Chapter 964: How to Spend the Year-End and New Year Holidays 33
The end of the year in the countryside is hectic. Well, it’s hectic in the city, too, but while the city’s year-end is marked by the energy of a final sprint, the feeling that 「If I just push through this much, I’ll be done with work for the year」, in the countryside, it feels like the real festivities don’t begin until after everything’s wrapped up. In the city, New Year’s celebrations are strictly a family affair, but in a place like Polka, they turn into a community-wide celebration. Or rather, if you miss this opportunity, there’s no other excuse to hold a fun celebration until spring (and many households can’t save up enough to enjoy themselves that often), so the period from the end of the year through the New Year’s festivities can be called the climax of winter. Every house in town has a restless, fidgety atmosphere, and people tend to get all their chores done at once during this time, cleaning and repairing their homes, doing a big round of shopping, and making year-end gift deliveries. This timing is perfect, since the snow will start to fall in earnest soon after. As winter deepens, life in town becomes more monotonous; people grow tired of the strong-flavored preserved foods that make up most of their diet, and the repetitive days of shoveling and clearing snow lead to more grumbling, causing the town’s liveliness to naturally fade. The New Year Festival is the final burst of energy needed to get through those months. Given that, it’s easy to understand why the whole town is so determined to pull together and make the festivities a success.
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That said.
“In the end, we can’t really do anything that impressive, though, just like every year”
“There’s absolutely nothing here besides the sacred spring”
The guard duo, Keel and Johnny, lean against the town gate and share a wry smile. The kids are, after all, the stars of the show. Choral performances, plays, and the customary townspeople’s dance. With hardly any industry to speak of, nobody’s particularly well-off. Even ingredients for alcohol and feasts are now vital strategic supplies to last until spring. So, for young guys like them, who don’t have kids of their own, it’s nothing more than 「The same old boring event」.
“Families with kids seem busy, but they also look like they’re having fun, though”
“Take Birdy’s place, they’ve got three kids, so the couple’s in a real pickle, running back and forth helping one kid here, another there. They’re so determined not to let any of their kids embarrass them that they’re really going all out”
“……Birdy?”
I tilted my head at the name that came out of Johnny’s mouth. Was there anyone with that name in our generation?
“……Ah, Andy probably doesn’t know him very well. You never comes to the bar, after all”
As he said that, Keel took a bite of the manju from his parents’ house that he’d brought along for a snack.
“Who?”
“He’s the same age as you and me. He’s been living in Polka for about ten years now. And right after he settled in, he married Miona”
“That was a shock……it was just when everyone our age in town seemed to be childhood friends, and things had gotten kind of cozy. It made me realize, oh, so we’re at that age now”
Ten years ago……well, since I’m 27 now, that would’ve been when I was 17. ……So that means during the Celesta War. The rules aren’t too strict for nobles, they’re often allowed to marry early, but it’s true that marriage is generally considered acceptable around that age. Usually, people don’t have enough income to support a household until a little later, so not many people get married right away. But back then, huh……getting married back then……. Back when I’d still have those innocent chats with my fellow apprentices at the Sleedo Workshop about girls, and would become a modest hero by sharing my memories with Apple at just the right moment. And back when I was drafted into the war and felt utterly hopeless, wondering if I’d die before I ever got to do anything naughty with a real girl. ……Back then, moving in from out of town and getting married right away, huh?
“……It makes me feel kind of conflicted, in a lot of ways”
“Right?”
I think Miona was a girl one year younger than Johnny and me. I only have childhood memories of her, but I seem to recall her as a slender, timid-looking girl. Everyone around us was a childhood friend; we all instinctively knew just the right distance to keep, and it wasn’t like we’d suddenly start saying things like I like you or I don’t like you at that point……but in a rural town where marriage was seen as something done for the family, where we were vaguely aware, or maybe not, that it might happen someday, she was a sudden shock from the outside world. I kind of wish I could’ve watched the romantic entanglements in Polka over the next few years unfold in real time. Well, if I’d been there, I’d undoubtedly have gotten dragged into some kind of messy drama one way or another. Even though I had no interest in ordinary humans, thanks to Apple, that incredibly sexy and beautiful half elf female slave (to be), it would’ve been hard to stay completely uninvolved in a situation like that. Still, I can’t say I don’t feel a tiny bit of longing for that kind of intense adolescence. ……And then.
“So, even though you went through that kind of youth, you ended up having no luck with women, huh……”
I find myself gazing at Keel with a sense of poignancy. Keel looks annoyed and tries to say something, but a bun gets stuck in his throat, causing him to cough violently.
“Cough! Cough, cough……”
“Gross”
“Don’t spit on me”
“Cough……a, ah……I, I couldn’t help it! Girls kept hooking up with me one after another, and before I knew it, I was left behind! Plus, I was still a little chubby back then!!”
“Just a little……?”
Johnny made an extremely awkward face. Just a little probably wasn’t the right way to put it. ……Well, yeah. I guess he noticed the vibe had changed and tried his best to lose weight, but it was too late. Oh well, I guess that’s just how it is. Even though he has a somewhat short fuse, Keel isn’t that bad-looking or has a terrible personality, I finally understood why he’d never had any luck with women.
“It’s fine! I’ve got Barbara! I’m definitely going to marry her!”
“……Come to think of it, why aren’t you married yet? You’re having sex, right?”
“A, Ah……well, that’s……you know”
Keel’s response becomes evasive again. It’s been quite a while since Barbara, the cat beast, moved into Polka’s Cat Beast Mansion. Even counting from when she and Keel became a couple, it’s been a fair amount of time. I haven’t heard that Keel’s parents disapprove of her, and of course, Barbara’s parents back in the colony wouldn’t object to her marrying a man from outside either. After all, she came here because there was nothing she could do about the shortage of men in the colony. As for the marriage registration, if it comes down to it, someone like Dianne would probably sort it out, so it should be a quick process once they decide to get married.
“……She’s a r, really nice girl……but I haven’t……told her I love her yet……”
“You’re having sex with her, aren’t you!?”
“Come on, that’s a bit much, don’t you think!?”
Johnny and I both snapped at him almost simultaneously. Keel looked down at the floor and blurted out:
“We are having sex, sure!! B, But, you know, when the full moon comes, those girls’ attitudes just change!! I still can’t quite tell if she’s really into it that much yet!!”
“Come on, man!”
“Don’t you think it’d be totally justified to get a little pissed off if she turned you down!?”
We were grilling the wimpy Keel. Well, with an attitude like that, it’s no wonder Barbara keeps dropping hints about me all the time. Though I guess there’s also that openness unique to Celesta or rather, the cat beast colony.
“Uwaaa!! Maybe it’s fine for you guys since you’re the winners!! I want to show a little manly side too!! But honestly, this might be my last chance to hook up with a girl that cute!! How can you guys be so confident? It’s scary!!”
“You’re taking this way too seriously”
“Being cautious isn’t always a good thing. Her youth isn’t going to last forever either. If you keep pushing and she still stays vague, she’ll just think you’re a loser with no chance”
“Don’t say that!!”
If Keel keeps being such a pain, maybe I should just go for Barbara……who could blame me for having that thought for a split second? No, I just thought it, okay? I already have plenty of female slaves, and it’s not an equal relationship at all, so it’s true that if I actually made a move, I’d be a total jerk, right? ……But I can’t help thinking it might be a shame to just leave Barbara hanging like this.
After all, if I just leave her be, who knows how many more years she’ll be left hanging in limbo.
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Still feeling a bit uneasy, I visit the Cat Beast Mansion. The children are rehearsing their play at the church-temple. That means they can’t rehearse together with the cat beast’s performance, which is scheduled for the same day. In that case, I guess we’ll just have to practice here. True to its former life as an inn, the Cat Beast Mansion has a fairly spacious living room. It’s not quite as large as the chapel at the church-temple, but it’s big enough for a little exercise. And watching us is one of Dianne’s three younger sisters, Lukino, who loves to dance. She must have seen an opportunity in the cat beasts’ physical abilities and sense of rhythm, and her plan was to liven things up with some dancing, even if it was a bit rushed. ……So.
“Wait, why are you naked, Lukino?”
“Ah, come on. Don’t just barge in like that”
Lukino was striking poses completely naked in front of the cat beasts.
“You said no explicit stuff, right!?”
“It’s not a sexy dance. I tried teaching them some tricky moves, but they said their clothes were fluttering around so much they couldn’t tell what they were doing”
“……But does that mean you have to get naked? What if someone other than me walks in?”
“Well……it’d be an accident, I guess”
Is that the end of it according to Talc’s standards? ……Looking a bit put out, Lukino struck a pose teasingly showing off her breasts.
“Since we’re here anyway……wanna watch?”
“Of course I’ll watch”
“……You answered that right away”
Even Lukino-san was taken aback. But if I’m allowed to watch, I’m going to watch. I’m going to watch a full-nude dance. I’m a Polka kid who loves boobs. Eagerly joining the cat beasts sitting in a triangle formation, I looked up at her tanned, naked body.