The Great One's Journey

Festival

The New Leaf Festival was a yearly holiday celebrated not just in all of the Arcanus Territory, but also the Allied Cities of Remnant. It was created in respect for the leader of the late Council of Heroes, Julius Fall. While it was mainly the Cities' celebration, the reason the Arcanus Territory also celebrated was because this was the city where the Hero King Julius' legend started. It was said that this place was previously a slavers' hideout that was annihilated by the king. The ones liberated by the hero began to tell tales about his bravery, while some of the younger ones remained with him to learn of his ways. The hero Julius, who considered all of them as his own children, taught them all great power and responsibility. When they grew up, they also became heroes of their own. Because of this, he decided to form an organization named the Council of Heroes. Julius claimed that he was the branch of the tree, and the heroes after him were the leaves that grew on his branch. Hence, the name New Leaf Festival.

That was what Jack explained to Rimuru. At first, the boy said he wanted to sleep through the festival. When asked why, the boy's reason was that the festival was usually celebrated by parents and their children. In other words, families and the like. Many games and entertainment needed one to have either a parent or an offspring to participate. It didn't take a genius to figure out what his disciple felt about all of this. The godly demon couldn't stand to see the boy's shoulders sag as he dragged his feet into the inn's room, so he decided to do the obvious thing.

Right now, the both of them were walking side to side on the road, with the moonlight shining from above them and the lights from stalls shining from the side. Jack was holding onto his hand tightly, his smile matching the shine of the moon. The boy was wearing a black yukata with white trim, while he was wearing a black one with golden flower decor. While he liked crafting things on his own, tonight was a special occasion. Rimuru had conjured these with Ciel's help.

They went from stand to stand, playing, buying souvenirs, and eating delicious food. Jack felt like this was one of the best moments in his life. Many people other than him felt the same. One of which was a scamming vendor of a rigged game. The man was having the time of his life. Getting Folde coins while seeing children cry was just full bliss for a still single money earner. He couldn't imagine having a family like these fools. He thought that they could've earned much more money if they didn't start a relationship. He snorted, sneering at them in his heart.

The game the man rigged was one that needed the player to knock down a wall of upturned wooden cups stacked on top of each other with a rock. The problem was that the man had imbued these cups with sticking and gravity magic so that even if the ball hit, the cups wouldn't fall. He hid this scam by adding many cups to make it seem that they were weighing down on each other.

As the man was counting his coins with his hands below the stall, he saw a boy with tanned skin and black hair walk to him. He was accompanied by someone even the merchant thought to be the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. He shook his head. No, don't get distracted by women. He hardened his heart and tried to unattract himself to her. He thought to himself that the woman was too flat for his taste anyway.

The man did his best to offer a friendly smile to them and asked, "Do you want to try out my game? We have prizes!"

He pointed at the toys and food littered on his prize table. He looked back to see both the boy and the woman eyeing only the food.

He continued, "You can try it for only a few Foldes! What do you say?"

The boy looked at the woman who the vendor presumed to be the mother with bright eyes. The woman chuckled and patted his head before she turned to the scammer and said, "We'll try them."

She gave him the right amount for three tries. The boy quickly got into a good throwing stance, and within almost an instant the rock flew to the wall of cups. Just when they thought it would hit, the ball bounced off of the cups.