Chapter 61 – Opening Ceremony
The day after I met Gav at the hot springs.
Finally, a tribal exchange meeting was held.
The total number of tribes participating in the tribal exchange meeting exceeded thirty, but it was the first time since the Human and Horse War that so many demons had gathered.
Fortunately, the demon dragon village was basically based on what dragons used, so whatever it was, it was large enough to accommodate this many people, but if the exchange meeting was held in an imp village with an average height of 150 cm, it would be difficult to proceed with the event. It is clear that matters have blossomed.
At the beginning of the exchange meeting, the figures who seemed to be the heads of each tribe came up to the podium and recited a declaration stating that they would play well without getting hurt during the exchange meeting.
After the opening ceremony, everyone splits up and enjoys the program prepared in advance.
As befits a village where dragons, who are also the masters of magic, live, there are so many over-technologies that it is hard to believe that it is in the Middle Ages.
It is certain that even if only one researcher from the Mage Tower was brought here, he would faint.
This is because the artificial spirit technology, which is being researched in full swing there, has already been commercialized and mass-produced here.
As I stared at the artificial spirits flying through the sky in wonder, Ozma next to me scolded me.
“Hey, look in front of Patrasche.”
Since there are many people who hear or see him here, he decided to use his pseudonym, Patrasche, instead of his real name, Kaldrash.
Now it seems to be called more than my real name, so I’m worried about whether I should apply for a name change to Patlash, but in fact, this wasn’t too bad either.
It’s like a code name from a spy movie, so it’s cool.
The preliminaries for the martial arts competition Ozma was scheduled to participate in started at 3:00 PM, so there was plenty of time left until then.
So, we decided to spend some time and have fun and look around the attractions in the village one by one.
Among them, the most popular attraction was dragon riding.
It was a program to experience riding a dragon riding on the back of a horse race that had returned to its original form, and the thrilling feeling of falling at any moment and the overwhelming sense of speed were well-received.
Basically, imps with childlike sensibilities gathered in groups of twos and threes regardless of gender, deciding who would ride the dragon first with a rock-paper-scissors game.
I was personally interested in dragon riding, but because of the excessively long line, I had no choice but to give up with tears in my eyes as I felt that the morning would pass if I rode this one.
Other than that, popular were the pseudo-gyro drop, which free-falls from the sky with the magic of wind, and the ultra-long-distance roller coaster, where you can see the rugged mountain range of Dragon Mountain as a whole.
All of them are thrill-seeking attractions, so they look perfect for the elderly to have a heart attack while riding them.
‘Rather than that, wasn’t this an exchange meeting?’
No matter how you look at it, it feels like a group picnic in an amusement park.
***
The fun-looking attractions always had long queues, so we decided on the relatively quiet side after thinking about it.
That is the archery experience center.
If you hit a target with a bow and arrow prepared on the counter, you add up the scores and present a souvenir.
The first prize, which can only be received if the match is in full bloom, was a jewelry bracelet made of minerals from Dragon Mountain.
Otherwise, the price gap between the first and second-ranked products would not be this wide.
As we entered the building, the attendant who was alone guarding the stall stood up and asked,
“Would you like to challenge the attraction?”
I nodded my head without much hesitation and handed over three silver coins as a challenge fee.
It must have been quite popular, but the reason why the archery experience center was not popular compared to other attractions was because of the absurdly expensive participation fee.
This was all a tragedy brought about by the Balaur’s bankrupt economic notion.
He didn’t realize that three silver coins were quite a burdensome price for ordinary people since all the people in the neighborhood were wealthy.
One silver coin is about 10,000 won in Korean currency, but there are not many people who burn 30,000 won to try archery for fun.
I handed Ozma the bow and arrow that the attendant had given me.
Then Ozma asked with a bewildered expression.
“Am I doing it?”
“I’ve come this far, so you should try something like this.”
Then, perhaps thinking that there was some truth in my words, Ozma nodded and raised his bow.
While undergoing knight training from the sword master Vanessa, she must have learned how to handle her bow to some extent, and she was very good at shooting her bow.
Ping!
The arrow left the bow and flew like a shot, hitting 9 points on a target 100 meters away.
That’s pretty accurate.
I thought I could score quite high with this level of skill.
“Sorry.”
Out of 10 chances, Ozma, who scored 2 10s, 5 9s, and 8s 3 times, clicked her tongue in regret and put down her bow.
However, the total of her points was 89 points, which was enough to win a prize, a teddy bear, that can only be received if you score over 80 points.
“Congratulations.”
The attendant, who watched Ozma hold her breath as she shot her bow, said so and handed Ozma a large teddy bear.
At first, she accepted the teddy bear with a bewildered expression, but unexpectedly, her expression brightened, perhaps because the touch of her was not too bad.
I asked as I took another silver coin out of my wallet.
“Would you like to try Camilla too?”
Then Camilla, standing behind her like a shadow, shook her head and answered.
“I’ve never handled a bow before, so I’ll decline.”
“If so, what?”
I didn’t mean to force someone who didn’t want to do it, so I handed the silver coin I took out of my wallet to the attendant.
“You have 10 chances.”
“That’s enough.”
I aimed my bow at the target and fired an arrow with almost no time lag.
Ping!
Flying at a distance of 100m, the arrow pierced right in the center of the target trembled.
Ozma, who saw this from the side, made a surprised expression.
Well, I didn’t even aim properly, but it hit the center, so it wasn’t strange to show a face like that.
In fact, it was controlled by the wind.
Like her, the attendant next to her didn’t seem to notice my trick, so I started cheating outright.
As a result,
“No, it’s perfect.”
All ten arrows hit 10 points, and I was able to receive the jewel bracelet that was hung as the first prize.
I don’t know who the owner of this place is, but I’m sure it’s pretty heartbreaking since I left the attendant to take care of the time and ran around and lost a lot.
Well, I don’t need to count that person’s circumstances.
I carefully examined the jewelry bracelet handed to me by the attendant.
It is also a fairly high-level artifact.
When the wearer falls into danger, the protection magic is automatically activated, and the built-in healing magic is activated.
Putting multiple spells into a single artifact was a very difficult task in itself, so the public called these items High Artifacts.
Strictly speaking, the Stormbringer I melted in the furnace the other day was the case, but the ego sword’s ego was too arrogant, so I grinded it out in a fit of anger.
It’s just a pity that I didn’t even check what kind of magic was built into that sword.
I looked at the bracelet carefully, then looked at Ozma next to me.
She was hesitantly hugging the teddy bear, which was very awkward.
I said, holding out her jeweled bracelet to her.
“Would you like to exchange this teddy bear for this one?”
“What? What do you mean by that?”
Ozma asked back with a surprised face, but I calmly explained the reason without panicking.
“Because it’s not a very useful artifact for me to wear.
Then Ozma took one look at the face of the teddy bear she was holding in her arms, then at the bracelet I was holding in her hand.
“Um. It can’t be helped. Cavas.”
It must have been a name given to her in that brief moment, Ozuma muttered, giving her teddy bear one last deep hug before holding it out to me.
I handed her her jeweled bracelet, and Ozma nodded her head with her expression of satisfaction.
Her teddy bear is also her teddy bear, but for her to pursue her strength in order to become her demon king, this artifact, which is like her second life, seems to have been quite willing.
Watching that, I handed the teddy bear I received from Ozma to Camilla without much hesitation.
Then Camilla looked at me with a startled expression, and I shrugged her shoulders and casually threw out a word.
“Gift.”
She looked back and forth between me and the teddy bear, then Betsy smiled and nodded at her.
“I will consider this teddy bear as Kaldrash-sama and cherish it.”
Thanks to that, I couldn’t look straight into Camilla’s face until I left the building because of some strange feeling.
It doesn’t look like he’s doing anything he didn’t do.
