CH 43

Latina caught a cold.

“Kuchun”

Even her sneezes seem somewhat cute. However, the accent of the sneeze being slightly strange is somewhat like her.

Several years has passed since he started living with this girl and while it can also be said that they were a stubborn race, she has never really been sick before.

It’s most likely her fatigue showing.

Apart from that, the other possible reason was,

“….It’s because you were in such high spirits even though it was raining, you know?”

“……Un. That’s true…… I’m sorry…..”

Yesterday they were travelling through the rain.

There was no way they were just going to wait until the rain has stopped. He didn’t want to force her too much but, since it was the countryside, there weren’t many homes around. They had to move until there was a place to take shelter from the rain.

The coat that Dale normally wears is capable of repelling water.

Normally since he was also quite used to travelling during stormy weather, he would put on his hood, and tie a belt around his neck, and that was his plan against the rain.

The hood that came with Latina’s cape is also a magic tool, and since it was made to be able to repel water, there’s no problem even if there’s a light shower. However, for the sake of traveling through genuine rainy weather, he made her wear proper rain gear.

Latina seemed happy merely walking in the rain.

Looking up as they walk up the mountain path, there were nothing but grey skies and massive clouds within the gaps of the trees inside the thick forest.

Even the raindrops which hit her face, seem not to hurt and she would face upwards every now and then.

She would try to pass by all the puddles, evading them, then sometimes purposely jumping into them, breaking up the mud, and looking as if she messed up.

“…..Latina, be careful. It’s pretty slippery”

“Un. I’ll be alright”

It was exactly when she had said that.

Latina fell down.

Her feet slipped in the puddle that she stepped on, and with a splat. That was a splendid fall.

“!!!”

“…..Ouch….”

It seems she had twisted her ankle when she lost her footing. Latina looked troubled as she sat there in the mud, unable to even get back up.

“Uwaahhhh…. See, I told you so….”

Dale immediately reached out to her, and used recovery magic on her ankle.

With that, the injury was healed but he couldn’t do anything about her clothes which had been smeared with mud and full of rainwater. In this situation during the middle of the rain, even letting her change is difficult.

Dale lifts Latina onto the horse and increased the pace at which they were moving.

It’s the last stretch.

Dale had a bit of know-how regarding the geography of the area here. Not just the positions of the various scattered small villages but, even the positions of the cabins which the hunters use. Furthermore he was even able to grasp the location of naturally-made caves.

The closest place that they are able to take shelter from here is, probably a small cave a little ways from the highway.

It’s the place that he had originally planned to be today’s campsite.

There’s no other way other than to rush over there at a slightly faster pace.

Be that as it may, this is the middle of the mountains.

Despite it being the start of spring, the cold air is stealing away her body heat.

Dale, who was rushing through a path with poor footing, probably couldn’t be blamed for not noticing that Latina was trembling slightly. And because, even if he had noticed, there was nothing he could have done.

When they had arrived at their goal, the cave, Latina was shaking and turning pale.

“AaaaAAahh…. I’ll, go look for something that can be used as firewood, ok? Take off your wet clothes, and after you’ve wiped yourself dry, wrap yourself with a blanket!”

“Un”

That was how Latina had answered him but, after she once again saw Dale run off into the rain, she got closer to Brauh, and started restlessly taking down their luggage. She copied Dale, doing it like how he normally does it, in order to lessen the burden of him (the horse).

And after that, when she finally took off her clothes and changed her wet underwear, she wrapped herself around in a blanket. Taking countermeasures to deal with the rain, she was relieved when she was wrapped inside a dry blanket. It wasn’t able to block out the cool air coming from the ground but, she thought that she couldn’t do anything but to deal with it.

“Fuaaa…”

She makes a relaxed face. Latina rolls and lies down on her side.

Dale had come back, and using 『Water』 attributed magic he cleared away the moisture in the outer layer of the wet branches, making it so that it somehow created the result of firewood, yet by the time the fire was lit, she was already feeling feverish.

This series of actions is the cause, as to why she had caught a cold.

“It isn’t a very nice place to stay at but… we’ll stay here to rest another day…. There’s quite a bit to go before the next village”

Dale says as he looks at the situation with the rain.

As soon as he came back, he laid out the blanket which had been wrapped in a water-repellent cloth onto the ground, and he lays out his change of clothes and such on top of that, and then moved Latina, who had been wrapped inside a blanket onto there.

Nearby he creates an open air fire, and with Latina’s dirty clothes outside, he uses magic, bombarding them with water balls as a way of roughly cleaning them.

He took Latina’s clothes from the luggage and put them on her. Normally Latina would try to do everything herself but, she was doing as she was told looking absentmindedly.

After that she started to doze off, falling asleep on the floor. For Latina who rarely becomes sick, it could be said that she has extremely low resistance when she really does get sick.

That is already yesterday’s story.

The next day, in other words today, the rain still hasn’t stopped and Latina still had her cold. Dale didn’t want to force things and decided to stay put for the time being.

“Dale…. I’m sorry…..”

“It’s fine if you make a mistake frolicking around if you be more careful next time. There’s no need for you to apologize for catching a cold. Right?”

“Yes….”

“It’ll be best if you’re better soon”

Dale smiles and slides his palm across Latina’s forehead.

It had felt hot yesterday but, he was relieved at it coming down to a more normal temperature. If it’s like this then as long as she doesn’t it push it too much, it probably won’t turn into anything out of hand.

“Even though dinner… is supposed to be Latina’s duty….”

“It’s fine for you to be spoiled when you’re sick”

For Dale, who was boiling congee in the pot, as long as the depressed Latina said so, he would blow at it slightly without holding anything back.

Even though she was in such a condition, rather than acting spoiled, the fact that she was feeling disappointed for not being able to do her job is just like her but, it’s a little off putting.

In the soup was the salted meat that they had received from the Beastman’s village, which was also used as seasoning in the soup. He crumbles the dried vegetables into pieces as they fall in and boil, together with the cheese and hard bread. While it was disappointing, today’s meal was a Bread soup which didn’t look appealing to the eyes.

“When you have a cold it’s good to eat warm food, rest well, and act spoiled”

As he says, Dale takes a bite of what he had made and makes a complicated expression.

It’s not that it was bad, and originally for things like camp food, this was already very good. However, it felt like it was missing something subtle.

(….Before I realised…. I had gotten used to eating good food…)

It seems he had gotten used to Latina’s 『excellent food for a campsite』.

Even when they used the same ingredients, he felt that if it was Latina making it, it would taste a little better.

Despite that, Latina lifts a spoon of the congee to eat, and smiles.

“Yum”

“No…it’s not very…. Sorry….”

“It’s yummy”

Even he knows the rating of the food that he himself made. Dale smiles bitterly but, Latina shakes her head in refute.

“It’s something Dale made for me…. It’s super yummy”

Her face, lightened up by the red beams coming off the campfire, had a happy, affectionate smile on it.

“…..But, this isn’t tasty….”

“Because medicine ain’t meant to taste good”

After the meal, being handed the medicinal soup that Dale had boiled, Latina looked visibly dejected.

She takes a sip, and wrinkles up her brows.

“It’s bitter….”

(….It would’ve been easier if you had just drank it all down in one go I think…. I wonder if that’s also an occupational disease…?)

Looking at Latina slowly tasting it as she drinks through it, Dale tilted his head sideways in confusion in his heart.

When he asked later, it seems to have just been a bad habit. Because when she was suggested to drink it all in one go, she made a face of realisation as if “There was that method as well!?”

What he woke up the next morning, it was when he had noticed the sun’s rays flowing into the entrance of the cave.

“The rains stopped”

“True. But, the footing is still bad so be careful”

“Un”

Looking up towards the pale blue sky, shining with thin rays of sunlight, Latina laughs. She hasn’t fully recovered but, it seems that she’s well enough to walk.

(At the next village…. I guess I should let her rest a bit more….)

Thinking like that, Dale prepares to leave.

Maybe it was because they had stayed put yesterday, Brauh was walking nimbly as if it was fun.

Latina looked a little unsatisfied when she was made to wear some extra layers of clothing and put upon Brauh’s back.

It seems she was keen to walk on her own two feet.

At the sigh of Latina having returned back to normal, Dale smiles as if he was relieved and, returned back onto the road, wet with mud.