290 - - Episode 288. Comfort party

The village of spirits was opened and Sylphy and I were fighting a war against children with unlimited physical strength. Deanne fell, Dolly fell to her knees, we fought our way through such a miserable battlefield, and we made it to our rest time with aplomb. ...... Let's not get carried away with our idle imaginings, let's continue our rounds.

"Ah, Master!"

When I entered the rose garden, Gina noticed me and came running up to me with Shiva. It seems that Gina is in charge of the Rose Garden now.

"Gina, Sheba, thank you for your hard work. How is the rose garden?"

Yes, everything is fine. The kids seem to like the rose garden and are having a lot of fun playing in it."

Gina seemed to be happy that the children were enjoying the rose garden that we had created, and she seemed to be in better spirits than when she had been with the children at the park. She continues talking to me, stroking the shiva floating in front of my face, as if to say she did a good job.

"I'm glad you're having fun. I'm sorry, but you'll have to take care of the Rose Garden for me, won't you? We'll take a quick look around and then go to the park.

"Okay. I'll take care of it."

Boom!　Gina takes care of it by slapping her big breasts. It's a sight for sore eyes, but she's my apprentice.

"Master, is something wrong?"

No, no, it's nothing. I'll see you later.

I let go of Shiva, say goodbye to Gina, and depart for a tour of the Rose Garden. Small animals (spirits) fly around amidst the blooming roses and sparkling water of the canal, and when they notice me and Sylphy, they come to play with us lightly, as if to say hello.

......Fantasy is fantasy, but I feel out of place. This kind of place is the place where sparkling heroes of shoujo manga walk, not me by any means.

"Hey, they're waiting for you. Go play."

Sylphy pats the spirit of a small bird that has been flirting with her lightly and encourages it to go play. The little bird flaps its wings and flies away with a "beep". Yes, Sylphy looks good in the rose garden. It's like watching a scene from a story.

Maybe it's not the right place for me, but if it suits everyone but me, I guess it's all right. Oh, I don't think Nomos looks good there either, so he's with me.

"Yuta, are you still going to look around the Rose Garden?"

"No, this place looks fine, let's go to the park next."

"Okay."

I know enough to know that the Rose Garden is beautiful and a place where spirits can enjoy themselves. Let's head for the park quickly. It's right next door, though, so we'll be there soon.

"...... is so clearly excited."

"Yes, it is. Well, the floating spirits and lower level spirits are usually full of energy, but now they have a lot of equipment to play with, and they can play with Sarah and the others, so I guess it can't be helped."

Well, they are certainly flocking to the playground equipment and to Sarah and her friends. It's a rare opportunity to play while materializing. A child would be excited. It's heartbreaking to see babies crawling and dashing around on the balance beam, but it's a spirit anyway, so it's all good. I'm used to it.

"Yoo-tah!" "Cue!"

Belle, who had ridden on Rain, came charging at us with floating spirits and lower-level spirits in tow. Then she surrounded me and Sylphy and clung to us tightly. I heard Sylphy's voice from next to me, "Kya", so I guessed she was in the same situation.

With a "meow", the kitten I was taking care of in the cafeteria came on my shoulder. When I felt a weight on my head, I heard a "ahhh" and at the same time, a hand smaller than Bell's smacked me on the forehead. It seemed that there was a baby on my head.

"Yuta, lots of friends. Belle, that's fun!"

Belle, on top of Rain, talks to me with a big smile on her face. She is so happy to have more friends to play with that she is waving her arms and legs around while riding on Rain. Rain, who is being ridden, is flapping his flippers and saying "coo-coo-coo" with him, probably feeling the same way.

"Well, I'm glad you're having fun. But in paradise, Belle and Rain are the guides, so make sure you treat your friends well.

"Cue "hospitality-......May-rook-""

Upon hearing the word "hospitality," Belle had a few moments of hesitation before confidently declaring that she was going to the maze. In Belle's mind, hospitality means going to the maze. Since Belle likes to play chase in the maze, she thinks the other children will be happy too. Well, the maze is fun, so she's not wrong.

"Okay!　Captain Bell, Captain Lane. Entertain our guests, the spirits, in the maze!"

"Yessir!" "Cu-cu-cu-cu!"

With a snap, Belle and Raine separated, each saluting me as they took on the task. My idiot!　Why do I play the captain myself when I almost forgot about it?

Oh, well, never mind. I've opened up. It's much harder to give an order and get a blank stare. There's no problem if you do it just for fun. You'll just be a little embarrassed later.

"Hey, guys!　Meiroiku-kew-kew.

Belle and Rain give the order and charge into the maze with the children who have come to play. Belle and the others are probably OK, so let's see how the other kids are doing. He looks at Sylphy, who is clinging to him, and they laugh at each other before resuming their patrol of the park.

Yeah, Marco is spinning around with one foot on the iron bar. He seems to be enjoying it, as the spirits around him are also flying around with him.

Sarah and Kikka are playing ball on the ground. Flare and Fuchu are running for the ball with them. Tulu is chasing after Tamamo and other animal-shaped fluffy things. ...... no problem? Let's just call it what it is. There are plenty of other places to look around.

*****

"Good work today. It's been a long day, but we've made it to the village of the spirits. We have another day tomorrow, but I hope you enjoy it as a celebration. Cheers!"

In addition to the usual members, Mr. Wind, Mr. Light, and Mr. Alvard have joined the banquet. The two spirit kings said they would be back tonight, but they are leaving after a few drinks.

The children have finished dinner and are staying at the inn with Belle, Fuchu, and Sarah. Ruby and the others are supposed to be waiting at the inn today, so the kids are probably having fun with each other right now.

Gina is staying alone in her room because it is hard for her to stay at the inn with that many children. Well, she seemed to want to drink a little, but I didn't want her to attend the banquet with all the whammies. I offered her a bottle of red wine and some snacks, and she grinned happily, so I guess she must be enjoying her nightcap by herself.

The spirits are gulping down their ale and wine. It's going to be like an office workers' drinking party today, as they are all saying how hard it was.

"Well, when was the last time I had such a close contact with floating spirits and lower class spirits? Was it like that when we were young?"

"Well, it was a long time ago, but I'm sure the concubines were just as excited as you were. It is not bad to spend time with the young once in a while.

Master Wind in his mini-dragon form and Master Light, who looks like a ball rabbit, are talking to each other with drinks in their hands and a strangely optimistic expression on their faces. They look so cute, but they look strangely old.

Next to him, Vita and Mr. Alvard are discussing about the future shift. It's a rare sight to see them, as they usually take care of the animals in the forest in a relaxed manner. It seems that even for Vita, the Great Spirit of Life, taking care of these frolicking children was hard work.

Haha, kids are supposed to be energetic. What a pity."

If, who usually takes care of children, is blasting Vita and Mr. Alvard. Come to think of it, If is very good at taking care of the children. She was also adored by Flare when they lived in the volcano, and her experience seems to be different from that of the other Great Spirits.

"I've played with lots of little kids, too, sister. But I didn't realize how hard it is to play with a group of children.

It's a stretch to equate playing with a few kids with being a kindergarten teacher. The atmosphere is different from that of an ordinary banquet. It's more like a consolation party than a banquet.

The banquet continues with a little more complaining than usual. Oh, I forgot to bring dessert for Mr. Wright. We're in the middle of drinking, but let's just ask him.

"Light-sama, Ruby made pudding, ice cream, and crepes...would you like to taste them?"

"Mmm, pudding?"

Mr. Light turns around with his round body. At this rate, it doesn't seem to matter that he's been drinking.

"Yeah, the recipe itself is the same, but I thought you might like to try it."

"Mm-hmm. Good. Let me taste it for you.

Light-sama, who is clearly fidgeting and flicking his ears, is trying his best to keep a serious expression on his face. Cute.

"I'll take care of it, then. What about you, Mr. Wind?"

"Well, I'd rather have a drink. Maybe next time you'll let me try it."

"Yes, sir."

Since Mr. Wind seems to prefer alcoholic beverages, we put a dessert in front of Mr. Light.

"Well, let's start with ice cream first.

Mr. Light deftly manipulates the spoon attached to the ice cream with his magical powers and brings it to his mouth. With his mouth, he says, "Mmm, it's alright! But you can clearly see that they are happy because their little round tails are wagging at high speed.

It's cute to see them being so happy like Belle and her friends, but it's also nice to see Tama-usagi who is trying to hold back her happiness but can't hide it. Maybe it's something like "Chirarhythm".

"Yes, it was quite good. As for me, was it the caramel?　I think you might want to increase the amount of this."

"Well, thank you. I'll let Ruby know.

"Yes, I'll give it another taste."

Mr. Wright, who seemed satisfied after eating all the desserts, offered some advice. After the dessert was finished, we had drinks again. "It's time for you two to go back to the palace of spirits," Mr. Alvard, who was about to drink ......, announced as he stood behind Mr. Wind and Mr. Light.

"What?　But you see, I can drink until morning and be back in no time, and I can still do my job."

"I thought you promised to be back by nightfall."

Mr. Alvard says, putting his face close to Mr. Wind's.

"But you know, Alvard, that's a figure of speech, a 'promise made'. ...... yes."

Mr. Alvard, who was trying to continue his resistance, put on Mr. Wind's words and convinced him with or without saying so. He is indeed the Spirit King's assistant.

"Well then, Yuta, thank you for your help. Earth also wanted to come visit me and I will come again.

I guess Master Earth is going to spend a lot of time in the cafeteria, but I don't mind since he doesn't seem to be too much of a handful.

"It's fine if you come to visit us, but don't skip work. You're causing trouble for the staff of the palace of spirits because of the influence of paradise. I'll be sorry if I'm responsible for your slacking off.

"What does Yuta think of me?　It's very rare for me to skip work."

They say that only on rare occasions do they skip work. It's hard to trust Mr. Alvard when he shakes his head from side to side. Maybe it is the result of Mr. Alvard and his team's efforts that he skips work on rare occasions.

"Mr. Wind, please stop talking and go back to your office. You can't even drink."

Mr. Alvard takes the cup away from Mr. Wind who tries to drink despite his objection and leads him outside. Mr. Wind, who had returned to his original form, looked back at us several times as he left. He wanted to resist at least, even though he would have been out of sight in an instant if he had really flown. Mr. Light went back without hesitation, though.

Even after Mr. Alvard sent Mr. Wind and Mr. Light away, the party continued. I've got to get some sleep... I won't have enough for tomorrow. I'll go back to my room when the time is right.