186 - Harvest Festival and the Wemishuvara Contest 2
"...doesn't a walk-in entry cause problems for everynyan?"
Taking over the conversation with the man who had approached Kalisa, who had displayed her shyness, I spoke as her master. From behind me, where I shielded Kalisa, I could feel her gaze directed at the man, brimming with wariness.
"Well, actually, it's the opposite. Since it's not a walk-in, we'd rather be in trouble if you don't enter."
According to the man, whose breathing had finally steadied, the entrants for this beauty contest were selected by recommendation. After the Recollection Festival, people in the city write the names of those they think are beautiful on slips of paper and put them in a box placed in the square. It's possible to use relatives and acquaintances to organize votes if you want to enter the beauty contest, but gathering a certain number of votes is difficult with just the number of relatives you have, and apparently there are surprisingly few people who actually do it since you would just feel miserable from the gap between yourself and the officially selected entrants.
"Then that means Kalisa got votes from all sorts of people?"
"A maid of the black-haired little girl, a red-haired maid, a maid with a bi... a large-chested little girl in her care. There's no name, but we received many votes suggesting it's the same person."
It seemed they had been searching for Kalisa based on sightings, though no one knew her name or where she lived. The man, having finished his explanation, let out a relieved breath, saying he never expected to find Kalisa, whom they could not find anywhere in the city, right at the square on the day itself.
"Let me reintroduce myself properly. Would you please consider entering this year's Wemishuvara Contest?"
"I decline."
The man, having caught his breath, straightened his posture and asked Kalisa again to enter, but her answer remained unchanged. Without a moment's hesitation, she cut down his offer.
...I have seen this before, at the Spring Flower Festival. It is just like when Pearl got rejected.
It was a clean slash back then too. The reason was something like "workplace romance only causes future trouble." Which means she is probably declining this time for a similar reason.
"D-don't say that. It's the Wemishuvara Contest, you know? The one that decides the most beautiful woman in the city..."
"I am working right now."
The man was trying somehow to make Kalisa nod in agreement, but Kalisa gave him no opening. Having once decided to decline, Kalisa apparently judged it not worth reconsidering. Without even letting the man finish speaking, whatever he said, she brushed him off with "I decline" or "I am working."
"...W-well, wouldn't you be proud too, young lady, if your own maid could enter the Wemishuvara Contest?"
...Ah, he is coming to me now.
Having given up on persuading Kalisa, the man's gaze came down to me, her master. Perhaps he thought that if she was declining on the grounds of work, making it part of her work would leave her unable to refuse.
...You are naive, mister.
"Our Kalisa is an important charge deshu, so if I let her enter the Wemishuvara Contest and get weird bugs attracted to her, that would be troubling mashu."
Kalisa, who had gathered a certain number of votes even without her name being known. It was better to eliminate the risk of her name and workplace becoming known to the city's men by letting her enter some random beauty contest.
"If Kalisa said she wanted to enter, I would let her deshu, but since Kalisa is declining, it is a decline deshu."
Puffing out my flat chest, I formally declined the man as Kalisa's master. When I declared that our Kalisa was under my protection, the man finally seemed to give up.
Seeing off the departing man, we moved from the tent to the square where the audience seating was, where Petrona and the others had come out. Finding a place where everyone could sit side by side, we sat down and watched the beauty contest.
Due to the nature of entrants being selected by recommendation, every contestant in this beauty contest was a high-level beauty. Not only their appearance, but the right places stuck out and the places that should be tucked in were tucked in. Kalisa had also been asked to enter, but surely if she had entered, she would have lost the championship due to the imbalance of her chest. Kalisa is a beautiful girl with a cute face and big breasts, but considering balance, her chest is not just a little too big. It is far too large.
"Oh? Isn't that the woman who played the goddess Itsurateru in this year's Recollection Festival?"
In my daily sphere of life, which only went back and forth between the Menhishumi Church and the residence, I had no way of making acquaintances among beautiful women, but there was one beauty I recognized. The beauty with orange-tinged red hair was the woman who had dressed as the goddess Itsurateru and participated in the summer Recollection Festival play.
"The winner of the Wemishuvara Contest goes on to play the role of the goddess Itsurateru in the Recollection Festival, so it is not strange that you remember her, Tina-sama."
According to Nils's explanation, she had apparently won this contest two years in a row. And judging by the atmosphere of the venue, this year's victory would surely be hers as well. All of them were carefully selected beauties, but she alone stood out from the rest. Perhaps it was her presence. If told to choose one from among them, she was the one toward whom everyone's eyes naturally turned.
"It is her victory again this year."
The man who had called out to Kalisa before the contest began stood next to the red-haired woman, holding a bouquet. The woman to whom that bouquet was given was the contest's winner.
...Too bad for Petrona's cousin.
Though she missed out on the victory, just being able to enter this contest meant she was recognized as a chosen beauty. Considering that, just being able to enter was an honor in itself.
...Did Kalisa actually want to enter, I wonder?
Feeling a little guilty, I turned to look back at Kalisa standing behind me. When our eyes met, Kalisa tilted her head curiously.
...Ah, I did not need to worry about that. Her face was not gazing at the stage with longing.
As if the stage were a different world, one completely unconnected to her, Kalisa's eyes held no particular emotion. More than likely, to Kalisa, the beauty contest was someone else's affair, nothing but a disaster that had fallen from the sky. When I thought about it, it might have been crueler to tell the shy Kalisa to go up on stage alone.
...Though I am a little disappointed.
After peeking at the beauty contest, we proceeded down the central street, looking at the parade floats and teasing traveling performers showcasing their acts. Taking a side road off the central street, there was my destination. The Three Crows Tavern.
"Plate cakes! As many as one silver coin can buy, pleashu!"
"Are you trying to buy them all up!?"
When I cheerfully called out to the owner grilling plate cakes at the shop front, he cheerfully shot back. Was a silver coin's worth too much, after all?
...But they are delicious, plate cakes.
The plate cakes, about a size smaller than the dorayaki from my past life, meant even a child like me could eat two. If so, I would need even more to bring back as souvenirs for the adults like Leonardo.
...After all, is buying as much as a silver coin can buy not just fine?
As I was thinking about such things, Mirshe came out from the back of the shop. Usually she calls me "Tina big sister," but during work hours being called "Guest" felt a little ticklish.
"Guest, how many do you need, and for whom?"
"Um..."
Counting on my fingers, I calculated the number of people who needed souvenirs. Even if I bought all varieties of plate cakes for everyone, a silver coin's worth was still too much. And no matter how much of a customer I was, buying a huge amount at once and emptying the stock would certainly be a nuisance to the shop.
In the end, I bought some to eat at the shop front and decided to wait while having them bake the souvenir portions for each person plus a little extra. Getting the owner's permission, I also bought Mirshe's share, and we ate plate cakes together under the guise of a break. It seemed this year's Harvest Festival memory with Mirshe would end with eating plate cakes at the shop front.
"Tina big sister, where's Oscar?"
She must have wondered at the absence of the Black Dog (Oscar), who had recently been sticking close to me without hesitation. Mirshe said while looking around for the black dog.
"Oscar went home with Bertrand-sama a little while ago nyo."
"Huh? That is..."
...Hmm?
The black dog was no longer in the city. I answered with just that fact, but Mirshe and the owner exchanged glances and made slightly troubled faces. There must have been something they both understood between them. After exchanging silent looks for a while, the owner spoke with a solemn face, seeming reluctant to say it.
"Seems like a merchant I have never seen around these parts has been looking for you, little miss."
Asked if I had any idea who it might be, one person came to mind. That merchant who had been persistently asking me to sell Aurelia's lace a little while ago.
"I thought it would be fine since that dog of yours is always watching over you, little miss."
But since he has gone back to his owner, I am worried, the owner continued. If the black dog were there, the suspicious merchant could not get close to me, but if he was not, there was reason for concern.
"Oscar is not here, but Kalisa is strong, so it is fine deshu."
And if it came down to it, I could rely on the Black Knights like last time, so it was fine, I added. Grenore was also a fortress city, so there were more Black Knights here compared to other cities. I could report any suspicious person immediately, and unlike ordinary children, there was not a single Black Knight who did not know my face. Since the top of the Black Knights was my guardian, my reports would be taken seriously. If I complained that a suspicious person was chasing me and I was scared, it would not be dismissed as my imagination. They would at least detain or restrain the suspicious person.
...But I have a bad feeling about this, you know?
And bad feelings usually turn out to be right.
[Author's Note]
This seems like a good stopping point, so I will cut here for now. Tina is supposed to be cute, but she is still a child, so beauty contests are not her thing.
Typos and missing characters to be fixed another day. I have corrected any typos and missing characters I found.