314. There is no winning or losing at the festival (1)
“Zeto, ah.”
Yuri tells me to open my mouth and shoves rice cake at me.
This was her third time, and in other words, it was my third time eating rice cake.
“hahahaha…”
“Huh…”
She tried to laugh, but Yuri had a single smile on her lips and her eyes were showing her strong will to cast her pillar of fire if she didn’t eat it.
Just like that, the rice cake entered my mouth.
I couldn’t help but eat it.
“……”
As soon as you chew the rice cake, the sour fruit juice spreads through your tongue and fills your mouth.
Did you put some lemon juice in it?
“What did I hear…?”
When she covered her mouth and didn’t say anything, Crank, who was worried, tapped her shoulder and asked her carefully.
“…I don’t know. Other than that it’s very sour.”
“Puhahahahaha! You ate yuzu flavor.”
The merchant who was listening to our conversation laughs heartily.
That rice cake merchant was very evil.
On such a pleasant day, they sell rice cakes with no idea what they are filled with.
“But why did everyone feed Zeto? It’s meaningless if you don’t eat it yourself.”
Amon, who had difficulty understanding the current situation, put a piece of rice cake into his mouth.
“That’s what I wanted to feed Zeto.”
“I was curious about Cadet Zeto’s reaction.”
“They only enjoy themselves shamelessly.”
Aisel, Kaen, and Yuri answer his questions in that order. This was also the order in which I put the rice cake in my mouth.
Aisel’s rice cake was full of dried peppers of a famously spicy variety, so it was spicy on the tongue, while Kaen’s rice cake was extremely bitter.
They didn’t even tell me what the ingredients were.
They said you would regret it if you found out.
[ Phuhu, didn’t you say you would embrace everyone? At least you said it with your mouth. ]
As I closed my mouth, mouth watering at the sour taste of citron, Sierra looked at me and laughed.
“Kerung.”
Shady, who was on top of her, must have thought the same thing, and after agreeing with her, he laid her body down.
“I can’t eat it…”
Lucia is holding a piece of rice cake and making a groaning sound.
“Sigh, there’s no need to be afraid.”
Amon, who was chewing rice cake, answered.
Judging by the lack of change in expression, it seemed to taste normal.
“This is the rice cake that made Mr. Zeto lose his smile…? Does it actually taste good?”
“It might be ordinary red bean paste.”
“Please, Zeto, please eat…!”
Then even Lucia thrust rice cakes at me.
“…Why is the story like that?”
“Please eat only half. If it’s okay, I’ll eat too!”
“The problem is not half…”
“You mean you can’t eat mine…?”
Lucia is crying.
This is why the clever girl is scary.
Wouldn’t it make a person a sinner in an instant?
I had no choice but to bite off half of the rice cake Lucia was holding.
“……”
“…How is it?”
“It’s honey.”
“Really?!”
Lucia answered my short answer with a bright voice and immediately put the rice cake into her mouth.
However, her bright smile did not last long.
“Mr. Zeto…?”
Lucia, who had stopped chewing her rice cake, noticed something strange about her and tilted her head.
“hahahaha, you shouldn’t spit it out.”
When I saw that, I couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
Meanwhile, the sour taste that filled my mouth was stretching my jaw muscles.
‘That’s naive.’
It can’t be honey, right?
I can assure you that among the rice cakes sold by that merchant, the proportion of normal rice cakes is less than 20%.
‘That’s why it’s fun and maybe because it’s a festival.’
Lucia is urgently looking for water, or rather, Orphel.
We laughed out loud seeing Lucia like that.
“……”
Orfel looks at Lucia, then she puts one of her fingers to her mouth and pours out some water for her.
Today, the water purifier was operating normally.
“Where should we go next?”
“Well, what’s fun about it?”
It was a moment when I was looking around and thinking about deciding my next destination.
“”Wow!!!””
Suddenly cheers come from the other side.
“What is it?”
“There are people gathered over there, so maybe there’s something to see.”
Kaen sticks his head out and looks at the other side.
“Then I should go.”
Eisel made a decision right away, grabbed my hand, and headed straight to the place where people were gathered.
ㅡSquid!!
As I was making my way through the crowd, I heard the sound of an arrow flying through the air.
ㅡPack!
“”Wow!!””
People cheer as soon as the arrow hits the target.
“Hit, hit again!”
A man there who appeared to be a businessman was relaying in excitement.
I think we were playing a game where you shoot arrows and hit targets.
However, the scale was quite large.
At first glance, the road stretched out so far that it made me wonder if one tent was taking up too much space.
“Amazing! He can hit a target so far away! Is this guy the second coming of the shrine!”
With the broadcast of the businessman in charge of the proceedings, the main character of the event comes into view.
“Hmm…”
A middle-aged man drowsily puts down his bow.
‘I saw this face somewhere once…’
I was unsure whether it was a face I saw in a game or a face I saw in real life.
You might be wondering how that could be confusing, but it wasn’t a very familiar face.
But I saw it somewhere.
‘If you use a sense of humor, you can tell who it is, but…’
There were too many people around, and it meant that he wasn’t a major character, so I decided to stay quiet because I thought there was a need to write about it.
“I guess it’s just a target shooting game with a doll as the prize. I also like bows, so I might have been excited by the appearance of the master!”
The broadcaster sweated profusely and gave instructions to his subordinates.
It seemed like the difficulty level was increased by changing the target.
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“I am confident that the person who hits the target this time will take this doll. But your interest is not the doll, right?! Now, it’s a coin! It might be hard to see this with the naked eye. Are there any other courageous challengers? ?!”
The trader held up the doll and pointed to a coin seen in the distance.
“For a doll to obtain, the level of difficulty is quite high.”
Eisel looks at this with interest and raises the corners of his mouth.
“Was that man just doing this to get a doll?”
Kaen looked at the middle-aged man who was showing off his skills with a bow and asked questions.
“It’s a doll from the East… A teddy bear with a white base and black accents… The design is better than I expected…”
Yuri, on the other hand, muttered as he analyzed the doll, perhaps because he was interested in it.
“I can’t come this far and return to my son empty-handed.”
But after listening to the story, it seemed like even middle-aged men needed dolls.
“It seems like moderate participation is possible… Is there anyone who would like to participate?”
“Isn’t there anyone who knows how to shoot an arrow?”
Amon gives a realistic answer to Lucia’s suggestion.
I grinned and approached the center of the tent where the bow was placed.
“You don’t know how to play, Amon.”
In times like these, it is better to enjoy and face challenges without pressure.
“Oh! A competitor has appeared?! The competitor… Is blind…?!”
At my sudden appearance, both the broadcaster and the audience watching were in unison.
“What is it?”
“I’m covering my eyes…?”
“Then how are you going to shoot the bow?”
All of their eyes were focused on the white bandage covering my eyes.
Soon, Eisel approached me with startled eyes and whispered carefully.
“Zeto, are you serious?”
“I thought the main character needed a supporting role. Would that be okay?”
“It doesn’t matter to me…”
She smiled at Eisel and immediately turned her head to ask for forgiveness from the middle-aged man. He scratched his beard and answered indifferently.
“Hey, that’s all good, but do you know where the target is?”
The businessman who soon approached me cleared his throat, looked at the crowd, and whispered:
“Hmm… Could you at least ring the bell on the back of the coin? It would make for a pretty interesting picture.”
“Ah, such a method…! You must know how to direct.”
As expected, merchants are quick-witted.
The trader, who understood what he said, patted my side with his elbow and praised me.
I couldn’t suddenly explain the feeling to the audience, so it seemed like the most natural way.
Isn’t it possible to even draw the audience’s concentration?
“Everyone, don’t be surprised. They say this blind man can shoot an arrow just by hearing the sound of the bell!”
A broadcast by a businessman who quickly returned to his seat.
The audience’s expectations grow even higher due to his delicious introduction.
[ Disciple, have you ever shot an arrow? ]
“Have you ever lifted a bow?”
As I picked up the bow that was lying on the platform, Sierra and a middle-aged man happened to ask the same question.
“No, nothing. I’ve never shot it or heard of it.”
“…But why did you come forward?”
“I decided to make it a fun festival.”
I answered quietly while tapping the bow and pulling the bowstring.
“Uh, uh…! You shouldn’t aim this way…!”
For naturalness, I aimed my bow at the place where the trader was, and the trader waved his hand and hid under the platform.
The sound of laughter from the audience.
I could also hear the laughter of the cadets who knew this was a joke.
Eisel’s smile in particular feels brighter today.
It was a smile like that of a child, innocent and without any worries.
She thinks it’s not a bad idea to play the role of a clown sometimes, as long as you can see her rarely seen smile.