After the cooking contest, I sit in the square and relax by looking around and drinking the sweet fruit juice in the cup I’m holding.
“I knew you could do it!”
“It was so good.”
“You’re the pride of us elves.”
The elves that won are surrounded by people.
In the center, an elf lady that’s usually not very expressive now looks proud, as she’s surrounded by spirits.
“What was that, Lan?”
“Stop being annoying!! I really tried!”
“Stop teasing her, Nirushi. Still, you two really do get along, don’t you?”
Says another best person who stepped in between them.
“I can’t see spirits, but the cooking contest was fun. Maybe I’ll participate next time.”
“I’m sure you can make something wonderful, Miss Phyto.”
When Phyto says she’s considering taking part in the contest next year, people from her village smile broadly.
Phyto is a ‘knight of the miko’, and she’s still seen as someone special in her village, but the distance between her and her people has shortened.
“Our god Doanea is shining as brightly as ever today…!”
“Pikii. Pikiiiiii! (Of course. I shine brighter than spirits!)”
“Hey you. This is a festival to praise spirits.”
Mister Villa and the others are praising Doanea like they always do, and Doanea responds, sounding kind of arrogant. An elf sees this and tells them off.
“What a divine festival this spirit festival is. I must thank god for giving me the opportunity to be here today.”
“…Ilma, calm down.”
Mister Ilma is excited as always, and Miss Shehan is trying to calm him.
A lot of people of different races are here today, enjoying the spirit festival. It’s really nice.
“Gurugururururururuu. (This is fun.)”
“Gurugururururu. (A festival with everyone.)”
“Hihiin. (This tastes good.)”
Say the two gryphons and Scifo, as I look around and think about how fun it is to see everyone enjoying themselves.
Rema and Ruma are happily running around me. They look really cute, so I reach out to pet them, and they stop so I can do it.
Scifo actually brought me food by skillfully carrying it with his mouth.
“Thank you, Scifo.”
I can’t help but smile, because it tastes really good.
I love this spirit festival, and watching everyone chatting and having fun.
Watching everyone have fun and smile makes me smile too.
After taking it easy for a while, it’s time to present songs and dances to the spirits.
Again, no one is more fired up than the elves. It’s really nice how motivated they get for the spirit festival.
I’m a little nervous, because I’m going to sing for the spirits too. I sang during the singing festival too, but thinking about singing in front of people still makes my heart shake a little. Still, I can sing in front of everyone here because I like them so much.
Grandma once said that singing in front of a lot more people is a job too. I think someone would have to be really great to sing in front of so many people.
First, elves sing songs praising spirits. Their beautiful voices feel soothing.
The spirits fly around the singing elves. It must be distracting for the elves, since they can see spirits, but they finish their songs.
Actually, they look proud when spirits start flying around them.
More songs praising the spirits have been made in the past year, because the elves are inspired now that the spirit tree is back and the spirits are all flying around.
Even in this festival, I’m hearing songs I haven’t heard before.
I hear them sing about spirits a lot, so the fact that there are still songs I haven’t heard is both surprising and interesting.
As the population of this village grows, there’s going to be more and more things about it that I don’t know. It’s kind of sad, but then again it’s fun to learn about them like this.
“Another new song.”
“You haven’t heard it either, Gaius?”
“Yes. And it’s incredible how they just keep coming one after the other…”
“Yes. And the way they can concentrate with the spirits flying around is incredible too.”
“Eh? Really?”
Gaius is next to me, hearing the elves sing.
This year they even prepared special outfits for the spirit festival. They’re different from what they were wearing during the cooking contest, and a little flashy.
Just looking at them gets me a little excited. I want to try wearing something like that too.
—Girl and the second spirit festival – Part three
(The miko hears the elves sing.)
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