Birth Festival (4)
Birth Festival (4)
"Recharge complete!"
After nuzzling into my master's arms for a while, the headache gradually subsided.
The relief was far faster and more effective than any medicine I'd ever tried. With no side effects whatsoever, it was a vastly superior alternative.
If I could, I'd stay nestled in her embrace all day, but that wasn't realistically possible. Swallowing my regret, I slipped out of her arms.
"Hmm, are you feeling better now?"
"Yes! Much better!"
"I'm glad."
Seeing me stretch with a bright face, my master, who had been tidying herself, let out a soft laugh and patted my head.
"This time, really do go upstairs first. I'll wash up quickly, change, and come up. You need to take care of Seo-yul too, don't you?"
"Mm."
I nodded obediently at her words. If we all got ready and headed out soon, the timing would be just about right.
Leaving my master behind as she headed for the training hall's attached shower room, I went up to the first floor.
"King, King, Princess Lee Seo-yul has woken up."
[Yeah, got it.]
At the words of Oru, the fairy waiting near the stairs to the first floor, I nodded.
Just as Oru said, on the first floor, Seo-yul sat on the sofa, awake.
Seo-yul was swinging her legs, which dangled off the sofa. Behind the sofa stood Lady Eriel, who these days looked after Seo-yul more than Yeon-hwa did.
I returned the small nod Lady Eriel gave me and approached Seo-yul on the sofa.
"Mm, Daddy..."
As I drew near, her half-closed eyes, still carrying the haze of sleep, gradually opened.
Seo-yul naturally stretched out both arms. When I picked her up, she burrowed into my arms, pleased.
[Seo-yul, did you sleep well?]
"Yes..."
[You're not hurting or tired anywhere, are you?]
"Mm... not hurting. I can go out with you."
In answer to my cautious question, Seo-yul shook her head side to side in my arms. Honestly, her answer wasn't that important. Because I'd already been running a detailed Observation scan while patting her back.
Thankfully, there were no problems. I always keep Observation trained on Seo-yul, but a little extra care never hurts.
'The magic is holding up well too.'
As a sort of health check, I also examined the magic I'd placed on Seo-yul.
Dozens of spells on Seo-yul herself. And dozens more woven into the design of the clothes I'd personally made for her.
Basic barrier-type protection magic and instant-cast spatial magic. And counterattack magic meant to subdue an attacker, or, failing that, to grind them down without leaving a single scrap behind.
These were spells I'd applied by fully utilizing my Mana Affinity and the magical skill gained from the Tower of Knowledge.
Thanks to that, my schedule and brainpower were ground to dust, but since Seo-yul's safety had increased, I was more than satisfied.
As I was smiling to myself with pride, Seo-yul, who'd been nuzzling in my arms, suddenly narrowed her eyes.
[Seo-yul?]
"Sniff sniff..."
I tilted my head and gave her back a few pats. Seo-yul didn't answer and lifted her head to sniff at the nape of my neck. Her breath tickled, making my shoulders flinch involuntarily.
After sniffing for a moment, Seo-yul's brow furrowed even more than before.
"It smells like Lady Atra."
[Ah.]
I let out a belated sound of realization. After rubbing against my master so much earlier, it was only natural that her scent would have rubbed off on me. In fact, I'd even rubbed against her with that very intention.
But Seo-yul, clearly not entirely pleased by that, was busy rubbing herself against me with a disgruntled look.
[Regret.]
I would have preferred my master's scent to linger on me, but since I was going around with Seo-yul...
Suppressing my regret, I used purification magic to deliberately disperse the scent that had clung to me.
.
.
.
Between the opening ceremony, my conversation with Lord Hong Jin-seon, and preparing to look around the festival, some time had passed.
Especially since it was winter, when the days grow short, the outside was already beginning to show signs of being dyed in the orange hues of dusk.
It was around the time some households would start preparing a late dinner.
- Takoyaki! Made personally by a Siyoram cadet! Grilled using fire magic, no less! Samples are available one per person!
- How's that any different from household magic? On top of that, your cooking is worse, you bastard...
- You've got a lot to say for someone eating for free. And I fucking told you not to come, this is business interference. Eat that and get lost.
But the festival atmosphere showed no sign of dying down. Rather, as if competing with the darkening sky, each stall lit up with colorful bulbs, painting the streets even more brilliantly.
"Festivals usually have more going on at night. You can see the stars, and the surroundings sparkle against the dark sky, so the mood is lovely."
As I was calmly observing the festival, Ellia, beside me, answered my unspoken question.
She had met up with friends she hadn't seen in a while right after the opening ceremony, and had just now rejoined us to tour the festival.
[Ah-ha, is that so?]
"Yes, in my hometown too, festivals started at night. Though it was just a country festival, so the scale was very small."
I nodded, thinking, 'Ah, I see.' Because I'd never participated in something like a festival.
The Birth Festival I'd experienced in the original work? Honestly, treating a game's festival as real festival experience was a little too pathetic...
Even that, from the 2nd Iteration onward, I'd thought of the Birth Festival not as a festival, but as a reputation event and a stat-boosting event.
"Hey, didn't you say you were helping with a stall? So is it okay for you to be playing around like this?"
"I only agreed to briefly help at the stall on the afternoon of the fourth day. Yeon-hwa, Yeon-hwa, aren't you trying to get rid of me a little too blatantly...?"
"Don't frame an innocent person, it was just a question."
Ellia wasn't the only one who'd rejoined. My master had come out from the mansion with me and was quietly looking around, and Yeon-hwa and Baek A-rin had joined immediately, bickering as usual like it was nothing.
Professor Liana and Lee Ji-yeon hadn't been able to join.
Professor Liana, as the supervising professor for the first-years and the Beginning of Spring class, was in charge of managing and overseeing the first-year cadets running stalls and street performances.
Of course, it wasn't that she had zero free time, but she'd said she didn't have much leeway on the first day.
As for Lee Ji-yeon, she was dealing with a personal matter—meeting the head of the Taesan family who had visited during the opening ceremony.
'...I should bring something for Professor Liana. And as for Lee Ji-yeon's side... should I meet the family head too?'
I pondered it for a moment but pushed it aside for now. The unsettling feeling emanating from the head of Taesan was still under analysis, and judging by their presence, they didn't seem likely to return anytime soon.
[You're not cold or anything, are you?]
"No, I'm very warm."
[If you get chilly, you have to tell me right away. Okay?]
"Yesh."
Seo-yul let out a white puff of breath and squeezed the hand she was holding. At the same time, she was busy looking around with a distracted air.
Curiosity practically sparkled in her eyes, as if this festival atmosphere was incredibly fascinating to her.
'Bringing her out was the right call.'
Every time she moved her head, the fur ball attached to the tip of her hat wiggled, which was ridiculously cute.
Snow hadn't fallen yet, but since the weather was chilly, I'd dressed Seo-yul in thick clothes that were almost full-body armor.
Thanks to the fact that I'd paid attention to how she would feel wearing them from the design stage, she didn't seem to feel much discomfort despite the thick layers.
I nodded to myself and sent a sound transmission.
- Are you all enjoying the view too?
- Yes, King!
- There are so many humans...!
- A delicious smell... Are all of those food...?
Voices rang in my head one after another. The origin of each voice was the fairies perched on my head and shoulders.
I'd felt bad about just leaving them at the mansion and taking off, so I'd brought them along to show them around.
Of course, I'd cast magic on them so they wouldn't draw attention. Normal-sized people might be a different story, but kids this small felt out of place even with perception-obstruction magic.
So I'd cast a different spell on the fairies instead of perception obstruction.
'I considered just going out without magic, but if I did that, I wouldn't be able to enjoy myself comfortably because of my notoriety.'
Even now, drones occasionally zipped by overhead.
It was fine for them to be caught on broadcast, but the moment my group and I showed ourselves, a storm of gazes would pour in from every direction.
How many stares and approaches had I received on my way back to the mansion after parting with Yeon-hwa? It had been so bad that I'd had to duck into an alley afterward and cast perception obstruction.
[Seo-yul, aren't you hungry yet? Shall we buy something delicious from the stalls together?]
"...Something delicious?"
[Yes, yes, something delicious.]
"Uh..."
When I tapped Seo-yul's arm as she was looking around busily, her expression suddenly became odd.
After rolling her eyes around, Seo-yul glanced furtively at my expression.
Caught off guard by her reaction for a moment, I soon puffed out my chest a little and put on a boastful expression.
[Hmph, you know, I have an awful lot of money? Enough that if Seo-yul bought a thousand, ten thousand stall foods, it wouldn't even make a dent.]
It wasn't just empty bravado. The expenses for this sort of everyday life couldn't make a meaningful dent in my account balance.
There had been a time when I'd been horrified by the brutal cost of living in this world and trembled at spending money... Thinking back on it now, it was deeply moving in many ways.
Of course, the expenses used in the superhuman industry were correspondingly bloody massive, but I could handle that one way or another.
[So don't worry, you can eat anything you want.]
"...Mm."
At my repeated insistence, Seo-yul finally nodded. But the reluctant air that lingered suggested that no matter how much I claimed to have a lot of money, it didn't quite sink in for her.
[Then shall we start with that? Chicken— No, no, no, pork skewers!]
Instead of waiting for Seo-yul, who was still too timid to pick something, I took the lead and wandered in and out of the stalls.
They say food is the highlight of a festival? True to the saying, the stalls were overflowing with all kinds of food being freshly made and sold on the spot.
"Nom nom nom..."
[How is it? Is it good?]
"Nyesh... good."
I'd already grasped that Seo-yul eats a large amount. I also knew that she ate even more than me, perhaps because she was growing.
So when I kept handing her food, she would glance at me while still munching away happily.
Indeed, a growing child. That gave me a surge of energy too, and I bustled in and out of suitable stalls.
"Ah, now that I think about it, I didn't get to go to many other festivals this year."
That was when.
Yeon-hwa, who had been carefully scooping up cup-bap to avoid getting it on her scarf, spoke up as if the thought had just struck her.
"The food festival held in Taesan was great to visit sometimes and eat your fill."
"Pig."
"If I'm a pig, then you're an overweight seal."
"Mine all goes to my chest, so I'm fine~"
"You bi— Ahem! You think it doesn't go to the chest on me? Huh?"
"But they're smaller than mine, aren't they?"
"Why, you."
"Whoa there, the filter's peeling off...! Ah, shall we do that one?"
A startled Baek A-rin suddenly pointed somewhere. At the end of her finger was a machine set near the entrance of an arcade.
Even I, who'd never been to an arcade, could recognize it right away. It was a punching machine.
"How about a bet, for old times' sake?"
"That? Ha, you're real shit at changing the subject, you seal."
At Baek A-rin's gesture, Yeon-hwa's lips twitched. Her expression made it clear she had absolutely no intention of letting her slip away. Baek A-rin also let out a deep sigh as if she had no choice.
"Ah~ Can't be helped if you chickened out, I guess."
"What?"
Yeon-hwa's indifferent expression hardened. At that, Baek A-rin smirked and shrugged with a look of total understanding.
"No, I mean, it's the wise choice, right? Throwing yourself into a losing battle is idiotic. Especially this time, since there's nothing to protect, it'd be right to back out if you're gonna lose~"
Baek A-rin's words poured out like a flood.
"Hoo, I'll let it slide just this once, specially. Be grateful."
- Snap!
At the finishing touch of that line, the spoon in Yeon-hwa's hand shattered. Yeon-hwa's trembling hand pointed at the punching machine.
"Follow me, you bi... tch."
"In the end, her filter function stopped..."
Baek A-rin glanced at the spoon that had been smashed to splinters with a mildly sour look and approached the punching machine.
Yeon-hwa snorted and followed behind her, and the rest of our group, me included, tagged along with interest.