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Youth, With the Rose-coloured Princess.
“….Rose!!?”
Dale, having returned to the 『Dancing Ocelot』, shouted out hysterically upon seeing Rose leaning towards the tea utensils. Wind, who was following behind him, went forward at its own pace, and rubbed its head on Latina. Presumably, asking for praise.
“Thank you, Wind. Dale, welcome home…. Um, you see, I don’t really understand but…. I ended up meeting Rose-sama.”
“That explanation really doesn’t give me any clues…”
Latina looks up at Dale as she pets Wind, who was sitting down. She felt confused, and tilted her head slightly.
As opposed to Dale, who was obviously more confused than anything, Rose smiles and greeted him in a simple manner. Even her casual movements made them feel like they were polished. Even when she had on a dusty traveler’s outfit, you could tell that she was an elite.
“It has been a long time, Dale-sama.”
“Yeah….. Why are you here?”
“Although I look like this, I am in trouble…. I’ll get straight to the point. I was kidnapped, just a few days ago.”
It was a bombshell of a statement.
“Eh? Uehhh!?”
A strange scream came out from Dale. It was so shocking for Latina, that she couldn’t even speak. Wind was just shaking his tail, pomf pomf, just as usual.
“By….by the Second Demon Lord?”
Latina murmurs, thinking back to when Rose had first arrived at the 『Ocelot』, and said that one sentence before quietening down. Hearing that, Rose shook her head.
“No. It was a different group of people who had kidnapped me. ….Although, it would be quite difficult now to find out who they were…. Since the Second Demon Lord killed those people.”
“How are you alright…. Rose-sama?”
Latina’s voice was stiff.
Since she was young, this girl would always have this sort of expression when the topic known as the 『Second Demon Lord』 came up.
For the citizens of the 『First Demon Lord’s 』 country, Vasirio, the Second Demon Lord who killed 『Their king』 was their sworn enemy. Dale guessed, that it was probably because of that.
“It must’ve been on a whim. Because he found my Magic Manifestation…. 『interesting』.”
“….Did he just let you go like that without a hitch?”
“The close aide of the Second Demon Lord, let me run away. I don’t really know the details either…. But it didn’t look like they served the Second Demon Lord with a loyal heart….”
“…..The Second Demon Lord, dominates over his own 『Devils』…. His own followers, with fear. Treating them as slaves, as toys…. He was different from the First Demon Lord, who would welcome those who could help him as his devils and 『live』 together….”
The one who answered in bits and pieces, was Latina, telling them with a stiff expression and an indifferent tone.
“Latina?”
“The Second Demon Lord is scary. ….Back then, when he killed the First Demon Lord, his only reason was that basically… it wasn’t fun killing dead people.”
“….Why do you know such a thing?”
At Dale’s question, she blinks once and her expression went back to normal. She looks up at Dale and became a little sad.
“I heard about it a long time ago, back when I was in my birth home. They told me that, the Second Demon Lord is really, really scary so you have to be careful. If you meet him, he may end up killing you so, hide yourself properly, they said.”
“….By your dad?”
“Not just Rag. Since the one who usually told me about the Demon Lord…. Was my mother.”
“….The one who allowed me to escape, also informed me of something similar.”
After Rose says that, she looks at Dale again.
“After experiencing something like that, I wasn’t able to carelessly release my personal locations. ….I remembered about Dale-sama, and although I managed to come all the way to this city, I was troubled since I didn’t know where exactly you were, which was when I was helped out by the 『Fairy Princess』.”
“….Dale.”
Hearing Rose say her nickname once again, Latina looks at Dale with somewhat angry eyes. As he felt a bit of cold sweat coming down him, Dale quietly evaded her glance.
Lately, when he loudly shouts out 『MY DAUGHTER IS SO CUTE』, he would receive a somewhat annoyed reaction from her. Maybe it was because she’s grown up, but it made him feel slightly lonely.
And thus, so that Latina doesn’t notice, when she isn’t here he would repeatedly 『boast about his daughter』 and hand out threats related to that. He wasn’t restrained in the least. That would never change.
“Since I also didn’t know the background of the person who initially kidnapped me…. I didn’t know who to rely on…. And so, I came to Dale-sam-”
“Yea, yeah. If you’re talking about that then, it definitely wouldn’t end with just worry when it comes to that guy…. Also even if I write out the letter right now, it may take a few days before a reply comes back, you know? What are you going to do during that time?”
“If you would introduce me to a place, I will stay over there. If it’s this city then, there should quite a few inns that are targeted towards travelers right?”
“…..I don’t really know any high-class inns that I could introduce to you Rose….”
“Oh my. I’m not really carrying that much with me, so it would help if the inn was cheaper. I stayed at that sort of inn when I was coming to this city as well.”
“….Rose.”
“Fuehh….”
Dale let out a sigh hearing Rose say such a ridiculous thing with a smile on her face, and Latina was shocked, openly letting out her favourite saying.
It seems that Latina had been trying to change her favourite saying which had made her feel like a child, but it seems it would still come out when she was moved, and it didn’t seem like she could shake the habit.
It would be fine if she stays that way. Since she’s cute. Was what Dale, the doting parent thought.
“If you do something so reckless, who knows what that guy will do….”
“I mean, I was kidnapped….isn’t it obvious that I wouldn’t have much money on me? Pretending to be like the adventurers, I managed to make some travel money, but that isn’t going to last…..”
“Wha….wait, Rose? What did you do?”
“I took some jobs at the cities on the way here. Killing magic beasts, and then selling those parts. That’s how I earned my travel money all the way here…. What’s wrong?”
“Uh, um…. Dale….”
All of a sudden, as if she couldn’t hold back anymore, Latina interrupted. Her expression already had a shade of confusion.
“Rose-sama…. Is a princess, right….?
“….If you mean that she is the daughter of a noble.”
“Don’t you think~?”
Calling Rose, who was pleasantly laughing, a 『Princess』 wasn’t wrong, judging by her appearance and mannerism. However, it seems that her personality was quite different.
“…..Along the way, no one picked a fight with you or anything?”
“Dale-sama. I made such people quieten down, you do not have to worry.”
Rather, I couldn’t help but worry.
“It was an accepted opinion that magicians are useless in close quarters combat, but for someone like me who has an excess in magic power, with just a few simple continuous chants, I can make many things happen.”
Dale too, with the blessing of his 『Divine Protection』, had excess magic power. It’s not like he didn’t understand that. It was basically, oppression through fast, simple invocations.
Nevertheless, that probably wasn’t something a frail looking woman like her should be uttering.
Dale was acquainted with Rose, but since they were only casual friends, there was no way the two of them were that close. He never would have thought that she had such a lack of common sense. It betrayed her outer appearance too much.
(I knew that she was an excellent magician but….)
He sighed as he had his inner monologue.
“In that case, you might as well just stay 『here, at the Ocelot』…..  It’s fine right, Kenneth?”
“I could do something about the room but…. I won’t be changing the customers around that room, alright?”
“It should be better than going to other inns…. Anyway, if I said that I let my eye off you, I would be killed by that guy…..”
His friend’s ability was something even Dale acknowledged. He would really rather not make him angry and have a serious fight.
“Do I have enough, I wonder?”
“….If it’s just that much, I’ll take care of it….”
This 『Rose-coloured Princess』, with her extremely strict way of managing money, revealed a brilliant smile, befitting of her nickname.