by CHIROLU
Having just hit a break in his work, Kenneth plopped down right in front of Dale. “So you don’t have any more regrets?”
“I got rid of those a long time ago. I learned my lesson.”
“Right? That’s why I figured it wouldn’t be a problem, so I let Helmine stay here. It is my inn, after all.”
“That’s just business, so you don’t need to worry about me,” Dale said and then sipped the tea, after which he made a bitter frown.
“Oh, I see... Looking at you, it seems Latina’s bad mood has a bigger impact on you than Helmine does.”
“That’s right! Why is Latina so upset...?!”
“That’s...” Kenneth started to say, but stopped himself from going any further. When a father talks about remarrying, his daughter often feels jealous towards the new woman. No matter how you looked at Latina, she was feeling similar jealousy and caution towards the appearance of this woman near Dale, who she had to herself up until now. But for some reason, Dale hadn’t realized that, and if Kenneth pointed it out, Dale would probably cry, “Latina cares... about me that much...?!” while choking back tears of joy. Then, he’d undoubtedly scoop Latina up and cling to her tight. If it ended there, then that’d be fine, but it would surely be followed by plenty of bragging and praise. And who would have to put up with that? Kenneth? That’d be irritating. A real pain. And it’d piss him off, somehow.
For that reason, Kenneth opened the lid of the teapot and stared at the tea leaves. It was a meaningless action meant to avoid the matter.
“What’s wrong?”
Having come down the stairs, Latina tilted her head at the two men. In her hands, she held the cleaning and laundry supplies. Apparently, she’d already finished up some of the tidying.
“Latina’s the real grownup here...” Kenneth muttered.
That was because the young girl, who had thrown herself into her work and gotten her feelings in order, once more wore her usual expression on her face.
2: The Young Girl Reminisces with Her Friends
Standing before Kreuz’s temple of Asfar for the first time in several months, Latina hesitated a bit as she looked up at the door. For some reason, she had frozen up and felt somehow embarrassed. Even though she was intimately familiar with the place, she felt strangely unsettled.
“They’re both Asfar temples, but it really is completely different from Master’s place...” she whispered, once more becoming aware of that fact. She nodded in understanding, thinking about how there were all kinds of things in the world that she didn’t understand.
While she was musing on such things, trying to take her mind off her meaningless embarrassment, a familiar voice called out to her from behind.
“Latina!”
“Chloe!” Joy and relief washed over Latina’s face as she turned around. The instant she saw her friend, the oppressive feelings weighing down her heart lifted.
“Welcome home! I’m real glad to see that you’re looking fine. I’m looking forward to hearing all kinds of stories!”
“Right! Latina’s back, Chloe!”
As a result, when Latina walked through the door alongside Chloe, her expression was back to normal, and it was hard to tell that several months had passed. They passed through the polished hallway, heading for their assigned classroom. A fairly large number of children from all over Kreuz learned here, so when they entered their second year, they were split into separate classrooms. Advanced schooling was held in a separate building, but since they shared a library and other such facilities, the younger students occasionally passed by the older children.
The classroom was overflowing with natural light and had a bright, open feel to it. The benches and desks were lined up systematically, but there were no assigned seats. Even so, over time the students naturally ended up always sitting in the same places.
“Long time no see, Latina.”
“Latina’s glad that you’re doing well, Sylvia.”
“It’s been the same as always in Kreuz. Nothing ever changes.”
Another of their friends was already in the classroom. Latina’s expression grew even brighter upon seeing Sylvia for the first time in a while. Paying no heed to Latina’s reaction, Sylvia leaned forward at her own pace. Her green eyes sparkled, as if to show her overflowing curiosity.
“More importantly, tell me about your trip. Chloe already told me the basic route you took. How much equipment and food did you take? Were there really a lot of magical beasts? Also—”
Latina knew that Sylvia, who had divine protection from Akhdar, was fascinated by traveling, so she responded with a troubled smile. “It’s hard to answer all that at once.”
Latina sat in the seat in front of Sylvia and turned around. She chose this spot rather than sitting beside both Chloe and Sylvia was because it was easier to talk this way. The three rotated their seats so the person who sat in front changed each day.
“Latina saw a lot of magical beasts when we first went into the forest,” Latina replied.
“Were you alright?” Chloe asked in concern.
“Ooh, what type?” Sylvia questioned, letting her curiosity show.
“Dale was super strong, so it was totally fine! Latina learned defensive magic too, so she helped out.”
“You fought too, Latina?”
“Latina just helped a little. Dale would’ve been fine on his own, too.”
“Weren’t you scared?”
“When Latina was there in the past, before she came to Kreuz, she was really afraid. But having Dale with her, she wasn’t scared at all.” While talking about her guardian like that, her expression was full of trust and affection.
Seeing Latina look like that, as always, Chloe and Sylvia broke out in somewhat awkward smiles.
“Magical beasts didn’t show up near the highway. We did see them sometimes after entering the mountains, though. And we did run into robbers once.”
“That’s awful!”
Chloe’s reaction was the obvious one. However, Latina tilted her head a bit and matter-of-factly and readily responded, “Dale caught them all with magic and then contacted a nearby village, and we were done with them. They were less scary than the magical beasts.”
†
Dale and Latina encountered the robbers shortly after they started walking along the coastal highway. It was an important road for distribution, along which goods were carried from Qualle to all over. In addition to travelers, there were a great number of merchants and caravans that traveled along it. There were a lot of concealed paths off into forests around there, but Dale hadn’t heard of any robbers showing up there from the information he had gathered ahead of time.
Latina was the one who realized their presence first.
“Dale...”
“What is it?”
Latina tugged on his sleeve, a worried frown on her face. Dale was confused by her actions, and she started to say something, but instead moved close to him, looking like she didn’t know what to do.
“Is something wrong?”
“Um... Latina has a bad feeling,” she whispered, standing on her tip-toes and bringing her mouth to his ear, taking care so that no one else would hear.
“A bad feeling?”
“Yeah, from over there... in that forest.”
Dale stopped walking and stared in the direction she had indicated. He didn’t doubt Latina’s ability, so he was just stopping to check for himself. Because Latina had told him there was something there, he was able to perceive a presence he never would have noticed otherwise.
“Over there, huh...?”
It was quite far away.
Even for Dale, it was exceedingly difficult to sense the men hiding in the forest holding their breath. They may have had a scout on lookout, but they wouldn’t even be considering the possibility that they’d been noticed by Dale and Latina from so far off.
Well, I can’t blame them...
They weren’t aiming for Dale and Latina to start with, and the distanc
e between them was enough that it was illogical to even consider them as targets. Nobody would think to pay such attention to them when they were nothing more than a few of the countless passersby.
Dale looked over the highway, and his eyes stopped on a single, horse-drawn wagon. It wasn’t an especially extravagant carriage, but even so, it was quite well built. It had been attentively maintained, too. At a glance it appeared plain, but he could tell that a good bit of money had been spent on it. In other words, it was likely the carriage of a merchant with a steady income. He assumed that wagon was the robbers’ current target.
“How should I handle this...?” he muttered, considering his options. He wasn’t the type to be a good Samaritan, walking around saving each and every complete and utter stranger he came across. To Dale, making sure Latina was safe came first. It wouldn’t do at all to get involved in some trouble, only for it to lead to Latina being put in danger. If they hurried and passed on through, he could just claim to know nothing about it. But if Latina learned about it and became disillusioned, that’d be a problem.
What was wrong with wanting to be a good person when he was in front of Latina? A single “Dale, you’re so cool!” from Latina would be far more valuable to him than the praise and admiration of society at large.
“Hmm...”
“Dale?”
But still, he wanted to avoid getting into a fight while Latina was watching. She may not have even flinched when fighting magical beasts, but he couldn’t imagine she’d want to see people getting hurt—or even dying, depending on the circumstances.
He couldn’t imagine people aiming to commit a robbery would be that considerate, though. It was entirely possible that the attack would occur right in front of Latina’s eyes. That would hurt Latina greatly, deeply saddening her. And that would be no laughing matter.
He got the feeling that it’d be better to deal with that source of potential sorrow sooner rather than later.
“Should I crush them...?”
“Huh?”
Latina responded to Dale’s ominous whisper with a blink of surprise.
Before moving in towards the robbers, Dale had Latina put up her hood. She was such a cute, beautiful little girl that even seeing her just once would leave quite an impression. Even though the chances were slim, he couldn’t risk them harboring a grudge against her. Now that Latina’s face was hidden, he had her lead the horse as she walked slowly down the highway.
Meanwhile, Dale sprinted. He greatly closed the distance before the robbers had a chance to notice his sudden movements. As he ran, he tempered his mana and chanted a spell.
“Oh earth and the spirits dwelling within you, by my name of Dale Reki, I order you.”
The arrows the robbers unleashed in the chaos weren’t coming at a trajectory he needed to worry about. He avoided them without any need for haste. In order to deprive the enemy time to compose themselves, he fired off an arrow of his own from the gauntlet on his left arm. It was a warning shot, but there was no need to purposefully miss.
“Shift your form according to my wishes, and swallow up all around you. 〈〈Ground transfiguration〉〉” he chanted, finishing the spell. It was Dale’s greatest specialty—Earth magic. It wasn’t a direct attack; rather, it was meant to control the field of battle on a large scale. And for Dale, when it came to Earth magic, his mana wouldn’t become exhausted, no matter how much he pumped into the spell. As a result, he was able to cast a Transfiguration on such a large scale that a normal magic user could never handle it.
A section of the forest vanished. Along with the ground itself, a ridiculous number of trees were swallowed by the abyss. Without a chance to even scream and having no clue of what was happening, the robbers fell to the bottom of the pit. It was a rather dirty move. Before the robbers that were left standing could realize what had happened, one of them was kicked into the hole. Another swung down his blade in a panic, only for it to be repelled by a gauntlet. Fearing a counterattack from his now-compromised position as well as getting kicked, he distanced himself.
However, it was then that Dale’s magic activated. He had used a short chant, so it only caused a tiny bump to pop up out of the ground, but that was still enough to trip someone. For the finishing blow, Dale broke one of the man’s legs so he couldn’t move, then tossed him away.
Sensing that everything was over, Latina suddenly peeked into the forest from the highway.
“Dale, are you alright? You’re not hurt, are you?”
“I’m fine, Latina. You really are a kind girl.”
The expression he pointed her way made him look like a completely different person than the man who had coldly fought the robbers that were now in the hole.
“You guys sure are lucky...”
He’d be fine just filling in the hole with them in it, but that would, of course, anger Latina. Rather than having some humane reason not to do it, he was just worried that it would have a negative effect on her upbringing. If he pulled his punches against such violent, unruly foes, he’d be the one who was in danger.
Because Latina was nearby, Dale wanted to avoid making a cruel, blood-soaked scene, so he’d held back such that none of their lives would be in danger. Well, a few of them may have gotten crushed by trees, and he couldn’t say they’d walk away with just minor injuries in that case, but it’d be fine since Latina couldn’t see them down in the pit.
“It’s a pain, but I guess we’ll go to a nearby village and request that they take care of them.”
There may have been a bounty or two amongst the group. Dale figured that’d at least serve to compensate him for the trouble. He urged Latina to follow him, and they returned to the highway.
†
“It wasn’t scary at all.”
If the robbers in question were to hear that, they’d likely break down in tears, but that was truly how Latina felt. The danger she’d felt from the magical beasts had been much greater.
“Um, Latina has souvenirs for the two of you,” she said, fishing two packages carefully wrapped in multiple layers of thin paper out of the bag she was holding and then passing them to Chloe and Sylvia. Upon peeling back the paper, they found small shellwork accessory cases. They’d been made by affixing mother-of-pearl to the case itself, so they gave off a gentle, sparkling light and were beautiful enough to catch the eye despite being small enough to be held in a single hand.
“They’re so pretty!”
“Thanks, Latina!”
“Latina bought one for herself, too. Each of them is a slightly different color.”
Chloe’s was a faint cream, while Sylvia’s was bluish. The one Latina had bought for herself, which was on display back in her room, was a pale pink.
“There were all sorts of things in Qualle.”
With a smile on her face, Latina spent the remaining time until the teacher arrived reminiscing about her time in the port town.
†
Latina and Dale also stopped in Qualle on their way back home. After renting a room in the same inn as before and dropping off their luggage, Dale said to Latina, “This time around, we’ll take our time here. But today, we’ve got to focus on resting up properly rather than sightseeing.”
“Right!” Latina energetically responded, after which she started rummaging about in the rucksack she always wore. Dale watched in confusion for a bit until she pulled out her wallet, apparently having tucked it away in an inside pocket.
She started laying out her silver coins on the desk and counting them up. She hadn’t purchased anything aside from what she needed for the trip up until now; as a result, she hadn’t used up much of the money she had on hand.
In Laband, the currency primarily used by the common masses consisted of copper and silver coins. When children went off to buy snacks, they’d do so grasping several copper coins tight in their hands. Silver coins were the largest amount needed to cover everyday living expenses. Most people never had an opportunity to use gold coins. Adventurers handled
gold coins when receiving their rewards or paying for expensive equipment, but they didn’t usually keep them in their wallets. And if you brought one out in your average store, you’d earn their ire for having to make change.
As long as you weren’t too far out in the country, it was exceptionally rare for people to hold onto their entire fortune. It was safer to keep it in the Azraq temples, and also more convenient.
Seeing Latina finish lining up her silver coins, Dale let out a sigh. “You’ve got quite a bit there...”
As Latina had been getting paid for working at the Ocelot, she had more money than most girls her age, and since she was so sensible, there were no worries about her spending wastefully. As a result, she’d been steadily building up her savings, helping to secure her future.
“Um, Latina’d like to buy souvenirs for Chloe and Sylvia, and Rita too. There are lots of pretty things for sale here in Qualle, so she wants to go shopping.”
“Got it. Let’s go around the market tomorrow, then.”
“Yeah!”
Last time they were in Qualle, Latina had only shown interest in purchasing food. That had worried Dale a bit, but she’d apparently been that way only because they were heading out on their trip, not returning. Now that he saw her showing interest in things more appropriate for her age, he felt somehow relieved.
Latina was fond of both cute and sparkly things. Dale started mentally overlapping a map of Qualle with a list of places he thought would make her happy to visit.
After having such a conversation on their first day there, they turned in early. The next morning, they got out of bed a little later than usual, and after finishing breakfast at the inn, they headed out into town.
So they didn’t get lost in the crowd like last time, they held hands. Today, Latina let her hair run down her back, after having spent the whole trip with it up so it wouldn’t get in the way. She looked a bit more prim and proper then she normally did.
“Should we have dinner at the Silent Seagull again tonight?”
“Can we really?”