Capítulo 46: Chapter 44: Happy Birthday to the Saint
It had already been a week since the turtle came to the academy.
I was looking outside my window as I shivered with cold. Winter had settled in, and snow coated everything as far as the eye could see. Snowflakes continued to fall, adding to the white blanket that covered the entire school.
Turtles hibernated when it was too cold, so I'd put up a barrier to isolate the pond.
Barriers are the way to go.
That barrier let everything but the heat out, so it was pretty cost effective. It could hold up for twenty-four hours, so I only needed to touch it up once a day. It was a bit of a pain, yeah, but I'd have to live with it for the time being.
The people of this world disliked winter. There were no modern heating technologies here, so the cold could quite literally kill you. Besides, crops couldn't be harvested at this time of the year, so people could also starve if the reserves weren't enough. During this season, people gathered indoors around the fireplace. Their only distraction was chatting and doing manual labor while they waited for spring to come.
That's how tough winter was supposed to be in this world...and yet, people seemed to be having the time of their lives right under my windows. A bunch of kids were throwing snowballs at one another, while the adults merrily ate potato skewers.
"Lady Ellize, the parade will start soon," Layla said.
I looked out once more. I currently wasn't at the academy. I was in the Bilberrian capital—or, more specifically, inside the royal palace.
The royal capital was only located around ten kilometers away from the academy, so you only needed one hour to reach it by carriage. That honestly made me wonder why they'd bothered building the academy in such a spot. Why not build it inside the royal capital? You'd often get this sort of scenario in games set in some kind of fantastical Middle Ages. An academy would be in some corner of the map, far away from any major city. If you transposed this to Japan, it'd be like building a school on top of a mountain instead of building it in Tokyo.
Come to think of it, there are schools in pretty weird places in other countries.
I remembered watching a documentary where they showed schools that were so remote that students had to go over broken bridges with no banister, cross a river on foot, or walk on the edge of a cliff for hours to commute. Some kids had to quite literally risk their lives to get an education. Compared to them, the future knights of this world had it easy.
If I had to think of an actual reason it'd been built where it was, though, it was probably because the school kept monsters for training purposes. They were locked up and strictly monitored, sure, but it was impossible to guarantee they'd never escape. The citizens of the capital probably didn't want monsters inside their walls.
Besides, the academy was a sensitive location. Knights were a thorn in the witch's side, so it risked being attacked by the witch or her henchmen. I could understand not wanting to needlessly increase the risks of an attack on the capital.
To be honest, the academy's remote location worked in my favor. If it had been inside the capital, the witch would've had a much easier time slipping away. Since there was absolutely nowhere to hide around the academy, the witch had no choice but to remain in the basement.
But I digress.
My point was, I'd left the super remote academy for the Bilberrian capital. Why, you ask? Because I was the guest of honor for today's celebrations: the saint's birth festival, or in other words, my birthday...kind of.
The saint's birthday was also the day a new witch appeared, so it wasn't usually a cause for celebration. For some reason, though, my birthday was special.
You guys really don't need to go out of your way to celebrate my birthday... Besides, I'm a fake. You're all celebrating the wrong person! Are you sure that's okay? Why don't you celebrate the first saint's birthday, or something like that instead of bothering with me?
I wasn't sure anyone knew when Alfrea's birthday was, though. She hadn't been taken into custody at birth since she was the very first saint.
I followed Layla outside the castle and saw the sacred palanquin that'd be carried through the streets in a bit. My job would be to sit on the ridiculously extravagant chair that had been prepared on the palanquin and wave while the knights paraded me all over the city.
What did I do to deserve this?
I had yet to sit on the damn chair, but I already wanted out.
This is so embarrassing, save me.
"Let us go, Saint," one of the knights said, gesturing for me to sit. "All the citizens are gathered in the hope of catching a glimpse of you."
They should've stayed home...
Why did I have to go through something so embarrassing on my birthday? Did they actually hate me in secret? The worst thing was that I had to go through this ordeal every single year.
Who's the idiot who came up with this idea?
I resigned myself to my fate and sat on the chair. A group of soldiers lifted the palanquin and started walking through the streets. There were tons of people around, cheering and munching on their potatoes as they watched me.
Incidentally, one of the knights carrying my palanquin looked exactly like Four-Eyed Pervert... Nah, no way. Probably just a coincidence. That guy was a lost cause and all, but he wouldn't attack a knight and pretend to be him during an important ceremony...right? Right?
Leaving that matter aside, you're probably wondering why everyone and their grandma are eating potatoes, aren't you? Well, that would be my fault.
In this world, plenty of peasants used to die because they hadn't been able to stock up on enough food for the winter. Even I thought that sucked, so I'd started looking for something that could be kept all through winter and feed a lot of people. That was when I'd stumbled on potatoes!
Back then they were used as ornamental plants by nobles, though. Can you believe it? You have potatoes! Eat them, you idiots! You have the perfect vegetable to get through the winter!
Anyway, I'd flown to the south to look for more potatoes and brought them back. I'd borrowed a field and used both earth and water magic to multiply the crops quickly. After that, I'd taught people how to remove the tubers and cook them.
Potatoes had become popular in the blink of an eye. Hell, by now, they'd become a staple. You could find them everywhere!
Thanks to my discovery, famines had almost completely disappeared...and people ate an extra serving of potatoes on my birthday. They also celebrated potatoes alongside me, in a way.
My birthday was now a hybrid mess of a holiday that was used to: one, celebrate me; two, celebrate potatoes; and, three, celebrate the end of the year. You can imagine a weird mix of Germany's Potatofest, Christmas, New Year, and your company's year-end party. They also built snow sculptures, so you could probably throw Hokkaido's Sapporo Snow Festival into the mix as well.
The future generations are sure to get a good laugh when they hear about this in history class.
"Bless us, saint!"
Look at all the entitled people. Yeah, yeah, sure.
I casually sprinkled healing magic over the crowd, healing their wounds and illnesses. The people of this world were idiots, so they'd probably be happy with this much.
"Oh... I can't believe I can see again!"
"My child is standing! I was told he'd never walk on his own!"
"I have hair again! I thought I was doomed to baldness!"
"How wonderful!"
They sounded happy enough.
My job here is done. I'm so done with this... Can't the parade end already?
◇
I'm finally free!
Uuuurgh! It was such a pain!
Having to sit tight when the palanquin swayed with every step was even more tiresome than running around. Everyone was staring at me, so I couldn't do anything but smile either. Even though my back had started feeling itchy halfway through, I'd been forced to bear it and smile. I call this torture!
Anyway, my suffering was finally over. I could finally let loose and have a bit of fun in town. I'd thrown on a wimple that almost entirely covered my eyes so I wouldn't get noticed. Layla was still stuck to my side so she could protect me, but there wasn't anything I could do about that.
Oh yeah, I'd like to mention something in passing. After the parade, one of the knights who was supposed to carry around the palanquin had been found unconscious and naked. The suspect—a strange pervert with glasses—was currently being chased around by a bunch of guards.
Anyway, the city was positively bustling, and snowballs were flying around. I also saw a bunch of people gathered around bonfires to roast potatoes. They added a bit of butter before having them.
I didn't remember teaching them to add butter to potatoes. They must've discovered this godly recipe by themselves!The inhabitants of this world can't be underestimated...
Speaking of—cheese and butter were widely available in the Bilberry Kingdom, even to commoners.
Most farmers had cows, but—contrary to what one may think—it wasn't for meat or milk. In fact, people didn't really drink milk here. I still remembered how surprised Layla had been the first time I'd asked her to bring me some milk so that I could bake.
Nope, their cows were used so the people could enjoy cheese and butter. Currencies didn't circulate much in this country, so commoners often paid their taxes in dairy products.
Quite original, wouldn't you say?
Layla had told me that potatoes had recently started being used to pay taxes as well, but...it can't be true, right? Are these people eating their taxes right now? Is this a joke?
Putting all that aside, I felt like something was missing at this festival. I know! There aren't any stalls!
The people of this world had been suffering from starvation until a few years ago, so it was probably asking for a lot, but still... As far as I was concerned, festivals needed to have tons of stalls! The only one present was being run by the church, and they were just distributing vegetable broth to the people like I'd suggested.
"Lady Ellize! Miss Layla, you're here too."
While we were walking around, we ran into Verner and his merry bunch. They'd apparently decided to come to the capital to have some fun at the festival.
You guys get along so well.
I was happy to see how tight-knit they were, and I was especially glad to see that Four-Eyed Pervert wasn't with them for once.
It was a dumb thing to say, but Verner truly was the main character. He'd been rushing down the musclehead loner route at first, but he'd still managed to make friends along the way.
On the other hand...I didn't have any friends here.
I'm the loner, huh? Wait. Verner and I can be friends too! All good. I'm not a loner anymore.
"Are you going to take part in a snowball battle too?" I asked, bringing up a new topic to keep my mind occupied. Thinking of my lack of friends was kind of depressing.
Snowball battles, as the name suggested, were playful clashes during which people threw snowballs at one another. They're snowball fights, really.
These games had no winners or losers. The whole point was to have fun playing in the snow and—to be honest—I didn't dislike these kinds of stupid games. The thing was, no one would dare to throw anything at me if I participated. I didn't want to kill the mood, so I just watched others play.
"Well, I—"
Fiora didn't let Verner finish his sentence. "We're the only ones participating, right?" she said, looking at her friends intently.
Random dude, Marie, and Aina nodded.
Ah. I know this pattern. You're trying to exclude me, aren't you?
I had enough experience that I could pretty much read their minds:
Fiora: If we let her join us, the game'll be soooo boring. Let's get our stories straight so she'll stay away.
Eterna: We could do that.
Random Dude: No objections here!
Marie: I agree.
Aina: You're so smart, Fiora!
You're so good at deductions, me! Elementary, my dear me!
Still, while I understood why they wanted to leave me out, I felt like it was a bit mean of them to force Verner to hang out with me just so they could enjoy their snowball fight without interruptions. You shouldn't throw your friend under the bus, kids!
Eterna was the only one who seemed displeased at the arrangement. As expected of the true saint! She's such a good girl.
She couldn't win against the majority, though, so she reluctantly agreed.
And so, the group left, leaving Verner alone with me and, uh, Layla. She was staring daggers at us for some reason.
What's up, Layla? Are you cold?
Verner let out an awkward laugh. "They got me. They're weirdly tactful like that sometimes..." he said, smiling at me.
Why would you call the people who ditched you to go play 'tactful'? Wait... Hang on! This world is pretty set on Ellize's route, isn't it?
I had absolutely no interest in dating Verner (I'd thought about it long and hard, but I really had no interest in boys) but maybe he did. If you thought about it like that, it made sense for his friends to create an opportunity for us to be alone together...
Nah, I'm sure I got it wrong. Layla's here too, anyway.
Besides, if I was right, it'd mean Layla couldn't take a hint. She would've left otherwise, and there was no way my little Scotterbrain was that insensitive.
Yeah, no, I must be overthinking this.
In fact, I couldn't believe I'd been pondering whether a dude had a crush on me or not! Gross.
Anyway, Verner and I had been ditched by the others, and there was no changing that. I figured we might as well try to enjoy ourselves.
"I'm not sure I understand why your friends left you here, but would you like to come with us, Verner? We won't be doing much, just looking around the festival..."
The outcasts should band together, right, Ver?
Verner was a good guy, so he readily accepted, "Y-Yes! I'd love to."
Scotterbrain, can't you do something about your expression? You look like you're out to kill someone! Chill, we're at a festival!
So we started walking around with Verner, but it was just as boring! No matter where we went, people were either participating in snowball fights or eating potatoes.
There were also a few snowmen here and there, but they all looked like trash. Back on Earth, I remembered seeing such incredible works of art that I'd wonder how anyone could've crafted these masterpieces out of snow. Here, though? Nothing really caught my eye. I suppose no one really had time to play in the snow and hone their craft. After all, every day was a battle for survival up to a few years ago.
I'm sure they'll do better eventually.
Eventually, we stumbled upon a pretty dense crowd. The people seemed to have gathered around a large snow statue.
Oho! Someone did craft something cool! There are geniuses in every world!
I approached to get a better look, only to find the object at the center of everyone's attention was quite literally a huge statue of me.
Hey! Who's the idiot who made that thing?!
"That's no good... No matter what I do, I can't seem to do her beauty any justice! This isn't it! I'm so sorry, O glorious saint!"
There he is.
Four-Eyed Pervert was currently on his knees, apologizing to the statue.
How come the guards haven't arrested him yet? Do your job, guys!
"This is quite something..."
"It'd be a pity to let it melt... Isn't there any way we could preserve it?"
And there they are.
The guards were busy admiring the statue together with the festivalgoers.
Are you for real?! Why is everyone so weird in this world?! Also... Can I just smash the damn statue?
Seeing myself like that was awkward, to say the least.
"What a splendid piece... I didn't take Mr. Supple for the kind of man who could achieve something like this," Layla said.
"It's very impressive, yes. Although I must say the real Lady Ellize is much prettier," Verner answered.
Verner truly was a dating sim protagonist. No one else could say something like that without batting an eye. Nonetheless, he seemed to suddenly realize how cheesy what he'd just said was, and he looked down with an awkward expression on his face.
Had I been a proper dating sim heroine, I would've blushed and acted bashful, saying something along the lines of, "Y-You can't suddenly say something like that... It's embarrassing..."
Sadly for Verner, though, I wasn't, and I simply went for a noncommittal answer. "I know you're just trying to be polite, but thank you, Verner. I'm flattered."
"I meant it..." he muttered.
I pretended I hadn't heard him.
Look, Verner, it's about time you hopped onto Eterna's route, isn't it?!
"Ah! I almost forgot... Lady Ellize, I made this for you after hearing that your birthday was coming up," Verner said, taking a necklace out of his pocket.
He'd simply attached a green stone—it looked a lot like an emerald—to a chain. If you looked closely enough, you could see that the cut of the stone was amateurish.
Tell me, Verner, what kind of pure maiden are you to give someone a handmade gift for their birthday?
That said, I was impressed he'd managed to buy such a beautiful gem.
"You...made this yourself?" I asked.
"Yes... I wish I was better at it, but..."
In Kuon no Sanka, you could work during your free time to get money. The part-time jobs you could get included trimming grass and weeds around the academy, delivering packages, driving away wild dogs or bears, and other such easy missions. They were all different mini-games, and you'd get more money depending on how well you played. You could then use that money to buy presents for the heroine of your choice or new equipment for the members of your party. On top of that, working part-time improved your stats a little. It wasn't as effective as training, but if you cleared the mini-games without making any mistakes, you'd get almost as many boons as if you trained. It wasn't necessarily that bad of a loss.
Verner had most likely worked diligently instead of training so he could save up enough money to buy this stone for me.
Boy... I can't not accept the fruit of his labor, can I?
A student had used what little money he had to buy me an expensive gem, and he'd even gone through the trouble of making it into a necklace. I'd be a monster if I turned him down. Besides...I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy about it. I hadn't received a birthday gift from a friend since primary school. As Ellize, I'd received plenty of tributes, but that wasn't quite the same.
I should thank him wholeheartedly since he went through all that trouble for my sake.
"Thank you, Verner. I'll treasure it."
How should I say this...? Receiving such a heartfelt present feels...pretty nice.
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