If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord: Volume 3

by CHIROLU

  Above all else, ever since they were younger Chloe and Sylvia had been well aware that Latina always had her eyes on someone older. It was only natural for them to cheer on their friend, who tried her hardest and pushed herself to act more mature than she was.

  “Yeah!”

  “Yeah!”

  There was a weird vibe between the two of them, and Chloe and Sylvia gave each other a double high-five. Having been left out, Latina stared at the two of them with an uneasy expression on her face. She wanted an explanation.

  Latina had started working young, and because of her prudent nature and lack of wasteful habits as well as the fact that her guardian, Dale, took care of their living expenses, she had plenty of money saved up. She could have easily purchased her own makeup. The reason she hadn’t up until now was because it was hard to express an interest in such things in front of Dale, who still treated her like a child. She also considered the less direct method of asking Rita, but she was always busy with work and childcare, so Latina wasn’t able to press her to make time to join her and help her shop. She’d made it all the way to the front of a cosmetics store before, but she ultimately got nervous and couldn’t bring herself to enter. It was just too new of an experience, so she’d had no idea what to do or even what type of makeup to choose.

  She couldn’t bring this up with her usual conversation partner, Kenneth, either. Asking him would probably just leave him bewildered and embarrassed.

  She’d discussed the matter with her friends, so the well-informed Sylvia had taken the lead and ended up bringing a set of makeup along with her today.

  The latest crazes and trends were also included amongst the information gathered by the temple of Akhdar where Sylvia served, and half of those who served in the temple were women. As a result, information on the latest fashion naturally gathered in the temple of Akhdar, which had deeper contact with the outside world than the other temples.

  Sylvia was well informed on the latest makeup techniques. Chloe was also much better informed on such matters than Latina. Skillfully applying the latest cosmetics, they finished their work on the greatest model imaginable, then turned to one another with a look of satisfaction and joy.

  “My, this girl really is a beauty.”

  “I feel like even if we weren’t so skilled, her natural beauty would still end up shining through.”

  “Come on, Latina, smile!”

  “Hey, seriously, let me know how it turned out...!”

  Latina finally managed to snatch the mirror away from her two smirking friends. Peering into it, she was so shocked she couldn’t speak. The eye makeup gave her long eyelashes and big grey eyes even more impact. With muted tones used on the rest of the face, the whole look was balanced and not over the top. Her cheeks were faintly colored, like her face was flushed. There was light-pink lipstick on her slightly open lips, making them sparkle a bit more glamorously than usual.

  She couldn’t be a full-on adult, but her lovely face could no longer be mistaken for that of a child.

  Chloe and Sylvia were satisfied with their work.

  “My face... it’s so thick...!”

  The comment she got out after staring at her own face in the mirror was as regrettable as always. The disheartening nature of her statement was likely a result of the person who had raised her.

  After finishing Latina’s makeup, the three girls headed outside, chatting noisily all the while.

  “Ugh... I feel embarrassed somehow...” Latina was the last one out of Chloe’s house, and she looked a little troubled as she stared down at the ground.

  “What’ve you got to be embarrassed about?”

  “It’s because she’s Latina.”

  Latina’s face was different than normal. She felt like someone would point that out, which felt strangely awkward. The people around her would have no reason to pay that any mind, but because she wasn’t accustomed to it, she was on edge.

  Aware of Latina’s personality, her friends broke out in cheerful laughter.

  “Well, it’s true that other people may end up looking at you more than usual.”

  “Wha?!”

  “That’s true. So you shouldn’t let it bug you so much now, right?”

  “Do I really look strange?”

  “Hehehe...”

  “Mwahaha...”

  “What’s with that laugh?!”

  While her two friends enjoyed Latina’s reactions that made teasing her so worth it, the three girls headed toward the center of town where the temple of Ahmar was.

  Along the way, they stopped here and there all over town.

  The eastern district was terribly crowded, thanks in part to the shops offering sales and promotions aimed at the throngs of sightseers out and about. Even though the girls had no intention of buying anything, they spent time enjoying just pointing out items to one another and smiling.

  Chloe stopped, seeing a number of reasonably priced items on display in the storefront of an accessory shop she’d normally never enter. Everyone hemmed and hawed, trying to carefully decide on the best item for their budget.

  In a different accessory store, Latina picked out a ribbon and held it out for her two friends to see. It would also go with her normal outfits, but thanks to her friends recommending she go with something a little more mature than usual, she ended up going with a black ribbon made from a lovely fabric.

  It was still too early for the start of the festival, so the three friends decided to divert from their route a bit on the way, stopping in at a thriving bakery. In addition to the store itself being packed, the additional stand they set up in front was also crowded. The three girls smiled at their childhood friend who was standing there busily working away.

  “You look busy, Marcel.”

  “Hi Latina, Chloe, Sylvia. It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Sylvia?”

  His gentle tone of voice hadn’t changed since they were young, but his hands kept on briskly working away as he spoke. He was selling simple sandwiches meant for light meals aimed at sightseers here for the festival. Even while he was chatting, the speed at which he assembled the sandwiches for customers’ orders didn’t slow at all.

  There were no sharp edges to be seen on the somewhat short, round-faced Marcel. The food he was selling as he wore his apron and a gentle expression looked absolutely delicious.

  Marcel was fully aware of the impression he gave off. That was precisely why on days like this, he’d work outside the shop instead, taking the initiative to act as a billboard for the store. This bakery heir had a promising future ahead of him.

  “Are you all going to see the festival?”

  “Yeah, that’s right.”

  “You seem busy, Marcel,” said Sylvia.

  In response, Marcel broke out in an awkward smile as he smeared mustard on some bread.

  “That’s right. We’re always busy, but this year one of the people who works in the shop took leave to have a baby, so we’re short on hands... Ah, here you go, thanks for waiting.”

  Marcel handed the customer a sandwich made with a heaping helping of sliced veggies and meat between two pieces of the bread the shop prided itself on. It looked truly delicious.

  It was just the right time for everyone to start getting hungry, so as they headed into the start of the festival, people sought to fill that desire.

  “It doesn’t look like I’ll be able to make it this year. Will Anthony be going?”

  “Anthony?”

  “Yeah. His dad works at the lord’s manor, after all. He knows a lot about how the festival is set up and should be able to recommend spots worth seeing... Ah, here, this is on the house.”

  Chloe graciously accepted the three sandwiches that Marcel offered with a smile.

  “Thank you!”

  “Thanks!”

  “Is it really alright, Marcel?”

  “It’s fine, it’s fine. But if you could, please eat them near the shop. Do you need something to drink?”

  Latina tilted
her head at Marcel’s words, but by the time they’d finished eating in front of the shop, there was a long line in front of the stand. The young heir to the shop had correctly realized that a first-rate beauty happily eating the shop’s goods would be great publicity.

  After saying their farewells to Marcel, the three girls headed to the town’s central plaza. Unsurprisingly, it was far more crowded than usual. They hurried along as the sun started to go down, the sky awash in beautiful sunset colors.

  In Latina’s everyday life, she rarely had an opportunity to visit the temple of Ahmar. Unlike the temple of Azraq, which served as a bank, and the temple of Asfar that everyone attended as a child, there was little reason for your average citizen to go there. However, she did occasionally see the warrior priests who served there about town. The guardsmen who served the local lord were the ones tasked with keeping public order in Kreuz, but as Ahmar was the god in charge of law, his warrior priests worked together with the guards to suppress incidents about town.

  “Where’s Anthony?”

  “Hehehe... Before that, I heard from one of my elders that you can apparently check out the warrior priests over this way before the ceremony begins.”

  “Huh... you mean like behind the scenes?”

  “That’s right.”

  After looking in the direction that Sylvia had pointed out while giggling, the three looked at one another and then headed off that way. They felt like they were doing something wrong as they acted in secret, their hearts beating loudly in their chests.

  A large number of warrior priests were lined up in an orderly manner behind the temple of Ahmar, but as it was just before the main event, a hurried enthusiasm filled the air. What they were doing wasn’t a crime, but even so, the three girls held their breath and kept their voices low as they watched.

  “Seeing them closer like this, the warrior priest uniforms are all a bit different.”

  “You’re right.”

  “That’s true... It’s supposed to vary a bit based on which squad they belong to.”

  Just sneakily talking like this was fun. Adults would think nothing of what they were doing or their topic of discussion, but to the young girls, each and every moment of this was precious.

  “Wow. That guy is pretty cool, isn’t he?”

  “Which one?”

  “There, that one with the two lines on his shoulder... With the dark-brown hair...”

  “Hmm... So that’s the kind of person you like, Sylvia?”

  “Eh, don’t you think the blond guy over there is cool?”

  “Hmm... That guy’s no good. He’s caused problems by hitting on women all over town.”

  “Where did you hear that from, Sylvia?”

  “Hehehe...”

  The girls enjoyed themselves greatly as they had this conversation fitting for girls their age. Latina also joined in, but her friends felt no need to ask about her tastes. The person she was interested in was already set, and she also wasn’t the sort to judge people based on appearances. Latina had her ability to sense danger, too, so she based her judgments more on what was inside.

  It was very difficult to measure up to her standards.

  “Shall we get going?” Chloe asked.

  “Yeah!” Latina responded with a nod, and the girls headed for the central plaza, where the main event was being held. Looking at the backs of the three girls walking through the crowd, you could almost feel the excitement coming off them.

  †

  Anthony was still enrolled in advanced schooling. He wore a forced smile on his face as he stood near the lord’s manor because he was surrounded by his father’s coworkers and superiors. His father may have been a low-level official at the lord’s manor, but that didn’t mean that Anthony was guaranteed the same post after graduating. However, it wasn’t as if the possibility didn’t exist. In order to raise those odds even a bit, his father was taking him along to make the rounds.

  “Anthony!”

  Hearing that voice call his name for the first time in a while, Anthony turned around.

  “Long time no see, Anthony!”

  There was no mistaking the owner of that voice.

  Latina was standing there with an innocent smile that hadn’t changed since they were young. Chloe and Sylvia were behind her.

  He soon realized what was going on. Since he was surrounded by adults they didn’t know, it should have been difficult for his friends to call out to him. That’s why they had chosen to use Latina. Sylvia was likely the instigator.

  Latina didn’t seem to realize it herself, but her appearance was extraordinary and impactful enough to silence the people around her. In fact, his father and the other adults were standing there befuddled, absentmindedly staring.

  “Dad, these are my friends I attended Asfar primary school with.” He made sure to emphasize they were friends because, in several ways, he was worried about his own safety.

  “Huh... Wuh...?”

  It seemed that Anthony’s father had recognized Chloe. Their houses were near one another, and they’d played together since they were young, so he was of course familiar with the girl.

  “...This is the ‘Fairy Princess.’”

  He mentioned his friend’s nickname with a sigh, and only to his father, but the other adults nearby also started to murmur.

  “Wha...? She’s the one from the rumors...?”

  “So she really exists...?”

  Apparently, his childhood friend was on the same level as some kind of mythological beast or urban legend. Rumors of her had even reached the lord’s manor.

  In the town of Kreuz, the trends amongst adventurers were very important. As so much of their support was focusing in on a single person, the officials serving under the lord who ruled this town naturally paid her heed.

  Adventurers possessed an excessive amount of armed might. They obviously needed to keep an eye on anyone who could cause them to revolt. However, in the case of the “Fairy Princess,” the guardsmen serving at the lord’s manner reported that she was harmless, so she wasn’t viewed as a concern.

  None of the officials serving in the lord’s manner could have imagined that a captain of the guards was the leader of one of her fanclubs, or that just hearing the girl call out “Captain” was enough to make him break out in a wide grin.

  Latina primarily kept to the southern district, where the Dancing Ocelot was, and the commercial sector that was the eastern district. She never visited the western district, where most of the officials lived, and the people who lived there would never go to a shop that served ruffians, like the Ocelot. That was why Latina’s existence was nothing more than a rumor to them.

  “We visited Marcel’s place before coming here. He said we’d find you here.” Latina may have looked more mature in general, but the way she broke out in a wide smile hadn’t changed at all.

  “It really has been a while, guys. I’m glad that you all seem to be doing alright.”

  “You’ve gotten taller, Anthony.”

  “Doesn’t it make you somehow angry, having him look down on us like this?”

  “He can’t stop growing, but I suppose it’ll be fine as long as he gets down on his hands and knees, right?”

  “It seems you two really haven’t changed at all, Chloe and Sylvia.”

  As a man, he should have had the advantage in terms of height and build, but for some reason he felt like he couldn’t win against these two. Anthony started sweating mentally.

  “I’ve always come with Dale, so I don’t really know the best way to see the festival. And Marcel said you may have a good idea of where to go...”

  “Ah, I see... With just you girls, it’d be dangerous to go to places where adventurers gather...”

  Every year that Latina had gone to see the night festival, it had been with Dale. He’d slipped through the crowd, occasionally letting the young girl ride on his shoulders to better see the festivities. There had also been years when they’d slipped into the viewing seats
thanks to an acquaintance who had a spot there. However, they couldn’t use such methods today.

  “Being with the Ocelot regulars is no different from being with Dale,” Latina said, pouting and puffing up her cheeks, taking Anthony’s words in a different way than he’d intended.

  “What’s wrong with Latina?” Anthony whispered to the girl he’d known longest, only for Chloe to give an awkward laugh and then quietly respond, “Everyone at Latina’s place worries about her. Apparently, she was given all sorts of warnings about today’s outing.”

  “Ah, I see.”

  “They’re probably just worried because Latina’s so oblivious, but still...”

  Anthony was overcome by a pleasant feeling while talking with them. It was an intimate, familiar sort of conversation that he’d forgotten, since it had been so long.

  “I’ll ask my dad. If you don’t mind, I think it’d probably be good to hang out around here.”

  Anthony had said that because he realized his father and the other adults had a keen interest in the rumored Fairy Princess. He was also aware that if he let his childhood friend wander about aimlessly and, on the off chance, something was to happen, it would lead to absolute chaos.

  “Let me introduce you, Dad. This is Latina. She lives in a shop with an Akhdar flag.”

  “Nice to meet you. I’m Latina. I was born in a place without family names, so my apologies for just giving my first name.”

  “And this is Sylvia Fal. She’s the daughter of Vice-Captain Fal of the guardsmen.”

  “Pleased to meet you.”

  In response to the girls’ smiles, the people from the lord’s manor invited them to watch the festival alongside them, just as Anthony had expected.

  This decision of Anthony’s was one that served to secretly maintain the peace of Kreuz.

  The main festivities of the night festival kicked off when the sun started to set. That was because it was the time in which the world was most awash in the color symbolic of Ahmar.

  The warrior priests of Ahmar marched through Kreuz in an orderly procession, wearing polished armor that reflected the light of the torches they held. The orderly march of these brave soldiers who were the pride of the god of war was enough to captivate on its own, but amidst the procession were also priestesses wearing fluttering, thin silk and offering prayers for victory in battle in the form of a dance, making the sight all the more brilliant. With the movements of their slender arms, the priestesses freely manipulated the deep-crimson silk, which was embroidered with gold thread. The afterimage of the firelight reflecting off the gold hung in the air, sparkling.