At the Northern Fort

My eyes grew round as I stared back at Mother.

"By 'Kaa-pi-tal', you mean, the Capital? The place where the King is?"

"That's right. You've gone to the castle in the Capital several times together with me, have you not?"

"Yeah, I remember. But……on my own?"

"Yes, you will go alone."

"But Mother, I can't fly to the Capital by myself."

I still can't use the transfer technique to go to a 'place'. I'm still limited to using 'people' as the target of my technique, but neither the King or Queen are amongst the targets that I can travel to.

I paced around on the bed that I had taken great pains to flatten. I didn't think that she'd have me go on a long-distance errand all on my own, so it threw me into confusion.

But Mother heartlessly continued.

"Indeed. I know that you can't use the transfer technique, so how about walking there?"

With my jaw hanging partly open, I froze as though I had turned into ice.

"The Capital will be far for your legs. I am quite worried, but this is also a form of training. In order to train you, I will turn my heart into that of a demon's."

Mother made a desolate expression, and made a gesture as though she were wiping away her tears with the sleeve of her kimono. But I feel like she wasn't actually crying.

If I remain frozen like this, I'll really end up being sent off on an errand, so I somehow managed to forcefully dispel my body's stiffening and move my mouth.

"M-Mother……it's..impossible..for me to go alone……"

Don't 'first errands' normally start with going somewhere really close by, like a shop in the neighbourhood?

Just how many hundreds of kilometres is it to the Capital? According to what I've heard from the One-Eyed Knight, it takes at least 2 days to get there even if you gallop all the way there on horse.

Going that far? By myself? With these short legs? Walking?

The thin string of human reason within me snapped.

"Uwahhhh! It's IMPOSSIBLE! APOSSIBLE!"

My pitiful voice echoed inside the cavern.

"I can't! Don't wanna! It's impossible!"

I rolled onto my back on the spot to express my feeling of, 'I won't go on any errand, and I won't take one step from this spot' with my body.

Mother can just use the transfer technique to poof there and back in an instant. Even if she's thinking of it as training for me, the level of difficulty is far too high.

It is true that Mother has a spirit-like strictness to her, but up until now her training has been things like forcing me to run in the middle of winter on the mountain to 'increase my leg strength', or throwing me in front of snow bear that doesn't hibernate in the winter and telling me to 'try defeating it'.

Even the tree climbing this morning was on the milder side for her training.

But when she's having me do that kind of training, she stays by my side so that she can quickly save me when things get dangerous.

While she makes me do absurd things when she's with me, I thought that Mother was the sort who got nervous and worried about me when I was outside the nest on my own.

Mother should be the one who'd hate to send me on a journey all on my lonesome the most.

"Mother won't be coming along with me, right?"

I tried confirming while still lying on my back just in case, but-

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"That's right."

-she nodded in assent.

And then, Mother took out a rolled up piece of paper that was tied with a pretty purple string from her breast and said this.

"I want to have you deliver this letter to the human king. Can you do it?"

"I can'tttttt!"

I flailed my legs around, expressing my refusal with my entire body.

My pride as a former human? Right now I had none of that.

"Dun wanna dun wanna dun wanna! I dun wanna go without Mother!"

I rolled around on top of the bed, scattering the hay about. Even I had to say that I was making quite the racket.

However, even though I thought that Mother would give up if I made this much of a fuss……

"Milfiria, don't say that and try your best for once."

While she spoke to me patiently despite my tantrum, she did not show any signs of letting up.

And then, I finally ended up exhausting my energy and started to feel like I might as well go on the errand.

"Sleep well tonight. You can depart tomorrow morning."

Mother gazed at me with a concerned expression.

I wonder why she was making me go to the Capital, even though she was making such a face.

"Fine, I'll go……"

I don't know what Mother is thinking, but I replied weakly with feelings that things would work out somehow.

I did have the desire to meet Mother's expectations too.

"How admirable, you're such a brave child."

Mother hugged me tightly and stroked my back affectionately, but somehow it gave me a rather complicated feeling.

"Mother……do you…love me?"

Still held in her arms, I looked up at Mother.

I don't really remember too well, but I think I did ask similar questions of my mother in my previous life when I was a child.

Like my mother from my previous life, Mother made a tender smile as she replied.

"Of course. I love you."

"……really? How much do you love me?"

"How much? 'A lot'."

"About how big is 'a lot'?"

"How big!?"

Even I could tell that I was acting like a troublesome girlfriend, but I had to confirm Mother's love for me.

Mother appeared confused, but even then she spread her arms as far as she could and responded, "Perhaps, about this much?". I could see that even the tips of her fingers were trembling a little from how far apart she was stretched out, so I was satisfied for the time being.

But as expected, I still don't wanna go on the errand……

Just what in the world is Mother thinking?

Even after the next morning arrived, I still had not affirmed my resolve.

Tossing around on my bed, I kept my eyes closed and continued to feign sleep despite being a fox, knowing that I'd be forced to go on the errand once I woke up.

However, such petty tricks would not work on Mother.

"Milfiria, it is about time you get up and depart."

Using the tip of her nose, she rooooollled me over. After that, there was no way I could continue to sleep.

"Uu……"

As I staggered up, Mother transformed into her human form and began to carefully remove the hay stuck on my fur.

She also used her fingers to comb away the bed-fur on my face and flank, and also wiped away any signs of drool.

"Where did I put the shawl that those of the fort gave you?"

Mother went deeper into our nest and pulled out the shawl I previously received from Branch Captain-san from my messy mountain of treasures.

Incidentally, in my mountain of treasures were sticks with a good feel to them, round and shiny rocks, along with cool antlers that I picked up in the forest.

Ahh, that brown thing is probably a flower I picked during summer last year. I gotta throw that one out.

"Oh? Where did you pick something like this up, Milfiria?"

Mother pointed at a large, rugged rock that was placed the deepest within my mountain of treasures.

This ordinary-looking rock was just a bit smaller than my body, and had about five to six beautiful pea-green stones stuck to it.

I was sure that those pea-green stones were unpolished gems, so I had been taking good care of them.

"That's something received from Hilg-papa…….something he gave to Mother."

Hilg-papa carried it on his shoulder while saying, "This is pretty, so I'll give it to you!", but Mother rejected it on the spot with an, "I don't need it". Thus, it ended up landing my paws.

However, it seemed that Mother had completely forgotten about that incident.

"From Hilg?"

Mother's brow furrowed, and she averted her gaze from the gemstone.

Such a pitiful Hilg-papa. I'll treasure the gemstone.

Mother collected herself, and then put the shawl on me after she had removed the dirt from it. Even though it had been haphazardly crammed into my messy pile of treasures, perhaps because it was made of a high-quality cloth, once Mother spread it out all of the wrinkles came out.

"Mother, I've been thinking……"

As she steadily prepared for my departure, I opened my mouth.

I still had one remaining last resort to make it so that I wouldn't have to go on the errand.

"I don't know the road to the Capital. That's why I can't go alone. I do want to go on the ewand, but since I don't know how, I can't. It can't be helped, even though I want to go."

That is why, give up on the errand! -I thought internally, my eyes glittering with expectation.

I don't even have a map after all.

"Hm, that is true……"

Alright, attaboy. Mother is reconsidering it. Let's continue on this route and cancel the errand!

Even though I had to maintain the air of 'disappointment at being unable to go on the errand', my honest tail was wagging back and forth.

Be a bit more quiet, tail!

"Then let's do this."

But seeing Mother appear to have come up with a solution, my tail was soon silenced as it dropped despondently.

Mother turned the palm of her hand upwards, and then raised it up.

Then, in the next instant, a hazy blue-white light floated up from the centre of that hand.

The light had a round shape and did not disappear even after leaving Mother's hand as it floated in midair.

The dim cavern became a bit brighter.

"What is this……?"

Seeing the pretty ball of light slowly flying towards me reflexively made me want to bite it with my mouth.

"That is a fairy. A snow fairy that I created."

"A fei-wey……"

"I have given that fairy a small portion of my power and the duty to lead Milfiria to the Capital. If you follow it, then you shouldn't get lost. With this, the issue of you not knowing the roads has been solved."

My shoulders dropped in disappointment as I gazed at the leisurely floating ball of light.

"Now then, it is about time that you set off."

Mother then sent a fleeting glance to the outside of our nest. While it was a nonchalant gesture, somehow I felt like her eyes looked rather vigilant.

Perhaps there's a snow bear in the vicinity?

"First you should go to the fort and give your greetings to the knights at the fort before leaving. It will probably take several days for you to reach the Capital with those legs, and if you do not visit during that time they will probably worry for you."

That's right, I'll have to tell the One-Eyed Knight and everyone that I won't be able to come play for a while beforehand.

To be taking all of the knights into consideration is pretty thoughtful for Mother.

"Okay, I'll do that."

"Use the movement technique to get to the fort."

"Eh? Is that okay?"

I was certain that she'd make me go down the mountain with my own legs in order to train me.

Sometimes I didn't really get the peculiarities of Mother's thoughts.

At the very end, she passed me the rolled up letter, so I held it in my mouth.

I don't want to go but it can't be helped. If I threw another tantrum here, Mother would get fed up with me.

I somehow managed to cheer myself up and say-

"Awwit den, ai'm awff (Alright then, I'm off)."

The fairy stayed right by my side.

"Please, be careful."

The moment I used the transfer technique, Mother said that with an incredibly worried expression on her face. It felt as though she couldn't contain herself, and despite having been the one to propose that I go out on the errand, it seemed like she might just try to come along with me.

"Do your best."

After hearing Mother's last uneasy words, the fairy and I headed for the fort.