29-Harvest festival




 Most of the villagers have finished harvesting their wheat and crops, and today is the harvest festival.

 The annual harvest festival is one of the most popular pastimes of the villagers. Most of the villagers do not work during the festival, but eat, drink and dance to celebrate this year's good harvest. If it's a bad harvest, the scale of the festival becomes smaller, but that rarely happens. If it's a bad harvest, they hope for a good harvest next year.

 This year's crop is very good, and thanks to the profits from the reversals and other activities, the harvest festival is very spectacular. The Count of Merna, who is a friend of Nord's father, and the Baroness of Jurina, a guest from outside the family, are said to be coming to the festival.

 That's why our hostesses, the Thuroletts, are also very busy preparing and serving the food.
 Since they say the event is at night, they'll be even busier.

Oi, where are the vegetables?

Yes, I have.

We don't have enough plates!

All right, you can just chop the vegetables.

I understand!

Hey, Meena, that's a guest dish, so don't use it.


 You can hear a flurry of voices in the kitchen and serving room.

 It looks like a lot of work.

 I head to Celia's cafeteria, which is the usual venue for the Reversi tournament, because I've been called to the Reversi tournament.

 When I enter the cafeteria, about forty men and women have already gathered in the dining room. As expected, Celia's cafeteria, which has been expanded, would feel cramped with this many people.

 Women don't take up any space, but a man like Roland's old man would take up space for two people.

'More yet?'

Hmm? Oh, you're here, Master Alfried. There's still about twenty more to come.

'There are more? You're not going to get in there.

We can get by on the outside.

 The old man starts laughing, wondering what the fun is or if he's already in a festive mood.

"Hey Celia, can we set up some chairs and tables outside too?

Yeah, you'll be very happy with the reduction in the number of sweaty men. Please.

"Boo-Boo!

 He asks Celia, who is doing the preparation, for permission to set up a chair and table.

 The booing men are immediately silenced by Celia-san's single glare.

 In the midst of all this, I use my earth magic to set up the chairs and tables outside the dining room.

 My complete image is a seat outside of a typical coffee shop or something like that.

 There isn't much sunshine right now, and I don't have an earthen parasol on because it looks like it might get in the way.

 Check out the finished product.

 It may be a little angular and rugged, but I think it's not too bad.

 If it's not glamorous enough, it would be better to lay down a colored cloth or something. It's not a good idea to have a good idea of what you're going to do, but it's a very different image from Celia's dining room, so it's not going to be any different.

''Was magic ever this easy to do?''

 The old man calls out to a brown-haired young man with a slightly more intelligent face who has his arms crossed next to him.

''No, it can't be... at least I can't do magic on this scale.
 
'I've got the fire attribute, but I'm only going to light wood three times a day, okay?

'It's not right to compare Roland and Lady Alfried,'

'Those westerns were water-based, weren't they? How much can you do?

Listen to this. You'd be surprised how much water she can produce by the bucketful.

Yeah, it's a waste of time. You can't even put out a fire like that.

"The hell you are! You're useless, you're just going to make it burn even more!

 Roland and a guy called Wester or something like that grabbed each other by the chest while shouting loudly.

'Ahhhh. It's not safe!

 Chairs and tables made of earth magic are pretty hard, you know?

'Good! Good grief!

Roland and Wester are tangled up in... a tangle!

See! I knew it! Roland is on the offensive and Wester is on the receiving end!

'What are you talking about? Of course Westa reverses from here and Roland's goofy reception!

 Hey, you rotten people over there, what the hell are you talking about?


Shut up! You guys! If you're gonna fight, don't beat each other up, Reversi! It's a reversi tournament today, right?

 That's our girl. That's a good one.

"Oh, yeah, that's right. "Oh, yeah, that's right. I'll make it up to you in black and white.

'That's my line. Don't lose by the time you hit me at best.

 Roland and Westa stand up and laugh at each other fearlessly.

 You rotten people look at them and nod in agreement.

 What? What is it? What has come to pass in your world? I have no idea.

 Then we break eye contact with each other and we both start walking in different directions.

 Roland and Wester both walk off in a cool way, but the venue is the diner right next door, right?

 Roland continues around the corner to the main entrance. Wester goes around to the other side of the kitchen and enters the back entrance.

'Hey! I've always told you to stay out of this one!

'Oh, wow! I'm sorry! I'll be out of here soon! So don't throw your balls in the air.

 Wow, that's not cool, Westa. He looks smart, but he's absolutely dumb.

 After this, Roland and Westa didn't even wait for the afternoon and lost to each other in the first round in the morning.

 From the second round, it was lunch and then the afternoon.

 At noon, we go to eat the food stalls in the square. Villagers aim at this time of the year when their purse strings are loose, and they sell their specialties. Although the profit itself is not so big, they compete with each other to say which house has the best food and set up their stall.

 It is said that if you go to the capital, there are many shops and stalls on the main road in front of Misfirito Castle.

 I wonder how many shops and stalls there are in front of Misfirito Castle. I have no desire to live in the capital, but I would like to have a look at it at least once.

 While chilling out here and there, I went around each stall.

What shall we eat?

 Hmmm, I'm in the mood for some hot soup.

'Oh! There it is. That big pot of soup.

 I see a stall that is just now filling a bowl with soup and handing it to a customer.

 I immediately stand in line behind two customers and wait.

'Would you like some of our vegetable soup?'

 A kind-looking woman with silky blonde hair smiles gently at me.

'I'll take it. Give me one.

 And I'd like you to have it.

"Okay, do you have the money? Three pieces of bandits.

It's all right. It's right here.

Okay.

 The woman smiles with a smiling look in her eyes and stirs the pot and puts the soup in a bowl.

 The hot soup releases steam and the aroma of several sweet vegetables waft through the air.

 It looks so delicious. I look at the pot and see some sloppy vegetables and a bit of meat. The ingredients themselves are commonplace. There are potatoes, carrots, cabbage and mushrooms. Probably there are some other herbs in it as well.

'Yes, it's hot, so be careful, okay?'

Yes, thank you.

 I let the hot vegetable soup cool as I exhale and throw in a sip.

 The lumpy carrots are not too hard and the flavor of the soup is well infused.

 The sweetness that brings out the flavors of the ingredients gently enters my stomach. I guess they don't use a lot of salt.

It's very tasty.

Thank you.

 It was a delicious dish that maximized the flavors of the ingredients. Let's study it with Bartolo once we're settled.

 I returned the bowl and spoon to the woman who finished eating in no time. The bowls and spoons are used up in this village stall.

 Satisfied with the vegetable soup, we head back to Celia's dining room.

'I wonder if Carla-san is going to win again this time...'


 When I returned to Celia's cafeteria, I saw a glimpse of a pair that had already started the second round. The first round losers and onlookers were watching them.

''You could have turned a lot of them over if you'd put that one here, right?

The next time they hold it there, they will get it back. So it's obviously better to hold the opponent's stone there now. That's why you are so weak.

 Roland and Westa are intertwined again. I knew you guys were going to be good friends.

You lost in the first round, too.

Oh, that was just a bad guy. The other guy would have been a piece of cake.

'I think it was that man with the narrow eyes? You don't look like that around here, do you? Are you an immigrant?

'I don't know, I don't go outside very often. But he's strong.

I see.

Speaking of which, who did you lose to?

The guy over there who eats nothing but eggs.

Was he that strong?

No, it didn't feel like it.

So you're just weak.

No! Wrong! If I was more determined than I am now...

 I leave the two of them arguing annoyingly enough with each other to leave them alone.

 I don't remember all of the villagers either, but I certainly don't recognize the thin-eyed man who says he beat Westa.

 I feel like I don't recognize him, but is it just my imagination?

 Oh well. I ask Erman-san, who is responsible for putting together the confirmation of the next matchup.

''Alfried-sama's next opponent is the one eating an egg roll over there. If we're both ready, then you can begin.


  Mr. Ehrman looked toward his hand and saw a slightly larger man, sitting in a chair with a large gait and shoveling egg rolls with the force of a rice bowl.

'More for you, girl!'

'How much do you eat! You do have money, don't you?

Oh, I've got the money.

 He turned the drawstring bag upside down and took out a jingling silver coin. There were also gold coins mixed in.

 Is he an adventurer like Rumba? It looks strong, and few people in the village have gold coins.

'But you can't. There won't be enough for everyone.

'Hmm? That's not good. Let's just leave it at that.

 The man gets up and walks over to us where Mr. Erman is.

The organizer. Is this the girl you hear about next?

'Yes, I do. Please start when you're ready.

Oh, boy, you're a good boy. I'm Merna.

 A man looks down at me and smiles a nihilistic smile.

'I'm Alfried. Nice to meet you.

 I bow my head with a peck, and head over to the table where Reversi is ready.

"Alright, I'm going to enjoy this.

 As I continued to crackle, I found out that Merna was not strong.

'Hmmm? Just when you think you've got the edge, you get hit back painfully.

 A stoner trap. The one where instead of giving you one corner, you take the other corner.

Well, the strength is different in the real world.

You're from outside the village of Coriat, right?

'Oh yes! Lately, though, it's finally started to come around to where I live. I can't compare it to the birthplace of Coriat Village, after all. Oh my!

 Merna smiles and gets up from her seat. The stones on the board are already mostly covered with my white color.

One egg roll, young lady!

You're not ready. Get the spaghetti.

 What a refreshing man. I think he's usually disappointed when he loses to just a kid.

'The way you think now is great, it's interesting and very informative. If we ever play against each other, I'll be looking forward to seeing you.

 I was impressed, and the thread-eyed man was standing next to me.

My name is Yulina," he said, and then Yulina, the thread-eyed man, ordered spaghetti, as did Merna.

 Huh, Merna and Yulina. I had a feeling I'd heard of this before. Is it my imagination?