Once we got out onto the street, the whole city was already in a festive mood.
Normally, on New Year's Day, the tradition is just to eat meat stew and go to the temple to pray.
But this year, there were stalls set up all over the streets, and the citizens who poured out were bustling about, laughing and chatting joyfully.
Walking among the noisy crowd, the sight of buildings in ruins dampened my spirit.
Crossroad had not fully recovered from the aftermath of the Gorgon Sisters' invasion.
Buildings were crumbling everywhere, and the roads were devastated in many places.
However, the introduction of magical construction techniques from the Lake Kingdom had sped up the recovery process. Still, it would take several more months to completely repair the damage.
And here, amidst this semi-ruined landscape, people were laughing.
New Year's and the festival seemed to have the power to uplift even those who were gloomy.
"Awesome! Where should we start eating?"
Evangeline roared with excitement, clenching her fists in front of her chest. Following her were Damien, Junior, and Lucas, hurrying along.
Seeing them all dressed up in coats, earmuffs, and gloves despite the cold weather, they looked like children. Ah, so adorable.
Chattering away, I stepped into the city with the kids. There were various stalls set up, but one in particular was attracting a crowd.
"Oh, that smells great...! What is it?"
Drawn by the savory scent of grilling, Evangeline ran over there, saliva almost dripping. As I followed, a greeting came from inside the stall.
"Oh, Captain! Welcome, and Happy New Year to you!"
Kuilan and the members of the Penal Squad were busy grilling something on the stove inside the stall.
All five of them, in human mode, were shirtless due to the heat of the stove, attracting a crowd of female customers mesmerized by their well-defined muscles...
‘These guys are using cheats.’
Before I could admire their muscular show-off, I was more worried about them catching a cold.
Especially Kuilan, aren't you still a sunfish in human mode? Are you okay in this cold weather?
"Kuilan, Happy New Year to you too, and put on some clothes while you sell... What are you selling, by the way?"
"Hehehehe. This thing?"
When I asked, Kuilan grinned, then quickly took something that looked like bread out of the oven with tongs, placing it on a plate.
It was sizzling with residual heat... a deliciously browned dumpling!
"Our Leaf Tribe's traditional New Year food! Special homemade dumplings!"
"Oh wow."
I was impressed by its appealing appearance.
That's right, we had that conversation last year. The Leaf Tribe eats these dumplings on New Year's instead of stew. He said he had a recipe from his brother and would treat us if he got the chance.
And now, it seems he really did prepare them. The dumplings were being cooked in several stoves, emitting a delicious and spicy aroma.
"Wow?! They look so delicious!"
Salivating, Evangeline rushed towards the freshly taken out dumplings.
"Can I eat this?!"
"Of course, my lady. Please enjoy! Ah! But there is one caution: you must swallow it in one bite! If even a single drop of juice spills, consider your luck for the year gone!"
As soon as she got the green light, Evangeline popped a dumpling into her mouth.
"Hot hot hot!"
She immediately screamed. It seemed quite hot, as she hopped around with a flushed face, but somehow managed not to spit it out. Evangeline shivered, struggling to swallow the hot dumpling.
"My luck... can't afford to lose it!"
"It seems like your silliness is already overflowing though."
Anyway, having managed to finish it, Evangeline complained with a tearful face.
"My palate is burnt... What am I going to eat today..."
Tsk. With a sigh, I gestured to Damien.
"Damien, please."
"Yep. Heal, heal~"
After Damien cast a simple healing spell, Evangeline's tearful face brightened instantly.
"Wow! My palate's healed! Wait a minute, if there's a healing priest around, I can eat as much as I want no matter how hot it is, right?!"
Evangeline then laid out a new batch of dumplings in front of me, freshly taken out by Kuilan.
"Hurry up and eat, senior! You gotta eat it hot so the luck doesn't escape! If you get burnt, just use the Damien chance!"
"No, I'll wait for it to cool down..."
What foolishness. Believing that getting your palate burnt, or letting a bit of juice spill would make your luck for the year disappear.
While pondering, I glanced over and saw Lucas, Damien, and Junior, who had already stuffed dumplings into their mouths, suffering with red faces... Are they all fools?
While my party members were struggling with the hot dumplings, I casually sat down on a chair in front of the stall, holding a plate. I was planning to eat once they cooled down a bit.
Then, from the table next to us, I heard a murmuring voice.
"Hmm, that guy there, the Beast King..."
"Indeed, he has impressive latissimus dorsi muscles."
"The muscles aren't bad. But where is the red fur Yun mentioned...?"
"If only he had the fur, he wouldn't be a bad son-in-law..."
Turning to look, I saw warriors from the northern kingdoms, dressed in clothes made of white fur on their pale skin. They were looking towards Kuilan and murmuring such things.
Why are they assessing muscles? And why are they looking for fur...?
Yun, the representative of this peculiar fur-obsessed group from the northern kingdom, was sitting not far from us.
She was desperately trying to cool down her hot dumpling by blowing on it.
‘It looks like it's already cooled down.’
I waved at Yun and greeted her.
"Yun, Happy New Year."
"Oh my, Prince Ash!"
Yun, who had just set down her dumpling, showed respect towards me.
"May you have a year as warm as the spring snow."
I guess this is the northern style New Year's greeting. But, is spring snow warm? I still don't quite understand the northern way of thinking.
Moving to sit next to her, I whispered to Kuilan, asking him a question.
"Just curious, is Kuilan still playing hard to get?"
"Exactly, sigh..."
Yun let out a deep sigh.
"I didn't expect to be rejected this much... My pride is already in tatters. Sigh. Should I just kidnap him or something?"
"Don't say scary things so casually!"
"Huh? It's quite common in the north. Kidnapping a groom. It's a long-standing tradition. If you see a good man, just snatch him up like hunting..."
"That's why I'm telling you not to say scary things!"
The Penal Squad is my precious sub-party! It would be troublesome if you kidnap them for your marriage!
"How am I supposed to make that man take me seriously... Could you help me out, Prince? Any good ideas?"
Yun whined at me, but what do I know? I don't even understand my own love life, let alone someone else's.
Still, seeing Yun looking downcast after months of unsuccessful courtship, I felt a bit sorry for her and nodded.
"...I'll casually ask him later. What he thinks about you."
"Really?! You're going to help?"
"Well, to some extent."
As I agreed, Yun's face lit up, and she chatted away as she put a dumpling in her mouth.
"Hot!"
She immediately spat it back out onto the plate, finding it too hot.
‘...Can't northerners handle hot food?’
I thought to myself as I swallowed my dumpling, which had cooled enough. But what about Princess Yun, has she just lost her luck for the year?
***
Besides Kuilan's dumpling stall, there were also...
Various forces from around the world were gradually arriving in Crossroad, so there were many food stalls set up everywhere that I had never seen or heard of before.
An elf nut tea shop, a dwarf iron plate steak, merfolk raw salmon sashimi, and so on. There were quite a few decent stalls, but...
Most of the rest were somewhat bizarre, so I either tasted a little or didn't eat at all. Things like pickled herring are just too much for me...
"Surprisingly, it's pretty good?!"
"Um um um!"
Evangeline and Lucas, the knight duo, bravely tried the pickled herring and exclaimed like that. Okay, I get it, so walk a bit farther from me for a while. The smell of pickled herring.
As we walked through the city, passing by various stalls, an unusually splendid one caught my eye. It was a stall by the Silver Winter Merchant Guild.
Unlike previous festivals where the guild had set up shops all over the city, this time it was just this one.
"Ah, Your Highness!"
Serenade, who happened to be there, greeted me.
"Did you come?"
"Yes. Happy New Year, Serenade."
"Hehe. I hope Your Highness receives abundant blessings too."
Looking at the stall, which was decent but smaller in scale than in previous years, I asked.
"You must have worked hard preparing for the festival. Did you reduce the scale this year?"
"Yes. Considering it's just a one-day event unlike the autumn festival, and since there are still many places under reconstruction, we thought it would be better not to cause too much congestion... So our guild's stall was downsized."
I remembered that during last autumn's festival, there were simple games and stamp collecting around here.
But even now, there's a unique charm to its modesty.
"Instead, we have brought in specialties from the Imperial Capital that are hard to find or eat elsewhere at a reasonable price. Please enjoy."
True to her words, the Silver Winter Merchant Guild's stall was selling various dishes and items that were hard to find in Crossroad.
Especially among them, there was something that caught our eye.
"What's that?"
Damien blinked his round eyes.
"Clouds? Are they selling clouds?"
What Damien pointed to was... a cotton candy machine.
It was similar to those on Earth, with a large cylinder rotating by magical power, melting sugar into strands and weaving it into cotton candy.
The one making the cotton candy, dressed in a maid outfit with dark blue hair, had cold, dead eyes despite her flashy hand movements and body language.
It was Elize, Serenade's escort...
I awkwardly waved my hand as I approached her.
"Uh... hello, Elize. Happy New Year."
"...Greetings, Your Highness. I wish you much happiness."
"Cotton candy... making?"
"We're short-staffed, so I was drafted here."
Elize, who murmured gloomily, glanced briefly at Serenade nearby and then looked back at me.
"...Would you like some? It's delicious."
I ordered five.
Elize, with a stiff face but skillful hands, gathered the cloud-like sugar strands and made cotton candies, then handed one to each of us.
"Yay~ It's been a while since I've had this!"
"Eating this occasionally during festivals in the Imperial Capital when we were young. Brings back memories."
Evangeline and Lucas, having lived in the Imperial Capital before, seemed to have eaten it before,
"Sweet...?! It's melting...?!"
Junior, trying it for the first time, was shocked and jumped up,
"Wow! It's like our Podo, all fluffy and clumped together!"
Damien was too engrossed in admiring the cotton candy to even take a bite. His hamster Podo must still be doing well.
I also slowly tore and melted bits of the cotton candy. It's sweet and sticky. This primitive and violent feast of sweetness... it's been a long time.
As the five of us were slowly eating the cotton candy,
"Ah, Your Highness?!"
"Happy New Year!"
"Happy New Year!"
My colleagues who had just entered the Silver Winter Merchant Guild's stall greeted me.
Zenis, Torkel, and the newly joined black magician Chain, the blind swordsman Nobody. Lastly, it was Lilly.
The first two were working at the temple, and the last three were patients in the hospital. They must have come out for some fresh air.
I waved back at them as they approached, with Lilly pushing her wheelchair.
"Happy New Year to all of you! And to Sid too."
In Lilly’s arms was Sid, swaddled in cloth with only his face peeking out.
The child, experiencing his first festival, had his eyes wide open in wonder at everything. How can he be this cute?
‘But, is it really okay to bring such a newborn out in winter?’
Well, it’s a fantasy world, so maybe it's fine. Besides, they're staying at the temple, so there shouldn’t be any health concerns. High Priest Zenis is with them too.
Putting aside unnecessary worries, I pointed towards the cotton candy machine and asked.
"Do you all want a cotton candy?"
I decided to treat them. Elize skillfully spun new cotton candies.
"Here."
Elize, unasked, naturally handed over a freshly spun cotton candy to Lilly. Is it an illusion? It seems several times larger than ours.
Lilly received the cotton candy with a smile.
"Thank you."
"No, thank you."
Elize's face, which had been dead-eyed till then, unusually showed some color. I wondered what made her happy, and sure enough, it was Sid in Lilly’s arms.
"Cute..."
Elize murmured darkly. Can’t she raise the tone of her voice a bit? It sounds a bit scary with that tone.
Lilly carefully tore off a small piece of the cotton candy and gently fed it to Sid.
‘Is it hygienic?! Can a baby eat sugar?!’
A moment of worry flashed through my mind, but then, fantasy world! Romance! Two priests right there! This should be fine!
Contrary to my modern-Earthly concerns, Sid's eyes widened even more after tasting the cotton candy. His face seemed to say, ‘What is this amazing flavor?!’
His expression was so amusing that everyone in our group burst into laughter.
"How is it, little one?"
Though he couldn’t see the face, Nobody seemed to sense the atmosphere and murmured softly.
"That's the taste of life."
"..."
Next to him, Torkel, who had carefully received his share of cotton candy, cautiously lifted his helmet and put the candy in his mouth.
"Indeed."
After carefully tasting the cotton candy with his grizzled chin, Torkel faintly smiled.
"Life, sometimes, has this kind of flavor."
Zenis and Chain also put their cotton candies in their mouths and looked towards Sid with smiles on their faces.
The child babbled something and kept munching on the cotton candy his mother tore off for him.
It was a perfect moment for the first day of the new year.
--TL Notes--
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