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Volume 3 Chapter 14-2: Kuu’s Brilliance

 

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I guided the squad inside the cabin.

Thanks to Yukino the inside was warm. Wait…strangely the temperature felt lower than usual.

I looked more closely and saw Kuu lying under a blanket and moving every now and again while making strange groaning sounds. Kuu’s face morphed into a grim expression.

She quickly took the blanket off of Yukino. Yukino opened her eyes and desperately held back from coughing before speaking.

「Kuu-anesama…I’m happy to see you again.」

Yukino murmured with a hoarse sounding voice. Her expression didn’t look much different from normal.

Kuu stayed quiet and placed her hand against her forehead.

PICTURE

「Yukino…when did it start?」

Yukino’s shoulders shook for a moment.

「I don’t know what you’re saying.」

Kuu gazed deeply into her eyes. Yukino tried to turn away, but Kuu wouldn’t allow it.

After a while Yukino resigned herself and spoke.

「Three days ago.」

「…..so long. Didn’t you say anything?」

「I didn’t. Yukino didn’t want to cause problems. I had to show that Fire Foxes are useful…I can’t slow them down.」

Kuu let out a deep sigh and patted Yukino’s head before flicking it strongly.

「I patted you for your hard work, but I’m flicking you for hiding something so important. You have to at least inform Cyril-kun of important things like this. If you stay silent and suddenly collapse that will be the most troublesome thing.」

「I’m sorry…Kuu-anesama.」

Kuu smiled wryly at her stubborn younger sister’s words and turned to me.

「Cyril-kun, all that’s left is the supply base attack right? In that case please leave Yukino here. I’ll do enough work for the two of us.」

「I don’t mind that.」

In the first place I had brought two Fire Foxes in case one of them couldn’t hold out and collapsed.

Now that we had regrouped there was no need to force Yukino to come with.

「Is Yukino sick?」

「Yes, just feel her forehead and you’ll see.」

I touched her forehead and felt how hot it was. Around 38-39 degrees Celcius.

If she was telling the truth, then her condition deteriorated starting three days ago. Even so she had stuck it out and supported us.

「I’m sorry for not noticing.」

「Uh uh, it’s Yukino’s fault for hiding it…Cyril-niisama did nothing wrong.」

Even like this she had been moving around the forest, keeping us warm, preparing us warm drinks, and helping us make food.

「Did Yukino do a good job?」

「Yeah, you did great, we were always warm thanks to you.」

「Always?」

「Yeah, always.」

「You pushed yourself too hard. Even I need to take a break every once in a while…」

「But…everyone was so happy…and it was something only I could do.」

I felt a chill at those words. No matter how low the consumption of energy was to keep us warm, keeping it active constantly was extremely burdensome. Even if I used magic to keep the warm air around us, whenever we entered combat I had to release it.

This girl was only 12 years old, still a child. Even if she was a trained Fire Fox with excellent physical abilities, she couldn’t handle living in a forest, running around, sleeping outside, and using magic like an adult. It was stranger that she hadn’t collapsed.

Even further she had lasted three days with a high fever while still fulfilling her tasks.

I had taken things too lightly thinking that Yukino was special. If we had met up with Kuu later then things might have taken a bad turn.

I remembered what Kemin and Kurone had said to me before.

『Yukino-chan tries too hard sometimes and it’s scary. Please protect her.』

I had been warned, but I still let her push too hard. If it’s like this then I couldn’t accept that reward they had offered.

「Cyril-niisama, Yukino will come too. I’ll finish my job to the end.」

「No. I won’t bring you.」

「Even today, it was hard but I didn’t slow you down. I want to be useful. I want to accomplish this.」

Yukino begged with tears in her eyes. I understood how she felt. She felt like the representative of the Fire Foxes and wanted to finish things all the way. However, I would not allow her to push herself further.

「It’s okay. You did your job perfectly. You’ve done your best until Kuu reached us. You can rest now. Because you were here everyone could do their best. Really…you did a great job.」

Yukino’s eyes were still teary, but the normal expression she had forced on her face collapsed.

「Yukino…did Yukino live up to your hopes?」

「Un, you did far better than I even hoped.」

「Yukino…didn’t trouble you?」

「No, in fact I feel like we troubled you too much.」

「Good…I did it right.」

As she spoke in relief Yukino’s tears finally dripped down. It seems like she was finally released from the pressures of acting like a representative.

「However, next time you absolutely tell me if things get hard. If we met up with Kuu a few days later and you ended up collapsing, we would be in real trouble. So I need you to promise me.」

「Un…I promise.」

「Good girl.」

I ruffled Yukino’s hair. Then I fed her some fever pills and medicine.

「You’ve worked really hard Yukino and you deserve a reward…what would you like?」

「Cyril-niisama’s child.」

「……something other than that.」

「I can’t decide that fast…I’m sleepy.」

The medicine and the relaxation seemed to tire out Yukino.

「Just rest here and I’ll be back when you wake up.」

「Un, okay. So come back safe Cyril-niisama.」

「Of course, I can’t leave my cute little sister behind.」

「Good night」

Finally Yukino closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Her angelic sleeping face was endearing.

「Kuu, I’m sorry…she ended up like this while…」

「No, it’s because I didn’t teach her properly. I taught her how to push herself without properly identifying when she should rest. Our training plans usually involve enduring hardship with force of will…but I have to adjust.」

A wry smile spread across my face.

Certainly she showed some fearsome guts. Running around a cold mountain while using magic and ignoring her fever. Normally someone would get laid out….but that was no good.

「Little Yukino worked so hard…we have to properly do the finishing touches.」

「Yes, let’s do our best.」

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