At the Northern Fort V4C10: Escaping the Summer Heat (3)
The next day, we went on a picnic. By ‘we’, I meant those who had come to escape the summer heat – two royal families, Branch Captain-san’s family, Grandpa Lord, and Commander-san; from the Northern Fort, we had me and the One-Eyed Knight, Branch Captain-san, as well as Kix, Tina-san, Rekka-san, the Scary-Faced Squad, Big Bro Gatekeeper, and a few other knights.
The royals and the Lord had their own guards and servants with them as well, so it was quite a large procession.
The picnicking spot was at the edge of the forest that sprawled around the base of Snowlea Mountain. As it was my recommendation, I guided them there. The forest came to a sudden stop around here, and there was a spacious plain that extended outwards. A short distance away, you could see a beautiful stream made from snowmelt, and in the current summer season, you could also see cute flowers blooming here and there.
When winter comes, everything is buried in snow, but right now it was quite a comfortable location.
“Now then, we’ve arrived.”
I was riding with the One-Eyed Knight on his horse, Leader, but the instant I was placed on the ground I went ‘ZOOM! -and dashed off.
Running around in wide spaces like this is fun after all!
“Don’t go too far!”
“When you see her like this, she really does resemble a dog.”
Kix shouted after me as I ran around with my tongue sticking out as I panted. After dismounting his horse, the Prince said that with a smile.
As I dashed around, preparations for the picnic were steadily progressing, as the servants laid out carpet, tables, and chairs. They also set up a large parasol to block out the sun.
I’m surprised they were able to bring such bulky things with them. I wonder if royalty and nobles couldn’t have a picnic with just a picnic blanket laid out?
However, there was only one table where the female group sat, including the Queen, His Highness Aske’s wife, as well as Sharon and Branch Captain-san’s Mama.
The male group, which included the King, was seated atop a large carpet laid next to the table set-up. Commander-san and Branch Captain-san sat there together with everyone in a circle, but the One-Eyed Knight and the rest of the knights had come as guards, and thus had to remain standing.
Having Branch Captain-san and the Prince sitting next to each other was really a feast for the eyes. Underneath the azure skies sat two handsome men laughing together with a backdrop of lovely wildflowers. What a picture-perfect scene.
“Fuu, it’s hot…..”
Sneaking glances at Branch Captain-san and the Prince as I finished satisfying my desire to run around, I returned to the One-Eyed Knight’s side, my tongue protruding as I wobbled over.
“Mil-sama.”
There, as I was taking a breather and receiving water from the One-Eyed Knight, Rekka-san stealthily called out to me.
“The esteemed persons over there……they all seem to want Mil-sama to go over.”
Following the direction of Rekka-san’s momentary gaze, I found the male group sitting in a circle on the carpet. Branch Captain-san, the King, the Prince, Branch Captain-san’s Papa and Older Brother, as well as Grandpa Lord were all certainly looking towards me.
Come here~, they seemed to be saying with their eyes.
Thinking that it couldn’t be helped, I licked up the water that was about to spill from my mouth as I headed towards them.
If I had to say, I’d rather head towards the female group instead. Because all of them seemed to be eating some kind of sweet at the table, ya know?
“They’ve all completely become captives of love for the spirit’s child.”
Upon seeing the male group’s state, His Highness Aske laughed cheerfully.
I stood next to Grandpa Lord and allowed him to stroke my head. When he did so, Branch Captain-san, as well as his Papa and Older Brother, all watched with jealous eyes, like a child envious of a toy held by another child.
This family really is like that. I’ll go over there after, so wait for a bit.
“It can’t be helped. As men grow older, they all grow weak towards cute things.”
The one who responded like that to His Highness Aske’s words was the King.
The King turned to his younger brother and continued.
“I’m sure that Sharon is cuter to you right now.”
“She is the child that we eagerly awaited after reaching such an age after all. She is the apple of my eye.”
“You truly do dote on her so.”
The King smiled wryly.
And, as they had such a conversation, Sharon suddenly came this way.
“I want to play with Mil!”
“Eh.”
Without me having said that I would play with her, Sharon picked me up from behind and started walking away from the men’s group.
Ahh, Branch Captain-san’s whole family is giving me a lonely look.
“Let’s play house!”
Sharon sat on the grass and said.
“Sure.”
It can’t be helped. I suppose I’ll accompany this child for a little bit.
There, with perfect timing, a small flame lit up next to me.
“Kyaa! What is it!?”
The flame grew larger in front of the surprised Sharon, and transformed into a small black panther. It was Kugalg.
“Milfee! ……hm? Where is this place? Who are these humans? There are some I haven’t seen before.”
Seeing Kugalg’s eyes darting here and there, I began introducing Branch Captain-san’s family, Grandpa Lord, and His Highness Aske’s family to Kugalg.
“We all came here to have a picnic.”
“Hmm. I wanted to be alone with Milfee though.”
Kugalg was making an unamused expression, but Sharon, who hadn’t noticed that, was delighted at having an increase in the number of playmates to play house with.
“You’re the fire spirit, aren’t you! It’s Kugalg, right? Then, I’ll let you play with us too. Let’s play house together!”
“……play house?”
“I will play as the mother. And this child will be my daughter.”
Sharon placed the porcelain doll that she received from Branch Captain-san yesterday next to her.
“And Mil will be……alright, you can be the grandma! And Kugalg will be the pet dog.”
I didn’t think that she’d give me the role of grandma. But I guess it’s still better than Kugalg’s role of ‘pet dog’. He’s a panther, so at the very least she should’ve given him the role of ‘cat’…….
And as I was having such thoughts, the game started.
“Today’s weather is quite nice. Shall we go on a walk with Kugalg? ……oh my, Granny! You ate lunch ahead of us, didn’t you?”
Eh? Is the setting supposed to be that the grandma is going senile?
Abandoning my confused self and Kugalg, Sharon continued on as she gave an exaggerated sigh.
“My goodness, how troubling. Granny is like this, Kugalg won’t listen to me, Father hasn’t returned, and our house is poor……*sigh* I wonder what happiness truly is.”
How heavy. Isn’t this setting a bit too worldly for ‘playing house’?
I figured that girls would often pretend to be princesses when playing, but I suppose real princesses conversely pretend to be poor when playing instead. This was a bit of a learning experience.
Sharon went, “It’s so hard…….” with an awfully convincing performance of someone lamenting their ill fortune as Kugalg gazed at the sky, bored. As for me, I was holding back my desire to sneeze.
Whenever I came to places like these with plenty of weeds growing during the warmer seasons, my nose got a little itchy, perhaps due to the pollen flying around.
I scrunched up my nose and endured the impulse for a short while, but eventually I reached the end of my endurance. Thinking that it would probably be bad if I sprayed Sharon, who was directly across from me, with my sneeze, I promptly turned my head to the side and sneezed, “Achoo!”.
However, Kugalg was in the direction that I turned my head towards, and on top of that, a small blizzard burst out when I sneezed, so Kugalg’s face was covered in snow.
“……!?”
“Sorry, Kugalg!”
Failing to understand what in the world had happened, Kugalg struggled, attempting to clear the snow that was blocking his field of vision. I also tried using my forepaws to wipe away the snow, but it wasn’t going well.
“What are the two of you doing?”
Sharon asked in a mystified manner.
And then, the One-Eyed Knight approached in a slight jog, and used his handkerchief to scrub Kugalg’s face clean. Kugalg’s body temperature had started to melt the snow as well, so Kugalg’s face returned to its original cleanliness.
“Thanks, One-Eyed Knight.”
As expected, he was quick at handling situations caused by my clumsiness. He had probably been watching us this entire time.
After the One-Eyed Knight silently nodded, he returned to his position a short distance away.
“Kugalg, sorry. I sneezed. Are you okay?”
“It’s Milfee’s sneeze so I’m completely fine.”
Even as he said that, he began using his forepaws to tidy up his facial fur that had become dishevelled from the cleaning of his face. Sorry about that.
Then, when I turned my gaze back towards Sharon, I noticed that she was carefully examining the One-Eyed Knight as he left. However, her eyes did not look particularly friendly. Her eyebrows seemed to be knitted somewhat…….
In addition, she seemed to be looking at the others from the Northern Fort in turns as though she were appraising them.
“Sharon, how about we continue playing house?”
Not wanting her to look at everyone with such eyes, I said that to bring her attention back this way.
<–Previous Chapter | Next Chapter–>
Translator Comments:
Well, that’s not ominous at all……
Kiriko Translations 
Pingback: At the Northern Fort V4C11 | Kiriko Translations