Yuusha-sama no Oshishou-sama Chapter 44.5

Side story: Birthday Gift

Author's Note: This fantasy world does not have Christmas, but I wanted to write this. A story of both the past and the future. I am sorry for the feels. (TN: Lazy paraphrase)

The Wandering Bird's Roost.

Every night, weary adventurers, merchants, and pilgrims sought rest there.
Strangers and acquaintances alike would drink and eat together as they carried out negotiations and shared news with one another. They laughed together, cried together, and sometimes, scuffled with one another.

Everyday, the inn overflowed with energy. However, when night fell, the bustle would die down, as if it had never existed. After the employees finished cleaning, they would go to bed, and the inn would become completely silent.

He shivered. The inside of the hut was no warmer than the air outside.
Wynn locked the door and stretched his tired body, which had worked from dawn to late in the night.

'It's a bit cold, isn't it?'

Thick clouds covered the night sky.
The chilling wind blew against his skin. He rubbed his chapped hands against each other and jogged in place. Hanna had given him hand-me-down clothes from Mark and Abel, but the clothes could not block out the cold, so he had no choice but to move his body.

'It's snowing. I hope it doesn't snow too much.'

Having warmed his body up a little, Wynn slipped into the fur rags that served as his blanket.

He had also received a few warm leather clothes, but they were all being used as part of his blanket.
While he was awake, he could move his body to warm himself up. Also, the kitchen he worked in was warm.

However, when he slept, it was a different story. The shivering kept him from being able to sleep well. This problem also affected the many people who slept on the streets.

Around this time of the year, during his early morning jog around town, he saw many shivering people trying to sleep on the streets. One time, Leti had been frightened by a frozen corpse, so now, he only took her through streets that had better public order.

'The sooner I go to sleep, the sooner I can wake up to train.'

After a full day of work, Wynn surrendered his exhausted body to his drowsiness.

Clatter.

He heard the door shaking.

"The wind's quite strong."

Wynn ignored it and kept trying to sleep.

Clatter!

He realized that it could not be the wind. It sounded as if somebody was trying to open the door.

'Who could it be, at this time?'

No thief would want to steal from such a small hut.
Wynn rubbed his eyes, then unlocked the door.

"Onii-chan!"

A little girl dashed through the open door and into Wynn's little hut.

"Huh? Leti? Why are you here?"

Leti was Wynn's childhood friend, a seven-year-old girl.
Leti clung to the surprised Wynn, sobbing as she repeated, "Onii-chan, Onii-chan!"

Leti's body heat and her fluffy, thick clothing gave Wynn a reprieve from the bone-chilling cold, but the problem of a crying girl took its place.

Despite the fact that it had already started to snow, she must have left her home and endured the freezing wind. She was dressed warmly, but she was still frozen to the bone.

Wynn went to the kitchen and poured a glass of milk. He added a bit of sugar to the glass and offered it to Leti, trying to comfort her.

Milk and sugar were quite expensive, and Hanna would scold him severely if he used it without permission. However, he believed that even Hanna would turn a blind eye if it was for Leti.

In the worst case, Wynn was willing to take the punishment to comfort Leti.

After gulping down the glass of warm milk, Leti sighed and began to tell Wynn what had happened.

"For Leti's debut, Leti's family was going to hold a birthday celebration for Leti's eighth birthday."

"I don't remember my elder brother's birthday party, but for my two elder sisters' birthdays were,
lots of people were invited, and there was a big feast with a lot of sweets. There were lots of gifts, too."

Then, unusually for them, her sisters had bragged about the gifts to her little sister, who had a room at the back of the house, when they visited her.

"When you turn eight, you'll get to wear a pretty dress, eat lots of sweets, and get a ton of presents!"

Leti's eyes had lit up with excitement at the thought.

'So when I turn eight, I'll eat with my whole family, together? We'll talk with each other every day?'

Leti was filled with anticipation for that day. She looked forward to being able to eat the sweets she got beloved brother together.

Leti had been filled with anticipation for that day. She had looked forward to being able to eat the sweets that she would receive with her beloved brother.

Then, at last, the long awaited birthday was a day away. However, her expectations were dashed.

"You must not go outside. Your are lacking in manners, and your dancing is abysmal. Heavens, you can't even write! Such a disgrace! You are forbidden from leaving the room!"

Her birthday party ended before it even began.

'That's not true! I do know my manners. I can dance and I do know how to write!'

She learned how to read and write with Wynn. Moreover, she would choose a book to show to Wynn each time. Unwittingly, she had gradually become able to read advanced Magic books. Through her dance practices with Wynn, her physical abilities had become exceptionally good for her age.

Her manners were certainly not perfect, but it was acceptable for a girl as young as her.

Leti's protests never reached her parents.

It was because the baron who was Leti's former tutor had given up on teaching her, claiming that she was an incompetent student.

However, Leti had no way of knowing that.

She could only crawl into her bed in misery. She had tried to figure out what she had done wrong, but couldn't find an answer. Eventually, her loneliness drove her to run all the way to Wynn's hut.

Leti finished telling her story and went back to sobbing miserably.

"It's alright. I'm right here. That's right, how about we celebrate your birthday together, with just the two of us? It won't last the whole day because I have work, but I can ask Aunt Hanna for some time off."

Wynn stroked Leti's pretty golden hair and comforted her.

"Let's go to sleep, Leti. It's late."

The two of them crawled into bed.

Leti fell fast asleep, due to a mixture of the fatigue from crying and the relief of being with Wynn.

Moonlight cut through the thick clouds and flowed through the latticed window that was used for ventilation, right onto Leti's innocent face.

Wynn gently wiped away the traces of her tears, as well as the milk around her mouth, before he laid down on the bed himself.

The draft that blew through the room was as cold as ever, but because of Leti's presence, the bed was slightly warmer than usual.

'I have to set aside some time in the afternoon.'

Wynn thought about how he could free up his afternoon as he fought off the waves of drowsiness. Once he came up with a plan, he sunk into a deep slumber.

Morning came.

For the first time since he had decided to become a knight, Wynn skipped out on his training.

Normally, Leti would have joined him in his training. However, she was still asleep.

Wynn quietly got out of bed and washed his face.

He intended to spend the whole afternoon playing with Leti.

He had to make it a wonderful birthday celebration for Leti. He had everything planned out.

He poured the water in the large barrel into several smaller containers, and then cleaned the barrel. Then, with a bucket in each hand, he ran to the nearby communal well. He went back and forth between the inn and the well until the barrel was full, and then began to clean the inn's pub and kitchen. After that, he washed and polished the tableware, and used the water that he had taken out of the barrel to wash the potatoes and the other vegetables. After washing the vegetables, he took inventory of the ingredients that the inn had.

By then, the sky had started to brighten.

Randell and Hanna woke up and began their work.

Wynn reported the current status of the ingredients to Randell.

"Hey, what's with you today? You're doing all this work earlier than normal!"

"Well, actually… Leti was sad that her family cancelled her birthday celebration. Because of that, she came to my home last night. That's why, in order to play with Leti this afternoon, I would like to have my afternoon off."

"Well, I guess it's fine once in a while."

Hanna agreed easily.

Wynn widened his eyes, surprised that she had agreed so easily. Randell was no less stupefied.

"What is it? Did I say something strange? I don't have any problems with it, since he finished his work. It would be sad if she never got to celebrate her birthday, so hurry up and finish your work!"

With that, Hanna opened the account book.

It seemed like she would do the accounting for him.

Wynn snapped Randell, who was surprised to see his wife acting so abnormally, out of his stupor to ask him which ingredients needed to be bought. He then got the money from Hanna and left for the market.

"What's gotten into you? You never grant Wynn a break."

Randell still could not understand why she had done so. Hanna looked up from the account book.

"He said a birthday celebration. It means that that girl is from a noble's family."

This single statement appeased Randell.

"Hmmm… Huh? Onii-chan?"

By the time Leti finally woke up, the sun was already quite high in the sky.

She had never visited Wynn this late in the day.

She left the shed. Despite the fact that it was her birthday, snow clouds covered the sky, resulting in a gloomy atmosphere.

'What should I do? I missed training…'

Strong emotions bubbled up inside her. This time, it was not sadness, but anger and self-loathing.

'Even though he said that we'd be together.'

She felt lonely and uneasy.

Small teardrops fell from Leti's emerald eyes.

"Oh, Leti!"

She heard the voice that she wanted to hear most. When she whirled around, she saw Wynn, who was wearing a wide smile.

"Whatcha doing? Let's go! Come wash your face. Crying doesn't suit your pretty face."

"Let's go? Where are we going?"

"Didn't I say so yesterday? We're gonna celebrate your birthday today! Look, I got some bread, cheese, and some sausages from Randell."

He was holding a basket full of food.

The small earthenware probably contained freshly squeezed fruit juice. She also saw some expensive fruits.

"Whoaa."

Leti widened her eyes.

"I guess this wouldn't really compare to what your family was going to prepare, but let's go and eat this outside the city!"

"Okay!"

Leti desperately tried to hold back her tears. However, the strong emotions that had bubbled up within her mellowed out and became softer.

There was a small hill outside the city.

The two of them ate there, on the grassy field, as they talked about silly and childish topics.

The food and drinks had been cooled down by the cold weather, but Leti still felt that it was more delicious than what she normally ate.

After they ate until they were full, they ran around in the grass.

"Look, snow! Onii-chan, it's snowing!"

The white snow seemed to dance as it floated to the ground.

"Hey Onii-chan, let's dance!"

Leti grabbed Wynn's hand.

The two of them whirled around in a dance that didn't seem like a dance, with Wynn awkwardly following her along. It was not a dance one would see in high society.

However, that did not matter to them.

Leti sang as they danced.

Even after Wynn became tired from the unfamiliar dance and sat down, Leti continued her dizzying dance.

Her voice was as clear as a bell. The snow seemed to dance to the sound of her voice as it fell.

Leti's voice outshone any of the minstrels who had stayed at the Wandering Bird's Roost.
Wynn felt that Leti's figure that danced in harmony with the snow was much prettier than any picture an artist could draw.

Time flew by quickly.

The city gates would close soon.

Wynn clenched both of his fists as he watched Leti reluctantly prepare to go back.

They had feasted and they had danced. The last thing left was to give her a present.

While he was at the market stocking up for the inn, he had brought some of the money he had been saving up to pay for his admission to the Knight Academy.

He had bought a lunchbox from Randell as a customer.

He had then bought a present from an accessory shop at the market.

Leti had occasionally stopped to gaze at the accessory.

Leti never lacked food or clothing, but unlike her older siblings, she had never received a present.

She had only been able to watch from a distance as her sisters enjoyed their own presents.

Those gifts were all extraordinarily expensive, and it was impossible for Wynn to obtain most of those types of gifts. However, there were some that he could afford that were being sold at the stalls in the markets.

Even so, it was still an unimaginable amount of money to Wynn. However, once he had decided to buy it, he never wavered. He asked the craftsman to make a child's accessory.

There were some things that even money could not buy.

Leti's smile was one of them.

He took a small bundle from the bottom of the basket.

"Leti."

"What is it, Onii-chan?"

Wynn took Leti's hands and brought the contents of the package out from behind his back with his right hand.

Leti's eyes widened.

"Happy eighth birthday. Here, your present."

Embarrassed, Wynn ended up speaking bluntly.

Leti's gaze travelled back and forth between the small present in her hands and Wynn's face many times.

Leti then held her present tightly to her chest.

"… I'm so happy."

She broke into tears.

"… I'm so happy…so happy…"

She quietly repeated the same words over and over.

"H-hey, you're crying. Wh-The gates are about to close soon–"

Leti laughed at how Wynn was so flustered.

At that moment, a gap appeared in the clouds that had covered the skies.

Wynn became breathless. The light made it seem as if Leti was emitting a golden glow.

For a moment, Leti appeared sacred, inviolable. He could only look on in a stupor.

"Onii-chan?"

Leti's voice brought him back to his senses.

"A-ah. That's right, we should get going."

When she saw that Wynn's face had turned red, Leti laughed again.

Her tears did not stop, but the feelings in her heart were no longer negative.

She cried with a smile.

That was the day that Leti first noticed her feelings.

"Hey, are you ready yet? Everybody is changed and waiting, you know?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there."

She looked herself over in the mirror to make sure that her clothes were in order. Her blazer was pure white with blue hems. The hems were embroidered with gold thread. It was truly a uniform befitting of a noble.

Only a handful of knights in the empire could wear that uniform.

Leticia worked vigorously as a member of that order of knights.

'Do you remember, Onii-chan?'

That had happened six years ago.

Since it had been made for a child, the gift could no longer fit on her finger. She looked at the tiny aquamarine ring.

It was not a particularly expensive item.

It did not suit the third daughter of a duke. Rather, it might not even have suited a slightly well off commoner family.

However, Leticia always wore the ring on a silver chain around her neck.

Nobody would ever see it.

Wynn had lived through true poverty.

He had worked to the point of exhaustion every day in order to save up money.

He had not hesitated to use the money he had shed his blood and sweat for in order to make the young Leticia happy.

It must have cost Wynn a fortune.

It was inevitable for the maids who helped her change clothes to see it, but no criticisms escaped from their lips.

She had never told Wynn that the ring still hung around her neck.

Her right hand touched the ring underneath her uniform.

Leticia decided that the day she told Wynn about the ring had yet to come.

That day would surely become the most important memory of her life. On that day, with Wynn standing beside her, she would say:

"Do you remember, Onii-chan? That time…"

Author's Note: Merry Christmas!
TL Note: What the author said. And also, I'm not a lolicon. I'm just a Leti-con.

Chapter end