by CHIROLU
“You don’t even have any belongings. We should hurry on back...”
Dale hurriedly recited some earth magic to confirm which direction he was heading, then quickly rushed back towards town.
†
The town that Dale was currently based out of was called “Kreuz.”
As the name implied, it was a town that formed a slightly misshapen cross, and it served as an important point for traffic heading from the port towards the capital. Furthermore, as it was near the habitats of many magical beasts, it was also a place where those known as adventurers, who survived by their skill alone, tended to gather. In terms of commerce, it was the second-greatest city in the country of Laband. That was the town of Kreuz.
Its hospitality towards travelers was also considered a highlight of the town; it was because Kreuz welcomed visiting merchants that it was able to grow. And by utilizing the money it earned from those travelers as rewards for adventurers, the town was able to defend against the threat of magical beasts.
Kreuz was truly a town for travelers.
The town was also surrounded by thick walls with gates that faced the four cardinal directions and gatekeepers stationed at each one. People were allowed to enter the town by paying a toll.
Dale had arrived at the south gate, which was the one he usually used. When the gatekeeper, whom he was acquainted with, saw him, he gave him a confused look.
“Here’s my toll for two.”
“Huh? What’s with the kid? ...A devil?” the middle-aged gatekeeper asked while checking the coins he was handed, his gaze fixed on the young child in Dale’s arms all the while.
“I found her in the forest. Seems her dad died. ...Is there some sort of issue with me taking care of her?”
“Well, if you’re gonna be responsible for ’er, then that’s fine. You’re going to check in with the Dancing Ocelot, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then it’s fine.” After frankly stating that, the gatekeeper let Dale and Latina through, then turned to face the next passerby. His reaction was just what Dale had expected. He knew his own name held a certain amount of clout, after all.
He slipped through the gate into the southern section of town, which held the residential quarters and traveler-centric shops side by side. This was where Dale spent most of his time. He had no use for the elevated northern section and its nobles or the high-end residential area in the west. He did occasionally visit the eastern section, though, with its concentration of marketplaces and shops, as well as quarters for merchants.
Ahmar was the principal deity for the country of Laband, and as such, the color red was valued highly there. That was clear just by looking at the streets of Kreuz. For example, the walls of the rows of buildings were built out of gray stones that were then painted and plastered many different hues, but nearly all of the roofs were a vivid red. Not only was it a way of requesting that the buildings themselves be granted the gods’ divine protection, it was also said to be a way of telling the gods high up in the heavens that that was where their humble servants were.
Though this may have been the rougher part of town, it was still bustling with energy. It was around the time when the sun was setting, so there were people hurrying home, looking for lodgings for the night, wanting to spend the day’s earnings on food and booze, selling food to travelers... A great number of people of all sorts were coming and going through the area.
In Dale’s arms, Latina was unable to remain calm, and while her eyes darted all over, there was no panic or fear on her face, just pure curiosity. The child’s cheeks were slightly flushed, and occasionally her eyes opened wide enough that they were practically circles. Latina seemed to be quite interested in the great number of people she saw about the town.
“This is the street...” While it was meant for Latina, Dale knew that the meaning wasn’t getting across, so he said it to himself instead.
“***? Dale.”
“Man, it sure is inconvenient that we can’t communicate...”
Dale kept on walking, thinking Latina would at least need to learn the language of the western continent, which was the most spoken of all the languages of the various races. He smoothly made his way down a path he had used many times before, and when Dale finally stopped, it was in front of the door to a certain shop.
Above the entrance was an ironwork sign with a strange ocelot design on it, and there were flags lined up, all bearing the emblem of a winged horse on green ground. This was the “Dancing Ocelot,” both a bar and an inn. Dale passed by the entrance, went around to the back of the building, and peeked into the kitchen from the rear.
“Kenneth, are you here?”
“Yeah. So you’re back, huh, Dale?” said the big, unshaven man named Kenneth, who had been moving around a frying pan. He turned towards Dale and looked puzzled. “...Wait, what’s that?”
“Well, I’ll give you the details later, but... I just found her.”
“Don’t say it like you just picked up a dog or cat.” Heartily arranging the finished food on a plate, Kenneth only looked more troubled upon hearing Dale’s reply.
The large man was certainly good-natured, but not so long ago he was a capable adventurer who swung around a massive battle axe. That was a well-known fact amongst those who frequented this shop.
“For the time being, is it okay if we use the bath?”
“Well, I don’t mind, but...”
Having received Kenneth’s permission, Dale opened the door to the small hut next to the rear entrance, where the bath was. With a stone-tiled floor and a single bathtub, it was a simple bathing area, but it was plenty capable of fulfilling its function.
Dale poured his magic into the fire and water “magical device” to the side of the bathtub. While checking the temperature, he filled the tub with hot water.
The magical device not only provided water, but also made it easy to heat it. Even so, most households weren’t equipped with baths. People generally used the public bathhouses throughout town instead.
The Dancing Ocelot had a bath out of consideration for the adventurers so they could bathe despite returning from work at all hours. After all, there were definitely a lot of them who returned in a horrible state, like Dale had been just a few hours earlier.
Latina watched Dale’s actions intently, maybe finding even the magical device itself unusual.
Dale took off his coat and put it in the corner alongside his gauntlet, sword, and other belongings, and then called for Latina.
“Latina, ‘come,’” he repeatedly beckoned, and the girl came to Dale’s side.
When he tried to take off her clothes, Latina resisted Dale for the first time.
“Ah... So you really are a girl,” Dale muttered while stripping the reluctant Latina naked and throwing her into the tub. He had already guessed that from her voice and clothes, but he hadn’t been certain of it until just now.
The water washed over her hair and her painfully boney body, and it soon turned pitch black. Dale put soap into the tub, and it bubbled up right away. He washed Latina’s greasy, dirty hair, which had become matted and rope-like. He washed her body as well, and once more replaced the dirty water.
As he filled the tub with bathwater and continued to wash Latina’s hair, he suddenly realized something.
Huh? Could it be... that this girl will be a real beauty someday?
As he washed her hair over and over, it regained a platinum-like shine. Her single remaining horn also started to look like a glossy black gemstone.
Her ribcage was showing and she was painfully thin, but she would recover over time. Devils were a tenacious race by nature, after all. Her face was haggard as well, so up ’til now it was her eyes that primarily stood out, but once the grime was wiped off, it became clear that she possessed wonderful facial features as well. If her cheeks gained some plumpness and her complexion improved, then she’d make for quite an adorable young girl.
Agh, this only gives me an even more unea
sy conscience and makes it harder to let her go...
If he let go of her hand, then some lecher would surely scoop her up right away. It was said that devils who lost a horn were abandoned by their own race, and had no one to support them. She’d be perfect prey for the sort that have inappropriate thoughts about young children.
I decided to get involved with her, so I need to prepare myself, thought Dale as he made that secret decision in the depths of his heart.
“So, you committed some sort of crime, Dale?” a young woman’s voice called out to him from behind. When Dale looked, he saw a woman with black hair coming out of the back of the Dancing Ocelot. It was Kenneth’s wife, Rita.
The Dancing Ocelot was an inn run by the young couple.
Rita was clearly startled at the sight of Dale vigorously washing a young girl. “Is that your illegitimate love child?”
“Where’d you get an idea like that? Just how old do you think I am?!” Dale shot back in disgust. “I picked her up in the forest. Her dad’s corpse was there too,” he added plainly.
As she listened, Rita took a long, hard look at the girl and realized her pitiful state and that she wasn’t human. Then her eyes stopped on the worn-out cloth laying off to the side.
“Is that seriously what she was wearing? You don’t intend to have her put that back on, right?”
“Ah, I forgot...”
“Hold on a minute.”
Rita turned around and went back into the shop.
For the moment, Dale had just been thinking of getting her clean, but he hadn’t even considered needing to get her a change of clothes.
“Dale, *****?”
“Hmm? ‘Now, question’... Are you asking who that was just now? She’s Rita, the proprietress of this place.”
“...? Rita?”
“That’s right, Rita.”
As Latina tilted her head in confusion, Rita returned. She was holding a piece of cloth, along with all sorts of other items.
“Now that I look, you didn’t even bring anything to dry her off with, did you?! Use this. And these are my old clothes, though I think they may be a little too big for her. Oh, and underwear!”
“Right, sorry about that. Thanks, Rita.”
Dale looked hesitant as Rita tactlessly thrust a pair of underwear at him.
“What’s with that expression? They’re freshly sewn and brand new. It’s not like I’d try to give you secondhand underwear to put on her,” Rita said bluntly. That was the sort of woman Rita was. Perhaps she needed to be in order to run a shop that served adventurers.
Dale lifted Latina up out of the tub and wrapped her up in the soft cloth Rita had given him. While he was still drying her off, Latina pointed a finger at Rita.
“Dale, Rita?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Rita, Latina.” Latina then pointed at herself and gave Rita a quick bow.
“Oh wow, how impressive, introducing yourself like that!” Rita squatted down to Latina’s eye level and smiled wide. The proprietress was fond of children by nature, and Dale knew that she and Kenneth were hoping to be blessed with a child soon.
“Rita, Latina only understands the devil language.”
“Is that so? Then how have you been talking to her?”
“The words used in spells are the same, so I’ve been able to manage by picking out words that fit.”
“Hmm. So, what are you planning on doing with her?”
“I was hoping to use the shop’s Akhdar’s Message Board to look into things, to start with.”
Latina put on the clothes she was handed, without needing Dale’s help. It seemed that she could at least manage that much by herself. She was apparently more level-headed than she looked. She wouldn’t have been able to survive in such a harsh environment otherwise, after all.
While Latina finished changing, Dale carried his baggage into the shop through the back entrance. As she didn’t have a change of shoes, he picked her up again once she was done. Following Rita through the rear door, they passed through the kitchen and came into the front of the store.
There were a decent number of customers eating, so it was still moderately busy. The shop was naturally busiest before noon and after sunset. At the moment, Kenneth was still handling the shop by himself. Dale sat down at the corner of the counter and faced Rita.
“Now then, what did you want to look up?”
“Her name is Latina. A devil. Let’s take a look with those terms. There may be a search out for her, after all.”
“Right, we need to do that.”
Rita gave a nod from the other side of the counter and slid her hand over the item known as “Akhdar’s Message Board.”
“Lawh, sajjal, yanadi.”
The board glowed with pale green light in response. Though her eyes were pointed straight at the board, it seemed as though Rita was looking somewhere far, far away, searching for something distant.
“Hmm, there’s not any information meeting those criteria. I’ll try searching again using her physical traits as well just in case, but...”
“Please do.”
The Akhdar’s Message Board Rita was operating was the shop’s greatest asset. Akhdar was the god who offered protection to travelers, who in turn controlled the flow of information. And so Akhdar’s temples had become a place for the gathering and management of all sorts of intel and knowledge. The god’s priests and ministers were able to use far more powerful data transmission magic than that of the normal populace, the primary reason being that they had the power of divine protection.
Thanks to this, the temples of Akhdar were able to share the same information even if they were in different regions, and some of that information was shared throughout the towns as well.
The points of contact for that transmission were places that flew flags with Akhdar’s crest (a winged horse on green ground), the way that this shop had them up outside.
According to one theory, temple priests and ministers wanted to concentrate on gathering information and found it annoying to deal with people’s requests for data, so they entrusted the whole process to outsiders. Because Akhdar priests were rather eccentric, this explanation had a ring of truth to it.
The information spread to the towns primarily concerned top news from around the world, new discoveries, and inventions. But what was given the greatest priority of all was news related to crimes.
People who committed serious crimes were considered “Wanted” the whole world over. But it was difficult for armies and government officials to cross national borders to pursue criminals, so they offered bounties through the temples in order to capture them. Among adventurers, there were certainly many who specialized in chasing after such rewards.
Requests for tasks like large-scale magical beast extermination were also delivered by the temples.
An Akhdar’s Message Board acted as a terminal to receive information from the shrines, and in turn, adventurers seeking information were drawn to stores that possessed them; furthermore, townspeople also came to such places with requests for those adventurers. In addition to being a bar and inn, the Dancing Ocelot also served as a go-between for adventurers seeking work.
“Sure enough, there’s nothing about her.”
“Then Latina didn’t commit a serious crime, after all. And if her parents aren’t looking for her, then that corpse was definitely her father...”
Did Latina recognize that Dale and Rita’s serious discussion was about her? She fidgeted about on Dale’s lap, her gaze darting all over, and she occasionally looked up at the young adventurer.
The grim-looking men eating their meals occasionally glanced over their way as well, drawn by the unusual sight of a young child in this sort of shop. Whenever their eyes met, Latina tilted her head in confusion and stared right back at them.
As that was going on, a strange noise suddenly came from Latina. To be specific, her stomach was rumbling.
“...Latina?”
“Ah, th
e smell must have gotten to her.”
Latina looked somewhat embarrassed to have both Dale and Rita watching her at the same time. Rita let out a hearty laugh and called out to Kenneth.
“Kenneth, make this kid some dinner. And make it something easy to digest, alright?”
“I’ll take some too, if you don’t mind,” said Dale, and then he moved from the counter to a table. Since the table was too high for Latina, he had her sit on a small box on top of the chair to help boost her up, and then brought over his own chair and sat down next to her.
“So, what are you planning on doing with her, Dale?” asked Rita.
“I’ll look after her. I mean, she can’t speak our language, and she’s from a different race, so even if I handed her over to an orphanage in a town that’s always getting hit by budget deficits like this one, nothing good would come of it.”
Saying that aloud was also partially to make up his mind to do it. It’s not as though Dale was looking at the duty of raising a child lightly.
“I’m going to be this child’s father.”
†
Latina’s grey eyes grew wide when a steaming hot plate of milk and cheese risotto was placed before her. Beside it was a soup made of smoked meat and finely diced vegetables. To the side of that compact arrangement of food was a mountain many times that size for Dale, with a large sausage heaped on his plate as well.
“Isn’t Latina’s serving a little small?”
“Don’t be dumb. There’s no way such a tiny girl could eat the same stupidly large amount that you do,” Rita uttered in disgust after having served them. “And overeating like that would just destroy her stomach.”
Rita then smiled wide as she handed Latina a spoon. The difference between this and how she treated Dale and the other customers was like night and day.
“Dale? *********?”
