At the Northern Fort

The season is autumn. November. In the region where I live, the climate is already showing signs of winter on the flats.

"It's almost winter, Mother! That's a bummer!

I rolled up in the cave where I lived and spoke to my mother, who was a fox next to me, shaking from side to side.

Mother looks back at me as I look down.

"Well, when it comes to fun, it's not fun... But since I don't snow strawberries all year round on Mount Snow Urea, I don't think it will change much when winter comes."

The snow landscape is always spreading near the summit of Mt. Snoulia, where it does live. But I'm not alone in Mount Snow Rare. I go to the northern fort every day, and I go to the lake where my father lives, so I feel the summer heat, and I miss the snow season.

Winter is coming, and I'm excited to think that snow will snow on the flats.

"I wish there was snow everywhere. Ah, but if there's too much, we'll all be disgusted."

I thought of the knights of the fort and the people of the village of Corbi at the foot of Mount Snoulea.

"Then maybe the snow will be fine.... but I still want you to wipe me a lot. Hmm...."

Her mother says she is stunned as she roars.

"Because it snows like mountains again this year, where you're troubled."

"Because if the people in the fort and the people in the village of Corbi don't like the snow, it's pretty good."

"You really have changed, like caring about that."

After she said that to me, my mother stood up whispering, "Okay."

"It's time to take a look around. Milfilia should follow me if she's free."

Yeah!

My mother's daily routine is a patrol of Mount Snow Urea and other mountains adjacent to it. We are checking whether humans are roughing up the mountain on their own, whether animals are friendly, and whether there is anything unusual in the Snow Urea area.

I followed my mother out of the cave and ran fluffily over the snow. Around here - near the summit of Mount Snow Urea - snow is still flickering today.

"Where are you patrolling today?

I see. -This way to the back.

The back is the opposite of the fort and the village of Corbi. I often go down if I have a fort or a village in Corbi, but I don't go too far on the other side. I think my mother knows a lot about Mount Snow Urea from corner to corner, but there are many places I haven't stepped in yet.

Then I went to the back of Mt. Snoulia, and my mother and I went down the mountain little by little.

"These slopes aren't sudden, so be careful. Once it turns over, it gains momentum and doesn't stop on its own -"

"Wow, pu!?"

On the way to my mother's attention, I was already caught in the snow and fell. Then you can't stop by yourself and roll down the snow slope.

Today is a good day... I can't afford to tell you how long I've been rolling my eyes around. Besides, the fresh snow piled up on my fur keeps sticking to my fur, and the snowball with me as its core is made in the procedure of making a snowman.

"Ha, hahhhhh!

As I circled around in the snowball, I turned my eyes and shouted.

My mother ran over me like a wind on a slope and apparently took me by herself. When I hit my mother, I stopped, and at the same time the snow that surrounded me collapsed.

"I thought I wouldn't."

I crawled out of the collapsed snowball and breathed constantly, stuck to my mother's leg perfectly.

"I was surprised. I see....."

I just fell a little, and I didn't know this was gonna happen. I round my tail to make my body smaller and tremble.

Then my mother licked my head gently and said as she picked up the snow left over from the fur.

"The side that leads to the people is relatively mild, but there are many steep places on this side. Maybe Milfilia shouldn't be here alone."

"Yeah, I will."

Then I was put on my mother's back and patrolled safely.

You've come all the way down here.

My mother and I, who were on patrol, eventually arrived near the foot. There is an altar at the foot of the fort, but there are even coniferous forests at the foot of this side.

I see. It's time to go back. "

When my mother tried to climb the mountain, something came into my sight.

"Oh, what?

In the back of the coniferous forest, there was a tree that was torn in half vertically and fell.

"How did this happen?

I don't think it's human work, and my mother doesn't do that either. I didn't feel like I fell because of the weight of the snow.

"Hmm? Is that it...."

As she walks towards you, she explores her memories and says as she remembers.

"Oh, that's right. Lizard did this to me."

"Lizard?"

"All the trees around here aren't."

Looking around with her mother, in addition to the trees that had been torn in half, there were many trees that had been destroyed, such as a part of the trunk that had peeled off or a whole trunk that had sneaked out of branches.

However, vines crawl over the destroyed tree, or new thin branches grow from broken branches, so it seems like a long time ago that these trees were destroyed like this.

Mother says quietly.

"Lizard is still a young spirit of thunder."

"Big bite?

With the advent of new spirits, I kept my mother on my back and moved my ears twitching.

The only spirits I've ever met are the Spirit of Lightning and the Spirit of Flowers.

But to be more precise, I haven't even met Woodbaum's father, and maybe Hilkpa and Mr. Daffine's parents are still alive.

Thinking so, maybe my mother's mother, or my grandmother, is alive...?

But there, my mother told me about past events with the Spirit of Lightning, so I decided to focus on you for a while.

"Was that about thirty years ago? Just like now, when I came around here looking for straw. My first face, Lizard, suddenly appeared and attacked the stray."

"Eh!?"

I tremble my tail in fear. Mother continued tilting her neck a little.

"... no, it's a little different from an attack. Lizard didn't want to defeat the straw, he wanted to show the straw his power. I dropped a lot of lightning around here, and suddenly I saw the straw's face and went home satisfied."

The Spirit of Lightning didn't intend to attack my mother, or she wasn't injured.

"That's right...."

It's kind of a rough spirit to suddenly drop lightning.

I say with my ears down.

A little scary spirits.

"Next time he comes, I'll take it back.... no, you haven't done what you did thirty years ago. Let's go now and clear up the old grudges."

"No, no! Don't fight! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

I'm sure it didn't matter! When I stopped, my mother smiled and went back to the cave as if nothing had happened. She's an early fighter, but I don't think she's too young for Lizard yet.

Speaking of which, my mother was surprisingly calm when she fought the same young wind spirit Hylilith.