by CHIROLU
But in this town, that was heresy.
Not even realizing the disgust the children were feeling, she continued to rant.
“And devils in particular are evil and cowardly beasts, with close ties to the demon lords themselves! You mustn’t ever let your guard down. The way she’s hidden what she is to slip into this town should be more proof than anything else!”
“Aah!” cried out Latina, her face ghastly pale as the woman gripped her hair even tighter. That served as a signal for her friends to leap into action.
Chloe threw her lithograph (a black stone each student used for taking notes) as hard as she could. It didn’t actually hit the priestess, but it did smash against the wall with a loud crash.
“What are you doing?! That’s dangerous!”
Distracted by Chloe’s actions, the priestess’s grasp loosened, and Latina fell to the floor.
After exchanging glances, Anthony and Marcel moved to save their friend.
At that moment, Rudy kicked his desk. It was meant for three children, so it only shook a bit with his force alone, but it was more than enough to catch the woman’s attention.
“Stop that! What in the world are you doing?!”
As she yelled out, the children in the classroom’s disgust started to turn into fear.
They looked up and saw that woman screaming in her shrill voice while their good friend cowered, looking like she was about to break out in tears. To the children, it was abundantly clear who the real monster was here.
When Rudy went to kick the desk again, Chloe kicked the other end at the same time. This time, the sound was massive, and it collapsed to the floor.
“Stop! Stop!”
Having gotten the hang of it, the pair toppled one desk after another, causing the woman’s shrill voice to ring out even louder. Several of the kids started crying.
The woman screamed out, seemingly irritated even by their weeping. “Stop! Stop!! Stooooop!!”
Drawn by the abnormal cacophony, the other priests came running to see what was happening. What they found was sobbing, frightened children in a classroom that looked like it had been hit by a storm. And shouting the center of all that was their ‘colleague,’ a look like an ogre on her face, and a group of children glaring back at her, standing to protect a girl who looked white as a sheet.
The other priests rushed into the classroom and forced out the so-called teacher, who was still carrying on with her unsightly rant.
“Teacher...” called out a sickly-looking Latina to one of the priests, who had been their teacher until just recently, as he was leading the woman away. “What’s different? Is Latina... are devils different from everyone else?”
“Latina, that’s...”
“How does Latina live differently? What did she mean, that she’ll live for 100 years? ...Is Latina different from everyone else?”
Unable to lie in response to her grief-filled words, the priest frowned sadly. Taking a knee, he looked Latina in the eye.
“...The biggest difference between humans and devils can’t be seen by the naked eye. Devils are especially long-lived, and several times as long as humans.”
Latina’s grey eyes opened wide. She was a smart enough child to understand what that meant.
She headed back home, unable to hide her shock. Even the voices of her concerned friends didn’t seem to reach her.
And so, she broke off her horn using her own magic.
Latina had already received treatment by the time Dale made it home and heard about the incident.
Niili was the god who ruled over life and death, so Niili’s temples served as organizations for the research of things like pathology, medical technology, and pharmaceuticals. The townsfolk general used the temples as clinics, where the results of that research were applied.
Kenneth had brought Latina to such a clinic.
Fortunately, she wasn’t in serious condition, due in part to the fact that she was found so quickly, as well as the excellent first aid she received.
Even though devils were a rather robust race, Latina was still young, so if her tiny body lost too much blood, she wouldn’t have been able to recover.
When Dale came running to the clinic, he found Latina resting in bed, her face pale from blood loss. She had regained consciousness, but her eyes looked somehow vacant and lifeless as she slowly stirred upon noticing that someone had arrived. Those grey eyes quivered when they saw him standing there in a daze, breathing heavily.
“Dale...” she called out in a slow, hoarse voice.
Feeling relieved at hearing Latina call his name, he sat down on the edge of the bed and bent over.
“Latina... why...?” he whispered in a quivering voice as he reached out and touched her cheek.
With this, her expression broke down.
“U-uh... uwuh...” blubbered Latina incomprehensively. Tears rolled down her face.
“Latina... does it hurt?” Dale asked anxiously, but he got no response. She just kept weeping and gripping Dale’s hand tightly.
She shook her head back and forth.
“Latina doesn’t need it... she doesn’t need it...” Dale heard her cry out amongst her sobs.
“Latina?”
“Latina doesn’t need the proof that she’s a devil... She wishes she never had any horns!”
Still not knowing what had happened to her, Dale was at a loss. But seeing the state she was in, he knew that he shouldn’t carelessly reprimand her.
“Latina... Latina. What is it? What happened?”
“Latina hates it. Why... why is Latina a devil? She doesn’t live where devils are.... and they said they don’t want her. Everyone who cares about Latina, who said she could stay with them, are all humans...”
This was the first time he’d ever seen Latina this upset.
“Why is Latina the only one who lives longer? Latina doesn’t want to be the only one left... after everyone else dies...” Latina shouted her feelings and worries that she’d hidden from Dale up ’til now, her voice filled with grief, and the words reverberated throughout the room.
With that cry, Dale realized what Latina had been worrying about. She’d realized that devils and humans were born with different amounts of time, or lifespans.
“Latina hates it... She hates it... Why, why...? Latina wishes she wasn’t a devil... She wants to be the same as everyone else... She never wants to be all alone... the only one left, ever again... Latina wants to stay with Dale and her friends forever... She doesn’t want to be all alone again, with everyone gone...”
What had hurt Latina the most and driven her to this despair wasn’t someone’s malice. It was truth... the truth of the immutable differences between the races.
That truth was what Dale had been unable to tell Latina before. What the more insular races all had in common was that they were long-lived. Different lifespans in turn led to a great difference in what someone felt was valuable. For example, ten years felt quite different for humans than it did for devils. And with that absolutely different sense of value, it was difficult to meet one another halfway.
“Latina, I’m sorry...”
It may not have made sense to apologize, but in that instant, those were the words that came from his mouth.
Dale picked up the sobbing Latina, and he hugged her tight. Her soft hair rested against his cheek, and he gently brushed his finger along her wound, which still had some faint traces of blood around it.
“It must’ve hurt... I’m so sorry, Latina...”
As she grieved and cried with all her might, seemingly even finding it difficult to breathe, Dale awkwardly yet tenderly stroked her back, trying to take away at least a little of the girl’s pain.
†
It was later on that Dale learned what had happened to Latina.
He had put off telling her about the differences between races, and in turn it had been thrust in front of her with the worst possible timing. She had injured herself using the attack magic that he had
taught her. With her exceptional level of control, she was able to concentrate on one spot and successfully break off her horn, whereas before she wouldn’t have had enough power to do so. That was a fact.
And that was why he was so angry; he was frustrated with himself as well.
With such thoughts on his mind, Dale stared straight at the middle-aged priestess, who was wiping the sweat from her brow.
He broke out in a smile that even he found cold.
“According to the rumors, that teacher apparently caused a similar incident in her previous town, yeah?”
The priestess’s face grew paler and paler.
No one in Kreuz should have had that information, so it was no surprise that she was shocked that he knew.
Just what sort of man had she made an enemy of? She needed to keep that question in mind. In addition to being an expert at gathering information, Dale had the authority to demand more than just intel. Even without using his connection to the duke, he could apply pressure that a single priestess could not hope to fight against.
“She caused the same sort of trouble with an elf, right? And that was in a town with deep trade connections to the elves, with a tourist industry centered around their songs. Apparently, that incident led to elves refusing to perform in public, correct?”
That was why she’d been hurriedly moved to the far-off town of Kreuz. She couldn’t stay in that town any longer.
This unexpected change of personnel led to great confusion in Kreuz’s temple of Asfar as well. That was why Latina’s teacher had been swapped out so suddenly. In order to suppress the chaos in the other town, one of the high-ranking priests from Kreuz had been sent there, and to fill the hole he left, Latina’s previous teacher was moved into his role.
The people working at the shrine didn’t imagine that she would possibly be foolish enough to do the same thing again right after having been moved for having caused so much trouble. And yet, the woman herself completely believed that her principles weren’t mistaken, and she had no intention of reflecting on her mistakes. After all, the people blaming her were in the wrong, or so she thought.
“By the authority of my divine protection, I demand arbitration.”
“That’s...”
Hearing Dale’s dignified words, the priestess’s heart skipped a beat. His request was the right of any high-ranking priest, and could be demanded even of the followers of other gods. This was the primary reason that he’d come here today as an official priest and wearing a sigil.
“It’s not as though I don’t understand the desire to protect members of your organization, but if you intend to protect someone who’s guilty of this much, then I expect you’ve resolved yourself to face equally harsh repercussions.”
With a sharp gaze to drive in the point, Dale continued. “If you’re unwilling to accept my request, then I’m ready to take my demand to the temple of Ahmar. And if that happens, then your culpability will come into question as well, seeing how you stayed quiet despite knowing of the prior incident.”
In addition to being the god of war, Ahmar also presided over arbitration and judgment. His temples served to pass down rulings that exceeded the authority and laws of any land. There, they handed down merciless and impartial judgments. To the guilty, that was effectively the same as a death sentence.
If she didn’t want a great number of those at the temple to be punished for their joint responsibility, she needed to cast out the culprit and make her take responsibility for her actions. That was the meaning behind Dale’s demand.
Dale had said something to Latina as he tightly held the sobbing girl in the clinic. He spoke the words that he wanted and needed to say, that he couldn’t avoid, as her father.
“But Latina, even if we were both humans, I’d definitely die first. I’m older, and it wouldn’t be odd for me to die at any time in my line of work...”
At these unwanted words, Latina began wriggling fiercely. She shook her head back and forth, as if saying she didn’t want to accept them, and she’d cried out so strongly that it sounded like a shriek. As she cried out with all her might that she hated that, Dale held her tight, so she couldn’t just run away from what he was saying.
“But Latina, listen closely. I’m really, truly glad to have met you. Even if our time together is limited, I’m glad to spend it with you.” Dale was as loud as possible so he wouldn’t be drowned out by her cries as he said what he needed to.
Ever since he’d met her, his life had changed greatly. And he was truly grateful for that. It was undoubtedly this small girl in his arms who gave him such gentle, precious moments, and let him be himself.
“I’m glad I met you, Latina. I’ll never regret that. So please, Latina, don’t say that you would’ve been better off if we’d never met...”
Latina looked up at Dale with tears still streaming down her face. She tried to respond, but her voice just wouldn’t come. Sobbing heavily, she shook her head in a different way than she had before.
“N-No... L-Latina...”
While coughing and wheezing over and over, she at last found her words.
“Latina... really is glad... that she met Dale...”
“Thank you, Latina. If the thought of parting from us makes you cry that much, then that just goes to show how important we are to you, right? That makes me happy.”
“Yeah... Dale is special for Latina. That’s right...”
Dale gave her a kiss on her tear-stained cheek, which surprised the young girl. But it was far better to see her surprised than sad.
Dale smiled, looking like a child who’d just pulled off a prank. He looked straight into Latina’s eyes.
“I’m glad I met you, Latina. No matter when I die, I’m sure I’ll still be able to say that... So until that time comes, will you stay with me?”
“Yeah. Latina’s glad she met Dale...”
“I love you, Latina.”
“Latina loves Dale best of all...”
Even if it was just a bit, she broke out in a smile, making him feel incredibly relieved. For that smile, he’d be able to work harder than he ever had before. That’s what he thought from the bottom of his heart.
†
Thanks to the use of healing magic, the treatment of Latina’s wound was finished before too long. The reason she was held at the clinic was because she was still weak from blood loss and her mental state was still unstable.
By the time Dale launched his assault on the temple of Asfar, Latina had already been discharged from the clinic. She continued her treatment and also took it easy at the Dancing Ocelot, but that was more because of the worrying adults than her own choice.
It was around that time that Chloe came to visit, and learned for the first time of what Latina had done. She’d thought that Latina had been resting due to the shock of the incident. She never would have thought that Latina had broken off her own horn, losing enough blood in the process that she could’ve even lost her life as well.
And as a result, a soft smack sound reverberated through the attic. Having been hit, Latina opened her eyes wide. And the one who had done the hitting, Chloe, had broken out in tears. Sobbing heavily, she hit her friend again.
Considering she regularly beat boys into submission, it was obvious that Chloe wasn’t putting her full strength into the blows, but Latina was still shocked enough that she couldn’t speak. Even if Chloe had used violence to protect Latina before, she’d never turned it on the young girl herself.
“You idiot! How could you be so dumb, Latina?! Why would you do something like that?!”
And all the while, Chloe wore a pained expression on her face.
“Your horn was so pretty! And whether you had it or not, you’re still you! And...”
It was the first time Latina had ever seen Chloe cry. Seeing her strong-willed best friend, braver than any boy, look so hurt, Latina wanted to break out in tears as well.
“Latina, you could have died... you big dummy!”
Seeing C
hloe raise her voice with tears running down her face, Latina at last understood. She’d made her precious friend feel that same fear, and terror, and helplessness.
“Latina’s sorry... so sorry, Chloe...” said Latina, her voice cutting off midway through as she started sobbing hard as well.
Afterwards, the two held each other close and kept on crying loudly.
Hearing this, Dale turned back around and descended the stairs. He was truly grateful that Latina had a girl like that as her best friend. He may have been the most important persona to Latina right now, but he’d have to work hard to maintain that position.
Dale had also heard of how Chloe acted to protect Latina before anyone else at the school. She really was quite a gallant young girl.
Having let out her emotions in front of her precious father and friend, Latina seemed completely relieved, almost like something had been exorcised from inside her.
The truth could not be changed; that was something the clever young girl understood full well, but she had been driven this far by feelings of not wanting to accept it. Now, however, Latina was able to process it, and she realized that there were people who would accept her no matter what.
“Latina is very happy,” whispered the girl, letting down her hair.
Even without her ribbons, there were no longer any horns to be seen on her head. If you looked very closely, then you could see the remains of them hidden under her hair, but at a glance, it was hard to tell that she was a devil.
“When Rag died, Latina thought that she would die, too. But then Dale found her and said she could come with him, which made her so very happy. And then Rita and Kenneth were so nice, and Latina met Chloe and them, and every day became so fun... So Latina had started to forget...”
Latina rested in Dale’s arms, showing no sign of the swell of emotions she’d shown the other day. She really was quite mature for her age. As Dale stroked her hair, she wore a peaceful, happy expression on her face.
“Rag taught Latina that everyone needs to part someday, when they die... Latina wanted things to stay like they were, so she was afraid of having to say goodbye.”
