At the Northern Fort V4C33: Darkness, Snow, Light, and Water – In other Words, Chaos (1)
“Mother’s back!”
“Eh?”
When I shouted that, Lunabella stopped in her tracks as her face stiffened. Mother was returning to the fort far earlier than I had anticipated.
The snow within the whirlwind took the shape of a human, and when the wind stopped, Mother was standing in its place.
“M-Mother……”
“Milfiria, were you a good girl?”
“Y-You’re back so soon…….you don’t need to guard Sharon anymore?”
I slowly moved away from Lunabella as I spoke in attempts to put as much distance between us as I could. Mother did not seem to have noticed Lunabella’s presence yet.
Mother looked at me and smiled cheerfully.
“No, I just wanted to come back for a bit to see how Milfiria is doing. I get worried about leaving you alone to housesit after all. Particularly so since the Spirit of Darkness is involved in the recent kidnapping incidents. When I think about how my cute Milfiria might be targeted by the Spirit of Darkness—”
It was then that Mother, who had been smiling at me, then appeared to realise something as she suddenly turned her gaze to something slightly behind me.
She’s looking at Lunabellaaaaa……
Mother stared at Lunabella and her eyes narrowed.
“……you’re not just an ordinary cat. I sense a spirit.”
Mother’s light blue eyes then grew as cold as ice.
I hastily went to Mother and paced around her feet as I said,
“M-Mother, wait a second.”
“Not only that, but I can feel the ‘aura’ of darkness. Are you…the Spirit of Darkness?”
As she said that, snow and wind had already started to billow around Mother.
Mother had already deemed Lunabella to be an enemy.
“Mother, listen to me…….”
“Why is the Spirit of Darkness near Milfiria—”
And as Mother began to draw closer to Lunabella, Kix ran this way. Then, he picked up Lunabella in her cat form, and ran away at full speed into the fort.
“So fast!”
Kix always runs sluggishly during training, but he can actually run that fast when he’s serious?
Rather, this wasn’t the time to be impressed. Why was Kix running away? Was it to keep Lunabella away from Mother?
“What in the world?”
Mother was also momentarily dumbfounded. The blizzard also stopped.
However, she soon reacted with her brow rising in indignation as she transformed into her large, silvery-white fox form.
“Where in tarnation is that knight intending on taking the Spirit of Darkness?!”
Chasing after Kix, whose form had already vanished into the fort, Mother in her vixen form also dashed off.
“You stay there, Milfiria!”
Saying that, Mother headed into the fort.
“W-Will everything be okay?”
Together with the One-Eyed Knight and Branch Captain-san, who were silently watching over the proceedings, I waited for Kix and Lunabella’s return.
“Wait! Where do you think you’re going!”
At times, I could hear Mother’s voice coming from the fort’s hallways.
“We’re over here!”
Unbelievably, there was also the voice of Kix, calling Mother as though he were calling the person who was ‘it’ in tag.
Kix, who was carrying Lunabella, and Mother noisily ran around inside the fort. Eventually, they came back outside.
Kix and Mother, who had been chasing after him, were both panting and out of breath.
“Just…what are you doing…….”
Amazing, Kix managed to tire Mother out.
Kix approached me, gasping for air as he said,
“As expected, she’s fast when running in her fox form……haa, I’m tired……but, she’s also tired. Mil, explain everything while you have the chance.”
“Ah, so it was like that.”
The reason why Kix tired Mother out was to give me the opportunity to explain everything.
“It’s hot…….”
Mother muttered as she sat down on the ground, but the sun-kissed ground also seemed to be hot, as she created a blizzard once again in irritation. It looked like she only created this blizzard to lower the temperature around her, but if she kept recklessly making blizzards, it could result in casualties. Though it did make me happy that it was nice and cool now.
“Mother, Kugalg and everyone from the fort are here, so it’s okay.”
I spoke to Mother amidst the howling winds. Behind me, Kugalg had been picked up by Tina-san, but Lunabella was still being held in Kix’s arms.
Other knights from the fort had also begun to gather around the two spirits, creating a wall to block off the snow.
Lunabella appeared to be deeply moved at seeing everyone defend her.
“E-Everyone…….!”
“We’re used to the snow, so we’ll be fine if it’s just this much.”
The knights made refreshed expressions, their teeth sparkling as they grinned while being covered with snow. It seemed like they wanted to show Lunabella their good sides. She was a beauty in her human form after all, even if you couldn’t see her eyes because of her veil.
“It can’t be helped. I’m hot.”
Mother gave my forehead a lick and stopped the blizzard.
“Thanks, Mother.”
I also licked Mother’s nose back in turn, and once again attempted to explain that Lunabella wasn’t a bad spirit. Lunabella also seemed to want to explain the situation herself, as she had Kix put her on the ground as she approached us.
—however, it was then that a new obstacle appeared.
The space next to Lunabella suddenly shone brightly.
“What is it?”
I closed my eyes, opening them again only once the light faded.
When I did so, standing there was San Narcissus—and for some reason, Father was there too.
“Father!”
On top of that, Father had seized San Narcissus by the collar and was in the middle of glaring at him.
Ehhh!?……What is happening?
“Ah, hey! Milfiria! Are you acquainted with this spirit!?”
San Narcissus, with his collar still being grabbed by Father, anxiously looked at me.
“What’s with this guy!? He suddenly picked a fight with me. It makes no sense! He asked ‘where is Milfiria’! He must be your acquaintance.”
While San Narcissus self-proclaimed the light spirit to be the strongest spirit, he was currently faltering from Father’s strange intensity.
Father does intimate you silently, so it was probably scary when you didn’t know the reason why. I also didn’t know why he was doing it.
“Of course we’re acquainted……but why is Father doing that?”
“Oh, isn’t it Waterust? But, who is that man? I can sense a slightly irritating ‘aura’ that resembles the light from the sun from him……”
Mother said, still sitting on the ground languidly in her vixen form.
Then, Father also noticed our presence, and finally released San Narcissus’ collar.
“Milfiria……”
Rather, wait a second. It was hard to see from my current position, so I hadn’t noticed until now, but Father was carrying an incredibly large basket on his back.
Not only that, but the basket was packed full of red fruits. I’m sure that they were strawberries he had gathered for my sake.
But, there were so many……
Having collected far more strawberries than I had ever expected, Father happily came to me, still carrying the basket.
“……Milfiria, you’ve come at…….just the right time. I’ve finished…….collecting……strawberries from all around the world.”
“Thank you, Father. But, why were you with San Narcissus…….?”
As we were having such a conversation, San Narcissus grumbled, “What’s wrong with him?” as he fixed his collar.
Lunabella spoke to San Narcissus as he did so.
“San Narcissus, what happened?”
“Lunabella. No, that spirit suddenly appeared and started to say some inexplicable things while mentioning Milfiria’s name, so for the time being I decided to use the transfer technique to fly here.”
After saying that, San Narcissus looked down at Lunabella in her feline form and raised an eyebrow.
“Lunabella, there’s something stuck to your fur. Is it snow? Why is this so much snow……your eyelashes are even frozen over.”
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