Chapter 45

"Mii, you've been playing in the mud again, haven't you? Get in the bath and clean up."

"No way! W-What are you doing!? Don't pour water on me!"

The one-eyed knight, with a scary face, flipped me over and, for some reason, poured bathwater only on my stomach.

What is this? Why only on my stomach!?

"Ugh, stop... mmm... a dream?"

When I snapped my eyes open and returned to reality, I felt relieved.

The scene that met my eyes as I lay on my back was not the bathhouse of the fortress but a narrow, cloudy sky surrounded by tall trees.

And the reason I had such a dream was because Kugarugu was sleeping with his head on my stomach.

Kugarugu's body heat was making my stomach warm.

Twisting my body, I pushed Kugarugu's head with both hands and managed to escape, then gave him a few light punches to wake him up roughly.

Using my stomach as a pillow is terrible.

"Kugarugu, wake up! It's morning!"

"Mmm..."

Kugarugu slowly got up, rubbing his eyes, and while he was grooming his fur, I also woke up the surprisingly heavy-sleeping fairy, then transformed into my human form.

I had to do this because I couldn't carry the rabbit backpack in my fox form.

"Huh? But I thought I fell asleep with the backpack on my back..."

I couldn't take it off properly, so I thought it was fine to leave it on.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter."

However, when I picked up the rabbit backpack, it was clearly heavier than yesterday. After eating lunch and jerky, it should have only contained the poisonous mushroom plushie and Mother's letter.

With a head full of question marks, I checked the contents.

The terrifying poisonous mushroom plushie, which took up the most space in the backpack, was gone.

"The plushie is gone! Lucky! No, where did it go?"

"...So it was alive after all."

Kugarugu, who had finished grooming, said seriously.

"Alive? You mean it moved and left on its own?"

When I asked, Kugarugu nodded silently.

No way.

...But, if it was that cursed-looking, creepy plushie, it wouldn't be surprising if it could move.

"Scary. But if it's gone, that's good."

I felt a bit like crying as I checked the backpack again, and a fragrant smell wafted over.

"Huh? Why is there so much jerky? I ate it all yesterday. And this is..."

There were two unfamiliar items in the backpack. One was a red and white cloth. I couldn't tell what it was without spreading it out, but it looked like clothing.

The other was a small but heavy pouch. When I peeked inside, it was filled with dull-colored coins similar to Japanese ten-yen coins.

This must be the currency of this world, but why is it in the backpack?

(The plushie is gone, and in its place are clothes, money, and food... Ah! Could this be...?)

I opened my eyes wide.

This must be the plushie's way of repaying a favor.

Honestly, I didn't do anything to deserve a favor, but isn't it nicer to think so?

I shared this theory with Kugarugu, arguing that the plushie was actually a good guy, but he didn't agree.

"Why would it repay a favor?"

"I don't know."

"Also, why did the plushie disappear?"

"I don't know."

In the end, I insisted, "I don't know, but since the plushie disappeared and money and other things appeared in the backpack, I think the plushie did it."

I put on the slightly heavier rabbit backpack and transformed back into my fox form. We might reach the capital today.

"Kugarugu, what are you looking at? Let's get going!"

"No, I thought you were going to follow me all the way. ...Never mind, let's go."

Calling out to Kugarugu, who was looking in the wrong direction, we left the forest and returned to the road.

We took a break and ate jerky around ten o'clock, and then continued walking.

Sometimes we played tag with Kugarugu or picked flowers by the roadside, but I tried not to waste too much time on distractions, learning from yesterday's lesson.

While on this errand, I wouldn't see the one-eyed knight and the others at the fortress or Mother. Thinking about this made me feel lonely, so I decided to finish the errand quickly and moved forward seriously.

Thanks to my efforts, by mid-afternoon, we arrived at a bustling and large city I had never seen before.

Compared to the few towns we had passed through, this one had many more people.

Kugarugu and I hid in the shadow of a small hill a bit away from the entrance to the city, our eyes shining with excitement.

"Wow! There are so many people!"

"Is this the 'capital'?"

"It must be! We can't see the castle from here, but maybe we can see it once we're inside!"

"Hmm, good job. It was closer than I thought. It was a relief."

I couldn't hide my joy, while Kugarugu maintained his cool demeanor, but then the fairy bumped into us repeatedly.

"Ouch, ouch. What? ...You want us to go that way? But this is the capital, right? No, it's not?"

I had thought we arrived much earlier than expected, but the fairy's gestures made me almost collapse.

The fairy was trying to guide us not to this city but further down the road.

"Ugh... I worked really hard today, so I don't want to walk anymore. Really, I did my best."

I slumped down on the slightly sloping green hill, my concentration gone and my stomach empty.

(That's right!)

Just as I was thinking about eating more jerky, I remembered I could buy food in the city.

It might not be as big as the capital, but a city of this size must have many shops selling food.

Jerky is good, but since I somehow got money while sleeping, I thought I might as well try other foods.

(But I can't talk in my fox form. I need to transform into my human form... No, that won't work. If they see my ears and tail, they'll know I'm not human.)

Also, my clothing is unusual, a mix of a kimono and Arabian style. I would stand out in this country.

(That's right, clothes!)

I transformed into my human form while hiding in the shadow of the hill and quickly opened the rabbit backpack.

The flowers I had picked by the roadside earlier were now a mess, so I threw them away. I shouldn't have put them in the backpack.

When I reached into the backpack again, I took out the clothes that had been placed in with the money and jerky.

There were two pieces, one red and one white.

While Kugarugu and the fairy watched with interest, I spread out the clothes.

They looked like coats, but with hoods, so I thought they were like raincoats. However, they weren't as shiny as Japanese raincoats.

The length reached my ankles, so if I wore them and put on the hood, I could hide my ears and tail.

It wasn't raining, but the sky was cloudy, so a child wearing a raincoat wouldn't seem too out of place.

However, there was one thing that bothered me.

"What's this?"

Kugarugu pointed at the red raincoat. I held the white one and frowned slightly.

Both raincoats had animal faces embroidered on the hoods, and fake ears were attached.

The white one had triangular ears that looked like mine, and the red one had round ears that looked like Kugarugu's.

While they were cute designs for children's raincoats, it was strange to have ears attached to the hoods when we were trying to hide our own ears.

I glanced at the rabbit backpack on the ground and then at the raincoats.

The cute design... it was similar.

The use of high-quality fabric and the meticulous stitching also seemed familiar.

(Could these raincoats also be chosen by the leader of the squad?)

Just as the creepy plushie was likely made by Tina, the leader of the squad was known for buying cute and stylish clothes and accessories.

However, the leader wasn't here, and it would have been impossible for her to sneak the raincoats into the backpack last night.

Feeling curious, I put on the white raincoat and asked Kugarugu to transform into his human form and wear the red one.

"I don't want to wear this."

"Why not?"

"I want something cooler."

"Hmm... Okay. I'll go buy some food by myself, and you wait here."

"No! I want to go with you."

Which is it?

"If you don't wear this, we can't go together."

When I offered the red raincoat, Kugarugu obediently took it.

"Okay, I'll wear it."

"Make sure to put on the hood and don't let your tail show."

My tail was shorter but fluffier than Kugarugu's. When I wore the raincoat, my butt looked unusually puffy, but wearing the raincoat over the rabbit backpack helped hide it.

I tried to flatten my ears as much as possible, but they were still a bit puffy when I touched them.

However, people would probably be distracted by the fake ears and wouldn't notice the real ones underneath.

I grabbed the fairy, who was eager to move forward, and hid it in my hood.

I opened the pouch I had taken out of the backpack and roughly divided the coins, putting about half in the pocket of the raincoat.

"Here, this is Kugarugu's."

I stuffed the pouch into Kugarugu's pocket.

"Let's go! First shopping trip!"

Holding Kugarugu's hand, I entered the city with the sign 'Gorda'.