At the Northern Fort

Two years after my birth, I finally gained the ability to transform into the human form.

"Mother, look!"

Inside the cave that was our nest, I showed off my human appearance to Mother, who was resting in her big fox form.

Even when I became human, I was about the size of a two-year-old, with silver hair that went down to my waist. My clothes resembled what Mother wears when she transforms into human form, consisting of a white kimono. However, lengthwise it was a bit shorter, and cut off just above the knee. With my bare legs and straw sandals, I somewhat resembled a snow child. Though rather than a Western snow spirit, I seemed more like a Japanese snow demon. It'd be even more perfect if I put on a straw snow coat*.

"Oh my, Milfiria."

As Mother turned her face my way, her eyes widened slightly.

"So you've already become capable of taking the human form. What a lovely appearance!"

Mother also took on her human form, and hugged me tightly with excitement. How soft. Her chest is so soft.

However, when she let me go and once again gazed at my form, she let out a bewitching smile as she said this.

"But it isn't perfect yet. Your ears and tail are peeking out."

"Eh?"

Startled, I turned to look at my rear end, finding a fluffy white tail swaying there when I did so. When I reached my short arms up to my head, I could feel furry fox ears……

"Uwah, it's true."

I hastily closed my eyes and tried to concentrate, but it was too difficult, and I was unable to retract the appendages.

"This is the worst!"

I held down my fox ears with my hands and crouched down. So hard!

No way, I don't want this kind of incomplete form. On top of that, doesn't it look like I'm aiming for something by just leaving my ears and tail in their vixen form? It seems really calculated, doesn't it?

"Fufu, it's not a bad thing at all. Isn't it quite cute?"

Mother isn't aware of the Japanese term, "kemono-mimi"*, and she naturally isn't aware of its place as a 'moe genre'**. My current form seemed to have struck a chord with her, as she tightly hugged me with a face full of smiles. Even in a different world, I suppose the things that make people's hearts clench haven't changed.

There aren't any mirrors inside the cave, so I can't look at my own appearance objectively.

After being stroked all over by Mother, something suddenly came to mind.

"Say, Mother. Can Mother also bring out your ears and tail while still in human form?"

"Me?"

I excitedly looked up at the beautiful woman in front of me.

"Well now, I've never actually tried to purposely leave my ears and tail out."

"Try it! Pleeeease!"

I hugged Mother and shook my tail. I'm sure that right now my eyes are shining with sparkles.

"Hmm."

Mother calmly closed her eyes, and after concentrating for a brief second, she splendidly managed to bring out her fox ears and tail. What a devastating appearance!

"M-Mother……!"

I was rendered speechless at the sight.

All toddlers were cute in their own right, so when you added cute fox ears to a toddler, that just doubled the 'cuteness'. Even if the young me became a fox-eared girl, it wouldn't cause too much of a reaction.

However, what if you attached fox ears and a tail to an adult woman with a voluptuous body who could freeze you at a glance with her icy beauty?

You'd be adding [Cuteness] on top of [Beauty] + [Coldness] + [Bewitching Sex Appeal].

Such a destructive force! Try imagining it! There's no difference if you just add cat ears to a character who normally acts cute already! But what about when you add cat ears to someone who normally acts cool?!

……I might've just created the ultimate being.

"M-Mother…amazing…….amazing……."

Seeing me begin to tremble with excitement and awe, Mother flinched back slightly.

"W-What's the matter, Milfiria?"

Mother might not be able to understand this impact.

However, I even felt that my excited state was a bit disgusting, so I turned my eyes away from the fox-eared beauty before me, and calmed my heart down. I'd hate to be a toddler who gets excited at the sight of her mother after all.

"Sorry, it's nothing. I was just happy that we matched~"

I touched the ears coming out of the top of my head and went 'hehe', trying to gloss things over with an innocent laugh.

"I see, that's true, we do match."

Mother also laughed happily, and dropped a kiss on my ear. Ahh, it hurts. Mother is so cute it hurts. I want her to stay in this form forever. I want to take a picture and permanently preserve this image. It's so nice how the person in question doesn't get how fascinating she looks right now.

"Mother, stay in that form for the rest of today~!"

When I played cute and said that, Mother cheerfully nodded and responded, "Very well".

Alright! Today I get to spend the whole day with a fox-eared beauty~!

***

The next day after enjoying Mother's incredibly cute appearance, I turned into human form and headed to the fort to have them see it. As always, I targeted their afternoon rest period, and flew over to the One-Eyed Knight's side. I transferred there in an instant.

When I opened my eyes, I was on the fort's training grounds, and everyone was in the middle of returning to the building with their swords, having finished training. It seemed that they did a cross-squad training session, as there were quite a number of people.

The One-Eyed Knight was standing right in front of me, but since his back was facing me, he still hadn't noticed my existence.

And standing next to the One-Eyed Knight and talking to him was my bosom buddy, Branch Captain-san. It seemed that the current training session had been to examine their soldier's ability with the sword, personality, and compatibility, amongst other things. Thus, they seemed to be in the middle of a conversation to decide 'how to organise the squads next'. I don't really get it.

After waiting for several seconds, neither of them showed any signs of noticing my presence, so I tugged on the cuff of the One-Eyed Knight's overcoat. The One-Eyed Knight immediately turned around and dropped his gaze, finding me, and momentarily made a puzzled expression.

"A child? Just where did you come fr-……"

As he was saying that in a mystified manner, his words came to a sudden halt midway through. I could tell that the One-Eyed Knight's quick, observant gaze turned to the colour of my hair, garments, as well as the ears coming out of my head, and then my tail. It seems he's perceived my true identity.

"……Mil?"

There weren't any changes in his expression except for his eyebrows that rose imperceptibly, but there was a faint surprise contained within his voice.

It felt as though my prank had succeeded, making me feel somewhat happy. I grinned and replied.

"That's right!"

The One-Eyed Knight crouched down in front of me, smiling like a kindly father.

"I see, now that I think about it Snowlea also took on human form."

"But, Mother only became able to transform into a human when she was three. I'm still two!"

Perhaps because I was a human in my previous life, I was quicker in learning how to transform into a human. Well, for a spirit one year was like a day for a human, so there might not be too much of a difference there.

However, when I proudly puffed out my chest and said that, the One-Eyed Knight praised me, saying, "Is that so, that's amazing".

"Right~? The truth is, you know, I was twaining all this time."

I was happy at being praised, so I grinned as my tail shook vigorously.

"Wow, that's great. You're amazing."

The One-Eyed Knight took off his glove and stroked my head roughly. Ah, wait a moment. Don't take the opportunity to stroke my ears while you're petting my head.

As the two of us messed around, I recalled that Branch Captain-san was also here. When I glanced behind the One-Eyed Knight, I saw him covering his face with both hands, trembling. W-What's wrong?

"One-Eyed Knight……Bwanch Captain-san is……"

When I voiced my concern, the One-Eyed Knight took a brief glimpse behind him to confirm before reassuringly declaring, "He'll be fine".

"But……"

No matter how you look at it, he wasn't fine.

Somehow he seemed a bit like…me from yesterday when I was so moved by Mother's fox-eared appearance that I trembled?

"Vice Captain! Don't tell me, that child is-…….!"

The other knights that had been leaving the training grounds noticed our voices as we conversed and turned back this way. Taking the lead was Kix. Immediately behind him was Tina-san, as well as the Scary-Faced Squad.

"Ahh, it's Mil."

"Seriously!? What's with that appearance! What's with this biological weapon!"

Kix seemed like he wanted to ruffle up my hair and mess it up, so I quickly hid behind the One-Eyed Knight. However, Kix persistently kept chasing after me, so the two of us ended up running circles around the One-Eyed Knight.

"Let me pet you!"

"Kix will make my hair all messy, so no."

"I won't!"

"You'll pull my ears, so no."

"I won't!"

"Oi, stop scampering around me."

The One-Eyed Knight seized Kix's collar and brought him to a stop, allowing me to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Oh my! Mil-chan is so cute!"

The next one to raise her voice was Tina-san. Her eyes had gone damp with excitement as her cheeks blushed.

"You're soooo cute! Oh gosh! Just looking at you makes my heart clench! What's with this, oh gosh! It's so dreadful!"

Eh, so dreadful!?

"Ah, Branch Captain……?"

The excited Tina-san suddenly moved her gaze away from me and said that. It was because Branch Captain-san, whose hands were still covering his face, was walking unsteadily back towards the building, appearing incredibly haggard.

"Eh, are you okay? What's the mat——"

"Tina."

Kix and the other knight-sans stopped Tina-san, who was about to rush towards Branch Captain-san. All of them had a sort of knowing look, and like how the One-Eyed Knight spoke earlier, they reassuringly declared, "He'll be fine".

"Right now, you should just leave him be. The Branch Captain will be fine."

"Right right, it's probably just that the impact was a bit too strong."

"He saw Mil before being able to mentally prepare himself after all. His character was about to crumble."

"His character was about to crumble!? Isn't that a big problem!?"

"No, it's okay, it's okay."

Tina-san and I were worried about Branch Captain-san, but everyone else was seeing him off with lukewarm eyes. I don't get it.

In any case, I managed to surprise everyone that was at the training grounds except Branch Captain-san, so it was worth practicing my humanoid transformation.

And as expected, I feel like being able to take human form was convenient in various ways. For example, these fingers. I can grab the snow accumulated on the ground and make it round with both hands. After putting in some strength to make the shape more firm, I silently tossed the snowball at Kix's legs.

"Uwoh! What are you doing all of a sudden——-"

I once again grabbed some snow and silently tossed it at Kix.

"Eh, what!? Why is it just me!?"

I remembered that last year, Kix tossed a snowball that struck a critical hit on my face while fooling around. That hurt. Now, my simmering anger was revived as it overflowed.

"Last year, Kix threw a snowball at my face!"

"Ehh!? You're still holding a grudge over that!? Rather, the first thing you do after turning into human form is take revenge!?"

Instead of apologising, Kix grew defiant, so I kept making snowballs. Then, like a baseball pitcher, I threw them at Kix with all my strength.

"Wai-, that hurts! It hurts quite a bit!"

Starting with the One-Eyed Knight, everyone surrounding us had no intention of stopping me, nor any intention of helping Kix, as they cheered me on while laughing, "Alright, throw more!". Then, I won't hesitate to take up that offer.

As I continued to do such a childish thing, I suddenly sensed [Fire Energy] approaching. I've sensed this countless times during this past year, so I knew.

——-Kugalg was coming.