Thanksgiving Festival (1)
Thanksgiving Festival (1)
Noisy clamor echoes into the room.
The sun had long been high in the sky, and the city was in its most energetic time.
Meanwhile, I was lying in bed checking out my newly acquired ability.
[Pain-Pleasure Substitution]
Just as the name implies, an ability that turns pain into pleasure.
I'd gotten it after spending the night with Ilone. I had no idea why she wanted something like this, but....
'Not bad at all.'
Pain isn't always a bad thing. It's a warning signal sent to us, and it's because of pain that humans can grow.
There are plenty of masochists out there who feel relieved and even enjoy the moment they escape from pain.
But the first thing I thought of after getting this ability was Eunha. She's completely immune to pain.
'If I use my ability to substitute pleasure for pain before she becomes immune to it...?'
Pain is a stimulus. Being immune to pain is the same as having no stimulation at all.
Her life without pain would probably be an empty one where she feels absolutely nothing.
I was thrilled that I now had the ability to give her a gift like that.
"Nggh... Sleep well?"
"You up? Wanna grab some food?"
Right on cue, Ilone stretched and sat up. She'd been pinned under me all morning, moaning away, but now that the fatigue from our romp was gone, she hopped up light as a feather.
"I'll wash up quick and be right out, so wait for me."
"Wanna wash together?"
"...You sure you can hold back? I'm serious, I can't take more. Look, my legs are still shaking."
Ilone pointed to her legs, which were trembling just from standing. I wasn't planning on going another round after all that anyway, so I nodded like it was no big deal.
"...You mean that?"
"I do. I'm fine, really."
And then, in the bathroom together, I came exactly twice.
"Ugh... Feels like my down there's burning."
A bit later, after showering, we headed down to the restaurant, ordered the lunch special, and chatted about this and that.
"Anything special going on lately?"
"Special?"
"Yeah, like events."
"Events...? Like the Great Thanksgiving Festival?"
"Oho, what's that?"
"You don't know the Great Thanksgiving Festival...? You really from this city?"
"Can't you tell from my hair? Obviously from another city."
Ilone looked at my black hair and eyes, then nodded like, yeah, that makes sense.
From her reaction, I could tell that in this country—at least in this city—outsiders weren't all that rare.
"The Great Thanksgiving Festival is... a day to give thanks to the gods for the year's prosperity. It's a three-day festival with celebrations galore, the Papal States sending the Saintess, foreign delegations showing up—basically a nationwide party."
"Sounds like a huge hassle."
"You got that right... Think festivals mean no incidents? Hell no. Crime rates spike 300% to 3000% during festival days... And guess who's cleaning up all that shit."
Ilone started ranting about the Guard Force's burdens and criticizing the festival. Fair enough—even in the modern world, security and safety crews suffer the most during big events.
Even civilian accidents can shut down festivals sometimes, and if VIPs get involved, the problems multiply.
In other words, Ilone, as the Guard Force captain in charge of the city's security, had burdens beyond words.
"Um, so... I won't be able to meet up during the festival... but, after it ends, I get vacation time?"
Ilone fidgeted with her fingers, her face flushing red. The meaning was crystal clear.
"After the festival... can we meet again?"
"After the festival ends, let's go on a date."
"Uh, yeah?"
"What, wasn't that what you were getting at?"
"No, yeah it is! Yeah! Let's date!"
She nodded vigorously, thrilled. Just the promise of a date with me had her heat level rising—I could see it.
"You might run into me while working hard and patrolling."
"R-right, yeah. How'd I not think of that...."
"But you're the captain—sure it's okay to wander around like this?"
"It's fine! I'm the captain! What're they gonna do?"
"Alright then."
After that, I kept chatting with Ilone about all sorts of things. Stuff we outsiders couldn't easily pick up on.
Even Deokgu's ability couldn't dig up some of it easily. Local traditions only natives knew....
I was happy I'd have stories to tell the kids, and we parted ways as the sun dipped low.
The last day off. The one we decided to call Sunday among ourselves. Gathered at the restaurant, we shared the info we'd gathered so far and discussed tomorrow's plans.
"Next week there's this Great Thanksgiving Festival thing."
"Great Thanksgiving Festival? What's that?"
"Deokgu."
At my cue, Deokgu used his ability and rattled off info on the Great Thanksgiving Festival.
"The Great Thanksgiving Festival is... a festival celebrating national prosperity, a major event blessed by the gods, a national holiday everyone enjoys... Sounds like Chuseok or something?"
"Festival? Festival? So like, food stalls and stuff popping up?"
"Probably? Sounds fun!"
"What should we do?"
The kids were already pondering what to do for fun during the festival. I frowned a bit at that.
'Not their money anyway... Or maybe that's exactly why.'
They weren't using the free funds handed to them to grow or prepare for the future. They were ignoring reality and blowing it on gambling and indulgence.
If Seoyun ditched them, I wondered how they'd even survive....
'Well, it's the Otherworld....'
If this were the modern world, it'd be different. With money in hand, they'd challenge themselves instead of just playing around.
Writing, drawing, making coffee, selling food, even trying singing, dancing, or internet streaming.
No worries about starving if they failed, so they'd keep trying, and with infinite attempts, success probability converges to infinity.
They'd succeed in the end. And make more than your average office worker.
But here? A fantasy world not even as advanced as the 20th century. No internet, not even newspapers—a barbaric place.
A city where outsiders with money can only splurge on luxury and debauchery.
I pitied them for being able to do nothing, and pulled Deokgu aside for a talk.
"Hey."
"What? We're talking festival."
"What's the range on your ability?"
"Range? Uh... worldwide, I guess?"
"Then... wanna try something fun?"
"Something fun?"
"Yeah."
I explained the other races in this world to Deokgu.
Beastkin, Elves, Dwarves, all sorts of Demi-humans I'd heard about from Ilone. And the nations they'd built.
"...And what're we supposed to do with that?"
Deokgu checked them out with his ability but couldn't think of anything to do with it.
He acted adapted to this world, but he was still holed up just like before. No surprise there.
"For example... that Blackjack crew we took down last time. What happened to them?"
"What happened...? It says [As of today, all members captured and organization wiped out.]"
"How do you know that?"
"My ability... Oh."
"Let's make a newspaper. With your ability... we can make a quality no one else can copy."
And that would be.
"...A monopoly on information."
"And propaganda too."
He knew, as a creative fiction fan, how much power info monopoly and agitation wielded in a medieval world like this.
"No way, this is seriously... Wow. We can use my ability like that?"
"Realized it while working with Ilone. Your ability's more versatile than I thought."
"...What?"
"Hm? Said your ability's great."
"No, before that."
"Realized it while working with Ilone?"
"Why're you calling that noona by her first name? Why? You two already that close? Huh? No way?"
"Ah, it just kinda happened...."
"Just kinda happened? Wow... Thought we were friends... You popular asshole...."
I stared at shocked Deokgu, then offered him a drink. He chugged like he had no choice.
"Anyway, time to prep the newspaper. One of the girls has that [hand-speed ability], right? Have her draw for the kids, make seals and stuff...."
"What if the kids say they don't wanna work?"
"Tell 'em Seoyun said so. She hates seeing you lazy asses play around. No work, no support."
"Come on, Seoyun wouldn't say that."
"It's fine. They won't ask her directly anyway."
If they had any conscience or brains, they'd avoid pissing off Seoyun, who slaves for them.
And even if they did ask her, no biggie. We were tight enough for pillow talk every night.
"Yeah, but still...."
"Deokgu, stop playing around too. Time to man up and build a harem."
"...A harem."
"Yeah, ability's everything for a guy. World's first, only newspaper publisher CEO. How badass is that?"
Gulp. Seeing him swallow hard, I knew he was hooked.
"Alright then. A toast to our bright future?"
"...Cheers."
"Cheers."
That night.
Seoyun came to my room.
I smiled lightly and pulled her onto the bed.
"It's your day off, so you probably didn't use your ability... What's up?"
"...I did. The kids said it was hot."
"Ah, gotcha."
Seoyun started with a plausible excuse. Probably not a total lie—she likely used her power for ice coffee or something. Even knowing it was unreasonable herself.
Making ice to cool off just heats her up more in the end.
It was just an excuse and justification to hook up with me.
"Yun-ah, got a favor to ask."
"...What?"
"If the girls ask if what I said was true... can you say yes?"
"...? What're you talking about?"
Seoyun tilted her head at the nonsense. I chuckled and buried my face in her collarbone.
"Just say got it, no questions."
"...Fine, but I have a condition too."
"What?"
"During this festival, go on a date with me."
"A date? That's easy...."
"Just you and me."
Seoyun showed heavy possessiveness, locking eyes with me. I could've refused, but I smiled and kissed her lips.
"Easy request, Princess."
Hearing that, Seoyun beamed.
Do all women love being called princess?
By nature, princesses exist to be stripped.
Following that formula, I started peeling away the ice princess's glacial armor.