The preparations for the winter solstice festival began with representatives from each village participating in the meetings and discussions.
I also joined them in the meeting and witnessed by myself what kind of festival they were going to hold. My idea for the festival was quite simple: to celebrate the festival based on the oracle from Goddess Loriel, to light the bonfire, and to relish the pumpkin dishes to pray for good health in the winter.
Each village usually held its own version of the winter festival so I expected the festival to be just medium-sized, but to my surprise, the villages excitedly shared their ideas.
"We really got a lot of ideas, huh?"
"So amazing! Are we going to do all of these?!"
Teto and I looked at the list of the proposed events while being impressed by their fervor. The males proposed the idea of a dance and a martial arts contest and the women proposed the idea of singing in choirs, while some of the other residents proposed plays or acrobatics.
The one to decide on the basic framework of the festival was indeed me, but as the ruler of the , I also valued autonomy so I didn't interfere with their event suggestions.
The daytime events all seemed enjoyable, and since it was the festival initiated by the oracle of the goddess, the representatives of each village were incredibly excited. They all intensely brainstormed among themselves, thinking about the areas they excelled in and what they perceived might be fun to garner my or the goddesses' attention, and put forward all sorts of ideas.
If I had said anything there, I was sure they would have instead put my will above anything else.
Teto and I selected the events that seemed more feasible to implement from the list, which was further narrowed down by Baretta.
The pumpkin dishes would be served throughout the day, but eating only pumpkin dishes might dampen some of the festive spirit so I suggested that each village come up with their own menu.
Then, we locked down on the best dishes from among them. As for the insufficient amount of materials, the idea was to gather more from the or to procure them via trade with the outside world.
Like this, everything was progressing favorably, except—
"Yay, congratulation-nanodesu!"
"No, hold your horses for a bit, just hold on! Why in the world am I going to perform the ceremonial dance!?"
No, even before that, I was more surprised by the ceremonial dance thing, what the heck was that!?
Facing my protest, Baretta conveyed to me the will of the masses as their representative.
"Yeah, I understand, but why the ceremonial dance thing? Won't just silently offering our prayers while facing the bonfire with everyone enough? I can use my purification magic while everyone prays......"
If it was just offering a 'silent prayer' on the platform while everyone did their part, I could have done that, but I couldn't bear the thought of performing a ceremonial dance in front of everyone when I had never done it before.
Those were my thoughts, however, Teto strongly opposed my idea.
"This is no-good-nanodesu! Majou-sama is also a part of the festival, a part of the people living in this forest-nanodesu! So Majou-sama should also participate!"
"Teto......"
Up until now, I usually stayed back behind everyone, just silently looking after them. However, Teto just now urged me to not be a mere bystander and join in as one of them. I couldn't say that it wasn't embarrassing, but indeed, unless I took the necessary steps I might never experience the sense of unity with the residents of the .
as you dance and perform the purifying magic will appease the souls more efficiently.>
"Fine, I understand. What can I say when Teto pleads so emotionally and you come up with such a logical argument? But remember, I'm only going to do this once. Have someone else dance with the next time, got it?"
In the end, I caved in to their demands. Teto excitedly hugged me, while Baretta's lips arched upward as she respectfully bowed her head, saying 'As you will, Master'.
I put myself on guard hearing Baretta as she lifted her head. Teto just tilted her head in confusion without releasing me from her hug.
in the main venue of the winter solstice festival will be quite difficult for various reasons so we've decided to separate the festival into the main venue, and the sub-venues in each village and facility.>
According to her, the dance and the martial arts contest we discussed earlier would take place in the main venue. On the other hand, each village will light bonfires and bring in the dishes they had prepared in the sub-venues— in short, a typical village festival.
"Ah, so you are planning to live-broadcast the festival......"
Considering my dance would be on display for practically all the residents triggered my escapism, and my gaze wandered toward the distant horizon.
But I also couldn't shift away from the expectation-filled gazes of Teto, Baretta, and the others gathered in the meeting, so I just steeled myself for what was to come.
Aside from that, it seemed like I had to come up with a more advanced version of the information magic tool than the one I had sent to Selene in the Margrave Reebel house and the deceased Duke Gyunton of the Hamil family. The last time I created them, each magic tool had taken 1 million mana to make, to create an even more advanced version, especially given the number of sub-venues that it would need to broadcast to, this was going to be another mana-draining project. Oh, and I also needed to prepare a stock of to ensure that the broadcast would not be interrupted.
<master, you="" also="" need="" to="" try="" out="" the="" ceremonial="" outfits="" and="" practice="" dance="" appear="" presentable="" in="" front="" of="" public.=""></master,>
"Err...... Will you be fine without my help? Personally, I also want to help out as well......"
<we can't="" cut="" any="" corners="" for="" the="" ceremonial="" dance="" that="" will="" be="" dedicated="" to="" goddesses,="" so="" i="" would="" like="" master="" focus="" your="" energy="" on="" it.="" also,="" we="" don't="" want="" burden="" with="" preparation="" of="" festival,="" just="" leave="" it="" us="" and="" at="" ease.="">
She said decisively. With that, my role was basically set to just preparing for the ceremonial dance.
Editor's note - You know, I have a feeling Baretta sided with the ceremonial dance so she and the maids can dress Chise up. ?
T/N - After that one story where maids cajoled Teto into wearing other clothes, sounds just right excuse.
