『Come on, come on! How about some Caterpillaryaki? It’s a two-hour wait right now! And it’s only going to get longer!』
Someone, please tell me that’s a lie…
Roasted bugs with a ‘‘two-hour wait’’?
Even if people from other regions or countries were all excited for it, this is still absurd!
There’s no way this is real!
I’m sure the okonomiyaki we’re lined up for is ‘way’ tastier.
Yeah, no doubt about it.
「Hey there. Looks busy」
「Ah, niichan!」
The one skillfully working the griddle was my very first student, a young boy aiming to become a chef.
Even though he noticed me, he didn’t stop his work, a sign he’d really grown.
「Hmmm, that smells so good. It’s making me drool」
「You’ve improved. It looks delicious」
「Shiro-san! Wendy-sensei!」
「Wendy-sensei is so pretty!」「Shiro-chan is so cute!」
The kids in the back cutting cabbage and mixing batter noticed the yukata and froze mid-task, squealing excitedly.
「Hey now, don’t stop working」
When the boy scolded them, they resumed, though their eyes kept sneaking glances toward us.
He had a cloth tied around his head, probably to catch sweat, which was already damp.
「Hm? The cooling enchantment isn’t working?」
「Yeah, we turned it off for now. We don’t have enough magic power to keep it running for all three days」
「I see… Sorry about that. Guess it wasn’t designed efficiently enough」
「Don’t say that! Thanks to you, niichan, we’re all able to help Mother and the townsfolk. We’re grateful! Come on, I’ll make it extra good for you, eat some before you go!」
「Alright. Two pork okonomiyaki for me, and three more in a separate container for Shiro. All with cheese toppings」
「Got it! Five pork okonomiyaki, all with cheese!」
「「「「Thank you very much!」」」」
When the boy repeated the order, all the kids in the back shouted their thanks in unison.
So lively.
With impressive spatula work, the boy flipped the okonomiyaki and slid it in front of a girl next to him, who spread sauce and mayonnaise over it and added cheese on top.
They waited until the cheese started to melt, then boxed them up at just the right time for the residual heat to finish the job.
I thought the box might be hot, but it wasn’t, it was made from wood with low heat conductivity.
「Here you go! Thanks for waiting! The cotton candy was delicious! I’ll come buy more later!」
「Ah, thanks. I’ll probably still be free for a while, so please do come by」
I took the okonomiyaki from the smiling girl, told her see you later so I wouldn’t block the line, and stepped aside.
Shiro kept glancing up at me, clearly eager to eat, but walking while eating this would be asking for trouble.
「Oh, a bench just opened up」
「Hmm. Sit. Eat. Dash!」
The moment she spotted a newly vacated bench, Shiro leapt over it and sat down, urging us to hurry. Wendy and I followed her to the seat.
「Here. Careful, it’s hot」
「Itadakimasu」
「Ah, Shiro, don’t rush or you’ll spill it. You’ll stain your yukata!」
After putting her hands together in the proper Japanese way, Shiro began to eat. Watching her, Wendy fretted over possible stains, but soon we started eating too.
「Hmmm… the cheese is rich. It stands up well against the sauce」
「Hmm. Huff, huff… so good. The meat’s delicious too」
「Fuu… you can taste the sweetness of the cabbage. The vegetables grown at the orphanage are so flavorful」
The sauce, mayonnaise, the fat from the meat, the sweetness of the cabbage, and the richness and aroma of the cheese all asserted themselves, yet blended together perfectly, making it impossible to stop eating even while it was still hot.
「Fuu… fuu… Master, ahhn」
「Oh, thanks. Ahhn」
Cooled by her breath, it was easier to eat, and even though it was the same dish as before, somehow this bite tasted even better.
「Fuu… now your turn」
「Thank you. Then… ahhn」
I cut a piece of okonomiyaki and held it up for Wendy. She lifted her hair so it wouldn’t touch the sauce and leaned forward to take a bite. The sight made my heart skip a beat.
「Hmmmf… thank you for the food」
「Shiro, you’ve got sauce on your cheek. Don’t move, and don’t wipe it with your sleeve」
When we finally finished eating, Shiro more slowly since it was piping hot, we brought the empty containers to the kids’ stall for disposal.
「So, have you decided where we’re heading next?」
「Yes! Since we don’t have much time, I already planned it out. Let’s go toward the east district first」
「East district? Do the events differ by area?」
「Yes! The east district has a cluster of interactive game stalls. How does that sound?」
Interactive, huh? Like goldfish scooping or yo-yo fishing maybe?
Or perhaps a lottery stall, you pay for a chance to draw something and get a small prize as a bonus…
I wonder if they have something with a more ‘isekai’ flavor to it.
「That sound good to you, Shiro?」
「Hmm. It’s fine」
I thought Shiro would say, I want to keep snacking more!, but she didn’t mind. Then,
「All right. Let’s head to the east district.」
「Yes!」「Hmm!」
-0-
And so we arrived at the east district.
If there are lots of game stalls, I assumed there’d be many children and families.
Surprisingly, though, there were a lot of burly people.
Of course, there were families and children too, but the crowd’s range was surprisingly broad.
「Hey, any challengers!? I’ll toss eight balls up at once, catch them before they hit the ground. Prizes depend on how many you catch! The record so far is five!」
「Beat me in arm wrestling and I’ll pay you double your stake! The maximum bet is 100,000 nohl!」
「Land one blow and if I move out of this circle you win a prize! Prize is a 10,000 nohl voucher usable at stalls! One try is 5,000 nohl! Magic and weapons are banned, but enhancement skills are allowed!」
…So it’s power-focused. As expected, skill use is prohibited except in certain cases.
「Come on, ring toss! Throw five rings and prizes rise in grade by how many you get through!」
Ah, there are normal games too. Maybe kids come here for these.
「Hmm. Lord. I want to try the ball-catching」
Want to catch the balls…
「Ah, that one?」
「Yeah. I’ll catch them all」
Seriously?
No matter how I try, I can only see myself catching two, or one with my dominant hand.
But if Shiro says it, she must be confident.
「Oh, what a cute little girl! You want to try?」
「Hmm」
「All right! That’ll be 1,000 nohl」
I paid the man and asked what the prize would be.
Shiro went forward, and the announcer used her as the charming challenger on stage.
「First prize is catching all eight: a voucher to buy Caterpillaryaki without lining up, plus 100 exchange tickets for Caterpillaryaki! These can be used even after the festival. And… this one’s wild. When the Neo-Caterpillar comes out, we’ll give you an entire one we bought!」
No thanks!
I do not want that! I absolutely do not want that!!
Caterpillaryaki once is bad enough, what is this Neo-Caterpillar?
A second stage mutation? Ridiculous. Curse the bug world!
「A-and second prize?」
「Catch seven and you get meal vouchers worth 100,000 nohl」
Second prize sounds good.
That’s generous.
Second prize is great, Shiro, ahhh!
She’s already on stage!
A crowd has gathered, calling out things like ‘Do your best!’ and ‘Cute!’ towards Shiro.
「Then let’s go!」
「Hmm. Whenever you’re ready.」
Then, four men surrounded Shiro, and eight balls were thrown high above her at once.
Each one was about the size of a baseball.
Normally, it would be impossible to catch them all, but this was Shiro. For her, this was nothing.
Shiro leaped up to meet the balls in midair, catching one in her right hand, firmly holding another in her left so it wouldn’t fall, and in the blink of an eye she had five, no, six, in her arms.
Then she used her tail to snatch the seventh one!
The last one dropped first, and just when it seemed like she would balance it perfectly on her head,
…it rolled off and fell to the ground.
「Ah, so close! I thought we might see a perfect score there. Still, seven’s amazing! Give her a big hand, everyone!」
「Hmm. I’m satisfied.」
Shiro flicked the ball off her tail, caught the seventh one neatly in her hands, returned them to the man, and walked back toward us.
「That was incredible! So, here’s your second-place prize, meal vouchers worth 100,000 nohl!」
「Hmm. Thanks.」
「Come again anytime! You brought in a good crowd!」
As Shiro left, another beastkin who seemed to think it looked easy stepped up to try, and we decided to move on.
「Hmm. Lord, here.」
「You can keep it, Shiro. Buy yourself something you like.」
「Hmm… okay.」
「That was really close. You nearly caught all of them.」
「You dropped the last one on purpose, didn’t you?」
「Yeah. I don’t want the Caterpillar stuff.」
Knew it.
That kind of mistake wasn’t like her at all.
「Thanks, Shiro.」
「Hmm-mm. I’m already really happy.」
She took my hand and placed it on her head. Understanding what she wanted, I started to pat her.
Her eyes softened, her lips relaxed, and she leaned into my hand, nudging for more.
I kept patting until she was completely satisfied,
「Th-then I’ll try next!」
Wendy spoke up, looking around for something she could handle.
But there wasn’t really much she could do well at.
In the end, she tried the ring toss, but only managed one out of five.
So that rule existed here too, huh? Rings that hit the base didn’t count…
Wendy argued, but the attendant firmly said rules were rules.
「Ugh…」
When she groaned in frustration, I put my hand on her head and patted her to comfort her.
Her face twisted between annoyance and shy delight as we headed off together.
As for Shiro…
「Ah, uh… no, Shiro-san… don’t…」
Apparently, the man running the challenge where participants tried to knock him out of the circle was an adventurer.
He seemed to know who Shiro was and immediately refused to let her participate.
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