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Youth, Thoughts in front of the young girl
The banquet that was held after the ceremony became a literal party.
It didn’t matter if they were old, young, man or woman, and while they were all licking their lips at the mountain of food, the clan head’s bottle of treasured wine was opened.
Magda and a few maidservants were already busy working, draping on their aprons. Amongst all those people, filled with energy, Latina who had been sitting down quietly next to Granny Wendelgard, munching on the river fish pie that she had been given, noticed that Dale wasn’t here.
She looked to her right. Wenn-baa bit off a part of the herb-roasted meat, and chugged empty a bottle of wine. Further in, the newlywed bride, Freeda, was looking drunk, wobbling about as York took care of her.
She looked to her left. As the wine entered his body, the discussion Randolf was having with the villagers was slowly starting to get heated. However, the contents of the discussion was whether it would be better if his first grandchild would a boy or a girl, a ridiculous dispute.
Looking straight ahead, a lot of people were enjoying the banquet. The dish that Magda was bringing in right now, was one that Latina had helped make. It made her happy seeing people happily eating something that she had made.
“…Dale?”
However, she felt extraordinarily lonely without his presence.
Wenn-baa immediately noticed that Latina was looking about restlessly for Dale.
“Latina-chan?”
“Fuah?”
“You’re looking for my dumb grandson right? If you’re going to go look for him then you better do so being warm.”
Wenn-baa says as she gave Latina a stole near her. Latina thinks for a little bit, lowered her head with a bow, wrapped the stole around her then weaved through the waves of people to get outside.
Stepping out from the manor, the night breeze hitting against her face felt comfortable, cooling down the heat that came about from the enthusiasm of everyone.
A silence was drifting about, as if the liveliness inside was nothing but a lie.
Standing in the midst of it, was Dale.
Latina was relieved as she approached him, worried that he was acting somewhat different from normal.
“…Dale?”
Hearing that mutter as he was looking up, he started to smile as he normally would.
“….”
“What’s wrong Latina? It’s cold outside, go back inside.”
“Dale, you’re the one who taught me… that it’s fine not to smile, when you don’t want to, right?”
Listening to her words, and after a look of surprise, his smile changed as some bitterness was mixed in.
“…I’m fine, Latina. I’m sorry for worrying you.”
“…Dale…. are you lonely?”
“Today is a day to celebrate… there’s no way I would be lonely, right?”
Dale denies and hugs her tightly.
(…I wonder if it would it be better if I was more mature? If I was then I could probably help out Dale more.)
Becoming just a little bit sadder, Latina blinked her eyes which were starting to blur.
She wished, thinking that it would be nice if she was also able to help him, just like he has always been helping her.
She thought that, if she was more mature then, it’s possible, that she might not have to see him wearing such a painful smile. Despite that, she thought that at the very least, she would hug him tight, just like how she got 『saved』 by him.
“It would be good… if I grew up quicker…”
With that mutter, this time for sure, Dale smiled bitterly 『like always』.
“I think that it’s fine you know? If you were to take your time to grow up. Don’t try too hard.”
As he was trying to pat her head, he noticed that she was starting to cry.
His palm which had been patting her head, slid down to her cheek.
“You’re really….such a kind child, Latina….”
He never thought that he would be 『seen through』 like this by Latina.
Being asked if he was “Lonely”; He was aware that he was feeling something similar to that.
His little brother’s wedding. All the blessings from the villagers. The voices that pray for further prosperity for their clan.
And yet he wasn’t a part of that. Everyone was recalling a time that he didn’t know of.
The time he wasn’t here, in his hometown, time was, without a doubt still flowing, and even if he wasn’t here, it would probably continue to flow.
He had known that it would be like this and yet, feelings of loneliness was still taking place in his chest.
He had thought that he would be the heir to the clan ever since he started to be aware of his surroundings. The people around him also looked at him with such gazes and, handled him as such.
He had never thought that it was agonizing to exist for the clan. His father, his grandparents and further…. The one who was to continue what generations of clan heads had protected, was what he based his roots on.
Even the act of yielding the seat of the 『Clan head』 to his little brother, was for the sake of the clan.
In order to protect his clan, in order to protect 『Tisroh』, he left this place, his hometown.
He chose this path, to take on the name 『Reki』 and protect this place from the outside world.
Nevertheless there’ll be times when he’ll think.
That, if he didn’t have this 『Power (divine protection)』, then he might have been able to continue to stay here.
That, the one sitting in 『that position (the next clan head)』 should’ve been him.
“I just….drank a bit too much. Why don’t we take a stroll to get the alcohol out of my system?”
“….Ok.”
Holding their hands and walking together had become natural for them at some point.
The fact that this young, little girl would stay by his side, was natural and above all else, invaluable.
Since a long time ago, Tisroh would be looked down on by the 『Lords』 of the nearby lands.
Their entire clan were people who lived and abided by their own peculiar culture. Originally, it meant that they didn’t even belong to 『this country』.
Despite that, the reason why no one had come to get rid of them for being rebels was, solely because the engineering skills of Tisroh are both extraordinary and unique.
The colony called 『Tisroh』 was also known to other countries.
In the past, there were powerful people who had wanted that land. The Tisroh of that land resisted to the last man and in the end, in one night, everyone in the village retreated, not one person remaining, making it a completely empty shell of a town.
The one thing that their clan treated as most important was the 『clan』 itself. Because of that, to abandon the land ended up being one of their options.
The land that Tisroh had left, also lost it’s abundant 『Divine protection』, and it’s incomparably fertile dirt had also soon returned back to normal. They ended up having to live in a distant, hard to reach mountain.
Forcing them into a war of attrition and breaking their defenses for the sake of capitalising on the benefits of their strong land, they fought against the excellent warriors and magicians of Tisroh, and what they gained in the end was just an abandoned village. It wasn’t really worth it.
After Tisroh migrated, it wasn’t hard establishing a new village.
After all, Earth magic was extremely powerful to cultivate land.
Furthermore, no matter what land it was, Tisroh’s 『techniques』 held massive product value. Their unique magic tool techniques were similar to a chicken laying golden eggs after all.
Even in this country, the District lord shunned 『Tisroh』. — That wasn’t their fault. All the villages around this region already saw 『Tisroh』 as more important than the lord.
Possessing an enormous amount of knowledge and wisdom, with the amount of harvest their abundant land brings forth as well as their food reserves, in times of crisis they were capable confining themselves to fight a siege war and at the same time, they were even able to guarantee enough food to support the surrounding colonies.
They also had a lot of magicians. 『Earth』 magic, was an attribute which could use healing magic. Furthermore, this clan of the land was familiar with medicines as well. Whether it’s a fatal injury or sickness, if it’s this clan then, they had the ability to save them.
It’s impossible for the people of authority to not shun them. That’s just how powerful the clan called 『Tisroh』 is.
However, those who are a part of the core of the country find it troubling that 『Tisroh』 had been chased away from another country.
Losing a valuable source of magic tool production, and causing a national state where there wasn’t enough magic tools is related to the entire nation. The benefits 『Tisroh’s magic tools』 bring about to Raband cannot be ignored as well. It would be a likely reason for greatly affecting trades and commerce.
And if it was established that 『Tisroh』 who had abandoned their land, would return back to that other country then, all those benefits that spawn from 『Tisroh’s magic tools』 would belong to that country. It would probably be well to say that, that was a situation they wanted to avoid.
Considering the people who hold the key power, it was the 『absolute best』 for them if they, above all else, maintained the current status quo.
This was a long standing relation between the three, 『Tisroh』, 『Raband』 and 『District lord』, but the lord had been taken over and that person, who started to govern the surrounding regions, didn’t try to conceal their opposition towards 『Tisroh』 and with that, started to shake the equilibrium.
The one they targeted was, the one worthy of being Tisroh’s clan head, Wendelgard.