CH 6

When Dale woke up, it was quite early.

It was probably due to him sleeping early last night. Dale turning his gaze to the presence of another, noticed the girl next to him.

“…Ahh, that’s right….I picked her up.”

While yawning, he thought to the family member living with him. Latina who was breathing out like “Kyupuru Kyupuru” out of tune, was firmly grabbing onto a piece of Dale’s clothing.

How will I get out of bed without waking her up. He thinks.

But when Dale got up, Latina’s eyes suddenly shot open.

Jumping to her feet as if she was in shock and chasing after Dale.

Dale let out a small grin, as he felt a sliver of Latina’s uneasiness. In a way that could calm her down a little bit.

“Good morning, Latina”

Saying that, he patted her head.

The attire that Dale was wearing today, different from when he was working, a simple shirt, and a comfortably made pair of trousers. On his waist wears only his wallet and a small knife. He tidies his bed hair with his fingers. Putting on his boots and carrying Latina up into his arms.

She didn’t change her clothes at all, and slept just like that last night. Her skirt became a little wrinkly.

Going down to the first floor, directing Latina to go towards the table in the kitchen that wasn’t the store.

“Ara, good morning, Latina-chan”

Rita smiled at Dale and Latina as she noticed them. Of course, only to Latina.

Kenneth and Rita were right in the middle of breakfast preparations. All adventurers, eat in excessive amounts from the morning. There was an abnormal amount of food required compared to the number of people who are living there.

Dale went around the back casually, washing his face at the washing area across from the bathing area. Cleaning the towel that he used to wipe his face, he went back to where Latina was, handing to her the soaked ‘thing’.

Returning, Rita was combing Latina’s hair. Rita seemed to be amazed, emotional and restless, all at the same time.

“Latina-chan’s hair, what a beautiful colour. Splendid~. Dale you idiot. A girl’s hair, keeping it all roughed up like yours, that’s no good!”

Indeed, after the comb has went through Latina’s hair, it’s become so beautiful that it could never have been compared to up till now. That kind of thing, the novice guardian wrote down in the memo book inside his heart.

Rita skilfully arranged Latina’s hair, tying it up with a ribbon. The hair and string pretty much hid Latina’s horn.

Rita took a fleeting glance at Dale, and said as if she was whispering.

“Even if she’s of the Demon race, having one horn broken off, it’s probably better if it’s not too conspicuos”

“I understand. Sorry about this”

After saying that to Rita, Dale turned his gaze to Latina.

There was no change to her figure but, to Latina who was now clean, had neat hair and clothes, no matter how you looked at her, she was a girl. She was a completely different person from the kid back in the forest who was dirtied to the point where you couldn’t distinct between the gender.

“Ohh, morning. Come on, it’s breakfast”

Passing by Rita, Kenneth turned up holding a plate in both hands. Latina looked towards Kenneth, and after thinking for a little bit,

“Mo,re,nin”

Looking like she didn’t have much confidence, she quickly lowered her head after that.

Kenneth stiffened up. Dale distorted his expression.

Hearing the same words since morning, it probably hit her that it was a greeting after a bit of thought.

As expected, it seems this kid excels in observational powers. Even if you question if it was because she was a race which was considerably smart, that was probably just a vague guess.

「 ” ***？ *****？ ” 」

“No, it’s right. [Correct]”

To Dale’s expression, Latina became anxious thinking that she was wrong.

To Latina who became anxious thinking she was wrong seeing Dale’s expression, Dale smiled at her in panic.

“Damnit, remember this Kenneth”

“So immature”

However, Dale who had her [First greeting] taken away from him, kept complaining to Kenneth whilst smiling. Kenneth too, for some reason couldn’t stop smiling.

“It would be nice if Rita can give birth soon”

Kenneth returned back to work as he muttered, ‘a child would be nice’.

Dale’s breakfast was just the normal bread with cheese and grilled smoke meat on the menu, but Latina’s portion was made specially for her. The bread was dipped in milk and egg, the middle was baked so it was glistening, placed on top of the compote from yesterday. Thinly sliced smoked meat, was grilled until it looked crisp.

Magic tools in general circulate around.

The tools that every family have are first, 『Water』,『Fire』then 『Water/ Dark』. Each of these were tools used in the kitchen. In order words 『Drinking water supply』and『Ignition』, 『Freezers from ice』 can all be done with Magic tools.

However as all things they have a price, naturally using the common well, using fire to ignite things, there’s no reason for these things to not exist. However they were the overwhelming minority. It was no match to convenience.

Due to that, chilled food wasn’t very unusual.

The glass in front of Latina was filled with juice, but something like that was to be expected.

Latina turned to look at Dale happily as she drank it suddenly.

“Ahh, that’s nice…. that Kenneth, he’s really feeding her huh”

So that Latina couldn’t hear the latter half he murmured it in a soft voice.

Dale left the “Dancing Ocelot” as he held Latina up in his arms.

“First on the list is shoes huh… because walking barefoot is just no good yea”

Her weight wasn’t a pain or anything but, you couldn’t carry luggage at the same time.

“Dale?”

“『Shopping』, how should I say this…”

‘I could buy her a picture book and head back’, he says in a soliloquy. It wasn’t cheap but, something of that level wouldn’t bother him too much.

As they entered the closer to the heart of the city, the figures of adventurers disappeared, and the number of people who lived here increased. The plaza in the center held a market, so there were probably a lot of people eyeing for the products that the neighbouring villagers, travelling merchants put up.

Dale turned from the road midway, heading towards the eastern district.

Just like he had heard from Rita, he passed through the doors of the shop set up by the craftsman known as Baltic.

“So tired…”

Next to Dale, who was dead tired, a huge bag was piled up.

Just like that, a large amount of luggage was carried back, surprising both Rita and Kenneth, before finally realising that fact.