At the Northern Fort

"I don't see her……we should be catching up to her soon though."

On horseback as they advanced down the main road that was close to the fort, Grail carefully gazed at the road ahead of them.

Cromwell, Kix, and Tina were also similarly searching for the figure of the white fox ahead of them, while Gauss leisurely murmured, "There really isn't anything around this area, huh" as he handled his horse's reins.

Though Mil had left the fort before them, it wasn't like she could walk that quickly.

After not seeing her, despite the fact that they should've caught up to her by now, they grew worried.

It couldn't be that she had been abducted in such a short period of time, nor should she be drowning in a ditch somewhere……is what they'd like to believe.

"Should we try rounding back and searching the road we just came through again?"

Tina said anxiously.

Kix was also making an unusually serious expression, while Cromwell's face had turned somewhat pale. Gauss pulled up next to him and clapped his shoulder.

"Hmm, let's try splitting up into two groups. One group will go ahead, and the other will turn back——"

Just as Grail, who had been running in the front, was about to stop his horse and turn around, his words paused.

Next to the road that the five of them were walking down were the pastures where the fort's horses grazed. Glimpses of a small white animal could be seen at the feet of the various brown and black horses that were dashing around.

The one who was happily springing around atop the grassy field was undoubtedly Mil.

"There she is."

Grail gave an exasperated smile as he pointed at the pasture, and the other four quickly turned their eyes that way as well.

"So that's where she's been this whole time!"

"Thank goodness, we found her……"

Kix and Tina spoke with relieved expressions, and Cromwell also secretly expressed his relief.

It seemed that despite being in the middle of an errand, Mil was playing around together with the horses.

As she raced together with four or five other horses, she was the only one being completely left behind in the dust, but even then she seemed to be enjoying herself.

Unaware of the fact that Grail and the rest were watching here, Mil played with the horses for a while, and before long, it seemed that she remembered what her original objective was. She started to return to the fencing near the side of the main road where the fairy was waiting for her.

In other words, she was beginning to approach the area where Grail and the rest were watching her.

"Crap, she's coming this way."

Kix said that and pulled his cloak over his head, but it appeared that Mil didn't even notice the presence of the five people.

"She didn't even make a single glance this way."

Tina made a wry smile as Cromwell muttered thus quietly.

"I do think we're following her pretty closely though……"

They were about 15 metres away from Mil, who had started to stride down the main road.

If they were tailing her in a town, then this would've been plenty of distance. However, they were currently on a straight road, surrounded by grassy plains and fields, without any obstructions to the view at all.

She'd immediately discover that she was being tailed if she just turned around, but Mil didn't pay any attention to her rear at all.

"She's upwind, so she can't smell us, but shouldn't she be able to sense the presence of people? And, it wouldn't be strange for her to be able to hear us talking, or the sound of the horses' hooves. I had thought that spirits had sharper senses than humans but……"

After Gauss said that in a mystified manner, Cromwell shot back.

"It is true that while Mil is a snow spirit, she's the more careless type."

Kix also joked around as his brow furrowed.

"That being said, she doesn't even have the same level of attentiveness as a normal fox. Those ears are also just a cute decoration."

In order to match Mil's walking speed, the five people dismounted their horses and started to walk.

"So, when should we call out to Mil? Are we just gonna keep following her from behind?"

Grail looked over his shoulder and asked Kix.

While Snowlea said, "I want all of you to shadow Milfiria", she probably did not mean to [tail her without being discovered], but instead to [go together with her to the Capital].

Grail had intended on setting off together with Mil, but Kix and Tina had put a stop to that.

"Because, wouldn't it be fun to secretly observe Mil's actions?"

"A fox cub carrying a bunny rucksack while wearing a shawl——wouldn't it just be wonderful to watch our fill of such a charming backside? Also, her tail, and butt, and the back of her head too……"

Following Kix, Tina said that, enraptured.

They had prepared Mil's luggage earlier that morning, and when Grail was searching for a bag to put Mil's lunch and jerky in, Cromwell had silently presented that bunny rucksack.

While he really wanted to ask where in the world Cromwell had obtained such a product, Grail just silently accepted the bag.

And like he had imagined, the figure of a fox cub carrying a bunny was adorable.

He could understand Kix and Tina's feelings when they asked to tail her secretly for a bit.

While the highly populated town was dangerous, there weren't any concerns of losing sight of her on this exposed highway.

"Ah, it's Kugalg-kun."

Tina raised her voice in excitement. A small flame had appeared next to Mil, transforming into a young black panther.

Wild panthers did not live in this country, but Grail and the rest had already met with Kugalg a number of times in the past, thus they were familiar with his appearance.

At first, Mil had seemed to dislike coming into contact with Kugalg, who was a fire spirit, but now she seemed to have resigned herself and was tolerating his actions.

Even if he headbutt her or sniffed her, she let him do as he liked without resisting.

"Oh, so that's the child of fire from the South? This is quite the rare sight."

"This is a pretty common sight at the fort though."

Kix said to the deeply moved Gauss.

"Milfiria. Hm? ……where is this place?"

Kugalg said that and looked around at the surroundings, quickly noticing Grail and the other four people who were behind them. Unlike Mil, he was more attentive to his surroundings.

While showing some wariness towards Gauss' presence, he appeared baffled as to why Grail and the rest were a distance away. But-

"Kugalg, I've been waiting for you!"

When Mil happily welcomed him, he completely lost interest in what the humans over here were doing.

Mil never usually showed much reaction when Kugalg came to visit, and at most would say something like, "Oh, you came?". Thus, this was the first time he had ever been so welcomed.

Kugalg seemed terribly moved by that, as his tail trembled with excitement.

After that, just as they thought the two spirits would start to walk together, they were soon stopped by the discovery of a rabbit.

"They're not gonna get anywhere at all like this."

Kix said with a laugh.

Though Mil and Kugalg put more thought into how they chased down the rabbit than expected, in the end it managed to get away.

And then, when they thought that the two would finally set off, it seemed that Mil had gotten tired, so she transformed into her human form and began to rummage through the rucksack.

Apparently she had decided to eat lunch now.

Grail and the rest had food for Mil packed in their luggage carried by the horses, so it was fine for Mil to eat the portion she was carrying sooner than expected. However, you could say that she had no planning ability with regards to her consumption.

Every now and then, Kugalg would glance towards them, but perhaps because he didn't want them to interrupt his two person journey with her, he didn't show any signs of saying anything to Mil.

——then-

"GYAAAAHHHHH!?"

Mil pulled something out from the rucksack and then suddenly let out a frightened scream.

For a moment Grail and Cromwell were about to start running towards her, but seeing the strange, purple toadstool plush, they quickly turned their gazes towards Tina.

"……what's with that?"

Hearing Grail's genuine doubt, Tina made a bashful smile as she replied.

"Well, um…I thought that it could be Mil-chan's travel companion……"

"Travel companion? That toadstool?"

Kix looked at Tina as if to say 'are you serious?'.

"It's not a toadstool! It's a plushie!"

"I know it's a plushie, but why did you make it into such a horrifying being!? Where in the world did you obtain that dark purple cloth!?"

"That's so mean! Isn't it cute!?"

Geez, geez! -Tina's face grew red as she smacked Kix. Gauss laughed boisterously next to her.

(No wonder why the rucksack had grown larger compared to when I packed it. Just when did she manage to sneak that in there……)

'You really can't be too careful', Grail thought to himself.

Both Mil and Kugalg appeared to have received quite the shock from the plushie, but they somehow managed to collect themselves and begin their meal.

After finishing their meal, they started to try making their own fairies, and when they finished that, they finally started to prepare for their departure.

Both Mil and Kugalg returned to their animal forms, and continued down the highway, following after the fairy.

"Now that I think of it, this isn't the time to be taking things easy! The Capital's pretty far after all."

Mil started to get a little impatient and increased her walking speed.

Her small and short legs hurriedly moved as fast as they could.

"We might've eaten a bit too much jerky……there's still quite a long way to go, so we should've left more for later. We probably should've eaten the meal a bit later too…what will we do……"

After having finished eating, it seemed that she finally started to hold some anxiety regarding the amount of food they had, as Mil continued to talk in a dither.

"We won't die even if we don't eat, so it'll be fine."

"That might be true but……but we might get hungry, and if I'm hungry I'll get sad."

"Then shouldn't we try getting to the Capital before Milfiria's belly gets hungry?"

"Ah, that's true!"

Mil agreed to that proposition and then said, "Then, let's hurry!", and the two of them took off running.

Seeing that, Grail and the rest mounted their horses. Kix retorted, "That ain't 'true' at all!" as he lightly kicked the horse's belly to signal it.

Perhaps because they were spirits and thus had more endurance, Mil and Kugalg were able to run for longer than expected, and soon the next town came into sight.

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