North Fort -V1ExC27 Father

MTL/Editor: Saphira

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MTL: This chapter is almost twice as long as other chapters.

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I don’t know what my father’s face looks like.

　Being born is a bit awkward, but I remembered things of my previous life in the following 2 weeks after my birth. And thus, the personality of “Milfiria” was formed, and I also kept my memories.

However, only mother stayed with me, raised me, and protected me. Until I came down the mountain and met the one-eyed knight, my world consisted mainly of mother and snow.

　I never thought about my father. Because my mother did not touch that topic at all.

Because she did not talk about it, I didn’t ask, so it seemed as if he didn’t exist.

　So I also decided to throw away human thoughts. In other words, the common sense that “a man and a woman, as a result of doing such acts, children will be made” does not apply to children of spirits.

　Elemental spirits can produce children. It was a conclusion that I came to as a spirit that has lived for a little over a year.

　I do not remember the moment of birth, so the fantasy image that mother gave her power to the snow that fell into her hands from the sky, and so I came into existence was in my mind.

　However.

　 When I went to the capital, the fire spirit said something that I remembered clearly.

“Is it a child with” water “? But you refused to make children with me! “

　He said it, and Mother never denied it.

　Is “water” a water spirit? My father was a water spirit?

“Mother, who is my father?”

　I asked Mother when we were about to sleep. Mother was currently in the form of a beautiful silver fox. Her fur was soft and smooth.

　My mother frowned, and I buried myself in the fur on her chest.

“Your mother is single, you have no father.”

“… but, the fire spirit said, I was a child of” Water “”

“You remembered that?”

　I was a little surprised that she thought I had forgotten, as Mother had taught me well.

” There is a water spirit living in the south, he is my lover who gave birth to you.”

　Then mother answered my doubts by talking about the water spirit and her raising me. It was like a bedtime story, although the topic was a bit strange.

　Basically, it was necessary for a spirit to have a child, and they follow the same steps as humans. It seems that it cannot be done by only one person.

　So, mother thought that it would be better to have a child with a water spirit rather than a fire spirit. And she answered “no” when I asked if they were a couple.

　Then, I am a half snow and half water spirit? I thought that, but it seemed to be different.

　Human children are born inheriting genes of both the father and the mother, but spirits only inherit one element. I happened to inherit my mother’s element of snow, but she said that I could have been born with the water element.

　And if that happened, I would have been raised by the water spirit and become his successor. As soon as I was born, I would have been taken away from my mother.

　In this case, since it was the mother who wanted a child, if I had the water element, she would have another child. It seems that the second child is always born with different characteristics than the first child.

By the way, if a child who is 100% like mother is born then they become her successor. Basically, I am her only child. {MTL: I think this is what it says. These 2 paragraphs are confusing.}

　When listening to my mother’s story, I realized she had no romantic feelings at all for the water spirit. I didn’t blame her for it.

　Do spirits even have the concept of couples?

“I would like to meet him.”

　I said and looked up at my mother.

　 I do not mean to meet and do something. I just wondered what kind of person he is. I’m just curious.

　My mother was slightly uneasy, so I explained my plan. I didn’t mean to leave my mother’s home for good.

　As a result, though hesitant, mother gave her permission.

“If you are interested, you may as well meet him… Anyways, let’s just sleep for now, and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

　My mother licked my head, and I was attacked by sleepiness. Kawaii ~, I opened my mouth so wide when I yawned that I felt like my chin was going to fall off. Because I’m a child, the feeling of wanting to go to sleep comes suddenly. And once you start thinking “sleep”, you cannot think of anything else. If you close your eyes, you fall asleep in 3 seconds. 3, 2, 1 …

“I’m going out.”

　The day after the sun rose the next day, my mother left the cave of the residence in the form of a fox. It seems she has to patrol the mountains around here, including the mountain we lived on. Spirits have to work hard.

“You can visit the knights in the fort, but come back before sunset.”

“Okay!”

　I replied and waited until I couldn’t see her back before leaving.

　Last night, my mother said that I could see my father, but I was hesitant to bring it up this morning. After all, I was only curious, I did not want to meet that much. It seems that I was worried about my father’s character. I’ve also seen the one-eyed knight worried when I didn’t come to the fort.

　I had to be in the cave by the evening, to not make mother worry. Children also care.

　After a while, I got tired of waiting, so I attempted to move to the fort for fun. The trick is to concentrate and think of the one-eyed knight.

　My mother seems to be able to move to the “place”, but I can only do it thinking of a “person”. Therefore, for now, I could only move to the one-eyed knight and my mother.

　However, though I have never tried it, I may be able to move to the fire spirit or Kugargue. Because I am a spirit, the existence of another spirit is easy to perceive. When thinking about the appearance of a small Kugargue, I think he is a “cute black leopard child!”, so it seems that I can’t move to him at the moment.

　By the way, when my mother made a snowstorm thinking that I was kidnapped, the reason why mother did not come to me with the movement technique was because at the time, I was interrupted by the heat of the hot spring in the fort, so she couldn’t feel my presence.

　When I go to the one-eyed knight in the fort, I can feel his presence if I look for it. This is probably because he is an ordinary human being, who is not affected by fire as much as me.

　One-eyed knight, one-eyed knight…

　My movement technique is not perfect. It won’t do anything unless I concentrate on my target.

　But today I was distracted.

　One-eyed knight, knight with one eye, father, etc… I was too concerned about father, I could not concentrate. Even though I try to think about the one-eyed knight, my father, who I don’t even know what he looks like, broke into my thoughts.

　I shouldn’t think about my father right now.

　But it was a mistake to even think about it, and my mind soon became occupied with my father.

　Father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father…

　Before I noticed, I was standing on a beautiful beach. Obviously, the scenery was different from the snowy mountain that I was on just a moment ago. There was a small lake in Snowlea Mountain, but it looks much different than the shoreline I was on right now.

　The temperature probably seemed cold for humans {MTL: Or Avery :P}, but it was a bit warm for me. There was no snow, I was surrounded by forests, and the trees had plenty of dark green leaves. I haven’t seen that much greenery before, as I live on a snowy mountain.

　The lake in front of me was large, and I couldn’t see the opposite shore due to a fog. The shining water was emerald green and mysterious, but as the water got deeper, the colour also became darker, and I felt uneasy because I didn’t know if anything was hidden in it. It was a wide lake. There may be a Nessie monster in it.

　Since I suddenly moved to an unknown place, I was at a loss for a while. When I searched for mother’s presence, I was able to find it, although it was a long distance away. I was a little relieved to know it was possible to go back to the mother right away using the movement technique.

　I calmed down and observed my surroundings. Lake in front, the forest on the right, forest on the left, and of course behind me was-

“……!??”

　Forest- nope.

　Actually, the forest was behind me, but there was another existence in front of it. “It” filled up my entire sight when I turned around.

　With just a glance, I did not know its identity. It looked like a rounded wall, but its colour was so beautiful it dazzled me. It was lustrous with a faint shade of blue-green mixed with white. The place where the sun was shining on was glimmering like a jewel, and it made me want to look at it forever.

　I slowly approached the wall and sniffed it. When I was a human, I relied on information gained from looking, but in this form, I also depend on smell.

　The smell was surprisingly thin, close to odourless that I would’ve thought that it was a clear puddle of water.

　But as I approached, I could see scales on the wall. But it was not like the ones on a fish, instead, it resembled the ones on a “snake”…

“That’s…!?”

　The moment that I thought of the name of the creature, I screamed in confusion and rolled backwards.

Because the wall was big enough that I could only see the end when I looked up. It was coiling in a ball.

“…………”

　I couldn’t say anything, as I was too surprised.

　I inflated my body like a cat, My shoulders were trembling, and I could not move my eyes from the huge snake.

　Let’s escape from here before the snake wakes up.

　I thought that, but my plan failed immediately. The serpent seemed to have been sleeping, but it probably felt the aura of fear that I was emitting, so it raised its head suddenly.

“…”

“…”

　We stared at each other silently.

　I stared at it with my eyes open wide, but it just watched me with sleepy eyes.

　I thought that it would attack me as soon as it saw me, but it did not move even when a lot of time passed, and my stomach settled a little. My chances of survival had risen a little bit.

　I kept an eye on it while slowly backing away. I felt like running really fast to the mountains, but if I run with this huge snake behind me slithering at high speed, I am not confident that I will be able to outrun it. I am afraid to show my back.

　However, the snake acted unexpectedly while I was moving.

　It slowly opened its mouth and uttered some words in a low voice.

“Snowlea… seems to be getting smaller.”

　The snake could speak?

　I tried to make my legs stop shaking. If a beast talks, even if it was a huge snake, it was a little relieving. It had intelligence, it wasn’t just a beast. It seems that it also knew about mother, so it must be a spirit.

　And so, when I thought about it, my heart began to pound excitedly.

　Perhaps I had come here unintentionally using the transfer technique, but what on earth was I thinking before moving? This snake is definitely –

“Father?”

　Either I misunderstood something, or he didn’t hear me.

　The big and beautiful snake kept staring at me with its sleepy eyes.

“Did your body shrink…? That’s strange …”

　Father’s – let’s call it Father without permission anymore, Father’s talking is a very slow tempo. Coupled with the low voice, when you listen, you will be attacked by drowsiness.

　I talked to him timidly.

“I am not Snowlea.

“Oh … … Oh, is that so … then, at that time …… The child with Snowlea … you were you … already … … you were already born?”

　A little surprised, my father lifted the eyelids ever so slightly and opened his eyes.

“Oh, are you” Father “?”

　I went closer to the beautiful snake, looked up at him, and asked. I was so excited, my tail was swaying. It was a bit of a shock that my father was a snake, but I was glad to see him nonetheless.

　I thought that my first meeting would be emotional, but apparently, the way us spirits perceive the “parent-child” relationship seems to be different than humans, as he replied back calmly.

“Father… You said… There is a feeling of incongruity… you have not inherited the… water element”

　Listening to him, my tail drooped down immediately.

　It seems that I was unconsciously expecting that he would say, “Oh, you were my child! I wanted to meet you!” As excited as much as the fire spirit.

　Although I became sad, I tried to be positive because I was able to see my father anyways.

“But, but… Mother and Father ” paired up “, and I was born… So I’m Father’s child, right? “

“Okay … That’s what it seems … It may be … You are a child of Snowlea … so you are my child…”

　My tail started moving back and forth again.

　All right! You admitted that we were parent and child!

　I wanted to see my father out of curiosity, but if my father told me something like “You are not my daughter”, I felt saddened.

　But I regretted making you acknowledge me because it might have been annoying. Since my father seems to only to think about me as a result of “sperm donation”, suddenly emphasizing “You are a father!” may not have been a good idea.

　Well, there is no doubt that he was my biological father, but spirits often think differently than humans.

　I did not want to think that he found it annoying. So I was worried and could not talk about anything,

“Since you have come this far… You may as well…”

　Unexpectedly, Father was the one who spoke first. I was so happy that I waved my tail.

　But Father seemed to be unintentionally confusing me. Saying “You may as well”, but there wasn’t much to do. He went back to coiling in a circle and closed his eyes.

　Did he fall asleep?

“Er, Father….?”

　When I spoke to him again, a big eyelid opened and a low voice asked, “What ‘s wrong?”

“No, nothing”

“Really……”

　Oh, he closed his eyes again.

　I stood there silently and felt confused. I really don’t understand my father’s character.

I won’t be free forever, so I’ll go for a walk around a bit. As my father said, I have come a long way.

　I approached the beautiful lake that I saw when I got here. It didn’t have a sandy shore like the sea, instead, low grass grew on the ground, and then the lake suddenly was there. Because I was on the shore, the water was shallow. If I was a human, it may be deep enough to soak up to my knees, but in this form, my head will go underwater. I should be careful not to fall.

　There used to be waves on the lake, but the wind isn’t blowing right now, so the water surface is calm. As soon as I dipped my front paw, ripples spread. It was interesting, but I stopped immediately as it was uncomfortable to get the feet wet.

　I shook my wet paw and decided to look for fish this time. I kept my face close to the lake, looking into the water.

“…It is dangerous”

　I turned around when I heard an unexpected voice behind me. My father had one eye open looking at me. He was not sleeping.

“… ….”

“… ….”

　I walked away from the lake after giving it a final glance for a few seconds. But I could not give up finding fish, so after looking at the lake, I looked at Father, and said,

“I want to see fish”

“… It is useless… dangerous …come here.”

　I reluctantly returned to my father and sat on the ground close to the big head. I knew it wouldn’t eat me, but it was still a little strange that a huge mouth was nearby.

　When I looked up at Father again, I checked that he had closed his eyes.

　Afterwards, whenever I headed to the lake or tried to enter the forest secretly, he opened his eyes without me noticing, saying “Stay still” or “Come back” to call me back.

　This happened repeatedly: I checked that his eyes were closed, I went somewhere, he called me back,  I returned to his side. It seems that “call back” will be activated when I am more than 8 meters away from my father.

　He seems to be worried about me moving around a bit, but his surveillance is more severe than mothers.

　Do you think that he doesn’t want me to do anything? Or is he just overprotective?

Couldn’t he use that energy hugging or stroking my head, going, ‘kawaii, kawaii!’ instead?

　I had no choice but to watch the anthill next to my father and try to get as close as possible to the little birds resting on my father’s body. – Also, I think that it is impossible for a bird to rest on Mother’s body even if she is lying down in her fox form. Mother is both feared and honoured by the animals living in the snowy mountains, but Father looks like he is being recognized as a part of nature.

　I tried challenging the invisible 8 meter boundary. I didn’t want Father to get angry, so I stayed there.

　I watched my father.

　Also, I learned that it was useless to go backward to avoid Father’s sight. His head secretly lifts and I would be chased by his gaze.

　However, he seemed too overprotective, and I was eventually locked in the “center of the coil”. What is this confinement method.

“Walking by themselves is … … since it got bigger … … Children … … not getting away from their parents ……”

“Yes……”

　I’m not sure if my father loves me or not.

　I think I stayed with my father for around 3 hours? I did not have many conversation-like conversations, as after having been put in the coil I just took a nap, but it was fun. I woke up from my short nap, and I could see my father’s sleeping face above me. It was pretty fantastic.

　When I was let out of the coil, I looked up at my father and said,

“I’ll come back again soon!”

　There was not a lot of time before the sun goes down, so I’d better go back soon so I wouldn’t worry mother. She would probably know that I visited Father because of the smell, so I shouldn’t stay here long.

“If so… then tomorrow… you can come and visit”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yes, you can come tomorrow…”

　I couldn’t make my own decision? Father was surprisingly domineering.

　Actually, I’m glad. Because at first, I thought that he didn’t want me to come.

“Well, I will come again tomorrow then.”

　I have to visit the one-eyed knight around noon, so I will come over before or after that. I also have to make time for mother. For a 1-year-old, I’m pretty busy.

“Oh… It’s tomorrow… It will definitely come … for sure.”

“Okay, I understand”

　The first meeting of a father and daughter ended just like that, and then every day after that, I was told my father, “Come tomorrow…” – so I met with my father every day.

　By the way,

　When Father turns into a man, he was beautiful with a long, light blue hair. He dressed like a Greek god, with a white piece of cloth wrapped around him.

　Spirits have no sense of unity in the genre of clothes.

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