At the Northern Fort

[Mil, you went playing in the mud again, didn't you? Let's get you in the bath and clean you up.]

[I dun like baths! Wah, what are you doing!? Don't pour hot water on me!]

The One-Eyed Knight made a scary face as he flipped me over, and for some reason started to focus solely on my belly as he poured hot water from the bath on it.

Wait, why!? Why are you only pouring it on my belly!?

"Uuu, stop…….hm……a dream?"

As my eyes snapped open and I returned to reality, I felt a sense of relief.

The view that came into sight as I laid face-up wasn't that of the fort's training grounds, but a sliver of cloudy sky peeking through the tall foliage that surrounded me.

And the cause of me seeing such a dream appeared to be Kugalg, who was sleeping with his head resting atop my belly.

My belly had grown hot due to Kugalg's body temperature.

Twisting my body, I attempted to escape using my two forepaws to push against Kugalg's head. Flapping them about, I violently gave Kugalg several fox-punches and woke him up.

How horrible of him to have used my belly as a pillow.

"Kugalg, wake up! It's morning!"

"Nn……"

As Kugalg sluggishly awoke and began to groom his fur with a drowsy look, I licked the fairy, who was also unexpectedly a sleepyhead as well, and transformed into my human form for the time being.

I couldn't put on the bunny rucksack on my own in my fox form after all.

"Huh? But, I'm pretty sure I fell asleep while wearing the rucksack yesterday……"

I wasn't able to get it off easily, so finding it a pain, I figured I'd just leave it as is – is how it should've been.

"I don't really get it, but oh well."

However, when I lifted up the bunny rucksack, it was clearly heavier compared to yesterday. After we had finished eating lunch and the jerky yesterday, it should only have the toadstool plush and Mother's letter in it.

As a plethora of doubts circled my mind, I decided to check the contents for the time being.

When I did so, I discovered that the dreadful toadstool plush that had taken up the most space in the rucksack had disappeared.

"The plushie is gone! Alright! No wait, where did it go?"

"……I knew it. That thing was alive."

Having finished grooming himself, Kugalg said that with a serious face.

"Alive? You mean it started moving on its own and left?"

When I asked that, Kugalg silently nodded.

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No no, that can't be.

……but, it also didn't seem all that strange for that creepy cursed-looking plushie to start moving either.

"Scary. But it's good that it went somewhere else."

While I did feel a bit like crying, I once again started to search through the rucksack when a fragrant scent hit me.

"Eh? Why is there still this much jerky left? I thought we ate it all yesterday. And this……"

There were two things that I didn't recognise in the rucksack. The first was a red and white cloth. I wouldn't be able to tell unless I unfolded it, but it appeared to be clothing.

And the second was a small, but plump and heavy money pouch. When I peeked inside, it was filled to the brim with dull-coloured coins that resembled Japan's ten-yen coins.

These were undoubtedly the currency of this world, but why in the world were they in the rucksack?

(The plush disappeared, and in its place are clothes, money, and food……Oh! Don't tell me this is-!)

My eyes widened.

This is that plushie's return of gratitude.

Honestly speaking, I don't remember doing a single thing that warranted any gratitude, but thinking about things that way seemed wonderful.

When I explained this theory to Kugalg, emphasising that the plushie was actually a good guy, he didn't approve of it.

"I mean, why would it thank you?"

"I dunno."

"And why did the plushie disappear?"

"I dunno."

In the end, I persisted in believing in this explanation, saying, "I dunno, but the plushie disappeared and all this money and stuff appeared in its place, so I think it's fine to think that the plushie did it".

Putting the bunny rucksack that had gotten a bit heavier onto my back, I once again returned to my fox form. I wonder if we'll reach the Capital today?

"Where are you looking, Kugalg? It's about time we head off!"

"No, I was just wondering if they're planning on following the whole time…….well, whatever. Let's go."

After calling out to Kugalg, who was looking in the wrong direction, we left the thicket and returned to the highway.

Since we don't have a clock, I didn't know the precise hour, but at around 10am we took a break and ate jerky. Then, we once again began to walk.

At times I played tag with Kugalg, or plucked flowers from the roadside, but learning from the lessons of yesterday's experience, I worked hard to not loiter too much on the way today.

I can't meet up with the One-Eyed Knight and everyone at the fort while I'm doing this errand, nor can I see Mother. When I thought about that again, I got lonely, so I figured I should finish this errand as soon as possible. Thus, I decided to seriously make progress in advancing forward.

Perhaps as a result of those efforts, we arrived at a lively and large town that I had never seen before just past noon.

There were clearly more people compared to the numerous towns that we had just passed by on our way here.

Kugalg and I hid in the shadows of a bank near the entrance of the town, our eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Wow! There's so many people!"

"Is this the 'Capital'?"

"I'm sure it is! We can't see the castle from here, but I'm sure we'll see it when we go inside!"

"Hmm, we did it, huh. It was unexpectedly close. This was a real walk in the park."

Compared to me, who was unable to hide my delight, Kugalg maintained his composed attitude. However, it was at that moment that the fairy began to make hollow noises as it crashed into us a number of times.

"Ow ow. What? ……go over there? But the Capital's here, right? Eh, it's not?"

I had been thinking that we arrived quite a bit faster than expected, but after seeing the fairy's gestures, it felt like my knees were about to come crashing down.

The place where the fairy was trying to lead us to wasn't this town, but towards the highway.

"Ehh……I think I worked pretty hard today so I don't wanna walk anymoreeeee. Really, I worked realllllly hard."

I sank down on top of the leafy embankment that had become a little tilted. My focus had been all used up and my belly was also empty.

(I know!)

Just when I started thinking about eating some more jerky, I remembered that the town in front of us probably had stuff we could buy.

While it wasn't the Capital, it was quite a large town. There should be plenty of stores that sell food in it.

While jerky was nice, I somehow managed to obtain money while I was sleeping, so since there was an opportunity to do so, I wanted to try eating other things.

(But I can't talk to them in my fox form. If I turn into my human form……ah, that won't work. If my ears and tail are seen, they'll find out I'm not human.)

And with us wearing a kimono and Arabian-style clothes, we'll really stand out. It probably can't be helped that we'll stand out amongst the people of this country.

(Oh right, speaking of clothes!)

Still hiding in the shadows of the embankment, I turned into my human form and quickly opened the bunny rucksack.

The flowers that I had picked from the roadside during the morning had gotten all damaged and messy, so I first threw them away. I shouldn't have put them into the rucksack.

When I once again jammed my hand into the rucksack, I took out the clothes that had been put in together with the money and jerky.

There were exactly two pieces of clothing – a red one and a white one.

As Kugalg and the fairy watched with curious gazes, I tried unfolding the clothes.

They kind of looked like mantles, but they had hoods attached to them, so I think they were some sort of raincoat. Just, unlike the ones in Japan, they weren't shiny and slippery.

Lengthwise, it went all the way down to our ankles, so if we wore these and put on the hoods, we'd be able to hide our ears and tails.

While it wasn't currently raining, the sky was pretty cloudy, so even if some children were to put on their hoods, the surrounding people probably wouldn't find it too strange.

There was just a single thing that bothered me.

"What's this?"

Kugalg said while looking at the red raincoat. I lifted up the white raincoat and furrowed my brow.

Both of the hoods had animal faces embroidered onto them, and on top of that, there were fake ears attached to them as well.

The white one had triangular ears that resembled my own. The red one had round ears that resembled Kugalg's.

While it was a cute design for a raincoat meant for young children, it was a bit questionable when you considered that even though we were trying to hide our actual ears with the hood, there were still ears visible from the hood.

I glanced at the bunny rucksack that was left on the ground. Then, I once again looked at the raincoat. This design that purely pursued cuteness……how similar.

And the way how it seemed to have cost a pointlessly large amount of money, with how it was carefully sewn using top-quality cloth was also similar.

(Don't tell me these raincoats were also prepared by Branch Captain-san?)

Like how with a creepy plushie, the chances of it being made by Tina-san were extremely high, the chances that clothes and small accessories with a chicly cute design were purchased by Branch Captain-san was high.

But Branch Captain-san wasn't here, and it's impossible for these raincoats to have been hidden inside the rucksack last night.

Finding it mysterious, I put my arms through the sleeves of the white raincoat.

I also had Kugalg transform into his human form and told him to put on the red raincoat.

"I don't want to wear something like this."

"Eh, why?"

"I want something cooler."

"Hmm……then fine. I'll go on my own to buy something, so wait here Kugalg."

"No! I'm coming too."

Which is it?

"If you don't wear this, then you can't come with me."

When I held out the red raincoat, this time Kugalg obediently accepted it.

"Then I'll wear it."

"Remember to put the hood on too. Don't let your tail come out of the bottom either."

While my tail was shorter than Kugalg's, it had more volume to it. If I just wore the raincoat like normal, it made my bum look unusually bulgy, but as long as I wore the bunny rucksack on top of the raincoat, I could hide it.

For my head, I tried to lay my ears as flat as possible, but you could still feel a slight bulge if you touched it.

But it was more likely that any onlookers would have their attention caught by the fake ears, so they probably wouldn't think that there were actual ears underneath the fake ones.

Snatching the fairy that refused to approach the town, instead trying to go on ahead on the path, I slipped it amongst my hair in the hood.

Opening up the money pouch that I had taken out of the rucksack, I split it evenly with Kugalg, taking approximately half of the coins and placing it into the pocket of my raincoat.

"Okay, and this is for you, Kugalg."

Saying that, I shoved the money pouch into Kugalg's pocket.

"Then, let's go! Our first shopping trip!"

I pulled Kugalg's hand and entered the town that had [Gouda] written on its sign.