Chapter 26

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Episode 3: To the Firefox village (火狐の村へ)

“We were going to fend off the empire outside the village, but we scurried back to the village as if we were defeated. The reason we lost, is as Cyril-sama figured. Because of the ranged bow attacks and wind magic stone magic, our flames couldn’t reach.”

Kuu’s expression distorts
There was sadness and then anger.

“My dad lead the village warriors and they fought knowing they couldn’t win. The women and children who couldn’t fight ran. The fighting was decided to buy us time.”

That’s why Kuu’s fifty Firefoxes ran to Elucie.

If they fought and resisted to the last man there, the Firefox men would be ma.s.sacred, and the women would be taken to be used as tools for ma.s.s producing magic stones.

“My dad thought. if we tried to escape earlier, it end up as a mistake that would spell the end of the Firefox as a race. Hven though this is the worst, we both had to say farewell to each other. At least, my father also seemed to have thought that if there aren’t many people, being accepted by others should be made easier.”[EZ1]
“As I suspected. If I was in their shoes I would do that too.”

Running from the empire is not easy, above all running ahead and not knowing where your allies are. No matter what, the risk is too high for one village to be entrusted with a fate of one race.

“Dad’s instructions was to make two escape groups. The first group was a hardened group of only women who were able to go on a journey, and the second is the same but along with that would be women with physical strength. Accompanying them is a minimum needed amount of male guards. It was also decided that boys who were too young to fight would be taken along. The second group would take nearly all the village money as well as most of the food,”
“The second group was given heaps more to use huh?”
“Ee, saying it clearly, we headed to Elucie as insurance, it’s obvious that it was my dad intention to entrust the future of the Firefoxes to the second group. My older brother is part of the male guards.”

Kuu talked about her older brother, he was originally set to be the next family head. and then, not just girls, children… no men too.
The second group is different since Kuu’s people must blend with other races, and the second group will leave descendants from only Firefoxes.

“I see, Kuu’s older brother will lead the Firefoxes, and continue in the opposite direction of the village?”
“Yes. there was a certain degree of friendship, besides…..”[Degree of Friendship]

And then, Kuu’s words are evasive.

“The worst, would to be able to convince with force.” -still Kuu talking
“If I were to understand correctly, you may not win against the empire, however the Firefoxes are strong, so with this degree of numbers, you could resort to military power against us.” [Overwhelm]

Just using fire magic is strong.
I was concerned that the desperate Firefoxes would get violent seeing the worst thing happen before them, the quarrel between Kuu and Roreu.
If things got violent at that distance, an enormous amount of damage is quite possible.

Even so, for the elves who are specialists at wind magic, if they can remain calm they can oppose it, but other races can’t. A race that can stop a Firefox from using force is limited.
The Firefoxes could easily dominate the village, right?
Although that would cause the village to call the empire for help. It would make the Firefoxes think twice before doing so.

“Force would be the very last resort. but, I decided that sort of thing is unpleasant.”
“That, Kuu came because of that reason, huh? Thinking of position, I just thought I shouldn’t have a sacrificial piece by my side.”
“Dad did the same thing too, but I declined. not wanting to go to the extent of living by hurting someone without sin. Also among the Firefoxes on this side, if n.o.body lead them, there would only be useless children. I might be conceited, but if I wasn’t here, I think we wouldn’t have made it through the struggle to get to Elucie.”

As Kuu says, each Firefox was not a decisive person.
Without the exceptional leadership of Kuu, they would have died somewhere in a ditch.

“Kuu is nice, isn’t she.”
“That’s not so. I am just timid, when it’s important hesitating to sacrifice someone disqualifies them as the family head. Also, I felt like I wanted to meet you Cyril-kun and Lucie-chan”

Kuu shows me a tired smile.

“Because Kuu made it happen, I was able to meet Kuu again. I am grateful for such a thing! To begin with, why did they think this village was insurance. There is no way the Firefox’s should have known this village escaped empire control, right? Normally this wouldn’t even be the second candidate.”
“Its simple, you know. One fight we escaped, we took several soldiers from the other side. From there, we heard information about how the capture of Elucie was a screw up. We absolutely can’t screw up capturing the Firefox village the soldiers said. It’s just… To have won against an army of around five-hundred was something I didn’t know.”
“if you say it like that, it is simple reasoning isn’t it.”

If it was information from the prisoners of war from the empire’s side, I can trust that.
if somehow the empire was able to win, it’s not impossible to think they would be made insurance, right?

Just seeing the Firefoxes and Elves living together, there is absolutely no way the empire will give up. Putting all my eggs in one basket there would be scary, something I also understand.

“Is that everything you wanted to ask?”
“I still have more”

I pause a little. This… to Kuu… will most likely be a painful choice.

“Tomorrow, I am going to go see the Firefox village. It is about 70 kilometers from here.[80] If I use my magic fully. It would not take more than two hours. Our purpose is to confirm if the Firefox village was made into a empire base. If it becomes a relay site, Elucie can be attacked severely. The other is salt. after putting so much effort to get the mining rights, before the snow falls I want to bring back as much as possible.”

The moment I say I was going to the Firefox village, Kuu’s fist trembles.

“I can take responsibility for one other person. If I take Kuu along in order to guide me I would be happy. Although it isn’t necessary, even if you had wrote the rock salt mine on the map. Although, If I know someone who knows the situation of the village that would be good. If you understand I will ask directly. Kuu, shall we go together? I personally don’t recommend it. the empire overrunning the village, how should I say… it is not going to be pretty, you would needlessly get hurt.”
“If that’s the case, why did you ask me?”
“I want to think of Kuu”

I dare not say the reason.
It’s the family head’s responsibility.
I let time go by, I won’t do such a thing as rush Kuu.
After about one minute Kuu slowly opens her mouth.

“Please take me along.”

I silently nod to those words.

The two of us, return to the workshop that became the Firefox’s home.
A young Firefox girl came rushing over.

“Kuu-ane-sama, I finished the work. Thank you for your hard work. This, Kuu-ane-sama’s portion, please eat.”

A filled cup that had soup poured into it was given. No other cup had as much meat put into it as this one.
It was different from Kuu’s completely cold soup.
I forgot the moment I said there were seconds, the starving Firefoxes swarmed the pot.
Even so, a proper second serving for Kuu was prepared.

Able to do such a thing, was proof she is loved. saying only the family head, that kind of modest consideration is something they cannot obtain.
All the Firefoxes properly recognize that Kuu up to now was doing her best for all of them.

Being in the same the position of leading people I was a little jealous.[Misplaced?]

“Thank you. Kemin.”

Kuu shed tears, and hugged the young Firefox girl.
About that girl, the moment she recognized her that feeling was irrepressible.
In no way would I say Kuu would ever show being weak in front of all the Firefoxes.
Even so, these tears are not weakness. Those were tears of joy.

That is why these tears did not have to be hidden.
I judged that this place was okay, I returned to the village at once.
With the village judgement pretty much decidedly formed, if the firefoxes being accepted wasn’t followed….

Especially Roreu as expected, seemed to be sulking.
It was troublesome, but it’s also the job of the chief.

Next morning before daybreak, Kuu and I left Elucie.
We chose this time because If Kuu isn’t there, more than just the Firefox’s spirit would disappear, before everyone wakes up I want to return.

On my back, is a large capacity knapsack that I made with a hip-belt attached to it.
Because of the hip-belt the weight affecting the body is allowed to distribute, it becomes considerably easier. Having a knapsack that boasts a seventy liter large capacity, if it was a shoulder fastening type, it might become like a torture device.

And then, with both arms I princess carry Kuu.

(TL: Princess Carry btw.)

Rather than Lucie’s fleshiness, to be glued to Kuu’s well-womanly body is honestly painful.

“Ummm, Cyril-kun I am a little nervous, but why did you do this?”
“I didn’t do anything, you know. It’s just I was just thinking Kuu smells good is all.”
“Saying it like that is embarra.s.sing.”

It’s a super pathetic story but, it’s due to living together with Lucie. Because of not getting any satisfying treatment, it has ama.s.sed considerably. [Ama.s.sed]
That habit, Lucie late at night. Sleeping next to me would give off sleeping sounds as a m.u.f.fled voice, sometimes she was comforting herself. [Comforting]
In order to be alarmed of the surroundings, I keep part of my consciousness awake, there was stifled gasps and a characteristic sound that I completely recognized with no mistake.
Also, sometimes I can hear my name in a low voice being called out, my sense of reason was in danger.

If I say “I figured it out uhh stop” to Lucie, she probably wouldn’t listen to me for a week, and because of that I also can’t stop her.
Although recently, because Lucie invited me not laying a hand would be more rude. The more I think about it, I ended up being cornered as a result.

“Well then, shall we go. Because it’s dangerous hold onto me tightly.”
“Okay, Cyril-kun.”

Kuu put her arms around the back of my neck and tightly hugged me.
Okay, Let’s calm down here… I am cool… Kuu is just a friend…

“Wind!!”

Shortly, leading out with one word, wind mana gathers.
And then, with magic I reinforce my body. I kick the ground with my full power and simultaneously my body floats on top the wind.
My strong point is high-speed movement.

Furthermore, this time I was jumping on top the trees, choosing to land on thick branches.
From there however, I rapidly go from one tree to the next.
If I do it like this, I pierce through the shortest route of the thick forest.

“Cyril-Kun, is amazing… so fast.. and flying,… this is a first time for me. Geez, Elucie is already so far.”

In my arms, Kuu is in high spirits.
But, that voice is a overdoing it a little.
Some of her speech couldn’t hide the negative emotions, it was going in and out while she spoke. There would be a lot of feelings of insecurity toward the Firefox village, right? In order to hide it she is putting up a cheerful mood.

I attempt to not notice and express a smile.

“Okay, let’s give it more speed! If I can, I kinda want to make it back for breakfast, I will prepare a tasty breakfast for Lucie. Then for dinner serving steamed potatoes.”

“Sounds good. The potatoes served for yesterday’s dinner, were super delicious.”
“When we return with the other firefoxes let’s have them earnestly harvest all the potatoes that haven’t been harvested, so be prepared!”
“Okay, with pleasure! If we don’t work, Firefoxes also cannot eat without hesitation, it’s for the warm welcome too, you know.”

The reality is, to be in a position of a freeloader is painful.
It’s just to be in a position to be eating for free surrounded by gazes would certainly worry that person.

“Don’t worry, the jobs will rapidly increase anyway. Because the Elves will be in charge of doing their utmost to look after the wheat. Buying around a hundred goats, I intend to let the firefoxes look after all of them, yesterday’s dinner of served potatoes cultivation, should I make that a firefox’s job too I wonder. Anyway, within 2 months from now, about 1000 earthenware for containing 50 liters of water will be baked. We will then collect them.[Collect&Sell] The remaining can be used for the job of sake brewing.”

With the exception of potatoes, with the Elves and hard work, if they(Firefoxes) can get good at it in one go they would be able to acquire trust, right?
Elucie becoming rich and abundant, the Firefoxes can find a home in the truest sense.

That future surely isn’t far.

“I will do my best. Even if I have to exchange my life to accomplish it, I will show it”

Putting in fighting spirit is ok, I want to regulate the work amount so that people aren’t doing over-doing it. I wonder if they will be honest if the work gets hard? If its short term work, with spirit somehow it will work out. But, from now for awhile it’s just continuing the work. We have to do our best. Unless we get good at the ordinary work, we cannot continue.”
“Cyril-kun, is also thinking properly about us aren’t you.”

Kuu says while putting more strength in her hug.

“Of course, because you’re friends of Elucie, right!”
“I think I am glad I came here. If Cyril is here, Elucie will get bigger, some day even toppling the empire I think.”
“What? At such a late time, that was my intent from the start, you know.”

About that, from the time of declaring Elucie, that stuff was already decided.
If we didn’t do that, we would quickly abandon the village. It would have been faster and much safer to just go somewhere else and settle a new village.

While that’s going on, we arrive at the Firefox village.

The situation was several times worse than I had antic.i.p.ated, that I had lost my voice…

Editor Notes:

EZ1: Kill me… this was terrible before edit…

Translator Notes:

Degree of Friendship: Degree of friendship is with the elf village.
Overwhelm: Talk to overwhelm the elf village if they weren’t allowed in.
80: Its 80 from the last cha… gawd….
Misplaced?: Sentence feels oddly misplaced, thats how its written though.

Alternate Interpretation by:
desmerit on 30th November 2015 at 1:49 pm said: Edit
For the “misplaced” tag: That sentence really does belong there a.s.suming accurate translation. What it is referring to is that Kuu is truly loved by her people and they would be willing to forgive any of her mistakes because of that. Where as Cyril is only loved by the elves because he has provided for them. Think of it like a person feeding pigeons in a park, they love you only so long as you have bread to feed them then they leave.

Ama.s.sed: Referencing s.e.xual frustration
Comforting: Author is saying she is masturbating when he wrote she is comforting herself.
Collect&Sell: I think the author forgot to say collect and sell, it just cuts off with collect.

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