The sounds of cheers and voices scattered the Kingdom as the night was illuminated by white flames made by this large wooden structure in the Market District. In fact, there were similar buildings around each District of the Kingdom. These made it easier to guide around the Kingdom. Besides the Fires, there were also Sky lanterns that floated amongst the sky. Colored Blue and white as they ascended upwards. Most of these things were created from the University, also the manufacturing District as well.
It's been some time since we had our dance lesson, so Today was the first day of the festival. Or what they call it, the day of eating. Not that I minded what the day's uniqueness was to be honest. I found myself strolling around with Lilith in the market district as we looked at the food.
We didn't need to wear our white outfits today as Tera said that it was now just for the dandelion dance, but she did get us some other new clothings as well. Clothing more akin to what we both usually wear.
Lilith wore a more fashionable black dress, and a black ribbon bow that went on her head. A personal choice of hers that she asked Tera, which Tera complied with ease. The color black fits Lilith well, in my opinion. Though it makes us stick out like a sore thumb since everyone else is either wearing blue or white in Prusha. Her shoes were plain black dress ones, along with some black stockings she borrowed from Amelia.
And me? Well I didn't mind what I got, So Tera just chose something similar to Liliths. She knows I love cloaks, so she got me a similar one to Synthia's. A black one she had during her time as an adventurer, its inner lining had a weird look to it. It was like looking into the stars or something. When I asked Tera about it, she said that she got it from a dungeon in Ithryll. It was Magic infused as well, being able to increase fire spells efficiency. Other than that, I just wore a white shirt and black pants for the occasion.
The stands that stood where they usually would were serving food or either hosting a music event. Some of the stands also had games along with them, kinda reminded me of a carnival in my world. Except there's no Ferris wheels…no amusement rides, but it looks like they kept the bottle toss game.
"Kota! Look, There's a cat person thingy making Pork!" Lilith ran to a stand, pointing at the person. The cat person she was talking about was actually…a cat person. A human face with the features of a cat, this one in particular had green eyes and a tiger-like pattern for its orange and White fur. They looked at Lilith with a Tinge of annoyance as they Roasted a pig on an open flame.
"Cat person thingy?" They spoke. "I come from the south continent, young lady."
"Don't care, how much for the pork!" Lilith bluntly said with a smile. I should probably step in.
"Ah, sorry bout that!" I brushed next to her, moving her aside. "She's just hungry."
The cat person looked at her with distaste before sighing. I also realized that this cat stood at almost six feet, which I found very interesting. They then glanced at me with a more friendly look. "Well since you're much more respectful, I can give you a slice of this pork. It's ten rubees a piece."
Oh, you know I figured out what these things are called. If I recall from a book I read, they come from the Gradon Tribe in the south. Maybe it's better to lconfirm with the cat person.
"Yeah, I'll take four slices. Also, Your race is called…Gradon, right?"
The cat person nodded, looking quite appreciative of my question. He began to slice off the side of the pig with a knife as he spoke. "Ah, correct. Our kind are called Gradon. Lots of us are settled in Ithryll, I moved here for the magic production and food." He then put the slices of meat onto a stick, jabbing them onto it. "Alright, forty rubees."
Grabbing a hold of my pouch, I tossed forty rubees. As I did that Lilith quickly grabbed the slices of pork from the Gradon's hand, looking ecstatic. Her eyes glittered as she instantly grabbed a piece from the stick and ripped it off, munching on it.
"No formality with that girl…Is she related to you?" The Gradon asked.
"Ah…No. She's someone close to me though."
The Gradon smirked, he probably figured out what I was trying to say. I didn't want to make Lilith embarrassed in front of this cat person, so I opted to just say that.
"I see. Well, keep watch of her."
"Oh, I will. She usually runs off, so I should probably do that right-" I turned to where Lilith was and realized that she had disappeared already. "-now…" How the fuck?
"The Gradon pointed down the road. "She blasted down that way. Try to keep her in one place."
"Already thought of that! Thank you!" I waved at the Gradon and went looking for Lilith. I wish kale or Tera were here to help, but they decided to have their own adventures during the festival. They said they wanted to visit some bars in the Kingdom and have some alone time, so most of this day was just going to be me.
I strolled down the road in the market district that was filled with people of all kinds. Eldesche people, Gradon people, humans and I even spotted a Minotaur looking fellow. I haven't really noticed the diversity in the university though, it was mostly just human and some elves.
I found myself at another stand, an Eldesche woman who was selling some drinks. The painting she had for her stand had a pinkish looking drink that had a leaf on top of it. Kinda looked like a slushie of sorts. The Reptilian woman looked at me with interest, Eldesche woman shared more features of a human female than what I thought they'd have. A slim figure with a sizable chest area and quite tall, I'd say taller than of the males in their race.
"Boy, do you want a sample?" She said in an accent that reminded me of an Australian. "I'll give you a taste before you get on buying it." Her reptilian eyes blinked at me.
"Ah sure, hey have you seen a silver haired girl run by?" I asked as she poured some of the pinkish liquid into a small cup.
"Yep, pass by running around." She then slid the small cup to me. "Here, enjoy this!"
I held the small cup in my hand, looking at the pinkish liquid wobble around inside. I've had my fair share of eating and drinking things in this world, and most of the time it ended up tasting bland or bitter. So I didn't really have high hopes for this drink. I took a whiff of it, smelling its sweet aroma which reminded me of cotton candy for some odd reason. I looked back at the eldesche woman who eyed me before I shrugged and drank the drink.
…Holy shit, this is good. It's like I'm drinking strawberry milk. My nose told me the wrong damn thing! I hastily glugged down what was in the small cup and slid it back to the Lady. What the hell was in this drink? It's warm and sweet, god this is amazing to drink!
"…I would like to buy some…" I offered, hands folded onto each other.
"Forty for a whole jug."
"Deal." I grabbed my pouch again and tossed some rubees onto the table she had. So glad that kale gave me plenty of rubees.
The reptilian woman hummed a tune as she poured from a large jug into a somewhat smaller jug. She then pushed that jug towards me, which I happily took. Within a few moments, I was chugging this down too. Something about this drink was addicting!
"Hmm…" The reptilian woman looked at me in awe as I drank. "Never seen anyone that feverish for our milk."
…I pulled the jug away from myself, a little bit of this pink drink traced around my mouth.
What'd she say?
"Y-your milk?" I stumbled on my words, I found it hard to now swallow what was already in my mouth. But now really looking into how it tastes and feels, it did remind me of milk now….Oh no…
"Yes, eldesche women create milk like any other race. Though ours is quite special when drunk by others that are not of our kind. It has a unique taste to them that they quite enjoy. Something you are tasting right now…" The reptilian woman explained. "Mmm, Most pastels and cakes here use our milk. It's quite a hassle for us to produce it." She sighed.
I tried to think about what was being said to me. The fact that I was drinking milk from this woman that she most likely just milked from herself recently! What kind of weird shit is this?
Although, it was delicious…Hm, I think I'm overthinking this. Let's just say this is like cow milk. A very sweet and delicious cow milk.
"Ah…Great. It's wonderful…"
"Glad you enjoyed it. Now you were talking about a silver haired girl?" The reptilian woman pointed down the road. "As I said, she was running by. Went down that way towards the big ol fire."
I looked down the road to see a big burning structure. Its white flames made it quite noticeable, maybe Lilith was just interested in fire? Actually, that seems more like a danger to let her near fire. Wait, is it? If she's half dragon, wouldn't that make her have some resistance to fire? Ah, stop proposing questions that would lead to more dangerous things!
Suddenly, a hand gripped my shoulders. It was probably Kale who wanted to hide from Tera. I wouldn't want to see a drunk Tera either…actually I don't want to see a drunk Kale either.
"Hehe…heheheHAHAHA!" The person that grabbed me started to laugh, like a psychotic. "Well look who we have here! If it isn't Kota Bwahaha!"
I slowly turned to the person who was laughing, the laugh now too familiar to me. A man's laugh that filled the trip to Prusha with excitement and adventure. As I fully turned towards the man, I found myself still looking high up in the air. The tall looking man wore a white vest, his shiny bald head glistened. The sunglasses he wore blocked his eyes but not his smile as he went in for a bear hug.
"D-Derrick?" I managed to say before he began to crush me with his huge arms. His arms wrapped around me as he lifted me.
"BWAHAHA, look at how much you've grown in the past month! Edward, look who I found!"
"We are still in trouble here, Derrick…" a ushanka wearing man peering behind Derrick. Patches of blonde hair still showed under his hat. His blue sh pat eyes looked at me before he gave a gentle wave. "Kota."
"Ah-E-Edward!" I said muffled, the pressure from Derrick's hug squeezed me like hell. "Y-you can let go, Derrick!"
"E-Edward!" I heard Derrick choke out. It was like he was doing a fake cry when he did it. "Look at him! H-he's even for a new outfit!" He peered down at me. "W-where Lilith? You didn't kill her or anything, right?"
"What the hell are you on about?" I blurted out. "I'm trying to find her right now!" I tried my hardest to wiggle out of the big man's arms. "Why are you guys here? Wait, is Gerald and Synthia here too?"
Derrick finally let go of me, letting me fall as he shook his head. "Your father and mother? Well I insisted they'd come, but I'm sure the letter given to you already gave you a heads up. Your mother is holding a baby right now." He began to chuckle. "BWAHAHA, you should've seen Gerald's face when I almost lifted her out of the house to come with us!"
"…horrifying." Edward chirped in. Probably talking about what he saw when it happened.
"Oh, so then it's just you two?" I asked curiously as I stumbled back to my feet.
"Oh boo! The brat would've been happy if it was just you two! Well suck for him!" A voice came from behind Derrick's legs. I was curious as a small woman slowly walked from behind his legs. A black haired Dwarf looked at me with annoyance. "You got me!" She gave me a sly smile as she then began to circle me.
"…Mary." Edward said. Pointing at her.
"So, where is the gal? Lose her? Typical if you're Gerald's kid!" She taunted me. Derrick and Edward watched in amusement as she did this. "What, you break her heart or something?"
Ah, Mary from the hotel in Grasshorn…Damn, I hate her. Never met anyone be hostile just because of Gerald, but she just has an anger towards him that she projects on me.
"Mary!" Another voice barked. It was a much more soft voice that spoke, a motherly tone to it. A person brushed past Edward and some people on the side. A silver haired woman with green eyes approached me and Mary. The silver haired woman grabbed Mary by her hair and held her in place. "Stop toying with him! How's that the first thing you say to him?" She stood tall, almost like Tera and she wore a white outfit with a brown vest. The skirt of her outfit floated behind her.
I kept staring at her, for a long time. She gave Mary to Derrick, which Derrick decided it'd be fun to put her on his shoulder. The way she moved reminded me very much of Lilith, there was a curious aspect to her walking as if she was always on her toes. Her gaze gave a serious tone to her though, something that Lilith has as well. But once she got closer, her eyes relaxed and she gave me a smile.
"Kota. I hope you remember me. Sorry that your parents couldn't come." I kept on staring at her as she spoke. " Erm…Here I have this letter from them to you." Quickly, she grabbed an envelope from her vest and took it out. As she held it to me, she gave me a confused look. "Where is Lilith?"
"That's what I was trying to do before you guys came… Why are you guys here?" I gave them all a confused look as I tried to open the Envelope.
"I think it's obvious, dumbo!" Mary said. "Lucian festival! Right, Derrick?" Mary rubbed her hands All over Derrick's bald head.
"Bwahaha! Of course, though…You should read that letter, kota." Derrick said. "It's their most recent one."
Hm, what could they say to me about this? Maybe it's about my soon to be sibling inside of synthia. How many months is Synthia in? Three, four months? Still a long way to go…Maybe this will be about something else?
I tore the envelope open and pulled the letter out, and began to read.