Chapter 305: Festival

The festival began a little earlier than scheduled.

There were children here too, something we had not seen during the mock battle tournament, and the atmosphere truly felt like a festival.

The music from the boombox I had prepared was completely drowned out by people’s voices, which was a bit of a miscalculation. But this noisy feeling was exactly what made it a festival.

The first customers also came to the takoyaki I had cooked.

“Mister! Give me one of those round foods!”

“One takoyaki pack, then. I’ve received two silver coins. It’ll be ready in just a little while, so please wait.”

I accepted two silver coins from the smiling boy, then topped the freshly cooked takoyaki with sauce and toppings before handing it to him.

“It’s piping hot, so please be careful when eating it.”

“Okay, I got it! Dad, I bought some!”

The boy who bought the takoyaki went proudly to show it to his father standing behind him.

While glancing sideways at the father and son eating the takoyaki with great enjoyment, I continued serving the next customers.

Festival stalls were basically made so people could enjoy a variety of things, but perhaps because of how tasty it was, quite a lot of customers came back for more.

Because of that, I started to worry about whether the ingredients we had prepared would be enough.

In particular, perhaps because of the heat, the shaved ice was extremely popular, and we quickly had to set a limit of two servings per person.

With this crowd, I could not give detailed instructions, so I had nothing but respect for Sheila-san’s quick judgment as she took command of the stalls over there.

“Sato, I have come to play!”

“…I came to play again this year too. There are even more people than last year.”

“Yato-san, Rose-san. Thank you for coming again this year. We made the scale bigger than last year, so the number of participants increased greatly. More importantly… are Ashros-san and Isabella-san not with you today?”

I looked around, but I could only see Yato-san and Rose-san.

Surely they had not come alone, so were the others waiting somewhere?

“Ashros and Isabella do not get along! They are fighting at one of the stalls somewhere!”

“Is that really not getting along…? Isn’t that just playing together?”

“…No. They are fighting seriously.”

I did not really understand, but perhaps it was something like a rivalry.

Now that I thought about it, in winter, only Ashros-san had participated in the dungeon conquest.

Maybe she had come to the dungeon conquest because Isabella-san was there?

But I remembered the reason not being quite like that… so I could not say for sure.

“I don’t really understand, but I see. Isabella-san and Ashros-san are going around the festival together, then.”

“That is right! We came to greet you, Sato! …Are you happy?”

“Of course I’m happy. Thank you.”

When I thanked them, Yato-san and Rose-san blushed and looked embarrassed.

Even though they were the ones who brought it up, seeing them get embarrassed made me feel embarrassed too.

“Ahem. Would you two like some takoyaki too? I’ll cook some now.”

“Of course I’ll eat it!”

“…But one pack is fine. I’ll share it with Yato.”

“Hmm? I can eat one by myself!”

“…There are other stalls too, so I want to leave some room in my stomach.”

Yato-san did not seem convinced, but in the end, she gave in.

It had been the same during last year’s festival too, but when these two were together, surprisingly, Yato-san was the one who usually gave in.

“Here you go. Sorry for the wait. It’s extremely hot, so please be careful.”

“Thank you! I’ll come again later!”

“…Thank you, Sato-san. See you later.”

After thanking me, Yato-san and Rose-san went off to the other stalls.

Because I had heard about it, I was curious about the battle between Ashros-san and Isabella-san… but unfortunately, I could not leave my post.

As I was looking around, wondering if the unusual rival pair might pass nearby, I spotted Shannon-san, who was trying to walk past while glancing around nervously.

I could tell that she was confused by the crowd, so I raised my voice and called out to her.

“Ah! Sato-san! So this is where you were!”

“You came to the festival too, after the mock battle tournament?”

“Yes! I knew you would be here, and the flyer that came around looked really interesting, so I came! But there are so many people that I was having trouble!”

“I thought that might be the case. For now, I’ll cook some takoyaki, so please have some before you go.”

“Thank you very much!”

I immediately cooked some takoyaki and handed it to Shannon-san.

The moment Shannon-san received it, she popped it into her mouth before I could explain anything.

“It’s so hot! …But it’s way too delicious!!”

Even while huffing from the heat, Shannon-san shouted loudly.

She really looked like she was enjoying it, and I could tell that the people who had noticed Shannon-san’s loud voice were starting to become interested in the takoyaki.

“Sato-san, your cooking is top-class! Wait, huh? Customers suddenly came all at once!”

Before Shannon-san arrived, there had been a decent number of customers, but thanks to her unconscious marketing, people had started gathering.

I had wanted to talk with her at a more relaxed pace, but once customers came, I had no choice but to serve them.

“Shannon-san, thank you for coming for now! Also, all the food stalls besides this one are recommended too! Please enjoy the game stalls as well!”

“Okay! Thank you very much!”

I told her that quickly and loudly, then started cooking takoyaki all at once.

It was a little sad that the time I could spend interacting with people was short, but this lively crowd was very fun.

Hoping that Shannon-san would enjoy herself from here on as well, I continued cooking takoyaki with complete focus.