Wanna Go to the Festival with Me?
Wanna Go to the Festival with Me?
Raymond Trading Company Lichten Branch, Emilia Raymond's office.
Emilia was receiving a report from a subordinate.
"It says he purchased securities of a guild called Eco Mana."
"What does that guild do? Do we have a report?"
"Yes."
The report detailed Ian's every move.
Especially his activities at the stock exchange.
The subordinate handed her the report.
The stack of papers fluttered in Emilia's hands, and with each flutter, the tip of her crossed leg gave a light twitch.
Emilia suddenly covered her mouth.
"What the... Pfft!"
"Lady Emilia?"
"Pwahahahahaha!"
Bang, bang, bang.
Emilia slammed the table with unladylike abandon.
"Now that's a joke! He obviously got scammed! Kyahahahaha!"
After laughing for a while, Emilia wiped the tears from her eyes and asked her subordinate,
"Do we have a stake in this Eco Mana guild?"
"We invested a small amount of initial capital. Approximately 2.5% of the total shares."
"Enough to make the stock price plummet if we dump it all at once."
"Huh? Ah, yes. That's correct. Without anyone to support it, it will fall significantly."
"Then the next time that person shows up, sell it all. I want to see the look of despair on his face. He dealt me a blow, so I'll pay him back."
With that, Emilia lowered her head back to the documents.
The subordinate hesitated.
"But, um..."
"What is it?"
"It's just... this stock could actually prove promising. The reason we hold shares is that it showed sufficient growth potential in our portfolio..."
"Mr. Belloz."
Emilia's voice turned cold.
The subordinate immediately straightened his back.
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Even at best, this kind of stock only doubles. We can do without a measly 100 gold, so stop talking and follow orders."
"I-I'm sorry. Understood!"
◆
People who rarely leave the house share one common trait.
Once they do step outside, they optimize their route to handle everything in one trip, then head straight back.
"Next, winter clothes shopping."
That was exactly Ian's case.
The type to make the most of an outing.
'Once I get back today, I can train for at least two hours.'
Even though he did it to secure training time, his behavioral principle wasn't much different.
Thus, Ian ended up at North Town's largest clothing outlet.
[ North Town Woodbury Outlet ]
The long warehouse-style store was lined with clothes of all colors, stimulating customers' desires.
The shop was fairly crowded.
- "This Festival of Lights is where I'll give it my all."
- "Look at this outfit. It suits me perfectly."
- "Wouldn't something a little more revealing be better?"
Even as he passed through the entrance, the chatter of young women, likely academy students, reached his ears without pause.
'Must be because of St. Gregory's Festival of Lights.'
The St. Gregory Festival of Lights.
A commemorative festival that fills the streets with glowing lanterns to honor the sacrifice of the saint named Gregory.
When the time comes, the main streets of nations within the empire's sphere of influence are all illuminated by orange lights.
- "This year, I want to seduce someone who owns a villa."
- "I heard the southern beaches are especially beautiful lately."
- "Constantine is too humid; if I go, I'd want the northern duchy."
After the festival, a week-long holiday follows, called the Golden Week — officially the St. Gregory Memorial Week.
A full week of rest. Since the festival takes place on the first day, the excitement is immense.
It was the perfect opportunity to find a lover and forge connections.
Statistics even exist claiming that exactly ten months after St. Gregory's Week, the birth rate peaks, or something like that.
That was the reason this outlet was packed.
But.
— Flick, flick.
Above the rows of clothing racks, a pair of fluffy, cherry-blossom-colored ears twitched and bobbed along.
They stood out even among the crowd.
Because she was short, only her ears were visible, but who it was was obvious.
Ian approached her stealthily.
"Isn't this way too short? It's practically just a scrap of cloth... Th-This... seems way too much..."
Danya stood there, holding a white dress designed for beastfolk, staring at it with a thoroughly serious expression.
"What are you doing?"
"Nya!"
Danya jumped in surprise at Ian's sudden appearance.
Then she hurriedly hid the dress behind her tail.
"I-Ian! How are you here? Isn't today your mana training day, meow?"
"How do you know my training schedule?"
'If he found out I just happened to pass by and watch every time he trained outside, he'd definitely find it weird, right?'
"That's because... we're comrades!"
"Hmm, is that so?"
As Ian casually brushed it off, Danya let out a silent sigh of relief.
"More importantly, why are you here? You... you aren't...?"
Thump.
Danya's face assumed a self-inflicted look of shock.
Her tail drooped.
"Don't tell me you have a date for the Festival of Lights?!"
Ian shook his head.
"I came to buy winter clothes. Oh, do you know where the winter clothes section is?"
Danya's tail instantly returned to normal at his words.
She had almost bought the wrong outfit for nothing.
"I saw it earlier! I'll show you!"
With her twice-folded tail wagging inconspicuously, Danya tugged Ian along.
And so they arrived at the winter clothes corner.
"Hmm..."
A thoughtful hum escaped Ian's lips.
Because the winter clothes were more expensive than he'd thought.
Ones made of regular animal fur were too bulky.
The special materials incorporating magical engineering were astonishingly thin, but far too pricey.
'Maybe I should have kept around ten silver.'
The money Ian had on him was three silver coins.
Considering the price, the 'Sky Marten Fur Top-and-Bottom Set' seemed affordable, but it was far too pure white and still too bulky for mobility.
'At this rate, I'd be better off combing Danya's tail fur to make my own padding.'
A strange, calculating gleam flickered in Ian's eyes.
Danya instinctively hid her tail with a swish.
"Wh-What, meow."
"I wasn't thinking anything."
"You were definitely thinking something weird."
Avoiding Danya's narrowed glare, Ian turned his eyes back to the display rack.
[ Andrew Workshop Top-and-Bottom Set. (10 silver) ]
Andrew Workshop.
Even by game standards, it was a workshop famous for excellent cost-effectiveness.
This looked the best, but...
He was short by seven silver.
'They wouldn't take credit, would they?'
It was money he could earn by solving about five pending prophecies, though.
As he pondered, Danya spoke up.
"Should I buy it for you?"
Ian asked back.
"Why?"
"Ah, n-no...!"
Fidget, fidget.
Danya, who had been tapping her index fingers together, opened her mouth.
"I-It's... congratulations! You got through the disciplinary committee safely!"
Ian thought for a moment.
'Would it be okay to accept a gift like this?'
Ten silver was no small amount.
Seeing Ian hesitate, Danya hurriedly said,
"I-I have lots of money!"
Come to think of it, Ian had never seen Danya strapped for cash.
"Then I'll gratefully accept."
"Yeah! Yeah...!"
Danya beamed brightly.
But inside, she wasn't entirely innocent.
There was a cunning ulterior motive.
'Sylvia, you're a hundred years too early to tempt him with just food!'
It was the triggering of an inexplicable rivalry with Sylvia, whom she'd met in front of Ian's house.
◆
Ian suddenly felt a spark of curiosity.
"How do beastfolk wear pants or skirts?"
If you thought about it, wearing a skirt would cause the hem to ride up. And with pants, you'd have to pull them down all the way past the tail, wouldn't you?
Instead of answering, Danya picked up a pair of beastfolk-specific bottoms.
A small hole positioned just below the waist.
Danya demonstrated by slipping her tail through the hole.
"You pull your tail out like this, meow."
The hole was small, so the tail barely squeezed through, but the inside wasn't visible.
"That's fascinating."
As they walked toward the checkout, he noticed that beastfolk-specific bottoms and hats were occasionally on display.
Danya cast a sidelong glance at a white cap as she passed.
Ian picked it up.
"Try it on. I'll tell you how it looks."
"I think it'll look weird because of my ears..."
Without waiting for her hesitation, Ian placed the cap on her head.
Her ears poked out through the holes.
Oddly, it was adorable.
"It suits you."
"...Ugh!"
Danya hurriedly took off the cap and hung it back on the display.
Then she snatched the winter clothes Ian was holding.
She headed to the checkout without a word.
'...Is she mad?'
The insides of Danya's ears were slightly flushed red.
'Maybe putting a hat on a beastfolk is rude.'
Even Ian, who usually didn't care much about others' feelings, wanted to be a little considerate to someone who was giving him a ten-silver gift.
Honestly, he was a little scared.
Until Danya made her next move.
"Is there anything else to ring up?"
"Ah, wait a moment."
Danya came back over, and picked up that same cap again.
Then she scurried over and handed it to the cashier.
"P-Please ring this up too."
"Yes. That'll be 13 silver and 23 copper."
The moment she got the cap back, she pulled it down firmly over her head and lowered her gaze.
The sight was so cute that Ian let out an involuntary laugh.
Danya came back with quick, mincing steps and tossed the packaged clothes into Ian's arms.
"Here."
"Thanks. That hat really suits you."
"Eek!"
Ian couldn't resist teasing her one more time.
Her reactions were just too good.
As Ian resolved to tease Danya more often from now on,
Danya murmured quietly.
"U-Um, Ian."
"Yeah?"
"So... um. W-Would you like to go to the festival together?"
She asked, tapping the ground with the tip of her shoe.
Ian paused to think.
'This festival is pretty significant.'
A major event occurred at the St. Gregory Festival of Lights.
Lore-wise, it was the only chance for an utterly ordinary player to attract the attention of the named character, the 'Third Imperial Princess.'
That event was the 'Third Imperial Princess Assassination Attempt.'
The princess, Asteria, was also a key figure in the main scenario 「Chapter 2: The Frost-Laden River.」
Because the scenario itself begins with a request from her.
In short, this assassination attempt essentially served as the prologue to Chapter 2.
'If I can't get the princess's attention here, I won't be able to participate in Chapter 2.'
Which meant a direct train to the bad ending.
Plus, since Sharon Pierce was involved as well, for a proper ending, I absolutely had to get a good result in the prologue.
Ultimately, the question came down to whether Danya would be helpful in this incident...
Thinking about it, the answer was simple.
"Alright. Let's go together. I'm looking forward to it."
Earth and grass magic.
I figured it was time to make use of that interaction.
Meanwhile, Danya slightly misunderstood Ian's true intent.
'He said... looking forward to it.'
She answered brightly but shyly.
"Y-Yeah!"
She pulled the cap down firmly to hide her flushed face.
But she couldn't hide her perked-up ears or her swaying tail.