139. Engagement – Festival

Is this what it means to return in glory?

A festival was being held in the Ainar Tribe. The chief joyfully commanded that even the unfermented brew be brought out, and the hunting that was happening was halted.

Lena Ainar and Urok Ainar were undoubtedly the stars of this festival.

According to tradition, the two loaded the carcass of a monster onto a sled and circled around Abrival Castle. At the end, they climbed onto the platform set up in the open space and raised the head of the Spirit Reindeer high, causing the cheers from the gathered Ainar tribe members to seem like they could lift the castle into the sky.

“Ha ha ha! Well done! Really well done!”

On the platform, Dehorman laughed heartily. He patted Lena on the shoulder, looking quite pleased.

However, two other Great Warriors next to them murmured in discontent.

“This fellow scolded us for sending his daughter off to face trials just yesterday…”

“I knew this friend had a daughter complex. A Great Warrior coddling his fully grown daughter like that. Tsk, tsk. Thank goodness she came back safe.”

As I passed by the two whispering Great Warriors, the old chief stepped forward to Lena and Urok.

Amidst louder cheers, he approached Urok first and took his hand.

“…Uncle… I knew you could do it… Thank you… Are your legs okay…?”

Lena, standing beside him, couldn’t hear the chief’s words well due to the deafening cheers.

While occasionally looking back and waving confidently, Lena finally found the chief turning his head toward her.

“You did well. You’ve returned a great warrior after overcoming your trials. Sniff, sniff. No matter how unimportant age may be for warriors, you won’t find such a young Great Warrior in the North.”

He grabbed Lena’s hand as well, standing her next to Urok, beaming.

“Oh, how wonderful it would be if you were our granddaughter-in-law…”

“Heh, Grandfather. I’m sorry, but that’s not going to happen.”

Lena said confidently.

Perhaps her voice was a bit too loud, as Dehorman behind them glared, but Lena simply shrugged.

I am a Great Warrior now.

It wasn’t that Dehorman and the other Great Warrior uncles were overly formal; the relationship between the chief and the Great Warriors was equal.

Lena bent down and whispered into the chief’s ear.

“I’m going to marry Leo.”

“Sniff, sniff. That’s too bad. Now, let’s stop the personal talk.”

The chief smiled with wrinkled eyes and turned her around. He held both Urok and Lena’s wrists and lifted them high.

– Waaahhhhh!

As the applause that seemed ready to take flight rang out and a sharp whistle pierced the air, Ran, Anne, and Leo, who had been standing somewhat bored below the platform as non-Ainar tribe members, applauded.

It was halfway through winter, and there was still over a month left until the {war} broke out.

*

“What are we going to do now?”

Anne asked as they sat at the drinking table. The ceremony celebrating the birth of the Great Warrior was over, and the real festival was about to begin.

“What do you mean, what are we going to do? We’ll just go back.”

Ran replied. Leo was filling his cup beside her.

The surroundings were somewhat noisy. Since it was winter, hard to hold a feast in the open area, the Ainar Tribe had transformed a leather storage warehouse into a tavern.

It was basically just lumps of leather eagerly arranged as seats and tables to hold the drinks and food, but people were gathering in groups, joyfully chatting.

Among them was an old man known as Boris Ainar. He was spinning tales of his exploits that no one believed – “It really exists! A mysterious temple. I saw it clearly with my own eyes! It was the night of the blue moon…” – and he kept going on and on.

Anne raised her voice to respond.

“Of course returning is a given. What I meant was how do you plan to get back? Are you going to look for Uncle Vernon, or are we going to go back together?”

“Well? We’d probably get there faster if we went together…”

Ran, the older sister, clinked her wooden cup with Leo’s, took a sip, and continued.

“Uncle must be worried. I think it’d be better to go back together. The next destination is Count Brina’s territory, so it’s not that far.”

Leo interjected into the sisters’ conversation.

“Who’s Vernon?”

“Oh, I guess I didn’t introduce him back then. He’s the one who lent us the horses.”

“Ahh.”

Leo nodded as if he understood.

When we set out to catch the monster, we had borrowed horses from the Merchant Leader. He was quite close to Ran and Anne, and gladly loaned us two horses, which made it easier to find the Spirit Reindeer.

“Eh- Boris Grandfather. No one believes stuff like that these days.”

“What!? Why not believe? There’s a living witness right here. Do you think I’d lie about this?”

“Grandfather, you often tell tales, don’t you? Last time you said you saw some fairy or whatever, some winged girl…”

“Ahem! That was a joke. But this is real. I stayed in that temple for a day. There was a sword stuck in the altar. But when I woke up in the morning, everything was gone. The sword, the temple… I swear that was the estate of Lord Lachar. I saw the goddess’s temple. Yep. No doubt about it. A great warrior like me…”

Oh my- how noisy.

While Leo was digging in his ear, Anne continued her earlier conversation.

“Maybe when we arrive, they’ll have departed from there too?”

“Well, there’s no helping it. We’ll have to gather information and chase after them… If I’d known it would take this long, I would’ve told Uncle where to meet in advance.”

“Why do we have to go after them?”

Leo was aware through his {Tracking Skill} that a person named Vernon and the Merchant Group were currently in the southeast.

“We need to go home. We live in the capital.”

“Barnau? You guys?”

“Why? Can’t we live in the capital?”

“Not that. I heard there are no barbarians… Sorry. I heard there are no indigenous tribes around the capital.”

“That’s right. There aren’t. It’s just… we got married over there.”

Leo noticed that she had chosen her words carefully. Not wanting to pry further, he took another sip of his drink, but Ran, resting her chin in her hand, asked.

“You want to go to Barnau?”

“…”

Leo fell silent. He had no words to respond, as he couldn’t even figure out what he should do moving forward.

Ran pressed her cool palm against her flushed neck, making a guess.

“Yeah, I suppose someone with your skills wouldn’t want to be stuck in a place like this. I have to say, I’m quite impressed. Your skills are remarkable, but… you seemed to lead quite well? Are you perhaps a noble? Did your family fall during the civil war, and you ended up in this border region? I hear there are quite a few like that.”

“…It’s true that I came after the civil war, but I’m not a noble. My family has been a knight family for generations.”

“Hmm~ So that’s why your skills were that impressive. A knight, huh? Ah! That’s why you wanted to go to the capital. You want to participate in the tournament. Am I right?”

“A tournament? What…”

Just then, the tavern door burst open, and a commotion arose. Turning to see the source of the cheers, Lena entered, surrounded by people.

After showing proper etiquette, she approached Leo.

“There you are! I’ve been looking for you. Oh, and there are my sisters too! Let me join you!”

“How did you get away?”

“I escaped under the pretense of visiting Urok. Oh my, why were there so many scoldings from Grandfather and the Great Warrior uncles… Leo, is your shoulder okay?”

Leo Dexter shrugged.

He had gone to the church to treat Urok Ainar’s injured leg, so he felt no discomfort now.

Leo arranged a place for Lena. He brought over another lump of leather from the corner and placed it beside him. The four began to enjoy their drinks amidst the lively atmosphere of the tavern.

Small talk exchanged back and forth.

Questions like how it felt to be revered as a Great Warrior, and the playful quizzing about the relationship between the two, which had been lingering in their minds.

Lena was happily chattering away. As discussions gently wandered into delicate territory regarding women, Leo, quietly listening, occasionally felt his face turn red.

With alcohol warming her face, Lena said.

“Right now it’s good, but I’m not satisfied with just being a Great Warrior. I have big dreams. I’m going to be a knight. And…”

“Uh? I think we touched on that just before you got here, didn’t we? That’s right. Leo wants to participate in the Maunin Tournament. Is that right?”

“I didn’t say that…”

“Really? Leo, you were planning on entering the Maunin Tournament? You said you didn’t want to before.”

Lena looked at him with delight. For a moment, Leo was at a loss for words in response to her expectant gaze. While her eyes shone with hope…

‘What’s the Maunin Tournament anyway? I’ve been hearing that name since earlier.’

He had previously heard from Lena about the ‘Maunin-Letii Tournament.’ It was mentioned that Dehorman and his mother had competed in it when they were young. Leo had heard about it while distancing himself to break off his engagement with Lena, and it was mentioned at the Jerome Holy Kingdom’s Bidorin Castle.

It seemed to be a shortened name, but how was that related to being a knight? And he had said he didn’t want to participate in that tournament?

“…I just changed my mind.”

“What’s this? You used to be so stubborn about such things. Is it because of me?”

He didn’t understand what she was saying.

But thinking that agreeing would make Lena happy, Leo faintly nodded, and Lena smiled brightly at him, her face turning a deeper shade of red.

“Thank you for lowering your pride. I’ll work hard. I might be a bit behind…”

The scent of alcohol.

As the tipsy Lena leaned in closer, her face coming tantalizingly near, she seemed to be hoping for something, and Lena subtly stuck her tongue out to touch her lips.

Leo gently blocked her mouth from reaching out. Noticing the looks of expectation from Ran and Anne, he said.

“What are you doing in front of everyone?”

“…Tch. Such a coward.”

“Oh dear, what a shame. We could have seen something good… This is the time, the right time. Shouldn’t we go outside instead? It might be a bit cold, but they’ve lit a fire in the open area.”

Ran winked knowingly at Leo, gave him a strange signal, and stood up, and the four moved to a different spot.

As they left the warehouse and closed the door, Boris the old man’s pointless tale slipped out: “Far in the frozen northern sea, there’s a place called ‘War Island.’ A place where true warriors battle day in and day out without a break. In my youth, I had no fear and went there too…”

“Lena! Cheers to the great accomplishments of our Great Warrior!”

The massive bonfire created from hundreds of pieces of firewood was bright. Warriors gathered around it, raising their cups high towards Lena.

“Now that the protagonist is here, let’s start enjoying ourselves again!”

Having settled in one corner, the young men stood up and shouted. They brought over several large Nenato (cylindrical drums the height of waists) made by carving tree stumps and began to bang them rhythmically.

The warriors linked arms and danced to the beat. They sang as they circled around the bonfire.

Naturally, the protagonist, Lena, was quickly swept into the fray. At first, she protested, “Hey! Let go! I’m going to play with Leo!” but soon became part of the crowd, dancing joyfully.

“How envious… I wonder if our village ever did anything like this?”

Anne asked quietly. She was normally so composed, but the sight of the warriors brought a tinge of melancholy to her voice.

“…Probably. Hey, should we go over there and dance?”

“Pfft. How old are we to join in something like that? How embarrassing.”

“What does it matter? It’s a different tribe, and we’ll be leaving soon anyway. We have to try things like that. That’s why we came all this way. Let’s go!”

Ran forcibly pulled her younger sister up. They slipped into the dancing warriors, awkwardly mimicking the movements.

The youths from the Ainar Tribe gladly welcomed the somewhat older women adorned with loud feather accessories.

Leo watched from a distance.

As he sat back down in the initial spot, sipping his drink alone, Lena came running over.

“You come too!”

“Uh? But I’m not a tribe member…”

“What does that matter! I’m a Great Warrior from this tribe, and you’re my husband!”

Lena dragged Leo Dexter towards the bonfire. On this joyful night of the birth of a Great Warrior, the moon in the sky had already lost its blue hue and turned pale red, but for today, no one cared.