Chapter 830: Harvest Festival Day 12
Jeanne’s 「Formal attire」 is quite unique. Before Grandpa Dan arrived, she seemed to just wear whatever Sereene or Oregano dressed her in, but this time, she’s clearly emphasizing regional or racial identity. Specifically, she wears a simple dress layered with multiple, exquisitely intricate metalwork pieces. Each piece is thin, light, and unadorned—like tags or talismanic plates. Yet when these shimmering fragments of red, blue, gold, silver, white, and black metal cover her entire body, they become a luxurious garment in themselves. Not a single gem is used. It’s simply an assembly of polished metal pieces, left in their raw state. Worn by her small frame, they radiate a brilliance and splendor beyond compare. Even among the gathered beauty of dragons and elves, her presence stands out exceptionally.
“This, Grandpa Dan made it……?”
“Seems he made it from scrap metal brought from the colony and metal pieces he bought from that persimmon-colored guy. Truth is, for a dwarf woman, making this sort of thing herself is the proper way”
“Persimmon-colored……Gorkus? No, not persimmon, orange”
The orange clan of Gorkus is strong in blacksmithing too, right? Well, since they’re a clan proud of their martial arts, it’s natural their armor would be……that sort of thing.
“People around here might say it’s tacky, but us dwarves live in caves, so we can’t really wash clothes much. Even at festive occasions, we don’t fuss over fancy cloth kimonos; we go all out with decorations like this instead”
“I see”
Well, given that desert lifestyle, it makes sense they don’t share Polka’s hygiene standards. Or rather, I know most dwarves don’t bathe much. In that kind of life, when it comes to formal wear, 「Pretty clothes」 just seem unrealistic. Dwarves handle everything with blacksmithing.
“Well, it’s kinda jangly and embarrassing, but I’d appreciate it if you’d save Grandpa’s face”
“No, no, it’s splendid. In Trot, there’s not a single blacksmith who looks down on dwarf culture”
Grandpa Dan……was having his drink poured by Jackie-san a little ways off. He kept glancing this way while also keeping an eye on Peter, looking rather fidgety. This 「Ceremonial outfit」 he made for his granddaughter—Jeanne looks a bit embarrassed by it, but I genuinely think it’s beautiful, purely as an exotic piece. The luxurious concept of polishing various alloy surfaces without using paint, then combining them to create color……that’s wonderful. And how it fits when wrapped around Jeanne’s small body—it seems crudely made, yet you can tell it’s been designed with delicate precision. The headpiece, earrings, necklace, bracelet chains, brooch, buckle, sash-like braided ornament……. Some of these unusual accessories I don’t even know the names for. At first glance, they appear loose and don’t seem like a set, yet it’s clear they’re calculated to avoid snagging or clanking against each other. And when she dons them all and turns, each piece reflects light at a carefully chosen angle, making them assert themselves in perfect succession. Not a single moment passes without Jeanne’s form being radiant. One can’t help but be awed by this almost obsessive craftsmanship.
“……That’s amazing. Truly. Beautiful”
“Nya……nyahaha, hearing you say that with that expression again makes me blush”
It’s not just that Jeanne herself doesn’t look like she has a child……she hasn’t lost a shred of that girl’s cuteness (though honestly, age-wise, she’s definitely still at that stage where you wonder if it’s really okay to have had a kid). It’s also the incredible skill of Grandpa Dan, who, as her grandfather, truly understands and cherishes that charm. After hesitating over which to praise, Jeanne blushes at the ambiguous compliment while dancing.
“Truth is, Peter’s here too, and I still can’t let Ele out in crowds easily……even though Selenium and the others said they wouldn’t come, I hesitated about whether I should go to the festival myself”
“……Yeah. But while Peter is important, your youth is important too. This day, this year, only comes once. You shouldn’t treat it lightly”
“……Right”
Saying the word 「Youth」 suddenly made me feel old. Maybe it’s because kids in the thick of it don’t dress up their 「Now」 with fancy words like 「Youth」. ……Come to think of it, Jeanne is my age. But for a dwarf to reach the same physical age as me now, it takes twice as many years as she’s actually lived. Which means, by the time Jeanne hits 27 in human years—that age where getting called 「A bit of an old lady” starts to get depressing—I’ll already be 54. ……Thinking about it too much just makes me feel complicated.
“……Jeanne is half my age, huh”
“Why bring that up now? What’s up?”
“Nothing……just, again, I really respect and thank you for bearing my child”
My very tiny partner. Even dancing like this, if we cling together, all you see is her crown. But she really is the mother of my child, and the woman who will bear me another. Thinking that, I can’t help but feel this might have been an even more incredible encounter than meeting the elves.
“You’ve still got a long stretch ahead where having kids is totally expected, you know♪”
“……Let’s keep working hard and make lots more”
“N♪”
Just hearing the words, it sounds like a slightly forward but normal conversation for a young couple. But watching them dance, they look exactly like an adult and a child. And the danger level of their plans to make this girl’s belly round again is beyond just a little. Yet, no one can fault them for it. That’s the authority of a mother of one.
“Looking forward to that merciless breeding session where I get treated like a masturbation toy again♪”
“……Could we keep that kind of talk a bit more subtle during the day?”
Compared to Jeanne, Maia wore a more orthodox elf-style outfit. Like most of her clan, she wasn’t particularly concerned with clothes, but even she was making an effort today, wearing something more proper than her usual haphazardly wrapped cloths to up her fashion game. Emma’s positive influence on dressing properly might be playing a part. Honestly, I do like naked girls. Truth be told, I’d love to be surrounded by beautiful girls, completely naked, doting on me and showering me with affection. But I always try to emphasize the appeal of girls who dress up for me, especially trying to impress that point strongly on Maia. Seeing her modest fashion sense finally starting to take root is quite moving.
“Nice outfit”
“Yeah. ……Selenium made it for me”
“Selenium……?”
“She said she had free time, so she sewed it up in about half a day”
Wait, Selenium has free time to look after Elenia? ……Well, Apple, Jeanne, and the Baroness help out too, so maybe she has more leeway than a typical mom.
“She said she has more peace of mind lately since Andy-sama hasn’t been doing such dangerous things”
“……Yes”
Sorry about that. It’s true that before the Kalwin incident, I was constantly in life-or-death crises whenever anyone took their eyes off me. For Selenium, who was so obsessed she traveled all over the world on a whim just to find me, hearing those reports repeatedly in Polka must have nearly killed her mentally.
“With all these dragons around, there’s no way Andy-sama could get kidnapped anymore, right?”
“……I see. So for Selenium, the increase in contract dragons meant that kind of thing”
I found her welcome surprisingly warmer than I expected. Besides, Selenium’s skills are incredibly diverse and advanced to begin with. She could easily handle the duties of a devoted wife and mother on her own. With so many helpers for childcare, sewing clothes on the side must be a breeze. ……Maybe she’s competing to keep Oregano from dominating the fashion scene, I thought. You’re surprisingly strong, Selenium.
“Alright, let’s dance, Maia”
“Okay”
Taking Maia’s hand, I stepped out onto the square. The sun had dipped considerably, and the number of dancers was already thinning out. Those dancing at this hour were mostly children freed from their chores, ladies from the women’s association who couldn’t make it earlier for similar reasons, and then the lazybones crowd who’d enjoyed their fill of dancing and food and were taking a stroll to work it off……the gallery was either nicely tipsy or busy cleaning up, so we weren’t getting much attention. The band had fewer members than at the start, and the music itself hinted the end was near. You could call it carefree, or more honestly, a bit of a mess. I felt a little sorry for dancing in this state as I stepped with Maia, but she danced for me, staring only at me, completely oblivious to everything else.
“……The hair ornament”
“Yeah”
“You like it, then?”
“Of course”
The one Maia wore was a cheap hair clip I’d bought at Basson’s sundries shop sometime ago. But when worn by the perfect beauty Maia, any impression of it being cheap vanished. No, since Maia liked it and bought it herself, calling it cheap probably wasn’t right.
“……I made you one too, right?”
I suddenly remembered and blurted it out. I distinctly recall her saying back then, 「This one’s better than the store-bought one」.
“That one was for when I was more serious”
“……Serious?”
Maia kept staring at me intently and nodded. ……Emm, she doesn’t usually care much about fashion……does she have plans to get more serious than this?
“If a man receives a woman’s charm to its fullest, there should only be one thing left to do afterward. But that’s not possible right now”
“Wait, that charm theory……is that from Hilda-san or Cosmos-san?”
“……? Mother mentioned it, didn’t she?”
“……Asti is no slouch either”
The fact she seems to say it with a purer heart than Hilda-san and the others makes it worse…….
Right, the remaining ones……I look around, trying to find the last members. Anzeros, Aurora, Irina, Christie……in a way, it feels like only the key figures in Polka and Mori’s relationship are left. But.
“And with that, this year’s Harvest Festival Pair Dance is over!”
……Eh. Eh, wait……there are four more people!?
“W, Wait……”
“Smithson-dono”
“!”
The last four, looking like they’re wryly smiling at my attempt to protest, speak up.
“It’s over, huh”
“Well, the other dancers were getting pretty thin on the ground”
“We were really looking forward to it though……”
Ah, uh. No, wait a minute. Four more performances… might be tough, but if we do it the Azer way, maybe if they just play one more song…
“It can’t be helped. A person of power shouldn’t make unreasonable demands at times like this, Smithson-dono”
“Bu, But……I mean”
“Don’t make such a pathetic face”
Irina crossed her arms and grinned.
“We’ve gathered such talented performers. Let’s enjoy the rest among ourselves”