At the Northern Fort

(Balls of light…….fairies?)

I turned around to look at Mother's fairy that was flying around anxiously near Leader.

Although they were a pea green colour, the size and round shape was the same as Mother's fairy.

"Mil, Kugalg, are you alright!?"

Everyone ran up to us, worried.

Before I realised it, the black-clothed men had all disappeared. They had probably run away while we were being attacked by that bird.

Considering the timing with which they targeted Kugalg and myself when they attacked, the two parties may be co-conspirators.

"That bird from earlier was a spirit…….right? Do you two know them?"

The One-Eyed Knight smoothed out my fur that had been ruffled by the wind and fixed the position of the red stone necklace that had spun around to my back, while also checking to make sure I hadn't gotten injured.

Tina-san was taking care of Kugalg's examination as he expressed his dislike for it.

"We don't know them. And I think that probably wasn't a spirit, but a fairy. You saw how it split up into light at the end, right?"

"……in other words, its real body is somewhere else? It seemed like that bird was only aiming for you and Kugalg. Do you have any clue as to why you were being attacked?"

"Nope, none."

"What about you, Kugalg?"

"I don't, and I don't know that guy."

"Say, One-Eyed Knight. Wasn't that bird cooperating with those humans earlier?"

I looked up and gazed at the One-Eyed Knight.

Even spirits who were more cooperative with humans like Mother would only lend a hand to the country and not to individual people.

However, if it was an eccentric spirit like myself, then I think that they might lend a hand to humans that they like.

"It does seem that way……"

The One-Eyed Knight also nodded and seemed to fall into thought before eventually standing up and turning towards Commander-san and Branch Captain-san to speak.

"About those men from earlier…….I recognised one of the men that I was fighting. He isn't someone that I'm too familiar with and half of his face was covered so I can't say that I'm 100% confident, but I don't think it's just an accidental resemblance either."

After prefacing with that, he continued.

"It was someone who I've seen several times when I was at the Knight's Order in the Capital."

"……in other words, those guys are knights of this country?"

Commander-san's brow furrowed, and the One-Eyed Knight also pursed his lips, finding it difficult to continue speaking.

"Yes, I don't know his name but…….I do know who his superior is."

"Who is it?"

Before the One-Eyed Knight could answer Commander-san's question, Branch Captain-san cut in.

"Wait, Kix and I also recognised the men we faced. I don't know their names, but those were—"

Branch Captain-san paused for a moment, and then continued with a bitter expression.

"——Captain Sarrell's subordinates."

Other than Kugalg, everyone gasped upon hearing that name.

The One-Eyed Knight quietly agreed.

"I've also seen that man standing behind Captain Sarrell several times."

If those men were Captain Sarrell-san's subordinates, then it was more than likely that this attack was also something ordered by Captain Sarrell-san.

Captain Sarrell-san was aiming for the seat of Branch Captain at the Northern Fort.

According to Kix, he was a scheming and unpleasant person, so it wouldn't be strange for him to [kick the person possessing the thing he wants down and steal it].

Commander-san stroked his goatee while uttering.

"I don't want to think that Sarrell has fallen that far but……"

"But if it's that person, then he might just be capable of anything."

Kix's rebuttal was the same as what came to my mind.

"If, for instance, Captain Sarrell plotted this incident after finding Branch Captain Cromwell as a hindrance then……"

"It isn't good to make assumptions."

"It's just a 'what if' scenario, Tina. But, if Captain Sarrell is the mastermind, then that would explain why those men from earlier seemed to know Mil and Kugalg's true identities and why they tried to kidnap the two of them. If both child spirits were to be kidnapped, then the Knight's Order would be demanding an explanation from all of us—Branch Captain in particular. On top of that, we also be disappointing the royalty, and lose the trust of Snowlea."

"As a result, I would have to leave the Northern Fort, correct?"

Branch Captain-san stated indifferently, despite the matter being about himself. The One-Eyed Knight opened his mouth after Branch Captain-san.

"But, the man that Branch Captain knows, and the man that I know have already quit the Knight's Order. So, there is a possibility that they aren't Captain Sarrell's subordinates. We're talking about several years ago back when Branch Captain and I were still in the Capital after all."

"Yeah, we'll need a bit more info before deciding that this was done by Captain Sarrell. Kix, you used to be under Captain Sarrell before, right? Do you remember those guys at all?"

Branch Captain-san turned to Kix and asked, but-

"Even if you say that I used to be under him, I was mostly just a newbie at the bottom of the ladder. I barely had any chances to even see Captain Sarrell's face, and while I do kind of remember the followers that would always surround the Captain, if I had to say that the guy I fought was one of those followers……hmm, I'm not so sure about that. Since his face was covered, I couldn't really tell. I didn't really have the time to carefully observe the faces of the other four people either."

Kix simply crossed his arms and tilted his head in contemplation.

"Then what about Commander? Do you remember seeing any of those men before?"

Hearing Branch Captain-san's question, Commander-san also crossed his arms like Kix and groaned, "Errrrm……".

And then, he finally said-

"I don't remember."

"You don't remember?"

Branch Captain-san's expression grew as cold as ice.

"Not only are you basically stationed at the Capital all the time, don't you have to meet face-to-face with Captain Sarrell during each and every meeting? Like Kix said, Captain Sarrell's almost always surrounded by his followers – or rather, he's always accompanied by his close subordinates, so there should've been plenty of opportunities for you to encounter them."

Commander-san wiped away some cold sweat and flinched at Branch Captain-san's interrogation.

"Well, you know, I'm bad at remembering people's faces. Especially since whenever I meet with Sarrell, he's always finding faults with me, saying I have to clean up my beard, or wear my jacket, and other stuff, so I try not to make eye contact with him. That's why I don't know the faces of the subordinates around Sarrell."

"You really are……."

Hearing Branch Captain-san let out a sigh like a school teacher, Commander-san flusteredly spoke.

"Wait! I do have some useful information. There's a deep valley in Duke Delamon's territory, where Sarrell's home is."

Just what is he talking about so suddenly? -I tilted my head.

Branch Captain-san was also making merciless eyes that seemed to say [If you're making pointless chatter I won't forgive you], but his complexion changed upon hearing Commander-san's following words.

"It seems that a 'wind spirit' recently visited that valley."

"A wind spirit?"

"Ah! That bird from earlier! It was a fairy made by a wind spirit!"

As Branch Captain-san continued, I also stuck in my head from below and joined the conversation.

When they started to have a serious conversation, it somehow felt like my existence was being forgotten.

"It seems that the wind spirit is rather capricious, and it often moves from place to place, frequently changing the location of its nest all across the world. About one week ago, it appeared in the Delamon's valley. Apparently, it decided on nesting there for a while. Thus, Duke Delamon should have taken his own subordinates and Sarrell to visit the spirit and give it his greetings. It's just that a government official from the country went with them at the time, so there probably wasn't any opportunity for Sarrell to speak with the wind spirit privately at that time. However, once the official left, it is possible that he attempted to make contact with it again."

Commander-san turned and said to Branch Captain-san and everyone.

He wasn't turning my way at all, so I felt that he didn't see me as participating in the conversation, and thus spoke as loudly as possible.

"So Captain Sarrell-san 'butt-ahed up' the wind spirit! Right?"

"I don't know what methods he used, but it is possible that Captain Sarrell gained the cooperation of the wind spirit."

Branch Captain-san made a grave expression, and then as though he were talking over my words, he made a similar statement to my own.

I said that!

"Right right! We don't know what he did to—"

"The men and wind spirit that attacked us both have something to do with Captain Sarrell, right? Then isn't it already concluded? We should move with the assumption that Captain Sarrell is the one after us."

I spun in circles and growled, and then bit at the boots of Kix, who interrupted my remark.

You meanie, you big fat meanie!

"Ow ow ow, what is it!?"

"It is true that we can't let down our guard. If their goal is to place blame on Branch Captain for having Mil and Kugalg assaulted, then this time's incident was a failure. They might come at us again with another plan…….what's wrong, Mil?"

The One-Eyed Knight picked me up in his arms and said as I was finding fault with Kix.

"Say, Captain Sarrell-san is pretty smart, right?"

After regaining control of myself, I asked that of the One-Eyed Knight, and-

"That is true. Each of the commanding officers at headquarters need their own advisers, but it's said that Captain Sarrell is so smart that he doesn't need any."

-was given such an answer.

(If he's that smart a person, then he might even be able to manipulate a spirit as his own pawn……)

Normally it would be impossible to make a spirit lend a hand in fulfilling a human's selfish desires, but what if the wind spirit was instigated by Captain Sarrell-san?

I pondered as I thought of those emotional eyes that made it feel as though the spirit seriously hated Kugalg and myself.

If Captain Sarrell-san is the mastermind behind all of this, just what did he say to the wind spirit to incite it?

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