Ch 129.1
Translator: Jiro Editor: Ryunakama
After a bit Milly came down, wearing her usual attire.
She glared at me with the intent to kill, but I just ignored it.
「… Sorry to keep you waiting.」 she said
「We can go now.」
「How should I put it… Didn’t you say that the festival starts at night? But it’s still morning, isn’t it!!」 said Milly, laying her frustration bare, however what she was doing was unreasonable.
「Milly-san, Lydia-san told us yesterday that we’d be preparing starting morning…」
「Eh? … Was that so?」
「It’s you we’re talking about Milly. You end up falling asleep if the conversation drags on. You just pretended to listen yesterday, didn’t you?」
「Uhh…!」
「I’ll tell you about it on the way to Lydia. She’s probably tired of waiting.」
While heading to Lydia I explained to Milly what we had talked about yesterday and about our plans for today.
I also tried calling Silverie using Telepathy, but she didn’t respond.
She’s either busy or just asleep… She did seem to have a hard time mixing in with everyone. Guess I shouldn’t force her to come.
「Sorry we kept you waiting Lydia.」
When I opened the door of the house Lydia was renting I saw a large number of yukatas ready for sale.
Our plan was to take these yukatas to the festival today and sell them in order to make a killing.
In my previous life it had become common knowledge to wear yukatas to a festival.
The reason I had made Milly and the others wear the yukatas these past few days was all with the intention of publicizing them.
We had managed to gather way more attention than I had originally expected and each time I went out with everyone, I would always hear the people in the surrounding wondering where we had gotten them.
After walking within the room filled with yukatas I saw Lydia talking with Adrei.
It seemed like he had noticed me as well as he turned around to smile at me.
I reflexively hid Milly behind my back.
「Oh my everyone’s here. It’s been a while. Thank you for the publicizing of the yukatas.」 said Adrei.
「It was a great idea. I shouldn’t have expected anything less from you Adrei.」 I replied.
For the record the publicization that we had done was Adrei’s proposal.
Apparently if a wealthy merchant such as Adrei got a hold of a new type of clothing, he would publicize it by having someone walk around with it around town.
As expected its effect was spectacular.
And it wasn’t just that. The mass production of the yukatas had also been left to him.
Furthermore, all of the yukatas within the boxes in this room had reached a satisfactory quality.
Good… To think he managed to produce so much in this short amount of time… Nothing less I could expect considering he runs a large scale trading business. He might be a lolicon but his skills are the real deal.
「… So what do you think Lydia-sama?」
「They’re perfect♪ If the opportunity shows itself again I’ll certainly call you.」
「I’m flattered to hear that.」
After Lydia and Adrei exchanged a couple of words they shook hands.
Adrei didn’t forget to smile at Milly who was hiding behind my back and then slowly headed towards the room’s exit.
As he reached the door he politely bowed.
「Well then Lydia-sama, everyone, thank you for the great deal.」
「We’re the one that should be thanking you♪ It was great doing business with you.」 said Lydia as she waved her hand at Adrei as he left.
Then she came and stroked my head as if to try and calm me down.
「Zeph-chi, Ado-san is quite a nice person, isn’t he? He’s a real gentleman.」
He was right, he really was a gentleman. In a lot of ways that is.
「He even took care of that for us.」
「He’s a man that can skillfully analyse whether or not something will turn out profitable. As long as it’s something that will benefit him, he’ll do anything.」
「I’m sure everyone will love it.」 said Lydia excitedly.
Adrei was one of the people in charge of the Heavenly Mages Festival.
It seemed like he had also gotten on board with my other proposal and was willing to help with it as well.
Though he probably has some kind of secret intention for doing it. Well as long as he does his job I’ll feel relieved.
「Either way, we should get to work.」 I urged.
「You’re right.」
We put each of the yukatas in boxes, changed into our yukatas and we went to the stall square. When we got there we noticed that it was full of people.
Everyone was running around restlessly in order to prepare for the festival.
「I reserved a place for us here.」 said Lydia as she guided us through the crowd to a stand which had YUKATA written on it with big letters.
Even before we came there was already a crowd of women gathered before the store.
They had probably seen us wearing them and had immediately rushed here.
「You’re the owner of the store right? When will you open?」
「We’d really love it to be able to wear those at the festival…」
It seems like our publicization went well.
While surrounded in the sea of customers Lydia raised her hands and clapped them loudly, attracting everyone’s attention.
「EVERYONE, GATHER HERE! WE’LL OPEN ANY MINUTE NOW, SO PLEASE LINE UP♪ Kuro-chan you help me organize the customers. Shiru-chan, Milly-chan you’ll be in charge of selling, and you Zeph-chi… You take care of any quarrels that might break out.」
「Understood.」
「Okay! Leave it to us!!」
「I-I’ll do my best…」
After Lydia gave her order everyone got to their positions and only I was left behind.
Didn’t she just try and get rid of me… Well either way, if a quarrel does break out I’ll move, but I don’t think it will happen. After all, we’re in front of the Magician Association’s headquarters. There aren’t any idiots that would start a fight here.
I slowly began walking around the store while eyeing any potential troublemakers.
While looking at the numerous faces that had gathered for the festival I even saw some familiar faces from my previous life.
A man that I fought alongside, an elderly man that often spoke to me, a woman that would always charge right in without thinking… When I saw them looking young, or rather should I say, when they looked like children, it made me smile.
I guess I can’t talk about others though.
「Boy, you’re being a hindrance by standing here.」
I suddenly heard a girl’s voice coming from behind me.
I turned around to see a girl that was even smaller than me.
Aren’t you a kid as well…
Was what I was about to reply, but as soon as I saw her face I stiffened.
A blue jewel was shining on the girl’s forehead.
Her long white hair reached all the way to her feet and from between her hair, a pair of long ears could be seen.
――An elf.
The long ears and the gem were signs of the elf race. Furthermore, the blue gem was given to only those who had lived over a 100 years.
Despite her looking like she’s the same age as Milly, in truth this young girl is an old hag that is over a 100 years old.
She was wearing a foreign white clothing as well as a red hakama.
If I remember correctly this type of clothing was called Mikofuku. But that aside… Isn’t she one of the Five Heavenly Mages?! Wind of Wind Yera Schugel…!
Yera was the only Heavenly Mage that wasn’t of the human race.
Originally the elves were forbidden from interacting with other races, but apparently Yera had fallen in love at first sight with a human man who had gotten lost in the forest, and had then moved to the capital.
Did she come to look at the festival? I never thought that I’d meet her like this.
「My bad…」
「That’s good, I don’t dislike obedient children. And your face… Looking closely you’re just my type. ――Hey girls! Where should I line up?」
「Here.」
Yera’s long white hair and her sleeves fluttered as she lined up at the end of the queue just where Claude had shown her.
Looking at her defenseless like that I cast Scout Scope on her. Or rather I tried. Just as I was about to cast it she turned around as if she had felt something directed at her.
She can feel a spell presence from this far away?! You demon hag.
Still, no matter how skilful she was, due to the crowd she still wasn’t able to differentiate that I had been the one who had cast the spell just now. Yera then gave up and turned around to line up.
… Come to think of it, even in my previous life Yera was still quite interested in anything that came from foreign countries. Guess her wanting a yukata is quite understandable.
Yera was quite the strange one for an elf.
She falls in love with humans, goes out into town, and takes interest in foreign cultures. Most of these were unthinkable for a conservative race such as the elves.
After buying her yukata, Yera disappeared within the crowd.
I don’t get a chance like this every day, I might as well follow her.
Thinking that, I prepared myself to head off when I felt a cold wind blow at my back and turned around.
「Hey, you.」
Standing behind me was Yera that had just now disappeared within the crowd.
My heart rang as I saw Yera looking up at me with a smile, while holding her hands behind her back.
「Fufufu. Did I scare you?」
「… You could say that.」
「I wouldn’t mind it if you had fallen for me and were looking at me because of that, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. What is your name?」 asked Yera with a smile.
However, despite her smile I could still feel the sharpness of her words. Cold shivers ran down my spine.
However, this might have turned out to be a great opportunity.
Yera was one of the Heavenly Mages. The Wind of Wind.
If she were to remember my name, then I could somehow be of help down the line.
… For some reason it seems like she’s taken an interest in me.
「The name’s Zeph.」
「I’m Yera. … Well then Zeph. You appear to be free as well, so how about you accompany me in looking around the area for a bit?」
「Wh… H-Hey!」
Without even waiting for my response Yera grabbed my hand and forcefully dragged me.
I somehow managed to regain my balance and I stood next to her.
「Where do you plan on going?」
「Don’t mind the small stuff. A chance meeting such as this is decreed by destiny. It’s not like you’re not interested in me as well, isn’t that right Zeph? While we’re at it, we might just turn this into a date.」
「… I don’t mind.」
She’s quite the forceful one. Still this might be a good opportunity to hear an interesting story or two. Besides, she’s bound to let her guard around me, since I look like a kid. Still, this is the first time I’ve been found out when using Scout Scope. Even Silverie wasn’t able to catch onto me… It’s either one of Yera’s unique spells or due to the high talent for magic that the elves naturally have.
「To think that I’d get to see a yukata here! The design is great as well. There really is someone here who knows that a yukata is supposed to be worn at festivals.」
「So you know what yukatas are?」
「Fufu. I actually thought of incorporating them in the next festival. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do it in time for this one. I was beaten to the punch it seems.」
It seems like Yera was the one responsible for incorporating the yukata in my past life. That was a close call… If she had made it in time we probably wouldn’t have been able to sell this much.
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