Semi-retired Adventurer Lives Leisurely Chapter 57

Published at 6th of August 2021 10:30:53 AM

Chapter 57: The Start of the Flower Festival and the Hero

Day 1 of the Flower Festival - Morning.

We were blessed with nice weather, and we spent the day under a refreshing autumn sky.

We are in the Main Square where the Opening Ceremony was being held. The Governor held a voice-amplifying Magecraft Artifact and stood upon the stage that our party helped build. He’s currently giving a cheerful welcome speech to the crowd.

He spoke about how thankful he was to begin another Flower Festival. How he wanted everyone to enjoy it. And finally invited the crowd to sing with him the traditional song sung to the True Dragon according to legends.

His speech was relatively short.

Alvare: “And now, I would like to proudly announce the start of our annual Flower Festival!”

With that, a sudden cheer erupted from all those gathered in the Town Square.

Feeling the energy of everyone around me, I lifted my arm and cheered with them. Cyril was also equally excited as I am and was cheering with me.

Cyril: “Wow～ I love the energy during festivals! I’m so excited!”

Henry: “Aren’t you always excited about something?”

Cyril: “Excuse you. I’m not that childish.”

……….I wonder….I feel like Cyril’s still 70% a child but….

Henry: “Well, what do you want to do now? Do you want to go around the different stands until our meeting time?”

Cyril: “Yes, let’s～ I didn’t eat breakfast this morning, so let’s go find something to eat first.”

Looks like she wants to start off the morning enjoying one of the main luxuries of Festivals which is the food stands.

Henry: “........still a kid～”

Cyril: “What?” Henry: “Nothing.”

I shrug as Cyril glares at me.

Cyril: “Well, whatever. Let’s go.”

The crowd in the Main Square gradually disperses, and we didn’t have any trouble leaving the area.

Cyril: “I hope everyone else is enjoying the festival～”

Henry: “They should be fine.”

Today, it’s just Cyril and me.

During the Flower Festival, there’s special events for couples, so Jend and Ferris are on a date.

Teo’s family runs a merchant business, so she is helping out her family today. …….but I think she made plans with Lana, who is also working today, to go out together during their break.

So, that’s why it’s just Cyril and I.

Honestly, she could have gone out to the Festival with one of her friends that’s not in our Adventurer Party, but…..

Cyril: “So what time was Ms. Charlotte arriving here today?”

Henry: “Yeah, we’re meeting around 3 in the afternoon.”

……….today, we’ll be welcoming Ms. Lotte.

Her Live Performance is going to be near the end of the Flower Festival on the night of the 6th day, but she wants to enjoy the festival herself and is coming earlier.

Publicly, her schedule says that she’ll be entering Flowtier on the evening of the 5th day. She sent a letter saying that she’ll run over here as soon as she finishes her last job before Flowtier, so please take care of her when she arrives.

Cyril: “Fu fu fu….if it’s a grand tour of the Flower Festival, leave it to me. I’ve been attending the Flower Festival since I was a child, so I know all the hot attractions and secret must-try locations.”

Henry: “......well, technically it was a Quest personally designated to me but～”

Cyril: “Why not? We’re helping each other out, and I want to meet this famous celebrity in person.”

Well, it saves me a lot of trouble to be honest.

I’m sure Ms. Lotte designated that Quest to me because we’ve known each other in the past, but if it’s just a tour, then Cyril is a better person for the job than me. Besides, this is my very first Flower Festival.

And I would really like to introduce Ms. Lotte to the group. I should be able to arrange a time to let Jend and the rest meet her some time this week.

Cyril: “Well, now that that’s settled, let’s go find some food. I saw some caramelized apples on the way here that I really want to try!”

Henry: “Okay okay. Do what you want.”

Of course, I’m buying one too!

<<<<>>>>

Cyril: “ooooohhhh….that was so good～”

Henry: “You ate way too much.”

We weaved our way through the Flower Festival for the last 2 hours. We were a little tired of walking and decided to rest on a bench that was open.

But we really did eat a lot. We started with the caramelized apples, cotton candy, fried noodles, fried potatoes, and continued on.

We shared the servings, and Cyril ate a considerable amount.

Henry: “You usually don’t eat that much, but you really pushed yourself this time…”

Cyril: “.......that’s because you would make me work out so much that my appetite would be gone.”

Cyril had the accusatory “You Ogre Instructor” look on her face.

But yeah, I was strict when training her, but I’m not that bad compared to other instructors. If you go to any large town, there will be an instructor at the Church that will train new Adventurers, and around 30% of them will have their spirits crushed by the end of the first day.

Henry: “But putting that aside…”

Cyril: “I really wish you would be more considerate in that area, but what is it?”

Henry: “This town is usually full of flowers, but it’s definitely different during the festival.”

There’s an archway covered in flowers, and all the stands outside are also heavily decorated in flowers. The rooftops also have plenty of flower decorations.

But it’s surprising that none of it seems too excessive. I’m not sure if anyone is calculating it, but the colors are well balanced. The various kinds of flowers all merge to create this perfume-like aroma all around the city.

Cyril: ‘’Yes, for this season specifically, we have a lot of neighboring towns growing flowers for us.

This city really has abundant resources. There are plenty of other cities and regions where growing enough food is a challenge.

But I think I remember hearing that certain types of flowers grown on fallow lands serve as fertilizer to revitalize the ground. I’m not certain though.

Cyril: “There’s lots of different events too. There is a contest to choose a woman who is most beautiful next to a flower…….well, I guess it’s just a beauty contest in the end.”

Henry: “I see…”

A Beauty Contest, huh. Those are typical for these kinds of festivals. Handsome men and beautiful women gather lots of attention and people talk about the contests after the festival is done.

Henry: “Then why don’t you participate?”

Cyril: “Huh…..?” Henry: “Well, I mean, I think you’ll make it pretty far.”

I just said this without thinking…

And then soon regretted it. I was being sincere with my comment but…

Cyril: “Ohhhh….wow, that’s rare, Henry! I’ll happily accept your compliment, and I’ll share one of these candied petals with you.”

Ack, see? She immediately gets on her high horse. I’ve gotten used to her personality, and that was a slip of the tongue.

Henry: “Ya～y”

I go ahead and accept one of the candied petals.

Oh, it’s good.

Henry: “Alright, what do you want to do next?”

Cyril: “Let’s see. Do you want to go see the flower displays? There’s a Flower Arrangement Art in the Rishu culture, and they use flowers and various plants to create interesting art.”

Huh, interesting. I think I’ve heard of that before.

But if it’s something like that, we could go after we meet up with Ms. Lotte too.

As I think about it, I look at the crowds passing by. Flowtier itself has a pretty large population considering how far up north we are, but I think there’s 5 times more people now than usual.

Henry: “Oh, Beastmen. That’s rare.”

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I see in the distance a Beastmen with fox ears and a tail.

You usually only see pure human beings in the Flowtier area, so it drew my attention.

Cyril: “Hm? Ohhh...yes, during the Flower Festival season, there’s many tourists, and you will usually see a person of mixed race here and there.”

The Elves live in the Great Forest of Selena within the Theocratic Republic of Salaiz.

The Beastmen have their own territories within different countries.

The Dwarves who live in the [The Mountains of the Most Honored God of the Mines] in the Empire of Varsaldi.

The free roaming Halflings, full of curiosity, journey through many lands.

……...And we’re currently at war with the Country the Demons built, Izanztier, so we’ll leave that out for now.

But these representative groups of different races do not reside around Flowtier for mostly geographical reasons.

Even the Halflings that travel to most places do not find anything particular special about a city way out in this rural country, so they ignore this location.

For that reason, since coming to Flowtier, I’m seeing a lot of different races for the first time.

Cyril: “Is that a Halfling?” Henry: “Maybe～”

There’s a pretty small person with a hood over their head buying a crepe at a food stand. If they were human, they should have a parent around, so being alone, I assume they’re probably a halfling………...wait…..

Henry: “.......hey…….that’s…..”

I’ve seen that hooded cloak before.

That color and height….the cloak has [Wind Manipulation], [Recognition Prevention], and [Storage] enchantments - the Epic Godly Equipment “The Wind Spirit's Robe” isn’t it……?

Oh, the person turned this way and saw me.

Cyril: “Henry? Is there something about that person?”

Because of the Flower Festival, the street is crowded and full of people walking.

Because of that, someone will walk across in front of me, but I know that Halfling is looking directly back at me.

We look at each other for a moment, but then….

Another person walked passed me, and I suddenly lost sight of the Halfling completely.

Cyril: “Huh?!”

Cyril, who also had her eyes on the Halfling jumps up in surprise. I can’t believe I lost sight of the Halfling at this distance even within a crowd….

We were only like that for a few seconds at most.

“SURPRISE!!!”

Henry: “WHOA?!”

Cyril: “EEK!!”

The Halfling suddenly appeared below our feet, and jumped right into our faces to scare us. I accidentally let out an embarrassing scream.

………..dangit. I should have guessed what would happen next.

She was very pleased with our reactions.

“.......he he he, sorry sorry. It was just a prank. Please forgive, forgive.”

She apologizes in a pleased tone.

She teasingly sticks her tongue out with us, and turning off the [Recognition Prevention], the face I saw underneath the hood, was exactly who I thought it was.

She definitely has the cute looks of a super-star celebrity. Her large round eyes were jiggling with delight.

Henry: “Ms. Lotte…...you should stop acting so childish.”

Although a regular child wouldn’t be able to close in that fast from that far away!

She probably approached us using the crossing pedestrians as walls and judging from how no one is making a fuss about it, she did it without them even knowing.

……..I know that sounds crazy. How could you possibly do that in a random river of people?

But that’s why she’s called the singing, dancing superstar celebrity, one of the cornerstones of the 8 Heroes of Legend - that is Charlotte Fine.

Charlotte: “Hey, hey, Henry. Forgive me, son. It’s been too long.”

Henry: “.......yes, it has been a while, Ms. Lotte.”

I greet her.

And something triggered her joy as she merrily laughed.

Charlotte: “Look at you! I can see so much has changed! Before Gilverte, you always had a scowl, and after that was all over, you sat around with a dead look in your eyes!”

……..dead eyes? Really? Oh c’mon! It couldn’t have been that bad.

Cyril: “Ummm…” Charlotte: “Oh, hello! Are you one of Henry’s friends? I’m Charlotte. Nice to meet you.”

Cyril: “Oh, yes. My name is Cyril. It is a pleasure making your acquaintance.”

Cyril shakes hands with Ms. Lotte.

……….alright.

Let’s just get out of here before someone realizes that it’s Ms. Lotte and causes a scene.

Chapter end