Chapter 283 [High-Grade Teddy Bear]

The streets today were exceptionally noisy from early morning.

The chatter of countless people. Merchants hawking their wares. Even cheers heard from somewhere in the distance.

Woken up by the loud noises, Rin rubbed her eyes, pulled back the curtains, and looked out the window.

"...What’s going on?"

Rin’s eyes widened at the sight of the crowds filling the streets since morning.

The street in front of the guild house, which was situated close to the main road, was absolutely packed with people.

"What’s wrong? Whoa...."

Mika, who peeked out from beside the surprised Rin, was also startled by the sea of people outside.

Lia, the only one among them who had experienced the festival before, glanced out the window and spoke.

"It’s because the festival starts today."

"Does a festival always gather this many people?"

"...The festival here does attract quite a lot of people."

On a day like this, mercenaries wouldn’t be heading out on missions, and people from nearby cities would have all swarmed in.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say it felt like the population had increased several times over.

The eyes of the girls from the countryside, who had imagined a modest village festival when they heard the word "festival," sparkled with excitement.

***

Tanya cautiously opened the front door.

With the bustling festival street behind him, a visitor who had knocked early in the morning was waiting for her.

"Who is it?"

"We are from the Festival Merchants’ Association."

A smartly dressed merchant greeted Tanya with a smile and handed her an envelope.

"Could you deliver this to the Captain?"

"Yes.... I’ll pass it along."

Taking the envelope, Tanya watched the merchant’s retreating figure as he hurried toward another building before closing the door.

"Captain. Someone from the Merchants’ Association asked me to give you this."

Ian took the envelope Tanya brought.

It wasn’t addressed to anyone specific, nor was the envelope sealed.

It wasn’t sent specifically to Ian; it was something being handed out to many people.

When Ian opened the envelope, several brightly decorated maps and a small booklet came out.

It was a pamphlet containing the locations and schedules of events held during this festival.

"Don’t you usually have to pay for these?"

Since this wasn’t an era where you could check event times on the internet, such items typically had to be purchased as a sort of entry fee if one wanted to navigate the festival properly.

However, it seemed they were distributed for free to VIPs.

Though the Ian Mercenary Group was still D-rank, the fact that they were staying in such an expensive guild house made them potential VIP customers in the eyes of the association, regardless of rank.

Ian opened the pamphlet and briefly skimmed the festival’s event schedule.

Auction house.... A waste of money, so skip.

Monster Market.... No need to go.

Arena....

Circus....

Since a circus came instead of a theater troupe, is it the ’Animal Escape’ event? Pass on this too.

Ian quietly set the pamphlet down.

Besides these events, there were several mini-games and festival-exclusive quests prepared.

But most were only interesting to first-time players; there weren’t any events he deemed essential.

It was no wonder a mod had been created just to skip the festival period.

However, that kind of forced skip occasionally broke date triggers, and since Ian was already using multiple mods, he hadn’t installed it due to the high risk.

"Captain! Are these prizes for real?"

"Prizes?"

The members, who were looking through the pamphlet Ian had set down, found a piece of information in a corner that piqued their interest.

Ian looked where Tanya was pointing.

Festival game booths. In other words, the prizes you could receive for placing first in mini-games were listed there.

***

Unlike Ian, there were first-timers in the mercenary group who were very interested in the festival.

Rin, Mika, and Tanya.

For the sake of the three who were experiencing a major city’s grand festival for the first time, Ian led all the members out to the plaza.

After purchasing festival coins at the exchange in the plaza, Ian handed a pouch to each person.

"Alright. Each of you only uses this much."

"You exchanged this for gold? How could we possibly spend that much in a single day?"

When Ian distributed the coins used instead of money at the festival booths, everyone accepted their share with expectant expressions.

Only Lia, who had experienced the festival about twice before, had a lukewarm face.

"You don’t necessarily have to stick together, so if there’s somewhere you want to go, just have fun and come back."

"Yes!"

As soon as Ian finished speaking, the group naturally split into two.

Rin, Tanya, and Mika, for whom everything about the festival was interesting.

And Ian and Lia, who weren’t particularly interested.

Rin and her group went ahead to look around the festival streets, while Ian and Lia began to walk casually behind them.

The streets were lined with numerous stalls.

From simple stalls selling food to booths where you could play games and win prizes.

While checking out the stalls—there were so many it was hard to see them all—they first bought and ate a few food items that caught their eye.

As they walked, one particular booth caught the eyes of the group.

"Rin, try that one!"

"What is it? A ball toss?"

There was a booth that seemed almost prepared specifically for Rin.

A simple game where you just had to throw a small ball to hit and knock over dolls on a distant shelf.

The first-place prize was a golden coin that could be exchanged for a reward.

Phew. I was just going to relax and enjoy myself.... But if it’s like this, I have no choice but to show off my skills.

Rin stepped up to the booth with a confident face.

....

"I clearly hit it just now!"

"My, my. It seems you lacked power."

"Isn’t this a scam? You glued them down, didn’t you!"

"Glued down? Look, they fall over so easily."

"Eh, wait...."

The doll, which had stubbornly stood its ground even after a direct hit from the ball, fell over easily when the merchant touched it.

Flustered and lost for words, Rin was speechless and ultimately had to turn away from the booth without saying anything.

Five retries so far.

As a result, all Rin had left was a single third-place exchange ticket.

"Sigh.... Let’s just go somewhere else."

"We sure spent a lot of coins."

"T-third place is good too, Rin!"

When Rin, who turned away with a sigh, touched her pouch, it felt strangely light.

Rin realized she had no more coins left in her pouch.

"Huh...?"

"What’s wrong?"

"The coins are gone.... Did I use them all already?"

Rin, who had considered getting more, suddenly snapped to her senses.

Then exactly how much did I spend? A whole gold coin?

"No, wait! This is weird, there’s no way I spent that much...."

First I ate a skewer at a stall, then an apple....

As she quietly recalled her memories from the moment they entered the street, Rin’s expression gradually froze.

I... spent that much.

Because she had been handing out wooden tokens that looked like toys at every stall, Rin hadn’t grasped how much she was spending. Belatedly calculating the amount, her face turned pale.

This wasn’t a festival; it was the middle of a dungeon surrounded by merchant traps.

Watching the despondent Rin, Mika, who still had plenty of coins left, muttered.

"Maybe it’s because you stubbornly tried something that wasn’t working five times."

"...I won third place, didn’t I!"

Finally calming down, Rin belatedly noticed that Ian was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did the Captain go?"

"I saw him heading that way with Lia earlier."

Following Tanya’s words, she turned her gaze and saw an area where several game booths were gathered.

As the three looked around for Ian, they discovered a crowd gathered in front of a certain booth.

Rin, spotting a familiar head of red hair, approached the spot.

"Lia! Where’s the Captain?"

"...Ah, Rin. The Captain is...."

Whoa!

A small cheer erupted from the people watching something.

"In the Valtan Mountains, there is a terrain called the Edge of the World...."

"Arcadia."

"A specialty product from a small fishing village north of Rosaria is...."

"The Mana Conch."

The merchant asking the questions finally hung his head and declared.

"...A perfect score."

Waaaaah!

Along with the cheers of the onlookers, the participant who had been answering questions at the table rose quietly from his seat.

"...Isn’t that the Captain?"

Ian, having received the first-place ticket from the merchant, returned to Lia’s side.

Discovering the members gathered with Lia, Ian waved his hand.

"You’re here. Are you done playing?"

"...M-more or less."

Rin answered while trying to erase the memory of her empty coin pouch.

"For now, I’ve won something like this...."

Rin, who had intended to brag about her third-place ticket to Ian, quietly folded her pride upon seeing Ian’s first-place ticket.

"Rin won one too. Then let’s go exchange them."

Ian pointed toward the plaza where the festival management booths were clustered.

A short while later, they arrived at the exchange booth after pushing through the crowd.

Ian held out the tickets he had won so far.

They were from booths he had briefly visited while Rin was doing the ball toss.

- OX Quiz 1st Place

- Monster Naming 1st Place

- Puzzle Solving 1st Place

- General Knowledge Quiz 1st Place

- Riddle 1st Place

"...You said there was nothing to do, yet you had the most fun, didn’t you?"

"There was something among the prizes I wanted to exchange for."

The staff member at the exchange booth, looking very flustered, swapped Ian’s first-place tickets for gold coins.

At the mention of exchanging prizes, everyone’s eyes turned to the rewards displayed behind the booth.

Their gazes landed on the bait product placed in the most prominent spot with the highest exchange rate.

[Platinum Magic Ring]

"...."

"...."

"...."

Everyone swallowed hard.

Everyone except Rin stole glances at one another.

This is... that, right?

Blushing, nodding, and exchanging looks.

Everyone waited for Ian’s next move with slightly tense faces.

Ian’s finger soon pointed to one prize.

"One of these."

[High-Grade Teddy Bear]

- When placed in a bedroom, slightly increases stress recovery through sleep.

- Additional rest bonus increases based on affinity.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Mika, Tanya, Lia, and even the staff member from the Merchants’ Association at the exchange booth wore expressions asking if he was serious.

Until the staff member, after checking the prize once more, wrapped the teddy bear and handed it to Ian, who then gifted it to Rin.

The three gathered and watched the scene in silence.

"If you guys want anything, exchange them with these."

Ian, having obtained and gifted the item that was his goal, seemed to have no interest in other prizes and distributed the remaining gold coins to the members.

Glancing over at Rin....

Rin was hugging the gifted doll, giggling and smiling away.

...I guess it’s fine if she likes it.

The three members, excluding Rin, met each other’s eyes in silence and nodded.