The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 178

178

“What is that… is it even human?”

Aki, perhaps thinking she needed to emulate Ren Arong’s performance, suddenly centered herself perfectly, aligning her body along an imaginary straight line from head to toe.

Celestial Flower Sect’s Initial Stance!

And the Celestial Flower Sect’s Initial Stance, executed with a shout!

“Ee-yah, ee-yah! Ee-yah-ah! Celestial Flower!”

It was a textbook-perfect stance that harmonized perfectly with her adorable appearance.

Aki, having briefly finished demonstrating the initial stance, bowed slightly, clasping her hands in front of her to the audience.

“Hel-lo-every-one.”

Seline and I had already given her a standing ovation with tears in our eyes a million and twenty-one times… and then, cheers erupted from all directions, tremendous cheers.

“Wow, look at that fair skin!”

“So cute, I’m going crazy from the cuteness!”

“You cowardly bastards! You’re supposed to bring a person, not an angel!”

The residents of the southern village turned pale, while everyone in our village was erupting with cheers of admiration.

Ren Arong and Aki stood facing each other.

Judging by the Arong surname, he seemed to be a child from a prominent family in the indigo city of , but I didn’t like the way he was looking down at Aki with a smirk.

“Now then, grape boys and girls, please take your seats.”

Ren Arong sat down with a dance-like motion.

Aki, with unnecessary fist-pumping, swish, swish-swish, sat down opposite him.

“Show them, Aki… the power of a true dragon to that barbaric human brat…”

Then, Valencidi, who was standing next to me, narrowed his eyes and said.

“You’re making a face like a black magician consumed by the abyss, Raine Ludwig.”

“Shut up.”

“Fine. There’s nothing to see anyway. I’ll go patrol the surroundings. Zernique might be up to some tricks again.”

Even though he seemed uninterested, it seemed he wanted to protect this festival.

By the time Valencidi had left, the two glasses on the table were already overflowing with grape juice of a luscious color.

The witch, having distributed the same amount into each glass, said.

“Then, let the first round begin!”

The rules were simple.

Both representatives would drink the grape juice simultaneously at the host’s command.

The maximum was three bottles, and if both sides drank all three bottles, the side that danced the most beautifully to the song sung by the villagers would win.

“Wait a minute… what? Dance? What the hell is with the dance?”

Surprised by the witch’s explanation, I glared at Florena, but Florena just winked at me, telling me not to worry.

“Aki just standing there is a dance in itself. Why would she need to do something barbaric like dance?”

No, still.

Is it okay to just gloss over it like this?

“Yes, the first bottle! The grape children’s faces are already starting to turn red! Will they be able to drink all three bottles?”

I tried to argue, but my voice was completely drowned out by the villagers who were excitedly singing and playing drums and gongs.

“We love grapes~ We love grapes~ Give us grapes~ Give us lots and lots~!”

Laughter erupted from all over the audience. Many people were singing along to the folk song, swaying their shoulders.

“But is that really grape juice?”

“Of course, it’s grape juice. What else would it be, poison?”

“No, but why is that dancer kid’s face so red?”

I pointed to Ren Arong, who had just finished his second bottle.

“Ugh…”

He was holding his forehead and groaning, as if he was dizzy. It looked like he was drunk. Then Florena laughed and pointed to the other side.

“Don’t be fooled, he’s just messing around! Showmanship, showmanship!”

“If that’s showmanship, he should be a clown, not a dancer.”

“Then what’s that? If it was alcohol, there’s no way she’d be so energetic.”

That’s right.

On the other side, Aki, who had already finished her second bottle, was excitedly shaking her glass at the witch.

“More-give-me-! More-give-me-! Grape-flavored water, more-give-me!”

Perhaps I was momentarily lost in thought at the sight, or perhaps I was too excited to think any further.

When I came back to my senses, the third bottle was already filling each of the glasses.

And villagers with trays were weaving through the crowd, handing out glasses to people.

“Please don’t drink it right away. Please wait a moment.”

It was clear what they were waiting for.

The moment when three suns hung on the horizon where the gently undulating ridges of the west, the Red Mountains, ended and the prairie began.

Because at that moment, the Twilight Grass would begin to emit a faint light.

“Now, it’s time!”

The moment that command rang out, everyone, along with the grape boy and girl, gulped down their glasses.

At the same time, in the year’s last twilight, the Twilight Grass bloomed one bud at a time, dyeing the world in dazzling iridescent colors.

Purple flowers, pink flowers.

Golden flowers, reddish-brown flowers, and pearl-colored flowers….

The petals, imbued with the colors of twilight, dizzily soaked my vision, scattering their pure white seeds into the air.

“Now, then! Since both the boy and girl have finished their grape juice, we will now have a dance competition!”

The problem was with the grape boy. Ren Arong, who had struggled to drink the third bottle of grape juice.

In those flower seeds, he let out a happy laugh of a drunkard and performed a celestial dance….

Then he sprawled out on the flower field and laughed wildly.

“Oh, what’s going on! If this is the case, the northern village will win as long as the grape girl doesn’t collapse!”

Perhaps sensing something was wrong, the witches from both villages rushed to the central table and examined the bottles of grape juice.

The first bottle was fine.

The third bottle was also fine.

The problem was with the second bottle, and the witches’ mouths dropped open at the same time when they picked it up.

“This… this is the strongest stuff from our village. Why is it here?”

“The one that even adults can’t handle after just one glass?”

“Yeah, that one! But how is your village’s grape girl so fine?”

However, strangely enough, Aki didn’t seem to be drunk at all. Such worries were a luxury for an absolute life form.

It was then that Aki, who had jumped up and was energetically showing off the Celestial Flower Sect’s martial arts to the audience, suddenly met my eyes.

Then, abandoning the dance and the grape girl title, she ran through the flower field and rubbed her face against my leg.

“Ah-bbuu.”

Pipi landed on Aki’s head and playfully pecked at her crown.

“Abbu, abbu, abbu.”

Then, she landed on the flower field and began to perform the Pipi dance for the first time in a while, and Aki, seeing this, jumped up and down and spun around me.

“Woo-hahahahaha!”

“Is that a dance too?”

“She’s so incredibly cute!”

It was only at that moment, when joyful laughter echoed throughout the flower field, that I could be sure. It was only then that I could smile.

It wasn’t just this flower field that was beautiful.

It was because there were friends who were with me in that moment, in that space, that it remained such a poignant and beautiful memory….

Just like Aki and Pipi are by my side now.

“Aki, you should show them your martial arts. People are waiting.”

“Ah-right-now.”

Watching Aki perform her martial arts in the world of twilight, I slowly emptied the glass I had received earlier.

A tingling taste moistened my mouth, and then the sweet fragrance of grapes spread throughout my body.

At that moment, with a tipsy smile, I felt like I was hearing voices that shouldn’t be audible….

– Rin, this way! Look at this flower! Doesn’t it look just like twilight?

And the laughter of those guys too.

The laughter of those guys who, in this place where I wasn’t, in the time where I wasn’t, looked at the same scenery and let out a smile that hid their sorrow.

Could it be that this dreamlike twilight was temporarily blurring the boundaries between the past and the present?

– Rin, later, when you’re left alone, the memories of this place will help you remember us.

At that moment, Aki turned to look at me and waved her arms with a bright smile, so I had to press my bamboo hat down to my eyes to hide the dew glistening in the twilight.

Just like I did 300 years ago, in front of Rista, Kies, and Friede, to hide my shy smile.

Just like that day 300 years ago… feeling the warmth of Pipi playfully pecking at my ear.

“Pipi, those guys would have really liked this festival.”

Kies’ favorite alcohol was plentiful, and it perfectly catered to Friede’s tastes, who was crazy about kids….

“What about Rista?”

“Rista, cry, laugh, laugh, cry.”

“Rista goes without saying.”

Because she’s always like a bright sun, warmly illuminating everything around her, she would have filled the hearts of everyone at this festival with abundant joy.

Is it an illusion?

Or am I going crazy?

Standing in the middle of that flower field, I thought I saw the figures of those guys clapping and laughing at Aki’s dance.

– These flowers will whisper to you. The story of us, the fact that we came here together today, is not just a legend.

Yes, ah, you’re right, Friede.

When I wiped away the tears that had blurred my vision, the figures of those guys had disappeared.

Instead, in the midst of countless cheers, the image of Aki dancing and scattering flower seeds was deeply etched into my retina.

‘Aki.’

I hoped that this scenery of today would remain deeply etched in her memory as well. So that it could be a support when she lives through the time of immortality.

This time.

This short time we spent together.

I’ll pray that it becomes a beacon illuminating the path of your life, which will one day be left alone in the time of immortality, just like me….

‘Just like that time of only 5 years has sustained all the times of my life left alone.’

So that if you ever come back here again, nature can show you my appearance, just like I met those guys again today.

* * *

“It’s all over.”

A painter who was quite famous in the Northern Republic freshly captured Aki’s face, and her grape girl costume, in a painting.

Because she wouldn’t stay still, I had to draw her face from when she was asleep last night….

Now, with the power of printing, Aki’s face will be featured on all the grape wine produced this year.

I didn’t want to attract attention, but since it’s black and white printing anyway, I’m not worried about Aki’s red hair or golden eyes showing up.

In the first place, I’m planning to enter the World’s Best Martial Arts Competition anyway.

“Aki, you were so, so cute.”

“Thanks to Aki, those Lecol bastards’ noses were completely smashed! It was so refreshing.”

The villagers who had come to the pier to see us off on the early morning of the new year seemed disappointed.

They asked if we could stay a little longer, but I declined because this village was prosperous and had not suffered from the war, so there was nothing we could help with.

More than anything, I was intoxicated by the memories of the Twilight Grass flower field, and I felt like if I stayed a little longer, I would never be able to escape.

“Really, you don’t need any special reward?”

Florena asked in a yawning voice, so I thought about something for a moment and replied in a somewhat lonely tone.

“Just sell a lot of it.”

“Huh?”

“Even after several years or decades, sell that grape wine a lot all over the world so that Aki can remember today. And so that the flower field can be protected.”

That brand will be evidence for Aki. Evidence that I came to this flower field with her yesterday.

You could say it’s a modest offering to the immortal child.

Then Florena waved her hand as if to say, “Don’t even mention it.”

“It’ll sell like hotcakes even if I don’t want to sell a lot. Yesterday alone, so many reservations were made… I think this year will be really hectic.”

“That’s a relief.”

“If you’re traveling, stop by later with Aki. I’ll give you the first branded one as a gift.”

“Yeah, if I get the chance.”

Of course, that opportunity will never come.

If the journey is successful, Aki won’t be by my side when I come back here. Aki has to live with her own kind.

Feeling the arm holding the sleeping Aki droop somehow sadly, I climbed onto the barge.

“Then I’ll be going. Everyone, be happy.”

As I gently shook the arm of the sleeping Aki, the villagers sent enthusiastic cheers towards our boat sliding across the water.

The day I reach , I’ll have to part with Aki like this. What kind of expression should I make then, what should I say to her….

I thought I should start practicing now. In a wry smile that I couldn’t erase for some reason, I put my hand on my chest and said to the dragon’s soul.

“Because I promised you that, Alakish.”