CH 89

There had been a gloomy, hopeless atmosphere floating around in a corner of the 『Dancing Ocelot』 ever since the morning.

It should have been a scene of them eating breakfast, the scene that they had repeated day after day.

— However, in that scenery, the sight of the young girl, who would always scatter her smiles everywhere, was not there.

Theo, who still couldn’t read the mood in the air, quickly and relentlessly gouged at Dale, who was heartbroken.

“Neenee?”

Not keeping his attention on Dale, who had jumped up in shock, Theo looks up at his mother, and pouted in dissatisfaction. For him, this situation where his 『Beloved Big Sister』 wasn’t here, was an 『Abnormality』. It was natural that he had questions.

Rita answers him with a smile.

“Latina will be taking a 『break』 for a little while.”

“Whyyyy?”

“She just has to, okay?”

“Wii?”

“Speaking of which, I haven’t seen him since yesterday. Maybe he went off to play?”

Occasions where Wind would just suddenly go about to play was fairly common so she didn’t mind it too much. Maybe he went off to vent off some anger he had from how cruel Latina was being to him.

Having breakfast together. This was something that was 『natural』 for Dale and Latina, up till now. They couldn’t when Dale was away because of work, but apart from that, they would always have breakfast together.

Despite that, this morning, when he woke up and went downstairs, Latina was no longer in the 『Ocelot』.

Dale had cried as he convinced himself last night that, there was no helping her not sleeping with him, since she’s already at that age. However, to think that there would be no sight of Latina sitting down at her seat during breakfast, something that should have been a 『natural』 thing for them.

“Neenee?”

Every time Theo would repeat that, Dale would strain his expressions strangely, but Rita’s 『smile』 would not waver at all.

Since he didn’t have someone helping him, Kenneth was being worked to death by the amount of work he had to do, as it had doubled, but he once again confirmed that, he should never, ever, anger his wife.

Around that time, Latina was at her friend’s house, the shop that was also called 『The Alley’s Bakery』.

“It’ll help us, but is it really okay?”

“Un. Kenneth said that it was okay for me to come learn how to properly make bread, since it’s a rare opportunity. And since you said that you didn’t have enough people, I came to ask you about it, although it might not be feasible, but…. I’m sorry for coming so early.”

This shop, that would offer their freshly baked bread to every family during breakfast time, was open extremely early.

As she mingled around the inside of the shop, filled with the smell of freshly baked bread and people having breakfast in the store, Latina turned to smile at her friend’s family.

With how things went yesterday, Latina didn’t have the courage to look at Dale. Dale didn’t treat her words as a 『confession』, but even so, her heart was still in a mess, with how embarrassing it was, given that the courage she managed to wring up became completely useless.

Rita and Kenneth said that she could have some time off, and allowed her to take a break from working at the 『Ocelot』. Although, if she was to just laze around in her room, then she would end up thinking some useless things. Additionally, if she was in that shop, then she would have to meet with Dale face to face no matter what.

Just as she was thinking about what she should do, she thought back to what her friend had complained about.

And then, feeling that it would be no good from the get go, she went over there to visit him. She had properly talked about this with Kenneth before leaving the 『Ocelot』. Dale would probably take this better if he had heard this from Kenneth as well.

Although childbirth was a laborious task, normal citizens could not afford to take a long leave due to that. It wasn’t like they had a welfare system, so they needed to earn money for a living.

Which is why, even at Marcel’s place, 『The Alley’s Bakery』, the vacancy from the person who was currently resting because of childbirth and that, could not be easily filled by bringing in a new person for a long time. Latina’s suggestion was a very helpful thing for them.

“In that case, although it’ll only be for a short while, I’ll be in your care.”

Above all else, Latina’s smile, something that had been forged through many years of customer service, was one that gave off an extremely good feeling.

『Bread』 was the staple food for this country.

There were many varieties of bread sold at Marcel’s house, 『The Alley’s Bakery』, but most of them was bread made for eating.

The shape, a combination of the ingredients, i.e. flour, and the type of flavorsome things that can be added to the surface. Depending on all of that, many different types of breads can be made.

There were some that have dry fruits or spices kneaded into the dough, but they generally don’t sell the ones called sweet breads and stuffed breads.

The thing stuffed with filling they were selling the other day during the 『Night Festival』 was something they only sold during lunch. There were a lot of women working as merchants and craftsman in this 『Eastern District』. There was a need for some lighter foods.

“Next are the baked sweets. Although I imagine it will take some time before you can remember how much they all cost….”

“Hm? It’s alright. I’ve come to this shop many times. I’ll remember it.”

Marcel, who was reintroducing the products in the shop to Latina, quietened down after hearing that reply. However, he immediately recalled how extraordinary his friend was, and changed his thinking with a “That’s true.”

Being longtime friends with this young girl, he had also gotten quite used to simply accepting things like that.

“The register…. Shouldn’t be a problem for you right? Latina?”

“I’ve worked with money back at the 『Ocelot』 as well, after all.”

With that answer, it meant that it was alright to think that she was capable of starting work immediately in the sales industry.

“Welcome.”

“Oh my, I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you a new employee?”

“It’s been decided that I would be helping out here for a little while. Please take care of me. What will it be today?”

The old lady that had come into the shop, seemed surprised to see Latina, someone she didn’t know, but smiled afterwards as if being led on by Latina’s smile.

“I always get this.”

“I see. Thank you for the patronage as always.”

Latina puts the bread that the old lady pointed at into a bag, puts it forth and accepts the coins.

“Are you about the same age as little Marcel, I wonder?”

“I was at the same 『School』 as Marcel.”

Latina didn’t seem to be perturbed by the old lady’s inquisitive words, and returned a smile.

Hearing that conversation, the one who formed cold sweat at his brow, was Marcel, who was responsible for bringing the freshly baked bread to the front of the store.

If any bits and pieces of those rumours reached the ears of 『Her guardian (Dale)』 or their 『Childhood friend(Rudi)』, then he would be in danger.

Since it was their main meal, a majority of people chose a particular shop to be the one 『they always frequent』. Even though a lot of the time, they would feel like going to eat at another store, every family had decided upon an 『everyday taste』.

Because of that, a majority of the customers that come to this shop, were regulars.

Once the morning’s peak had passed, the next busy hour would of course be lunch time.

While it may be true that Latina would be free until then, she didn’t laze around. She would clean up around the shop, and things like that.

Since she had been treating the Eastern District as a place to play around since she was young, there were times when some friends she knew would pass by. However, as expected, most people didn’t know of her.

It had been a little within expectations, but when she was cleaning, there would a slight increase in the number of new male customers.

Coming close to noon, Latina was curiously watching the process of a new type of bread being made, and baked.

Seeing that it was still her first day here, she wasn’t allowed to enter the working area, but Latina, having been Kenneth’s assistant for many years, seeing Marcel’s father doing most of the work, and Marcel helping — didn’t forget to account for their distances and work flow.

I don’t need any pay so could you please teach me the basics of making bread? — What Latina had asked of her friend, was a request that sounded just like her.

Originally, the technique known as 『Bread making』, could also be called a trade secret. It wasn’t something to be taught to just anyone.

Nevertheless, the reason why Marcel relayed that wish of Latina’s to his parent’s was because he had heard about her story before, when they were still in 『School』.

Marcel had heard that her hometown of 『Vasirio』 did not have a culture of eating bread. The first time Latina had eaten bread was after she came to Raband.

『A country without bread』 — To him, it was something he had never thought about, a world he couldn’t even imagine.

And to think that, his own friend, was a young girl born from such a different 『Country』.

Hearing the question that such a Latina held within, 『How do you make bread?』. I want to answer her — was what the young man thought.

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