“Why is the One-Eyed Knight doing it, and not Bwanch Captain-san?”

While it wasn’t like I didn’t like the One-Eyed Knight, if Branch Captain-san was the one who obtained the information about toothbrushing, why hadn’t he thought of brushing my teeth himself? Did he think it was troublesome?
However, the One-Eyed Knight rejected those thoughts as he made a bitter smile.

“Branch Captain was worried that Mil would get cavities, but he was also worried that Mil would come to hate him if he brushed your teeth. Thus, he passed the duty of doing so to me.”

So Branch Captain-san consulted the One-Eyed Knight and had him take up the role of brushing my teeth instead.

“Now there are even small toothbrushes meant for pet dogs to use, apparently. It didn’t make it for today, but I’m sure that eventually Branch Captain will buy one for Mil’s use.”

I don’t need that kind of thing specially ordered for me!

Even as the One-Eyed Knight spoke, he was steadily making his preparations to brush my teeth while sitting on the chair. With my hind legs pointing towards the One-Eyed Knight’s torso, I was laid on my back atop his lap, set so that it would be easier for him to brush my teeth.

I don’t wanna. Even if I know it won’t hurt, somehow I still don’t wanna.

The One-Eyed Knight extended his finger that was wrapped with gauze towards my mouth, so I used my forepaws and attempted at my final act of resistance.

However, the One-Eyed Knight gently grabbed my forepaws with one hand and made a troubled expression. 

“Hang in there, I’ll give you jerky after we finish with this.”

He immediately tried to entice me with jerky, like always.

Just when I felt the finger enter my mouth, my small fangs were rubbed. Having gauze in my mouth felt disgusting. I mumbled ‘Mmgghhrahhh’ and once again started to make full use of my forepaws to resist.

“Mil, please, stop moving your legs and your tongue.”

Even if you tell me that, when something enters my mouth, my mouth is automatically set to start licking it, even if I know that it isn’t food.

While I knew that they were worried about me, I couldn’t help but grumble complaints in my heart towards Branch Captain-san’s father, who went out of his way to write a letter about making me brush my teeth while enduring the brushing. Brushing my teeth wasn’t particularly painful or stressful, but it didn’t feel good, nor was it fun.

But thinking about how I’d receive jerky as a reward once this finished was enough to make me happily go, “Yay!”. As expected, the One-Eyed Knight’s act of using jerky to entice me to do anything was correct.

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Translator Comments:

Mil is steadily being domesticated by the One-Eyed Knight with jerky.