At the Northern Fort

With the decoy plan having ended safely, I started to lose focus.

Unnoticed, I had started to get sleepy in Branch Captain-san's arms, and before I knew it I was inside the castle.

It seemed like this was the same audience room that I was usually brought to when visiting the castle with Mother.

With a luxurious white table—that had an excessive amount of intricate carvings on its surface, as well as stylishly curved legs that rounded out at the ends of them—between us, I sat in front of the King and Queen.

The married couple had blond hair, blue eyes, and a gentle appearance. Like always, they were smiling in a friendly manner.

Commander-san and Branch Captain-san seemed to be speaking to the King and Queen. The two of them were sitting with Kugalg and I between them on top of a soft sofa.

I dazedly stared at everyone with drowsy eyes, but-

"Fu……!?"

As my snot bubble burst open, my body twitched with a start and I fully woke up.

The King and Queen who had been reflected in my eyes had been upside down the entire time.

It seemed that I had been sleeping with my belly exposed again.

I was fully spread out with all of my limbs extended into a '大' shape in the middle of the sofa, and yet was still somehow able to relax by stretching out my body.

When I casually looked next to me, I saw Kugalg sleeping peacefully in an elegantly round shape.

On the other hand, I felt like until the very moment when I had woken up, I had been loudly snoring with my nose going supipi, supipipipi~.

Feeling embarrassed for my unlady-like actions, I flusteredly attempted to get up.

As my four short legs kicked up at the sky, Branch Captain-san lent me a hand of aid.

"You're awake, Mil?"

"Hahaha, you looked like you were sleeping well."

Having the King laugh at me made my face go red.

After standing up on the sofa, I lowered my body and quickly hid myself behind the sleeping Kugalg.

While I had met the King and Queen on several occasions before, I was pretty timid, so just coming face-to-face with them made my heart race.

The royal aura was incredibly blinding.

Do your best, my spirit aura.

"As usual, the child of snow is more mild-mannered and shy."

"Mild-mannered and shy……"

Branch Captain-san mumbled back the King's words.

You got a problem with that?

"She's probably just pretending. She was a little tomboy up until reaching the castle."

Commander-san laughed brightly and placed a hand on my head.

Stop it! I've been maintaining a graceful character here, you know!

"However, you really did well in coming so far. It must've been terribly hard. I've heard that you were asked to bring a letter from Snowlea here?"

After being told that by the King, I suddenly recalled the letter.

Right right, that was my original goal.

Umm, where was it again? Mother's important letter, Mother's important letter.

……where's Mother's important letter?

Rather, I don't even have the bunny rucksack.

Though it seems like someone's helped me take off the sheep outfit.

When I paced round and round atop the sofa-

"Mil, it's here."

The One-Eyed Knight called out to me from behind.

Huh? The One-Eyed Knight was also here!

The One-Eyed Knight, Kix, and Tina-san were quietly standing behind us without sitting on the sofa.

Then, the One-Eyed Knight opened the rucksack and left it on the sofa.

At the same time, Mother's fairy and Father's snake slipped out of the bag.

Sorry for making you stay in such a cramped space for so long, I nudged them with the tip of my nose to thank them for their patience.

When I did so, Father's snake licked me with his thin tongue once, then split into ten balls of light and tried to leave the room from the window.

I wonder if it had judged that we were no longer in any danger and returned to Father's side?

When it fought, it was definitely stronger than Hyllis' fairy, which was made of six balls of light. However, as we never fell into a situation where it had to fight, you were a snake that basically never moved. Thank you.

However, as the window wasn't open, the ten balls of light kept bumping against the glass panes, making hollow taps as they attempted to go outside.

The King's guards hurried to open the window, and the aqua-coloured lights flew out of the window in a row.

Following them, Mother's fairy flickered as it touched my nose, then similarly tried to fly out the window like Father's fairy did.

However, I don't know whether or not it had any eyes, but the fairy seemed to be looking in my direction and saying, "Bye bye" while flying. As such, it didn't fly out the window that the Royal Guard had opened, and instead collided at full force against the closed window next to it.

Bam, the small collision rang out as Mother's fairy was momentarily squished flat up against the glass from the force of it.

However, in the next instant it returned to its round shape, appearing slightly embarrassed as it floated about in the air and then exited properly through the open window.

I felt like the speed at which it left was a bit fast. I wonder if it felt embarrassed.

"Fufufu, how delightful."

The Queen giggled at its actions.

"Now that I think of it, where's Hyllis……?"

I searched around the room while saying.

In the room were the King and Queen, as well as the Royal Guards who were standing in wait by the wall.

Other than them were myself and Kugalg, Commander-san and Branch Captain-san, as well as the One-Eyed Knight, Kix, and Tina-san, who were standing behind us.

There was also a maid standing next to the door who was keeping a watchful eye on the amount of drinks and snacks left on top of the table.

"Hyllis disappeared before we entered the castle."

"I see……"

She should've at least said her farewells before leaving.

Maybe she was taking me into consideration since I was sleeping at the time.

"Ah! What about Bwanch Captain-san's matta*!?"

"Hm……"

Reacting to my voice, Kugalg's ears twitched as he woke up.

"My mother*?"

Branch Captain-san tilted his head slightly.

"Right, Bwanch Captain-san's matta (matter)! Whether or not-…….ah, wait."

After seeing Kugalg let out a big yawn, I also ended up yawning.

I went, "Yaw~n" without holding back and then continued speaking.

"Whether or not Bwanch Captain will stay at the Nor-furn Fort."

"Ahh, that matter."

"Does Captain Sarrell-san still want to come to the Nor-furn Fort?"

"No, with the incident that his subordinates caused, he said that he'll give up on going to the 9th Branch for now. Since it's not exactly the time for that right now."

That being said, saying 'for now' was very much like Captain Sarrell-san. I was relieved to see that he hadn't completely thrown away his ambitions.

However, even if the threat of Captain Sarrell-san had disappeared, that didn't necessarily mean that Branch Captain-san would stay at the Northern Fort.

To begin with, if both the Prince and his family hadn't asked him to return to the Capital, then Captain Sarrell-san wouldn't have volunteered and said, "Then I will go be Branch Captain in his place".

Unless we persuade the Prince, who wanted Branch Captain-san to return to be his Royal Guard, and his family, who wanted him to leave the harsh environment of the northern lands, Branch Captain-san will have to leave the Northern Fort.

"Where is the Prince?"

Branch Captain-san might not be able to strongly express his opinion to the Prince, so here is where I as a spirit should speak – is what I thought.

"His Highness is still working. My father will also be arriving at the castle soon, so I was thinking of having the three of us talk together……."

You can't talk to them together!

The Prince and his father are of the same opinion, so if he talked to them together it'll be two against one, and Branch Captain-san would definitely be at a disadvantage. He'll be eaten alive.

At times like these, you had to take on your opponents one-by-one and take them down separately.

"I'm gonna go on a walk for a bit!"

In order to take down the Prince before Branch Captain-san's father came, I jumped down from the sofa.

"Mil."

The One-Eyed Knight tried to stop me, but the King said, "Let her do as she pleases" and laughed merrily.

However, he then continued with this.

"However, child of snow. Allow me to see the letter that Snowlea sent before you go."

"Ah, that's right!"

Mother's letter that I'm sure has something important written!

I clambered onto the sofa again, thrust my face into the bunny rucksack and searched for the letter with the tip of my nose.

Once I found it, I grabbed it with my mouth and left the rucksack before once again descending to the carpeted floor.

It was too bothersome to take a detour around it, so I passed underneath the table and placed the rolled up letter on top of the King's lap.

"Here you go. The letter."

"Thank you."

"From my Mother."

"Yes, I know."

"Read it properly."

"Of course."

After seeing that the King had untied the purple cord, I went to leave the room in order to go talk with the Prince. Kugalg also came down from the sofa and followed after me.

It didn't seem like I could open the massive door that separated this room from the corridor with my own strength. However, there were plenty of humans here, so it was alright.

I sat right in front of the door and then stared motionlessly at the maid standing next to it.

Once our eyes met, I once again glanced at the door in front of me, and then looked up at the maid again.

When I did so, see?

The maid checked with the King and then smiled as she opened the door for me.

As long as there are people around, most things can be managed somehow.

"Thanks!"

As I said my thanks, I slipped my body through the doorway before it was fully opened and went out into the corridor.

There were two knights standing next to the door in the corridor, and they showed surprised expressions at seeing Kugalg and I pop out of the room.

Unlike the barren and dark corridors at the fort, the corridors here were decorated with furnishings and paintings. Together with Kugalg, I dashed down the wide and gorgeous halls.

The floor had a deep red carpet, so my paws didn't feel cold, and my claws didn't make any clicking sounds as they hit against the floor.

The halls here also went in a straight line for longer than the halls at the fort, so playing tag here was also fun.

Midway through it seemed like Kugalg was about to pass me, so I got serious and dashed forward with all my strength.

We both reached the end of the corridor at the same time, and panting "Haa haa……" heavily, we laughed together and said, "This is fun!".

"Then this time let's run this way, until that pillar—"

—no. Not until that pillar.

I went into the corridor to find the Prince.

"Scratch that! I've gotta find the Prince."

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