Chapter 27

I don't know what my father in this life looks like.

I'm a bit hazy about the events right after I was born, but I remembered things from my past life within a week or two, and my personality as "me" was formed, with clear memories remaining.

However, the one who was always by my side, raising and protecting me, was only my mother. Until I met the one-eyed knights after coming down from the mountain, my world was mainly composed of my mother and snow.

Until now, I had never really wondered about my father. My mother never touched on the topic.

It didn't seem like it was a taboo subject that she didn't want to talk about; it felt more like she didn't care at all, or that such an existence didn't even exist.

So, I decided to let go of human-like thoughts. In other words, the common sense that "a child is born as a result of a man and a woman engaging in that kind of act" doesn't apply to the creation of a spirit child.

A spirit can create a child on their own. That was the conclusion I came to after living as a spirit for a little over a year.

I don't remember the moment I was born, but I had this fantastical image of falling into my mother's hands from the sky as snow, and my mother giving her power to form me.

However, that was not the case.

The "statement" made by the Fire Spirit when I went to the capital with my mother the other day.

"Is this a child of 'Water'? You refused to have a child with me!"

Indeed, he said that, and my mother didn't deny it.

"Water" must refer to the Water Spirit. Is my father the Water Spirit?

"Mother, who is my father?"

Just before falling asleep, I decided to ask my mother in our dwelling. My mother was in her beautiful white fox form, with fur that was smoother and less fluffy than mine.

As I nestled into her silky chest fur, my mother looked serious.

"You have only me as a parent. There is no father."

"But... the Fire Spirit said, 'a child of Water.'"

"You remembered that?"

She seemed a bit surprised and then told me quite frankly.

"If you go far enough to the southeast, there lives the Water Spirit. Indeed, I mated with him and gave birth to you."

Then, my mother answered my questions and talked about the creation and raising of spirit children. It was a bit of a strange topic for a child to hear before bed.

To summarize it in my own words, it seems that spirits need to go through a similar process to humans to create a child. It seems they can't create a child on their own.

So, my mother, who was thinking of having a child, mated with the Water Spirit, who had compatible properties with snow, and I was conceived.

Then, am I half snow and half water spirit? I thought, but apparently that's not the case.

Human children inherit genes from both parents, but spirits only inherit one set of properties. I happened to inherit my mother's snow properties, but I could have been born with water properties.

If that had happened, I would have been taken in by the Water Spirit and raised as his successor, separated from my mother right after birth.

In this case, since my mother was the one who wanted a child, if I, as the first child, had been "Water," she would have had another child and made that one her successor. The second child would have had different properties from the first.

Incidentally, if a spirit who already has a successor mated with my mother, a child who definitely inherited snow properties would be born. Spirits can only have one child.

From listening to my mother, it seems there was no romantic feeling between her and the Water Spirit. She doesn't seem to dislike him, either.

Do spirits not have the concept of marriage?

"I want to meet my father."

I looked up at my mother and said that.

It's not that I have any particular reason to meet him. I don't want the Water Spirit to act like a father or to be doted on. I'm just curious about what kind of person he is. It's just curiosity.

My mother looked a bit worried, so I explained as best I could that I have no intention of leaving her.

As a result, I got a vague permission from my mother.

"If you're curious, I suppose it's fine to meet him once... But that's a conversation for another day. Go to sleep now."

When my mother licked my head, I was overwhelmed by sleepiness. I yawned widely, my jaw almost unhinging, and fell asleep instantly. 3, 2, 1...

"Then, I'm off. Be a good girl while I'm gone."

The next day, after the sun had risen high, my mother left the den in her fox form to patrol the Snowrare Mountain and the surrounding mountains. Spirits work hard, don't they?

"You can go to the knights' fortress, but you must return before sunset."

"Okay."

I gave a good answer and watched my mother's retreating back.

Although my mother said it was okay to meet my father last night, when I brought it up today, she dodged the topic. Maybe deep down, she doesn't really want me to meet him. She seems worried that I might get attached to him. She even sees the one-eyed knight as a rival these days.

I'll have to cuddle up to her a lot tonight to reassure her. Even as a child, I have to be considerate.

After a while, I got bored of staying home and tried to use my teleportation to go play at the fortress. The trick is to strongly visualize the one-eyed knight.

My mother can also teleport to a "place," but I can only teleport to a "person" for now. So far, I've only been able to go to the one-eyed knight and my mother.

However, I might be able to teleport to the Fire Spirit or Kugaru. Since I'm a spirit, I can sense other spirits easily. When I visualize the small black panther Kugaru, who is obsessed with cute young carnivores, I almost teleport there by accident.

By the way, when my mother caused a blizzard thinking I had been kidnapped, why didn't she use her teleportation to come to me? It seems the fire qi in the hot spring at the fortress interfered with her ability to sense my presence.

When I go to the one-eyed knight at the fortress, I can sense his presence clearly if I look for it, but that's probably because he's a regular human. His nature isn't affected much by fire qi.

One-eyed knight, one-eyed knight...

My teleportation isn't perfect. I can't succeed unless I concentrate on the target person.

But today, I was distracted.

One-eyed knight, one-eyed knight, father, one-eyed knight... I couldn't concentrate because I was so curious about my father. Even when I tried to visualize the one-eyed knight, my unknown father kept intruding.

I shouldn't be thinking about my father now.

But the more I told myself that, the more my mind was taken over by thoughts of my father.

One-eyed knight, father, father, one-eyed father... father, father, father, father...

Before I knew it, I was standing on the shore of a beautiful lake. The scenery was clearly different from the snowy den I had been in just a moment ago. Snowrare Mountain has small lakes, but this one seemed different.

The temperature was probably cold enough for humans, but it felt a bit warm to me. There was no snow, and the surroundings were surrounded by a forest with lush, dark green leaves. I don't see this much green in the snowy mountains.

The lake in front of me was very large, and the opposite shore was not visible due to the mist. The clear water shone emerald green and was mysterious, but as it got deeper, the color became darker, creating an unsettling feeling of what might be lurking beneath. It's such a vast lake. It wouldn't be strange if there was a Nessie-like monster.

I was at a loss for a moment, having teleported to an unfamiliar place. But when I calmly searched for my mother's presence, I found her, though she was quite far away. Knowing I could return to her with my teleportation made me feel a bit more at ease.

I decided to calm down and observe my surroundings. In front of me was the lake, to the right was the forest, to the left was also the forest, and behind me, of course—

"…!!?"

It wasn't a forest.

Well, there was indeed a vast forest behind me, but there was another presence right behind me. When I turned around, my vision was filled with "it."

At first glance, I couldn't tell what it was. It looked like a rounded wall, but the color was so beautiful it was mesmerizing. It was a pale color, a mix of blue-green and white, smooth and glossy. Where the sun hit, it shone like a gem, making me want to admire it forever.

I approached the wall and sniffed it. When I was human, I relied on visual information, but now, as a spirit, I also rely on my sense of smell.

The smell was surprisingly faint, almost odorless, like a block of clear water.

But as I got closer, I realized the wall had scales. Not like a fish, but like a "snake"...

"Snake...!?!?"

The moment the name of the creature came to my mind, I let out a confused scream and stumbled backward.

Because the wall was so tall I had to look up. If it was a coiled snake, it could easily swallow me whole.

"……"

It's true that when you're too shocked, you can't even make a sound.

I puffed up my body like a cat and trembled, unable to move, my eyes fixed on the giant snake.

I have to escape before the snake wakes up.

But that plan was in vain. The snake, which had been coiled and sleeping, suddenly raised its head, sensing the aura of fear I was emitting.

"……"

"……"

We stared at each other in silence.

While I was wide-eyed with fear, the snake just looked at me with sleepy, dazed eyes.

I thought it would attack me as soon as it recognized me, but it didn't move, and maybe it wasn't hungry. My chances of survival increased a bit.

I decided to slowly back away without taking my eyes off the snake. I wanted to turn and run, but if this giant snake chased me at high speed from behind, I was confident I would wet myself before I could escape. I was afraid to show my back.

But as I started to back away, the snake did something unexpected.

It slowly opened its mouth and spoke in a low voice.

"Snowrare, is it? You seem... to have shrunk a bit."

Can this snake talk?

I tried to steady my trembling legs. Knowing that words could be exchanged made me feel a bit more at ease, even with a giant snake. It wasn't just an animal but had reason. It seemed to know my mother, so it must be a spirit.

Thinking this far, my heart started to race for a different reason.

I probably teleported here unintentionally, but what was I thinking before I teleported? The true identity of this snake is probably—

"Father?"

My whisper was probably too soft for the other to hear.

The large, beautiful snake continued to look at me with sleepy eyes, puzzled.

"Your body... has shrunk? Strange things... do happen."

Father—let me just call him Father—spoke in a very slow tempo. The low pitch of his voice made me feel sleepy.

I timidly spoke to him.

"I'm not Snowrare. That's my mother."

"Hmm? ...Ah, I see. Then, you must be... the child Snowrare conceived... back then. You... were already born?"

Father slightly raised his eyelids in surprise.

"Um, are you my 'father'?"

I closed the distance with the beautiful snake and looked up at him, my tail wagging with excitement. It was a bit of a shock that my father was a snake, but I was happy to meet him.

I thought it would be an emotional first meeting, but the concept of "parent and child" is different for a former human like me and a pure spirit, so I received a very calm response.

"Father, huh... It feels a bit... strange to hear that. You didn't inherit... the water properties."

Hearing this, my tail drooped.

It seems I unconsciously expected to be welcomed with enthusiasm, like the Fire Spirit saying, "Oh, you're my child! I've been waiting to meet you!"

I felt sad but decided to persist since I had finally met my father.

"But, but...! You and Mother 'mated,' so I was born, right? Mother couldn't have given birth to me alone... So, I think I'm also your child."

"Hmm...? If you say so... it might be true. You are Snowrare's child... and my child... as well."

My tail started wagging again.

Yes! I made him acknowledge we are father and daughter!

I said I just wanted to meet my father out of curiosity, but being told by a parent, "You're not my child," would make anyone sad, so I couldn't help but push the issue.

But maybe I was a nuisance, and I regretted making him acknowledge it. It seemed Father only thought of himself as a "sperm donor." Being suddenly told, "You are a father!" would be confusing.

I think he is biologically my father, but spirits think differently from humans.

I didn't want to be annoying. As I worried about this and couldn't say anything,

"Since you've come this far... why don't you stay a while..."

Unexpectedly, he said this. I was so happy my tail almost fell off.

However, Father was good at toying with me. While saying, "Why don't you stay a while," he didn't seem to want to spend time with me and lowered his head back into his coils, closing his eyes.

Is he going to sleep?

"Um, Father...?"

I timidly called out, and his large eyelids lifted, and he responded in a low voice, "What is it?"

"Nothing, really."

"I see..."

He closed his eyes again.

I stood there in confusion, alone in the silence. I didn't understand Father's character.

But since I had nothing else to do, I decided to explore the surroundings a bit. After all, I had come this far.

I first approached the beautiful lake in front of me. There was no sandy beach like the sea; the ground was covered with low grass, and the lake started abruptly. It didn't seem shallow just because it was near the shore. For a human, it might be knee-deep, but for me, a small child, it could be over my head. I had to be careful not to fall in.

There might be waves in the lake, but the surface was calm because there was no wind. When I dipped my front paw, ripples immediately spread. It was interesting, but the wet fur on my paw was uncomfortable, so I stopped.

I shook off the wet paw and decided to look for fish. I leaned close to the water's surface to peek in.

"Be careful."

I turned around at the sudden voice from behind. Father was still coiled up, but he had opened one eye and was looking at me. He wasn't sleeping.

"..."

"..."

After a few seconds of silent eye contact, I moved a few steps away from the lake. But I couldn't give up on looking for fish, so I looked back at the lake with a lingering gaze and said to Father,

"I want to see fish."

"Can't do that... It's dangerous... Come back here."

I reluctantly returned to Father's side and sat on the ground next to his large head. I knew he wouldn't eat me, but having a huge mouth so close was a bit nerve-wracking.

I glanced up at Father, and he confirmed I was sitting next to him with one eye before closing his eyelids again.

After that, whenever I wandered off to the lake again or tried to sneak into the forest, Father would open his eyes at some point and call me back, saying things like "Stay still" or "Come back here." He would close his eyes again once he confirmed I was back by his side. It seemed that if I moved more than 8 meters away from him, the "recall" would activate.

He seemed to be worried about my movements, but his supervision was stricter and more detailed than Mother's.

I thought he might be a hands-off parent, but it seemed he wasn't. Or, rather, he was overprotective?

He didn't pet my head, hug me, or say anything like "You're so cute!" like a doting parent...

I passed the time by observing an ant nest near Father or testing how close I could get to the birds resting on his body. —By the way, I don't think birds would ever rest on Mother when she's lying down as a fox. Mother is revered and feared by the animals in the snowy mountains, but Father seems to be recognized as part of nature.

In the end, I challenged the invisible 8-meter boundary. I moved away from Father without getting scolded, enjoying the edge of the 8-meter limit.

When I turned around at about 7 meters, Father was staring at me.

I also learned that it was useless to go behind him to avoid his sight. He would slowly lift his head and follow me with his eyes.

But I guess I was moving around too much, and I was eventually confined to the "center of the coils." What kind of imprisonment method is this?

"You shouldn't wander around... until you're bigger. Children... shouldn't be away from... their parents."

"Yes..."

Father's affection was hard to read—was it thin or deep?

In the end, I stayed with Father for about three hours. We didn't really have much conversation, and after being confined in the coils, we just took a nap together, but it was somewhat enjoyable. When I woke up from the short nap, I was quite startled to find Father looking down at my sleeping face.

When he let me out of the coils, I looked up at him and said,

"Then, I'll go back to Mother now."

It was still early, but I decided to return early so as not to worry Mother. If she smelled me, she would know I met Father, and she might get upset if she found out I stayed here for a long time.

"Alright... then, come back... tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes, tomorrow..."

Was this a decision? Father was unexpectedly pushy