Chapter 206: A Day of Rest (Part Five and A Half)
The feast was held as scheduled with the wood elvesâ enmity not affecting any of the Players. In fact, most of them were actually putting their backs into it since they liked the look on those elven faces that disliked them but couldnât do anything about it.
Habanero wheat being baked and spreading the scent of cumin in the airâthe Playersâ had gained variety in their feasting events after Life Skills were introduced.
Outsiders might find the Playersâ behavior indescribable. After all, the elvesâ royal capital was an unfamiliar place to them, and yet the first thing they did upon arrival was not to strengthen ties, but to hold a feast.
That being said, only the Players themselves understood why they did that: Be it the refugees from Tierra who lived near Cromwell or any other place, most Players were wanderers who had left their homes aside from the original citizens of the Unnamed Town.
And after losing their home, they now saw the Church of Games as their second home.
Moreover, the Church of Games did not have a strong presenceâunlike other churches, they had no building, no temple or even a shrine.
But if there was one thing representing the Church of Games, it would undoubtedly be the Lifestones.
That was exactly why the Players would instead consider that whichever spot a Lifestone was placed was where the Church of Games had a presence, and holding a feast was a special way of recognizing that this was a part of their second home.
Wearing either dolphin head hats or anglerfish head hats, they would dance and sing away on the squareâit was a mess since they were dancing and singing to different tunes without any sense of order, but the delight and passion were somehow palpable.
As is tradition, there were free-flowing baked meat and drinks on one edge of the square, with a side dish of ballherb (a vegetable resembling lettuce) added in its lonesome amongst the tons of meat. Still, the feast had gone on for a while and half of the meat was already gone, while no one person took any ballherbâŠ
It appeared that it was going to stay all by itself before a hero discovered the unique way of eating it known as âlettuce over meatââŠ
Meanwhile, other Players who had learnt alchemy to varying degrees had created something similar to fireworks. Like the other Players who were competing with whose magical plant was the most beautiful, those alchemist apprentices were also pitting themselves up against other Players with the firework recipes they had come up personally.
Hence, on that day, the Players were afforded a view of all bizarre assortment of fireworks, with some actually having design issues so fundamental that it couldnât be launched and simply blew up on the ground.
Watching as the alchemist apprentices blew themselves up cheerfully amidst the banging and popping, Marni was chewing through some baked meat while debating against Ivan on how they should sell meat tenderizer to the wood elves with some profit as a matter of course.
âNo way, boss. The wood elves donât eat meatâand even if we compromise by a mile, they would still hold us in disdain, thinking nothing of us.â Although Ivan wasnât concerned with the elvesâ attitude, he understood well how the wood elves saw humans.
âNo, thatâs not it, Ivan.â Marni shook his head. âItâs true that the wood elves donât like us now, but itâs fact that we are allies now, and our partnership is just a little rough on the edges. I am convinced that one elf would eventually come forward and be a bridge between us and them.â
ââŠBut what does that have to with meat tenderizer, boss?â
âWe could sell it as makeup!â
ââŠâ
Ivan had a look on his face that said âyouâre-definitely-the-one-to-blame-if-human-elf-relations-breaks-apartâ.
Marni was about to offer a logical retort for his honorâs sake when he noticed something and turned his head.
It was the young elf from before, who was gingerly standing between an alley just a few feet away from the square where the feast was held, seemingly afraid to approach.
âLook, the first elf who would come forward is already here. Thatâs why Iâm convinced the bridge would eventually be made.â Marni grinned at Ivan, biting off whatever pieces were left of the meat he was holding and approached the young elf.
âHey, so youâve come.â He quickly greeted the young elf who was about to run out of instincts. âPerfect timing, though, our feast is about to get very interesting.â
âVery interesting?â The young elf tilted his head as he looked at the Players in the square.
At some point, the fireworks competition had escalated to a fireworks battle. All the Players were now taking up the alchemist apprenticesâ crude fireworks and firing them in every direction.
There was only chaos.
âBurning people with those weird flames is interesting?â The young elf asked, confused.
âAhem. Itâs just a little interlude.â Marniâs smile stiffened, but his years as a merchant kept him from showing too much emotion.
But before he could come up with something to distract the young elf, the Players were suddenly cheering loudly.
They all turned by instinct towards the commotion to find a Holy Lancer riding a condor, having wrapped a bunch of fireworks around himself like a suicide bomber and shooting for the skies.
In the next split second, that Player cried out.
âIâm blowing up!â
He then crashed into the wood elvesâ barrier into the most dazzling blast of fireworks of the day!
Not only were the Players watching unsurprised, they were all cheering and applauding instead at the bits and pieces dropping from the skies, giving thumbs up and shouting âawesomeâ!
Watching from a corner, Marni thought that these people would be suspicious and highly dangerous terrorists if he wasnât privy to the inner workings of the Church of Games.
Let alone the wood elves.
He immediately felt that the young elfâs stare become stinging.
The young elfâs curved eyes narrowed into a deadly glare even as he asked with a very suspicious tone. ââŠInteresting?â
âThereâs always that one weird fellow trying to get attention and please the crowd with some crazy antics.â Marni cleared his throat and explained a little raggedly. âAnd, well, we should respect their⊠hobbiesâŠâ
âThis isnât good. It looks like the bridge of friendship between human and wood elves is about to collapse.â
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