Chapter 2 : Becoming a parent

“Anyone come with you? Are you here alone?”

Blink, blink.
The child blinked in response to my words.
Watching her reaction and waiting, soon the child returned an answer in a vigorous voice.

“Monnya!”
“……Monnya?”
“MONNYA!!!”

The child smiled brightly and emphasized again and again.
After roughly substituting the pronunciation as it sounded, I reached the conclusion that the girl was probably saying “Don’t know.”
Is she so young that she doesn’t know about a guardian’s existence…? Fortunately, despite her clumsy pronunciation, it doesn’t seem like communication is completely impossible.

“Ppa-woo, ah!”

Around that time, the child crawled clumsily on the floor, and then grabbed my leg and stood up, using it to pull herself upright.
After that, looking up at me, the smile stretching across her face didn’t convey any hostility at all.

“Hehe~”

……What’s so good that she’s laughing so happily?
But whatever the reason, I couldn’t just ignore a young child wandering around alone.
Judging that there might be someone in the village who knows her, I picked up the child in my arms and returned to the village.

After arriving at the village, the first thing I did was report the request to the guild. And report that a pit had appeared in the back mountain as if something had crashed.
After receiving confirmation that they would dispatch investigators to look into it, I went straight to the village chief with the child in my arms.

“A child I’ve never seen before.”
“Does that mean you also have no idea, Chief?”
“Unless she’s an adventurer from out of town, I know all the residents in my village inside and out. At least, I haven’t seen anyone in my village with a child this young for a while now.”

Even the village chief, who knows all the villagers, doesn’t know this child……
Then, there are probably only two possibilities.
Either she was lost by a traveler passing near the village, or someone from out of town abandoned only the child and ran away.

“Woowo, ppa. Ah~”

Whichever it is, it’s impossible to find this child’s guardian right now.
Feeling dejected about it, I asked the chief, just in case.

“If we can’t find this child’s parents, what will happen?”
“If there’s no one suitable to take her in, she’ll be sent to an orphanage in another town. Unfortunately, we don’t have a facility to care for abandoned children here.”

Orphanage. It wasn’t a place that seemed good to me.
The training camp for child soldiers where I was sold as a child was, in fact, no different from an orphanage.
Sending a child who knows nothing of the world to such a place. If I really did that, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.

“……I’ll take care of her for the time being.”

In the end, the decision I reluctantly made was to take this child with me.
After parting with the chief, I returned home as planned.
To the place where I always returned.

There, Erina, still with a sorrowful face, gazing blankly out the window, welcomed me.

“Erina.”
“Oh, you’re back. I’m sorry, dinner isn’t ready……”

Her hurried tone, weakly continuing, suddenly stopped, and her eyes widened.
Her gaze was directed at the child in my arms.
Erina asked me in that state.

“Dear? That child is……”

I answered.

“I found her.”

Honestly, without a lie.

“You found her?”
“Yes.”

I summarized the story of how I accidentally found her in the back mountain and brought her here. Erina’s face turned pale in an instant.

“Su-surely, you didn’t kidnap her, did you?”
“No……”
“D-dear! No matter how much you wanted a child, you can’t just bring someone else’s child home!! Oh dear, what should we do? We have to report to the garrison right away…… Ah, no, first should we find her parents and return her? We have to, to apologize!!”

“Calm down, Erina. I just found a child who was left abandoned.”

To the panicking her, I explained the summarized content in detail.
From finding this child in the back mountain, to receiving confirmation from the village chief that she didn’t seem to be from this village.

“You mean…… This child isn’t from this village?”
“Yes, I brought her home for now because I couldn’t just send her to an orphanage right away, but was it an inappropriate thing to do?”

Having negative thoughts about orphanages was just my personal opinion.
Perhaps from her perspective, bringing home a child arbitrarily might seem unsettling.
To my anxiety, Erina frantically waved her hands and said in a flustered voice.

“N-no way. Inappropriate? How could it be. Rather, leaving such a small child alone would be the wrong thing to do.”

Thankfully, she’s showing a positive reaction to the child.
Relieved, I put the child I was holding down on the floor, and her unique, bright eyes began to turn towards Erina.
Erina stiffened at that gaze and said.

“U-um, hello little one. H-hello? My name is Erina.”

“Einnya?”
“O-oh my. Could it be that her tongue is short so she can’t pronounce words properly? Ahahaha.”

Erina gave an awkward smile as if she was quite nervous.
But in it, the usual gloominess couldn’t be found.
As if she had forgotten such thoughts by facing the child.

“Attatchiannya!”

The child in front of Erina shouted an incomprehensible babble, and Erina’s body momentarily froze like a stone statue.
Why is she like that? Has something gone wrong?

“Um, Erina?”
“Kyaaaaa~!”

Just as I was about to reach out in concern.
Erina suddenly rushed towards the child, hugged her body tightly, and began rubbing her cheek against her head.

“So, so cute!”
“Buwi-ii~”
“Oh my~! Little one, do you like it when big sister rubs her cheek against you? You like it? Then I’ll do it more~ I’ll do it as much as you want~!”
“Nyawoo~ Booby buwi~!”

……She just excessively likes children, is that it?
Thank goodness, she’s not being wary of her just because she’s someone else’s child.

“Erina, can you prepare some food for the child to eat?”
“Ah, right, that’s true. If this child has been alone for a long time, she must be hungry. Then I’ll prepare a meal, so could Logan bathe this child in the meantime?”
“I will.”

The child was covered in dirt and dust, as if she had been rolling around outdoors for a long time.
Whatever else, bathing her first would be the priority, I thought, and began preparing to enter the bath with the child in the tub filled with hot water.
First, taking off the rags the child was wearing, and checking her body……

“……She’s a girl.”

Her age is at most around three or four years old. Much younger than when I was sold to the training camp.
Can a child of this age even exist in such a state? And has a child this young been wandering around alone all along?

“Unnya?”

Pushing away the bitter thoughts, I entered the bathroom with the child.
After entering the hot water together, the child started to tremble all over.

“Is the water temperature okay?”
“Nyaoo~”

I was worried that it might be too hot, but fortunately, the child showed a way of adapting to the hot water without concern.
No, beyond that, she even had a very comfortable expression.

“Ehehehe~”
“……You like it that much?”
“Nyaoo-ah~ Ehehe~”

Do children of this age like hot baths?
I don’t know. This is the first time I’ve properly interacted with a child.
If Erina and I had a daughter, perhaps we might have had a child this age in a few years’ time……

“……Daughter.”

Right, a daughter.
If she and I had had a child, we might have had a child this age in a few years.
Just as I was feeling a sense of bitterness at that thought, the girl began splashing water at me, pitter-patter.
What is she doing?

Watching her like that for a while, soon the girl submerged herself in the water and began swimming around me in circles.
And coming out of the water, poo-ooo, she started spraying the water she had in her mouth.
Seeing me getting hit in the face by it, the girl started giggling, pffft.

“……Is it fun?”
“Kyaoo~!”

Is she playing in her own way?
I don’t know how to respond. Coincidentally, I’ve never played with a child before.

“Well, if you’re happy, that’s good enough.”

Whatever the case, it’s fortunate that she’s enjoying herself.
Thinking so, after finishing washing myself in the tub, I headed to the kitchen where Erina was waiting with the girl.

“Oh, you’re all done bathing? Come over here. You too, little one.”
“Alright.”
“Hmm, there’s no chair for the child to sit in. Logan, it might be better if you hold her.”
“Understood.”

Following Erina’s words, I sat down on a chair holding the child, and the meal she had made greeted me as always.
Fragrant soup, meat sliced into bite-sized pieces, bread and salad with sauce……
And Erina, looking at me from across the table with sparkling eyes.

“……Erina?”
“Ehehehe~”

Just what is she planning to do to be wearing such a smile?
The reason was soon revealed.

“Here, little one. Say ah~”

She scooped up some soup with a spoon, and gently offered it to the child.
The child, who had been blankly staring at it, took a bite of the spoon, and Erina giggled and started spooning more soup again.

“Is what I made delicious? If it’s delicious, I’ll give you more. Here, here. Ah~”
“Aahh~”
“That’s right, good girl. Our little one eats so well~”
“Ehehehe~”

The girl smiled broadly as if Erina’s food suited her taste. And Erina, delighted by the girl’s reaction, began feeding her food even more actively.
For me, who had only seen her gloomy recently, it was a very pleasant sight to see.
Yes, to the point where I wished this time would continue for a while……

–Drip, drip.

In the middle of it, tears began to flow from Erina’s eyes.
Startled by that, I quickly called her name.

“Erina?”
“Ah, I’m sorry. It just suddenly……”

Erina hastily tried to wipe away her tears with her own hand, but despite such an attempt, tears flowed uncontrollably and poured down onto the table.
Is she in pain somewhere? Or…… No, those are tears of joy.
I soon guessed that it stemmed from the emotions she felt while taking care of the child I had brought.

“I’ve always wanted to do this. To feed a child, to see a child’s smiling face…. And yet, I never thought a moment like this would really come……”

Yes, she was always thinking about each other’s happiness.
For that, she thought a child was necessary, but it was an unachievable dream, so.
That’s why this moment, where she indirectly experienced the feeling of having a child, was more joyous to her than anything else.

“But, when we find this child’s parents, we’ll have to send her back, right?”

But that too, is only temporary happiness.
From her voice, guessing that, I could faintly read a feeling of fear.
It wasn’t hard to understand.
Happiness is often lost as much as it is gained.
If this child, who suddenly came into our arduous lives, left, the emptiness would surely be as great as the joy she gave.

“Even so, just for a little while……”

Even so, because this moment’s happiness is too sweet.
Erina, unable to bear to let it go, confessed her earnest wish to me.

“Until that day comes, just for a little while, could we become this child’s parents, wouldn’t that be okay?”

Becoming parents.
Becoming parents to a child with no blood relation……
Is that really something that can be condoned?
We can’t have children, but if that’s our unavoidable fate, isn’t being greedy for something we can’t have too much?

“Ma!”

In between me and Erina, who were worried about that, the girl had somehow squeezed in.
Erina, who had paused her crying at that, looked down, and the girl grabbed both my and Erina’s hands and began to say something.

“Ppa!”
“……Ppa?”
“Ma, Ppa!”

Me, Ppa, Erina, Ma.
Guessing what that meant, I asked the girl, with a hopeful feeling.

“Are you saying we’re your Mommy and Daddy?”

“Utchiya!!”

The girl smiled brightly and shook mine and Erina’s hands.
Me and Erina, staring at that scene for a while, soon burst out laughing while facing each other.
Even though it was just a child’s childish words, it felt like it was erasing the anxiety we were feeling.

“Yes, we are your Mommy and Daddy.”

Even if we don’t know what will happen afterwards, at least for now.
Just for now, rejoicing in the fact that we can become the parents who have longed for a child so much.

And, about a month or so passed since then.
Early in the morning, as I was lazily stretching in bed, Erina approached me as always and began to wake me up.

“Logan~ Rona! Wake up. It’s already morning!”

Rona Smith.
While speaking the child’s name, which was made by combining mine and Erina’s names, together.