CH 66

Since a while back, the person who Latina talked to about her troubles, was Kenneth.

It wasn’t Dale, the one publicly stating how much he “Loves her”, nor was it Rita, who was the same sex as her. It was Kenneth.

There was also a reason that could be speculated.

To Latina, Dale was someone she liked in a 『special way』. At the same time, she was scared of being hated by Dale. She was anxious, thinking that he would come to hate her by troubling him with her questions.

Because of that, it seems she’s had thought that she 『couldn’t bother』 him, and couldn’t trouble him with her selfishness or consultations.

In this recent one year, there was no one who could even compete with Dale in the sheer amount of affection given to her. Which made him treat her 『unlike that of a child』. When he thinks about how much he lets his guard down around this young girl, he even came to think that each and every one of her pranks and failures were adorable, and precious.

Rita was always at the 『Dancing Ocelot’s』 counter, dealing with customers and chasing down paperwork.

Latina was, to the end, a serious person. It seemed she didn’t want to bother Rita who was in the middle of work.

Ever since the first time Latina had come to the 『Ocelot』, she had spent a lot of time by Kenneth’s side. A large part of this was probably because she held an interest in cooking, and was striving to 『train』 herself whilst helping Kenneth.

With such a reliable 『Master』, along with his naturally helpful personality, you could almost say that it was natural for Latina to rely on such a broad-minded person.

However, right now Kenneth was extremely troubled.

He had realized this small girl had still been keeping many secrets within her chest. However, one of those secrets. Something she had never talked about up till now, the cause of his troubles, the tale behind her 『Mother』.

(….What exactly, should I…. do….)

Kenneth was fiddling with a half peeled potato, sitting in front of Latina who was looking down, depressed.

Hermione was still staying in Kroix.

Dale had also sent back a message to Duke Eldishtett about his return, but just as Hermione had said, it was about the upcoming battle against the 『Devils』. (TL: Devils, Demon race and Demon king will be the three differences now. Devils are followers of the Demon King)

He had received a message that he didn’t have to go to the Royal capital for his 『job』 until that time came.

It seems that the smaller countries neighbouring them now had a burning smell, and the advisor of Raband, the duke, was terribly busy right now.

The situations around there, was outside the jurisdiction of Dale, the expert against 『Devils and Demon Kings』.

His friend, Gregor, had assumed the position of guard for his father and brother, and was also busy, which was what was conveyed through the private letter sent together with the Duke’s correspondence.

It also appeared that Hermione wasn’t lying when she said she had some matters to attend to, as she seems to be meeting with old friends here and there. In any case, she was a flashy woman and, it was easy for her to gather up rumours along with the specialty of the 『Ocelot』.

Even if it wasn’t what Hermione was planning to find, it would still end up in her ears.

And Latina was acting unpleasant as usual.

With what happened this time, she had gotten to know everyone, but it didn’t seem like Latina could hide her emotions well. Up till now, she was a happy young girl who would normally show good will towards strangers, so she wasn’t conscious towards things like that.

For Latina, who wore a smile as a norm, her unpleasant face could be more simply stated as, a face that 『couldn’t deal with Hermione』.

Because it was too easy to understand, the truth of the matter spread out immediately to not just Hermione herself, but even the regular customers who would frequent the store.

–This was what she had heard later, but the day that Latina and Dale had returned, there wasn’t much business in the 『Dancing Ocelot』. The next day however, it became unusually lively.

The news that 『The poster girl had returned』, was spread by one of the regulars, a gatekeeper working at Kroix’s Southern gate, and through some sort of information network, it was shared between all of the regulars.

And as if they had made arrangements beforehand, it seems like they thought that she would be tired on the day that she came back from her travel and restrained themselves from going to the store. Which is why there was such a bustle the next day.

It seems that the rumour going around, that the regulars of the 『Dancing Ocelot』 as well as the adventurers of Kroix had formed a Non-for-profit organisation 《Latina’s Fanclub》, wasn’t a false one and her guardians, Dale and Kenneth were shocked.

It was then, whilst Dale was holding onto his stomach sometimes, standing in between Latina’s unpleasantness and Hermione, who seemed to be finding this funny; A scene no one could even comment on.

Latina absolutely despised being treated as a 『small child』 by Hermione.

Latina had already been conscious about her small frame previously, so she was sensitive to the word 『Small』. When Dale or Kenneth called her 『Small』, she doesn’t appear particularly uncomfortable, because she could feel that they say it out of love. However, it appears that this didn’t mean she was okay with just anyone saying it.

Hermione was 『One of those people』.

Back then, after Latina puffed out her cheeks in front of Hermione, having said “They’ll grow bigger soon, mon”, she went into the kitchen, and sat down at her designated spot, looking downwards, feeling sad.

Seeing that she seemed to be brooding over something, Kenneth brought over a bucket to put vegetables in, thud, put it down and sat next to her.

Without saying a word, he quietly started working, waiting until Latina was ready to talk.

“Kenneth….”

“What’s up?”

“Will Latina get bigger… once Latina grows up….?”

“You’re definitely smaller than your friends Latina, but you see, compared to when you arrived here for the first time, you’ve grown taller by quite a lot, you know? You’re definitely growing up properly.”

“Un….”

Even with that, she didn’t seem to lighten up. Latina brought her hands to her chest, and let out a deep sigh.

“Latina, might not get bigger, even once Latina grows up…. Rag often said that Latina was similar to Mov after all….”

“ 『Mov』?”

“Un. …..Mov was small after all. …..That’s why Latina might stay small as well….”

It was the first time he had heard that word. Kenneth repeated what he thought he had heard.

“Who, is Mov, Latina?”

“…..Latina’s…. Other parent…. My mum.”

She answered, saying that it was her own mother. Kenneth had noticed that Latina had never talked about her own mother before, for whatever reason. Perhaps due to the surprise from that unexpected topic, he couldn’t sense that the knife movements which he was familiar with, started to tremble.

“What kind of person was your mother, Latina?”

“Mov was small. You see, Latina’s hair and horn colour is the same as Rag’s, but I was told that the shape of my horn and face and stuff, was similar to Mov’s.”

After answering in bits and pieces, Latina sighed once again.

“Even though Mov was an adult, she was small. The customer’s said this. They said that bigger is better. I wonder if Dale will say that bigger is better….”

“….Hm?”

‘Something’s not right’, Kenneth realized. He felt that there was some sort of inconsistency compared to what he was thinking.

Pausing his hands on the half peeled potato, he stared at Latina.

She was looking down, making a crestfallen expression. — With both her hands, on her chest.

“…Latina?”

“Wha~at?”

“What were you talking about…. when you said your mother was small?”

“….Her breasts.”

The first thing that Kenneth heard about Latina’s birth mother, was that she had small breasts.

With that piece of ridiculously meaningless piece of information, it was no wonder that even a person like Kenneth was feeling chaotic.

Shouldn’t this sort of conversation, at least, be held with Rita, a person of the same sex?

“….How about, you talk about this, with Rita?”

The instant that thought hit Kenneth and he voiced it, Latina paled for some reason.

“Rita…. Isn’t big.”

Well, that’s true. His wife was a slender beauty. This didn’t mean that she didn’t have none. She definitely had some.

“It’s not good to ask someone whose aren’t big. Long ago, when Latina asked Mov, 『Why?』, Latina got pinched on the cheek!”

Somehow it seems that when Latina was younger, she had straight up asked her mother this, and was punished for it. Perhaps it had been terrifying for her, as she was holding onto to both of her cheeks, trembling.

“I see….”

Speaking of which, Hermione was definitely a key stakeholder in that field, being extremely womanly. She definitely had something which people couldn’t hope to understand.

“Do you… drink milk?”

“Would I get bigger?”

“It’s just something people say….”

It might be of some comfort.

And he was wondering if he should share this piece of information with 『Dale』. Also, who was the idiot (customer) who made Latina think that ‘Bigger is better’.

As Kenneth resumed peeling his potatoes, he searched for an answer to some questions that couldn’t be answered.