UchiMusume – Side Story

I just translate things in order ;v Well, i’m 90% done with the next chapter anyway. Just been lazy and anxious cause apparently i got the job but they haven’t sent me email yet :c
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Side Story, Wanting to Fluff Fluff a Kitty.

 

Latina likes animals.

 

And it seemed, when it comes to animals, she was also easily liked by canines. Even if you take away everything that 『happened』 in Tisroh, it wasn’t rare for other dogs to approach her when she went for walks, and play with her.

However, it seems cats kept their distance from her. It seems her way of approaching them was bad. Her feelings of wanting to touch one, pet one, were way too overboard, and they end up running away.

 

In this world, things like zoos didn’t exist. Due to that, the people who live in cities were very limited in the variety of animals that they could see. The most they could see were either pets or trained animals.

Latina seemed to have quite a harsh opinion in a strange way.  It seems she would treat trained animals as livestock, and thinks that “They’re so cute, but their meat is delicious”.

She wouldn’t become a vegetarian. Because they were too delicious.

 

A certain day, at the 『(Yellow God)Asfar’s』 school that Latina went to every day, she heard something from one of her best friends, Silvia.

 

“A gathering of cats…..!”

 

It was a 『gathering』 of the dreams.

“Yes, yes. All the cats gather together during the night. I’ve seen them leave the markets during the day from the central plaza.”

“Are…. are there a lot of cats?”

“Yeah, lots. Tons!”

Around half way through Silvia talking, Latina was already so excited, she was flushing red.

“Cat…..Cat….”

“Latina, you haven’t been saying anything but 『Cat』 for a little while now, but, are you okay?”

Hearing Chloe’s remarks, together with her cold sweat, Silvia laughed out loud, but it seemed Latina didn’t even hear her.

 

(Tons of cats….. Tabby cats, white cats, black cats! If there’s so many cats, then I should be able to pet at least one.”

Her heart had been taken away by a Cat paradise.

 

However, there was a great obstacle.

It was the time of day.

Latina was allowed to walk by herself, but that was limited to the day.

There had been a time when she sneaked out — because she had gone to see some monsters on the 『Holy night』 with her friends — and had gotten in trouble, but more than that, it seems she had made, not just Dale, but even Rita and Kenneth 『worried』. After that, she had never tried to go and play at night without permission.

“….I want to go see the Cat gathering…. But….”

However, 『Dancing Ocelot』 was still working during the night. She couldn’t go and pester Rita or Kenneth, who were working, and selfishly say ‘I want to go to the Central plaza’.

And Dale didn’t have a set time coming home.

Furthermore, she found it hard to needlessly ask Dale for his time, when he comes home so tired. It’s precisely because Latina had 『loved』 him for such a long time, that she couldn’t face him and say anything selfish.

 

Being somewhat spaced out, the adults around Latina were looking at her curiously as she ate dinner.

 

That night, Latina saw a dream.

It was a sight of countless cats, as far as she could see, all stretching themselves out as they pleased, and she could play around with them as she liked.

So this was where Eden was, she thought.

It was the moment when her heart was pounding, her hands reaching out to a soft kitten with a brown tiger-like pattern on its back, that she woke up.

If I was going to wake up then it would’ve been better if I could just look at them for a little bit longer, thought Latina wrapped in her blanket.

By the time she noticed, her pillow was wet with tears.

 

“What’s wrong with Latina?”

Dale’s words were sudden, but were also words that all the adults gathered presently in the 『Dancing Ocelot』 were thinking about.

 

She would appear to be thinking of something absentmindedly, and then, fuu, would sigh.

Even when she would begin to ask a question with a sad look on her face, she would shake her head saying, ‘It’s nothing.’

She would think of something, and then while lost in thought, show a happy smile.

 

This has 『happened before』 to Latina.

They had noticed something off about her, and because they looked to deal with it later, she actually ended up doing something as ridiculous as 『breaking off her own horn』. The fact that this resulted from her being cornered, was something all the adults regretted.

There was no way that they could leave her current 『strangeness』 alone.

 

Which is why, in the moment that they heard out Latina’s desperate『reason』 — Dale was so relieved, he broke down.

(So cute….!)

“Dale?”

Even when he heard Latina’s considerate voice as he was looking down, shoulders trembling, he couldn’t form an answer. He felt sorry for Latina, who was being so serious, but he knew he would end up rolling on the floor, laughing. Although, this was also because he was relieved.

 

“….If you want to see some cats then, you don’t have to go out at night. Next to my house, there’s a 『Cat house』 that’s famous even in the Eastern District.”

Hearing a regular, Gilbester’s voice, Latina looked back at him as if saying “What!?”

With a feeling as if saying that, her 『world』 was still too small; To think that such paradise in the world wasn’t just limited to the 『Cat gathering』.

 

When Dale looked up, and returned to his senses, Latina’s interest has already been caught by Gilbester.

He was too late.

While saying, ‘Can’t be helped…’, he knew he had missed the chance to have her say “I knew it, Dale is the best!” after he gave the OK.

He felt like angrily chewing on a handkerchief.

 

“Will Latina be allowed to go to Gil-san’s neighbour’s house? Will Latina be allowed?”

“Well, it is next door. We’re more or less acquainted. I’ll go talk to them.”

“REALLY!? Thank you Gil-san!!”

Being thanked by Latina, with a full face of smiles, Gilbester’s face slackened slovenly. The might of the smile on Gilbester’s mean face, was so amazing that others might think that this broad smile of his, was his normal expression.

 

“An old grandpa by the name of Gojo Shihes lives there by himself, and it seems he was born from an island country far off in the sea. It’s a weird name right?”

“Hm? Gilbester, can you say that grandpa’s name again?”

Dale asks for his name again, and Gilbester replied, despite a curious look.

“He’s a former adventurer, a grandpa going by the name of Gojo Shihes.”

“…..Maybe, I think I might know that grandpa.”

After searching into the back of his mind, Dale mutters, and it wasn’t just Gilbester, but even Kenneth seemed surprised.

“If we’re talking about Old Shihes then…. He took care of me as an adventurer of the previous generation but… by the time that Dale had become an adventurer, he should have already retired.”

The reason Kenneth was inclining his head, puzzled, was because the one who taught Dale the basics as an adventurer was none other than him.

“At my grandpa’s funeral…. A grandpa by that name had come by. I heard that my grandpa used to be well known across the world as a swordsman before he married into the family, so maybe they were comrades back then.”

 

It seems Dale’s memory held up as when Gilbester was acting as the middle party, and introducing them to Old Shihes, as soon as he heard that Dale was from Tisroh,

 

— His expressions clearly crunched up, and yelled.

“You’re Wendelgard’s grandson….!”

 

Seeing the elder’s expression, Dale lowered his head as a reflex.

“My apologies. My grandmother had caused you trouble in those times!”

 

He didn’t know 『which times』 they were. However, without a doubt, that grandmother of his had definitely done something. After all, it was that granny.

Seeing Dale immediately apologize, Latina was so surprised she couldn’t speak, and looked somewhat sourly at Old Shihes with a complicated look.

 

“….T-that’s true. If you’re Wendelgard’s grandson then, that also means, you’re Reinard’s grandson as well.”

And then, he had muttered Dale’s grandfather, 『Reinard’s』 name.

 

It seems Old Shihes used to be party members with Dale’s grandfather, Reinard, when they were adventurers.

Since Wenn-baa was also working with them at one point, it meant that they’ve met before.

“This is the first time I’m hearing that old bag being something of an adventurer.”

“Reinard wasn’t only skilled with a sword, but also excelled at magic. However, because of his attributes, he wasn’t suitable for recovery magic. That’s why he went looking for a magician who was proficient with recovery magic but….”

“Ahhh….”

Although she looks like that, Wenn-baa’s attributes were 『Holy』, 『Water』 and 『Earth』. She, skilled in using magic, and raised in Tisroh, was an expert in recovery and defensive type magic.

“For some reason, that lass, who was supposed to be specialised in support magic, would head out further out than the vanguards, and beat the magic beasts to death.”

“Ahh…. ah…. I truly, apologize….”

 

A young girl with a small frame; The sight of the Wendelgard of that time completely bashing gigantic magic beasts, much larger than herself.

 

It was quite a traumatic sight for those men who had both their confidence in their skills, and hearts, broken.

 

As her grandson, Dale knew just how irresponsible his own grandmother was.

His grandmother, Wendelgard, had a 『Divine Protection』. She only had one that belonged to 『(Orange god)Korumozei』, but that 『Divine Protection』 was of a higher rank than even Dale’s.

The reason why she was capable of such an impossible task as beating up gigantic magic beasts, was because a technique that she had formulated from that high ranking 『Divine protection』.

 

And then, 『that』 personality.

 

It seems that — There was no one in their group, that thought of her as the lone flower.

 

“Even if she caught my friend’s eye…. From how I saw it, Reinard was an accomplished guy. He was a lady killer too so, he should have been able to choose whoever he wanted….. Why would he choose Wendelgard of all people?”

“That’s a mystery, even to me, her grandson.”

 

Actually, the truth was puzzling even within his own clan.

His grandfather, Reinard, was someone who married in as a groom, and an 『Outsider』, but from what Dale remembers, his grandfather was respected by everyone within the clan, and was someone they loved dearly.

He was here before Teacher Cornelio and thus, the one who was responsible for the education of all the children in the clan, as well as the one who taught the basics of swordsmanship to his son, Randolf, and grandson, Dale, was him, their grandfather. The reason why Dale, someone born in a clan of hunters, proficient in archery, was accustomed to the sword was because of his grandfather’s teachings.

 

He was a man of his word, someone who could do anything, and had no faults. His one single flaw, could be said that he was the groom of that Wendelgard.

— No, maybe it was precisely because it was that person, that he was even capable of accepting Wendelgard. —

All of the elders who were well versed about the Tisroh of that time, sighed as they looked far off into the distance. It seems that, at that time, all the men in the clan who were in the same age bracket as Wenn-baa had all said “No way!” in unison.

— The fact that the young Wendelgard went 『outside』, posing as an adventurer, was for the sake of looking for a groom, was something her grandson, Dale, didn’t know.

 

In front of Dale, who had been listening to his grandfather’s old tales, Latina was holding a green foxtail in one of her hands, slowly walking towards a large white cat, as if she was trying to shorten their distance.

As expected from someone who established a mansion in the high-end residential area of Kroix’s Eastern District, Old Shihes was living a life where he had even hired several servants. Even though there were wild animals, cats, that he had raised in order to comfort his loneliness from living alone, the room didn’t look messy at all.

Latina was taken to the living room, and she felt so excited the instant she caught sight of the many cats stretching themselves.

 

Being so excited that even Dale was a little surprised, having never seen her act that way before.

“!!!! DALE!! DALE!!! CATS, CATS!! So many!!”

Jumping like a rabbit, rotating 180 degrees, it was like every single syllable of hers had an exclamation mark attached to it.

What surprised Dale even more was that all the cats in the room ended up treating Latina with caution in that one instant. A few of the cats immediately ran out of the room.

(That was a bad move…. Latina….)

However, the excited Latina didn’t seem to be capable of calmly analysing the situation, and went to chase after the cats, who were beginning to run away, as if trying to corner them.

 

Most likely, the reason why she usually wasn’t able to deal with them well was because she couldn’t control her unrestrained assaults — Was how Dale tried to analyse the situation.

 

As a result, Latina, had completely been treated by the cats as a 『Dangerous individual』, and she couldn’t really close the gap between them, as they ran away from her.

However, she didn’t give up even then, and kept challenging them over and over again.

Even now, the large cat which was moving nimbly unfitting of its large frame, had jumped up on top of the shelves where Latina couldn’t reach.

Latina droops her shoulders down, disappointed.

 

“Latina looks so cute even when she’s trying her best~”

Muttering so, on top of Dale’s knee, a black spotted cat was casually sleeping. Dale was thinking about how to call out to Latina as he gently pets the animal.

In her current condition, Latina would probably end up making all the cats run away with her loud voice. If they were sleeping for him right now like this then, Latina would probably be able to pet it as much as she wants, so he has to calm Latina down one way or another.

 

The elder was looking at such a Dale as the traces of his old friend, who he hadn’t thought about in a long time, overlapped.

On that face, carved with deep wrinkles, he had a face that looked like he was swallowing down feelings that would have his face quietly fill up with some warm liquid, and was secretly thinking about those long past days, once upon a time.

 

(TL: Baby Ocelots are cute as shit)

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