Chapter 117: [117] The Pre-Harvest Festival
The moment Ark got into the city, he felt the festive energy completely encapsulate him.
"Hey, come try this golden apple!"
"Braised chicken, braised chicken available!"
"Would you like to try my coconut bread?"
Ark was in front of one of the stands faster than you could say festival.
"May the spirit of harvest be with you!" The woman smiled warmly as she saw him.
She had straw-coloured hair, calm eyes and two bunny ears sticking out of the top of her head.
There was no dogtag, and judging by her calm demeanour, Ark was sure that she was a native.
—
> Quest received!
The Merry Joy Of Harvest!
[Objective: Try out ten different stalls!]
Duration: 24 hours
Rewards: 200 EXP
Failure: nil
—-
"Is there anything you would like to try?"
Ark stared at the food in front of her, each one looked so good that he could already feel saliva forming in his mouth.
It had been what? Two weeks since he last ate real food?
"I want one of everything!"
"Huh?" Olivia frowned. "This is just the first stall, you’re going to end up full before you try anything else."
"Don’t worry about me, Olivia." Ark said without looking at her. His eyes were locked on something that looked like a fruit tart.
He had no idea what fruit it was, but that only made him even more curious. The woman happily prepared a tray of snacks for the three of them, and the first thing Ark tried was the tart.
He picked it up and took a bite off the snack, only to let out a very pleased hum. It practically melted in his mouth, releasing a burst of flavours he had never experienced.
It was confusing at first... the taste was completely foreign, but at the same time familiar.
’I guess it makes sense...’ He was eating food from another world after all, it only made sense that it would be an entirely new experience.
Ark glanced at the woman with a few crumbs on his lips. "Please, can I get two more of these to go?"
"Of course, I’ll only be a minute."
Thalia sighed as she wiped off the crumbs on his mouth with a handkerchief. "Guild master... remember that you now represent the guild."
"Exactly. He eats like a beggar that hasn’t seen food in ages!" Olivia huffed, folding her hands around her chest, a tart in each hand...
"Embarrassing, truly embarrassing, hmph."
Ark and Thalia gave her blank stares. Not only was her face covered in crumbs, even her body was covered in it as well.
"Talk about a pot calling a kettle black." Ark hissed.
The woman came with a boxed-up package a few minutes later and handed it to Ark.
"Thank you. So how much should I pay?"
She immediately paled and took a step back. "P-pay?"
"Don’t mind him, miss, this is his first festival." Thalia said with a sigh.
"Ah, I see." The woman laughed. "Please enjoy yourselves." She said before returning to her stand.
"Hmm? Did I say something wrong?" Ark asked Thalia.
"Of course you did!" Olivia interjected before she could respond.
Ark’s face twitched as he stared at her. She was munching on another with an aloof expression on her face.
"So what did I say that was wrong then, genius?"
Olivia frowned. "Well..." she paused. "Thalia, tell him what he said wrong!"
"Well..." Thalia pulled out another handkerchief and held Olivia in place while furiously wiping her face. "You almost cursed her."
"What?"
"I told you that everything is free at the festival, did I not?"
"Well, yeah..." Thalia had given him a little information about the event before they arrived. "But I thought since this wasn’t for me, and I was making her package it, I needed to give her a little money."
The inventory preserved items stored in it, so Ark’s plan was to have his sisters try the food.
Thalia shook her head then raised a finger as she explained in a firm tone.
"Natives believe that if they charge money on the preharvest festival, the god of harvest would be enraged and curse them with bad luck or famine."
"Oh, I see. More superstition—"
She clasped his mouth shut before he could finish. "Do you want to be baked into a pie?"
Ark gave her a puzzled look. "Huh?"
<•••>
After leaving the store, they ended up moving from stand to stand, enjoying a good number of local delicacies, and interacting with both natives and players.
The preharvest festival was one of the events that got to improve the relationship with both sides, and it felt good seeing them mingle with each other.
They got to experience good music from a bard that seemed just a tiny bit crazy, they tasted wine that had been fermented for three hundred years, roasted meat of a forest mammoth, fried wyvern eggs, and a large assortment of other food.
But what had to be the most shocking experience out of it all, was the mystery meat...
A man had led them into a dark alley, offering them a delicacy that he claimed would trump every other thing in Eden.
Of course, Ark and Olivia followed despite the several warnings from Thalia.
"Come on, Thalia." Ark smiled. "The god of harvest will be mad if we refuse his hospitality."
Those were the words he said as he stepped through the door.
The room was dark and smelled more like a laboratory than a kitchen, that should have been the first indication that something was off...
Actually, maybe the man’s random outburst of laughter should have stopped him.
But Ark was far too invested in the meat to give up!
When he finally got hold of the meat, he observed it closely. It looked a lot like baked squid, or a monster that looked like it. And goodness, it smelled like heaven.
Putting all his faith in the stranger he had never met, driven by the festive spirit, Ark shoved the entire thing in his mouth and bit down...
The meat fought back.
It took the combined strength of Thalia and Olivia to pull the monster out of his mouth, all while the salesman laughed like a deranged man.
When the locals found out about this, to Ark’s surprise, he was captured... and baked into a pie.
Just before he was carried by carriage into the wilderness to be eaten by wolves.
By the time three hours had passed, their entire party was full, tipsy, and had thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
But there was one final event, the highlight of the harvest festival, the dance.
The locals gathered around the city centre and began to play their instruments, the sounds mixing with each other to create an otherworldly tune.
There were wind-blown instruments, drums carved out of trees, lutes, and a variety of other instruments Ark had never once seen in his life.
Locals, Players, everyone in attendance moved to the beat, and soon, Ark could see shimmering, golden particles rise up from them and drift into the air.
They looked like tiny fireflies, and the more the people celebrated, the more the strange substance was released.
Ark was sitting at the side, watching it in awe. "Is that... mana?"
Thalia nodded with a soft smile. "The entire festival is one grand spell, the mana they release blesses their fields for the harvest."
"I see." Ark smiled, the gold particles glinting in his blue eyes as he stared up.
Then he got to his feet and offered Olivia a hand.
"Huh?" Olivia stared at the hand and then at him, a puzzled look on her face.
"Well, we have eaten to our fill, the least we can do is help them with their ritual." He smiled.
"So you are asking me... to dance?" She frowned, but Ark could see her wings twitching excitedly.
"Do you even know how to dance—eek!" She yelped as Ark grabbed her hand and pulled her to himself.
"Don’t worry, I learn on the job." He said with a cheeky smile.
Under the golden sky, listening to merry music that ignited their very souls, and with smiles on their faces, Ark and Olivia swayed along with the natives.
Step by step, beat by beat, twirl by twirl, they both danced and laughed until they had fully exhausted themselves, and then the preharvest festival was brought to a close...