Chapter 44

However, Mil continued to walk along the path without noticing she was being followed, occasionally greeting passersby with a smile, and when they petted her, she became cheerful and shared the remaining jerky with Kugaru, eating it all. Before long, the sun set, and as the surroundings grew dark, she began to look for a place to sleep for the night.

Eventually, she entered a small forest, settled down at the base of a tree, and curled up next to Kugaru. The fairy hovered between them and dimmed its light.

"You must be tired today. Good night."

With that, Mil was snoring softly within a minute, drifting off to dreamland. Kugaru groomed Mil thoroughly before glancing at Grail and the others and closing his eyes.

"She fell asleep without noticing a thing, Mil-chan."

"What would she do if we were suspicious people? She's sleeping so peacefully."

However, only Kicks was angry about Mil's poor crisis management. The sight of the white and black fur balls lying defenselessly together brought healing to the other four. Cromwell, in particular, was almost losing his usual calm expression, and Gauss was even saying things like, "I'm going to get a dog and a cat when we return to the capital."

"You'll get scolded by your wife if you do that without her permission."

Grail, who had taken care of Gauss before coming to the northern fortress, knew very well that his beautiful wife could be quite scary when angry. Grail turned to Kicks and Tina and said,

"Anyway, we'll be camping here tonight. I was hoping we could stay in the town of Gorda, but it looks like we'll arrive there around noon tomorrow."

While they prepared for camping, they started a fire and made a simple dinner. They also tied the horses to trees, gave them water, and let them rest.

"Ah, Captain, that's..."

When Cromwell, who had been out of sight for a few minutes, returned, he was holding the rabbit backpack that Mil had been carrying. Mil must have had trouble taking it off, as she had fallen asleep with it still on.

"She didn't wake up even when I took it off."

"Really, no sense of danger at all!"

Cromwell's explanation made Kicks exclaim in exasperation.

"So, what are you going to do with it?"

"We should add more food."

"Good point."

"Here, I have some jerky."

Grail opened his bag and took out some jerky. To avoid eating it all at once, he decided to put only enough for tomorrow.

"Mil, this is in the way, so you should carry it yourself."

Kicks took out the poisonous mushroom plushie from the backpack and handed it to Tina. Tina, grumbling, realized that the plushie hadn't been useful all day and quietly put it in her own bag.

"...What's that?"

After Grail put the jerky in the rabbit backpack, which now had more space, Cromwell was also stuffing something in.

"Well, you know."

Ambiguously, Cromwell added a small pouch to the backpack. The jingling sound was probably from coins.

"Money?"

"Mil and Kugaru don't seem to have any. Gorda is a big city, and they might be interested in stopping by. It would be sad if they couldn't buy something they want because they have no money."

As he spoke, Cromwell took out his wallet and added more coins to the pouch.

"You're too soft, Captain. You never give me any allowance."

"You have no reason to get one."

Cromwell sharply replied to Kicks.

"Ah, even the deputy leader!"

Grail, realizing he had taken out his wallet, was almost unconsciously putting coins into the pouch for Mil. Imagining Mil's sad face, her stomach growling in front of a food stall, he had automatically taken out his wallet.

"Then I'll contribute too."

Gauss also rummaged through his pocket and dropped a silver coin into the pouch. It was the second most valuable of the six types of currency in the country. While one coin wasn't a huge amount, Grail thought it might be too much to give to Mil. Gauss, like a doting grandfather, was clearly charmed by Mil and Kugaru.

"Nice."

Kicks, looking at the now heavy pouch filled with coins, muttered his true feelings. After stuffing it into the backpack, Grail returned it to Mil. Since they weren't far from where Grail and the others were camping, the light from the campfire reached them.

Mil, who was lying on her back, seemed to be too warm from being next to Kugaru. Grail worried that even though she wasn't a wild animal, she should at least keep her limbs tucked in when sleeping outside. After admiring her sleeping face, he gently stroked her belly fur, placed the rabbit backpack beside her, and returned to where Kicks and the others were.