If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord: Volume 6 (Premium)
Page 21
It felt like the temperature in the room had dropped. Neither his smile nor the tone of his voice changed, but even a storied hero like Dale felt the pressure he exuded.
“And there’s no way anyone could give my adorable Platina the cold shoulder.”
“I’m in absolute agreement,” Dale immediately responded.
That’s right. More than the matter of Dale himself, that girl who he held more precious than anyone having her first love unfulfilled, or in other words having her heart broken, was something that must never be allowed to occur.
Anyone insolent enough to do so would be deserving of a taste of the tortures of Hell.
With such contradictory thoughts, Dale’s thinking had reached its worst.
“If you let Platina suffer misfortune in the future, then don’t go expecting to live to the peaceful natural end of your life.”
Dale reflexively thought that he’d end up cursed.
He may have been an extraordinary hero, but the methods needed to guard against an attack from that angle fell outside of his field of expertise. Dale was technically a priest, but it wasn’t as if the divine power related to Quirmizi was effective against the undead.
And besides, Dale figured this man would easily bypass any such hindrances in order to curse him anyway.
“...I’ll give it my all.”
“I’d be grateful if you did so,” Smaragdi said with a smile, seeing Dale’s stiffened expression.
“Platina would surely say that she’d never be happy if she wasn’t with you. That girl’s stubborn like her parents, after all.”
Mov had been nibbling away at her madeline the entire time that Dale and Smaragdi were having that conversation, but she now gulped down the contents of her mouth and looked at Dale.
“Do you wish to know whether it shall be a boy or a girl when you eventually have a child?”
It was a sudden question, coming out of nowhere.
Latina’s cheeks flushed bright red.
“Just your words that one will be born eventually is enough,” Dale responded with a slightly strained smile.
“I see.”
The words of a rare oracle of Banafsaj were more valuable than gold. Devils were a race for which it was difficult to have children, but as long as they had those words on their side, they could wait as long as it took. And besides, they’d have plenty of time from now on, anyway.
Mov smiled at Dale’s response, and then elegantly brought the tea Latina had prepared to her lips. She looked like a different person than the one who had been acting so childishly before. Not even trying to hide that dual nature of hers, she gave a calm smile and then cuddled up close to Smaragdi. Smaragdi looked back at her with a gentle expression that was different than the one he directed towards his daughters. The man reached out his slender fingers and casually readjusted the flower in her hair.
Dale felt he understood the fact that Latina was raised with love by these parents.
“I’ll keep on protecting Latina.”
“...If you could keep an eye out for Chrysos too, I’d appreciate it. That girl has her head on straight, but she still has some parts about her that resemble her mother...”
While speaking those words out of concern for his other daughter, Smaragdi gave a slightly troubled looking smile.
That was the last sight that Dale saw.
†
“Ugh...” Dale let out something like a groan into the still-dark room.
I lost sight of the fact that it was a dream somewhere midway through...
Dreams were often that way, but he couldn’t just write it off as a simple dream.
“I should take Latina for a visit to his grave...”
He also thought that he’d like to ask Chrysos’s opinion first, but he thought he should at least return her father’s remains to his old home rather than leaving them in that forest. And he also thought that he would get in contact with Gregor, who had the cleanup for the incident with the Second Demon Lord thrust upon him, so that Latina’s parents could be buried together, as they seemed so happy together in the dream.
“Hngh...”
Before all that, though, he wrapped up the girl sleeping soundly by his side in his arms. The strange, irregular sound of her breathing as she slept caused him to break out in a smile.
“I’ll do my best to make sure she experiences plenty of happiness,” Dale whispered, stating his aspirations to the sleeping Latina, and then he shut his eyes.
Latina awoke after a short while and tried to get up, only to find herself in a tight grasp. Dale enjoyed her squirming about, so he feigned still being asleep.
That was all so that he could exchange greetings for the new year with her before anyone else.
Dale entered into the new year enjoying the warmth of that beloved girl and looking forward to saying, “I look forward to spending the next year with you, too.”
Afterword
“Huh? Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
Strangely, I’ve found myself having this exchange a lot more lately.
For most of you, this is probably our first time meeting. I’m CHIROLU, and I’d like to sincerely thank you for picking up this work, the sixth volume of If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord.
This sixth volume has gone on sale alongside a special edition that comes with a drama CD, and the second edition of the manga has also hit store shelves. When I heard this work would be adapted to a drama CD and manga, the first thing I did was voice my doubt. Of course I was also grateful and overjoyed, but it’s just in my nature to be suspicious, it seems. I can never be too careful, to a degree that it’s in excess... though I suppose that’s a somewhat strange self-analysis. There are many parts of me that just live on pure instinct, after all.
There are also translations in progress for several countries, and by the time this volume is on sale, I believe I should have already had my first experience being invited abroad as an author. That may have been the point when I couldn’t help but think, “Just what in the world is going on...?” Considering my level of popularity within the country, it’s not something I ever could have expected. Here and now, I’m reaching a point where I can’t help but look off into the distance and think, “You really never know what’ll happen in life...”
Still, I really never thought “For my Daughter” would get this big when I started writing it for a corner of the web. To think that the story has continued on this long... those words are filled with gratitude, but they also make it sound like this is the final volume, so I’ll cut those thoughts off here. I hope that you’ll follow along with the story just a little longer, not mentioning the fact that, “she’s not really his ‘daughter’ anymore.”
Thank you so much to everyone who helped make this book a reality. You managed to draw a wonderful “daughter” even without a fixed heroine and with a shifting setting, Kei. And more than anything else, to those of you who chose this book out of so many options, you have my deepest gratitude.
As long as this book brought you at least a little joy, then I’ll feel truly blessed.
August 2017,
CHIROLU
Bonus Short Story
The Little Girl Starts Keeping a Diary
The one in charge of the paperwork and accounting for the Dancing Ocelot was the proprietress, Rita. It wasn’t that such matters were thrust on her because she had been the daughter of the business’s former owners, but because she was absolutely the right person for the job. The cooking and cleaning aspect of running a bar and inn were more Kenneth’s forte. He carried out such tasks every day with a skill that made it hard to imagine that his previous job was as an adventurer wielding heavy weapons.
Rita also dealt with customers in the shop’s capacity as a “branch” of the temple of Akhdar, so her usual position was on the inside of the counter, where she could deal with such matters.
When Latina was still young, one of her common places to play was a seat at the counter
, where she could see Rita working. She could often be seen there with picture books and other children’s books laid out in front of her.
On that day, Latina stared with great interest as Rita wrote in her account book.
“There’s a lot of numbers.”
“Yeah, there are.”
“At school, Latina is studying math.”
“I see. Is it tricky?”
“A bit, but if Latina doesn’t rush, she’s alright.”
It was easy to imagine this girl looking incredibly serious as she tackled her math problems. Rita found the thought charming, and gave a little laugh.
“Is school fun?”
“Yeah. And Latina has made friends, too.”
Latina’s smile was absolutely adorable as she replied, causing Rita to feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
“Rita, why do you write in that ‘account book’?”
“That’s a little hard to answer... To manage our income and expenditures, and keep on eye on our stock... Right, well, to put it simply, so that we know what happened, even later on.”
“Even later on?”
“It’s hard to remember everything that happened every single day, isn’t it? So I keep a record. That’s how diaries work too, right?”
“Diaries?”
Hearing that word that Rita had brought up to explain, Latina tilted her head.
“What’s a diary?”
“Ah, Dale doesn’t make a habit of keeping one, does he...? So you’ve never heard of a diary, huh?”
Knowing the environment Latina lived in, Rita soon understood the reason why.
“Diaries, you see, are things where you write down what happened each day. How you played, and what you studied, and whatever else you want. There are people who write down the weather, too.”
“Anything?”
“Right. There’s no rules to it, so you can write about anything.”
Seeing how Latina seemed to have an interest in the matter, Rita smiled and then gave one suggestion.
“However, you’ll be using it for a long time, so it may be better to use something nicer than a usual notebook.”
“Really?”
“And also, for the same reason, you should pick something that suits your tastes. Should I go with you to purchase one? Dale and Kenneth only ever go to shops that are purely practical, after all. Latina, you like cute things, right?”
Latina looked a little nervous in response to Rita’s proposal, but still gave a nod.
When Rita brought her to a general store the next day, Latina looked truly surprised.
“Woooooow...”
Latina only knew the shops that Kenneth and Dale had brought her to, so it was apparently a shock for her to see one that focused on interior design and displays. Then again, it would be a problem in and of itself if Dale or Kenneth were well acquainted with this kind of sugary sweet shop, full of frill and lace, and ribbons and artificial flowers of all sorts of colors.
Latina glanced all around the shop, only for her gaze to stop on a mirror with a small drawer portion, with the design of a white flower growing up out of the earth about it.
“So pretty...”
“Oh, my, it certainly is cute. Now that I think of it, do you and Dale have a mirror in your room?”
“No,” Latina responded, shaking her head from side to side. Dale doted on Latina so much each and every day, but as a man, he didn’t pay enough attention to such fine details at times.
“Well then, let’s buy it and take it back with us. Us girls need a mirror to take care of our personal grooming, after all.”
“Is that alright?”
“It’s fine. When it’s something you need, it’s not frivolous spending, it’s a necessary expenditure.”
Rita gave the reserved young girl with her a wink, called for an employee, and had them pack up the mirror Latina had chosen.
That night, Latina opened up her new red cloth covered notebook. Latina was fond of light colors, but since she would be using it as a diary, after talking it over with Rita, she decided on a darker color where dirt and stains wouldn’t show as easily. The practical nature of both Rita and the young girl was reflected in that decision.
With that said, though, the detailed little floral pattern on the cover had captured Latina’s eye and appealed to her even at first glance. She also liked the spine, which used a different color and was made of a plain cloth, making the whole notebook something that she enjoyed even just looking at.
“Um...”
And finally, she decided what to write on the very first page of her diary. Which was to say, she wrote about the treasure she had received today.
She had left it in front of her desk, and saw her joyful face reflected in it. She then got to thinking on how to best write out those feelings on this fresh page of the other treasure she had received.
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Copyright
If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord: Volume 6
by CHIROLU
Translated by Matthew Warner
Edited by Christopher Foxx
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 CHIROLU
Illustrations Copyright © 2017 Kei
Cover illustration by Kei
All rights reserved.
Original Japanese edition published in 2017 by Hobby Japan
This English edition is published by arrangement with Hobby Japan, Tokyo
English translation © 2018 J-Novel Club LLC
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Ebook edition 1.0: June 2018