Free Web NovelChapter 216: Seven Stars Cultural Festival (2)
The day of the Seven Stars Cultural Festival had finally arrived. Even though the Hero Academy wasn’t an ordinary educational institution but one meant to cultivate the future protectors of the continent and humanity, the atmosphere across campus was undeniably festive.
Vendors and merchants from outside were already preparing their stalls from early morning. Colorful banners aimed at loosening the purse strings of excited cadet heroes fluttered everywhere.
While participation in the festival was always low, the academy still displayed entries for the poetry contest, art contest, and other small exhibitions.
Even cadets who didn’t particularly care for festivals couldn’t help but ponder whether something special was happening today as the warm buzz of excitement filled the academy.
“Phew.”
In my previous life, I would have been one of those cadets who didn’t care about festivals. I would shrug at the overly excited faces of others and think about what everyone was so worked up about while quietly feeling a little jealous. But things were very different now. Unlike back then, when I had no one to enjoy the festival with, this time I had many.
After the topic of the Seven Stars Cultural Festival came up that night, the girls had a heated discussion on how we could all enjoy it together. After much arguing, the final schedule was decided.
Who am I seeing first again? Right, it’s Laneige.
From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., I would spend two hours each with Laneige, Iris, Yurina, and Professor Baldwin. Then, after 6 p.m., everyone would gather on the rooftop of the party house and watch the fireworks—the highlight of the festival.
It was an insane Casanova timetable. Naturally, I had zero say in creating this disastrous schedule. But honestly, since I had already managed to end up with multiple lovers, I didn’t really have the right to complain.
At least, they had all managed to somewhat agree on this without any major conflict. It was miraculous, even. As for the most important part, what to do during the heart-shaped firework, opinions were still split, but we agreed to deal with that when the moment came.
I should get going, I thought.
There was still plenty of time before our 10 a.m. meeting, but knowing Laneige’s personality, I guessed she was very likely already there waiting. However, when I arrived at our meeting spot, she wasn’t there.
“Hm?”
It was odd. Laneige would normally show up ridiculously early.
“Well, it’s still quite a bit before our meeting time,” I muttered.
I was about to sit on a bench to wait when a faint rustling came from behind. “Hm?”
I turned my head and saw Laneige crouched inside a thicket of bushes. “What are you doing there?”
She jumped like a capybara caught in a trap. “Eek!”
Her violet hair was messily decorated with twigs and leaves, like a poorly decorated tree. She asked, “D-Dale, you’re here?”
“What were you doing hiding in there?”
Laneige fidgeted like a nervous worm. “A-ah, well, I-I was... embarrassed.”
“Embarrassed about what?” frёewebnoѵēl.com
“M-my clothes, a-and my hair, and stuff.”
Now that she mentioned it, I noticed she had pinned up the bangs she usually let hang low enough to cover her eyes. Moreover, instead of her usual loose, robe-like outfits, she was wearing something much more tight-fitting and bolder than usual.
“I know it doesn’t really suit me, but Sophia kept insisting, asking if I was really going out dressed normally, so I...”
“It suits you just fine.”
“H-huh? Really?”
“Yeah. You look much better than usual.”
Besides her clothes, simply lifting her bangs gave her a lively and cute look, which was totally different from her usual gloomy vibe. It was refreshing, honestly.
Laneige beamed. “Hehe. Thank goodness.”
“You should keep your bangs up more often,” I replied.
“T-that’s... N-no, I can’t.”
“Why not?”
The excitement from seconds earlier deflated instantly, and she wilted like a popped balloon. “It’s, um, embarrassing.”
I chuckled and nodded. “Then how about at least when it’s just the two of us?”
“T-that...” She shyly nodded. “I’ll think about it.”
I held out my hand toward her. “Alright, shall we get going then?”
She stared at my hand, frozen. “Ah!”
“What?”
“N-nothing.” With a soft smile, Laneige reached out and took it. “Your hand is warm, Dale.”
“Well, I do have the Primordial Flame inside my body.”
“T-that’s not why!” Flustered, she tugged on my hand, then brought it to her cheek with a bright smile. “Even without that Primordial Flame, you’d still be warm, Dale.”
If the me from my previous life saw this scene, he would probably cough up blood while begging me to stop being so cringy. Honestly, I would kind of agree.
“Let’s go,” I said.
“O-okay!”
But what if we were cheesy? If we were happy, that was all that mattered.
I looked around. “It really is the festival. It’s not even 10 a.m. yet, and there are already so many people.”
“Y-yeah.”
We reached the academy’s central plaza hand in hand. Despite the early hour, food stalls and booths were swarming with cadet heroes. Among the crowd, one eye-catching figure stood out.
“Professor Kane?” I muttered.
Professor Kane stood beside a street stall, wearing possibly the most miserable expression in the world.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” he replied.
“Guarding the stalls?” I said, teasing him.
“Obviously. Can’t you see me standing here?”
Upon hearing his response, I realized he was serious about it. “Ah!”
It was because during the last Sealing Festival, outside merchants had turned into demonic monsters and caused chaos.
He sighed. “Hah. Thanks to this, I can’t even meet up with Bianca.”
“That sounds rough.”
He clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Forget it. This is part of my job as a professor anyway.”
“Nothing suspicious so far?”
His sharp eyes scanned each of the visiting merchants. “No one looks shady at the moment. But still, after what happened recently in Valhalla City, I can’t help feeling on edge.”
“Something happened again?” I asked.
“A crime syndicate operating in Valhalla City was wiped out overnight. And it wasn’t a small one. It was fairly large, actually.”
A crime syndicate, huh.
He continued, “Those bastards were kidnapping kids and selling them, so I don’t care that they’re dead. The problem is who wiped them out.”
“What’s the issue?”
“According to the sole survivor, the one who did it looked to be about ten years old.”
“A child?”
A kid, around ten, annihilated an entire major criminal organization?
“Well, we can’t take it as solid intel. The survivor’s mind was so broken he could hardly speak coherently.”
I kept quiet, pondering what I had just heard.
Professor Kane then waved his hand dismissively, as if shooing away a fly. “Anyway, leave this side to us. By the way, who’s the cadet next to you? I’ve never seen her before.”
“Huh? Didn’t you say you knew Laneige before?” I replied.
Laneige, who had been hiding behind my back, timidly stepped forward and bowed her head. “H-hello.”
“Laneige? Laneige Maram, you said?” Professor Kane’s jaw dropped in shock. “N-no. This isn’t the face I remember at all.”
He stared at Laneige, stunned by her dressed-up appearance. “I recall her having a gloomy, shadowy impression. But she looks actually incredibly beautiful.”
“Dale, Professor Kane seems like a very nice person,” Laneige said shyly.
The professor turned to me. “But weren’t you on good terms with Iris?”
“Dale, I think Professor Kane has weak eyes. Should I pluck them out?” Laneige said with a hint of anger.
“Anyway, you two look good together,” he added.
“Dale, Professor Kane is such a wise and respectable teacher. I admire him.”
Professor Kane’s reputation rose and crashed in real time, depending on which words came out of his mouth. Sensing that letting this conversation continue would only lead to disaster, I quickly grabbed Laneige’s hand and pulled her away.
Apparently, Professor Kane’s comment hit her right in the heart. Laneige leaned against me, smiling brightly. “Hehehe. He said we look good together.”
Subtly hugging my arm, she murmured, “S-so many people.”
I swallowed a laugh and enjoyed the festival with her.
“Mmm. Something smells delicious. Dale, wanna go try some?
“Dale! That stuffed toy kind of looks like you!
“Oh! Look there, Dale. For just twenty gold, they’ll draw a portrait of you on the spot! L-let’s get ours done too!
“Hehehe. Dale, your arm is warm. I want to stay like this forever.”
“Ah! It’s already almost noon.”
They said time flew by when one had fun. Before I knew it, two hours had slipped by while I wandered the festival with Laneige.
Turning to me, Laneige asked, “Who’s next?”
“I’m meeting Iris.”
Laneige’s shoulders drooped, her expression wilting like a flower abandoned in the desert. “O-oh!”
Unable to help myself, I pulled her into an embrace.
“H-hyah?”
No one was around for now.
After confirming our surroundings, I pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.
“Mmph!”
“D-Dale...”
“I’ll see you at the party house roof tonight.”
Her drooping expression bloomed back into a radiant smile. “Hehehe. Okay! I’ll be waiting!”
Suddenly, she said, “U-um, Dale.”
“Yeah?”
Still clutching my shirt collar, she hesitated before speaking. “Tonight, will you kiss me again? W-when the, uh, the heart-shaped firework goes off.”
I hesitated to answer her. “Well...”
I hadn’t yet decided who to kiss during that moment. Obviously, I couldn’t kiss multiple people during the split second the firework burst.
Just imagining it was so ridiculous that I almost laughed. Simultaneously? Yeah, absolutely not.
Laneige raised her hand like a student with the answer. “I-I have a good idea!”
“Oh? What is it?”
She smiled shyly. “You know. You have the Blessing of Resurrection, right? So I thought, maybe if we split you into multiple Dales just for that moment, wouldn’t that solve everything?”
I was baffled. Laneige, what on earth are you even suggesting?
