CH 48

The guestrooms they were assigned to was the room the room that used to be Dale’s bedroom and the room next to it.

And right now, Latina was calmly letting out light breaths of sleep, supyu supyu, on the bed in what should’ve been Dale’s room, as if it was natural.

Dale too, having met his family for the first time in such a while, had a lot to say and returned to his room quite late. Given that Latina was looking sleepy at her usual bedtime, he told her to go to bed ahead of him.

“Hmmm…. well…. It’s not like this is my room anymore anyway….”

Scratching his head, Dale looked at Latina who was sound asleep. His expression naturally relaxes.

“I had planned on using it since it used to be my bedroom, but it’s also a little mean making Latina move despite her sleeping so soundly. It’ll probably be fine if I just use the room next door.”

Whilst thinking that, he quietly crept out of the room.

At that time, he had thought that it was a good idea.

Dale suddenly woke up in the middle of the night.

‘Why did I wake up?’ He asked himself. While it may be true that he is constantly on alert for his work, it didn’t mean that he would randomly space out.

“….?”

He felt like… someone was calling him.

“! Latina!?”

He sprung out quickly, jumping out of the room. In the same moment he got out into the corridor, he immediately opened the door to the next room.

What Dale saw, having jumped into the center of the room was, an empty bed. The colour drained from his face.

Despite that, he didn’t lose sight of everything. What remained of his calm managed to pick up a presence.

In the corner of the room.

There, in a corner away from the bed, the blanket which should have been used to tidy up the luggage had some extra mass within it.

“Latina?”

Hearing Dale’s voice, the lump in the blanket trembled ever slightly.

“……..Dale?”

“What’s wrong?”

Hearing the voice once more, Latina poked her face out from within the blanket.

“DALE!”

Rushing out from within the blanket with a poof, she hugs Dale. Pressing her heavily sobbing face against the bewildered Dale.

“Were you crying? What happened?”

“I woke up, but, you weren’t here. So I, was scared. But, I didn’t know, where you were.”

She complained with broken, intermittent pauses. Her nose would sniff a little now and again.

“Dale, not here, I was scared.”

“….I’m sorry.”

After sincerely apologising to her, he fixes a few of her bed hairs then gently pats her hair.

He had been sleeping in the next room. However, Latina had been sleeping, and did not know of this. This was because ever since she had arrived at this mansion, and even when they were unloading the luggage, she had always been within this room.

To Dale, this was the house he was born and brought up in, it was a place which he understood well, but to Latina, this was an unfamiliar place that she was visiting for the first time.

She would probably be anxious. It seems like he had forgotten about such an obvious fact.

(….Maybe I had also relaxed coming home for the first time in a while)

“I’m sorry. You must’ve been scared.”

Latina just nodded. And continued hugging Dale. As if she wasn’t going to let him go.

“Look, get inside the blanket. It’s cold right? I’ll be right by your side until you fall asleep ok?”

Dale said in a soothing voice.

The seasons of Tisroh, a region deep in the mountains, when compared to Kroix, came slower and its temperatures lower. It’s so cold right now deep in the night that you wouldn’t think Spring was beginning.

“…Dale, Don’t go.”

However, Latina declined with a sobbing voice, shaking her head. Hugging Dale even tighter.

“I want to be together…. I don’t want you to go….. Latina, doesn’t want to be alone….”

(Latina is….begging…)

Even though Latina has times when she acts spoiled, she would never act selfish.

That Latina is, 『begging』 with a sobbing voice.

“….It can’t be helped.”

The time required for him to give up to her request was, just a few seconds.

A decision that would be considered prompt by society.

And when she greeted them the next morning.

She was looking hopeless, thinking ‘What’s going on here?’

“You mother, you know, understands that there are many different people in the world. But I think that Latina-chan is still too young.”

“Mom, I won’t ask what the heck you think of me inside that head of yours. But it’s wrong. Absolutely wrong!”

Hearing the words fired out by his mother from her seat during breakfast, he objected immediately.

“Your mother has heard about the life in the city, how they marry late, and had even thought that you wouldn’t be able to find a bride. But, still, to have a son who’s interested in young g-….”

“Latina is listening, so seriously, can you stop?”

What Dale’s mother, Magda saw was, the sight of a young girl sleeping next to his son.

Having seen that there was no one in one of the previous rooms, she opened the door with doubts in her mind, and the scene she saw was exactly that.

–Her son was at a good age, but the sight of him hugging a young girl to sleep. It probably makes one worry.

She had thought that he merely wanted to adore the little girl but, to think it would be to such an extent. As his mother, she had to correct him.

Dale sat down and looked eye to eye with his mother. As a response, his father who had been looking on at this exchange between a mother and son, sipped on his tea and nodded sternly.

“So that’s how it was. You…. have that kind of interest, huh?”

“Dad, I don’t need you saying that with such a serious face either.”

At that time, Latina, who was looking down, raised her voice.

“Dale…. It’s all because I was being selfish….I’m sorry…..”

“Look what you did! Latina is probably really down now!”

“Would you look at that. She really is such good girl, right?”

“Indeed.”

“Latina, my old folks are just making fun of me. There’s no need to worry.”

After saying so, Dale turned to face his parents.

“There’s been times when I made Latina stay home by herself so it’s not like she can’t sleep by herself. It seems she was worried since she was left in an unknown place all by herself this time. Please let us be like this until Latina has gotten a bit more used to the place.”

“Latina-chan is still a young thing, right? The nights in the countryside are totally dark and scary, right?”

Magda changed the attitude she had until now all of a sudden and smiled at Latina.

“Indeed.”

Randolf agrees as well and nods.

“Waking up in an unfamiliar place is scary, right? Our son is just so hopeless, right?”

“Indeed.”

“You guys….”

“Saying 『You guys』 to your parents, what is up with 『you』?”

“I’m exhausted… and it’s only morning….”

“Dale, are you alright? I’m sorry for being selfish.”

“Just like I thought……only Latina can soothe me…..!”

Contained within that voice of Dale’s was his earnest thoughts from the bottom of his heart.

He left the mansion holding hands with Latina, who up till now was still feeling down.

The cold mornings of Tisroh, the air cooling down crisply. It was a sensation unlike that of freezing, merely refreshing.

The could feel Spring blooming in the regions they had passed by along the way here, but Tisroh was still, only now, welcoming Spring. All the trees with a hint of yellow, had some tender sprouts, colouring them deep green. The flowers by the roadside were also of a somewhat mild colour.

They were budding all together as if they were celebrating the arrival of the long awaited spring.

In this region, rich with the power of the land, the presence of so many flowers was strong enough to make you suffocate.

Latina wasn’t wearing her usual cape, instead a scarf was hanging at her shoulders.

The light pink scarf had a fluffy thickness to it and was warm even to touch. And that was kept in position by a flower-patterned broach.

It was something that Wenn-baa took out from within the mansion somewhere and gave her.

Continuing right from yesterday, her actions were way too quick.

Dale took a blind eye from his own matters and could only console himself internally.

“Latina, that colour suits you.”

“Dale?”

“It’s the colour of Spring. It’s cute. Granny understands that well too, huh.”

When she finally understood what he was talking about, Latina smiled, looking a little embarrased.

“It’s warm.”

“That’s good.”

Looking at Dale’s grin, Latina’s smile also brightens up as if copying him.

Dale squeezes her hand a little harder, and in return Latina squeezed back gently.

After Dale left the mansion, he started walking around the village in a clockwise direction.

“This is where the workshops are. They’re jointly owned by the village. There’s a lot of dangerous stuff so, don’t go around touching everything.”

“Un (oki)”

In the direction that Dale was pointing towards, there were several large buildings lined up next to each other. The villagers of Tisroh gather here to collaborate and work together towards the construction of magic tools.

“The building in front of us is the office building so, come here when there’s some business you have to take care of. Next to that is the 『Delivery man』. You can send out your letters from here.”

There in front of her eyes, dangling down, was the flag that she had remembered, the moss green flag embellished with an envelope and feathers. Latina looked a little surprised.

“There’s a Mr. Postman here?”

“In our village, a lot of orders come and go after all. Therefore it was necessary. Even compared to Raband.”

While Dale was saying that, they entered into the office. He was a member of the clan. As the eldest son of the next head, Randolf, there were people every here and there that he had to show his face to since he had come back.

(Author’s note: Sorry for not writing for a week (TL: me too kek). For the time being, I think I’ll be posting on saturdays.)