3 bar menu

Volume 2 Chapter 3-2: To the Fire Fox Village

 

---

Kuu and I returned to the workshop where the Fire Foxes were living for now.

As we approached a young Fire Fox Girl came running over.

「Big Sister Kuu, thank you for your efforts. Here is your share. Please eat.」

She said and held out a large cup full of soup. This soup was chock full of meat, much more than anyone else had gotten.

It was a different one than the one Kuu had let go cold.

When I had announced that the Fire Foxes could get seconds they had almost lost their heads as they rushed to get more from the pot.

Even so they properly prepared another portion for Kuu.

This action proved that Kuu was well loved. Just her position as Chief wouldn’t cause these kinds of actions.

All of the Fire Foxes saw and recognized the great efforts Kuu had put forth til now.

I was a bit envious of that as a person who was in a similar leadership position.

「Thank you Kemin.」

Kuu’s eyes teared up as she hugged the young girl.

She probably couldn’t suppress the feelings that welled up when she realized that her efforts had been appreciated.

Kuu would never show her weakness in front of the other Fire Foxes.

However, these tears weren’t tears of weakness. They were tears of joy.

She didn’t feel the need to hide them.

I felt that things would be alright for now so I decided to return to the village.

I had pretty much decided on my own to take in the Fire Foxes so I had to do a follow up…

Roleau especially might be dissatisfied.

It was troublesome, but this was my duty as Chief.
◇　◇　◇　◇

The next day before dawn Kuu and I exited Erucy.

The reason we chose this time was because Kuu was the emotional pillar for the young Fire Foxes, we wanted to go there and come back before they woke up and realized she was gone.

On my back was a self-created high-capacity belted rucksack.

This type of rucksack would split up the weight of what I was carrying making things easier. If I had made this 70 liter capacity rucksack to be completely supported by my shoulders, it would instead turn into a torture device for me.

I was also princess-carrying Kuu in my arms.

It was a bit difficult for my mind to have Kuu’s more womanly body pressed so tightly against my body.

「Umm, Cyril-kun you seem a bit restless…what’s wrong?」
「No it’s nothing. I just thought you smelled nice Kuu.」
「It’s a bit embarrassing if you tell me that…」

It was a bit pitiful for me to say…but since I lived together with Lucy I couldn’t take care of some ‘male physiological needs’ so I was quite backed up.

Even worse was that sometimes Lucy would ‘comfort’ herself quietly late in the night when I slept.

I myself had a portion of my consciousness always active to watch over our surroundings…so I clearly experienced this activity going on near me.

Furthermore, sometimes I heard her call out my name quietly during that act…and I felt my sense of reason teetering on the brink of collapse.

If I were to wake up and tell her to stop, she might not talk to me for an entire week. There wasn’t really a good way of handling this.

Recently she had been calling out for me and since I wasn’t prepared to lay a hand on her yet I was sincerely driven into a corner.

「Okay then, let’s go. It’s dangerous so hold on tight.」
「I got it Cyril-kun.」

Kuu tightly wound her arms around the back of my neck and hugged me tightly.

Calm down. I’m fine. Kuu’s just my friend.

「Wind」

I quickly gathered the wind mana using a single word.

Then I used magic to strengthen my physique before kicking the ground firmly as my body dashed above the ground.

It was my specialty high speed movement.

Furthermore this time I chose to use the trees as jumping platforms and chose thick branches and trunks as landing areas.

I continued jumping from tree to tree.

Like this I’d be able to pass through the forest using the shortest route and fastest speed.

「Amazing Cyril-kun. This is the first time I’ve flown and moved this fast. Erucy is already so far away…」

Kuu said merrily inside my arms.

But I could tell this merriment was simply pushing herself.

The words she spoke were simply a smokescreen. They hid her true feelings of anxiety over the fate of the Fire Fox village. She spoke lightly to hide her fear.

I understood this and simply smiled at her words.

「Alright then, I’ll increase our speed. I want to be back in time for breakfast if we can. Lucy will be making me a delicious meal…well I suppose that it’ll be steamed potatoes for dinner too.」
「That’s fine. The potatoes yesterday were really delicious.」
「Once we get back I’ll have the Fire Foxes all harvest the potatoes that are still in the ground so be prepared for that.」
「Okay we can do that! If we don’t work properly we won’t be able to eat our meals properly.」

In truth they would feel unpleasant about being freeloaders.

They’d feel judged if they just sat around and ate our food.

「Don’t worry about it, the jobs will keep increasing. We Elves are almost at our limits just dealing with the wheat. I want to buy around 100 goats and let you Fire Foxes care for them. So I’ll make you responsible for cultivating potatoes and goats.
Then in around two weeks I want to bake around 1,000 50 liter pots. Then after that we need people to make alcohol.」

There were plenty of other jobs besides for the potatoes that the elves couldn’t handle on our own. If the Fire Foxes were to take on these tasks then their trustworthiness would instantly increase.

Once Erucy becomes prosperous the Fire Foxes would truly have a place to belong.

That future surely wasn’t far away.

「I’ll do my best. Even at the cost of my life I’ll show you.」
「It’s good you’re passionate…but I’d prefer you work hard without overdoing it. If you’re hurt or sick you should tell me immediately. If it was a short-term job maybe you could overcome such things with guts and perseverance. However, these are long term jobs. If you don’t properly care for yourself you won’t be able to continue for long.」
「You’re properly thinking of us Cyril-kun…」

Kuu slightly strengthened her hug.

「Of course, you’re fellow citizens of Erucy.」
「I feel happy that we came here. I think that as long as Cyril-kun leads us Erucy will get bigger and someday defeat the Empire.」
「What are you saying…I intended to do that from the start.」

It was something I had decided when I named our country.

If not then I would have abandoned this land, gone to a new area, and created a new village. That would have been much quicker and safer.

Before long we reached the Fire Fox village.

I couldn’t even speak…the situation was worse than I had imagined.

---