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Silver-haired Maiden, With her best friend.
Unlike back when they had been commuting to school every day, the time that she had to spend with her friends, who each had to carry on with their own lives, had clearly decreased.
However, it didn’t mean they could never meet, and after Latina had finished buying the several items she was asked of, she turned into a road heading towards the Eastern districts working street.
It wasn’t a particularly busy time for the 『Ocelot』 right now either. Kenneth had also anticipated that Latina would take a slight detour before telling her to go shopping.
“Chloe, it’s about our next break.”
Latina turned up in front of Chloe, who had been working on her needlework at home, bringing over some tea and cookies.
The cookies, more than being gifts, were merely things that she had wanted to eat.
Chloe also seemed to acknowledge that, and made space for the tea by pushing her work tools to the corner. Latina wasn’t shy as she opens the package that she had brought over.
“I’ve noticed that you’ve gained a bit of weight lately, is it okay?”
Chloe asks with a teasing tone, and Latina pouts a little.
“It’s fine, mon. I won’t eat too much, and after this I’ll be working a lot anyway!”
As she says this, Latina rubs the sides of her arms, perhaps a little concerned. From what Chloe could see, Latina didn’t look like she had any excess fat hanging off of her, but as they say, a maiden’s heart is delicate.
Seeing Latina making such a slightly complicated expression in front of the cookies that she had brought over, Chloe couldn’t stand it anymore and burst into laughter.
“Isn’t it alright for you to gain a little fat, Latina? It won’t 『add』 to the part you’re 『concerned』 about, you know.”
“I’m supposed to be growing, yet I’m the only one growing so slowly, mon.”
Compared to all of her friends, who were all gradually starting to grow into adults, their bodies having traces of maturity, Latina had grown taller, but her flat body that made her still feel like a child, was the source of Latina’s current problems.
“It’s just a bit, but it has gotten a bit bigger!”
Unlike what the person herself claims, you couldn’t really see Latina’s changes from what you could see above of her clothes.
Chloe knew that if this topic was to continue any longer than, Latina would start tearing up, and thus chose to quickly change the topic.
“So? You were saying about the next break?”
“Eh, un. Yeah. Silvia said that she would be able to take a break as well.”
“Silvia…. No matter how much you are in the 『Ocelot』…. To send a message with the 『Message board』…. Isn’t that bad?”
“I wonder what’ll happen? Silvia did say that 『I won’t be able to survive in this world if I wasn’t even able to do something like this! 』 though…. Working at a shrine must be quite tough as well.”
The job of the 『Green God(Ahdar’s)』 priests, was to 『gather information』. Those who have a 『Divine protection』 from Ahdar, said to be the guardian god for travelers, are greatly influenced by that, and naturally, have a strong interest towards unknown lands and information.
Those working in the shrine would be in charge of managing the gathered information, and depending on the location, it was their job to widely spread the information.
At the 『shrine』, they also had training and cultivating for the 『priests』 who would travel for the sake of gathering the information.
Silvia, as one such trainee, was trying her best in both studies and training.
『Dancing Ocelot』 had a terminal which was called 『Ahdar’s message board』, and as it was called, an 『Agency of the Shrine』, they had a close relationship with the shrine. Due to that relationship, sometimes the priests will also come to the shop. Priests in training like Silvia, would also be able to send for a message.
It wasn’t just limited to that. Somehow, 『Ahdar’s message board』 could send a personal message directly to Latina. Silvia’s 『Divine protection』 wasn’t such a powerful one, nor should it be something particularly special, but it seems it was quite good at getting her what she wanted.
Think about their friend who has been like that since they were in school, Latina and Chloe smiled bitterly at each other.
“I’m looking forward to it, (Red god) Ahmar’s night festival.”
In Kroix, they held festivals and events every season. There were also chairmanships for the local lord, as well as the chairmanships for the Eastern district’s commerce guild, but the grandest one even amongst all that, was the 『Night festival』 that the Shrine worshipping Ahmar holds.
The townspeople were also very familiar with the other shrines, such as the Harvest festival held by (Orange God) Korumozei’s shrine, or the Spirits Ceremony held by the (Indigo God) Nili’s shrine, however, there was absolutely no way that they could reach the scale of Ahmar’s shrine.
It was a festival that Latina had been taken to see almost every year by Dale, but this year was the first time that he had allowed her to go with her friends.
Although Dale, the doting parent he is, gave her permission to do so, he was still worried, and in front of Latina who had been making plans with her friends, kept interrupting them to an annoying degree.
Never ever move by yourself, he says. Do not enter streets with few people, he says. Do not let your guard down when a man approaches you, he says. Actually, he didn’t even mind if she used magic to repel them. Well, if that was the case then the one who attacks first wins. Consider all men, whether they’re weird or not to be enemies, and ATTACK! Good, yes! ……and such.
“Dale, I think the guards will get angry at me then.”
Latina looked at Dale straight in the eye with her own gray pupils, and replied honestly.
Even towards such a Latina, Dale didn’t hesitate and directed a refreshing smile towards her.
“It’s fine, this world is one where the strong eat the weak. You need to be ready for that.”
He didn’t feel shy saying that to her at all.
Latina herself thought that Dale was worrying too much.
And the people around her also thought that Dale was worrying too much, but also that it was natural for him to be worried.
The fact that she herself doesn’t seem to understand that made Dale even more worried, but it’s precisely due to Dale overreacting, that Latina doesn’t think about it too deeply, resulting in this regrettable result.
Latina looked happy, tasting the caramelized nuts on top of the cookie, before taking a glance at the piece of clothing Chloe was currently working on.
“Hmmm, will that really fit I wonder?”
“Didn’t we already go over this countless times when we were selecting the cloth?”
“Anyway, I’m looking forward to when it’s done!”
She smiled shyly, with a Ehehe, because she knew that, that was what she had ordered herself.
It was natural for a girl to want to wear new clothes when trying to match her excitement for the night festival.
“Since you’re the one choosing it Chloe, it always feels different somehow. Makes my heart beat a little.”
“You’re not happy with my choice?”
Chloe’s sulky expression was done on purpose. Latina also seemed to understand that.
“I just mean, I personally, wouldn’t choose this colour….”
“Latina, you’re so extreme! Although you think you like soft and frilly child-like clothes, when you try to dress up like an adult, you choose sexy clothes that don’t suit you.”
Putting both her hands at her waist, Chloe says with a sigh.
“I mean….”
“No, no 『I mean』. You have to wear clothes that suits you properly! You would’ve been fine if you chose to outfit yourself with ones of the colour and style that you liked from this line of clothing.”
It was understandable for Chloe to sigh. Because she was in the business of making clothes, she was sensitive to the daily designs and fashions. Although there were a lot of orders coming from the outer stores, it was also closely related to the dangerous scenario where you couldn’t sell it even if you tried.
In the case of Chloe, seeing her best friend, such an enviously, ridiculously beautiful young girl, who just by dressing up, would make both her and the clothes that she wore to shine.
Despite that, Latina was totally one sided towards loose fitting, cute clothes. Well, that was fine. For her friend, who was always spacing out, those clothes did indeed suit her.
The problem was that it was time for her to try to change such childlike tastes and make a change to more adult like clothes.
It wasn’t like that itself was bad. However, for some reason, whenever Latina does, she would try to choose sexy, adult clothes that were extreme even for adults.
However, they didn’t suit Latina at all, who had an immature body even amongst young women her own age. After a little while longer, if her figure became like that of the woman that she wishes to be, it would be a totally different story, but at this current point in time, it just looked completely wrong.
For Chloe who lived in the fashion world, it was an important matter that she could not overlook.
Because of that, since Latina had wanted some brand new clothes, Chloe put in some of her own designs.
She rejected all the cute decorations, but she made it so that it had an elegant design, and wasn’t too simple. The lace used wasn’t too childlike, and was of the excellent black kind. Furthermore, it had a chic tinge, making Latina’s vivid silver hair stand out.
It wasn’t 『adult』, but apart from it being age appropriate for the current Latina, it was also a design that was decided upon after Latina had seen it.
It was clear the amount of confidence Latina had towards Chloe’s choice.
Chloe believed that her best friend would not lose out to the princesses in the Eastern and Northern Districts.
“It would be good if it would surprise the person I want to show this to the most.”
With that one sentence, even her earlobes went all red.
Even if Chloe did know about the love that her best friend has had since they were children, she would still put all her effort into this.
(Author’s note: I was going to write about Florentine, but I realised that it was the name of a biscuit that originated from the actual place(Florence), so I couldn’t use it. Nevertheless, even if it was related to eating, the setting would still be fluffy as always.)