NF 14.1

“What do you plan on doing? ”

After leaving the office of the branch leader, the one-eyed knight let out a slow and deliberate groan. He tilted his head, pondering what he’d ever heard.[ Note: Special thanks to Meteor for translating this one for me!]

“You wouldn’t want to watch over the room all day would you?”

 

Well, I don’t want to but if he asked me nicely, I would do it. Because I am a good child, I’ll watch over the room for him. I didn’t want to accidentally knock things over and break them so I’ll stay on the bed where I can’t break anything. That’d be boring though; I’m already drowsy. The one-eyed knight looked at me with intrigue while a laugh leaked out through his grin. Why is he laughing?

“You’re very easy to understand. Your tail dropped the moment I mentioned  you watching the room.”

I would definitely say if I was human my face would be red as a tomato with embarrassment. I can’t help that my tail is honest to my emotions, definitely cannot help it.

Now it’s hanging listlessly…

“Do you want to go play outside? We can’t keep you locked up in here all the time, hmm. You know why don’t we practice hunting?”

Well if he asked me to watch over the room, I wouldn’t say no because I’m a good child and I can follow directions properly. Certainly, there isn’t anything for me to play within the room, but I can definitely say I can live without hunting. ]

“But you’ll have to watch out for wild dogs, they’re most active just after the sun goes down. I wouldn’t worry too much during the day since there are guards training just outside the gates so you can run to them for help.”

“Well if Mill was human I wouldn’t have a problem staying in the room even if it was cramped but you aren’t. You are a newborn and you’re going to return to the wild eventually. It’s best if you knew what dangers lurked in the outside world so I guess I can’t let you stay in the room forever…”

If I was a common household pet like a dog or cat would you keep me safely in the room? Truly I’m a delicate fox! I nuzzle my head into his palm, urging him to pet me. Pat more, please. I know I need to keep my distance but I’m grateful to him. I know if I keep this up I won’t be able to part with him and leaving would be heartbreaking.

Mother, I know I came down the mountain to find you, but I don’t think I’ll be able to leave here now. I’ve complete trust in this man. The love I have for this place now amounts more than the snowflakes falling. I’m sorry.

By the way, next is jerky~!

I’ve been wondering how long until the mother returns back to the mountain. I can’t speak the human’s language and if I can’t speak, how will I say goodbye to this man? To the other knights? They all will be worried. The one-eyed knight more so than the others. If I had suddenly disappeared, he’d definitely go looking for me.

With all these depressing thoughts, I felt my mood quickly fall.

＊＊＊

Snow~!

“I will be back for you just before the sun sets.”

Like a nagging mother the one-eyed knight had placed me down in the corner of the training grounds, which was empty, with words such as ” Don’t leave the training area.” or “Don’t go anywhere dangerous.” and “Stay away from the pond.” Seriously, maybe my mother was a father and this man was actually my mother. [Ashes: added this line myself poking how Mother threw mill down a cliff ]

All of it just went in one ear and out the other. With the whole training field to myself, I ran around the entire training field excited. If someone had seen the earlier dejected me, they would have that I was playing with the man.

Certainly, I thought of myself as a human in the body of a fox but seeing myself now playing in the snow with such content, I don’t think it mattered anymore. My heart is that of a young snow-loving spirit now. Running around I was thinking how well I could keep turning at this speed. Definitely, if I were to slip I’d run straight into the snow piles on the edges of the field but since the snow was soft it still would be fun unless you hit a with ice.

Ironically I found myself pulled from my thoughts as I began to slide uncontrollably into the snow pile due to losing focus in a Poof~, awakening the human side in me again. I emerged covered in snow. Heavy. I shook my body causing most of the snow to fall off, however clumps of stubborn snow hug from my beautiful fluff. Regardless I started walking again but the snow that clung to me became even heavier as it picked up more snow, turning the clumps into snowballs [*].

Frustrated, I shook myself trying to take it off, but I couldn’t; not with these short limbs. Not even my mouth could reach it.

What the heck! These snowballs! I am a spirit of the snow, get off me! 

While struggling all alone in the snow, there was the sound of crunching snow approaching from a distance. I looked up in a hurry and saw two knights stopping a small distance from me. They laughed as they watched I attempted to remove the snowballs from my fur. Seeing the gate behind them in the distance, they probably were its guards.

“Can’t get it off, can yeah?”

One of them crouched down and gestured to come over to him, but it was a stranger so I was quite intimidated. Then again I wanted these pesky snowballs off me. At this rate, if I continued to play they would probably keep growing until I couldn’t walk anymore, turning me into a literal “Snow-Fox”. Patiently, the two knights waited for me to come closer. Neither tried to move, probably thinking that I would run if they did.

I nervously approached them. I felt scared as this was the first time I approached someone other than the one-eyed knight. When I was close enough, I sniffed the crouched knight, but I felt he didn’t mean me any harm.

Un, no dangerous smells.

He was okay. I felt my heart pounding in my chest as I used my eyes to convey my desire to the knight “Please take it off”

“Oh! It really came! Did you get used to people because of the Deputy Manager?”

The Knights were pleasantly surprised that I had approached them willingly and one by one, the crouched Knight crushed and removed the clinging snowballs from my fur with his gloved hands.

“Ahh. This is nostalgic. I use to have a dog growing up with long fur as well. Every winter I would have to do help him remove snow from his coat as well.”

One by one the snowballs were removed and when the last one was taken care of, I quickly distanced myself from him. I was terrified as my heart was racing, but I was thankful since my body felt lighter. My tail expressed that by wagging happily unhindered by snow.

“I’m here until dusk today. If you need anything just come and find me, I’ll help if I can.”

He pointed to the gates behind him as he got up and together they both walked back to them.

Ah, thank you Aniki, You are too kind!

Eventually that day, I came to be indebted to that Aniki twice because…

Another snowball decided to grow on me…

MTL_Ashes Note:  Fluffs. Fluffs around! 

Previous|Index|Next