by CHIROLU
“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 h
ad 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 fo
r 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.
