Chapter 304: Rehearsal

Just as the first batch of takoyaki finished cooking, Sam-san and the others arrived.

Tomorrow, they would be helping with operations, but today I planned to let them enjoy themselves as guests.

“That smells delicious. Could I have one pack?”

“Of course. The inside is extremely hot, so please be very careful when eating it.”

I handed her a pack containing eight pieces of takoyaki.

Tomorrow, I planned to charge two silver coins as payment, but since today was a rehearsal, there would be no exchange of money.

“Hot! But it’s incredibly delicious! As expected of a dish prepared by Sato-san.”

“Thank you. The other stalls are delicious too, so please try them as well.”

“Yeah, I’ll gladly do that. I wasn’t worried about the food stalls, but I’m relieved to see there doesn’t seem to be any problem.”

“I’m glad to have your seal of approval.”

The octopus used for this takoyaki and the squid used for the grilled squid were all from this world.

They were similar, but since they were monsters, I had been worried that the taste might be inferior. However, judging from this, it seemed like there would be no problem.

After that, I continued cooking takoyaki and served it to Sam-san’s companions, the familiars, including Helena, Rozzo-san and Sid-san, and even the Dragonkin and Dark Elves.

Even though the sun had already set, cooking takoyaki in the heat was hard work. But tomorrow would probably be on a completely different level compared to today.

With a towel wrapped around my head to keep the sweat under control, I continued cooking mindlessly for about three hours.

Then the rehearsal ended, and I was finally released from that scorching hell.

“Sato-san, thank you for your hard work. Would you like some shaved ice?”

“Sheila-san, thank you for your hard work too. Shaved ice sounds wonderful! I’d be happy to have some.”

“Understood. I’ll shave some for you right away!”

Sheila-san brought me a heaping serving of shaved ice, generously topped with my favorite strawberry syrup and plenty of condensed milk.

I had been drinking water, but shaved ice after being freed from the heat was truly something special.

I swallowed my saliva and stuffed my mouth full of shaved ice.

“…Haaah! I feel alive again! The ice is incredibly delicious too.”

“I’m glad you like it. The ice is natural ice that Moji and Helena made with magic, just as you instructed.”

“It was definitely worth being particular about it. I can’t stop eating.”

Since I did not even get brain freeze, I finished the heaping serving of shaved ice in one go.

Even without the festival, the shaved ice alone was good enough to make people happy. I was really looking forward to seeing the customers’ reactions tomorrow.

“Sato-san, good work… Oh, you’re eating shaved ice too?”

“Sam-san, thank you for your hard work as well. Did you have some shaved ice?”

“Yeah, of course I did. All the food this time was delicious too, but personally, my number one was the shaved ice. There were plenty of flavors, and it was so good I felt like I could eat five more bowls.”

“I’m glad to hear such high praise. What do you think of the other stalls and the event overall? Are there any changes we need to make, or are we fine to proceed tomorrow?”

“I intend to make the rules clearer for some of the game stalls, but other than that, it’s perfect. Following the mock battle tournament, you really do come up with interesting events, Sato-san. As an event organizer myself, I’m honestly impressed.”

“Thank you very much.”

The amazing ones were not me, but the people of past generations who had built up the culture of festivals.

However, being humble here would only confuse her, so I decided to simply accept the compliment.

“To make sure this interesting event doesn’t end in failure, I’ll help run things from the operations side tomorrow.”

“Yes. I’m counting on you.”

I shook hands with Sam-san, and the rehearsal came to an end.

Since I would have to start farm work early again tomorrow morning, I finished cleaning up and went to bed early.

The next day.

The flow of the day was the same as yesterday. We started farm work early in the morning and finished everything by early afternoon.

I had been worried that people might start flooding in from the morning like they did during the mock battle tournament, but it seemed the royal capital had placed a limit on the number of people coming. As a result, only a few people had gathered in the morning.

Thanks to that, the farm work progressed smoothly, but when there was only a small flow of people, that made me anxious in its own way.

After all the preparation we had done, I would feel bad if people did not gather.

But the quiet worry I secretly held was soon proven to be needless.

The first group arrived.

There were dozens of carriages, and people came one after another without pause.

Spurred on by the sheer number of people in the first group, we increased our pace even further and finished the farm work.

As soon as the farm work was done, I headed to the stalls and prepared everything so the festival could begin.

At that moment, carriages from the opposite side of the royal capital arrived, and Yato-san, Rose-san, and the others also arrived from the sky.

Even before evening, the place was already bustling with excitement.

My own excitement rose higher and higher too.

We would leave the flow of people and guidance to Sam-san. Our job was to provide delicious festival food.

I slapped my cheeks to fire myself up, and although it was a little early, I began cooking the first batch of takoyaki.