Category: Isekai Nonbiri Sanpo Tabi

“Everyone, let’s clean up together!”

“Huh? What’s this about?”

“Hey, isn’t that the young master?”

“Cleaning? What does he mean by that?”

Kent-chan’s sudden shout from the stage caused everyone gathered in the square to turn toward him at once. In truth, this was all part of the plan. I had figured that, compared to the Margrave, Kent-chan would attract far more attention.

Once all eyes were on him, Emilia-sama stepped forward with a magic tool that functioned like a loudspeaker and began to speak.

“Today we’ll be enjoying the performances before the joint wedding ceremony begins, but as you can see, there’s simply too much trash lying around. So, until the ceremony starts, I thought we could all work together and clean up the square.”

“She does have a point. There sure is a lot of garbage.”

“Well, everyone got a little too carried away this year.”

“The one who got carried away was you, wasn’t it?”

“W-what did you say?!”

“““Hahaha!”””

Laughter rippled through the square.

The townspeople are talking like it’s a comedy sketch, but at least they understand the objective. There’s trash scattered everywhere, so we’re asking the townspeople for their cooperation. And while we’re at it, we’ll collect any suspicious items too.

“Just picking up trash wouldn’t be fun, so I’ll give participants a free coupon for round bakes made by a super-talented chef.”

“Whoa!”

O-oi, Emilia-sama, what are you talking about?!

That would mean I’d be the one doing most of the work. Even though I gave Emilia-sama a protesting look, she just elegantly ignored me. The townspeople are also quite enthusiastic after hearing Emilia-sama’s explanation.

“Alright then—begin!”

“Begin!”

“Wait—seriously?!”

My cry of protest fell on deaf ears as the cleanup operation got underway, so I resigned myself to making round bakes as fast as I could. There was only one griddle with the special round molds, so I had no choice but to do my best.

If I didn’t make as many as possible now, things would become a nightmare later.

“Looking at it now, there really is trash everywhere.”

“There sure is. That young cook’s food is just too good, so everyone keeps buying more.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. The lady at the diner tried copying his recipes, but the taste just isn’t the same.”

Uhm… could the townspeople please stop acting like all this garbage is somehow my fault? I was slumping in defeat at the thought when one of the traps I’d set suddenly activated.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going with that trash in your hands?”

“There’s another one over here!”

“Tch!”

“Damn it…. how did you know?”

A human carrying a bag of garbage had tried to slip away from the square, only to be seized by the guards who had been keeping watch over the area. Ao immediately rushed over to the suspicious individuals and did something to the items they were carrying.

A moment later, the two suspects were bound and brought before Emilia-sama by the guards.

“Emilia-sama, these individuals were carrying explosive magic devices disguised as garbage. The magic stones have already been removed by the Champion Slime.”

In truth, I’d suspected that if everyone in the square suddenly started moving around at once, someone might try to retrieve the explosive devices they had hidden. The enemy had used the old hide a tree in the forest tactic.

So our strategy had been simple: if the tree was hidden in the forest, then get rid of the entire forest.

The guards, perhaps because some of their comrades had previously been attacked by members of the dark organization and the Human Supremacy Cult, were especially fired up about the whole operation.

“Well done. Please continue with the security patrols. Fufu, now then, I wonder what they’ll be willing to tell us.”

“Hmm. I’ll join you. There happen to be two of them, after all. I’d very much like to have a long talk with them.”

“A-Awaawaawa…””

The two captured suspects were then dragged backstage by Emilia-sama and the former margrave. To be perfectly honest, it would be in their own best interests to spill everything as quickly as possible.

“Here you go!”

“Thanks, young master.”

Meanwhile, the vouchers for the round bakes featured a little drawing of the snack that Kent-chan had made himself. With something like that, there was no need to worry about anyone forging the voucher. And with Maria-san staying right beside Kent-chan, they were prepared for anything that might happen.

“Oh, this is another explosive magic device. Ao, remove the magic stone. But what are they trying to do by planting so many magic devices?”

And when they checked the collected trash, they found three explosive magic devices hidden amongst it. Even the Marqrave was astonished, but that means there were six explosive magic devices planted in total—one Ao found and two the suspicious person tried to take.

This is the strongest evidence that the dark organization and the Human Supremacy cult were determined to ruin the wedding.

“Damn it, no matter how much we burn, it never ends!”

As for me, I was so engrossed in making round roasts that I didn’t have time to think about anything else. Since I was the one who devised this plan, I think the Margave’s family should be a little more considerate of me.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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Ao returned from patrolling the area, but through Shiro he seemed to be reporting something to Emilia-sama.

Uhm… I had a very bad feeling about this.

“Toria-san, I’m going to Emilia-sama. It looks like something has happened.”

“Please be careful. The other attendants are here now, so we’ll continue with the preparations.”

Since it was on the way, I headed over to Emilia-sama together with Kent-chan and Maria. After all, we were going to the same place.

“Mommy, round bakes!”

“Oh my, Ken-chan. Thank you for running the errand.”

“Hehe!”

As I’d suspected, it had been Emilia-sama’s idea to send Kent-chan to the stall. With Maria-san staying by his side, there had never been any concern about his safety.

Now then, time to get to the real matter at hand. Since the subject was a serious one, Kent-chan was sent off with Maria-san to join the Margrave and the former margrave.

“Shun, look at this.”

Emilia-sama was holding a magical artifact small enough to fit in the palm of her hand. It looked like a hand grenade.

But surely this isn’t…

“Could it be an explosive magical artifact?”

“That’s right. And it’s a time-delayed one. See, it has something like a pocket watch attached. Ao has already removed the magic stone that powers it, so there’s no risk of it exploding.”

Whoa, it was planted there?

Even I was surprised.

“This was placed under the stage used for the wedding. The stage was completely destroyed once and reassembled yesterday morning. That means someone planted it sometime between yesterday and this morning. And to top it off, it was thoughtfully wrapped in garbage so that it wouldn’t be recognizable as a magical artifact.”

“There’s no space for a person to get into that location, so someone must have thrown this magical artifact in there like they were throwing away garbage. In that case, it would have been difficult to find the magical artifact.”

No matter how you looked at it, they had clearly intended for it to go boom right when the wedding festivities were at their height. What’s worse, it had even been disguised to look like a piece of trash, so at a glance there was no way anyone would notice it.

“If it’s hidden in places that only Ao can detect, then it will be difficult for us to find anything suspicious on our own.”

“That’s right. We may have only happened to find one of them, so I’ve asked Ao to keep searching the area for a while longer. Of course, we’ve already informed the guards as well, and they’ll be conducting a thorough search.”

Hmm… that would put too much of a burden on Ao though. We’d need to think of another way.

Ah… what about that?

“Emilia-sama, we still have some time left. How about trying something like this?”

“That’s an excellent idea. It would also allow us to enlist the townspeople’s cooperation before the wedding begins.”

So, even though it was a bit spontaneous, we decided to do various things before the wedding. The people in town are really enthusiastic, so I’m sure they’ll be happy to help.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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While Toria-san and I were busy preparing ingredients for the food stall, Ao was running all over the square and its surroundings. At the same time as dealing with the aftermath of the drunken revelry, he was also checking the plaza and the nearby area for anything suspicious.

Security around the square was already extremely tight because of the drunkards, and with Sue having captured scouts from the Human Supremacy cult and the dark organization yesterday, there was little chance anyone had managed to plant any magical devices.

Even so, it seemed Ao had decided that it was better to be overly cautious than regretful later.

“Today’s main event is the wedding, so I bet finger foods will sell well.”

“I think so too. I’ve seen it before—an enormous crowd gathers in the square.”

As Toria said, there would probably be a lot of spectators standing around to watch. In that case, our round grilled snacks—the imitation takoyaki—would likely sell in huge numbers. As for the imitation okonomiyaki, perhaps we should make them half their usual size and sell them as smaller portions. At any rate, we’d just have to play it by ear and adapt to whatever happened.

“At first, it’s more like a series of entertainments. There’ll be dancing and other performances, and then the joint wedding ceremony will take place just before noon.”

“In that case, the people on stage right now, checking their positions, must be the performers. Makes sense. If it were only the wedding and the bouquet toss, it’d all be over in no time.”

Even if they called it entertainment, there was no doubt the crowd would get excited. After all, it was a festival. As long as the townspeople were having fun, there was nothing wrong with that.

Sue and the others were already busy preparing for the wedding, so we’d just have to leave them—and Shiro and the others—to do their best.

Clatter, clatter, clatter.

“Oh, the lord has arrived.”

The carriage carrying the Margrave’s family rolled into the square, and the townspeople immediately raised their voices in greeting. The members of the Margrave family stepped down from the carriage, walking as normally as ever, without the slightest sign of a hangover. Between Sue and the rest of the Margrave’s family, they must possess truly monstrous livers. 

Just then, Kent-chan came trotting over to our stall together with Maria-san.

“I’d like some round bakes, please!”

Beaming from ear to ear, Kent-chan held out his money. It looked just like a small child’s first trip to the store. Since he’d come all this way, I decided to play along with him.

“Kent, will one be enough?”

“Three!”

“Three? For you and… who else?”

“I’m with Mama! The other ones are for Grandpa and Maria!”

Oh! With that bright, innocent smile, Kent-chan had casually left the Margrave out entirely. Maria-san gave a wry smile and nodded, so apparently that was genuinely how things stood.

I’d better hurry and make three portions of “round bakes”.

“Ohh, the young master is pretty sharp.”

“He’s got guts for someone so little.”

“Looks like the Margrave’s domain has a bright future ahead of it.”

Kent-chan was watching me make the round pancakes, and the townspeople were watching her and seemed impressed. Indeed, the fact that he didn’t order any for his father, the Margrave, shows he has a certain air of importance despite his young age.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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At Emilia-sama’s insistence that the Margrave always woke up on his own when the time came, he was left sleeping right there in the entrance hall.

After finishing breakfast, we headed to the square ahead of everyone else, accompanied by Toria-san. The rest of the Margrave’s family, just like yesterday, would be arriving later by carriage.

“Gooo… Grwooo…”

“zzZzzzz”

The square was still littered with sleeping drunkards. Apparently, the festivities had gone on until quite late the previous night, and many had simply collapsed where they were. To make sure none of the sleepers fell victim to thieves preying on the intoxicated, soldiers had been patrolling the square at regular intervals.

That said, most of the would-be robbers had already been apprehended yesterday by Sue and the garrison troops.

Incidentally, it seemed that the garrison had hardly touched any alcohol at all—their drunkenness had merely been an act. Sue, however, had somehow managed to become genuinely drunk before anyone noticed.

“Well then, I’ve got a food stall to run, but what about the wedding team? What’s your plan?”

We all gathered around the stall and began discussing the day’s schedule. As went without saying, I would be serving as the cook again today.

“Today we’ll be holding a joint wedding ceremony for five couples. I’ve heard there may possibly be one more couple joining, but even if there is, it won’t cause any problems.”

Since it was a group wedding, adding another bride and groom wouldn’t make much difference. After all, the priest acting as officiant would simply offer everyone’s vows and prayers to the gods at the same time.

“Our main role will be helping the female participants get dressed and assisting with the flow of the ceremony.”

“Emilia-sama will serve as the master of ceremonies. Apparently, it’s customary for a member of the Margrave family to host the event every year.”

Well, in a sense, it was a wedding organized by the Margrave family. And if it was Emilia-sama, she would probably handle everything flawlessly.

“And one thing we especially need to be careful about is the bouquet toss.”

“All of the brides in the joint wedding will throw their bouquets at the same time. Naturally, a great many unmarried women from the town gather for it.”

“It seems that bouquets from the Harvest Festival weddings are regarded as symbols of good fortune for women. However… last year there were quite a few injuries.”

What a dangerously intense event. I attended a friend’s wedding in my previous life, and even then, the determination of the women going after the bouquet had been terrifying. And this was going to be a full-blown battle over at least five bouquets. What’s more, everyone would be going after them in complete earnest.

Shiro and the others wore puzzled expressions, clearly not understanding the significance of it all, but trust me—this was going to be one serious event.

“If everything goes according to plan, the entire ceremony will be over by noon. Once the joint wedding concludes, the newly married couples will parade through town in open carriages.”

“I’ve heard the whole town showers them with rice.”

“And after the parade ends, everyone goes right back to celebrating the festival.”

So that was the flow of the joint wedding ceremony. It was an even bigger event than I’d imagined. No wonder people called it the biggest attraction of the Harvest Festival.

“Then Toria, Ao, and I will keep an eye on the surroundings while running the stall. Shiro and the others, you’ll have to do your best helping with the wedding.”

“““We’ll do our best!”””

It seemed Shiro and the others would be serving as the flower girls and ring bearers. In a way, they were one of the highlights of the wedding, so I’d have to count on them to give it their all.

“The manor’s attendants are scheduled to help at the stall today as well. I think we can leave the selling and keeping track of the earnings to them.”

That information from Toria was a huge relief. There was no way two people and one beast could possibly manage the stall by ourselves.

That’s probably all we needed to discuss. Now then, our first job of the day was waiting for us.

“For now, let’s wake up the people still sleeping and clean up the stage.”

Together, we looked toward the stage, where a number of people were somehow still fast asleep. The townsfolk had already begun to gather, so it is time for us to start getting everything ready.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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The next morning, I woke up somehow with Fran hugging me.

Huh?

I’m pretty sure Fran and Horn were in Casey-san’s room, and Shiro and Ao were in Telma-san’s room. Fran is clinging to me really tight.

Fran seemed awake too, so I’ll ask her what happened.

“Shun, a drunk Sue came into our room…”

“Eh? How did Sue open Casey-san’s door?”

I hadn’t locked my door because Shiro and the others might come in, but Casey-san and Telma-san always locked their doors when they went to sleep.

“She used some kind of unlocking magic. Then Casey and Horn ran off to Telma-san’s room. I came to your room.”

“Oh, I see, that must have been scary. There, there.”

Yeah, having the door to your room suddenly unlock and a drunk person stumble inside is genuinely terrifying. And come to think of it, unlocking magic was one of the more difficult applications of non-attribute magic too. Naturally, I couldn’t use it myself.

Still stroking Fran’s head as she clung to me, I decided to go take a look at the scene of the disaster.

“Whoa… she’s definitely drunk.”

“Mm…”

The door to Casey-san’s room was wide open, making the entire room visible from the hallway. Sue is there, sprawled out on the floor, sleeping blissfully.

Oh right. There was no way we could let anyone else see her like this. At the same time, I couldn’t just walk into Casey’s room without permission. So, with Fran still in my arms, I headed over to Telma-san’s room, where everyone had apparently taken refuge.

Knock, knock.

“Sorry for showing up so early in the morning. It’s Shun.”

“Ah, yes. One moment, I’ll open the door.”

Click.

The door opened, and Telma-san greeted us. The moment I looked inside, I saw that every inch of the room’s beds had been occupied.

“Um… well… I’m really sorry about everything Sue did…”

“It’s alright. Something similar has happened before…”

According to Telma-san, during that infamous birthday party, a drunken Sue had wandered into the room where Casey-san and Telma-san were staying at the mansion. That was why they had handled the situation so calmly this time around. Apparently, they were experienced victims.

“Casey-san, would it be alright if I go inside your room and wake Sue up?”

“Please do. We’ll come along as well.”

Having received Casey-san’s permission, we headed over to her room.

“zZzz… zzz…”

Sue was still making those strange, incomprehensible sleeping noises. Even when Ao poked her repeatedly with a tentacle, she showed no sign of waking up.

For now, the overwhelming smell of alcohol was the bigger problem. So before doing anything else, I used household magic to clean her up, then followed it with a healing spell.

*Flash*

“Huh? What? Where am I?”

When I cast a healing spell, Sue slowly sat up. She looked around the room, and suddenly her mind seemed to wake up.

“Eh? Is this… Casey’s room?”

“Yes, this is Casey-san’s room.”

Seeing me, who had healed her, and the crowd near the door, Sue’s expression changed to one of realization.

“I am terribly sorry…”

And then, Sue immediately performed a perfect dogeza (bowing deeply) towards us.

Sue. This is the second time in the past year that you’ve bowed deeply the day after drinking you kmow.

‘“Well, we’re also at fault for letting her drink, and the damage wasn’t too bad, so let’s leave it at that.”

“Yes…”

And so, the situation was somehow resolved. However, there was actually another drunk causing trouble inside the mansion.

“Gooo… grwooo…”

For some reason, the Margrave was fast asleep right in the entrance hall. And his snores sounded like the roar of some giant monster.

“When he gets drunk, he tends to fall asleep wherever he happens to be.”

“Poke, poke.”

Standing beside the sleeping Margrave were Emilia-sama who looked completely accustomed to the sight and Kent-chan, who was happily poking the Margrave’s cheek. Apparently, this was a perfectly normal morning occurrence.

Then Emilia-sama turned toward us and, with a bright smile, delivered a single devastating remark.

“Shun, from now on, I think it would be best if you cast a healing spell on Sue before she goes to bed whenever she drinks.”

“Uuu…”

It seemed Emilia-sama had already heard about Sue’s antics that morning.

Sue’s face instantly turned bright red, and she shrank in embarrassment. There was no escaping it now. Her drunken rampage had been completely exposed.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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Well, we had finally arrived back at the mansion, but how was I supposed to get Sue to her room? There was no way a man could just walk into the bedroom of an unmarried noble lady.

“Please leave Lady Sue to me.”

Just as I was wondering what to do, Toria-san effortlessly lifted Sue off my back. And not just that—she carried her in a princess carry.

Come to think of it, Toria-san was the former margrave’s daughter. Without even using any physical enhancement magic, she hoisted Sue up as though she weighed nothing at all.

“We’ll be heading back to our rooms as well.”

“I’m completely exhausted today.”

Casey-san and Telma-san, who had spent the entire day chopping vegetables, looked thoroughly worn out. Together with Shiro and the others, they headed inside.

Alright, I guess it’s about time for me to return to my room too—

“Sorry to bother you when you’re already tired, Shun.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m doing alright.”

I was summoned to the reception room for a meeting.

“Uhm, you drank quite a lot of alcohol. Are you alright?”

“No problem, I’m perfectly fine.”

“To us, liquor is no different from water.”

“Hehehe, it’s a lady’s pastime.”

No, no, I think the Margrave family’s tolerance for alcohol is abnormal. Aside from Sue, they are probably the ones who drank the most in that square. 

The meeting began as if it’s the usual one.

“Most of the people Sue and the guards captured were pickpockets and the like, but there were some members of the Human Supremacy cult among them.”

“Their purpose was reconnaissance. It seems they were planning something at tomorrow’s wedding.”

“Toasting on street corners is normal at harvest festivals. So, no one would find it strange if they drank alcohol.”

As expected, that suspicious man turned out to be one of the members of the Human Supremacy cult. Which meant there were still others out there. We couldn’t afford to let our guard down tomorrow either.

“We already know why they’re trying to disrupt the wedding. Apparently, they can’t tolerate people reporting their marriage to any deity other than their God.”

“They’ve always targeted the wedding ceremony—the highlight of the festival—as a way to advertise their Church. But it seems they also intend to use this opportunity to promote their faith even more aggressively.”

“Honestly, they’re nothing but trouble. The fact that they’re working together with those noble-supremacist types makes me think they’re planning something unpleasant.”

From the way they were willing to use any means necessary to achieve their goals, calling their group a terrorist organization wouldn’t be an exaggeration. If that was how they wanted to play things, then we’d simply have to strike back without holding anything back.

Perhaps because everyone had been drinking, the discussion ended there. We kept dinner light, and with the fatigue of the day’s work finally catching up to us, everyone turned in early for the night.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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“This has really gotten out of hand…”

Once we finished cleaning up the food stalls, the streets were littered with drunken revelers who had passed out where they sat. That said, most of them were beastman, and apparently they could recover from being drunk after a short nap.

“I can still drink moooore!”

“““You reek of alcohol!”””

As for Sue, she eventually returned with Ao, looking thoroughly pleased with herself. Shiro and the others instinctively pinched their noses, but honestly, compared to what happened back in the Eastern Margrave’s territory, this was nothing.

Still, it was time to head home, so Sue would have to go to sleep. Which meant it was time to leave things to Aoi.

Pwooon.

“Zzz… zzz…”

“Up you go.”

Sue promptly drifted off to sleep, leaning against me. I shifted my stance and hoisted her onto my back.

Hmm…

Just as always, there was still no soft sensation pressing against my back. Apparently, Sue remained as flat as ever.

“Shun-san… what are you thinking…”

““Fufu, kukuku…””

Sue, please don’t guess what I’m thinking while you’re asleep.

Casey and Telma-san are laughing, holding their stomachs.

“Well, we’re going home now.”

“See ya!”

The Margrave’s family also got into their carriage and headed back to the mansion. Shiro and the others are waving goodbye to the carriage, so we should go home too.

“Zzz, zz”

Now that we’re at the mansion, what should we do with Sue?

“We don’t want to smell of alcohol!”

Shiro and the others seem to feel the same way. They don’t want to sleep with a drunk Sue.

“Then Sue can sleep in her assigned room, and Shiro and the others can sleep with Casey-san and Telma-san.”

“Yay!”

After all, everyone had ended up sleeping together last night as well, and there was a good chance that Casey-san and Telma-san would be put to sleep by Ao’s sleeping magic too.

“Casey-san, Telma-san, has Sue always been like this?”

“Uhm, at Sue’s birthday party last year, she got drunk…”

“And then she drank every single bottle of wine at the venue by herself.”

Sue, why do you keep leaving behind these legendary tales of superhuman feats?

Even Casey-san and Telma-san, the ones telling the story, were wearing rather complicated expressions as they looked at the sleeping Sue on my back.

“Even so, Sue-dono is incredible. Aside from Emilia-sama, I’’ve never met another human who could hold their liquor so well.”

Toria-san, that’s not something to say with your eyes sparkling in admiration.

Emilia-sama remained completely unchanged no matter how much she drank. Sue, on the other hand, turned into an absolute disaster whenever alcohol got involved. In fact, I was one of the victims who had been completely overwhelmed by her drunken antics.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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And the Harvest Festival only grew more spectacular from there.

“We have chilled wine over here as well.”

“This is sacred wine offered to the gods. Come, everyone—drink your fill!”

“““YEAH!”””

This time, Maria-san and the former Margrave began handing out chilled wine to the townspeople.

What’s with this high energy?

“There was the bombing incident earlier this year. The townspeople were probably worried about whether the Harvest Festival could even be held safely.”

Toria-san’s reasoning made perfect sense. After all, everything that had been set up in the plaza had been destroyed by those bomb-shaped magical devices.

Given that, it was no surprise that the townspeople were in such high spirits. Most of the revelers were beastfolk, but plenty of humans had come out into the streets as well.

More importantly, what about anyone acting suspiciously…?

There!

A man stood with a mug of ale in one hand, yet instead of drinking it, he kept glancing around restlessly, scanning the area. Ao seemed to have noticed him as well and quietly began to move into position.

And then, right at that moment, a group of thoroughly drunk beastfolk stumbled onto the scene.

“Hey, kid, you’re drinking your ale too slowly!”

“Huh? What are you talking about, beastman…”

“Come on, drink up!”

“Ughhhhhh!”

Oh dear, that suspicious human man is being forced to drink by the beastmen. And then, Ao secretly carried him away after he passed out.

Eh?

The group of beastmen who forced the suspicious guys to drink smirked at me. They might actually be members of the guard. 

Well, if you catch a suspicious person and talk to them, they’ll speak in that unique way characteristic of the Human Supremacy cult, just like before. All that remained was to get him drunk and knock him out.

Since Ao had joined that group, there was no doubt they would be able to keep a close eye on the suspicious man. For some reason, Ao had brought Sue along as well, but I decided not to question it. If there was at least one human among the group, it would make for a good disguise.

Then again, in Sue’s case, she might simply have been looking for any excuse to drink.

With those thoughts in mind, I continued cooking without pause.

“Whew… I’m exhausted… Good work, everyone.”

By late afternoon, every last ingredient had been used up. Well, by that point the townspeople had shifted their focus from eating to drinking.

Everywhere I looked, people were raising their cups in toast.

“Shun-san, would it be alright if we headed off to discuss tomorrow’s plans?”

“With Sue being… well, like that, we’ll have to handle the preparations ourselves…”

Casey-san and Telma-san spoke apologetically, but hearing that only made me feel guilty toward them instead. After all, they were the ones being forced to pick up the slack.

“Haha, cheers!”

“Ugh, ugh, ugh…”

With the prospect of catching suspicious individuals while drinking, Sue is as lively as a fish in water. No, she’s a drunkard in alcohol. 

Apparently, Ao will put Sue to sleep with sleep magic at a certain point, so until then, let’s have Sue work hard with the guards.

“Shun-oniichan, Shiro will go help Casey-oneechan and Telma-oneechan!”

“Fran too!”

“Horn is going too.”

Let’s leave this to the three who enthusiastically raised their hands and volunteered. I cast healing and life-saving magic on all of them before seeing them off.

“Now, shall we start cleaning up the stalls?”

“I’ll help.”

I started cleaning up after cooking with Toria-san.

Looks like the first day of the harvest festival ended without incident.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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Sizzle, sizzle.

“Shiro, three okonomiyaki are ready.”

“Got it, Shun-oniichan.”

“Shun, ten okonomiyaki.”

“What?!”

Well, I’m in complete chaos right now. Shiro and Fran are helping out as salespeople, but the orders just won’t stop. I’m just frantically grilling okonomiyaki-like things on the griddle.

“Goodness, why did the Margrave’s family pay for everything?!”

That’s right. Emilia-sama said that food made at my stall would be free.

Yes, Emilia-sama, not the Margrave. Because of that, we’re getting tons of orders and are incredibly busy.

Spin, spin, spin.

“The round bakes are ready!”

“Wow, as expected of Horn!”

Then, Horn showed remarkable skill in making perfectly round takoyaki-like balls, so even though she’s only five, we entrusted her with the grilling. Furthermore, Kent-chan, who came up with the name “round bakes,” praised Horn’s grilled balls with a big smile, exclaiming “Delicious!”, which only attracted more people from the town.

Well, it seems okay, as Toria-san is watching over Horn while grilling meat. Ao is diligently helping with the grilling, and Sue and the others are busy chopping vegetables. I was worried about Casey-san and Telma-san, but it seems they’re too busy to think about anything else.

“This is amazing, it’s a huge success!”

“Don’t just casually stand in line with ale in your hand!”

Why is the Margrave standing in line with the townspeople?

Judging by the amount ordered, it looks like it’s for the entire Margrave’s household.

“We made it free, but if you then use your authority to cut in line for the food, it will be a nuisance to the townspeople. Everyone is equal before the offerings of God.”

Yeah, the Margrave was striking a cool pose and trying to sound dignified, but it was painfully obvious that what he really wanted was an excuse to raise a toast with the townspeople.

“The parade wagons are back!”

The townsfolk pointed down the street as the procession that had been making its way around the capital finally returned to the square. One after another, barrels filled with ale were unloaded and placed in the center of the plaza.

Then Maria-san stepped forward and began cooling the barrels with ice magic.

Ah. I had a very bad feeling about this.

“All right, everyone! This is the sacred ale that has toured the town. One cup per person, please!”

“Yeah!”

“““Woooooooh!”””

Aaaah, I knew it!

Back in my previous life, there had been ceremonies where sacred sake was distributed to participants after a ritual. This looked like pretty much the same thing.

Emilia-sama herself is handing out cups of ale, and if the ecstatic reactions from the crowd were any indication, the townspeople’s excitement was only going to climb even higher.

As I watched the line surge forward, I couldn’t help but feel that the festival was rapidly transforming into a giant drinking party disguised as a religious celebration. And judging by the gleam in the Margrave’s eyes, that outcome suited him perfectly.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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“All right! Let’s get moving!”

“““Yeah!”””

With the preparations complete, the townspeople headed out into the streets, pulling carts and wagons behind them as the parade began. At the same time, cheers erupted from the crowds lining the roads. As for me, however, my attention was fixed on something else entirely.

“Come on, keep them moving!”

“Take this one too!”

There had been a lot of vegetables piled up as offerings. Large quantities of vegetables that had been offered on the altar were now being carried away into the food stalls.

And suddenly, I had a very bad feeling about this.

I should ask the person most likely to give me a straight answer.

“Emilia-sama, the vegetables from the altar are being taken to the stalls…”

“Oh, those? Well, the report to the gods is finished now. Since they’re considered blessed offerings, everyone decided it would be good fortune to share them and eat them together.”

I nodded. Yes, I understood the reasoning behind it. But that only answered half of what I wanted to know. Sharing the offerings among everyone made perfect sense. I had no issue with that part.

The real question was why they were being taken to the food stalls in the first place.

“Because you’re the one who’s going to cook them, of course.”

Emilia-sama looked at me with a bright smile, as though what she had just said were the most obvious thing in the world. I could only stare back at her with a blank expression, my gaze shifting repeatedly between her and the food stalls.

“E-Emilia-sama…. are you serious?”

“Completely serious.”

Her smile never wavered.

And then someone decided to make matters even worse.

“People of the town! Today, you shall have the chance to taste the cooking of the Lightning Chef!”

“““““Woooooooh!”””””

To my utter horror, the Margrave had whipped the gathered townsfolk into a frenzy. And for some reason, he was looking straight at me with an unbearably smug grin. He even threw in a thumbs-up for good measure. Ah… if circumstances allowed it, I would have loved nothing more than to punch the Margrave square in the face. 

Unfortunately, the townspeople had already begun lining up in front of the stalls. At this point, there was no way I could say, “Sorry, I’m not cooking.”

“Shun-san, we’ll have some free time for a while.”

“The preparations for tomorrow’s outfits are already finished.”

“We’ll be gathering again this evening, so until then, we can help.”

Casey-san and Telma-san stepped forward with reassuring smiles, clearly intending to lend a hand.

It seemed that, whether I liked it or not, I was about to spend the Harvest Festival standing behind a food stall and cooking for an entire town. And judging from the excited crowd already forming a queue, this was going to be a very long day.

I accepted Sue and the others’ kind offer and went inside the stall.

Ao and Toria-san were going to help with the grilling, so I asked Sue and the others to just focus on chopping vegetables.

Damn, I thought there were strangely few vegetables when I was setting up the stall this morning. Thinking about it now, I should have seen this coming. Feeling a little down, I started preparing the okonomiyaki.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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