Chapter 75: Star Festival!
Lower Fire Month, 7th Day, 600 AGG
The Great Sea of Trees, Evasha.
A vast forest whose size could rival kingdoms, nay, empires. A tangle of life and greenery that hid multitudes of wonders among the savage monsters that stalked within.
And it was in this particular forest that Marith found himself again after the Goddess's intervention in Tob.
"Nearly ran into one of the Fifteen Lords this morning," Giulia wiped her mouth with the enchanted cloak they were all given. "If you see a big bird with crazy eyes, run and hide."
"No shit?" Zarel Moz Rela scoffed in disbelief as he chewed on a cube of cheese. "We have maps of this area and everything; why'd you let that elf bait you into the bird's territory?"
"They were almost dead! One more『Magic Arrow』, and I would've had them—"
"Committing to your task is commendable," Giulia shut her mouth and shrank at Vice-Captain Schoen's reprimanding tone. "Though not at the cost of dying so stupidly. Memorize the maps and dangerous locations better, Alessi. If you had stumbled into Magralel, Kurbis, or any of the more intelligent among the Fifteen Lords…"
The spellcaster's voice dropped off, leaving the rest unsaid. Like the Garici and other subhuman nations that resided in the ocean of trees, there existed creatures who were inconvenient to deal with, to say the least.
"Y-Yes Sir. I'll do that."
"Good, because we're assigned another target for early morning tomorrow," Schoen tapped the map, indicating a location roughly eight or so kilometers away from where their four man team was camping. "Now that we're pushing the damn elves back, refugees we weren't able to capture are consolidating into holdouts closer to the Crescent Lake."
Marith and his two peers solemnly nodded. This was… they really were getting close to the Theocracy's ultimate goal, weren't they?
'Elf King,' his nails bit his palms, digging into skin without his knowing. Their cursed enemy who resided in an alabaster tower seated by the Crescent Lake. 'Your days are numbered.'
Because of this detestable monster, thousands, tens of thousands of good men and women had to die in this death trap so far from home. If only the Executive Council would hurry up and send the Black Scripture…
"Our job is to neutralize this settlement before they can organize and launch ambushes on our comrades traveling the earthen road. Of the several hundred elves living there, Squad Three and Five estimate there's roughly around two hundred who can be considered dangerous combatants: thirty of which we must eliminate."
"Oi, what's with those numbers…?" Giulia mumbled in disbelief. "We're good, but we're not that good."
"That ain't all of it, right Vice-Cap?" Zarel's voice was low and serious. "Would be real stupid to waste our squad on a suicide mission."
'Not for the Holocaust Scripture of a hundred years ago,' that generation was a collection of humanity's finest—an entire Scripture filled with members residing in the Realm of Heroes.
Heroes who had been killed by the Elf King during the inception of the war, Marith grimaced. 'Would've still helped tremendously, but they'd get snapped up by the Black Scripture nowadays.'
"Of course, and that's why General Obinie will be deploying two battalions worth of soldiers to draw the brunt of enemy fire," Schoen slowly looked at each of them, driving the seriousness of the operation into their hearts. "I shouldn't have to say that we cannot let their sacrifices be in vain."
"Yes Sir!" Marith, Giulia, and Zarel replied in unison. None of them dared think lowly of the foot soldiers who made the Holocaust Scripture's missions possible.
"Good. The layout of the village isn't much different from what we've already seen, but stay on your toes. Are there any questions?"
Giulia's hand shot up. "My mana's not gonna be full by then, Vice-Cap. Am I sitting out this one?"
"We need all the firepower we can get. Just keep a close eye on your reserves and retreat to the rearlines when you're running low."
"Who's dealing with the monsters then?" Marith asked. "I'm guessing we're taking half the Scripture to take out our targets."
"Squads One, Two, and Seven. Everyone else, us included, will be saving our strength for the settlement."
"Sounds good to me," Zarel flopped down on his bedroll. "Is that it, Vice-Cap?"
"Yes. I have to go and communicate with the general and his advisors. Don't get in trouble while I'm gone."
"What is this slander?!"
"Keep an eye on them, Marith," he repressed a groan while Schoen left the camouflaged tent. Why did his comrades have to be so unbecoming of their positions?
"I'm hungry!" Giulia grumbled and plopped down next to where Zarel was laying and doodling in a journal. "Gimme your snacks, Rela."
"Didn't you pack your own?" Zarel's piece of charcoal scraped the fine parchment of the book without pause. "And why do you always ask me?"
"Marith's suck, and no way I'm asking Vice-Cap," her green eyes drooped as she sulked. "Whatever. Grouch. Can't believe I'm missing out on the festival for this."
"Eh."
'Mine does not suck.'
Their temporary compartment was filled with a brief stillness, a rare one that happened to be peaceful. In the case that an intruder approached and bypassed their hidden sentries, the『Alarm』they casted would provide a sufficient response time.
Alas, his comrades ensured the peace would be a short one.
"You hear about the Draconic Kingdom canceling their tributes to us?"
"Did they? News from the outside that aren't orders comes in pretty damn slow… haven't we had that defense deal in place for generations?"
"Guess Dark Scale Dragon Lord thought enough was enough," Zarel shrugged. "We've gone and been replaced by the Lady of Wings' angels. Heard some rumors, although it's the sort of thing you really have to see for yourself, huh?"
'You really do.'
If he hadn't seen the Goddess firsthand with her armies of demigods, the cataclysmic magic she casually tossed out, every inch of her, then he too would still be skeptical of the trumpeted tales.
Now he knew the embellishments fell short of the real deal.
"Hmm… Queen Oriculus is allowing beastmen in her domain. Or so I've heard."
"She didn't allow them before?"
"Zarel!" Giulia gaped at the disinterested man. "That's awful!"
"You heard right," Marith interjected. There was an abundance of subjects he was forbidden from speaking about, but this little ought to be fine. His comrades should have a clear understanding on a topic this important whether he told them or not. "Beastmen, demihumans… Draconic Kingdom's also got a bunch of elves coming in too. Ex-slaves straight out the Beastman Country."
'Does this mean they would've opened up to the denizens of the ocean like the Holy Kingdom did?' An idle musing, for the aquatic demihumans had fled the northern stretches of the Asturian Sound roughly two hundred years ago. 'Bunch of people who don't know anything probably blame us for that.'
"Oooh, poor fuckers," Giulia winced in pity. Despite being embroiled in a brutal conflict against elves, it was hard not to feel some degree of sympathy for the ones serving under the subhuman savages of the east. "Think they got it worse than the bastards back home?"
"Goes without saying, Alessi," Zarel rolled his eyes before arching an eyebrow towards Marith. "How do you know this stuff?"
"Can't say," Marith popped a piece of dried fruit into his mouth. "But I can assure you that it comes from a reputable source."
"Windflower it is…"
Marith made no movement to confirm or deny Zarel's muttering. Didn't matter much if they knew, to be honest. "What I'm trying to say is, don't expect heavenly reinforcements anytime soon."
"Not like we ever did in the first place. Why would Dark Scale bother with what we're doing when we stalled on her eastern front for so long?"
"I mean, higher ups didn't have enough info!" Giulia argued. "What if the beastmen had people who could put up a fight against the Black Scripture? Holding back was the best decision."
Marith silently agreed. Though his heart ached for the masses of the Draconic Kingdom, it was safer for the Theocracy to conserve their strength on the off-chance the demihuman invaders were stronger than they thought.
"Bet they don't see it that way," Zarel sighed and put his journal away. "Doesn't matter now; angel's gone and butchered her way through the beastmen. Luck of the gods, getting saved like that, eh?"
"Saved…" Flashes of fire, light and screaming, twisted wood echoed in his mind. He shuddered to imagine such devastation directed at humanity, and thanked the Six their kin was as benevolent as they.
Savior.
Butcher.
In this small corner of existence, was there any difference between the two?
'No. There isn't.'
The Draconic Kingdom was fortunate the Goddess happened to be on their side. The Slane Theocracy was fortunate that the Holocaust Scripture had been stationed in Evasha.
Similarly, the beastmen and elves were unfortunate because of the same 'saviors.'
Elves more than beastmen, probably.
Freire grit his teeth as he kicked the twitching spider off the end of his spear.
An unknown forest, in a foreign country that was once their enemy, outside some city called Ur'lathla, fighting monsters the likes he wished he never got the chance to become familiar with.
'I wonder if this is supposed to make us feel bad for the beastmen,' casualties were shockingly low, but Goddess's wings, was the neverending combat exhausting. 'Dammit, why can't we bring shields?'
The answer was clear; speed and mobility were of greater importance to the Rajan heading his squad than a robust defense was. What their mobility couldn't avoid, the druids and priests in the rear would heal, and what they couldn't heal—
"『Heads down!』" Ka'yilt, the cougarwoman lord in charge of their roaming detachment, shouted. Freire instinctively dropped to the ground, narrowly avoiding the bolt of frost blitzing overhead. "『Snipers, focus on that Weblord! War priests, don't be stingy with your mana!』"
"『Over Magic - Mass Bull's Strength』!" Even with Over Magic, the 'Mass' version of the spell should've been well above the robed cougarman's capabilities to cast, but the soft glow that infused the entire group told no lies. 'A Talent? A special skill from their vocation? The new curriculum Her Majesty implemented hasn't gotten to this stuff yet.'
A burst of rounded stones blurred from a squad to their left and perforated the bulbous, luminescent abdomen of the Mac'tal. "『Push forward! We're heading right to support Rajan Ur!』"
"Gah," Freire almost fell flat on his face if it weren't for Rokana grabbing him by the collar. "You humans aren't cut out for the forest."
"Won't be hearing me disagreeing," he muttered to himself and did his best to follow his fellow vanguards. Rokana's indictment was correct; Freire, and the Draconic Kingdom's army by extension, weren't trained to fight in this chaotic terrain, Theirs was the plains, where commanders could array them in orderly formations—formations that were obviously impossible to replicate in the verdurous tangle.
'Beastmen have their own though,' he just wasn't used to them. Smaller groups surrounding a central headquarters could respond faster to threats in this environment while also ensuring a place to retreat to if numbers became an issue. 'Is Her Majesty planning for us to transition to an occupying force after this?'
But that made no sense either because weren't the angels already—?
"Pay attention, you fool!" Kan'iln smacked the back of Melac's head. "You almost hit one of our own!"
"Fuckin' fleabag…"
"Melac," he didn't turn around, the advance forward consuming too much of his depleting focus. "Be more careful."
"Yes Sarge!"
Maybe 'occupying force' was the wrong term. Since they were told to get along with the beastmen as best they could, Her Majesty might be looking into the future where ordinary civilians would settle among the demihumans. When that time came, having a corps of people who built strong bonds with the beastmen through combat could be an invaluable 'bridge' of sorts. 'As expected of the Queen, to accomplish multiple goals through this single decree.'
Freire grunted, activating『Fortress』to tank a Swordstalker's strike he couldn't deflect. Fighting for hours was taking its toll on everybody involved, and his squad's shift wasn't over for a couple more. Honestly, the things they were being put through for the sake of cultivating strength…
"Vanguards hold position. Keep the spiders off our backs while we take out that Bladereaver," Ka'yilt removed the bleached-white longbow hooked to her back and notched a handful of arrows glistening with some foul alchemy. "Rest of you pick off the Sanctifiers."
"Yes Rajan!"
The Zoastia Lord's muscles rippled as she drew the string of the bow taller than the average human, body emanating an intense heat. Not for the last time, Freire thanked the gods that the beastmen never took the Draconic Kingdom seriously, as much as it wounded his pride. Goddess knew how much more damage they would've inflicted before she liberated them.
"『Mushti Flowering』."
A loud bang erupted from her weapon, and the isolated Bladereaver staggered backwards, a bouquet of arrows sprouting out its cephalothorax. The tigermen rushed to encircle it, smacking the spindly vermin to and fro. "Rokana."
"Somebody drop a taunt!" A detachment of Tiger and Lion Zoastia roared, causing the Mac'tal that had been targeting Freire's group to focus on them instead. "Thanks! Clan Nakh and Kroh'or really know how to pull through, heh."
"That's the—ugh," the Swordstalker finally died after he stabbed it for the fourth time. "The mopey looking guy back in Kruurat?"
Bang. This time, the Bladereaver fell, lengthy limbs splaying out like a stringless marionette. Another six to go, but the other divisions should be able to handle those.
"His Clan's warriors," Rokana threw bullet after bullet with all the casualness of someone taking a walk in the city streets. "Rogrek has… problems to deal with. He'll be here once he sorts that out."
'Must be related to the commotion then,' Freire wisely kept his mouth shut. What happened that day was clearly a sensitive topic. "They're tough."
"Hell yeah, they are!" Spiders burst in splashes of gore, their brethren soon following as they came from the front and above. "Need a breather?"
"I wish," his arm cramped, the point of the spear missing its mark and allowing the Swordstalker to knock him prone. Rokana quickly pulled the vermin off before its sharpened appendages could dig into his flesh. "Shit."
"Your lord—"
"General."
"Your General, whatever, why's he holding the angels back at HQ?" One, two, three stones whizzed unerringly through the air to annihilate a Sanctifier that found itself isolated from its guards. "I get if you guys get a kick out of seeing us bite the dust, but you all are dying out here too, ain'tcha?"
For the Dragon Queen who led them through the worst calamity that had befallen the kingdom since its founding, he—everyone—would gladly give their lives without complaint.
"It's not my place to question General Ergast's strategy or the Queen's desire," Her Majesty's cause mattered not. Should a hand question its master? "『Piercing Strike』."
"Crazy—" Flaming missiles struck Melac, burning the poor ex-bandit to death before he could even scream. "Oop, there goes your friend."
Freire frowned and bent down next to Melac's smoldering corpse. "Cover me for a second."
He ripped off the man's identification tag, took out a knife and sawed their pinky off in accordance with the General's commands. Hopefully the poor guy won't quit after this.
"Ah. So that's why all of you are this nonchalant," Freire jolted at the sudden remark. Ka'yilt was looming over him, a shadow of exhaustion making itself known upon her brow. "Resurrection, I'm guessing?"
"Probably, though I can't say for sure," he trailed behind the beastman lord, a few steps ahead the bulk of her retinue.
"She wants us to ask then…?" What was she talking about? "That's quite devious."
"I guess," throwing out a vague statement of agreement should be okay.
"Mm, something to ponder for later.『Don't chase!』" The warriors who sought to chase after the retreating Mac'tal halted in their steps and returned to the main body of the detachment. "Looks like we're calling it a day earlier! Take a quick break, and get ready to load up these corpses!"
A unified exhalation escaped the lungs of beastmen and humans alike, some sitting down, others supporting themselves against trees, all of them grateful for the reprieve.
"Where were the druids and arcanists?" Freire groaned and shook his waterskin. Empty. Drat. "Could've used the support."
"They're busy reinforcing the city and servicing whatever golems Clan Ur's packed in storage," Rokana tossed him a metallic tube. "Drink's on me, human."
He huffed, unscrewing the top of the container to access the water within. "Magic item?"
"Mmhm. Absolutely got to have these in the field. Never know when your druid will run out of mana, you hear?"
"Makes sense," the Draconic Kingdom didn't have the kind of magic-capable population the Beastman Country did, so he didn't really understand, but it sounded reasonable. "Are they sending any more?"
"Reinforcements? This is mostly everybody, but I can't speak for you humans. Oh! I mentioned Clan Kroh'or—"
"You did, yes."
"We're waiting on the rest of them. Still, real shame the southern clans won't participate," Rokana removed the heavily enchanted gauntlet covering his right hand and forearm. "Like, 'not our problem,' know what I mean?"
"I get that," he knew all too well. People were happy to ignore crises until disaster knocked on their doors.
"Don't worry though; our forces here aren't pushovers," why was a beastman trying to act so friendly to a group who were essentially here to enforce the laws of a foreign land? Rajan Nadhkrt had been easy to get along with too. 'Maybe it's not that surprising? Forging good relations benefits them more than it does us.'
Though that wasn't entirely true either. Because the kingdom lacked thorough information on the regions and countries east of the Beastman Country, forming a compact was beneficial to the Crown as well. The Slane Theocracy had chased out potential aquatic neighbors in the Asturian Sound decades ago, but Freire believed they wouldn't be able to interfere so easily in this particular demihuman country.
"I'm going to drop this off," the soldier dragged himself upright, dangling Melac's bloody finger and identification tag. "Tell me if anything happens."
"Doubt I'll be able to if something does happen."
Freire found his mouth curving into a smile despite all the shit that just went down, and would continue to go down. Smiling in spite of the fact that he was spilling and shedding blood for beastmen that were the despised enemy of the kingdom.
'This isn't… too bad.'
"You have a surprising number of attachments to the Viridian Expanse."
The many arms of a masked angel slowly lowered a bulky, wooden table to the ground. "It's the place I showed up in, y'know? Lots of spots where we don't have to worry about being bothered either."
"The army does training exercises in this area nowadays."
"Not here! Plus, I told the angels to keep them away for tonight."
'I'm surprised this clearing was left alone,' considering its proximity to the military outpost, it was only natural for it to be used in exercises. That wasn't mentioning how strange the willow tree felt either… her beloved did mention it was a dryad, didn't she? 'Forests and jungles are simply that way, I suppose.'
"Yuriko, it's only us," she incredulously watched the angel lay wicker hampers, ceramic pots, mismatched bowls and plates atop the table. Small wonder they'd been busy of late if this spread was the fruit of their labor. 'And this 'Neralyn' though they don't seem keen on making themselves known.'
"Right?" The angel awkwardly laughed. "I guess I sort of lost track and…"
They stiffly gestured at the pile of food that belonged in a village festival, not the petite pair it was intended for. "Yup!"
'She worked hard on it. Forget the why for a moment and be grateful,' Draudillon strode over and took a thinly cut slice of cured meat. "You did a great job, Yuriko. Thank you."
"I-It wasn't a problem," Yuriko ducked their head, Item Box closing as they settled a stack of stationery on a small corner.
"What's this?" She tip-toed, glancing over their shoulder. "Is it related to why we're outside?"
"Erm, promise you won't laugh?"
"After all the effort you've put in? I wouldn't dare."
"Back home—my old home, I mean—we had this seasonal holiday called the Star Festival, and one of the things you'd do was fix some paper slips on bamboo branches. There was other stuff like fireworks, food…"
'Those don't grow here,' the angel was surely aware of that, so there was no purpose in raising it now. "This festival sounds interesting seeing as you've been preparing for it so thoroughly. What were you celebrating?"
"So, there's a shepherd—cowherd? Nevermind, he was a cowherd who had a bunch of starcows and he met this star princess after her dad introduced them to each other."
"They fell in love?"
"Yeah! How'd you know?"
"Lucky guess."
"Uuu… anyway, they fell in love, got married, and spent a lot of time together," Yuriko continued. "But then the princess's dad got mad because they weren't doing their jobs. She was supposed to be weaving things for her dad, and the cowherd was supposed to be looking after the starcows."
'Were they really called starcows…?'
"Because of that, the dad decided to separate them—they live on opposite sides of the Milky Way, I think that's what the heavenly river was supposed to be."
This story was making less sense the more Yuriko was getting distracted. "They were separated by a large distance is what I'm assuming this Milky Way to mean."
"It's like," Yuriko frustratedly scratched their head. "You have this planet, and then you have the sun, and then a bunch of stars make up the Milky Way."
"I get it," the vast void that lay beyond the boundaries of the World was filled with uncountable multitudes of twinkling celestials. "Quite the strict father though, hm?"
"He let them see each other once a year," Yuriko's brows scrunched together. "They were uh, still separated by the river, so a flock of birds have to help by becoming a bridge every year when they're allowed to meet up."
Her partner's tale made next to no sense without the context Draudillon was sure she lacked. No, she doubted it was even relevant to the true purpose of the festival to begin with. Being a ruler herself, she understood the reason didn't matter as much as the unity it fostered within one's subjects. Still…
"There's worse fates," Draudillon wrapped her arms around the angel's waist, propping her chin upon a shoulder. " 'Then the lovers were separated forever, never to meet again.' An ending of that ilk would be the norm in this case."
"I would hate it. Even if there's worse stuff that could've happened, I'd still hate it."
"… I'm not going anywhere," she nuzzled Yuriko's neck. "And nobody's forcing us apart either."
"I, I know. Just—thinking about it sucks," her beloved swallowed before shaking their head and tapping the table laden with containers. "A-Anyways! We should eat before everything gets cold!"
'Maybe we could try to implement this Star Festival as a national holiday,' Draudillon mused to herself as she forked a minced meat roll into her mouth. 'Say it's a holy day set by the 'Goddess' or something.'
For some reason, the idea of sharing this special occasion didn't sit right with her. It was theirs. Her and her beloved's.
'On the other hand, eating all of this by ourselves is impossible.'
Even with Yuriko's theoretically unlimited stomach capacity—gods knew where it all went—it would take an absurdly long time.
"We're not finishing this," the two of them had barely made a dent in the veritable feast. "I suppose you could, but there's other activities you wanted to do, no?"
"The short-strips!" A clunky translation, and not the first she'd heard. Even the innate blessings of the World couldn't bridge all linguistic gaps. "Okay, you guys pack the food away."
While the summons on standby carefully deposited the angel's bounty into their Item Box, Draudillon picked up a smooth piece of paper—the angel really selected the ones for official documents, huh?
"What are these for?" She turned around, facing her quiet partner. They were deep in thought, lost in the forlorn dregs of memory. "Yuriko?"
"I went with a friend once. We took a train to the outer ring of the Greater Neo-Tokyo Arcology," a hint of wistfulness blew over Yuriko's face. "It was kinda embarrassing, now that I'm bringing it up."
"You don't have to share if you don't want to."
"No, it's fine. Before, I always put up blank slips," Yuriko rubbed the slip of parchment between their slender fingers.
"I'd be there, pen in my hand, and just blank out," they looked up from the blank rectangles of parchment and towards the bamboo tree. "But I still wanted to have something up there, y'know?"
Draudillon quietly waited for Yuriko to continue, her heart aching at the nostalgia in their voice.
"It's funny," Yuriko broke the tender silence. "I used to leave empty slips because I didn't know what I wanted, but now…"
They smiled, beamed, at her.
"Now I have so many things I wanna wish for that I don't even know which ones to write down!"
"I see," Draudillon's voice caught in her throat. Gods, why did she have to feel like this now? Yuriko was happy, so why did she have to ruin it by getting all choked up?
"Draudillon?" Yuriko dropped the slip of paper and worriedly grabbed one of her hands. "What's wrong?!"
'Thank you for putting me in your world.'
"No," Draudillon wiped her eyes with her free arm and tearfully smiled back. "I'm just glad you wanted to share today with me."
"W-Well, I'm happy you had the time to come," the angel stammered. "I wasn't sure because you've been super busy—"
"Let's write down all of them," she tightly hugged the angel. "Every last thing. Enough to make up for the years you couldn't think of anything. More than that, even."
"… together?"
"Together."
"Every year?"
"Of course," if she couldn't find time, she would make it somehow. "Every year, on this day, we'll return to this tree and tie our dreams to it. That is, if Neralyn is willing."
"Err, I'll ask later. I'm getting this 'annoyed' vibe from her right now…"
The willow was swaying rather unnaturally. Draudillon gave a grateful nod. "Then for this year at least, we'll impose on her."
"Sorry," Yuriko untangled themselves from her and directed a quick bow towards the inhabited tree. "And thanks."
'Wishes,' silky fingers drummed the wooden surface before picking up a quill and putting it to parchment. 'In that case, it's obvious, isn't it?'
Draudillon threaded a piece of twine through the hole she just noticed was punched in the top of each strip and passed it to an Archangel Flame. It flapped its wings twice, just enough to reach the lower branches, then tied the short-strip to the tree.
Her desires were clear, perhaps more than what was allowed for a sovereign of man, so writing them down didn't take long. Yuriko however…
Well, their penmanship wasn't slow. Sloppy, but not slow. They were paying attention during their tutoring sessions, right? 'Must be the excitement.'
"Done!" Yuriko proudly stood next to her, taking in the sight of the paper strips fluttering in the wind. "Um…"
"You mentioned fireworks when we arrived."
"Shoot, don't have any—there's those Flowerworks left over from Yggdrasil!" Yuriko's arms disappeared in the depths of their pocket dimension and came out with an armful of crystalline tubes that were unceremoniously dumped on the ground. "We should set them off!"
Draudillon picked one off the ground, examining the perfectly cut cylindrical prism containing an incandescent lily within. "I've heard of and seen fireworks, but Flowerworks?"
Its construction piqued her interest. She had seen flowers encased in all sorts of materials, but none gave off as strange a magical signature as these.
"They're cosmetic items—hm, that's not right… cosmetic consumables? Whatever, doesn't matter. You can shoot them into the sky and they go 'whoosh,' then 'crackle!' "
"Is that so…" She directed the topside of the item skywards. "How do you ignite them?"
"Good question," Yuriko hummed as they shook the Flowerwork. "No buttons or anything… maybe you think about firing—wa!"
The tube encircled by angelic fingers dematerialized into motes of light that joined together in a radiant bolt cutting a path across the dark of night. It flew higher and higher, slowing yet burning all the brighter as it neared the apex, the locus of purpose.
'Beautiful.'
Contrary to her expectations, the brilliant, somewhat colorful streak didn't explode in a burst of sparks like the fireworks she was accustomed to.
The Flowerwork bloomed, blossomed, bringing into being a storm of lilac petals bearing the wonders of earth to the lonely heaven.
"Woah…"
It, the flower arranged with petals, lingered in the sky for a few seconds longer before drifting away with the cool summer breeze: some falling to her and Yuriko's feet, the rest blown far and wide.
"Just think about firing you say?" Draudillon's own cylinder became intangible and chased the zenith like its predecessor had done—sprouting, spreading, scattering. "It's wonderful. I don't have the words for it."
"I've still got a couple hundred; bought a ton of them a few days before the servers shutdown, ten thousand gold each or something, so we don't have to hold back."
'Ten thousand gold…' She numbly stared at the crystal-encased flowers. Twenty thousand if they were to convert it to the local currency. "Would it be a problem if I saved a few?"
"For next year? Sure!"
"I was thinking more along the lines of providing the Magician's Guild with research materials. And as keepsakes too, if you don't mind."
"Sounds fine to me," Yuriko shoved a portion of the pile back into their Item Box. "Um, how many did you want?"
"That much is fine," Draudillon knelt down and lifted one upright before setting it off, her eyes attentively tracing its luminous pilgrimage. "You're not going to join me?"
"Oh!" The angel ran over, squatting beside her to ignite a Flowerwork of their own. "This one's a lotus!"
"Mm…"
"Drau, you can shoot a whole bunch of them at once!"
"Can you now?"
Underneath the clear, starry veil, two hopeful partners held hands, standing on one world to witness the vestiges of a dream from another.
Just like how a cowherd and princess crossed the heavenly river to meet one another, so too did she and the angel stumble into this moment—this culmination of joys and aches.
A wish. Heartfelt wishes to hang on a tree.
A miracle born out of happenstance. Sincere prayers answered not by a god, but by the sum total of their life experiences.
'As I thought,' Draudillon tore her gaze away from the flowering flares above. Yuriko's lips were half-open, golden eyes wide in awe and delight, unaware of their teal-green counterparts fondly staring at them. 'I'd rather keep this celebration to just us.'
