🦊 🦊 🦊
THE major event for day two of the festival was a parade. Beautiful men and women from the city would ride on floats, scattering flower petals and candy. According to Julietta, full flowers were sometimes mixed in with the petals. If you gave one such flower to the person you loved, and they accepted, the two of you would find everlasting happiness. That was the superstition, at least.
“Wouldn’t that turn the parade into a battlefield?” I asked.
I imagined the crowd brawling over flowers, yet on the contrary, strict rules were in place. First, you couldn’t move from your spot. Second, you couldn’t steal flowers from others. Lastly, you couldn’t take more than one flower. In other words, luck played a major role in getting one. To my surprise, the boys were determined to do just that.
Julietta smiled at me. “Oh, but you can take as much candy as you like.”
I would’ve expected that comment from Cia, but now Julie? Is that how everyone sees me?
As I hung my head, Oreste placed a hand on my shoulder. Wow, was he going to console me?
“Let’s compete to see who can get the most candy,” he said, looking me straight in the eye.
I have no right to feel disappointed. What else did I expect from this meathead?
Yet deep down, I couldn’t wait to flex on him.
Embert, Janus, and Severin had been busy since the play. As such, I headed into town with everyone except them. Many people were already waiting for the parade on the main street. My friends and I joined the crowd, giddy with excitement. Before long, loud fanfare reached our ears. Mounted knights headed the parade, their horses trotting in step with each other. When a line of brilliant floats came into view behind them, cheers erupted from the crowd. Breathtaking men and women stood atop the floats, tossing flower petals and candy from their baskets. The colorful petals and candy wrappers sparkled in the sunlight. Naturally, the beautiful sight fanned the crowd’s excitement.
The children in front focused on picking up candy, paying no heed to the flower petals. Meanwhile, I caught the petals and candy the children couldn’t reach.
After several floats had passed, however, disaster struck.
A crimson rose had been thrown right behind the children on the other side of the street. A few young men reached out excitedly to grab the rose. Everyone in the area leaned forward inside the already jam-packed crowd. To my horror, they began toppling like dominoes. The children didn’t notice, still focused on picking up candy. At this rate, the falling adults were going to crush them. Screams rose from nearby.
“No!” I shouted while racing to the other side of the street.
“Ally!” my friends called, but at this point, I couldn’t stop.
As a float closed in on me, I reached out to the children. Mana surged through my body, and golden light emanated from my outstretched hand. The golden light fluttered in the air like a feathery robe. It cushioned everyone who’d fallen, not just the children. After returning everyone to their original positions, the golden light transformed into particles and disappeared. It was as if no one had ever toppled forward.
After a brief moment of being stunned, the children looked around in confusion. Relief at their safety washed over me. Unfortunately, I also spotted the float closing in on me from the corner of my eye. Turning in that direction, I found men and women staring at me wide-eyed from atop the vehicle.
Am I going to be run over in this world, too? I wondered with odd detachment.
“Ally!” Custode exclaimed.
“Squishy!” the slime cheeped.
A dull gray xiaolongbao fell onto my head and enveloped me.
Um, what?
Custode grabbed Squishy with me inside him, grew to full size, and soared upwards.
“I must admit, you had me worried for a moment,” Custode said.
“Squishy, squishy!” the slime cheeped.
That surprised me, too.
I couldn’t speak inside Squishy, even if I wanted to reply to him or Custode. It was an indescribably strange sensation. However, I could still breathe. Immediately after I confirmed that, Custode let go of Squishy and me.
Oh no!
I let out a voiceless scream, and a moment later, I found myself riding on top of Custode’s back. Thanks to Squishy, I didn’t feel any pain. The slime spat me out and returned to his original size.
I took a deep breath. “Phew, that scared the heck outta me. Thanks, you two.”
After jumping onto my hand, the slime bounced up and down happily. “Squishy,” he cheeped.
Custode heaved a deep sigh. “You charge in without thinking, don’t you?” he asked with mild exasperation.
Sorry, can’t do anything about my instincts.
“Well, what do you think?” I asked. “Will we be able to touch down?”
I wouldn’t be surprised if the crowd had fallen into a panic. After all, a black dragon and a slime had appeared out of nowhere.
“You appear to be famous in Bragioga as well,” Custode responded, much to my surprise. “The crowd can’t stop talking about the holy woman’s appearance. Oh, but Julietta is crying.”
Of course, royalty and nobility had known about me for quite some time. Even so, it surprised me that stories of the holy woman had spread among the common folk. That aside, Julietta must have been crying out of concern for me. How could I make that adorable angel shed a single tear? What kind of villainess was I?
“I can’t forgive myself for making Julie cry,” I said.
While Custode remained silent, Squishy cheeped his name in agreement. At that moment, I received a call from Cia. When I answered, she appeared on my smartphone’s screen with a furrowed brow.
“Are you okay, Ally?” she asked anxiously.
“Yep, I’m fine,” I responded with a smile. “We’ll touch down once the parade has passed.”
Cia breathed a sigh of relief. “Got it.”
I could hear Cita asking, “So, she’s not hurt?” from beside her twin.
Once the parade had passed, Custode began his slow descent.
“Wouldn’t it be better to land somewhere else?” I asked. “This might cause a commotion.”
“It shouldn’t be an issue,” Custode replied.
Thus, we landed in the same spot as before, and as expected, a commotion ensued. Fortunately, the crowd didn’t seem to be panicking. I could hear the people’s cries of “Holy woman!” When Custode shrunk down to his miniature form, a large crowd gathered around us. Before long, a few children appeared in front of me. They held out something while fidgeting nervously. Curious, I crouched down to meet their eyes.
One of the children opened his hand to reveal a few candies in his palm. “Thank you for saving us,” he said with a wide grin. “This is a token of our appreciation.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “You worked hard to collect this candy, right?”
The boy shook his head. “Gandolfin’s holy woman used magic to save our lives,” he said while glancing at Lauris. “That’s what your friend told us. So, this is our way of saying thank you.”
“I saw your magic!” the girl beside him chimed in. “It was so beautiful and sparkly!”
Other children who’d seen my magic spoke just as excitedly. The sight caused me to swell with happiness.
“Thank you,” I said while accepting the candy. Then, I took my hard-won candy out of spatial storage and distributed it to everyone. “Well then,” I continued with a smile. “Here’s my token of appreciation for calling my magic beautiful.”
“Wow, thank you!” the children cheered, grabbing the candy from my hands.
As I watched them run off, Julietta threw her arms around me.
“Thank goodness,” she said. “I’m so glad you’re not hurt, Ally.”
“Yeah, sorry for making you worry,” I replied.
When I hugged Julietta back, the twins threw their arms around me as well.
Sighing, Rosario joined our circle. “Why does pandemonium always break out when you’re around?”
“I’ve noticed that too,” Oreste said.
“It’s inevitable at this point,” Lauris agreed.
Despite their words, both of them joined the group hug as well.
“Ugh,” Custode groaned while getting crushed inside my arms.
That earned a laugh from everyone.
Incidentally, everyone had learned about me being a holy woman from the adventurer’s guild. I’d gone dungeon diving with a slime, a miniature dragon, and the Crown Prince of Gandolfin, after all. No wonder I couldn’t keep my identity secret at this point.