Published at 18th of January 2020 2:16 pm

Volume 1, Chapter 2: The Little Girl Begins Her New Life

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Dale woke up fairly early the next morning. He’d gone to bed early the night before, after all. Casting his eyes toward the other presence he felt in his bed, he noticed the girl lying next to him.

“Oh, that’s right. I brought her back with me from the forest...” he muttered, remembering his new roommate as he let out a yawn.

Latina held tightly onto a bit of Dale’s clothing as she breathed, somewhat out of tune, in her sleep. Dale pondered how he could get out of bed without waking her, but her eyes shot open the second he sat up. She jumped up as if in a panic, hot on Dale’s heels.

Sensing her anxiety, Dale shot her a smile, trying to calm her down at least a little. “Good morning, Latina,” he said as he patted her head.

Dale got out of bed and changed into a simple shirt and comfortable pants, different from the clothes that he wore for work. With only a coin purse and a knife on his waist, he ran his fingers through his bed head to get it under control. Finally, he slipped on his boots and scooped Latina up. She didn’t have a single change of clothes, so she was still wearing what she had on when she went to sleep, and her skirt had gotten a little wrinkled.

Dale went down to the first floor and took Latina towards a table in the kitchen, rather than into the store itself.

“Oh, my. Good morning, Latina.” Rita smiled, noticing the two. That smile, of course, was only directed at the young girl.

Kenneth and Rita were right in the middle of making breakfast. Adventurers tended to eat a lot, even early in the morning, so the couple needed a lot more food than what was required for just the lodgers. On top of all that, there were also customers who only came to eat breakfast. While it was great for business, it was also an impossibly busy time for the shop owners.

Dale kept going around the back and washed his face at the sink by the bathing area. He cleaned off the hand towel he’d used and handed it to Latina while it was still dripping wet. Apparently, Latina properly grasped what he meant, as she wiped her own face clean with it.

After he washed his undergarments as well, Dale’s usual morning routine was complete. He finished by hanging them up in the nearby area set aside for drying. As he headed back inside, he found Rita combing Latina’s hair. All the while, Rita’s expression was full of awe and admiration, as well as restlessness.

“Latina’s hair is a beautiful color. It really is wonderful. Hey, Dale, you moron, you can’t leave a girl’s hair all messy the way you do with yours!”

It was definitely true that Latina’s hair was far shinier than it had been before having a comb passed through it. The new father made a mental note.

Rita skillfully gathered up Latina’s hair and tied it with ribbons. Together, her hair and the ribbons almost completely hid Latina’s horns.

“Putting aside the fact that she’s a devil, it’d at least be a good idea to make sure that her one broken horn doesn’t stand out,” whispered Rita while shooting Dale a sideways glance.

“Got it, thanks,” he replied, and his gaze fell on Latina.

There were no changes to her physique, but having been cleaned up, her hair done, and dressed in proper clothes, Latina clearly looked like a cute little girl. Compared to the filthy child that he’d found in the forest, whose gender he hadn’t even been able to determine, she was like a completely different person.

“Hey, good morning! Here’s your breakfast.” Passing by Rita, Kenneth appeared with plates in both hands.

Latina faced Kenneth, and after thinking a little, she said, “Good murnnin.” She didn’t seem to have much confidence in how she’d done, as she quickly lowered her head.

Kenneth froze as the expression on Dale’s face distorted. Latina seemed to have figured out that it was a greeting after having heard the same words said to her all morning. The girl really did seem to have an acute sense of observation. Dale had a vague feeling that she may be rather clever as well.

“***? *****?”

“No, that was right. ‘Correct.’” Dale let out a hurried laugh, realizing that the expression on his face had made Latina worry that she had used it incorrectly. “Damn it, I’ll get back at you for this, Kenneth.” Even so, Dale kept a smile on his face as he complained to Kenneth, who had stolen away Latina’s “first greeting.”

“Don’t be so childish.” Kenneth’s expression lightened up a bit as well. “Rita and I really should have one of our own soon.” Murmuring about how great children were, Kenneth returned to his work station.

Dale’s breakfast was a normal grilled cheese and smoked meat sandwich, but Latina’s portion was custom-made. The bread had been dipped in milk and egg and cooked until the inside became all creamy, and then the compote from yesterday was place on top. The smoked meat had been thinly chopped and then fried until crispy so it could be used as a garnish. And in addition to all that, the glass in front of Latina was filled with chilled fruit juice.

What had cooled it down was a “magical device,” which was the general term for tools that made use of the power known as “magic” that existed inside all people. Lately, these devices had become common among the general populace. Visit any home, and you’d most likely find magical devices for “Water,” “Fire,” and “Water/Dark,” which were all for use in the kitchen. In other words, they were used to supply drinking water, light a fire, and refrigerate with ice, respectively. Magical devices obviously cost a good bit of money, so there were of course those who used the communal well, or lit their fires with a chimney starter. But because convenience couldn’t be beat, those people were overwhelmingly in the minority. As a result, frozen foods weren’t exactly uncommon these days.

Latina gulped down the fruit juice and turned to face Dale, looking overjoyed.

“Ah, great. ...That bastard Kenneth really is trying to win her over with food.” Dale muttered the last part quietly so Latina couldn’t hear.

Latina was completely absorbed in devouring the bread as well. It seemed she was really fond of sweets.

“Hey Rita, where can I go to buy little girls’ clothes and stuff like that?” asked Dale as he carried over his plate, having finished eating. When he saw Latina, who was only halfway through her meal, staring at him and looking flustered, Dale sat down where she could see him. Thanks to his strong sense of duty, which made him feel the need to help out when someone was busy with something, he started peeling the skins off of a mountain of potatoes. “Also, could you tell me anything else that I need to get right away? Like, things that’d be easy for a guy like me to overlook.”

“Let’s see... If you want a tailor, then Amanda’s shop in the eastern district has a good reputation, and well, the weather’s good, so the market should be outside in the plaza, too—it may not be a bad idea to look for secondhand clothes there as well. Go to Bart’s place for the shoes. It’s the shop on the corner. And then...” Rita stopped working and grabbed a pen so she could make a list.

Hearing all this, Dale grasped just a fragment of how determined women were when it came to shopping, and he trembled.

After a short bit of waiting for Latina to finish eating, Dale scooped the girl up and left the Dancing Ocelot.

“First up is shoes... Can’t have you walking around barefoot, after all.” Her weight itself wasn’t any trouble, but he’d need to carry bags as well. “Dale?”

“‘Shopping’ is, how should I put it...?” Dale talked to himself and wondered if he should buy her a picture book or something. This wouldn’t be a cheap shopping trip, but it wasn’t enough that it’d be a serious strain on him, either.

As they approached the center of town, the sight of adventurers became less frequent, while the number of residents increased. At the market held in the plaza in the center, there were both people from neighboring villages and traveling merchants selling their wares. There were many who came here to sell what they had.

Dale turned off onto a side street halfway across the plaza and headed towards the eastern district. Just as Rita instructed, he entered the shop belonging to the craftsman named Bart.

A few hours later, Dale was completely exhausted and slumped on a seat in the plaza.

“I-I’m wiped...” he muttered, his head hung low in exhaustion. Next to him was a mountain of large bags.

To be perfectly honest, cutting down magical beasts was easier than this. He hadn’t imagined that it would be so torturous to keep going into stores filled only with women and buying things he wasn’t used to purchasing. He’d really wanted to call it quits when faced with stares as he held little girls’ underwear in his hands. If Latina hadn’t been by his side, then someone really might have ended up calling the town guard on him.

Dale was plagued by such pessimistic thoughts as he suffered from exhaustion.

“Dale, *******?”

“Yeah, you don’t need to worry. ‘Negate, problem’... It’s alright.” “All, right?”

“Yeah, you got it.”

Latina was seated by his side and eating a piece of fruit he had bought for her in the market. Before he left, Rita told him over and over to make sure that she stayed hydrated and fed.

Once she finished eating the juicy pieces Dale had cut up for her, Latina looked down at her now sticky hands and became lost in thought. After staring at them for a while, Latina looked up at Dale, seemingly at a loss.

“You may have actually had a pretty good upbringing, Latina...”

The brats prowling around here would’ve probably long since wiped their hands off on their sleeves. Having watched Latina since yesterday, he’d gotten the impression that she was very well-mannered.

Of course, there was also the fact that she was still nervous around Dale. It seemed this clever young girl was still concerned about things like that.

“Oh water, heed my call, and appear. 〈〈Appear: Water〉〉” The ball of water summoned by Dale’s short chant burst over Latina’s hands. “Now to dry her hands... I should buy plenty of handkerchiefs for Latina as well, huh...?” mumbled Dale, standing up and looking out over market once more, not yet realizing that in heading back in, he’d end up buying far more than what he had initially planned. He’d only become aware of this when he returned holding a mountain of bags and saw Rita and Kenneth’s faces.

It wasn’t long before he had gathered up all the things he needed to buy, but that was about the time that Latina started to look rather tired.

“Are you alright, Latina?”

But when Dale asked that, she responded by saying, “Alright,” and nodding. It may have been a mistake to teach that word to such a considerate child. He let out a single sigh and shuffled the luggage so he could pick Latina up.

“Dale, alright.”

“‘Fatigue, heal, overdo, negate.’”

When Latina shook her head even to that, Dale admonished her with a pat on the back. Even the bulky luggage and Latina together weren’t too much for him to carry.

Just as Dale had expected, by the time he reached the Dancing Ocelot, Latina had fallen asleep in his arms.

As always, Latina’s breathing as she slept was somewhat out of tune. Even now, Dale could hear a “kuh-pyoo” sound emanating from her tiny body.

Latina continued her nap on top of an impromptu bed made by lining up a few chairs. There were hardly any customers in the Dancing Ocelot at the moment. It was still too early for dinner, but it was also too late to look for work. There were only travelers and adventurers seeking information here and there about the shop.

Dale was drinking watered-down wine while watching over Latina as she slept. He let out a moan.

“What’s with that depressing face?” asked Rita as she manned the shop from the other side of the counter. She looked surprised.

“It’s that job from yesterday. I have to report that I finished it, but... with the way things were, I couldn’t exactly cut off anything to bring it back.”

“Ah, that. They really smelled, right? If you tried to bring anything back, you wouldn’t have been allowed through the gate.”

“If you knew that, then you should’ve told me.”

“If I did that, then nobody would’ve taken the job, right?” Rita replied, as if that was only natural.

And with that, he realized why the conditions for completing the job were set up the way that they were.

“I’ve gotta take the client along to check the site. I’ll probably be back late tomorrow.”

The client for this job was listed under a joint signature of doctors from around Kreuz. Apparently, the magical beasts had constructed their colony right in the only place in the region that a certain medicinal plant grew.

According to the contract, he needed to bring a doctor to the site the following day in order to prove that he had exterminated the magical beasts.

For jobs like this, normally you would carve off part of the magical beast, such as an ear, and bring it back with you. But the “frogs” this time had been an exception. There weren’t many magical beasts that gave off such a horrible stench.

Having finished the job, now he needed to set aside time to help confirm it. He couldn’t make the client wait, but he couldn’t bring Latina along either —that area was inhabited by magical beasts. He was worried about being separated from the girl he had just taken under his wing, but it would just be too dangerous to bring her along. But would it really be alright to leave such a young girl all alone?

“How about just leaving her here?” said Rita, easily cutting right through Dale’s worries. “I’ll add the babysitting fee to this month’s rent.”

“...Is that really alright?”

“You have no other choice, right? But it’s just this once, okay? Next time, you need to look for a babysitter yourself.”

And so, Dale’s next problem became how to tell Latina about all of this. The first thing Latina said after waking from her nap was, “Dale?” in a voice that sounded like she was about to cry. This was more than her new father felt he deserved. When she heard him reply, “I’m right here,” she was clearly relieved. She got down from the chairs and came to Dale’s side as he was writing up documents at the counter. As her tiny hands grasped Dale’s clothes tightly and she looked up at him, the worried look on his face evaporated.

“This is bad, Rita. I can’t just leave Latina all alone without me!” “Don’t be stupid. It’s dangerous, right?!”

“It’s fine. I’ll protect Latina, even if I have to abandon the client.” Rita had “This guy may be hopeless after all” written all over her face. “Dale?”

“Latina... Gah, I really hate this! Maybe I could choose Latina over the reward money...”

“You idiot. You’re going to have to travel far away for your usual “work” soon enough anyway, right? If you don’t have the backbone to leave her home at this point, then it’ll be impossible for you to raise her at all.”

Rita’s argument was sound. His work was dangerous, and it wasn’t the sort of thing where you could bring a child along. One way or another, there’d be plenty of time where she’d have to stay behind. Rita and Kenneth were here, so there’d be no worries about her getting fed. And it should be far safer and more pleasant for her here than it was when she was living alone in the forest. It’d be fine, surely.

But whether or not he could accept that was a different matter altogether. He should’ve known from the start that there were going to be times that he’d make Latina feel lonely, but...

“Ugh...”

If he said that he didn’t want to leave Latina alone at this point, there was no way Dale could ever give her over to an orphanage.

This was something that he absolutely needed to overcome. It had just come sooner than he had expected. He understood that.

“What... a cruel trial...” Dale muttered without thinking. Now “Ah, he really is hopeless” was written on Rita’s face.

In the end, Latina obediently heard him out. With a serious look on her face, she quietly and intently listened to Dale’s clumsy words, and with a firm frown, as if she were swallowing down the emotions welling up inside her, she seemed to decide to bear it.

“Alright,” she replied, along with a nod.

Deep down, the adults who saw this all thought, So innocent. This girl is just too innocent...

The one with the most striking reaction of all was Dale, who was starting to lose sight of the man he had been before yesterday.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, Latina!” Without even thinking about it, he grasped her tight in a hug. Latina looked surprised.

“Dale? Latina, alright.” In a way, her saying that made her much more of an adult than Dale.

She didn’t need to grow up so fast, though.

Now absolutely brimming with the desire to pamper her, Dale lifted Latina up and carried her to their room. The room was currently packed full of the things that he had bought earlier. Dale had carried them all in while Latina was sleeping.

In front of the young girl, he tidied up everything that he had purchased. The reason he did this, while saying what each thing was as he put it away, was to teach her words.

Her clothes and underwear went into a big hamper, and he put the accessories into a smaller basket. He lined these up where the slope of the roof had created something of a dead space, thinking that even a tiny girl like Latina could reach them there. He had bought a great number of picture books as well, so he lined those up on the bottom of the shelf.

Latina watched closely as Dale cleaned up. She seemed to realize that Dale had bought all of these things for her.

Having finished straightening up, Dale had Latina sit on his lap and opened up one of the picture books he had purchased. It was a book meant to teach young children letters. The premium-priced book had colored illustrations with names written beside them, but the contents were extraordinarily simple. Looking at Latina, he figured that the contents were far too easy for her, but he had purchased it so it could serve as a textbook to teach her words and letters.

Dale slowly read through the book aloud. As though not even wanting to spare a single blink, Latina leaned forward and concentrated full-force on the pages. Sure enough, her reaction was far more grown-up than her age would imply.

Every once in a while, she’d point at the book and ask a question. “Dale, **, *****?”

“Hmm? Yeah, that’s right.”

Once he’d finished reading through it he looked over at Latina; she seemed to have understood the purpose of the book. She opened it back up to the first page and looked up at Dale pressingly. As he read through it again, pausing after each word, she repeated each one back, mimicking him.

“Dog, cat, horse.”

“Doog, cait, hurse.” She was just too cute as she mispronounced the words with an overly serious expression on her face, and so he was unable to correct her.

He continued to gaze lovingly at Latina as she remained absorbed in the picture book, only realizing how much time had passed when he saw the sun setting through the window. And so he decided to take Latina to the bath before the sun went down completely. Being a new father, Dale didn’t know what sort of illnesses children could catch, but he decided it’d be best to keep her clean.

He was still anxious about the idea of taking her to a bathhouse, so for the time being he decided he would use the Dancing Ocelot’s bath. In exchange, he was ordered to help clean up.

“No matter how levelheaded she may be, you absolutely can’t leave children all alone in the bath! There’ve been plenty of accidents where kids ended up drowning like that!” scolded Rita.

Even so, Latina looked reluctant today as well when Dale took her clothes off. For now, at least, this was the only time that the girl would pout at him. It didn’t seem like she hated bathing itself, but there was definitely something about the whole process that she wasn’t fond of. Dale wondered about that as he watched Latina play about and scoop up bubbles in her hands.

After finishing the bath and having dinner, Dale scooped up Latina, who was nodding off again, and returned to their room to put her in bed. Remembering what had happened the day before, he also made sure she went to the bathroom first.

“...Goodnight, Latina,” whispered Dale as he stroked her hair.

Half asleep at this point, Latina responded with a “G’night... Dale.” Dale had to hold back the urge to squeeze her tightly, or else he’d wake her up.

He spent the night feeling her gentle warmth cradled in his arms, until the break of dawn.

Dale never thought he would find the arrival of morning so terribly painful. When she saw Dale stricken by such grief, Rita was completely exasperated.

“Just give it up and get going already.”

“Latina, I’ll be back as soon as I possibly can. Be a good girl,” said Dale as he hugged Latina, who was standing in front of the Dancing Ocelot beside Rita. Even though he knew that most of his words wouldn’t get through to her, he still needed to say them.

Dale reluctantly let go when he felt the bloodlust emanating from Rita; she was going to kick him out if this went on any longer. Dale patted Latina on the head while looking straight at her and said, “I’m off.”

Latina tilted her head in confusion.

“Tell him ‘take care,’ Latina,” Rita said. Hearing her own name, Latina looked at Rita. “Take care.”

Upon hearing Rita say it again, Latina faced Dale and awkwardly tried to repeat it.

“Dale, tak care?” “Right, I’m off.”

Seeing Dale’s wide grin, Latina broke out in a smile as well.

†

The Dancing Ocelot was terribly busy in the morning.

Alongside the adventurers that were lodging here eating their meals, there were also those who had come to check the fliers for newly posted jobs. It would still be a while longer until most townsfolk would come in with jobs, but it’s not as if there weren’t people who came there early because they wanted things taken care of today, and it was necessary to deal with such clients as well. There were also adventurers heading out to work at this time, and they tended to purchase goods.

It was so busy that Rita and Kenneth could take any help that they could get.

Kenneth was darting about the bar, which at this time of day was serving more as a restaurant. Rita came out onto the floor now and again as well, but her primary focus was dealing with the Akhdar’s Message Board and squaring up accounts. All the while, Latina watched the hectic goings-on in the shop with great interest.

“Oops, careful there!” called out Kenneth in surprise when he noticed Latina underfoot as he held two plates in each hand.

Latina tilted her head in confusion.

Today she was wearing a pink dress that Dale had bought for her just yesterday. Rita had helped her put her hair up, and it was swaying along with the big pink ribbons on each side of her head. Dale had also enthusiastically bought her plenty of hair ornaments, so she now had so many that she could change them out each day of the week.

Latina’s eyes were locked on Kenneth as he carried out food, picked up the empty plates, and took orders. As Rita was spending most of her time on the other side of the counter and the girl couldn’t understand what she was saying, Latina hadn’t the slightest clue what she was doing. On the other hand, Kenneth’s actions were easy to understand.

Up until now, Latina had intently watched Kenneth as he cooked, and now he was serving up a mountain of food so large that it was hard to tell how many portions it contained.

Nodding her head once, Latina toddled into the hustle and bustle of the shop.

“Hmm...?”

Kenneth first noticed something was strange when he turned around to face his work station to arrange the freshly finished scrambled eggs with smoked meat next to the mashed potatoes on a large plate. The number of plates had increased.

The size of the pile of dirty plates stacked next to the sink was growing. At first, he figured it was Rita bringing them in. This was a busy time for her too, but she occasionally got a free moment. But when Kenneth brought the completed food out into the shop, he saw Rita interacting with clients, selling miscellaneous goods, and even settling accounts with customers who’d come to eat. Under those circumstances, it’d be absolutely impossible for her to head out onto the floor.

“Sorry for the wait,” he said as he set down the food in front of a familiar, bearded man. He was an adventurer who was an old regular, and his mouth was hanging wide open. “What’s with that stupid look on your face?” Kenneth asked.

“You’re one to talk. That’s one hell of a tiny waitress you hired.” Looking in the direction that the regular was pointing, Kenneth at last realized what was going on.

Latina was walking with a plate in her hands. She was so tiny that a single plate was apparently all the weight she could manage to hold. She was heading for the kitchen and grasping it firmly in both hands.

After a short while, she returned to the shop and looked around. When she found an empty plate, she gave a single, satisfied nod and headed towards the table with a determined look on her face. Latina smiled at the customer, who was startled upon seeing the tiny girl, and then took hold of the empty dish.

As she stumbled slightly, even customers other than the one at that table watched her anxiously. When she made it back to the kitchen safely, the intimidating-looking men all breathed a sigh of relief.

“Latina?” As Kenneth called out to her, Latina came to a halt and looked up at him worriedly. “Did I screw up?” was written all over her face.

Kenneth stopped and thought for a few moments.

Latina was properly paying attention to the customers before picking up the empty plates. She wasn’t overestimating her own abilities; she was only doing what she was able to handle. She was mindful of her surroundings and avoided people nearby.

At any rate, she was able to maneuver without getting in the way, which meant that she paid heed to how she was moving about. That was proof that Latina was attentive of her surroundings.

Kenneth looked at the girl so tiny that her entire head could fit in his hand, and he ruffled her hair.

“Okay. It’s fine, then.” As he stroked her hair, Latina’s head swayed about in Kenneth’s hand, and she looked a little dizzy.

Even if he just left her alone, no harm would come of it, he decided. In fact, in some ways it might be nice to have a little help cleaning up. He realized that it might be a bit bad for the customers’ hearts, though.

After the peak morning hours had passed, Kenneth got out a bowl he had prepared the night before from the “refrigerator.”

“Latina.”

She obediently came over when he called, and he sat her down at the kitchen table. Before she could see what was in the bowl, he turned it over and the contents slid out and wiggled all about. Latina’s eyes opened wide.

Kenneth had chopped up what had remained of the compote and placed it in gelatin for today’s afternoon snack. He handed Latina a spoon.

While doing the dishes, Kenneth looked over at Latina and saw how happy she looked as the gelatin jiggled about on the tip of the utensil.

Around noon, the flow of customers into the Dancing Ocelot came to a halt. That was when their primary customers, adventurers, headed out for work, so they temporarily closed the bar. During this time of day, they only accepted work involving the Akhdar’s Message Board.

“Rita, I’m going to go replenish our stock,” Kenneth called out into the shop.

Rita’s response was politer than usual. “Take care.”

Before he even had time to question it, a smile and a, “Tak care” came from Latina, who had docilely laid her picture book out on a corner of the counter.

“Children really are great, aren’t they, Rita? Does three sound about right to you?”

“Let’s just start with one before we get carried away.”

Rita thought that he really was an idiot, but the look on Rita’s face wasn’t an entirely dissatisfied one.

Latina pattered up to Kenneth when he got back from stocking. Behind her, Rita was watching with a smirk on her face.

“Welcoom bak.” Latina turned back around to look at Rita, as if asking, “Did I do it right?”

“...”

Kenneth had purchased all sorts of fruit that he didn’t usually buy when restocking, and they were soon rolling about his work station. As he rolled up his sleeves and wondered what he should make, he wore a goofy grin on his face. He had no room to talk when it came to Dale.

At any rate, Latina really was a well-mannered child.

When he brought her out a small cheese sandwich for lunch, she properly chewed as she ate, and once she was done, she took the empty plate to the sink herself. And at other times as well, she just looked through a picture book on her own, or watched Rita and Kenneth. It seemed she absolutely wouldn’t make a hindrance of herself, and was always making sure that it was alright for her to be where she was.

According to Dale, she had survived in a place where magical beasts lived, and she had to search for her own food. While the experience was far too cruel for such a young child, it could also be said that it required an incredibly strong will and a lot of luck. But regardless, he had no idea how long she had done it.

Judging by her terribly thin body, if Dale hadn’t found her, it wouldn’t have been much longer before she would’ve wasted away and ended up in the belly of some beast. Perhaps that was why she seemed to be so hypersensitive about her surroundings.

As Kenneth watched, Latina started to nod off, and she staggered towards the stairs. Even if she was heading back to her room, letting her go up into the attic on her own when she was like that would be dangerous.

Kenneth saw some wooden boxes in the corner of the pantry next to the kitchen and put them side by side. He passed by Latina, who was still tottering along, and headed for his room on the second floor. He grabbed a mat and some sheets, then spread them on top of the boxes to complete the impromptu bed for her nap.

“Latina,” he called, and gave the bed a tap to point it out to her. She was still at the bottom of the stairs, struggling to climb them while fighting off sleep. As she turned around, her eyes were already half-closed.

With a wry smile on his face, Kenneth lifted her up and tucked her in on top of the wooden boxes. She must’ve been right at her limit, as he started to hear the sound of her deeply breathing in her sleep in no time at all.

†

Latina’s eyes shot open with a snap and darted around.

“Dale?” She called out the name of the person who had taken her out of that forest.

The person who found her when she was all on her own. The person who gave her a safe place to live and food to eat. The person who made her remember the warmth of other people.

She called out the name of the person who, to her, was a symbol that it was alright to relax.

“Are you up, Latina?”

Hearing the voice of a man other than Dale, Latina panicked. She felt like she needed to run away this very moment, and she put all of her strength into doing so.

But it was then that she recognized the sweet scent gently wafting through the air. With a quick blink of her eyes, Latina remembered where she was.

†

The first sound out of Latina when she woke from her nap was her calling out for Dale. That’s what made Kenneth realize she was up.

Stirring a small pot, he checked on her and found her looking around like a frightened little animal on high alert. When Kenneth called her name, she only seemed to get more on edge. But rather than moving immediately, she saved her strength so she could act after she understood the situation.

Kenneth couldn’t help but admire how sharp the girl was. Compared to those hot-blooded folks who called themselves novice adventurers, her judgment was much calmer and more precise. Considering her young age, it was no surprise that there was no helping the way that she lost sight of her situation after waking up from her nap.

Kenneth took the pot off of the fire and headed towards Latina.

As the berries broke down perfectly, a thick, sweet smell drifted through the air. Just as Kenneth had planned, as soon as Latina picked up the smell, the tension drained from her body.

After hopping down from the boxes, she toddled on over to Kenneth’s side. As Latina peered into the pot held out before her, there wasn’t a hint of that sense of a small animal bristling that he felt before. The look on her face now was absolutely appropriate for a young girl her age.

Having captured Latina’s attention, Kenneth spread the freshly made jam

over a thinly cut slice of bread. He wanted to slather it on, but if he did she’d ended up burning her mouth. He measured out an amount that would be plenty to provide a taste while also cooling quickly.

He handed it to Latina, and she looked up at him as if seeking approval. Timidly, she took a bite of the bread, and her expression instantly brightened. While Latina was absorbed in eating it, the jam started to run like syrup.

She licked the palm of her hand, which had stopped the flow, and then looked up at Kenneth suddenly. He was grinning rather than rebuking her, so Latina smiled right back.

For a while, Latina continued to stare without tiring at the jar Kenneth put the jam into. Kenneth truly felt the effort he had gone through to make it was worth it.

As the sun started to set, the adventurers gradually returned to town. That’s when the Dancing Ocelot became busy again.

It’s not as if all the customers who came to the Ocelot were lodgers. In fact, there were far more who came for the food and drink. In addition to the adventurers, there were also gatekeepers and town guards who were returning from work. Because it was a shop that didn’t put on airs, where you could get cheap food and drink, it was a place where intimidating bastards tended to gather.

Once it got this late, they stopped taking work involving the Akhdar’s Message Board. Rita instead shifted to working the floor, and so the couple managed to pull through the great hustle and bustle.

Latina, who was eating her dinner at a seat at the corner of the counter, had her attention stolen away by the liveliness of the shop as well. When she saw one of the customers let out a hearty laugh, the gnocchi she was carrying to her mouth fell with a plop. She didn’t even realize it. Latina started observing the customer intently, her eyes wide. Kenneth thought she looked like she had encountered some new sort of creature for the first time, but he decided not to say that aloud.

Around when Latina’s eyelids started to grow heavy, the door to the Dancing Ocelot opened.

“Oh, it’s Dale.”

Latina’s eyes shot wide open when she heard Rita say that. She hopped down from the chair and hurriedly ran to meet him.

“Latina, I’m b—” Dale tried to say, only for her to tightly hug his legs.

“Latina...”

As he frowned, figuring that he had indeed made Latina feel lonely, the young girl looked up at him and said, “Welcoom bak.”

He froze halfway through bending over to pick her up.

Rita and Kenneth smirked. Unable to hold himself back from breaking out in a smile, Dale resumed his prior action and lifted Latina up.

“I’m back, Latina. You did a great job holding down the fort.” That made her grin grow even wider, and she was all smiles.

The regulars in the shop all knew Dale, so when they saw the doofy look on his face, they mercilessly teased him.

“Geez, Dale, that’s an awful tiny girlfriend you’ve got there.”

“Oh, shut up!” While fending off this cruel treatment, Dale took a seat, still holding Latina in his arms. Seeing Rita carrying out food, Dale asked, “Has Latina had dinner?”

“She ate a while ago. In fact, she was just getting sleepy before you came in.”

The girl in question was sitting on Dale’s lap, a satisfied and relieved looking smile on her face. It was such a lovely sight that those looking at her felt their hearts melt.

“So, how was it? Did Latina behave herself?”

“She was almost too well-behaved. This kid is incredibly clever. She properly understands the situation she’s in and knows what sort of action she should take,” said Rita as she sloppily filled the goblet in front of Dale with wine.

As far as alcohol went, Dale only ever drank wines that had a low alcoholic content. Knowing this, Rita picked a wine for him without even asking. It was well known in the shop that it wasn’t because he couldn’t drink or didn’t like to, but because he hated being dead drunk. A regular had called him childish when he was a first-time customer, leading to the incident of “Dale easily beating a regular with one arm behind his back,” which had become a beloved drinking topic in the shop.

Latina rubbed her cheek up against Dale’s chest like a pampered kitten. Whenever their eyes met, a joyous smile popped onto her face. This may have been the most that she’d ever been pampered.

Rather than making me feel guilty, this may have actually been a bit of a good thing...

He cherished this little girl so much that he thought perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad leaving her behind, if it’d make her want to be spoiled so badly.

†

It wasn’t even a week before definitive proof that Latina was extremely clever appeared.

Latina had become able to handle everyday conversations with seemingly little difficulty. That was when Dale was assailed by a certain worry: Latina had become attached to Kenneth. Dale didn’t even try to hide the grumpy displeasure on his face as he watched Latina chase after the shopkeeper like a chick following after its parent.

Over her dress, Latina was wearing an apron that Dale didn’t recall buying; she also had on a bandana made from the same material. It was the look of a little child acting as a “helper.”

Latina was giving her all to wiping off the tables beside Kenneth as he cleaned the shop.

They... look like a father and daughter when she’s next to Kenneth like that...

Dale had been worried about him to begin with.

Kenneth’s been luring Latina in through her stomach from the very start! More than worry, this was plain and simple jealousy.

“Cleaning, all done?” “Yeah, that’s right.”

After confirming that Kenneth was putting away the cleaning supplies, Latina went into the kitchen, climbed up onto a stool, and washed off her dishcloth. Since she couldn’t wring it out very well with her scrawny arms, she ended up leaving it at the sink.

She then dragged along the stool, which was meant for her personal use, back to its “home base” and sat down on top of it. She held a small knife— also made for her at some point—in her tiny hands and awkwardly started peeling vegetables. Considering her pace, she was “taking up time” more than “helping,” but Kenneth wasn’t hard-hearted, so he sat down next to her and began silently peeling as well.

Though she was still clumsy, it was certainly impressive that she could do it herself after having just been taught how. But according to Kenneth, he didn’t break his firm stance and simply watched over her. This was quite a difference compared to Dale; it took everything he had just to resist the urge to get involved without even thinking about it.

“If it bugs you that much, then you’d be better off just not watching.” “Then I’d miss out on getting to see Latina grow up,” Dale declared bluntly.

Rita, who was sorting through documents, wore a half-hearted expression on her face.

Having finished peeling, Latina apparently decided it was time for a break. She grabbed the picture books she had left in the corner of the pantry and took them to a table in the shop.

She had two books with her: the first was the one originally used to teach her words, while the second one was a significantly harder storybook.

“Dale, book, read.” “Right.”

Because Dale had picked out the book for him to read aloud to Latina, he’d figured it would be too hard for her to read alone. But in this short time, even if it was only stutteringly, she had become able to read through it by herself. Normally she read silently, but when Dale was there she read it aloud, apparently intending for him to correct her. She also seemed happy to show the fruits of her labor as well.

Once she finished reading through to the end, Latina received Dale’s approval, then opened up the other picture book alongside a notebook. In rough, childish letters, she was diligently practicing her writing.

“She started studying this on her own, without anyone telling her to, right?”

“Yeah. When Latina asked for paper, I figured she wanted to draw a picture or something. I never imagined it was for writing practice.”

“There aren’t any kids around Latina’s age at the school they hold at the temple of Akhdar, are there?”

“Right. But she knew how to hold a pen to begin with. Kenneth had to teach her how to use a knife at first, but she was able to use a pen without asking anyone how. Maybe she was raised in a pretty good environment.”

Even though Latina was now able to talk, she still didn’t say much about herself. She only answered with the absolute minimum required. Sure enough, the corpse in the forest belonged to her father. After her horn was broken, they had left their old home together. And that place, where she had been born, was a devil village. That was all she would say.

Considering how sharp she was, it wouldn’t be odd for her to know all other sorts of things. In all likelihood, she was also aware of what her having a broken horn meant. She may have been worried that if she talked about herself in detail, she’d be driven out, like she had been from her old village. If she was willing to talk, Dale definitely wanted to know, but he had no intention of dragging it out of her.

Even though they’d only spent a short time together, he couldn’t possibly think of her as the wicked sort of person worthy of being called a criminal, which meant that the “crime” was something that had nothing to do with her character. He couldn’t say if it was political, or perhaps religious in nature, but either way, it was most definitely irrational. And that was most likely why her father chose to leave the village alongside her.

“Dale, what’s wrong?”

While he was thinking, he had apparently been making a gloomy face. At some point, Latina had tilted her head in confusion and looked up at him.

“Hmm? It’s nothing. You’ve gotten good at speaking, Latina,” Dale said while patting her head, causing her to break out in a happy smile.

“Latina is glad she can talk. She worked hard.” “Is that so?”

Seeing her innocent smile, Dale’s expression softened as well. Dale realized that he’d become able to break out in an earnest smile as well since he started living with Latina. He’d smirked upon hearing stupid stories from Rita and Kenneth in the past, but he’d never broken out in such a calm and gentle smile before. This was a clear change brought about by Latina’s arrival.

In the intervals between lunch, her nap, and her snack, Latina enjoyed her free time. On the days that Dale wasn’t out, she played near him. Every now and again, she’d gaze out the entrance to the shop, but at least thus far, she hadn’t wandered out on her own. She’d gone out on walks about the neighborhood with Rita, Dale, or Kenneth before, but she still didn’t understand the lay of the land.

But when the time came for Kenneth to start his evening prep-work, Latina would head to the kitchen and follow him around once more. Every time Dale went to look in on this, he’d see her super-diligent face which seemed to say, “I’m giving it my all!” and end up walking away in low spirits, unable to say anything.

With that same serious look on her face, Latina was currently tackling the task of mashing a large pile of potatoes.

“Calm down a little,” Rita, who was carrying a mug of ale, told Dale. At the Dancing Ocelot, customers paid up their accounts when they got what they ordered. This was to prevent people from shirking payment. However, that rule didn’t apply to the regulars, who were allowed to settle their accounts at the end. In Dale’s case, if he didn’t square up, then it was added to his rent. The sound of coins jingling in Rita’s apron told of her skill at handling both orders and billing. In the morning, incidentally, in order to more efficiently handle the busy period, there was a simple entry fee instead. Dale took offense to Rita’s words but was unable to come up with a decent comeback.

While this was going on, Latina came out of the kitchen carrying a tray, and thanks to the weight, she was a bit unsteady. In an instant, the hustle and bustle of the shop quieted down.

Over the course of the past week, the regulars had all become aware of Latina’s presence. Though she was tiny, she never fooled around while darting about the shop, so they all noticed her even if they weren’t trying to. On top of it, there was something incredibly charming about the young girl.

Latina slowly and carefully walked forward, step by step. This was her greatest trial as of late: bringing Dale his dinner. She wanted to do it, but that required her carrying it all the way to the customer. Thanks to her pride and repeated practice, however, she was able to do it.

When she’d safely made it to Dale with the tray, she broke out in a wide grin. It was a smile that truly said, “Mission complete!”

A silent applause seemed to come from her audience. When she’d tripped partway there two days ago, she’d looked so shocked that you would have thought the world had ended. She became so depressed that it would have been preferable for her to have just cried. The people watching her naturally felt the pressure as well.

“Dale, dinner, here!”

Dale took the tray and brought it up onto of the table. After seeing that through, Latina returned to the kitchen and brought out her own meal. Thanks to the clear difference in size, this time her footsteps were obviously lighter. Having sat down beside Dale, she proudly said, “Latina, today, made potatoes. Eat, Dale.”

“Right. You did great today too, Latina.”

Latina pointing to the mountain of mashed potatoes and reporting what she did with a smile, while Dale in turn praised her, had become the routine for the last few days. It had also lately become a trend in the Dancing Ocelot that after these two had such an exchange, sales of whatever Latina had helped with increased.

As Kenneth checked during the brief breaks he had between cooking countless orders, he saw Latina happily enjoying her meal again today, which made him grin broadly.

Latina gave it her all each and every day. She wanted to make a meal for Dale at some point, which made for a powerful motivator. And so, she was working on this seriously. Kenneth was fond of people who worked hard.

The young girl was certainly putting more than enough effort into the task, and thanks to that, she was seeing results. To Kenneth, she was an “apprentice” worth teaching.

The reason Latina was able to spend time in this shop with such a calm expression on her face was because it was the “safe place that Dale brought her to.” Dale was the only one who didn’t know that. She was able to be so unconditionally relaxed precisely because he was by her side. Dale hadn’t seen that when he wasn’t around, she frantically looked about, and even felt threatened at times.

“It’s not so bad for both of them, having someone to rely on. Even for Dale,” muttered Dale’s self-proclaimed “big bro,” a man who realized he’d come to earn a level of trust worthy of that title, as he served up the contents of a pot.

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