Chapter: 71. Never Mind!
The showy splendor, the clear breeze, and the bright moon.
The night of the Demon Race is filled with bustling stars, reflecting a world that doesn’t need oceans.
The Royal City of Canbino is usually quite closed off, with its gates firmly shut to prevent people from entering or exiting freely. But on Meritorious Award Day, the city opens up to travelers from surrounding nations, and after the award ceremony, an extravagant night market fills the streets.
“Don’t miss out! Our special little crafts from the Demon Territory! Sculpted six-winged stone ornaments! Bringing one home will be a display of elegance! Evil-repelling! Not expensive at all! Just one magic gold coin, and it’s yours!”
“Come check out our tavern! You can rest assured that our prices are fair, and as for taste, we’re the best in Canbino! Haven’t tried our unique Magic Crystal Lake frog soup? Then you’re truly missing out!”
Nothing else matters here; this land is all about the hustle and bustle.
Outside the Royal City, the number of houses has dwindled; the mountains are filled with flowers and grasslands, fields and paths crowded with vendors, and taverns by streams reflecting the moon where commoners can raise their goblets to drink, talk about the mighty achievements of the Demon King’s Army, and bask in the pride felt during the award ceremony. Their enthusiasm serves as the perfect accompaniment to their drinks.
In the open fields devoid of vendors and taverns, under a starlit sky with the sound of flowing water, locals from the Demon Race and travelers from other races sit together, gazing up at the sky, all eagerly anticipating the Demon Territory’s annual grand festival performance.
—The Magical Fireworks Festival.
All kinds of splendid Flame Magic are sealed in magic crystals in advance, and a multitude of these crystals are arranged at specific locations, each containing uniquely styled Flame Magic.
At the same time, the magic sealed within them is unleashed.
When the time comes, the sky will serve as a canvas, and the magic will be the paintbrush, creating a breathtaking display of colorful flames that can astonish the world.
Anyone who can make it to the Demon Territory wouldn’t want to miss this annual visual feast.
And among the dense crowd.
A few adorable figures hurriedly pass through the forest path, finally stopping in a less crowded area.
In the center stands a black-haired loli, frantically scanning the surroundings, confirming that this quiet spot is suitable for watching the festival, and after ensuring no one will disturb her, her eyes gleam with a light more spirited than the stars above.
“Yay! We really found a good spot! Belis, I won the bet, right? You said there wouldn’t be any space at this hour, so now you owe me two fish!”
“Okay, okay~ What’s a fish? How about I owe myself to the queen sister instead?”
“No way, hurry up and help me! Are you going to let others take our spot?”
With no time to entertain Belis’s nonsense, Xue Fei, transformed into Shaya mode, hurriedly pulls out a large rolled-up carpet from her Storage Magic. She half-crouches to push the carpet forward, spreading it out to cover the entire empty grassland.
This is a custom of the Demon Territory; as long as a spot is occupied, it must be marked to prove that they arrived first.
Finding this empty space wasn’t easy; Xue Fei and the others had run around the wilderness several times before discovering it!
In fact, they could use their privileges and not have to consult or search with anyone else to secure the best spot.
But Xue Fei would never do that.
It’s not that she thinks it’s too ostentatious or anything.
But because…
Revealing her identity would mean she would have to make a speech later!
She just wants to enjoy the fireworks without standing on a platform, saying things that waste her breath while everyone else is enjoying the moment. She also doesn’t want to sit in the most conspicuous place.
Thus, this operation has turned into a quiet stakeout.
To maintain anonymity, Xue Fei returns to her Shaya mode; this black-haired loli persona is someone no one recognizes in the Demon Territory.
She originally intended to give Belis a similar hairstyle as Shaya, but Belis stubbornly rejected it, saying she looked down on transforming into a common black-haired human, firmly protesting this suggestion.
So, she kept her silver hair and wore a black cloak, hiding her silver locks under the hood as a disguise.
How strange, Xue Fei remembers that Belis wasn’t always dismissive of humans? Has some recent human made her feel particularly annoyed? There hasn’t been anyone like that in the Aulus Kingdom lately, right?
“Xiya, what do you think?”
“I think… sigh, one should always maintain the greatest understanding of others’ malice; I have no objections.”
“You speak oddly.”
Xiya’s situation is easy; she can just maintain her Xiya mode.
Her silver hair, intended to mimic the royal family’s collateral branches, is somewhat distinct from Xue Fei’s pure silver hair; this silver hair has some grayish-white mixed in. It’s not pure silver, and it’s not uncommon among commoners, so it won’t attract too much attention. Only the main bloodline of the Demon King’s family possesses pure silver hair.
Though… the fact that these beautiful girls are acting together makes it quite unrealistic to go unnoticed.
“Shaya, Shaya! Haha, this time you really are Shaya! Are you sure there will be that firework performance you mentioned? I’ve never seen anything like that! I’m super excited!”
“If not, I wouldn’t have come. Livra, you just sit tight and wait. By the way, I haven’t released the new fish fry into the lake yet. Uh… Fire Lizard, you didn’t eat my fry, did you?”
“Do I eat everything?! What do you think I am?!”
Just kidding~ I’m just being cautious.
Everyone has changed into more convenient clothing, except for Timani, who is still wearing her green dress.
Don’t ask, just know she still doesn’t have any other clothes.
I’ll get her more later; I can’t let her not have her own wardrobe just because she’s a Fire Lizard.
Xue Fei deliberately drew a huge circular boundary, and placed a wooden sign at its edge, which said, “Whoever comes here gets beaten.”
After doing this, she returned to the center of the circle, which means this observation area is now claimed by this domineering loli.
Taking out the fruit juice drinks and various snacks and donuts she had prepared, she swung her little feet, patiently waiting for the beautiful moment when the fireworks would bloom.
Speaking of the fireworks festival, it’s a bit like the firework displays that existed in Xue Fei’s previous life.
The effects are similar, but this world doesn’t have gunpowder, so it’s impossible to replicate the scene where every household can launch fireworks; they can only use Flame Magic from the magic crystals to substitute. It should be more convenient, but the cost of magic is high.
The Flame Magic sealed in the magic crystals has lethal force and is strictly controlled by official departments of the Demon Race. Such performances are rarely seen, making this festival truly precious.
By the way…
“Belis, why have you been staring at me with your big eyes since earlier? Are you trying to show off that your eyes are bigger than mine? That’s unfair! Your face is bigger than mine, so naturally your eyes are bigger.”
“Uh… I see, this is the first time I’ve seen the queen sister like this up close. Shaya mode… is super cute too,” Belis murmured, her eyes filled with admiration and surprise.
“Is… is that so? Well, that’s enough looking; it’s getting too close, it’s quite hot.”
“Of course I want to take a closer look… Ah! Look! The firework magic performance has started!”
“Where…! Huh?!”
The moment Xue Fei turned to look at the sky…
—She was caught under Belis’s black hood.
Xue Fei felt her lips were as soft and bouncy as jelly, mixed with the unusual sensation of her teeth bumping against the jelly.
Under the hood, seeing Belis’s gentle, shimmering purple eyes up close, Xue Fei’s eyes widened in shock.
The kiss came suddenly, but ended just as quickly.
As Livra’s disappointed voice echoed, Belis sat back in her original position, giggling uncontrollably.
“Eh… what did Miss Belis say? There wasn’t anything? Did I miss something? Is the performance really that short?!”
“Oh, maybe I saw it wrong; it hasn’t started yet. We’ll probably have to wait a bit longer?”
“Can you even mistake that?!”
“Do you have an opinion?”
“No… no!”
Xiya also looked up at the sky, didn’t see the fireworks, but turned to find Xue Fei frozen in a sitting position like a duck, her pupils shaking.
“Xue Fei, what’s wrong?”
“I… she… you you you…! Ah! It’s nothing!”
“?”
What can I say about this!
If I expose Belis’s surprise attack now, she’d take revenge on me tonight!
Taking advantage of everyone talking about the fireworks festival again, Xue Fei crawled over to Belis and let her black hair drape over Belis’s lap.
The furious black-haired ball lowered her voice, like a kitten’s low growl.
“Seriously…! What were you suddenly doing? You scared me!”
“Did I scare you?”
“Of course! Isn’t that obvious! You could’ve just kissed, why did you have to pry my mouth open too… tsk! So rebellious!”
“Hehe… I had my reasons; it’s probably a kind of… ‘cannot do without’ mentality?”
“Cannot do without?”
Belis mysteriously twirled her finger in the air.
Then she placed it against Xue Fei’s lips in Shaya mode.
“Because I’ve never hugged the queen sister in this form. You went to the Aulus Kingdom for months, and it’s only after being away that I got this ‘Shaya’ look. If I don’t do something, wouldn’t it seem like the queen sister didn’t belong to me for those months, but to that golden-haired monster… Ah, I can’t handle that! So, queen sister, you must understand~”
“I’m so furious, but I can’t rebut you, how infuriating.”
“And even if the queen sister wants to hold me accountable, there’s no reason; after all, with your reflexes, you clearly could have avoided that, and you chose not to, which means…”
“Ah, ah, ah, hush! This topic is over! Over! No one say anything about it! Never mind!”
“Hehe, as long as the queen sister doesn’t blame me, it’s good~”
