by CHIROLU
2: Sequel: The Little Adorable Waitress and the Pup and the Pup and the Pup
“Yes, I suppose it is about time that I return home for a while,” Hagel said one day, several weeks after Dale and Latina had returned to Kreuz and their everyday lives, as he slowly lifted up his massive frame.
“Really?” Latina asked, tilting her head, only for Hagel to nod back.
“I have now experienced this ‘city living’ of the races of man, which I had always wanted to do at least once.”
Dale thought that it was thanks to the influence of his grandmother back in his home village that a rare mythical beast like Hagel knew such down-to-earth terms. He also felt it was unusual for mythical beasts to be going out on something resembling a “vacation.”
“So you’re heading back? It’ll really feel lonely around here, then.”
“It was pretty fun drinking with you, after all.”
Those reactions had come from the old-timers who made up the regulars of the Ocelot. At some point, the mythical beast had become a drinking buddy for some of them. It was hard to tell what was more worthy of comment: how unprecedented the situation was, or how open-minded the old-timers were.
The world was vast, but surely there were no other stories out there of a mythical beast settling down in a bar.
With slightly cloudy eyes, Dale looked at his “big bro” Kenneth. The man had been watching his beloved daughter wander about, only to then look back at his “little bro” with an astounded gaze.
“Apparently, your grandmother introduced him to booze.”
“That damn hag...!”
Sure enough, Dale’s grandmother Wendelgard had been the culprit.
“Hey, watch your mouth around Emma.”
Dale didn’t say a word about the fact that Kenneth had gone completely soft in regards to his daughter. That was because he knew to do so would result in every person in the shop unanimously stating, “you’re the one person who has no room to talk.”
“Latina grew up to be such a good kid, even though she was by my side.”
“I think that’s more proof of how much Latina’s real parents had their acts together,” Kenneth bluntly responded, and then he scooped Emma up. Dale was aware that Kenneth, who was wondering whether he’d prefer a boy or a girl for their third child, had recently restarted his training that he had neglected after retiring from active duty.
It may have been in the form of her “master,” but Kenneth had watched over Latina’s growth as one of her guardians, seeing in the process just how quickly girls came of age.
Emma was so small right now, but she would surely mature into an adult shockingly fast, too. Kenneth devoted himself to his training, for when “that day” came.
Dale thought quite a bit on Kenneth and the state he found himself in.
He doesn’t have much room to talk about me...
By the way, Kenneth felt the need to teach his daughter combat techniques and how to defend herself to a greater degree than he did for his son. Dale would helpfully agree to the plan, and so Kenneth’s children would become skilled enough to hold their own against a reasonably accomplished adventurer, but it would still be some time before that came to pass.
Everyone, the regulars included, turned a blind eye to the fact that this single bar in town possessed such an excess of military might that they would even surpass an army.
With the air of old friends of many years about them, Hagel and the regulars talked away, as if loathing to part.
“It was a daily occurrence, seeing some rookie get shocked upon seeing you, and afterwards be creeping about and ready to flee.”
Would that not be a fine example of interfering with business?
“If that’s all it takes to make them weak in the knees, they’d be of no use on the battlefield anyway.”
“That’s for sure. Well, anyone with even half a backbone went off to the relay point to Vassilios, so I suppose there’s no helping it.”
The giant beast was in the midst of those loudly guffawing old-timers as if it was only natural.
“...Wouldn’t it be more concerning to have someone not find him at all out of place?”
“It’s a little late to be saying stuff like that!”
“By the way, who’s picking up Hagel’s tab?”
“Latina will be handling it. She said it was her responsibility to pay for his food.”
Dale thought on how nobody commented that normally the food for a “pet dog” wouldn’t include alcohol.
It was then that, with Dale watching, Latina tilted her head and asked, “It’s just Hagel? What will Vint do?” bringing up the name of the other “pet dog,” who was currently playing with the owner’s son, Theo, in the backyard. Hagel once more gave a nod and said, “I shall return with him by my side, at least for the time being. I believe my mate should also wish to see how he is doing.”
“Mate?” Latina questioned, tilting her head at the bit of unfamiliar vocabulary.
“Little Lady, he means his wife,” one of the regulars explained.
“Hagel’s wife... so Vint’s mother, you mean?”
“Indeed.”
Dale wondered why nobody commented on the fact that mythical beasts forming spousal relationships was being treated as completely natural. Why was it that even though they were both members of the seven races, the people of Vassilios didn’t understand the custom of marriage, but these pups did?
Dale felt like he had just caught a glimpse of the gulf in understanding between different cultures.
“Maybe you should ask him for the secret to spousal harmony, eh, little lady?”
Latina’s cheeks tinged a little red in response to the regular’s words. Seeing Latina act so bashfully, the people around her broke out in teasing laughter.
As if she’d ask an animal something like that, Dale thought to himself, but it was already too late.
“Males cannot form a society on their own. Treating females with proper respect is the secret to achieving harmony for the entire pack.”
“You really have it rough too, don’t you?”
The old-timers poured a bottle of booze into the colored plate before Hagel, urging him to keep drinking. Dale realized a little too late that that colored plate, which wasn’t normally used in the Ocelot, served as Hagel’s personal drinking cup, and was no longer able to hold himself back from making a comment...
“That’s the truth.”
“Sure is, right?”
...or he was about to do so, but when his senior in terms of the married lifestyle, Kenneth, voiced his agreement with a serious look on his face, Dale swallowed his words. Apparently, the world’s spouses were hiding all manner of hardships of which someone like Dale remained unaware. He had only just had his fill of a sweet engagement period, after all.
And then, the coming day, Hagel spread his wings wide in the backyard of the Dancing Ocelot. With a heavy thud from the flap of his massive wings, he left behind some brief words of farewell to those present, “Well then, may we meet again.”
Not even waiting for a reply, Hagel took off into the air in the next instant. Without any hesitation, he changed direction to face Tislow, and they saw his silhouette take off towards the east.
Vint looked like he was about to take off after his father, but first turned around and rubbed his head up against Latina, wagging his tail all the while.
“Leaving now.”
“Take care, Vint. And give my regards to your mother, alright?”
After Latina said that, Vint trotted off towards the southern gate on the outskirts of town.
Later on, Dale was seriously chewed out by a guardsman as Vint’s “owner.”
Since the official position was more or less that he was a “dog,” it would be a serious issue if he were to suddenly and carelessly take off in the middle of town. Owing to that and the fact that he often used the forest south of Kreuz as a playground, Vint had grown skilled at passing through the southern gate at a
ll times of day. It had reached the point where the gatekeeper stationed there simply let him pass without question.
Normally, there was a toll for entering Kreuz. When Dale questioned the gatekeeper about the matter, however, he simply asked with a straight face, “Would you take money from a dog?” Dale was left feeling strangely unsatisfied with his answer.
And then, after less than a week back home, Vint returned to Kreuz.
Moving to the beat of his own drum, as always, Vint trotted into the Dancing Ocelot, walked straight up to Latina with his tail wagging, and reported his return.
“Back home!”
“Welcome home, V...int...?” Dale heard Latina’s voice skip a beat as it trailed off into a question, drawing his gaze in the direction of her and Vint. At a glance, the soaring wolf wagging his tail near the entrance to the Ocelot looked the same as always. He still had on the poncho that Latina had made for him to conceal his wings when he was out about town, which had become his trademark. It had gotten a bit dirty from his journey.
Dale soon got a clear look, however, at what his initial glance had left him feeling was out of place.
The poncho Vint had on was squirming about. Even Dale couldn’t stop himself from shooting up a bit in surprise.
“What is that?”
“What’s going on?”
“Were born,” Vint said, giving a response that was difficult to understand. Before Dale and Latina could ask for clarification, though, three furballs rolled on out.
“Said want to come, so no helping it.”
He said there was “no helping it,” but that didn’t look at all accurate to Vint’s feelings. He really did move to the beat of his own drum, as always.
Looking closely at the furballs, they appeared to be puppies with wings.
“Brought along,” the mythical beast said with an embarrassed laugh and then stuck out his tongue. Two of the furballs were the same color as Vint, while the other had black fur. They all tilted their heads a bit in the same manner.
As Dale sat there dumbfounded for a moment, the three furballs sounded off in high voices, “Urf.” “Urf.” Woof.”
Then with a strangely satisfied look on his face, Dale gave a single nod.
“Unlike Vint, they can give a proper dog-like bark.”
“Woof!”
“Yours just sounds fake.”
While Dale and Vint were having that exchange, the three furballs all headed toward Latina unnoticed. They circled around her while crying out in their sweet little voices all the while, and tried to climb up into her lap.
“Wah...”
As an animal lover, Latina completely lost any urge to remark on the current situation, instead bending her legs and scooping up all three furballs at once. Latina grinned widely when the pups in her arms happily licked at her cheeks.
Though she was enjoying it, she found just hugging to not be enough, so she lowered them down atop her knees and started petting them over and over. The furballs seemed to take great pleasure in that, their eyes happily narrowing and showing their fluffy bellies.
“...What should I do, Dale? These puppies are just too cute!”
“Ah, so you finally came back to us.”
It had taken a while for Latina to return from being completely engrossed in the furballs, forgetting everything else going on around her.
Since doting on Latina was Dale’s singular focus, he simply sat there quietly and let her be.
“Vint, what’s the deal with these puppies?”
Judging from the wings, he presumed they were soaring wolf puppies. However, they were far too young to speak the languages of man.
“Little brother, sister, brother.”
“They’re your siblings, Vint?”
Now that he mentioned it, two of the puppies did have grey fur that closely resembled Vint’s. However, they were quite a bit fluffier than their older brother.
Nobody had any trouble whatsoever calling them “dogs.” The standards for what qualified as a dog had become rather out of whack for the Ocelot.
“Were born at some point.”
“Is that how it went?”
“Daddy surprised too.”
“Ah... So they were born when he was wandering the world with me?”
The journey to wipe out the demon lords was already becoming a matter of the past to Dale, and had gained the nuance of being like a round-the-world trip. The hero’s brutal deeds made sure that the murdered demon lords would be turning in their graves over that thought, though.
“What’s Hagel up to, now that you mention him?” Dale asked, realizing that Vint had returned alone.
“Being lovey-dovey with Mommy,” Vint responded indifferently. He didn’t hold back when it came to his father. “May end up with more.”
“Arf.” “Arf.” “Arf.”
From the way that the puppies all responded in the same manner, it would seem that they understood human language. And apparently they also felt the same way about the relationship between Hagel and his wife.
“Well... when he came along with me, he said he’d already retired as head of the pack.”
“Really?”
“So he must have time on his paws now.”
Apparently Hagel was busy enjoying his retirement. Dale could sense something akin to Vint’s whimsical nature in his father’s actions.
“Daddy and Mommy, lovey-dovey alone time.”
Dale was suddenly struck by the strange additions made to the pup’s vocabulary during his long stay at the Ocelot.
Meanwhile, Latina was completely absorbed in the adorableness of the puppies, and Dale was busy being his deplorable self, so they didn’t notice, but...
Soon afterwards, the Ocelot became the site of an emergency meeting of the regulars.
“Kenneth, to start with, shut the door!”
“Sorry, Rita, but please close up shop temporarily, and restrict normal customers from coming in.”
“I suppose there’s no helping it. Theo, take Emma and head up to the second floor. And make sure you keep a proper eye on her!”
“We dispatched someone to the guard station. The captain should be here soon.”
Latina had a look of confusion on her face at the commotion going on around her, but kept doting on the furballs all the while. Meanwhile, the circuits in Dale’s brain seemed to finally click back into place, and he at last reacted. He had apparently been in quite the deplorable state, for it to have overcome his reactions as a serious hero.
“...Isn’t this really bad?”
“Woof?”
“They may not have any combat ability, but these pups are still mythical beasts, right? There will be people with plenty of gold and eccentric tastes who’ll want them, and also craftsmen who want to get their hands on materials from mythical beasts, right?”
“Ah...”
It was apparently then that Latina at last recalled that her “pet dog” was a rare being known as a mythical beast. Meanwhile, Vint’s younger siblings that Latina was holding were playfully nibbling at her fingertips. No matter how one looked at it, they were just little furballs who were utterly harmless.
“With that said, if something were to happen to these pups, then the soaring wolves from back in the village would come for revenge, wouldn’t they?” Kenneth asked, causing Latina to shoot Vint a troubled look.
That had become an issue when Vint came to Kreuz, too. For beings that could travel through the sky like soaring wolves, Kreuz wasn’t an especially far off place. And it was impossible to deny the possibility that a pack of furious mythical beasts would descend upon Kreuz if anything were to happen to the puppies, as they possessed a strong sense of camaraderie.
Vint may have still been a pup himself, but he was capable of showing discretion. And when it came to Hagel, it would be flat-out ridiculous to worry about him. But it was a different story when it came to these furballs.
Despite Latina pointing a troubled look his way, Vint seemed to feel
no sense of responsibility and just kept scratching his neck with his hind leg.
The heated discussion continued on for a while, until finally reaching a conclusion that made everyone give a collective sigh.
“Well... y’know...”
“That’d be safest, right?”
“And he does have the most free times on his hands.”
The members involved in the meeting all turned and looked at Dale as they said such self-serving things. Dale hadn’t participated in the discussion and paid no attention to those gazes, instead watching Latina tire herself out playing with the furballs. Jealous of his younger siblings, Vint pushed aside the furballs curled up atop Latina with his front paw, and then placed his head atop her knees. His mood seemed to turn around when Latina petted his head with a strained smile, causing him to happily wag his tail.
The puppies who were shoved aside by Vint didn’t seem to let that get them down, as two of them circled around their big brother to get back to Latina, while the other climbed atop his back and looked at her with big round, cute eyes.
“So cute!” (Dale thought about Latina frolicking with animals.)
“They really are adorable,” responded Latina with a smile, not knowing what Dale had just muttered to himself mentally. While squinting his eyes a bit, Dale called out to Vint, “Vint, you said these pups ‘wanted to come,’ so their objective was...”
“Latina, of course.”
“Sure enough...”
Apparently her petting skill was already legendary amongst the soaring wolves.
“Daddy’s slick fur, really popular.”
“Because of Latina’s brushing, huh...?”
“All lovey-dovey with Mommy. Probably get more.”
“Arf.” “Arf.” “Arf.”
Apparently the puppies were also fond of the idea of getting even more siblings.
“So they get along, huh?”
“Lovey-dovey!”
It seemed that Latina really was loved by canines. The puppies showed no hint of budging so much as an inch from Latina’s side, and Vint looked at his siblings’ actions as if they were only natural.
It was then that Dale finally noticed the gazes fixated on him.