By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 5 - Chapter 35

Chapter 3 Episode 35: The Founding Festival Day 1, Part 1

It was the day of the Founding Festival, about two weeks since I started learning from the sword dancers. According to Sordio, my swordsmanship was adequate, but I needed more experience with using magic in combat. After receiving that advice, I was taught how to work on my magic mastery and focus on moving while using magic. This involved prioritizing speed over power when casting spells, but also casting them continuously at regular intervals. Two weeks wasn’t nearly enough time to fully master these skills, but I was told that my accuracy and my movements when activating spells were improving. Having some instructors certainly helped me make progress.

For my basic training each morning, I adopted something similar to the test we did with the firewood, but using my metal and iron slimes instead. Balls of metal flew at me at high speeds from all directions, giving me some good practice with blocking and dodging attacks. Thankfully these slimes were pretty sturdy, and I knew how to physically enhance myself. Otherwise, this would have been extremely dangerous for both of us. But it went fine. The slimes also seemed to be using this opportunity for their own offensive practice, and I even saw one exterminate a cave mantis that sneaked in from somewhere yesterday. They defeated intruders a few times in the past, but now they seemed to recognize that crashing into their foes was an effective means of attack. It seemed like they would be capable guards for the mines now, so I planned to continue training them as time went on.

Thanks to the guild’s efforts to ensure that the roads were safe, the tunnel ants in the plains were prevented from doing harm to the city or travelers. They caused a bit of a stir, but enough people and familiars were thrown at them to exterminate them all. Thanks to that, the city was receiving a steady stream of visitors, and it started to really feel like a merry festival was underway.

One morning during this time, an excited crowd gathered in the store.

“Good morning!” I said to greet them.

“Good morning, Ryoma,” Pauline replied. “How would you like one of these for breakfast?”

“Thank you, Pauline,” I said and accepted a hot dog while I was performing the final checks on our tools and our own breakfast.

“Ryoma, you can come on over here if you like,” Sieg the butcher offered.

“Thank you, Sieg.”

“No problem. I have to say, this place has changed a lot.”

It certainly had. What had once been an empty lot now had a number of things lined up. First, the side of the lot facing the road was now set up as an entrance, and in the middle of the opposite side, there was the Semroid Troupe’s stage. Some members of the troupe had the skills to set up the stage, and thanks to their leadership and the materials they procured from somewhere, they set it up in no time. I was still busy with exterminating the tunnel ants at the time, so I didn’t see it, but I think they finished in a couple days.

In front of the stage, there were lines of chairs and tables. There was plenty of space between them, and they looked somewhat unevenly arranged, but they were arranged as Prenance intended. The idea was to make it easy to see the stage while also allowing audience members to move around without too much trouble.

To the left of the stage, near my store, there were food stands. To the right, the Morgan Trading Company had their stands in place. It was like a food court at a department store. Some extra space was also left open behind these stands. On the Morgan Trading Company’s side, there was storage space. On my store’s side, a route was left open for transporting goods. It was right next to the stage, but divided from it by a curtain and a stone wall. Further off in the corner, public restrooms were put in place for audience members and passers-by to use freely. Of course, I made full use of my slimes and the products from my store. In any case, we had prepared in every way possible.

All that remained was to wait until the festival began. It was supposed to start at 8 a.m. Some stands were already open on the main street, but we planned to open at the official starting time. On this first day, it was mainly Sieg, Pauline, and the employees from their butcher shop and their wives that were running our stands. My employees and I would be running things tomorrow.

“Is it time?”

“I think so.”

Chatting made time fly by. I needed to make sure I was ready for opening time, so I decided to eat quickly.

“Thanks for helping out today, everyone. I’ll be back this afternoon,” I said.

“Leave it to us!”

“Enjoy yourself, Ryoma.”

I wasn’t a customer, and I wasn’t working, so I would have only gotten in the way if I stuck around. I said my goodbyes and left the store. I heard the shouts of the men and their wives behind me as I left for town.

■ ■ ■

I wandered around town for a few minutes until I heard the church bells ring.

“Oh, is it starting?” I asked myself. It had already somewhat begun anyway, but now it was official. The crowd’s zeal grew, as did the noise coming from the streets. It was like all their pent-up energy was now free to be unleashed. Decorated with colorful cloth and flowers, the streets looked bright too.

I pondered where to go first. I had already eaten breakfast, so I wanted to check out the food later. But that was difficult to do when I was surrounded by it, and the managers at each stand kept yelling at me.

“Welcome, welcome! Our hamburgers are to die for!”

“We’ve been going from town to town for thirty years! These fries are legendary!”

“Popcorn, get your popcorn here! Delicious popcorn!”

A lot of the food brought back memories. Judging by the names and appearances of this food, they were presumably brought to this world by people from Earth.

“Excuse me, can I get some fries, please?” I asked.

“Sure thing, kid! That’ll be five sute!”

I was so nostalgic for French fries that I couldn’t help but buy some.

“Here. Five sute, exact change.”

“Thank you, come again!”

In exchange for the money, I received a container made from a big, rolled up leaf. It was stuffed with fragrant fried potatoes. I ate a piece, and it tasted just like a plain-old French fry. The faint taste of salt filled my mouth.

“It’s good.”

“Right?”

It was exactly what I expected it to be. Satisfied, I kept eating until there were none left. I almost wanted more, but I decided that was enough. If I didn’t, I could have just stood there eating French fries all day.

“Oh? Hold on a moment,” someone called out to me from a store I passed by.

“Ah, hello there.”

It was the old man from a drug store I frequented. Rather than interact with customers, he usually sat in a chair by the wall and watched the store, but today he seemed to be selling something.

“You come here often, don’t you? Here, take one.”

“Thank you. Is this candy?”

I received a stick with a round lump on the end. It was like a candy apple without the apple, but it was awfully powdery and colorful. The old man confirmed that it was supposed to be candy. The instant I put it in my mouth, though, I got goosebumps.

“What the heck?”

The old man cackled and said, “It’s especially good on hot days.”

It was so bitter and sour that it gave me chills, along with being somewhat salty. After tasting it some more, I found that it contained a few medicinal herbs that had anti-heat effects. The salt made it seem like it was also used for combating heatstroke. Ignoring the flavor, it was like some salt candy that could be found in Japan. Maybe it actually would be good on hot days.

“I’ll be selling some here tomorrow too. Come back and buy some more if you like it,” the old man said. It wasn’t totally intolerable, so I considered it.

I thanked the old man, then kept walking. As I looked around, I noticed that people were using this festival to sell all kinds of things. Fruit was one thing, but there were also vegetables, and I couldn’t see anyone buying those at a festival. There were also pots and kitchen knives on sale, and I doubted anyone was buying those. They were fun to look at, so maybe that was good enough.

Next I found some toys, and then I came across a shooting gallery. It used a pretty nice bow and arrows.

“Hey kid, wanna give it a shot?” the manager asked.

“Thank you, but I’ll try it some other time.”

I didn’t want any of the prizes out of what I could see, so I left. Next, I arrived at the center of town. All the streets led here, so this area was especially decorative. There were also many street performers here.

“Four, five, six!” a juggler counted off as he juggled more and more balls.

“There!” an acrobat shouted as he posed on an unstable stack of chairs.

It seemed more or less the same as the middle of a festival would have been back on Earth. The food and performances didn’t interest me as much as the magic items and monsters being utilized. A man was balancing on top of a monster resembling a giant armadillo that was rolled up in a ball. I didn’t know if it was him or the monster that was supposed to be the star of this show.

Then I saw someone in a familiar, but slightly out-of-place outfit among the crowd. It was a lone nun. She didn’t fit in with the noisy atmosphere at all. The pedestrians and the young people running the stands seemed curious about her as well. It looked like something was bothering her. But what really drew my attention was a sign at the stand next to her that said ‘Color Slime.’

“Good morning, Bell,” I said as I approached her. She vigorously turned around.

“Oh, Takebayashi, good morning,” she cheerily greeted me in return. Behind her, there was a big box containing a colorful slime. Seeing them together, I was reminded of how she asked me for slime-raising tips before. She hadn’t said anything to me about it since.

“Did you decide to get a slime as a pet?” I asked.

“Yes. After we talked, I asked the children if they would like one, and they said yes. Then I spent a lot of time studying taming magic and learning the spell for forming contracts up until last week.”

“I see, so why are you here today?”

“Well, I have a bit of a problem, you see.”

We went somewhere else to avoid getting in the way of business operations before I asked for more details. It seemed that she decided to be responsible for raising the slime, and she was also put in charge of obtaining one. But to do that, she was undecided as to whether she should ask the guild to capture one for her or buy the slime at the stand she found.

“If I buy one from this store, it will be cheaper than asking the guild. But compared to the slimes I’ve seen at the tamer’s guild, this one doesn’t seem very healthy.”

“Oh, I think you’re right.”

Curious, I approached the color slime. For one thing, it was definitely a lesser class of slime. Most likely, it was just a regular slime that had been fed colored water. The illness that Bell noticed was probably caused by that coloring.

“Slimes often change color after taking something into their body, but only in the brief time up until that material is digested,” I explained. “But slimes have an easier time digesting some things than others. That stand probably used some sort of dye that’s difficult to digest so it would stay colored for a long time.”

Judging by the faint, unique scent I smelled, they probably used mizurina grass. It could be made into green dye, but its peculiar odor also made it useful as insect repellent. This grass was high in fiber and difficult to digest. It was also somewhat functional as a pesticide, which weakened the slime and made it take even longer to digest the material.

“Is that so?” Bell asked.

Ever since I discovered the method for evolving slimes, mizurina grass was one of the types of grass that I held back on feeding them unless the slimes expressed some desire for it. The only ones who ever wanted any, by the way, were poison slimes.

“Well, a human eating it would just feel a little uncomfortable unless they had a weak stomach. It’s used in clothes too, so I wouldn’t say it’s dangerous. But your slime is going to be touched by a lot of children, so I personally wouldn’t recommend taking this one,” I said. It was unlikely, but if this slime evolved into a poison slime, it could be a bit hazardous. “Would you like me to get a slime for you? I frequently go outside town adventuring. In fact, I commute from outside town every day.”

“You would do that for me?”

I happily accepted the task. The church had done a lot for me, and it would continue to in the future. It could only help if I remained in high standing with them. Clergy had more than a little influence in this society. Not to mention, this was a fine opportunity to spread the gospel of slimes.

“Hm?” I murmured.

“Is something wrong?”

“Look over there.”

On one corner of the road, there stood a child with a grim expression. Judging from their furry, dangling ears, I knew the child was a beastkin. Their gender was hard to figure out from their appearance. They looked a little young to be walking around on their own, but there were no parents in sight.

“Mom! Mom!” The child cried.

“This doesn’t look good.”

“They must be lost.”

Bell ran off before she even finished talking, and I followed after her.