CH 80.2

「Master, Madam, happy new year」

「…..ne……..w……….」

「Yeah, happy new year.」

「Uhuh」

Wearing a matching red hat of the Schenker Scorpions, Pickles, a centaur, and Vongo, a birdkin, came to me us to wish us a happy new year.

「This is the tastiest meat of a boar.」

「…..de……lish……」

「Ah, thanks」

「Yeah」

Laura and I shared a hot, steamy sandwich that they brought for us and drank some orange juice.

Hmmmm, the gravy is amazing but my hands are so sticky.

I can’t believe it’s dungeon grown meat.

While I was struggling with the plump thighs, I heard cheers from the stage set up in front of the temple of the mole god in the middle of Schenker Street.

「Hey, it looks like the actors have started their greetings.」

Laura-san, who’s eating the same food as me but doesn’t have any dirty hands or mouth, pointed in a certain direction. I looked and saw the actors of the new year’s play walking into the stage while wearing beautiful costumes and waving their hands.

In front of the stage, which was about 1 meter higher than the ground, leather drums were being played to the accompaniment of guitars by the members of the band who had been to the royal capital. Women playing dancers were spinning around while waiving their wooden sticks with bells attached.

The stage, illuminated by lights, emerged from the darkness, and the atmosphere was flamboyant and somewhat cheerful.

The play was a heartwarming piece by Mezias, a famous playwright, titled “A Daily Set Meal for You”.

It’s a romcom in which the owner of the restaurant asks the woman he is in love with what she wants to eat. Everyday, she approaches her with that main course set meal.

『But this restaurant always serves what I like, doesn’t it?』

As Roast, the fishkin who played the role of the vulgar heroine, churned out wine glasses, the audience shouted “Yo! Roast anego! You’re a great actress!”.

『Manager, you are getting better and better at cooking, is there a secret to this?』

Lars, who is known for her acting, chewed a little while she played the role, to which the audience replied, “Don’t bite the bullet on New Year!”. That made the audience laugh.

From then on, the crowd cheered every time a popular performer came out and food was sold rapidly to the people who were watching the play while drinking.

Well then, I’m off to the main event.

New Year is a time for all sorts of fun things but the event that made everyone the happiest when they were still a child must be that one, right?

You bet….new year’s gift.

「Master, madam, this way……」

Jiren, who was in charge of today’s event, called us up to the stage when the curtain call had ended.

Laura-san and I faced the crowd with a box that was handed to us as we walked up.

『The New Year’s Eve ceremony will be performed by Sawadi Slayra-sama and Laura Slayra-sama on the stage in front of the mole god temple. Please join us…..we will begin soon.』

Perhaps thanks to the announcement by the beautiful voice of Lady Uguisu, some of the people who had left seemed to have returned to check what’s about to happen.

Good good, we prepared plenty of ammunition for you.

「Happy new year!」

「Happy new year!」

Something like a paper wrap fluttered over the heads of the people in front of the stage.

Laura-san and I grabbed them from the box and threw them around.

Something was placed in the center of the paper and the paper was twisted to wrap around it.

The contents were, well, copper grains worth around 100 yen, half copper coin, and so on.

There were also sweets made from roasted beans and coated with sugar.

Well, the best one is worth a lot but it’s not something I’d feel bad about.

「What’s this?」

「Paper」

「Haha, there are copper grains in it.」

「heh」

At first, the audience seemed puzzled when we were throwing them around but when some of them opened them to see what’s inside, they rushed toward the stage.

「There are some coins there」

「How generous」

「That’s not fair, dad, I want to take some too!」

「What’s this? Beans?」

I said “Happy new year” to the citizens as I was throwing them around. They were quite lively since this is the first time someone threw money at them.

It’s not that I’m trying to give back to the city given this magnitude.

I was just that in my previous life, I’d like to gather money during the ridge pole raising ceremony so I wanted to try it myself.

And the Schenker Street condo building was just about to be completed.

Two birds in one stone, right?

「Alright! I got one!」

「Me too me too」

「Don’t push too hard」

「Ouch! You just stepped on my foot!」

There were people, people, and more people in my field of view.

As one would expect from an event that was so popular in my previous life, the place was crowded even at this late hour of the night.

Well, to be honest, I may have miscalculated a bit.

I didn’t expect this many people to show up either.

According to the staff guiding the visitors, there was an over capacity and they couldn’t function well.

We needed more manpower…..