The Festival Begins
The next morning.
I hadn't slept a wink since the night before, my head full of the festival. Not because I was looking forward to it. My body can't sleep in the first place, so I mean it in the most literal sense. If anything, worry was running well ahead of anticipation.
People always ask questions. Where did you come from. Who are you. What do you do with your days. Tell one lie, and you have to keep lying to cover it—and I have never been any good at that. I never have been. It was so bad that even on the internet, where no one sees your face, I racked up banned accounts because I couldn't pull off those little lies. Somehow people always knew. I'd make a new account, and they'd still figure out it was me.
Which is why a situation like this one couldn't help but leave me uneasy. This would be my first step into human society in this world, and I would be walking into it under an identity that must never come to light.
Undead. Ira Elysia. Master of a skeleton.
Of course, I had no intention of bringing Unit 1 along, so the part about being a skeleton's master wasn't likely to get out. She did seem a little disappointed that she couldn't go to the festival. But what was I supposed to do? You're a skeleton.
Still. Maybe I was a little excited after all.
"A circus..."
A circus. A circus. Come on—aren't you curious? A world with magic and skills. If a performance looks wondrous even to the people who live in a world like that, just how wondrous must it actually be?
Back in Eternal Arcadia there had been performances, at least on paper, but they were never really built out, so I never got to experience one myself. My imagination couldn't begin to guess what strange scenes might unfold.
That was the moment. I'd been sitting by the door, so I felt the presence at once. Evelyn?
Knock. Knock.
"Ira, I came to get you—"
The mansion door flew open before she could finish. Startled, Evelyn froze for a beat, then found her voice.
"...Ira, did you sleep well?"
I tilted my head. What kind of greeting is did you sleep well for someone who can't sleep?
"No...?"
Catching the look on my face, Evelyn corrected herself.
"Ah, sorry. Slipped my mind for a second. You just seemed so much livelier than usual, so..."
"..."
I am not that lively. Isn't this the same as usual? All I did was open the door a little early. Nothing else is different.
While I stood there feeling awkward, Evelyn's gaze drifted off somewhere else. What was she looking at now? I turned to follow it. Trees and grass. Nothing there.
"Evelyn?"
"Hm? Oh, it's nothing."
What. That was a weird reaction. Did she spot a wild animal or something?
Anyway. I gave a small wave to Unit 1 and Unit 3, who had come to see me off, settled Unit 2-1 on my shoulder, took Evelyn's hand, and stepped out the door.
The village.
Even with the entrance right in front of me, I couldn't make my feet move for a long while. This... there were way more people than I'd thought. Had there always been this many in a village so small?
I'd accepted Evelyn's offer because the village in my memory was never large. But this was practically theme-park scale. I hadn't been to an amusement park in years—I hadn't even set foot in the park near my house—and now I was supposed to walk into that. What was I supposed to do? I was already getting dizzy.
Ready or not, the village was already soaked in festival spirit, a noisy heat spilling out of it. I swallowed hard. Ugh. Maybe I shouldn't have agreed to come. A crowd that size in one place felt, to me, like some kind of barrier.
While I stood there swallowing, Evelyn came closer with a smile.
"Nervous?"
I hesitated a moment, then gave a small nod.
"...A little."
She stepped in front of me without a word, took my hood in both hands, and tugged it a little deeper over my face.
"You'll be fine. You're my guest."
"...Okay."
According to her, she'd already told the villagers I was something like a distant relative. They probably wouldn't ask much, she said. I was still anxious. Obviously.
While I stood there, Unit 2-1 carefully slipped out from inside my clothes onto my shoulder and tugged my cheek.
"Ow—what."
"Eeng-eeng!"
Unit 2-1 bounced on my shoulder as if cheering me on.
"...Are you encouraging me?"
"Eeng!"
Getting a pep talk from a summon I can't even talk to. Weird feeling. Not a bad one, though. Cute little thing.
At this point, maybe I ought to give Unit 2-1 a real name instead of a cold number that doesn't sound the least bit affectionate. And what's so wrong with Hellfire that everyone says my naming sense is terrible?
That little display put a bit of courage in me, and I took one step forward.
Encouraged by Evelyn and Unit 2-1, I'd managed to step into the village, but I was still staring at the ground with my head bowed, every sense pulled tight. Honestly, I hadn't been this tense even when the wolves had me surrounded. Were people scarier to me than those huge wolves? I was getting a fresh feel for just how bad my social anxiety really was.
There were seriously too many people. I'd only come to see one circus. Why was there so much of everything?
While I stood there stiff as a board, someone in the crowd spotted us and came over, looking delighted.
"Oh! Evelyn, you're back! And the child beside you is..."
The stranger's attention looked ready to land on me, so I ducked straight behind Evelyn. She put herself between us without missing a beat and answered for me.
"Hans. This is the one I mentioned before. She's pretty shy, so please don't come too close."
"Ah, right. Sorry about that. It's just the first time you've brought anyone along, so I got a little excited."
The man called Hans started to offer me his hand, as if for a handshake. When it became clear I had no intention of reaching back, he drew it in with an awkward look. I didn't feel a shred of guilt about his embarrassment. Sticking your hand out at a stranger out of nowhere—that's on him.
Come to think of it, Evelyn had come at me with a dagger instead of a hand. First impressions aside, she was the only lifeline I had right now, so I gripped the front of her clothes tighter.
"Haha, guess I've been a nuisance. Well, this pest will get out of your way—enjoy the festival!"
"Right. See you later, Hans."
I glared at the retreating back of the man called Hans for a while, until Evelyn set a hand on my head and smiled.
"Don't be so on guard. They just want to get to know you."
"But if they find out..."
And then what? I looked up at her with that thought plain on my face. She only smiled, meaningful, and dodged it.
"Who knows? Maybe it won't turn out to be such a big deal."
What kind of reaction was that? She was the one who had said there might be trouble if the villagers learned who I was.
"If you keep your head down the whole time, there was no point in coming to the festival."
With that, Evelyn tugged my hood back a little. And what I saw was—
"...Whoa."
The beginner village, lingering in a hazy memory. That scene, realized exactly as it had been.
Noisy crowds. Rows of peddlers' tents. Scraps of every color strung from building to building, fluttering in the wind. Smoke rose from wood fires here and there, and something bubbled away in a great iron pot. The smell of grilling meat. The smell of baking bread. A faint scent of herbs. None of it particularly stirred my appetite, but it was just right for calling up that warm feeling of people living their lives.
A shame, really. If it weren't for the poison problem, these people might have gotten to taste the incredible flavors I can make.
As I looked around, breathing it in, I saw children smaller than me come running, swinging wooden swords. A sword fight. I used to play like that with my friends when I was little, too. Broke my arm once doing it. Ha. Mom really let me have it. I miss even that, now.
I sidestepped the kids, lost in their own shrieking battle, and looked elsewhere. The village girls were handing out wreaths woven from wildflowers. The pink blossoms among them brought back the flower field where the wolves had surrounded me. Evelyn had said that field was close to the village. Maybe everyone was safe because I'd met the wolves first and driven them off.
And then, from somewhere, unfamiliar music started up—pipes and drums mixed with some stringed instrument I couldn't name. It wasn't as polished as the songs I used to seek out, but that roughness fit the festival strangely well. All of it, things I couldn't see while my head was down.
Evelyn beamed and patted my shoulder.
"Well? Can you see what's around you a little now?"
"...Yes."
I could only nod quietly at that.
A festival, huh. There was a lot more to it than I'd thought.