บท 49: Day of the Bazaar
Thanks to Julia's magic, the time grueling harvest day was eased up. They even managed to finish up by the time noon came.
"Whew, that was a lot of work..." Julia is now exhausted as she almost runs out of mana using her magic to harvest all of the vegetables that are ready to be harvested that way."
"That is why I told you to just manually harvest all of the fruits and vegetables instead of just using your magic power to fully automate the harvesting process, you know?"
"Well, it is faster this way. And it's not like I won't recover the lost mana after a bit of rest. This is a good way of practicing my magic anyway so this is fine," Julia smiled as she drank water from the water bottle they carried in case they got thirsty.
"Huh, so that's how it is? Well, I am not knowledgeable about magic and I can't use it, so guess I can only see things from my perspective and never understand how it works. Still, it looks very exhausting for you to do all of the job just like that."
"It's a bit exhausting but it is worth it. No worries, Sis. The most important thing is that we are done and all we need to do is relax and wait for tomorrow to come. You shouldn't stress yourself alright? You got this."
Julia's little cheer for her made Elaina happy. "You are right. I always got it. And I will make sure that even if I don't win, I will still show that I am not someone who they should trifle with. I am going to ensure I am the black dog of this festival."
The two chuckled as they returned home. The final preparations are done, now they will have to just wait for the event to come forth. Of course, Elaina has no idea what will be the outcome. But she can only see for herself how it is done. She has already done all of what she can do right now. All she had to do was execute the process and try to win.
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...
...
In just a snap, another day has passed by and the festival day has arrived. The town and the city are all lively and a parade is happening on the streets. The stores are also quite plenty as well, selling a variety of items that many people might be interested in buying.
Elaina and Julia are now moving in the streets, pulling the cart slowly as they also look around the stalls that they pass by. The two are dressed up like farmers, with Elaina wearing her usual work clothes while also wearing her farm hat and scarf to cover the lower half of her face. It is a good way to cover her face and stop anyone from knowing her. After all, she does not want to be discovered by people who are working for the Emperor.
"Wow, they are not kidding when they say this is a Harvest Festival. Look at all of the fruits and vegetables being sold on the side! There are even some stores that are selling food made from vegetables and fruits as well!" Julia expressed her interest in the storefronts as they passed by.
"Isn't it the same back when we were in the Luminiera Kingdom?" Elaina asked, not seeing the difference between the harvest festival in Luminiera Kingdom and Darcero Kingdom's customs.
"As far as I have seen so far, all of the things that are being done in the Luminiera Kingdom are done much better here. I don't see any noble people running the stalls here and there and even if they are, it seems that they are helping their workers as well. Most of the store owners here are producing their products themselves instead of other people doing the business themselves. I can see the balance here."
Elaina looked at the stalls and Julia was indeed right. What she is seeing is what was not being done back in the Luminiera Kingdom. After all, one of the policies there is that the common people should be the customers only while the nobles will be the ones who will run the stores. They are also the one who purchases things from the farmers as well, which makes the Harvest Festival between the two drastically different.
There are indeed some noble people, but they are part of the customers enjoying the products that are being sold by the common people. In short, common people and noble people coexist and none of them look down on one another because of the difference in status. Compared to how condescending most people are in Luminiera Kingdom, this is a breath of fresh air for Elaina to see how this is happening.
"Not only that Sis, the church's influence seems to be absent here as well. You don't see people serving the church patrolling here and there. Most of the guards here are soldiers serving the common folk or the garrison," Julia added.
Elaina looked around and like what Julia pointed out, the streets are not deploying any paladins to act as guards. Compared to Luminiera Kingdom, there are no signs that the church has power here. They are absent and are not even part of the people working on the festival's security.
"Looks like it is true that the church has little to no power here in the Darcero Kingdom," Elaina sighed in relief knowing this matter. She doesn't want to risk seeing a person serving the church point out that she is pregnant with twins.
"We still needed to be careful as those guys might just be lurking around Sis. I know how persistent they are so be careful always, Sis."
Elaina nodded. Even with them not present around, there will always be some of them lurking with the people, trying to spread their influence. The two trudge to the streets while pulling the cart to reach the area where the stalls for the Bazaar are being held.
Arriving at the stand, they saw Marigold with a few people already setting up the stalls nearby. While she was directing the people where they should set up, she saw Elaina and Julia coming nearby.
"Oh, you guys are finally here! Come, this is where you will be putting your goods."
Elaina was surprised since she thought it would be an individual stall compared to their stall right now which is composed of other farmers as well.
"So it's not just a singular stall for us?" Elaina asked as they put their goods down the cart one by one.
"It seems the judgment process has been changed this time around. Since many towns have been joining around this time, the judging committee decided that they would judge the winners by team. If the farmer participating is from a town, they will be categorized to that town and any subsequent farmers who join that are on the same town will be added to that team. And since the participants seem to be equal this time around from town to town, this is how they decided it would be done right now. So this stall will be worked on, not only by you, but your fellow farmers as well.
Elaina's eyes lit up. She will not only be the one who will be managing the stall but she will be teaming up with other farmers in the town as well. This means that it is not only up to her to compete this time around.
The farmers looked at Elaina and they casually greeted her while they continued to decorate the stall.
"Now, since you are here, let's begin decorating, shall we? The sooner we are done, the faster we can relax and wait for the customers to flock."
Elaina looked around the stalls and frowned. Although the stalls looked great, it seems that it is lacking the impact that some stalls are showing so far. Their stalls are just simple...too simple in fact.
"Mayor, can I ask for permission?" Elaina asked.
"Huh? Permission? For what?" Marigold was surprised.
"Permission to take over the decorating leadership. I have a good idea we can use to make the judges have a good impression with our stall."
Marigold was confused at first. But seeing the determined look on Elaina's face, she is somehow convinced.
"Hmm, if you say you can make this stall a lot more flashier than how it is right now, then go ahead and do it. I am not suited in decorating and managing a stall so if you think you are good at doing it, then go ahead and take the reigns. I will talk to the other farmers about this matter and see if they agree for you to do it."
"Just let me be clear about this. All the farmers in this stall will count as one win if this stall is selected, yes?" Elaina asked.
"Yes. That's how the judging process was being said so," Marigold confirmed.
"Then, there's nothing more I can say. I will do my best to make our stall win."
Elaina's management skills seem to be itching to once again take over. After all, Elaina has never lost in terms of managerial skills. She is confident about it. At first, she thought it would be impossible to take the first place with just her so she is fine to lose, however, now that she is teaming up with other farmers, this is now going to be different.
"With me right here, I will ensure that we will win on this one."
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