by CHIROLU
“Pshah!”
“Woof!”
“Krrrr!”
“Ngyaaa!”
Vint and the kids had started trying to intimidate each other.
All of their fur was standing on edge, but that just made the fuzzballs look even fluffier. The oldest, Maya and Vint, were in an intense showdown where neither side would back down, but the younger two looked a bit like they were ready to flee. They just stood behind their big sister, trying the best that they could manage to look intimidating.
Well, I occasionally forget it, but he is a mythical beast. Guess this reaction makes sense...
Dale just watched over the situation unfolding with a distant look in his eyes, but Latina reacted a bit differently than usual.
“Bad Vint!” she scolded, kneeling down and looking him right in the eyes. “You shouldn’t go scaring little kids like that.”
“Mrrr...”
Vint looked clearly displeased at being scolded, but he just sat there and took it rather than trying to argue. But then, he started rubbing his head up against Latina. Then, he glanced back at the black furballs with a self-satisfied look, lording it over them. Even if Dale couldn’t understand canine facial expressions, it was abundantly apparent that he was asserting his own dominance.
“Pshah!”
“Yeah, that’ll get you angry, alright,” Dale quipped, unable to hold himself back after seeing Vint’s attitude.
It was then that a large man sluggishly appeared from behind all that commotion.
“Is that you, Dale? Long time no see.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m just glad to find you doing well, Joseph. We were over this way for the first time in a while, so we stopped in to see you.”
Joseph, the head of the house, was actually more stout than just large, and he also looked older than Dale remembered. Only his thin eyes and the gentle impression they provided remained unchanged.
As he ushered Dale’s group into the house, he continued on, “It sure has been a while... Are you on your way to the village?”
“No, we’re actually on our way back...”
Dale’s eyes wandered a bit as he wondered how he should explain. When the conversation came to a halt as a result, though, Latina took a step forward and smiled.
“I’m glad to see you’re doing will, Mr. Joseph. We were staying in Tislow until a few days ago... And now, we’re on our way back to Kreuz.”
“Huh...? Ah, you’re that little lady from back then, aren’t you? You sure have grown.”
From the cheerful way Joseph was chatting away, it seemed that the story of the Fairy Princess and the Platinum Hero hadn’t made it all the way out here to this rural village in the mountains. Somehow, that made Dale feel relieved. He just couldn’t stand the thought of being treated like the protagonist of an epic by his relative, after all.
Dale then realized how utterly out of the loop Joseph had been, and hesitated as to whether he should inform him of his marriage to Latina. And that was only made worse by the fact that the man had known her when she was a child.
“Maya’s grown a lot, too.”
Latina looked over at the biggest black fuzzball as she said that, only for the puffball of a girl to look back at Latina and then turn away.
Maya’s reaction caused Latina to furrow her brows a bit in disappointment.
“Hey, you all say hello, too.”
“Yup, hewwo.”
“Hello.”
Urged on by their father, the two young boys offered an earnest greeting. They were fittingly adorable for their young age, causing Latina to break out in a smile as she kneeled down and looked at them face to face.
“Hello. Sorry for intruding.”
Dale could see the tension fade from the two toddlers just from Latina smiling at them. Apparently Dale wasn’t the only one to notice, though, as Vint started rubbing his body up against Latina’s again.
“How shameless...”
He was clearly trying to direct his owner’s attention his way in a painfully obvious display.
“Well, it’s fine and all that you stopped by so suddenly, but still... I never imagined you would go and bring a mythical beast along with you...” Joseph said with a look of astonishment, staring at his young children facing off with Vint.
Vint lived in the Ocelot, so he recognized Theo and Emma as “family” that were part of his territory. And so, even if Latina was acting all kind to the siblings, Vint wouldn’t interfere or attack them.
But apparently, Vint understood that he was in a weaker “away” position here at this beastman village. And he was also aware of the fact that Latina had a soft spot for young children.
“Grrrr...”
Rub, rub. Rub, rub.
Vint repeatedly rubbed his head up against Latina.
That was precisely why Vint felt the need to appeal himself to Latina so excessively.
“What’s the matter, Vint?” Latina asked in her usual aloof manner, proving that Vint’s desperate attempts at garnering attention had unfortunately failed to get across.
While all that was going on, the smallest of the fuzzballs sat atop Latina’s lap. It was an act that could be interpreted as sneakily getting a head start, causing a tension to run between Vint and the toddler.
Latina, meanwhile, just happily smiled at the child, noticing nothing of the heightened tension all around her.
Dale, however, turned his gaze away from the powderkeg of a situation, towards the master of the house.
“Ah, right, Joseph. This is from the main house...”
“Hmm? Ooh, I appreciate it.”
Dale pulled a souvenir from back home out of his knapsack and offered it to Joseph, intentionally drawing the man’s attention his way. It was a perfectly reasonable choice, though.
Dale’s expectations hit the mark, as soon afterwards, the fuzzballs all mobbed Latina. In the past, just Maya alone doing that had been enough to knock Latina over. And she may have been an adult this time around, but she was up against greater numbers, including a certain mythical beast pup.
She didn’t have a chance, facing two wild toddlers from the exceptional Tislow lineage as well as the son of the leader of the soaring wolves.
“Huh? Wha...? H-Hold on a...!”
Faced with this sudden onslaught of the fluffy brigade demanding to be pet, Latina at first tried to say something meaningful and get them under control. However, her words soon lost all meaning whatsoever.
“Uwaaaah!” Latina shrieked like a kitten from within the bundle of fuzzballs, and then she was knocked over. It really went exactly like Dale had predicted.
He would feel a bit immature trying to seriously restrain the toddlers and pup, and besides, Latina somehow sounded happy rather than upset as she fell. And so, Dale had no choice left to him but just watch and wait.
“Are you alright?”
“Not real— Wah....! Waaaah!”
Despite the fact that she couldn’t do a thing about these toddlers and this pup, simply raising a pathetic shriek, she was still a demon lord, making her a sort of lower ranking god.
“Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction...” Dale muttered, watching over Latina as she now tumbled over in the opposite direction. He really was at peak deplorability, thinking that she still looked adorable even while being helplessly bowled over.
Ultimately, Latina was saved from the assault by the fuzzy mob by someone who had been watching over the commotion just like Dale.
Maya had been quietly staring as her younger brothers and the pup all swarmed Latina, but now she silently, quickly plunged into the center of the storm.
Then, she struck a daunting pose and glared at her surroundings.
It was only then that Dale finally noticed that Maya was wearing a girlish dress. And yet, she gave off a far greater aura than you would expect of someone her age, to such a degree that the impression from her made it hard to tell if she was a boy or a girl even so.
Did she get that from
his grandmother? If so, he got the feeling it’d probably be best to correct that now, while they had the chance...
As those thoughts ran through his head, Dale broke out in a cold sweat.
“Pyah!”
“Pii!”
The two younger brothers wrapped their tails together and stood up straight. That reaction really made it clear the sort of relationship they had with their sister.
Having reined in her brothers as such, Maya then plopped down with a heave-ho.
Naturally, that meant atop Latina’s lap.
Unable to hide her surprise at this overly sudden action, Latina called out, “Um, Maya...?”
“...Turn,” Maya muttered her own sound effect, facing away from Latina as the girl tried to look at her closer. Latina wasn’t discouraged, though, and tried to look from the other side, only for Maya to face away once again.
“Turn!” she said out loud again.
That childish action caused Latina to break out in a wide smile. Her adorable little standoffish act was apparently really tugging at Latina’s heartstrings.
“Maya.”
“Turn!”
“Maya.”
“Turn!”
As Latina happily repeated that over and over, Vint went, “Grr...” with a look of clear dissatisfaction on his face. It was showing so clearly that even Dale picked up on it, even though he normally couldn’t read animal expressions in the least.
And as Maya kept on turning her head, whenever her gaze met with Vint’s, she shot him a supremely self-satisfied look, lording her victory over him.
As Vint growled away, the expression on his face just grew more and more frustrated.
It would seem that this first contest for Latina’s attention had a clear winner.
However, it was hard to imagine this first contest would be the last. And it didn’t seem like with the feel in the air, they could hurry up and get back on the road.
Well, we’re in no hurry, so I guess it’s fine, Dale thought to himself, deciding to ask Joseph about staying for the night. I don’t know if I should feel uneasy or outright scared at the fact that it looks like she’ll have not just a soaring wolf devotee, but beastmen, too...
“Sturdy black furred beastman warriors served by the Fairy Princess’s side, protecting her.” In the future, that would become part of her epic. Or at least, how incredibly easy that was to imagine caused Dale to shudder. It was frightening how reasonable that seemed when looking at the puffballs’ absolute adoration of the girl.
As a demon lord, Dale was Latina’s one and only retainer, but he couldn’t help but feel that she already had more overwhelming combat strength to her name than any warlike demon lord ever would.
After that thought ran through his head, Dale gave a single sigh.
“Maya.”
“Turn!”
It would be nice if when they said farewell this time, it could be with smiles and a promise to meet again. Or at least, that’s what Dale thought as he quietly watched over them and smiled.
Ending: In a World Watched Over by a Rainbow
Laband was a rich country of humans with a long history to it. The primary god worshiped there was Ahmar, and they paid their laws great respect. That could be seen in the way that they didn’t stand for discrimination against other races or exploitation based on rank, and it had been governed fairly for a long, long time.
And it was a nation that had for a long time carried friendly relations with its neighboring nation of Vassilios, the country of devils.
Vassilios’s Golden King was known for her beauty and wisdom, and she actively invited students from Laband to her country, as well as formed close relationships between the two nations in terms of cultural and both academic and magical studies.
Alongside the highway connecting the two countries, there stood a small town.
It was built right near a magical beast habitat, so there was certainly some concern there in terms of safety, but it was also a place admired by adventurers the world over. After all, it was a town that had been built by adventurers.
And in the inn that had been there since shortly after the town’s founding, the Singing White Cat, you could hear quite a few anecdotes related to a legendary hero who had once been famous the world over.
The one who governed this land wasn’t just a ruler, but also a first rate warrior, as well as quite open-minded towards adventurers. And the harmonious couple who ruled may have retired at present, but their adopted children, in addition to being their disciples, had taken over managing the town, and so that policy hadn’t changed in the least.
Yes, it was a land admired by adventurers. And it was called that for many reasons.
The highway cut right through the middle of magical beast territory, which meant that traveling it unavoidably meant facing danger. As such, the majority of travelers hired adventurers to guard them as they passed through.
The wise Golden King took great pains to always carefully maintain this highway between the nations, and constructed towers at regular intervals for that purpose. For travelers, those towers both served as landmarks for travelers, as well as safe places to rest, as they had barriers cast upon them to repel magical beasts.
The white walled tower that indicated you were nearing Laband was especially magnificent.
Most folks believed that the sun and moon symbols carved into the sides of the tower represented the Golden King and her sister, and were a joint effort to commemorate establishing friendly relations between the two nations.
A noteworthy fact about the tower was that occasionally travelers would bring bouquets as offerings, which gradually led to more and more varieties of flower seeds taking root there, until the place was a beautiful flower field regardless of what season it may be.
The tower kept on watching over the travelers as a great many of them visited to take in the lovely sight.
Beyond that portion of the highway lay the town of Kreuz, which was called the second capital of Laband.
It was surrounded by walls, and just as its name implied it was laid out in the shape of a cross, albeit it a slightly distorted one. And as it was the point of contact for trade with Vassilios, a great many travelers and merchants gathered there.
A great deal of adventurers also came and went there, taking on jobs to guard travelers along the highway or exterminate magical beasts. The town’s welcoming atmosphere towards outsiders had been cultivated over many years, and remained strong to this day.
You could sense how blessed and tranquil the town was from the number of children that could be seen gallivanting around.
A woman in traveling attire watched those children playing, naturally breaking out in a gentle smile.
One of the playing children then tumbled right in front of her.
“Ah! Are you alright?” she reflexively called out, as she saw the child’s knee bleeding. It seemed he had been unfortunate, and a sharp stone ended up cutting it. When the child looked down at his knee, his face started to distort and tears began welling up in his eyes.
“Looks like you cut it... Could you be brave for just a moment?” the woman asked, bending down so she was looking the child in the face.
Hearing her incredibly gentle voice, the child looked back at her. Then, he looked utterly flabbergasted, as if he had even forgotten that he was about to cry.
“The Fairy Princess...”
It was a folk tale that every child in this town knew, as well as an epic that a great many people the world over were familiar with: the legend known as “The Platinum Hero and the Fairy Princess.”
The child had read it countless times in the form of a picture book. This woman was beautiful, just like the princess from that book.
The woman gave an awkward smile at the child’s comment, and then pointed the tip of her finger towards his knee. There was a pale light, and then the throbbing pain suddenly disappeared.
“Are you alright?” the woman asked again in a gentle voice.
>
“Yeah,” the child replied with a big nod.
With that motion, a small black fragment dangling from the child’s neck came into view and sparkled.
“That’s...”
Noticing that it had caught the woman’s attention, the child held it up proudly for her to see.
“It’s a charm!”
“...I see. A charm...”
“Yeah. My dad gave it to me. And dad got it from grandma, and she had been given it too. It keeps on getting passed down the line.”
“Right... You’re taking good care of it, aren’t you?”
“Yeah!”
The child didn’t know why her grey eyes had teared up just a bit, but he was happy to see that she had smiled.
The woman reached out once again, touching the black shard.
“Yes... This is a charm.”
Feeling the shard seem to give off just a bit of warmth, the child tilted his head. The woman smiled further, finding the childish reaction quite charming.
“There’s a wish imbued in it, that the precious person receiving it will find happiness,” she whispered in an incredibly gentle voice.
The child didn’t quite understand what she meant, but he felt all warm and fuzzy inside.
“Mom!”
“Mama!”
Hearing those two youthful voices, the woman looked up.
What she saw there was a young man in a black coat, as well as a little boy and girl. The children were holding the man’s hands and waving her way with their free hands.
“You got lost!”
“Dad panicked a whole lot again.”
The woman stood up, giving an awkward smile at what the children had said.
“...Ah,” she uttered, seemingly realizing something.
The children looked up in turn, and saw a large rainbow cast across the sky.
“Rainbows appear in the sky when the gods are looking down over the land.”
After saying that with a smile, she took off jogging towards the children who were beckoning her.
The family looked truly happy, gathering underneath the rainbow.
Afterword
“By the way, do you know what’s going to happen next?” my editor asked me back when I was back in the initial stages of writing the series, and back then, I honestly hadn’t predicted how things would turn out at all.