There Are No Stalls
“Hardt!” I turned toward the voice and saw Canal, the Golden Wings, and Edgar.
What kind of combination is that?
“Why are you guys and the Golden Wings here?”
According to Edgar, when he asked for trustworthy adventurers to escort people to Ayns Village via Eins Town, it must have sounded like an important business matter to the merchants’ association, so the request ended up being forwarded to the Golden Wings, where his older sister Linka was.
The Golden Wings had apparently been planning to go to a dungeon with Canal, and in exchange for changing plans, they allowed Canal to accompany them.
Well, Canal is my friend, and he often comes to the Knights’ Order to practice magic.
“That was close. In that case, the survey results aren’t compiled yet?”
“No. That’s why we wanted more help…”
Also, it seemed the shop owners who had cooperated insisted that instead of receiving a cooperation fee, they wanted to participate in the festival in Ayns Village, and forced their way into joining.
Since they were already here, we couldn’t just send them back. That was probably why they arrived late.
“Hardt, can we join the festival too?”
“We?”
“Yes! We want to participate as well.”
Allie raised one hand lightly.
The rest of the Golden Wings members were smiling, saying it looked fun.
“There won’t be any stalls. Is that okay?”
“No stalls? No way…” Allie’s voice sounded devastated.
“It is a festival, right?”
“We’re planning to change things up a bit and hold a sports festival.”
“‘Sports festival???’” “What’s that?”
I told them that if they wanted to participate, they should go to the village chief, then separated.
The survey was quickly compiled by the three administrators, Edgar, Floria, and me.
The next day, everyone gathered in the village square. We handed out blue, pink, orange, and green headbands to each team and asked them to tie them in their hair.
When Damian, Rosetta, and Rosa demonstrated on the platform, everyone imitated them and tied the headbands into their hair.
For some reason, Brother Chris had a blue headband, Brother Gerald orange, Brother Isaac and Brigitte pink, and Brother Hubert and Dianne green. They were dressed in clothing easy to move in as team leaders.
Brigitte and Dianne were even in riding clothes.
Since Brother Isaac and Brother Hubert hadn’t seen the preliminary events, Brigitte and Dianne would probably assist them.
I did say they could participate, but from the very beginning?
Looking closer, Canal, the Golden Wings, and our household staff were also wearing headbands and mixed into their respective groups.
The cooks and maids were supposed to be cooking and selling food, weren’t they?
Seeing my shocked expression, Floria said:
“We sold all the pancake buns early this morning. The cooks have been making pancake buns for the festival since we arrived yesterday, so they said they’re joining the festival now.”
“All of those? Even though we limited it to twelve per person, they’re already sold out?”
Seven hundred twelve-piece boxes and three hundred six-piece boxes.
“We limited it per person, but merchants have guards and attendants. So it sold out quickly.”
“Were there people other than merchants?”
“There were some, but since they could buy pancake buns, it seems there weren’t many complaints.”
“Could five sellers finish that quickly?”
“The other maids and attendants helped, so it ended fast.”
What kind of teamwork is that?
The maids had also changed into more practical clothing.
At first, the villagers seemed confused, but—
“It’s a team competition! Let’s put our heads together and win this!”
When Brother Gerald fired up his orange team, the orange villagers shouted “Yeah!” and after that, each team got fired up, and the atmosphere grew lively.
When I asked Raphael if he wasn’t participating, he said he would help me instead.
Thank you. You are a true friend.
The statues of the Harvest God, Earth God, and Plant Goddess that were in the village had somehow been moved onto pedestals beside the platform.
When I asked the village chief who did it, he said, “It’s the petite barley harvest festival, after all.”
Apparently the villagers had also placed petite wheat dishes and pancake buns on the tables in front of the pedestals as offerings, so I couldn’t tell them to remove them.
Just in case, I prayed silently to the gods, “These dishes are offered, but the villagers will eat them later, so please don’t take them. We will properly offer food again at the mansion chapel.”
The village chief then said:
“Before we begin the festival, let us offer our thanks to the gods for the bountiful petite wheat harvest and pray for continued prosperity.”
We all prayed together, villagers and guests alike, and the festival—our sports festival—began.
What do you think about this chapter?
