Chapter 84 Midsummer

The Midsummer Festival.

One of the most important holidays on Aifala Continent.

It fell in the middle of the seventh month, the Month of Summer Tides, on the longest day of the year.

The day marked both the peak of summer and the turning of the season.

As for where the festival originally came from…

After countless years of war and tangled divine conflict, the true answer had long since disappeared into the epics of history.

But people still followed traditions passed down from generation to generation.

Each race.

Each region.

Each faith.

Everyone celebrated the midpoint of the year in their own way.

Feasts.

Weddings.

Divination.

Even farmers who spent the rest of the year bent over fields until their backs could barely straighten would take a small break today.

They would spend time with their families.

Maybe put two extra slices of dried meat into dinner.

The people of Rivervale Town were no exception.

“Mission number 1062 requires four people. Full already. Next.”

“Why are you three silver short? Because this Goblin ear is missing half of it, so it doesn’t count toward the bounty. Next.”

“I don’t sell the [Adventurer’s Handbook] here. Next.”

“I’m busy. Next.”

“Next…”

Molly rang the little bell in front of her with her head hanging low.

Her voice sounded half-dead.

Then…

Nothing.

No complaining adventurer.

No shouting.

No endless stream of ridiculous questions.

Even the usual background chatter was gone.

Molly slowly raised her head.

The association hall, usually packed with adventurers rushing in and out, was nearly empty.

Only a handful of employees in Adventurers’ Association uniforms remained, chatting and laughing as they headed for the door together.

Molly froze.

Then realization struck.

The exhaustion on her face, as if she had gone several days without sleep, vanished in an instant.

A smile spread across her lips.

Her eyes practically came back to life.

[I almost forgot.]

[Today’s Midsummer!]

No matter how busy things became during the rest of the year, the Adventurers’ Association still gave its employees half a day off during this annual festival.

Some branches with plenty of funding and generous senior members were even rumored to hand out bonuses and gifts.

Naturally, none of that had anything to do with Molly.

As an ordinary receptionist at the Rivervale Town branch, getting off work early was already enough to make her perfectly happy.

No arguing with bizarre adventurers all afternoon.

No explaining for the hundredth time why a left ear counted toward a bounty but a finger did not.

No touching sacks of bloody monster parts that were still dripping onto the floor.

Just thinking about it made her mood soar.

Molly even started humming while packing her things.

With her shoulder bag in hand, she casually greeted a passing coworker and stepped out of the Adventurers’ Association.

Her rented house was on the western side of Rivervale Town.

Thirty or forty minutes away on foot.

Not close.

But cheap.

Honestly, Molly’s income was already quite good by ordinary commoner standards.

There was a saying commonly repeated across the continent:

“Live next door to an adventurer, and even the rooster’s crow earns gold.”

Any job connected to adventurers or other things involving Transcendent Tier power tended to pay extremely well.

Even a perfectly ordinary server whose only job was carrying water and serving meals could earn several times the income of her peers if she worked in a tavern frequented by adventurers.

Sometimes, a single night’s tips were worth more than what many people made in ten days of labor.

Of course, higher income came with higher risk.

A drunkard like bald, middle-aged Uncle Jack from next door, complete with beer belly and fear of his wife, was one thing.

A Half-Orc adventurer whose arms were thicker than your thighs, who had slaughtered several dozen Goblins that morning and still smelled faintly of blood?

Completely different problem.

The first might shove you around a little while angrily insisting he absolutely had not tried to grope you.

The second…

If you happened to hit the wrong nerve while he was drunk?

You might die.

Fortunately, Molly did not have to worry much about that.

The Adventurers’ Association stood behind her.

Even without the slightest combat ability, she had yet to meet a fool stupid enough to cause trouble for her while she was on duty.

And right now, the short-haired young woman who had finally earned half a day of freedom was faced with a much more pleasant dilemma.

Cook dinner herself?

Or go out and eat something expensive?

[It’s Midsummer.]

[I should treat myself.]

Then another thought came to mind.

[I wonder if Nana is free today. We haven’t seen each other in more than a month.]

[Need to find a chance to get together.]

Still distracted, Molly rounded a corner without paying attention.

She almost walked straight into someone coming from the opposite direction.

“Sorry! I’m sorry!”

Her steps scrambled as she hurriedly backed away.

Xia Nan looked at the careless young woman before him.

His brows drew together almost imperceptibly.

Then he recognized her.

The front-desk attendant from the association.

He had seen her several times.

Xia Nan had no intention of making a problem out of it.

He simply nodded, stepped aside, and passed her.

More than half a month had gone by since his return from Kalanfor.

There was not much to say about those days.

Eat.

Sleep.

Train.

Listen to adventurers brag in the tavern.

Occasionally visit the general store and pick out a few books on combat techniques.

That was his entire routine.

Calm.

Stable.

Almost unnervingly uneventful.

Between the money he carried and the funds deposited in the bank, Xia Nan currently possessed a total of 152 gold, 7 silver, and 3 copper.

That was slightly more than he had after completing his second mission, but not by much.

Aside from ordinary living expenses, most of his money went toward adventuring equipment and consumables.

The [Incendiary Oil Bomb] he had used against Ingram had performed well.

It was especially useful against swarms and similar enemies.

So Xia Nan bought another jar from the general store.

The light plate armor stripped from the sheriff had also been fully modified by Barn at Rockhammer.

Its appearance no longer resembled the original in the slightest.

That particular risk had been eliminated.

Right now, Xia Nan was wearing the plate armor over his repaired chain shirt.

Two layers of protection.

Surprisingly, the combination did not make him look especially bulky.

The plate armor was not the heavy, full-body type displayed in the blacksmith shop.

It was closer in size to an ordinary breastplate.

Worn over everything else, it looked almost like a metal vest.

The combined weight of both pieces sat right at the limit of what Xia Nan’s current physique could comfortably handle.

His daily movement was fine.

Combat movement was also fine.

There was only one problem.

Heat.

This was the hottest part of the year.

Two layers of metal armor, plus the padding underneath…

Inside town, where Xia Nan was rarely doing anything strenuous, it was manageable.

Out in the wilderness?

A few minutes of movement and a handful of sword swings would probably leave him drenched.

[I wonder if the enchanted equipment used by high-level class holders has some kind of temperature-control effect.]

Otherwise, if Xia Nan eventually upgraded to full heavy armor, every ten-day or half-month mission would turn him into meat marinating inside a metal can.

Xia Nan walked alone down the street, his thoughts wandering.

Then cheering erupted nearby.

He turned his head.

In front of a newly built townhouse decorated with flowers and mistletoe, a man and woman were embracing.

Friends and relatives surrounded them, clapping, laughing, and shouting encouragement.

The man wore a blissful grin.

He carried no weapon, but judging from the snug leather armor and the sharp, hardened air about him, he was probably an adventurer.

The woman looked much less comfortable with all the attention.

She buried her face shyly against her beloved’s chest, her long hair falling forward to hide her features.

Midsummer was also a festival of romance and betrothal.

Friends became lovers.

Couples became husband and wife.

People confessed their feelings to their sweethearts.

And according to tradition, those who declared their love on Midsummer might even receive the blessing of Sune, the Goddess of Love and Beauty.

Xia Nan watched for a moment.

Then calmly looked away.

In his previous life, he had experienced a few innocent romances during his school years.

For one reason or another, most had ended the same way.

Briefly bright.

Then gone.

Like fireworks blooming for a moment before fading into the night.

Once Xia Nan started working, romance became even less realistic.

He left before dawn and came home under the stars.

By the time he returned, even the dogs in the apartment complex were asleep.

Then he opened his eyes the next morning and found more work waiting.

No time.

No energy.

No social life.

Back then, seeing a newly married couple might have made him feel envy.

Maybe longing.

Now?

Nothing much.

His emotions were strangely calm.

Get stronger.

Eliminate the insecurity that came from being weak.

Since transmigrating, that direction had gradually become clearer and clearer.

It reminded him of the first time he entered the workforce after graduation.

There was a target in front of him now.

Something concrete.

Something he could work toward.

And once that goal took shape, his desire for everything else naturally faded.

[Time to practice my swordsmanship.]

…

…

Night gradually settled over Rivervale Town.

Dim twilight stretched across the horizon, covering the frontier settlement beside the Misty Forest.

Xia Nan walked toward the inn, soaked in sweat.

Even the hair over his forehead had clumped together from the moisture.

Under normal circumstances, there was absolutely no need to wear full equipment for routine training.

Especially not in summer.

A thin shirt.

A weapon.

Done.

But Xia Nan had never fought while wearing two layers of defensive equipment before.

He wanted to adapt to the new plate armor as quickly as possible.

So despite the heat, he had spent the entire afternoon training fully equipped.

Sweat now was better than blood later.

Especially if the blood came from making some stupid mistake because he was not used to his own armor.

Xia Nan was considering dinner when a sudden blaze of fire entered his vision.

Midsummer had existed for countless years.

Although most people shared roughly the same idea of what the festival represented, the specific customs varied tremendously by race, region, and faith.

Followers of the sun god Amaunator, for example, often left their churches on this day and found broad, unobstructed places where they could bathe in sunlight.

The Gray Dwarves of the Underdark had a different tradition.

They held enormous forging competitions.

Then they threw the losers into lava to please their deity, Laduguer the Exiled One.

Rivervale Town sat beside the Misty Forest.

It had an Adventurers’ Association branch and a large population of lower-level adventurers living and working there year-round.

After many years, the town had naturally developed its own Midsummer customs.

Dong… dong… dong…

The deep tolling of a bell rolled through the streets from somewhere in the distance.

At the center of town, in the middle of a wide public square, stood an enormous bonfire.

Logs had been stacked into a huge mound.

Flames devoured the wood with loud cracks and pops.

Heat rolled outward in waves, while thick smoke rose toward the clouds.

Unlike the noisy celebration in the rest of town, the people gathered around the bonfire were strangely solemn.

Even the free-spirited bards, who normally cared little what anyone else thought and would start singing at the top of their lungs whenever the mood struck, had put down their instruments.

They stood quietly beside the flames.

Xia Nan slowed his pace.

With two swords strapped across his back, he studied the unfamiliar scene.

A Dwarf built like a tree stump stood near the flames, beard braids hanging almost to his thighs.

He slowly poured strong liquor into the fire.

His expression was distant.

A green-skinned Half-Orc with two protruding tusks tossed a metal fragment deep into the blaze.

He muttered something in a thick accent, apparently praying to the deity he worshiped.

Then Xia Nan spotted someone familiar.

Barn.

The enormous blacksmith stood beside the bonfire with a finely made woman’s necklace clenched in one hand.

His rugged face was filled with grief.

And memory.

Xia Nan did not approach him.

Wrong time.

Wrong place.

The adventurers were not even the majority around the fire.

Most were ordinary townspeople.

An elderly farmer with rough, dark skin and simple linen clothes slowly untied a grain sack.

Only the top layer contained plump wheat kernels.

Everything underneath was small stones.

Nearby, a pretty young woman with her hair tied in a ponytail lifted a piece of cloth in both hands and threw it into the flames.

Firelight reflected in her wet eyes.

She watched until the fabric blackened, curled, and finally burned away.

Her eyes turned red.

Letting go of hatred.

Driving away misfortune.

Mourning the dead.

Praying for a good harvest.

Different wishes.

Different griefs.

Different hopes.

All of them entered the same rising flames.

Xia Nan stood near the edge of the square and looked at the enormous pyre, tall as a house.

He hesitated.

Then reached for his belt.

Normally, he was not the type to join crowds.

Nor did he care much about rituals.

He rarely celebrated a particular day simply because everyone else said it was special.

But this was not his old world.

This was a fantasy world where deities were very real.

Sometimes, participating in local customs probably did no harm.

After thinking for a moment, Xia Nan pulled out a shriveled coin pouch.

It had belonged to Ingram.

The money inside had naturally been removed long ago.

Xia Nan tossed the empty pouch into the bonfire.

Then, with a perfectly serious expression, he muttered inwardly,

[We were both poor bastards trying to make a living in the same town.]

[Don’t blame me.]

[Now that you’re dead, don’t go complaining about me to your deity.]

[Try to be a good person in your next life.]

For some reason, although his expression and movements were perfectly normal, Xia Nan suddenly felt as though he were disposing of stolen goods.

He touched the lucky coin hidden close against his chest.

The hard shape beneath his fingertips made him feel much better.

He was just about to leave when a tall figure passed through the edge of his vision.

A barbarian.

Huge.

Broad-shouldered.

Wrapped in a cloak made from wolf pelts.

The man seemed to have only just arrived in Rivervale Town.

His gaze moved slowly over the surrounding streets.

Uneven fangs hung around his neck, clacking softly together.

A wolf’s muzzle crossed his chest, while frost-white fur spread over both shoulders as if it had grown straight out of his body.

The moment Xia Nan saw him, his vision seemed to blur.

For one strange instant, he was no longer standing in Rivervale Town.

He was back outside Kalanfor.

Back at that little wooden cabin.

And before him was not a man.

It was a starving Winter Wolf prowling across a frozen plain beneath howling winds, searching for prey.

Xia Nan turned around immediately.

No hesitation.

He headed straight for the tavern.