Thanks for reading~
I"m sorry.
I am currently in a seiza position inside the shop.
In front of me, sensei is taking an imposing stance.
By the way, his wife put Ura in the bath, since she"s all worn out.
"Velt. You know, my house is a ramen restaurant. It"s not an orphanage, alright?" (Melma)
"Ye, yeah." (Velt)
"In addition, when I thought you were late coming back from delivering food, apparently you were meeting one of the seven great demon kings~? Furthermore, that demon king was Samejima~? And then you"re going to take care of his daughter because of Samejima"s request~?" (Melma)
"Ye, yeah, um, I"m sorry sensei. There wasn"t much time to discuss about it, so the discussion ended up advancing in leaps and bounds. And so." (Velt)
I talked to sensei truthfully about everything that I couldn"t tell the king, Forna, and the others.
After listening to everything, sensei was either angry, or had mixed feelings, as he was shaking his head sideways with an indescribable expression.
"Well, if I was in the same situation, I probably would have taken in that girl. You aren"t mistaken at all." (Melma)
"Sensei." (Velt)
"But, what I"m frustrated at, is myself, that couldn"t do anything." (Melma)
Sensei"s feelings are slightly different to me, as they have sadness mixed in.
That"s right. Sensei was also the homeroom teacher for Samejima.
"I wanted to meet him at least once, even if it"s just a glance." (Melma)
Even though his own student died in an accident, reincarnated into a demon king, fought with the world, was burdened with great things, and might have suffered, sensei couldn"t do anything even until the end, when he pa.s.sed away.
He must have had the feelings of wanting to meet him at least once.
I also wanted Samejima to meet sensei.
I"m frustrated about that as well.
"I"m really sorry, sensei. I couldn"t do anything about Samejima. I couldn"t lecture him, listen to his troubles, or even help him. On top of that, even though I said I"ll take in his daughter, I had to rely on the king and you in the end." (Velt)
On top of that, I"m telling him to take care of someone else"s brat in his happy, married life.
The troubles to sensei will……
"Don"t look down on me, idiot. Do you think my family wouldn"t be able to take care of one or two brats?" (Melma)
As I made an apologetic face, sensei suddenly made a fist.
"I mean, my wife would probably be in high spirits, saying something like "we have a daughter, yay~". However, that"s not the problem." (Melma)
"Eh, then, is it that she"s a demon?" (Velt)
"Ah~, that"s certainly a problem as well. She"s just a small child with pointed ears to me, but the people of this world probably wouldn"t see her like that. My wife is different though. But, the biggest problem isn"t that either." (Melma)
"The, then, what"s the biggest problem?" (Velt)
"It"s about what we should do about that girl"s future." (Melma)
Future. That was something Samejima said to me too.
What"s most important, isn"t to have the power to protect the demon king"s daughter.
It"s whether or not I can seriously think about Ura and her future.
"Velt. In this kind of world that"s familiar with wars full of magic, my experience as a teacher or as a guidance counselor has no meaning what so ever. Listen, in this country, in a human"s continent, what kind of life can a demon have?" (Melma)
"Yeah, well, certainly." (Velt)
"The king said he might let her go to school. But whether she can properly attend is a different matter. What about friends? What about finding employment? Or else, is she going to return to the demon country? There"s no end to it once you start thinking about it." (Melma)
"True. I was told a lot of things by the king as well. I"ll have to seriously think about her." (Velt)
"That"s right. Besides, you will eventually leave this country to search for Kamino. At that time, what will you do about that girl? To be honest, I don"t know how much I can do for that girl. I"m the same as you." (Melma)
It"s exactly as sensei said.
And, I hadn"t been honestly thinking about Kamino.
One day, I"ll leave this country to search for Kamino. There is no falsehood in that.
However, I hadn"t thought about what I"ll do with Ura at that time.
Sensei had already thought about Ura seriously.
And, that is,
"You"re going to leave this place someday. That"s why I didn"t just make you do odd jobs, but also taught you how to make ramen. I"m not going to make you succeed the shop or something like that, but it"s because I thought it would be better if you had already learnt something before you jump up in the world." (Melma)
The same for me as well.
Sensei was thinking about me a lot more than how much I thought.
"In this world, I have only done cooking. So, the things I can pa.s.s on to my child are limited. All I have is a beautiful wife, a cooking ability, and a d.a.m.n cheeky student, after all. As someone like that, what can I do for Samejima"s daughter? It"s pathetic, but I ended up thinking about that." (Melma)
I"m the same. No, there are even less things I can do than sensei.
But, I prepared myself for the worst. So, I"ll do anything, no matter what it is. That"s what I think.
"Dear~, Velt-kun, here, please look!" (Melma"s Wife) (TL Note: Was she given a name?)
At that moment, as if destroying our atmosphere, we heard his wife"s happy, cheerful voice.
"Ta-dah, Ura-chan"s pajamas suit her, don"t they! I borrowed them from the princess." (Melma"s Wife)
With wet hair straight out of the bath, Ura timidly showed her face.
She"s apparently wearing Forna"s pajamas.
It"s a princess"s pajama with a light blue flower pattern, and frills on it.
The length goes up to around her knees. Since she"s the same age as Forna, the size is just right.
In addition to that, it"s Forna"s pajamas, so a high cla.s.s feeling that has both cuteness and elegance is drifting about her.
However, the fact that there"s no out of place feeling as she"s wearing that made me feel that Ura really is a princess.
"Ooh, cute cute." (Velt)
"Are, are you, sure?" (Ura)
"That looks good on you, Ura-chan. You"re probably tired for today, so sleep in Velt"s room. Velt, you spread a sheet here and sleep. You don"t have any complaints, right?" (Melma)
"Eh, but I"m a freeloader, so I will sleep on the floor." (Ura)
"Don"t mind it. This brat is a guy that can sleep like a log even if he"s flat on a desk. Something like this is nothing to him." (Melma)
Sensei rea.s.suringly patted Ura"s shoulder. Since Ura was nervous, she must have been surprised.
It"s probably her first time talking with a human adult this frankly after all.
Sensei isn"t going to call Ura a princess anymore. In reality, she"s not a princess anymore, so that isn"t wrong.
"Ura-chan." (Melma)
"Yeah. No, yes." (Ura) (TL Note: Correcting herself to speak more formally)
"A lot of things will probably happen from now on, but uncle, this aun-, young lady and this boy will help you as much as possible. Let"s do our best living together." (Melma)
Leaving aside how a black aura came out of his wife that"s usually quiet when he was about to say aunt, Ura"s chest was probably hit by sensei"s consideration, as she seemed like she was about to cry, and nodded.
And then, fixing her posture, she lowered her head deeply.
"Um, so, although it has suddenly become like this, I cannot thank you enough from the bottom of my heart for your consideration. I know I will most likely cause much trouble, but I will quickly make sure not to cause trouble for everyone. Until then, please treat me well." (Ura)
A very deep thanks. How admirable. I thought about stroking her head.
Then, seeing Ura"s figure, sensei seemed like he was about to cry.
"Unbelievable. For there to be a 10 year old in this world that can properly greet and show good faith, but there’s also a guy that can"t even show good faith nor properly lower his head, even though his mental age is past 17 years." (Melma)
"Geez, Ura-chan! Children should be causing trouble for their parents! Since children cause a lot of trouble, it makes us think that we should work hard after all." (Melma"s wife)
There"s a heap of things to think about after this. But, I feel like it"ll work out somehow.
I feel like I got another family member. It feels like I got a younger sister that resembles a daughter.
While laughing with each other, we decided to rest today.
There will be a lot of difficult things from tomorrow, but we swore as a four that we will work hard.
Too many things happened today so I"m tired too.
Slightly moving the chairs and tables inside the store, I lay sheets on the floor and collapsed onto it on the spot.
Just like this, I"m going to fall fast asleep. That"s what I thought.
However,
"Velt…… are you awake?" (Ura)
It seems someone came with soft steps. Well, even if I say that, there"s only one person that would do that.
"What"s up~?" (Velt)
While hugging a pillow, Ura was fidgeting for some reason.
What"s she doing?
"Hey, Velt. Um." (Ura)
"Ahn?" (Velt)
……?
This brat is looking at me with a somewhat helpless face.
For some reason, she even brought a pillow.
Oi oi oi oi, is it that? She"s not going to say she"s too scared to sleep alone right? She"s not a brat after all……
"So, um, just for today, um." (Ura)
No, she was completely a brat. And probably because she’s embarra.s.sed, she’s finding it hard to say that.
Her eyes looked to the side and me, multiple times, and they aren"t steadying.
As expected, not matter how mature she looks, she"s a brat in the inside.
Well, all her family and the people close with her died. It"s only natural.
I guess there"s no helping it.
"Here, your back will hurt since it"s the ground, but go ahead." (Velt)
"!" (Ura)
"Uoh, ca, calm down." (Velt)
When I tried to spread the sheets and let her on, Ura suddenly slipped in.
"Velt." (Ura)
"Ahn?" (Velt)
"You are sometimes mature, and treat me like a child." (Ura)
"Hmm, ah~, yeah." (Velt)
Well, in reality, you"re basically a brat to me though.
"Don"t treat me like a child." (Ura)
If I said "if so, then go sleep in the bed alone," would it be childish?
"But, thanks." (Ura)
"…… Yeah." (Velt)
"Without you, I really would have been all alone after all……" (Ura)
By the time I realized it, Ura"s hands were around my neck, her body was on my chest, and her legs were somehow clinging onto me as if I"m a body pillow.
Annoying.
But well, it"s warm.
"My father, Ruuga and all of the royal guards protected me, everyone, left me alone, everyone……" (Ura)
"Yeah~, but, um. But wasn"t it good in the end?" (Velt)
"Wha, what do you mean by-!" (Ura)
"No, like, what is it? The fact that they protected you means that they think your life is more important that their own, right? So, since they protected the person that"s most important to them, wasn"t that good? Well, I don"t want to die though." (Velt)
It"s no use. Like, I can"t think of any good comforting words.
Besides, she seems kinda angry too. Ah~, parenting is hard, huh.
"Even if that was the case……" (Ura)
"What is it." (Velt)
"Even if everyone thought that way, I definitely don"t want you to die as well." (Ura)
"Yeah." (Velt)
I don"t want to die twice after all.
As of now, I still can"t die like Samejima, where I have no regrets.
"Velt……" (Ura)
"What is it this time? You should sleep already. The mornings in a ramen restaurant are early." (Velt)
"Well…… um……" (Ura)
"?" (Velt)
"You hug me tightly as well." (Ura)
No, I"m being hugged tightly right now, but what?
You"re telling me to hug you?
How is it? Is it still safe age-wise?
Since I felt it was doubtful, I thought of dodging it, but at that moment.
"Well, that"s~." (Velt)
"Chu!" (Ura)
With a surprise attack, I felt my lips lightly touch something.
"!" (Velt)
"Go, good night! Ku, ku~, ku~, ku~, u, u~nn, munyamunya." (Ura) (TL Note: Making snoring noises, and the last munya thing is onomatopoeia when talking in your sleep.)
Without showing her face, Ura just buried her face in my chest and is forcing herself to sound like a sleeping person.
This……………… precocious brat!
Well, I"ll let her off just for today.