At the Northern Fort

I found a small hole slightly further ahead of me, just at the bottom of the wall. The order that worried me was coming from it. Curiosity got the best of me so my nose slowly slid towards it as I tried to pick up more of the scent. When I got close I tried to put my nose in it and the next moment –

"*************?!?!?!?" [TLNote: Fox curse words..]

I let out a loud yelp as I flew backward with momentum, my body swelled as my fur bristled from fear.

"Oi! What's wrong ?"

Startled, Knix called out from behind me with concern. I hear him, but I couldn't pay attention to him at the moment. From the dark hole in front of me…

"Oh no! Rats!!"

Tina cried as a brown mouse crawled out from the hole in the while, a small "Chutchu" coming from its mouth.

"What? Is it a mouse?"

The scary knights were very calm, only Tina and I were in fear of our very lives. Were they used to this? The mouse seemed pretty aggressive and unexpectedly came out in a brightly lit room with a lot of people watching it. It was bigger than the mice I've seen in Japan and seems to be a strong one.

It bared its teeth and cried out its complaint of me shoving my nose in it's home briefly before retiring back into the house after having vented.

「…………」

I shuddered with a gulp and quickly turned heel; retreating from the wall. Mouse is scary, yes.

"I must block that hole…"

Meanwhile, with a blue face, Tina uttered with absolute determination. Behind them, the men leaned close together and began discussing something

"Do foxes eat rats?"

"Not sure… Maybe."

"Mill was pretty scared there though…"

"Mill flew back, what the hell!?"

"I guess she was surprised, but to fly like that.."

When one broke out in laughter, everyone else began to laugh as well. My cheeks turned red with embarrassment.

Kaaaaaa!!! Don't laugh at me!

In a huff of frustration, I bit onto Knix's pants at the hem and pulled on it to vent.

"Oi! What is it? Did you get embarrassed?"

Even tho I pulled on his pants in anger, Knix looked pretty ecstatic, the tone in his voice was that of happiness.

"Hey, I guess Mill is smart! Pretty shameless!"

"Hey, I guess Mill is clever, I feel shameless"

"Is that so,  it's good that she's lively."

"Mill doesn't seem so shy now that she is mad!"

she huffed, even more, thinking " I'll remember this!"

The laughter that had died down now roared to life.

Waaaaa! Stop! Forget it already!!!

I started barking at all of them, my cheeks burning hotter in protest.

"Stop causing trouble."

The new voice that called out into the room was like a bucket of ice water over the festive mood, cooling all the excitement. The voice that wasn't loud at all, but firm; was heard perfectly by all of us. The entire room became quiet.

Looking around for the owner of the voice, I saw the door leading into the corridor open and standing in the doorway was a handsome man with black hair belonging to…

The Chief commander.

His frown conveyed his displeasure with us as he looked over all of his men carefully.

"It's good to enjoy your free time, but don't get too loud."

After the stern advice was stated, he looked at me with a glare and quietly closed the door with a grumpy expression.

… Did I just get scolded…?

The whole room remained an eerie quiet until the footsteps of the chief couldn't be heard as he walked down the corridor couldn't be heard anymore.  I also kept quiet while holding my breath.  Eventually, one knight blinked and let out a sigh.

"Man, I was scared. Chief truly is scary."

In contrast, the scary bearded knight became calm again.

"Well, it was starting to get too loud. Some of the other should already be sleeping."

"I think you should go and apologize to the Chief. He looked quite angry."

"He couldn't be that angry… Right.. ?"

The bearded turned to the knight next to him that appeared to be around the same age and told him something. The other knights around them looked serious and nodded with understanding.

"Rather than anger, maybe it was envy right?"

One of the knights nodded in agreement, while some mutter "Yes, yes.". Some of the younger knights and Tina only tilted their heads in confusion. I too tilted my head in confusion. Perhaps the Chief didn't have any friends? Is that what they're making a fuss about? I felt sympathy towards him as I thought "Let me show you kindness next time chief."

"Envy? What does the Chief have to envy about us?"

Rumor? Does it go along the lines of him not having friends?

"Oi, what's this about a rumor?"

"That the Chief -"

"Mill, I'm back."

The one-eyed knight returned back to the Common room and picked me up before I could hear the rest of this very important rumor.

No, I already figured it out.

Someone should go befriend the Chief!