The Festival Pt.2

"Let's join them," I say.

"Yes, Master."

As we walk toward the town square, I hear Astra shouting from one of the booths near us.

"Kris! Kris!"

"What?" I call out to her, who is jumping up and down and waving her arms in the air like a lunatic, trying to get my attention.

"Get me one of these!" She says and points her loose sleeve at the man at the booth.

I sigh and walk toward Astra with Lohikaarmi beside me. The sound and smell of sizzling meat gradually get stronger. Behind the booth, there is a small fire, with a huge piece of brown meat rotating on a wooden pole suspended above the flames. It's bigger than Astra. The surface is coated in juice and glistening above the embers.

An elf with very shallow wrinkles on his face is sitting beside the fire and fanning it with a big leaf.

"You want this?" I ask Astra.

"Yes!"

I turn to the man by the fire. "Hey," I ask, "what is that you got cooking there?"

The elf looks at me and says with a warm smile, "Ah, it seems like we have some human visitors. This here, Sir, is bear meat, rumored to be the Inferno Dragon's favorite food."

Huh? Really? Because that's not what I remember hearing from the dragon herself. I glance over to Lohikaarmi. The tips of her mouth are once again very slightly raised.

"How do I buy it?" I ask.

"Skewers, Sir. An iron coin for each."

"Alright, we will have three," I say as I begin reaching into my pouch.

"Make that six!" Astra shouts.

"Oh, little Miss here's got a big stomach!" The man says and bursts into laughter.

"Sure, six, please," I say.

"Coming right up!"

The man pulls out a knife from his belt and reaches over to a pile of thin sticks sharpened at one end. He begins cutting small chunks off the huge mass and skewering them. Meat juice falls into the fire as he is doing it.

"I can't wait…" Astra mumbles as she watches the man's movements with great interest.

He stands up from his chair and sets the six skewers on the table of the stall and seasons the meat with little capsules of powder.

"Here you go, Sir and Misses," the man says and hands us the skewers.

I take out six iron coins from my pouch and drop them in the jar on the table. The lighting is too dark and red for me to see well. There might have been a silver coin or two mixed in there.

Oh well, I got more where that came from, and they aren't even mine, to begin with.

"Thank you," I say as I take the skewers off his hands.

As we are walking away from the booth, I give one to Lohikaarmi and four to Astra. The latter pulls her sleeves back and snatches them.

"Watch out, it's hot," I warn, but it's already too late. Astra is holding an empty stick and chewing with her mouth wide open.

"ICH SHO GWOOD!"

"Please don't talk while you are eating," I say.

"OHKAY!"

I chuckle at Astra's silliness and turn over to Lohikaarmi, who is staring at the untouched meat.

"So, is it true?" I ask.

She looks at me and tilts her head.

"Is it true that bear is the Inferno Dragon's favorite food?" I ask again.

"I… have never eaten a bear before," Lohikaarmi says.

Wow. If I were a dragon, the first animal I'd try eating is probably a bear.

"Well, try it. Maybe the rumor will turn out to be true, after all."

Lohikaarmi nods and gently slides one piece off the stick with her teeth. This dragon has better dining etiquette than Cisca.

I take a bite out of mine at the same time. It's definitely not a comparison with the high-end steaks I usually eat, but there is a texture I've never had anything similar to before. Not bad.

After I swallow, I ask Lohikaarmi, "So, what did you think about it?"

"Yes, it's good, but Master's stew is still my favorite," she says.

"But those are two completely dif- you know what, thank you," I say with a smile.

"Hey! Check that out! A whole boar!" Astra says and runs off again, holding four empty sticks in her hands.

"Let's keep going," I say with a sigh.

"Yes, Master."

About an hour later, we have gone around almost every single food stall. Each one of them claims to be somehow related to the Inferno Dragon, like the dragon's favorite fruit, a boar found roasted by the dragon's fire, or a deer the dragon accidentally trampled. Lohikaarmi denied all of them, except for the last one, which she said might have been true.

The whole time, she has a slight smile on her face. It's a refreshing sight to see.

By the time we finished with the last booth, I am stuffed, and thank the Goddess, so is Astra. She is beginning to feel tired from all the food she ate. Just as when we are about to decide to head back into the tavern, an elf woman shouts from the center of the town square beside the huge bonfire.

"Gather around, everybody! Old Man Finor has a story to tell!"

The elves began chattering and shuffling toward the fire.

"Let's see what that's about," I say to Astra and Lohikaarmi and join them.

Beside the fire, someone had placed a wooden crate, and on it is a chair. The woman who informed everyone is helping an old elf climb on top of the crate. Even though she called him Old Man Finor, he doesn't look that old, maybe around a fifty-year-old man on Earth, but no one comes close to his age anywhere else in the village.

Old Man Finor sits down on the chair above the crowd, his face all serious, unlike the other elves.

Finor clears his throat, and the chattering immediately dies down.

"Good evening, everyone," he starts speaking in a hoarse voice, "We have all gathered here to celebrate the recent appearance of the Inferno Dragon, and I shall end the night by telling you about the time I witnessed the battle between the Inferno and Ice."

The commotion starts up again.

A voice shouts out from the crowd, "I've heard you tell that story before! There's no way it's true!"

Finor nonchalantly raises his hand, and the crowd quiets.

"Indeed, some of you may have heard this story five festivals ago," the old man says, "but most of you haven't. As for the truth of it, allow me to tell the story first, and I will let you be the judge of that."