Chapter 443 – Harvest Festival
Chapter 443 – Harvest Festival
The day before the harvest festival.
The participants came one after another.
First are ancestor-san and Fushu.
It seems like he had cleansed his body for three days.
You don’t have to be so fired up….
Next are demon king, Beezel, and Randan.
Glatts and Hou are at work and the three beastboys and Rigune are participating in a school event.
It seems like the three impure dragons refrained from coming as they are doing their best for their job in Shashaato City.
Dors and Girar.
Raimeiren, Doraim, and Grafaloon have been around for quite some time.
Village One, Village Two, Village Three, and Village Four volunteers….or rather, almost every villager.
From Goroun Company, Michael-san, his son Maron, Maron’s cousins Tito and Randy, and their guard Milford.
Three ghost knights from the hot spring area have come too.
Participants from the south dungeon, the lamias, and the north dungeon, the titans, have been here since the martial arts tournament.
The festival is tomorrow but a light banquet has already started.
Those who’ll have to do something tomorrow must sleep early.
Early morning.
Three oni maids carried three large flat plates to the prepared altar in front of the Big Tree Shrine.
On those flat plates, this year’s harvest was piled up on the flat plate like a fruit platter.
The flat plates were placed side by side in front of the altar.
When the three oni maids go down, three high elves appear next.
All of them have freshly hunted rabbit meat which they placed on the altar.
When the three high elves leave, three dwarves appear next.
Each of them is carrying a big barrel so I became uneasy but…all is well.
The dwarves lined up the large barrels on the altar and went down satisfied.
And Zabuton appeared along with her spiderlings.
Zabuton spits her own web in front of the altar and makes three pieces of clothing.
The spiderlings are holding small cups.
The cups contain honey.
Of course, the number of cups is three.
They line them up on the altar too.
As Zabuton’s group went down, solemn music began to play.
It was the orchestra who was waiting near the altar that was playing.
The orchestra is composed of lizardmen, civil servant girls, beastgirls, and for some reason, the conductor is Randan.
「He said that he really wants to conduct so we let him do it.」
One of the civil servant girls sitting next to me said that.
Did he yearn to be a conductor?
It feels strange but he looks accustomed to it.
Though Randan’s move is a bit interesting, we have to concentrate on the ritual.
With ancestor-san at the center, Fushu and Celes lined up to his left and right.
「We wish to express our gratitude to the god of fertility and hold a feast of harvest.」
After ancestor-san’s declaration, ancestor-san, Fushu, and Celes pray for gratitude to the god in chorus.
I and the representatives of each race, who are in front of the altar, listened to it solemnly.
That’s the ceremony.
They said that it would take ten days to do it in full scale but I asked them to shorten it so the result is this, a sort of informal ceremony.
After that, we moved to the main venue and the banquet began.
The ring and the audience seats surrounding it are the same as the martial arts tournament.
There are tents outside that serve food and alcohol.
On the ring, the performance schedule was decided by draw lots.
『Play by the First Floor Team Spiderlings』
Since it is a team composed of only spiderlings, their lines are placards so the beastgirls cooperated with them in voice acting their lines.
The showdown between Red Armor and White Armor was the highlight.
Or so I thought as the next scene is the two cooperating together to fight against the true villain.
Loo, who appeared to be the true villain, was quite majestic.
In the end, she was defeated.
The performance was not bad.
Is she prepared to be booed by the children?
She’s the villainess after all.
I thought they’ll boo but some cried.
Her makeup is a little over the top after all.
No no, I mean you’re cute.
Hahaha.
『Group Performance by the Lizardmen』
A lizardman with a spear goes up to the ring while performing something followed by another, then another. They gradually increased while performing in a group.
At the end, Daga and another one showed a one on one performance. Isn’t that just a demonstration?
No one was hurt so I guess it’s okay.
『Tap Dance by Upstairs Team Spiderlings』
Boards are lined up on the ring and about 60 spiderlings tap dance there rhythmically.
There are a lot of them but it is not crowded because they are only fist size spiderlings.
The whole venue was quiet at this time.
There was a sense of unity.
『Gymnastics by the Dwarves』
It’s amazing how they move exactly to the sound of a flute but….why do you have to drink alcohol every time?
I don’t think they’re drunk but their last pyramid made my heart pound.
『Interpretive Dance by the Titans and Lamias』
The titans are big so they are impactful.
There are eight of them.
They dance with a bang.
I don’t know what it means but it seems to be a dance to thank god.
When I was thinking about why I couldn’t see a single lamia, the titans made a final pose and they jumped out of the middle of the ring.
I was surprised.
Where did they come from?
I can’t take this lightly since there’s a magic element.
『Illusion by the Demon King』
「Illusion!」
The demon king said so and teleported.
I guess he practiced this performance of his.
However, Beezel is right next to him and he can use teleportation magic.
「Illusion!」
This time, the demon king took out the kittens from his hat.
One, two, three, four….kittens. Malbit is playful but she’s quiet in front of the demon king.
「Illusion!」
The demon king did his best.
『Eagle Trainer Aegis』
Aegis, the phoenix chick, throws a piece of meat in the air with its beak and the airborne eagle catches and eats it.
Their performance lasts for 10 meat throws.
At the end, the eagle perched on Aegis’ head. Aegis tried to support it with all its might but….let’s just say he looks like he got caught.
『Orchestra by the High Elves』
At first, there were only high elves but the number of musicians increased until it became a full orchestra.
Ria was the first conductress but she changed with Randan in the middle.
Randan, do you really want to be a conductor that bad?
We take a break after that.
There’s a screen made of white cloth on the ring.
It showed a collection of famous baseball scenes and CM of Big Roof Shashaato.
Unfortunately, most villagers don’t know the rules of baseball.
Because of that, no one cares about great plays and they thought some rare plays were funny.
As for the demon king, he seemed to be slightly sorry.
Ancestor-san told me to set the fire on the bonfire.
The bonfire was built in a corner of the venue to prevent accidents.
「I thought the first step is lighting the fire?」
I thought that ancestor-san forgot to light the fire but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
「Formally, the fire should only be lit up when the sun is directly above us.」
It’s certainly noon now.
Let’s light it right away then.
When I was thinking that, cat came and asked me to leave it to him.
And he lights it up using magic.
….
Areh?
I feel like this is different from normal fire….
For a moment, I thought that the straight pillar of fire would reach the sun like that.
「This is stunning.」
Ancestor-san said that to me.
「That thing is the “flame of origin”. It is said that the magic god lit that fire in order to save the world.」
「eh, heh」
Now, the pillar of fire settled down and it has become an ordinary bonfire.
「Ehto, does it have any effect?」
「In the ancient times, it was the fire that defended the demons. One of the kings of demons took that fire and the demon king was born….」
As if listening to the explanation of ancestor-san, suddenly, the pillar of fire stretched headed to the demon king.
「Eh?」
The demon king is, on fire.
「D-demon kinnnggggggggg!」
I panicked.
I hurriedly poured water that I got nearby but the fire wrapping the demon king did not disappear.
What happened and why?
No, I have to extinguish the fire immediately.
I asked those around me to cast water magic.
However, the fire was not extinguished.
The demon king fell.
O-oi, no way….
The fire and the demon king’s body gradually become smaller.
T-this is a lie.
As the fire was extinguished, the demon king disappeared too.
……what, happened?
Ancestor-san tapped my shoulder and pointed at the ring.
In front of the white cloth screen, the demon king is posing.
「Illusion!」
……………
You won’t get angry even if I throw a spear at you, right?