Bonus Short Stories

The Little Girl’s First Errand

“Latina’s heading out.”

“Take care!”

“Right!”

With that lively exchange, Latina left the Dancing Ocelot, the pair who was seeing her off waving to her as she left. Rita said to Kenneth, “I wonder if she’ll be okay. Is it still too soon to send her on an errand?”

“She’ll be fine.”

For starters, not all people were virtuous, but on top of that, this town had a large influx of outsiders coming and going, so it was dangerous for a small child to walk about and shop by themselves. However, seeing it as an important experience, Kenneth asked Latina to go to a shop they always visited together and purchase a slab of butter as her first errand.

Therefore, Rita’s concerns were only natural, but...

“The weather sure is nice! I think I’ll go for a bit of a walk!”

Kenneth pointed silently at the back of the young man who said that unnatural, unprompted line before leaving the shop. As expected, the doting idiot had made a move.

Latina’s two platinum pigtails swayed as she pitter-pattered along, and she seemed to be enjoying herself. She was quite glad that Kenneth was relying on her to get a job done.

Even her walk was adorable. You could even say that a kidnapper or some other sort of criminal couldn’t help but set their eyes on her. After all, she was just too cute.

Still, if anyone were to lay a hand on her, they’d see hell in full and vivid detail. Even if they didn’t lay a hand on her, they’d better be prepared to meet a fitting fate if they so much as looked at her suspiciously.

As Dale thought such dangerous things while keeping his eyes fixed on Latina from the shadows, he himself was the perfect picture of “suspicious.” He looked so suspect that the people walking along the path detoured around him, but he paid that no heed.

Latina was small enough that she could easily disappear behind the adults surrounding her. Dale lost sight of her in the split second that one such adult passed by. In a panic, he leaped out of hiding. The next instant, he leaped right back.

“Ants!”

He spotted her again as she crouched down and excitedly watched the ground. Down so low, she was paying no attention to the adults around her, carefully observing small flowers and insects. Apparently, her focus was currently on a procession of ants. Still squatting, she shuffled to the side, checking where the line was heading. After watching for a while, she nodded a few times and then stood up, seemingly satisfied. She once more started pitter-pattering along.

Or so Dale thought. But the next moment, she broke out in a sprint.

“Wha?!”

Dale hurried after her, completely flustered. It was hard to read just where she was heading without even stopping. Even an experienced adventurer like Dale couldn’t track her whims.

“Come here, kitty!”

Apparently this time, she had found a cat out on a stroll. It casually walked along the roof while Latina leaped up and down calling out to it. However, it ignored her and walked off, calmly swishing its tail all the while, causing the young girl’s shoulders to droop in disappointment.

Dale wanted to hug her tight and comfort her. If he had been just a few seconds later in remembering that he was watching over her on her errand, he would have ended up jumping out.

“That was a close one,” Dale said to himself, wiping the sweat from his brow. He then saw Latina at last open the door to the shop that was her destination.

Latina didn’t make any stops on her way back, instead heading straight home. The level-headed young girl knew that she needed to make it back before the butter started to melt.

“Hey, Kenneth.”

“What is it?”

“Why was Dale hiding and running all by himself? Was he playing hide and seek?”

Hearing Latina ask that, Rita cracked up, while Kenneth couldn’t hold himself back and a “Pffft!” escaped his mouth.

Not understanding that reaction from the two adults, Latina tilted her head.

The Girl, the Belly, and the Toddler

In the beastman village, Latina stared straight at the prominent belly of Dale’s relative, Joseph.

“What is it?” Joseph asked.

“It’s nothing,” she responded.

Even so, her gaze remained fixed in the same spot.

She lived in the Dancing Ocelot, and the old men who gathered there were all the sort who could handle serious physical labor and had the bodies to prove it. She didn’t have a chance to touch a potbelly like Joseph’s very often.

Before long she reached out, only to pull her hand back. This happened over and over again for a while.

“Can Latina touch it...?” she asked, finally unable to hold back any longer. Joseph gave his permission, and she gently reached out. As the peculiarly springy flesh pushed back with a sproing, Latina’s big, grey eyes blinked in surprise. Then, with a wide smile, she did it again.

Sproing, sproing, sproing.

Joseph didn’t know what was so fun about it, but when he looked at Latina, she giggled back at him. She seemed to be enjoying the springiness of his belly quite a bit.

“Watia?” asked Maya, confused by Latina’s actions. After a bit, she seemed to arrive at a conclusion.

“Watia.”

“Yes?”

With a fearless expression that seemed to say “Here I go,” Maya approached at a run and then took a high-flying leap. Her landing spot was her father’s stomach. His fat let out a sprooooing as it absorbed the blow.

Latina’s eyes sparkled.

But even so, his body couldn’t handle the sudden blow of Maya’s full body weight, even if she was a small toddler. That was none of Maya’s concern, though. Joseph had no idea how to handle the situation.

“Waaah!”

Dale had scooped up Latina from behind and stared menacingly at Joseph. Apparently, the adventurer didn’t care for having Latina’s attention stolen away.

Joseph let out a sigh, unable to decide if he had been saved or was facing a new threat.

The Girl, the Son, and the Father

In the settlement known as Tislow, the duties of the acting clan leader, Randolph, were vast.

One day, when he finished one of those duties—looking over the business of their primary export, magical devices—he gave a big stretch. He felt like his whole body was creaking.

“Hrmph...”

Thinking on it, Randolph had been doing nothing but deskwork as of late. The last time he got any real, proper exercise was when he’d gone to greet his son, who had come home for the first time in a while.

“Right.”

With a single nod, he grabbed his favored sword from the corner of the room and left the mansion.

“Papa Randolph.”

Outside, he found the young girl who was visiting along with his son playing all alone. She looked up at Randolph with her big, grey eyes.

Her gaze stopped on the blade in his hand, and her eyes grew wide. “That’s a big sword.”

“Really?”

“It’s a bit like Dale’s, but yours is much bigger.”

Now that she mentioned it, Randolph realized that was true. It seemed that Latina had good observational skills.

“It’s dangerous, so don’t get near me.”

“Right.”

The young girl decided to watch as Randolph swung the sword about to work out his rusty body. She sat down at a distance and stared. He tried not to pay her any mind, but sure enough, thanks to his little spectator, he ended up wanting to show off. It turned into a more proper bit of training than he’d initially intended.

“The way you use your sword looks a lot like how Dale does.”

“You can tell?”

“Yeah. Dale practices with his sword a lot at the Ocelot. It’s really similar to how you do it,” she said with a smile. This was shortly after Randolph had put down his sword and wiped off his sweat. He was truly impressed at the young girl’s powers of observation.

“It’s because I’m the one who taught him how to use a sword.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I see, so you can tell at a glance...”

“Yup. Um, the customers at the shop say Dale is really strong. Are you strong, too?”

“I was stronger than he was back when he left here.”

“That’s amazing!”

Unsurprisingly, this earnest praise put him in a good mood. His son had lived through countless deadly battles after leaving the village, so Randolph didn’t think he could beat him now. Even so, he still wanted to make himself look good.

It may have been only natural that Dale ended up spoiling this girl. After all, he’d taken after Randolph, who worried about things like his self-image.

Dale had come to check what was going on when he heard a cheer coming from Latina from the front lawn. He found a sight he hadn’t expected, and he wasn’t quite sure how to react.

“What’s up?”

“That’s my line...”

His father wore a solemn expression, even as the young girl clung tight to his head. Dale had no idea what was going on.

“Dale, it’s so high!”

“Yeah, well... that’s true.”

The stout Randolph had managed to support the young girl riding on his shoulders without staggering at all.

“Dale.”

“What is it...?”

“Lately I’ve been thinking that your mother and I should’ve kept trying until you ended up with a little sister,” Randolph quietly stated, still wearing the same serious look.

“I’ve really got no idea how to respond to a statement like that from my father,” Dale replied, his voice raising an octave. Latina, still on Randolph’s shoulders, tilted her head at this exchange.

“What’s wrong, Dale?”

“Ghk...”

“Well, you see—“

“Don’t explain it to her!” Dale yelled. His father tended to march to the beat of his own drum.

Randolph nodded to himself in satisfaction, feeling grateful that he’d had the chance to meet this cute little girl, as well for the humorous exchange at his son’s expense.

The Grandmother, the Flower-Viewing, and Memories

While they were staying in Dale’s home village of Tislow, Latina spent quite a bit of time with his grandmother, Wendelgard. She seemed to be even more affectionate towards Latina than she was towards her own grandson, and her love for the girl rivaled even that of the doting idiot’s.

“Oh, yeah. We saw a lot of pretty flowers on the way here,” Latina said, recounting her travels.

“Hmm, I see. Well then, shall we have a flower-viewing tomorrow while eating lunch?” Granny Wen responded with a smile.

As promised, Granny Wen ended up taking Latina into the mountains the following day. As this land was deep in the mountains, seasons were late to arrive, so spring was only just starting. After walking with light footsteps up the hilly road for a while, Granny Wen at last stopped at their destination. Amidst the light-green vegetation stood a large tree blooming splendidly in pale-pink flowers. The sunlight streamed through the gaps between the trees, creating a warm, sunny spot.

“Woooow...!” Latina exclaimed joyfully, her platinum hair swaying. Showing no sign of tiring, she rushed over to the tree, spread out her arms, and spun around.

“From that reaction, it seems like it was truly worth having brought you here,” said Granny Wen, sounding satisfied. She had already plunked down onto the ground. She took her pipe out of her breast pocket and started puffing away.

“Latina hasn’t seen people smoke like that very often.”

“It’s pretty rare for this country.”

Granny Wen let out a hearty laugh and held out her pipe for Latina to see. There was an elaborate engraving at its head.

“Flowers?”

“That’s right. It doesn’t suit me, right?”

“That’s not true at all. It’s pretty.”

“My husband made this for me. He was weak physically, but he was real skilled when it came to making stuff like this.”

“Your husband? Dale’s grandfather?”

“That’s right.”

“What sort of person was he?”

Granny Wen responded by letting out a puff of smoke and looking up at the sky. Light-pink flower petals danced through the air in front of that beautiful blue backdrop. Remembering how her husband had once sat by her side and admired this scenery, she naturally broke out in a grin. “Are you admiring such refined scenery where you are?”

After muttering that, Wendelgard considered pulling out a bottle of alcohol and furrowed her brow. She looked back on her memories of him. “Well, he was a fine man in his own way.”

“That’s how I ended up asking about your grandfather, Dale.”

It had become something of a daily routine for Latina to tell Dale about her day when night rolled around.

“My late grandfather...”

His grandfather had died when Dale was still young, so he remembered him as someone who could do anything. Dale had grown so skilled at swordsmanship in this land that specialized in the use of the bow because he’d been diligently taught the basics by his grandfather, as well as his father who had studied under the man.

His grandfather was also apparently quite skilled at paperwork had and supplemented his lively grandmother’s weak points. Not only that, but he’d also tutored Dale’s father in accounting, mathematics, and all sorts of other things, making him something of a legend.

Dale had never heard any of the other villagers speak ill of the man either, even though he was originally an outsider who had married into the village. He had seemingly been quite the man of character. The only thing Dale couldn’t understand was...

“No, it may have been precisely because he was that sort of person that he married my grandmother...” Dale muttered with a sigh in astonishment.

“Hmm?” Latina said, tilting her head.