Hard Work Will Never Betray Me - CH 35

After that, Lily stayed at our house for a while. We went for walks in the backyard and mountains, enjoyed afternoon tea in the front garden, had lunch at a fancy restaurant in the upper class district, and went to town dressed as commoners.

and finally , it was the day of the Spirit Festival.

“It’s the spirit festival today, isn’t it?”

“That’s what I thought.”

The Spirit Festival. It’s the most important religion in the country, and it’s based on the folk beliefs that have been handed down in Hylands since ancient times. One of the most important religious events is the Spirit Festival. It is a national festival, similar to the annual festivals of Japanese Shintoism, Obon, New Year, summer festivals, and Christmas in the West.

It is a major national event held in the summer to give thanks to nature for the abundant harvest and to pray for the prosperity of the nation. It was customary for the entire nation, from the peasants to the emperor, to celebrate this spirit festival, with the people of the region taking the lead in celebrating it.

In the territory of the Counts of Farenheit, many people gathered at the  main churches in Heitburg, and the annual parade of floats and portable shrines through the city was a summer tradition.

“What kind of floats will there be this year?’

“I’m looking forward to it!’

The memeber of the Fahrenheit family, as the governing family of the territory, are supposed to be in charge of holding the spirit festival in Heitburg. Strictly speaking, the Farrenheit family enjoys the festival with the city’s influential people and citizens during the day, and after dark, they perform the rituals together with the priests of the shrine.

This is influenced by the religious style of the Imperial Kingdom, which is based on ritual and political unity. Knowing Christianity, it would seem normal for the sacred and the secular to be separated, but this is the Imperial Kingdom of Hylands. The emperor, who is the head of politics, is also the head of the national religion, the Hylant Theocracy. It’s only natural when you think about it. The legend of the heroes is the founding myth of the country. It is only natural that the imperial family, which has the blood of the heroes , would take center stage.

And we, the nobles, are the ones entrusted by the emperor with the role of governing the various regions. In other words, we are the emperor’s representatives in the provinces. So it was only natural for the nobles to hold a spirit festival in their own territories.

“I’m going to participate in the ritual at night, is that okay with you?　Wasn’t she supposed to be doing something at the Bernstadt spirit festival?’

‘I don’t mind, because I’m  your fiancée”.

That’s right. Lily is the eldest daughter of the Duke of Bernstein, but she has no plans to inherit the family because she has  elder brother . If so, it would be beneficial for both Lily and duke to attend the spiritual festival at home with me, the son of the Fahrenheit Margrave and her fiancée.

“In that case, why don’t you join us, Lily?”

“Yes.

It’s enough for my father and mother to participate in the daytime banquet. I’m a child, I can’t drink, and I’m still a child, so I don’t feel comfortable mixing with the adults.

“We’ll have some free time in the evening, so we can look around the city together. It’s the Spirit Festival, so there will be lots of stalls.’

“Yay!”

I held Lily’s hand and we went out into the city. I change into some elegant clothes and don’t forget to disguise myself as a wealthy commoner.

✳︎

“Oh my god!　That’s amazing!　Look at this, HaL . Look at that float, it’s really impressive!’

“It’s so elaborate!　I wonder how much it cost.’

The floats had the motif of a Western temple, and many players with instruments like bagpipes, flutes, and harps were riding on them. The music was cheerful and nostalgic, like the Celtic music I’d heard in a previous life, and the people around me were hunched over with ale and grilled meat on skewers, making a lot of noise in the middle of the day.

“It’s so nice.;

When I come to a festival like this, I naturally feel uplifted. When I see people enjoying themselves, I start to enjoy myself.’

“Hal-. I want to eat that.’

“Yakiniku skewers, huh? If that’s the case, I can recommend a place.”

I looked around and searched for the stall of the old man who was always a favorite of mine. I walked around for a while looking for it, and found that he had a stall near the central plaza, a bit far from the clinic.

He had set up his stall near the central square, a short distance away from the temple, ,

” Old man, give me four skewers of grilled meat.

“Whoa,  you boy from before !　Are you with your girlfriend today?　You’re good, I’ll give you one!”

‘Are you sure? ”

“”Have fun with her!　Thank you!”

“Oh, she’s not my girlfriend. She’s ……!”

“Lilly?”　”

“Whoo!　…… Oh, thank you.”

“I could have given her three, but I was afraid she might drop them on the ground.”

“I know. It has an exotic spice flavor.”

“It’s addictive. One more!”

“Okey.

Lily devoured two of the skewers in no time and asked for a third. I also ate my share of the grilled meat skewers and walked around with Lily in a slightly vulgar manner.

We stayed like this for a while, enjoying the atmosphere of the festival by visiting the stalls and buying fruit water to quench our thirst.

When we reached the upscale shopping district for the upper class and the atmosphere of the festival had calmed down a bit, I took Lily into one of the stores.

“Welcome.”

We entered a jewelry store that catered to the aristocracy and wealthy people . The store was sparsely populated, and despite the bustle outside, the atmosphere was calm.

“Wow!　It’s beautiful!”

Lily was drawn to the showcase of products.”

“Are you picking out a gift today?”

The jeweler, who seemed to be the owner, smiled naturally and spoke to us.

“Yes, “.

“I’d like to give her a pendant or something that would suit her.”

“Very well, sir. Please wait a moment.”

The jeweler looked around the store for a moment, then looked at me and led me to a shelf.

“How about this one? It’s a little pricey, but it has a very nice design” that reminds me of the color of  her companion’s hair and eyes.

He showed me an elegantly designed pendant with a gold chain that reminded me of Lily’s blond hair and a pint-sized emerald that reminded me of the blue of her eyes.

“Here.’

“Very well, sir.”‘

As the jeweler said, it is indeed a bit pricey, but that’s a minor issue. I had a lot of assets from my adventuring and being a part of the Gnome Generals, so I didn’t have to buy a gift for my fiancée with my parents’ money.

Then I would choose two more items and buy them as a set too. We walked out of the store with Lily still engrossed in the jewels in the showcase, sat down on a bench in the square and I handed her the emerald pendant I had just bought.

“Here, you can have it.”

“Are you sure?”

The emerald pendant is the size of a pinky fingernail, and it’s an elegant pendant that suits Lily. When I handed it to her, I gave the pendant the magic of communication as a gift.

“I’ve given this pendant a ‘communication’ spell, so if you get lonely you can always talk to me with this.’

I also have one of the items I bought earlier, a bracelet-shaped “communication” magic tool with sapphires embedded in it. It’s a great way to make sure you’re getting the most out of your money.

“Can I talk to you anytime?”

“Yes. “.

There are many variations of this “communication” magic that connects distant places with each other via wireless communication, but the truth is that most mages are not able to   use it on a long distance. maybe a few kilometers at most.

Even so, there is no shortage of communication on the battlefield and in the city, and if mages who can use “communication” are on standby at multiple relay stations, like in the Ekiden system, information can be transmitted from one end of the country to the other at a very high speed.

So even if the limit is only a kilometer or so, a mage who can use “communication” is valued to a certain extent, and at least will not be out of work.

It’s such a B-grade non-attribute magic “communication”, but the one I use is far more powerful than that of other mages. The distance from Heitburg to Bernstadt, the capital of the Duke of Bernstein’s domain, is about 500 kilometers It would be easier to understand if I said it was about the distance from Tokyo to Morioka. I don’t know what the maximum distance is, because I haven’t tried it yet. The Farrenheide frontier territory is a vertical rectangle that is close to a square, so the diagonal line connecting the edges of the territory is the longest route that can be taken in a straight line. That distance is about 800 to 900 kilometers, so we can communicate for at least 800 kilometers without time lag. I don’t know how much further we can go, because I haven’t been outside the territory yet. My feeling is that we can go another 500 kilometers or so.

However, if I wanted to connect that much distance with magic, it would normally consume a great deal of magic power. In fact, that was the reason why most mages could not connect long distances. That’s where my previous life knowledge came into play.

If you don’t have enough magic power, you can just push the burden onto someone who does. It’s the same as the principle of toll-free numbers and collect calls. The cost of the call is imposed on the other party. I’m the one who consumes the most magic power.

By doing this, I was able to solve the problem of communication distance immediately. No matter who the other party is, as long as they are communicating with me or through me, they can communicate without worrying about the distance issue.

I’ve also made some improvements so that the ‘communication’ doesn’t get mixed up in the way of phone numbers. Eventually, I would like to develop magic for jamming and communication interception.

“I’d like to develop jamming and interception magic as well.”

“That means there’s magic that can send your voice far away.”

“Wow, …… that’s kind of cool. ……””

Unlike Mei , Lily was not very interested in technical matters. However, she was very happy to be able to communicate with me.

“So you won’t be lonely now!”

“I guess so. We can talk all the time”.

“We’ll be in touch every day!”

“Oh, every day?”

It’s not always possible to go out every day. There are days when I’m tired and sleepy, and  it  don’t have a recording function, so if I take off my bracelet while I’m taking a bath, I may not notice.

“I’ll try to answer as much as I can, but please don’t be upset if I can’t.”

“I can’t help it. It’s not like I want to be bombed, either.”

I didn’t know what to think about that, but I was relieved that Lily wouldn’t be lonely anymore.”

“Letters take a long time to arrive, you know.”

“Yes. ”

The smile on her  face made me feel glad that I had given her this gift.