At the Northern Fort

At a single glance, I quickly realised it.

He certainly did seem to be a person who wouldn't get along well with Kix and Commander-san.

While his elegant and noble air sort of resembled Branch Captain-san, unlike Branch Captain-san who didn't usually put on airs, he had an unpleasantness that seemed to ooze out of him.

"Winst, Nild, Sai, good work."

Captain Sarrell-san called out the names of the serious-looking person, the meek-looking person, and the previously hooded person in turn.

And then, lowering his gaze, his eyes widened slightly upon seeing Kugalg and I at their feet.

"These are……the child spirits?"

Captain Sarrell-san's voice was thin like his physique.

"Are these truly child spirits, Jorg? Truly?"

Captain Sarrell-san pointed a finger and Kugalg and I, questioning the person with bags underneath his eyes that was standing next to him repeatedly.

He probably didn't believe that we were spirits because we were wearing such ridiculous outfits.

On top of that, right now the paper that the biscuits had been wrapped in was lying in front of me, covered in crumbs.

To the people of this world, spirits were supernatural beings that were above humans, akin to gods or angels. Currently, one of those beings was currently dressed as a sheep carrying a bunny rucksack, licking up the biscuit crumbs sticking to the corners of her mouth. I could understand why he would want to reconfirm things and ask, "Is this truly a child spirit?" upon seeing me.

"Are you sure that you guys haven't just mistaken someone's pet as a spirit?"

After being glared at by Captain Sarrell, the serious-looking person – Winst-san flusterly denied it.

"No, they are undoubtedly the child spirits. It seems that they were put into those outfits by Cromwell's group……"

"Cromwell did that? Did he go insane after going to the Northern Fort?"

In Captain Sarrell-san's internal image of Branch Captain-san, he probably wasn't the sort to dress animals up in these kinds of outfits.

He probably wouldn't believe me if I told him that I had also received other cute clothes from Branch Captain-san, like the raincoat and my shawl.

While he normally wore an icy mask, Branch Captain-san was a playful person who sometimes had inexplicable nosebleeds at random times.

"But speaking of Cromwell……"

Captain Sarrell-san then made an evil-looking smile that suited a hidden mastermind.

"He won't be able to escape punishment from this incident. Neither will Gauss. They made such a preposterous blunder after all – allowing the child spirits that they were escorting to be kidnapped."

He then laughed, "Hahaha" and continued.

"With this, I won't have to be shamed anymore. Now brother won't keep telling me [Why didn't you volunteer to go to the Northern Fort] every time he hears about things like how Cromwell gained the trust of the snow spirit, or how he is loved by the snow spirit's child. Cromwell will lose his current position and trust, but I will instead gain it. With that, both my brother and the Knight's Order will have to approve of me."

"It is as you say."

Winst-san and the other five people bowed deeply towards Captain Sarrell-san as he postured arrogantly.

As I watched them, I felt a bit anxious about the progress of our plan.

Things have gone smoothly for us, as we've arrived at the mastermind – that is, Captain Sarrell – but has the One-Eyed Knight's group, who was supposed to be following after us, arrived at the Capital yet?

There were a total of 6 people – excluding those hoodlum-like men who were hired by them – involved in this incident.

All of the culprits were gathered here in this room. This was a good time for the One-Eyed Knight and everyone to storm in but……maybe it'll take them a bit more time.

It can't be helped, I'll work hard to buy them some time.

With that thought, I threw myself down on the spot and exposed my belly.

When I did this, everyone at the Northern Fort couldn't help but come to stroke my belly. It had that kind of magic.

Even when they were in a rush, they'd just say, "Geez, even though I don't have much time!" while ruffling my belly.

Since I was wearing the bunny rucksack with the fairies in it I couldn't fully roll on my back, but I think that my belly fluff was far more charming compared to the fluff on the rest of my body.

Now then, come.

Normally, I don't allow those I don't trust to touch me, but right now we were in the middle of an emergency, so I'll specially allow them to.

"…………?"

In my line of sight, that had been turned upside down, Captain Sarrell-san and the other five people were making puzzled expressions.

Huh? That's weird.

Even though everyone at the Northern Fort would say, "Mil~" in high-pitched voices while coming over just from me doing this.

Ah, I know!

Because I was wearing the sheep outfit right now, the fake fluff was hiding my true fluffiness. This was an unforeseen issue.

In other words, unless I take off these clothes, the charm of my fluffy fur won't be able to manifest itself.

What a conundrum!

I hurriedly stood up and then struggled violently in attempts to take off the clothes.

Even without unfastening the buttons on my belly, the hood had already been taken off, so I figured that since there wasn't any rubber around the sleeves, I'd be able to take it off on my own.

First, I tried pulling my right forepaw into the clothes, but I ended up losing my balance and tumbling over. However, I wouldn't give up so easily.

While still rolling on the ground, I bit the sleeve to fix it in place, and then once again tried to pull my right forepaw out of the sleeve. This time, things went well and I was able to bring my forepaw into the clothes. I was also freed from one of the shoulder straps of the bunny rucksack.

Next, I tried to bite onto the left sleeve and pull my left forepaw into the clothes in a similar fashion.

Ow! I accidentally bit my fur together with the sleeve.

But after sacrificing a dozen or so strands of fur, things went smoothly. The bunny rucksack also rolled onto the ground.

All that was left was to pull back my head, and then pull the clothes over it to—

Ah, this won't work. My butt is stuck.

These clothes weren't like a t-shirt that only covered the upper half of the body. It was more like a onesie, with the cloth connected between my back legs. It was a design that would make it quite an ordeal for normal dogs and cats to go to the toilet.

It's impossible to take off these clothes just by pulling it over my head. I'll have to take it off from the bottom.

Perhaps because he was worried about me as I kept rolling around the floor, Kugalg circled me in a confused manner.

I once again popped my head out of the clothes, and then I weaved both my legs through the collar in turn.

I did it one at a time so that my legs wouldn't get stuck midway through.

Being a very smart spirit, my plan succeeded, and I was safely able to free my upper body from the collar of the clothes.

All that was left was to take it off the bottom half of my body.

I raised my two hind legs, one at a time, and flailed them back and forth.

But this time, my tail got caught on the clothes, so it wouldn't come off of my legs.

…………I'm tired.

I glanced up at Captain Sarrell-san. At times like these, the best plan was to make use of the humans around you.

If the One-Eyed Knight, Tina-san, or Branch Captain-san were around, they'd quickly realise what I wanted to do and help me out, but it seemed like Captain Sarrell-san wasn't nearly as sensible.

"What the heck does this child spirit want to do……"

I want to take off these clothes.

When I walked up to him, Captain Sarrell-san drew back as though he were afraid.

"O-Oi, ever since I was chased around by a dog my elder brother was keeping as a kid, I've been bad with dogs."

"Captain Sarrell, the child spirit isn't a dog, so it's okay."

"I know that! But……"

Winst-san came forward in place of the retreating Captain Sarrell-san. Then, he picked me up in my half-dressed state and tried to pass me over to Captain Sarrell-san.

"It's okay, Captain Sarrell. Besides, you need to have this child spirit get attached to you, Captain Sarrell. It needs to like you more than Cromwell."

"Ah, yeah, that's true……"

Captain Sarrell-san wiped away a cold sweat as he nodded twice in succession.

Then, he swallowed nervously and stretched out his hands towards me with stiff movements. He seemed to be scared of dogs, so I stayed as still and quiet as a stuffed animal.

I'd hate for him to drop me if I struggled after all.

"L-Like this?"

Captain Sarrell-san's way of holding me was also incredibly lousy.

Stop holding me by the armpits! It felt like my shoulders were about to be dislocated.