At the Northern Fort V5C4: In a Dream
After it was decided that Kugalg would come to the festival, I excitedly fell asleep.
That night, I had a mysterious dream.
In the dream, I was sitting in an open field with flowers blooming sparsely in it.
However, I wasn’t a baby fox. Instead, I was in a human body, wearing a school uniform.
“This is……my previous life’s me……?”
I couldn’t confirm my appearance, but I had a feeling that I had worn this kind of navy blue uniform in my previous life.
And when I looked in front of me, my fox cub form, and my little girl spirit form were also there.
“I’m split into three…….”
Failing to understand the situation, I murmured in bewilderment.
My baby fox self was wilder and brimming with curiosity, as it happily ran around the field, unable to sit still.
And my spirit self, while she was young, had a slightly cold atmosphere. Though she was cute, she was expressionless. There was a slightly inhuman feel to her, as though she did not understand the common sense of humans.
On the other hand, my human self was slightly calmer than usual. Or rather, it was like my human-like reason had returned to me.
“Hey, me!”
For the time being, the most level-headed one – my human self – tried calling out to my baby fox self and my spirit self.
“Gather up!”
When I beckoned with my hand, my fox cub self dashed over while still panting. My spirit self remained expressionless as she tottered over.
“Why have we all split up? Do you know anything?”
I tried asking, but the two simply shook their heads.
“I wonder if we’ll go back to normal if I hug you tightly.”
I tried hugging my fox cub self and spirit self, but we didn’t return to normal.
“This is troubling. If we stay like this after we wake up, Mother and everyone will be worried.”
I was anxious, but my fox cub self was making a happy-go-lucky expression as she scratched her head with her back paw, while my spirit self seemed not to care as she plopped into the lap of my human self.
“The two of you are really free spirits.”
I was at a complete loss.
At that point, my fox cub self began to make passes at my spirit self. She started to pretend to bite at my spirit self’s white leg, frolicking about as she ran off. Not only that, but she repeated that several times.
“Stop it.”
My spirit self seemed to find those actions to be irritating, as she rejected my fox cub self with a cute voice. However, my fox cub self was completely oblivious as such a warning did not stop her actions.
Instead, my fox cub self seemed happy at obtaining her attention, as her tail began to wag as she began to bite at the sleeve of my spirit self and pull at it.
“Hey, stop that.”
My human self tried to stop my fox cub self, but before I could, my spirit self got angry.
A blizzard began to form around her.
“Ehhh!? Wow! You can already make a blizzard?”
I said in surprise. My pure spirit self seemed to be good at controlling her powers.
Compared to the blizzards that Mother made, her power was considerably weaker, but being assaulted by the wind and snow made my fox cub self close her eyes and cover her ears to endure it.
“Let’s stop now, okay?”
My human self then stepped in to stop my spirit self. My spirit self puffed up her cheeks in displeasure, but obediently stopped the blizzard.
Upon which my fox cub self once again began to kick up a fuss, barking as if to complain.
“Kyan! Kyan!”
“You pulled my sleeve first!”
“Kyan!”
“Come on now, stop it you two.”
The fight between my fox cub self and spirit self was cute, but it was tiring to keep having to deal with……at which point, my human self noticed something.
On the far side of the plain, there seemed to be someone approaching.
That person was a youth with light blond hair, wearing plain white clothes, and a turban around his head.
(Huh? That person……)
I recognised him. He was the mysterious youth that I had met with the One-Eyed Knight and Kugalg when we went to the temple in Colby Village.
“Hello.”
“H-Hello……”
The youth cheerfully greeted me, so I responded in turn. His eyes were the same as they were the last time I met him, flickering and constantly changing between various colours.
“Just recently—though it’s already been a few months since then? Do you remember our meeting at the temple in Colby Village?”
“Of course.”
Seeing me nod, the youth also nodded back in a satisfied manner. And then, he said with an apologetic expression.
“Actually, I realised something at that time. That your memories of your previous life haven’t been erased yet.”
“Eh?”
“It seems like I forgot to erase them……sorry, no wonder why there was a spirit so amiable to humans. You were probably very confused, weren’t you? How careless of me……”
“Eh? Hm?”
I am currently, at this moment in time, very confused.
Rather, my fox cub self is playing around and biting the hem of the youth’s pants. Stop it, me!
On the other hand, my spirit self was also staring fixedly at the youth. Both my fox cub self and my spirit self seemed very interested in this kind-looking youth.
While I was confused, I decided to respond for the time being.
“About my memories remaining……I wasn’t all that confused, so it’s okay.”
And then, after turning to look at my fox cub self and spirit self in turn, I continued.
“I am doing well with my fox cub self and my spirit self – all three of us are me. And if my human self were to disappear at this stage……I’m a little scared of what might happen.”
I was uneasy about leaving [me] to these two alone. My fox cub self was mischievous, while my spirit self wasn’t all that friendly. If things were left to these two, I didn’t feel like they’d be able to keep up with our personal relationships. I’ve become friendly with the knights at the fort and various spirits, and finally made a bunch of friends in this life too.
Upon hearing that, the youth gazed cheerfully at the fox cub who was attempting to lay waste to the hem of his pants and spoke.
“Is that so? Then, I guess I’ll leave you as is. I came because I was thinking that it’d be better to erase your human part.”
“No no, please don’t. If my human self disappears, then my affable nature…or rather, my human-like side will disappear, and I feel like I’d become an entirely different person. If that happens, then the One-Eyed Knight, or Branch Captain-san, or Mother, or Father, or everyone around me will be sad.”
“Understood. It was my careless mistake, so I was thinking of quietly erasing your memories. It’s good that I decided to ask first just in case.”
“That’s a terrifying thought!”
After I reflexively retorted, I heaved a sigh of relief and continued.
“Thank goodness you properly asked first.”
“Sorry, really.”
The youth apologised once more and then said, “Well then, see you” before he quietly began to disappear on the spot.
Does anything go because it’s a dream?
“No. Rather……”
In the end, who was that person?
“Who…are you……?”
I muttered as I woke up from my dream. Like I had been prior to sleeping, I was on my bed in the nest, in my fox cub form as usual. I was relieved to find that I hadn’t been split into three people.
Mother was also next to me in her vixen form. It was starting to get brighter outside, so it was probably already morning.
“Mother? Good morning.”
“You’re awake, Milfiria?”
Mother, who had already gotten up, had her whole body facing the entrance of the cave, and only turned her head back to look at me. After glancing to check that I had gotten up, she then stared at something behind me. She was making a slightly troubled expression.
And then, still maintaining her gaze, she said this to me.
“I have been waiting for you to wake up. Please do something about that.”
“That? What?”
I turned around and looked behind me.
Upon which I realised that right behind us was Father’s gigantic face in his serpent form.
“Wah! That surprised me!”
The cave was spacious to me, but it was rather cramped for Father, who was a giant snake. Father’s body completely filled the cave.
The tip of his tail was laying right next to his face, so his body was probably folded up in half and packed into the cave.
However, Father did not seem to pay any heed to the fact that he was plugging up the entrance, as he slept peacefully.
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