Chapter 415 – Village Chief"s ParadeMorning.
As the sun rises, the parade begins.
The starting place is about 400 meters in front of the mansion.
From there, we"ll go to the mansion.
At first, it will only be me riding a horse.
My clothes are, not gorgeous. It is simple….is it simple?
It is a pure white, high-cla.s.s fabric garment.
There is no one around.
Maa, I seem to have appeared earlier than expected.
It will just be me and this horse for a while.
It has been a long time since I rode a horse but I feel like I"m getting better.
The horse seems to be in a good mood too.
Hahaha.
This parade, I hope it will be over soon.
But that"s not what"s going to happen, isn"t it?
The first one to meet me is the phoenix chick Aegis.
It is now flying slowly ahead as if trying to lead the horse.
Next are Kuro, Yuki, and Makura.
Originally, it was Zabuton that should have been waiting but she seems to be concentrating on being the wardrober.
Thus, Makura became the subst.i.tute.
Kuro and Yuki are on my right side.
Makura is walking on my left side.
From there, I can finally see the onlookers as they started to applaud.
This is embarra.s.sing but I have to wave my hand to respond.
Waiting for me on the way to the mansion is the fully dressed Ursa.
Ursa will join us but not until she completes her role, her role of giving me a sword and a shield.
It is difficult for me to receive them while riding a horse but I was told that I must not get off the horse.
When I was wondering what to do, Ramurias, the oni maid who"s waiting behind Ursa, brought a step and set it up for Ursa.
Ursa climbed into it and gave me a sword and a shield.
Both the sword and shield were specially made by Gutt for this parade.
He made it full of spirit. I can understand where he"s coming from though.
I equipped the shield on my left arm and held the sword with my right hand.
I"m kind of scared cause the blade is bare.
As for the scabbard….ah, Ramurias has it.
Ursa and Ramurias accompanied me.
We head to my mansion with my sword up.
On the way, I saw Gutt crying with all his might upon seeing I"m holding his sword.
You don"t have to cry that hard.
We arrived at the front of my mansion.
Aegis, who had guided me, stops on the roof of the mansion.
The first thing that welcomed me are the beautifully lined up kuros.
Everyone looks dignified.
There are two big fenrirs that are lined up with them.
The fenrir"s child has grown up too.
Next are the spiderlings.
When Makura raises one of its legs, everyone decides to pose at once.
Hahaha.
Cool.
The beautifully dressed up arachne Arako is also lining up.
She"s posing quietly.
I put my sword in Ramurias" scabbard and got off the horse.
Thanks.
Thank you for your hard work.
Kuro, Yuki, Makura, Ursa, and Ramurias left as I moved on.
What"s waiting for me are Dors, ancestor-san, and the demon king.
I give the shield to Dors and the sword on its scabbard to the demon king.
Then, I kneel in front of ancestor-san. He puts a crown on me.
I don"t know what"s the meaning of all of this but it seems like what we are currently doing was modeled after an old religious ritual.
Since that"s the case, I left everything to the civil servant girls to arrange.
Everything is going as planned so there"s no complaint.
I thank the three and climb to the stage built in front of my mansion.
This year"s stage is lower than last year but the wheels are bigger.
It has become wider too.
Zabuton is waiting by the stage with her costumes.
She"ll change my clothes on the spot.
This time, it is clothes that kings wear. It has a red mantle.
This, why is it that I"ve never seen this before?
You came up with it yesterday?
Wearing this will make me lose my self-respect.
But Zabuton made it for me.
I have no complaints.
I climbed up the stage.
From there, I can see several stages and many villagers.
They are not gathered like a mess and are orderly waiting per village and race.
Everyone"s eyes look at me.
I got nervous.
However, this is an important scene.
I was told many times by the civil servant girls.
I can"t be scared.
I slowly raise one of my hands.
A deafening cheer shook the air.
The parade is about to begin.
The music troupe composed of high elves, mountain elves, beastkins, and civil servant girls are playing lively music.
Aegis, who"s on the roof, flies.
Aegis is the leader of the parade.
After pa.s.sing through the stage where I am, it heads to the planned course.
The first group that started to move are the demon king"s group.
The center of that group is not a stage with wheels but a portable shrine.
Shouldering it are the devils and dream demons of Village Four.
When I was thinking about why the portable shrine is empty, the demon king boarded it while holding the demon king"s army"s flag.
「The demon king"s army was awarded the honor of being the vanguard! If we"re late, those behind will be more late! Move, move!」
Beezel, Randan, and Glatts seem to be accompanying the portable shrine by walking.
When I was thinking about what happened to Hou, it seems like she"s been riding the portable shrine all along.
While trying not to stand out, the portable shrine followed the speed the demon king instructed.
The second group is a group of lamias.
Leading them is their chief Junea.
She"s holding a flag that looks like a lamia. The lamias she"s leading are full of excitement.
They are uniformly moving the spears on their hand and it looks wonderful.
The third group are the kuros.
Kuro is leading them while closely following him.
After her are Kuroichi, Kuroni, Kurosan, and Kuroyon.
They formed a beautiful line.
Hahaha.
Don"t worry, I"m watching you.
The fourth are the dragons.
Dors, Hiichirou, Raimeiren, Dorain, and Grafaloon are walking while in their dragon forms.
I"m sorry. The road seems too narrow.
Hiichirou is following Dors without looking away.
The fifth group is from Village One.
They are also carrying a portable shrine and not a stage with wheels.
Carrying it are the villagers of Village One.
However, since there are only a few of them, they are being helped by the lizardmen.
On the portable shrine are Jack, Village"s One"s representative, and the nyunyu-daphne Igu.
He nervously greeted me.
Sixth are a group of t.i.tans.
They are pulling a stage with wheels that is about 5 meters high.
That stage was built by the mountain elves of Big Tree Village.
It was built low so that even a t.i.tan can ride it. It is also made with st.u.r.diness as the priority but no one has ridden it.
Instead, for some reason, grains from Big Tree Village were placed there.
It was something we harvested last fall.
「This is to express their joy. It is because of the food from Big Tree Village that they were able to spend winter safely.」
The oni maid who brought me something to drink said that.
I get it but….
Did you come all the way here with the surplus grain?
That would be a ha.s.sle.
Next time, let"s just put a statue there as a subst.i.tute.
I"ll carve it myself.
The seventh group are the angels.
The stage is being pulled by Tier"s golem.
On the stage is….Malbit.
She looks delighted.
Oh, she was beaten by Ruincia who"s next to her.
Gran Maria, Kuudel, Corone, Kierbit, Sururiu, and Suarukou are flying over the stage in a formation.
They have a uniform weapon….a spear equipped with kuro"s horns.
Are you going to “boom” some place?
If you would, think of your safety first.
When the six break their formation, a group of harpies join.
Six new formations were formed.
What an air force.
The eighth are the group of dwarves.
All of them are dressed as warriors equipped with axes and shields.
It suits you.
But why are they all carrying barrels on their back?
No way, it shouldn"t be alcohol, right?
There"s nothing inside, right?
Now, it looks like a group of angels is being chased by a group of dwarves.
Of course, that"s not what"s happening.
The ninth group, chasing the dwarves, are the children"s group.
At the stage, there are Ursa, Alfred, Tiselle, Ririus, Riguru, Ratte, Torain, Nutt, and Guraru.
It is the minotaurs of Village Two that are pulling the stage.
Around them, as if they are guarding them, are the centaurs of Village Three with uniform weapons.
Yeah yeah, they all dressed up and it looks good on them.
Ursa is….wearing clothes different from the one she"s wearing earlier.
It looks like she has two sets of clothes, one for her task and one for the stage.
Ursa is serious about this too.
Well, she seems happy so I guess there"s no problem.
On the children"s stage, you can also see an oni maid and the fairy queen.
No matter what happens, they"ll be fine.
The tenth group are the groups of high elves, mountain elves, lizardmen, beastkins, and civil servant girls.
Big Tree Village"s villagers.
Since the others are either part of the music troupe or helping other groups, they only have one stage.
On the stage are ancestor-san, Fushu, Youko, Hitoe, holy maiden Celes, Rigune, and the two former four heavenly kings.
It looks like this is not even prepared for the villagers.
No, Youko, Hitoe, and holy maiden Celes are all living in Big Tree Village.
Finally, the eleventh group are the spiderlings" group.
Leading the parade is the arachne Arako while Makura is the one at the end.
Spiderlings of various sizes are marching in the middle.
They look good.
Oh, one of the smaller ones got its leg tangled.
Is it alright?
It looks safe.
Good.
The stage I"m riding finally started moving.
I"m not at the end but between the 7th group, the angels, and the 8th group, the dwarves.
But there"s no problem since every group is taking the same road and it is already calculated when will my stage enter the parade.
Leading my stage are the three ghost knights and the lion family.
Behind them are the group of mercuries centered on Bell and Gou of Village Four.
Following them are the rest of the devils and dream demons of Village Four.
Behind is the centaurs of Village Three.
Minotaurs from Village Two.
And finally, my stage.
Loo, Tier, Ria, Ann, Hakuren, Frau, Senna, and Rasuti are with me.
All of them were dressed in white and had colorful flowers in their hands.
It suits you.
Hnn?
When did wine slime and cat climb?
Hahaha.
I don"t mind though.
On the way, there will also be a change of parade partic.i.p.ants and spectators.
I want all to partic.i.p.ate but it won"t be exciting if there are no spectators.
That"s certainly true.
Also, I have to keep in mind that there are people who want to partic.i.p.ate but can"t like those who just gave birth and are looking after babies, those who are cooking, and those who are guarding the village.
I waved to the oni maids holding Lupumirina and Aurora and thanked them.
The parade has just begun.
It seems like I would only be sitting on the stage but I should also change clothes a number of times.
I don"t really care about that.
Zabuton is here to change my clothes anyway.
Let"s do our best together.
Oh, it"s about time for a costume change.
Affirmative.