Published at 19th of January 2020 1:29 am

Volume 7, Chapter 4: Sequel Extra Chapter: A Snowy Day, and Memories of the Little Girl, as well as her Time with the Golden-Eyed Maiden

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Snow fell upon the town of Kreuz during Chrysos’s visit.

Usually such weather occurred earlier in the year, making this an out of season snowfall. Figuring that Chrysos most likely hadn’t prepared any outfits for the weather, Latina grabbed some of her own to share and then ran over to the manor where her sister was staying. Well, to be more accurate, Vint was the one who ran, while Latina followed steadily along behind him.

The road was slick with snow, making it easy to slip. If she rushed too much, she’d only end up taking a tumble and falling on her backside. Latina knew that well, as she had many painful, chilly memories of such occurrences.

In accordance with her tastes, Latina’s clothes were feminine and cute. Once Chrysos put on the fluffy knitted garments from Latina, they made for an even more adorable pair of twins than usual. Since the Golden King had been born and raised in the hot climate of Vassilios, this sudden cold snap must have been hard on her. When Chrysos arrived at the Dancing Ocelot, clad in a knitted hat and scarf, she looked just like a pink little lamb.

“Kreuz doesn’t get as much snow as the rest of Laband, and it usually only amounts to a light dusting in the end... It’s certainly been a while since we’ve gotten this much,” Latina said, sitting down next to her twin who was staring out the window. She placed the cups she was holding in front of herself and Chrysos. At a glance it appeared to contain a deep red wine, but it was actually a warm, sweet beverage made from fruit juice, spice, and sugar.

After blowing on it, Latina took a sip.

The recipe for mulled wine came directly from Kenneth, and Latina always made it when winter rolled around. Originally, she had learned it to help Dale warm up when he came home chilled to the bone, but now that she was an adult, she had developed a taste for it herself. That said, Latina wasn’t exactly a strong drinker, so a single sip of most alcoholic beverages was enough to turn her beet red. As such, when she made some for herself, she made sure it was real light on alcoholic content.

Chrysos didn’t seem to be paying much attention to what Latina was saying, as she was fixated on the view out the window. Between that and how cold Latina looked as she sipped her mulled wine, it seemed they must have taken quite a detour on the way here from the western district. It really was rather apparent just what had happened.

Dale stared at the two of them with a smile, nostalgically recalling the past.

“Latina got really excited when she first saw snow, too.” “I mean, I’d never had a chance to see it in Vassilios.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true...” Dale agreed with a nod. Now that he had seen the arid land surrounding the nation, he definitely understood that.

The first snow of the year that Latina arrived in Kreuz had just barely provided a thin white coating over town, but that was still enough to get the young girl all worked up for the entire day. In her excitement she was practically glued to the window, and even opened it a number of times in spite of the customers’ complaints.

Dale was unable to just sit there and watch, so he ended up taking her outside before long. It didn’t take much time for Latina to fling off the hood she had on, feeling like it was just getting in the way. And then she just looked up at the grey sky and the snow fluttering down from it, never tiring of the sight.

Dale may have always pampered her, but even he couldn’t help but be a off of her platinum hair as they walked all over town. If he kept letting her do as she pleased, she would end up catching a cold. Dale ended up bringing

Latina back inside the Ocelot, even though she seemed like she hadn’t had her fill yet. Kenneth had apparently foreseen all this and prepared a bath, which Latina soon found herself thrown into.

Latina hadn’t been so excited in a while, but Dale knew full well that the chance to see the town in a different light was something that was sure to capture her attention. Still, since she was faced with a twin sister even more worked up than she was, Latina maintained a composed expression. He understood the way she felt, too, and couldn’t hold himself back from breaking out into a smile, so he slowly turned to the side and waited for it to pass.

“This may really pile up by the time tomorrow rolls around.” “Such things can happen?”

“Yeah. It looks like it’ll at least be enough for the kids to play around in it... Still, you have to be careful walking around when there’s snow on the ground. Chrysos, it may be best not to go out tomorrow if you can help it...”

“There is simply no way I would comply with such advice,” Chrysos replied, firmly shooting down the suggestion.

“Wah?”

Latina looked dumbfounded. Dale, meanwhile, was staring at her with an astonished expression.

“Should you really be saying that? I mean, you never were the type to just obediently sit around, were you?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s for sure.”

The way that the owners of the Ocelot immediately agreed with him caused Latina to puff up her cheeks a bit. It seemed she had wanted to look at least a little mature in front of her sister.

“Still, it would probably be best to head back to the western district sooner rather than later. It really does seem like it’s going to pile up, after all.”

Dale grew up in a snowy land, so this wasn’t all that much for him. But he knew that since Chrysos wasn’t accustomed to it, even just walking could prove troublesome.

“I’m sure Adelina and the girls will shovel the snow, but still...” “Shall I stay here for the night?” Chrysos bluntly interjected. “Huh?”

“Wah?”

Chrysos immediately turned to Kenneth and started negotiations.

“I may be a relative of Platina’s, but I do not mind if you ask that I pay the standard fee. Do you have any open rooms?” “Ah...”

Apparently even Kenneth hadn’t predicted this turn of events. His eyes started to unconsciously wander in response to Chrysos’s question.

Even if Chrysos said she didn’t mind, this wasn’t the sort of inn that was equipped to put up the ruler of a nation. And more importantly, he didn’t think there was any way whatsoever that it’d be acceptable to have the sister of the regulars’ beloved Fairy Princess stay on the same floor as all the regular customers.

Besides, it wasn’t as if he could just toss out all of their other customers, especially in this weather.

“What is it?”

“Do you want to use my room?” Dale offered, feeling a need to do something about the situation. Chrysos instinctively wore a look of disgust. Dale’s room would have to refer to the one that he was all over Latina in, day in and day out. Perhaps the Golden King’s reaction was only natural.

“If you take it, you’ll be able to spend the night with Latina.” “Indeed.”

That single comment, though, was enough to turn Chrysos’s feelings on the matter right around.

Upon seeing her sister’s reaction, Latina silently stood up from her chair. Seeing how she headed into the kitchen, she was likely going to tidy up the attic room and change out the bedding.

“I’ll use a guest room... is what I’d like to say, but I’d better just hang out near the stairs, on the off chance that there’s some sort of trouble.”

“Is your very existence not a threat to myself?” “Hearing that would make Latina cry, so of course not.” “I suppose that is true.”

The deplorable hero’s simple argument proved to be strangely persuasive.

And so, Chrysos’s first time spending the night was all set up. Alas, no one realized that her three guards had been left behind in the western district and forgotten.

Latina’s everyday routine was to finish taking a bath before the Ocelot entered into its nighttime hours. Kenneth and Rita were always busy, so she also used to help out with getting Theo bathed when he was little, and now she did the same for Emma.

Latina decided she would also bathe with Chrysos because she was afraid to take her eyes off of someone who had always been attended by ladies-in-

Laband didn’t exist in Vassilios, so she would probably need help in that regard, too. So, for reasons that Dale could guess at, Latina’s loyal pup ended up keeping careful watch outside of the Ocelot’s bath.

When Dale finally heard their voices approaching, he figured their bath must have been over. He nonchalantly looked up, only to then freeze in place.

“O-Oh?”

“Dale?” Latina questioned, tilting her head. “No, it’s just... You two really do look alike...”

Dale was plenty accustomed to seeing Latina’s everyday clothing. Seeing it on Chrysos, though, was a new experience. Their physiques differed just like their eye colors, but the fluffy knitwear they had on hid the contours of their bodies. It seemed like it would be really easy to confuse the two of them at first glance.

Still, there’s no way that I would fail to pick out Latina, of course...

That was a point that Dale refused to cede.

“Wow... It’s piled up quite a bit...” Latina joyfully stated, looking out the window.

The two twins were glued to the window, staring outside like a pair of small children.

“At this rate, tomorrow will be pretty busy.” “It will?”

“In Kreuz, whenever there’s a big snowfall, the kids always have a snowball fight in the center of town.

“Hmm?”

“Emma’s still too little, so she can’t participate... Theo will probably join in, though. I was thinking maybe I’d go watch,” Latina excitedly explained.

Chrysos, however, didn’t seem to understand at all. Unsurprisingly, as someone who grew up in Vassilios, she had no concept of what playing in the snow was like.

It was becoming a tradition for children in Kreuz to have a snowball fight after a big snowfall, just as Latina had said. That all started, though, on a wintery day the year after Latina arrived.

Dale broke out in a wide grin, reminiscing back on that time.

The day before the snowball fight, Latina had been seriously excited...

†

It was the winter of the year after Latina came to Kreuz, and she was currently nine years old.

That year, there had been a record-setting snowfall. It had already snowed quite a few times that year, to the point that Dale felt like he would never want to leave the warmth of his covers. Latina, however, was getting up early each and every day. That was in part because she wanted a chance to play in the fresh, untouched snow.

Even just a modest coating of snow was enough to greatly interest the children of Kreuz. But when it continued to snow for a few days and then looked like it was going to clear up, a clear point of contention arose amongst the kids: who would get to play in the plaza at the town’s center?

The residence of the town’s ruler, the seat of its government, was in the center of the cross-shaped town. At the same time, a plaza had also been constructed there and opened to the public, to give the townsfolk a place for rest and relaxation. This plaza had in turn become an important place to play for the town’s children. And with this amount of snow, the possibilities for play dwarfed the usual options.

The topic of who would get to play in the central plaza was a matter of great importance for the children.

“Why don’t we all just play together instead of fighting over it? Doesn’t that sound like more fun?” a certain girl offered while looking at the falling snow through the window of the school in the temple of Asfar. That was the start of things.

“Everyone together... That does sound like it’d be real fun, doesn’t it?” The girl’s friend agreed, looking like she was plotting something.

“Just planning out something on that scale sounds interesting... I think I’ll just watch, though, since it’s so cold out,” their other friend added, smiling and gently bringing her hands together.

“Ooh... Sounds like fun. What are we doing? Is there anything Latina can help with?”

There were an unusually high number of girls who were good at getting things rolling in the class this year. The girl who displayed an exceptionally high level of leadership and the one who was extraordinarily skilled at manipulating information managed to skillfully spread the plan to the other children in the school. And thanks to the presence of the remarkably charismatic girl, there wasn’t any significant opposition or blow-back.

Additionally, that girl’s charisma took hold of more than just the children their age.

“Hey, listen! When the snow stops falling, Latina is going to have a snowball fight with everyone!”

“Oh, I see, little lady. You sure are looking forward to it, huh?” “Yeah. Latina will play a whole, whole lot!”

She reported to all of the regulars of the Dancing Ocelot with a smile, just like that. It was obvious just how excited she was for the event from how wide her grin was.

By the way, when there was a large snowfall like this, a great many requests for snow shoveling from the townsfolk came in to the Ocelot. It wasn’t like the adventurers wanted to go out of town and fight magical beasts in weather like this, either. The fact that they worked out to both side’s advantage made for quite a few such simple jobs popping up.

As a result, the adventurers spread the news that “Our beloved Fairy Princess is really looking forward to the big snowball fight” throughout all of Kreuz. And in turn, the snowball fight itself became common knowledge.

And then, the day before the snowball fight came.

Latina was fidgety throughout the entire day. She looked out the window over and over and over, absolutely tired of waiting.

“Latina, if you want to go outside that badly, then... Do you want to shovel snow in front of the shop?”

“Yeah!”

“It snows pretty often back in my home village, so I’ll teach you how to do it easier. If you do it normally it’s pure manual labor, which would be pretty rough.”

Dale wrapped a scarf firmly around Latina, smiling at how the girl had already ran and grabbed her coat.

“Kenneth, is it alright if we pile it up alongside the shop?”

“To be honest, I was thinking it was about time to break it all down...

Could you manage it?”

“I can’t use Fire magic but, well, Holy magic should be able to handle it, so I was thinking of having Latina help out...” Dale looked to the girl at his side as he said that. She looked distraught at the thought of having to clear away a precious mountain of snow. Seeing that, Dale turned to Kenneth with a strained smile.

“...Is it alright to leave things like that for a while?” “Yeah, I suppose.”

Dale wasn’t the only one who tended to be soft on the young girl.

“If you’re going to be piling it up anyway, how about making a snowman?”

“Snowman?”

“It’ll be up to you to make the head, Latina,” Dale said with a smile, then took her out in front of the shop.

They finished with the snow shoveling in no time at all, thanks in a large part to how good Latina was at remembering things. Afterwards, they had plenty of time for playing in the snow. They had already made a big pile of snow while shoveling, and then they put the big snowball they made together on top for the head. Latina’s eyes grew wide at the sight of the completed snowman, which was bigger than her.

“I got some charcoal from Kenneth. Do you want to use it to make a face?”

“Yeah!”

Latina squared off with the snowman with a serious look on her face, charcoal in hand. Her tool was pitch black charcoal on a pure white canvas. Knowing that there was only one round in this battle and full of fighting spirit, Latina thrust the charcoal that would serve as the nose into the snowball.

She was surprisingly decisive at times such as this.

“I get the feeling if you make it then it’ll end up with an adorable face. I mean, you love cute things, after all.”

Despite the cold, Dale’s expression made it look as if he was experiencing everlasting spring. Latina just looked like she was having so much fun, so Dale let her enjoy her time in the snow until Kenneth peeked his head out and yelled, “If you don’t bring her in soon, she’ll catch a cold!”

The customers who visited the Dancing Ocelot that day were startled by the sight of the king snowman surrounded by numerous subordinates.

The next morning, Latina found her snowman’s head on the ground. That made her feel down, but it wasn’t enough to crush her fighting spirit for the day. Today was the day of the long-awaited snowball fight, after all. There was no time for wallowing in grief.

“Today’s the day that I finally beat Rudy!” Latina yelled out in front of the Dancing Ocelot, working herself up. She was clad in a cream-colored fluffy jacket she was fond of, as well as a matching pink knit hat, scarf, and gloves.

“I wanted to go too... I really, really did...”

“It’s not like you can change prior arrangements with them for personal reasons like that, though,” Rita said, sounding exasperated.

“Yeah, when it’s a summons from the temple... That’s technically my primary occupation, after all...”

It was easy to forget, but Dale was officially a high-ranking priest with powerful divine protection. The divine protection granted by the gods was something you were born with. However, he also had received enough training as a priest to hold ceremonies in his home village, which was called the holy land of Quirmizi. And so, his official occupation was as a high- ranking priest of Quirmizi. At the very least Dale himself must have considered the mask he wore of a “hero” who specialized in fighting to be secondary to the skills as a hunter and priest that he had obtained in his training to become head of the village.

There was no helping that, though, as the title of “hero” was an indicator of the ability to serve as antithesis to the demon lords. It wasn’t an occupation.

“Still, well... Go ahead and enjoy yourself, Latina.” “Yeah!”

“Ah, hey...! Don’t run! That’s dangerous!”

Latina had taken off running towards the central plaza with her hands swinging by her sides as Dale saw her off with a smile. When he turned back to the collapsed snowman, though, his expression grew cold.

“Hey, Dale,” Sylvester called out, finding Dale in that state on his way to visit the Ocelot.

“Hmm?”

“There are footprints...”

“Well, it was probably the work of drunks...”

“I suppose there’s no lack of those around here...” “This sort of thing does happen a lot.”

“Yeah.”

As the pair held that conversation in front of the fallen snowman, they didn’t break out in even the faintest of smiles. The image of that adorable young girl looking so happy as she finished her snowman remained burned into both of their minds.

The two of them stared for a while at the footprints left behind as evidence.

Just seeing Kreuz coated in pure white was enough to excite Latina. The sort of wooden boxes and assorted junk that could usually be seen cluttering up the roadsides around town were now completely hidden by the snow. In fact, they weren’t just hidden, as the gentle contours drawn by the snow covering them made them look like works of art.

The sudden sound of snow falling from the eaves of a nearby house caused Latina to turn around in surprise. She approached and found a mountain of freshly fallen snow, which she poked at with her foot. The crunch, crunch that it made caused her to break out in a smile. Though the temptation to stay there and keep on playing was strong, she resisted it and faced forward.

It may have been the same path she always walked, but moving down it was much harder because of the way her feet kept getting caught in the snow. Though with that said, the southern district was a commercial area aimed at travelers, so a number of shop owners had started shoveling away the snow in front of their stores. At first, Latina took a route through the freshly shoveled paths. That felt somehow lacking, though, so she changed her route to pass through the places where the snow remained piled up.

By the time she made it to Kreuz’s central plaza, she already saw familiar faces scattered about.

It was going to be a large-scale event, but it wasn’t as if they had a facilitator or even any firm rules. Still, when Latina saw folks gathering in a corner of the plaza, she went ahead and approached. She found the one in the center of the group giving orders to the children was her brown-haired friend, who was wearing a coat that looked nicer than what kids from the rough part of town would have.

“Good morning, Sylvia!”

“Ah. Morning, Latina!” Sylvia said, waving her hand at her approaching friend.

“What are you doing?”

“The snow’s just so cold, you know? So I’ll be sitting this one out and just watching. Well, just watching would be boring though, so I’ve decided to just coordinate things.”

“Will you really still have fun, even if you’re not playing with everyone?” Latina asked, tilting her head at the way her friend seemed to be enjoying herself even so. Latina couldn’t even understand the concept that playing together with everyone could possibly not be fun. To her, the cold was just a minor issue, nothing that would prevent her from enjoying herself.

“It is fun... I mean, how could it not be enjoyable, getting this many people to move as I please?”

“Huh?”

Latina was already aware that she and her friend had a different sense of values.

“There are other kids who like taking the lead like I do, and also ones who aren’t good when it comes to exercise. But it’s a big event, so everyone still wants to participate. Here Latina, take one of these.”

“Right.”

She drew a single stick that came poking out of the box her friend offered her, and found a black mark on the tip. After confirming what she had drawn, Sylvia pointed behind her.

“Latina, you’re with the right team. Go join up with your group, alright?” “Yeah.”

There were a lot of kids gathered together in the direction Sylvia had pointed out. And then a little further away, there was another group. Judging from the way that another child had made a mark on the ground when Sylvia had called out, they were apparently marking the numbers as they decided groups. Yes, Latina had grasped her friend’s actions.

By the way, it was Sylvia’s casual consideration as a manager that led to the teams being divided into “left” and “right.” If they went and carelessly used colors for the team names, especially if one side got to choose red, then the other team would definitely object. After all, even little kids knew that Ahmar was the god of war.

East, west, north, and south could also prove problematic, since those cardinal directions were used in the divisions of Kreuz. All of the children would want to be with the district where they lived, naturally. And on top of that, many kids from the east and south would be sure to have plenty of thoughts about the children from the high class residences to the west. And when it came to the nobles who lived in the north district, some may even hold outright animosity.

Sylvia’s management skills were rather exceptional, to have taken all of those feelings into account.

Latina looked a little relieved when she found one of her friends amongst the right group. She just couldn’t help but feel lonely when she didn’t know anyone.

“Marcel!”

“Good morning, Latina.”

Her darting gaze didn’t spy anyone from their usual group aside from Marcel. Seeing what she was wondering, he calmly stated, “Chloe and Rudy are on the other team. Anthony got pressured into helping out Sylvia. I think he’s wandering around over that way.”

“Latina sees.”

Latina didn’t look to be disappointed by the fact that her best friend was on the other team. That was because she cared more about the news that she and Rudy were on opposing teams.

In the meantime the number of children grew significantly, and Latina started to see more familiar faces. There were a lot of kids from her class there, and she even had acquaintances who were different ages too, because they had played together in the plaza. Latina had made quite a few friends in this past year and a half.

Already all worked up, the girl declared her objective for the day to her friend. “Today, Latina is definitely going to beat Rudy!”

“Do you really want to beat Rudy that badly?” Marcel inquired as he skillfully mass-produced snowballs. The gentle-natured boy was quite a good listener.

Since Latina didn’t want to lose out to Marcel’s rate of snowball production, they were soon utterly surrounded by the things.

“Rudy is always calling Latina weak, or small, or slow! So Latina doesn’t want to lose to Rudy!”

Despite her small build and adorable appearance, Latina was highly competitive. Still, Rudy’s physique and stamina gave him the advantage in simple games of tag and the like. Latina wasn’t about to simply give up, though.

Rudy’s childish teasing was so transparent that his friends all knew exactly who he was fond of, but the girl herself had no idea whatsoever. Not only was Latina born in a foreign nation with its own customs and values, she was exceedingly critical of herself, and sensitive to the hostility of others. The idea of expressing fondness through teasing was completely lost on her.

There were many reasons for it, but frankly the greatest was just that she was so naturally airheaded.

And so, Latina wanted to leave Rudy crying uncle someday. She couldn’t just accept losing as inevitable. This brought out a level of determination belied by her gentle personality.

Marcel, who knew of his friend’s affection for her, just listened with a smile as Latina ignited her competitive spirit, ready to even the score that been piling up day in and day out.

Though they had some management to run things, there had been no time to properly discuss rules, so the game began with such matters only very roughly defined.

If you got hit by a snowball you were out, and if you took the other team’s flag, you won.

A number of walls made of snow had already been constructed here and there about the plaza. It would have taken the children quite some time to set all that up on their own, but for some reason it had already been done. Honestly, it would normally be a big task for adults to handle, too. It really was a mystery...

The teams chose walls on opposite ends of the plaza and made them their forts, planting their flags.

The word that the kids were planning something spread to the adults, and no small number of them gathered around the plaza to watch. To the adults, the big jumbled mess didn’t seem like a proper game that could be won.

None of the kids seemed to mind, though, so the adults weren’t thoughtless enough to throw a wet blanket over their fun by pointing that out.

There were quite a lot of children covering a wide range of ages, and all of them were waiting impatiently for the signal to begin.

“Start!” Sylvia, leader of the group managing the event, yelled out from the center of the plaza, raising what looked to be an improvised handmade red flag. With that signal, those in charge of both camps lowered their own red flags and then banged on metal pots.

Latina broke out in a run the second she heard that sound.

The distance between them was still far enough that the enemy snowballs wouldn’t reach her. There was no need to worry, so she could run at full speed. She calmly assessed the situation and plotted out a safe route as she went. All the while, the pompom on her pink knitted hat bobbed along atop her head.

The second she slid behind the barrier she chose as her first shelter, she heard snowballs crashing into it. She had entered into the enemy’s firing range.

Rudy’s sure to come to the center, so this is where Latina will get him!

She was so confident in that fact because she was well aware of her friend’s personality. He was the type to push through using the power provided by his large physique, rather than bother with any clever plans.

Normally that strength of his would bowl Latina over, but today things were a little different. Thanks to the cover of friendly snowballs, she was able to peek out ahead and search for her target.

There he is!

Having confirmed his presence, Latina quickly moved to execute her plan.

Meanwhile, Rudy had also figured out Latina was there. Though that was no surprise, seeing how a small silhouette wearing a familiar pink hat and scarf had come flying out of the pack of children immediately after the start of the game. Even baby bunnies at least have a bit of camouflage to protect them... It did look nice on her, though. Something inside him instinctively urged him towards wanting to grab that big pompom bobbing up and down every time she walked. Every time he did she’d turn and face him with a real glare, but he found that cute, too.

She really is slow, thinking of something like that as hiding...

Her pink pompom was poking up a bit over the wall of her shelter. She was good at studying and supposedly had a good head on her shoulders, but occasionally made dumb mistakes like this.

Rudy moved forward while keeping an eye on the other team. He steadily approached, weaving his way towards Latina’s shelter.

I’ll settle this in a single shot!

He eyed up the distance, then took a big leap forward. He’d finish things with the snowballs he had in both hands, before Latina even had a chance to fight back. She’d get distracted by his movements, and then the snowball he threw in an arc would come down on her head from above. There was no way someone as slow as Latina could react to that.

The arched snowball landed a blow on the pink hat in no time at all with a thwump. Rudy peeked into the shelter, eagerly imagining Latina’s frustrated face.

What he saw inside, though, was a pillar of ice supporting a pink hat.

“Huh?!”

The second Rudy realized it was a trap, Latina stood up from a crouched position in the rear of the shelter. Out of the corner of his eyes, the boy saw a light shining brightly.

“Hey...! Using magic’s no fa--!”

Rudy’s shout of protest was cut off midway through by the small avalanche Latina had created.

Within the Holy magic that Latina employed, the defensive wall and attack magics were largely the same sort of power, just used in different manners. Mana used as a shield was defensive, while mana shot off like a bullet was long range attack magic. And bludgeoning something or someone with a mass of mana served as close range attack magic.

Additionally, Latina’s skills at mana control were great enough to make even most adults jealous.

She had spread out a wall made of mana in an instant beneath a layer of snow. Then, she flipped it over.

Just as planned, Rudy ended up trapped in the pile of snow. Latina picked up the large snowball she had created from inside the shelter and held it aloft with both hands. Left trapped and unable to move his body, Rudy could only watch as it came crashing down upon his head. That had been the finishing blow. After all, if he wasn’t hit with a snowball, he wouldn’t count as out. She chose some strange ways to be honest about things at times.

“Latina did it! She beat Rudy!” the girl said, throwing her hands up in the air in celebration without even thinking about it. In her joy, she had completely forgotten the fact that she was still in the midst of battle.

“Gwah!”

A snowball had smacked right into Latina’s head with a thwack.

Thw-thw-thw-thwack! Immediately afterwards, a volley of concentrated snowball fire descended upon her. In no time at all, the screaming girl was absolutely coated in snow.

“Aaaaaah!”

“We’ve taken the enemy magic user! Close in!”

Latina’s best friend had been the one to raise that triumphant shout.

“Rudy had been a sacrificial pawn from the very start! Now, let’s get moving!”

When it came to things like this, Chloe had no mercy whatsoever.

The result: Victory for the team lead by General Chloe. The adults watching couldn’t help but feel admiration for the way that she gave orders.

“She did it! Latina won!”

In spite of the way things ended, Latina still reported her victory back to the Dancing Ocelot. She may have lost in the team event, but she had won her personal battle.

“You played a lot, Latina, so do you want a bit of a snack?” Kenneth asked.

“Yeah!”

What he handed her was a freshly roasted sweet potato. The way it was slowly heated drew out plenty of sweetness, making it a fine sweet.

The tip of Latina’s nose was red when she came back from playing in the snow, but once she had changed and drank a glass of hot milk with a bit of sugar in it, she was completely back to her normal self.

“On the way back Latina saw some people who were being snowmen, but won’t they catch a cold?”

She uttered that thought aloud, but it didn’t take long for her attention to be entirely stolen away by the task of reporting on her victory.

She chowed down on the piping-hot roasted potato, and then drank down her freshly refilled milk. It may not have been the usual beverage for a victory toast, but it still tasted even better than it usually did.

“It’s all thanks to your practice yesterday,” Dale said with a grin, causing Latina’s smile to grow even wider.

That smile of hers made Dale feel just how much teaching her that method of snow shoveling yesterday had been worth it. Dale’s home village of Tislow may have been a land that got a lot of snow, but it also had a great deal of magic users. The people favored by the earth living there had nearly endless options for using magic to clear away snow. Thanks to the thinking that if they have the power they may as well use it, they had developed some truly efficient methods.

Dale hadn’t been able to go see the snowball fight in person, but because a number of regulars had watched over her valiant struggle, he had already heard all about it in detail.

With that said, though, he naturally still needed to hear the heroic tale from the girl herself.

The troublemakers who had wrecked the large snowman made by a child from the southern district were raked over the coals by fierce looking men, and ended up being forced to see how a snowman felt firsthand. That story also reached Dale’s ears, but, well, he had no problems there. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t wanted to pass divine judgment himself, but there would be no meaning to it if that meant cutting down on his time with Latina. It would be a waste of time in the truest sense to spend it on folks like that.

“So do you want to make snowmen together again?” “Yeah.”

“What do you say we try to make a way, waaaaay bigger one this time?”

“Yeah!”

If it was with this smiling young girl, then childishly playing in the snow wasn’t so bad. Now, what should they play next...?

What about making it a giant snow sculpture instead?

While thinking such things, Dale popped the bit of sweet potato Latina had given him into his mouth.

†

It was hard to tell if it was because Chrysos had the devil’s own luck or some sort of karmic reward for Latina’s daily good deeds, but the weather didn’t turn to rain midway through. And so, Kreuz awoke to a bright morning with clear skies and plenty of snow left on the ground.

“Ooooh...” exclaimed Chrysos in admiration. She must have been fond of the outfit, as she was dressed like a pink lamb again today. Latina, meanwhile, looked like a slightly more refined lavender sheep as the pair of twins left their footprints in the fresh snow in front of the Ocelot.

The backyard was already a crushed wet mess, from Vint running around it all night. Latina didn’t get angry because that was just what a pup instinctively did in such circumstances, but she was still clearly disappointed by the sight. That carefree, easygoing dog seemed to have noticed Latina’s mood, as he was now just patiently standing by her feet and wagging his tail.

“I’m heading out, Sis!” the mischievous eldest child of the Ocelot yelled out as he ran on past the twin sisters.

“Have fun, Theo. And may Ahmar’s protection be with you,” Latina said with a smile, saying a little prayer for his victory in today’s battle. “Platina.”

“Hmm?”

“Shall we head forth as well?” Chrysos asked, looking like an excited child. “Adults can only watch the snowball fight,” Latina responded to her sister with a smile, and then started to walk, slow and steady.

Dale took off following them a little further back. After all, these two sisters were natural airheads. If there wasn’t anyone watching them, he could definitely see them joining the children’s game and going all-out. And they probably wouldn’t refrain from using magic, either.

“Were you perhaps just thinking something rude about me?” Chrysos turned around and asked with a glare, seeming as if she had sensed something.

“No, not especially,” Dale responded, swiftly brushing aside the accusation.

“Chrysos, you need to face forward when you’re walking or—” Latina started, only for Chrysos to slip, just as she had been worrying about.

“Un...gh...!”

Chrysos’s pride, however, wouldn’t allow her to take the fall, so she managed to catch herself in a strange stance. She didn’t seem to be able to move from it of her own power, though, so she trembled in place.

“Are you alright, Chrysos?”

“Latina, you should probably lend her a hand before you take time asking her that.”

Latina did as Dale told her and quickly offered her sister a hand. Having finally regained her footing Chrysos forced a composed expression and glanced at Dale.

“Yeah, yeah. Just make sure you watch what you’re doing,” Dale apathetically responded, thinking back to the promise he made to a young Latina, which he had recalled just last night.

Even if they couldn’t participate in the snowball fight, maybe they could try making a giant slide. With their childlike natures, the sisters would probably go down it at least once or twice. All they would need to do is claim they were testing it out to make sure it was safe before letting the children on.

With Latina and Chrysos’s magic and a hand (er, paw?) from Vint, it shouldn’t have been that hard to pull off.

Dale walked along steadily, realizing that he was also feeling a bit of childlike excitement at the sight of the town coated in snow for the first time in a while.

The sky had cleared up and was now a brilliant blue, making for the perfect weather for playing.

Dale looked forward to the fresh experience of seeing the sisters play together, knowing this chance wouldn’t last for long. He really did still think like a “guardian” every now and again.

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