Chapter 28 - Festival Of The Crimson Wolf (Part 1)

The flag of Crescentia is a crimson wolf shaped like a crescent moon, its fangs bared defiantly. The Crimson Wolf was their kingdom's symbol, and it could be seen anywhere during their festival in honor of that symbol.

The sweets, the prizes for the games, the banners.... everything was full of red wolves. Leron watched the whole town square in amazement. This was the capital of Crescentia, but the festivities were also being celebrated vigorously all across the kingdom as well. The King and Queen 'just so happens to go to a trip', and so the little Prince Vladstin would be the one blowing the crescent horn tonight to mark the first night of the seven-day festival.

The children of the Royal Orphanage scattered the moment Lady Wilhengard turns around, but the lady still managed to catch all of them like a mother goose catching her ducks. Under her watchful gaze, the orphans did not get lost in the crowd of spectators for shows or regular festive citizens. But there were two pairs that were able to escape.

One was Yulio and Raishti, who despite their tall heights and bright colored hairs still managed to hide behind walls and stalls to avoid getting seen by the Royal Orphanage's mistress. They were last sighted sharing candies on a stick by Suzhi who just grinned while shaking her head.

The other two were, of course, the quick-footed Vladstin and the clever Leron who figured out the best route through alleyways and secret passages so they could enjoy the festival to themselves.

"You must remember to return to the central platform at the town square, Your Highness, for the blowing of the horn." Leron reminded as they ran past dilapidated houses and narrow streets.

"That's still at least ten hours from now! Come on, I'll show you my favorite games."

They first went to a stall where people shoot balls towards three wooden carvings of a wolf's head, and the one who shoots the balls in all the three wolves' mouths within five tries will receive a stuffed red wolf.

"That red wolf stuff toy is well-made, the craftsmanship is impeccable." Leron praised.

Vladstin nodded. "It looks cute, right? Do you want it?"

"I do, but my aim is not that good, and the shooting goals are placed too high. I would be at a disadvantage because of my height." Leron said, but Vladstin already paid three coins at the gamemaster.

"You'll never know if you try. Good luck!" Vladstin threw the rattan balls at him in quick succession.

Leron struggled to catch them. A large, burly adolescent boy with half red and half blue hair who was also trying out the game laughed at him. "Look at this little black rat, trying out the Wolf's Mouth! Get out of the way, loser, and watch real men do it!"

He jumped high from the shooting line, and the ball flew into the air before going straight to the left wolf's mouth. His friends cheered at him and he smiled at a girl who was too busy reading at the side. "I'll get that wolf stuffie for you, Geanne."

The girl's eyes did not even leave the book she was reading. "I don't need it."

The guy was still focused on shooting rattan balls even then. He managed to shoot another one on his second try, failed at his third, then finally shoot at all three on his fourth try. The gamemaster handed him the nicely done crimson wolf stuffie.

"You can do it too, Leron! I believe in you!" Vladstin shouted from a distance.

When Leron turned to shoot, he gave the guy who insulted his little black bunny a stink eye. "Your girlfriend doesn't even want it, what's the point of getting it?"

"I'm not Weelson's girlfriend." Geanne said while still reading.

"She'll want it eventually, what's it to you?" The buff red and blue-haired, Weelson, sneered at the Crown Prince. He was from the slums and Vladstin was wearing commoner's clothes, so he never knew that he was sneering at the only prince of his kingdom.

"It's a cute stuffie deserving of a cute owner, so think it's a waste to go to someone that is not cute like you." Vladstin retorted.

Weelson grabbed his collar. "What did you say you white-haired punk!? You probably have an ugly dark hair color like that rat over there that's why you dyed it!"

"Hah! If this was dyed, it must be leagues better than yours!" Vladstin grinned smugly. "The red is obviously too flaky to be real. Did you just dip it in chicken blood?"

Geanne answered for him. "That's his real hair, he just has a lot of dandruff."

While they were having a ruckus at the spectator's side, Leron wiped a sweat from his forehead as he hesitated to shoot. He finally had the courage to do so, but it missed. On his second try, the ball bumped into the wolf figure's forehead.

Weelson noticed this and mocked Leron. "Hah, is the rat blind or something? Even my baby brother can shoot better than him, and he's just three months old!"

Vladstin growled, trying hard not to punch a commoner's face. "Stop mocking my friend! He didn't do anything wrong to you! He can still win this game!"

Leron didn't hear all this so he didn't lose focus, and managed to shoot at the middle wolf's mouth. Without celebrating this small victory, he focused again for the second one and scored! The crowd was impressed by how he managed to pull through and some started to cheer for him.

Even Geanne closed her book for a moment to watch. "He isn't that bad after all, he must be like those underdog characters that get better near the end."

"I knew he could do it!" Vladstin grinned. "Last one, Leron! Just go for it!"

Weelson let go of Vladstin's collar and writhed in envy. The rat took Geanne's interest! He took a ball and threw it just as Leron had thrown his. "Graaahhhh!!!"

The ball was supposed to shoot through the goal but Weelson's ball collided with it and made it miss. The crowd grumbled and whined. A man cursed and yelled. "Who the hell deflected the kid's ball!?"

"I did!" Weelson said proudly. "Anyone who has a problem can fight me!"

Even at his young age, Weelson has a large physique that is sometimes larger than an adult. The man who complained happened to be thin and frail, and so he chickened out when he was challenged by the young bully. Nobody wanted to ruin a good festival with a brawl, so they just booed and cursed at Weelson but did not do anything about it.

This did not affect Weelson at all, and he just scoffed. "Yeah, right! I thought so! Y'all are scared I'd whip your a—"

"I will challenge you to an arm wrestle, will that satisfy your ego?" Vladstin raised his hand.

Leron grabbed his sleeve. "Vladstin, what are you doing? We can get in any more trouble or Lady Wilhengard will find us. Let's just go."

"No, I want that Weelson guy to go eat cow poop for calling you a rat and sabotaging your game." Vladstin said.

Weelson laughed heartily, holding his head back as he did. "You? A pip-squeak like you with stick arms would challenge me to arm wrestle!? That's the most hilarious thing I've ever heard."

Vladstin carried a whole barrel almost his size full of wine and set it between him and Weelson, then placed his arm on it. "I'm serious. If I lose, I will give you 50 gold coins. In exchange, I want you to grovel in dirt, apologize to my friend and give him that red wolf stuffie if I win."

The crowd gasped at these conditions and start to whisper among themselves. White hair was really rare and so they speculated that he must be a noble or the prince himself. They gossiped and placed bets with each other, excited to see the match.

"I can't believe I'm getting to see the prince arm-wrestle with someone! I'm betting five gold coins on him!"

"Are you even sure that's the prince? He might be just a white-haired miller's son. And did you see that large kid, he's looked like he could wrestle a bull! I'm betting 10 gold coins on him!"

Leron worriedly placed his hand on Vladstin's shoulder, but the prince just smiled at him and gave a thumbs up. He taunted Weelson once more. "Why are you just standing there like a stupid-looking scarecrow. Are you accepting my challenge or are you all talk?"

Weelson was stunned for a moment by this kid's braveness, or just plain audacity. He also placed his arm on the table. "Bring it on! I'm getting that 50 gold to buy Geanne a pony for sure!"

"I'd rather you buy me a whole library." Geanne said, going back to her reading again. "Or better yet, buy yourself a thousand bars of soap so you wouldn't smell like dog vomit all the time."

The gamemaster of the Wolf's Mouth shooting game automatically became the referee, and held out three fingers as he counted for it to start. He also served as the collector of the bets and had already brought out a notebook and a pencil with him out of nowhere, like he had always been prepared for this moment. He shouted loudly as he initiated the arm-wrestling match.

"Three.... Two.... One..... Start!"