Someday Will I Be The Greatest Alchemist?

Now then, I wonder how they celebrate festivals in this world. I don’t really know what a showy festival should be.

It would have been food, drinks, and merrymaking in the previous years, but……

「Hey, what kind of showy festivals were there?」

「Mikoshi [1]?」

「No, this isn’t Japan.」

「Bon Festival[2]?」

「We can go with a dance, but that wouldn’t be Obon.」

「Naked Festival [3]?」

「That’s good…… no no, I’m kidding. Besides, isn’t the Naked Festival indecent?

When we first met Marnie, she was wearing revealing clothing. Perhaps that’s why she wasn’t as hypersensitive about the word “Naked”.

「In Yggurle Kingdom, every territory holds a harvest festival, and the Royal Capital holds a founding festival.」

「Huh? Is there no festival to worship the Spirits?」

「Now that you mention it, there isn’t one.」

Sophia informed us that food stalls sold cheap food and drinks in the festivals held in Yggurle Kingdom, That was the same even in the Sanctuary, so I wonder if we should increase the scale.

「Eh, that’s all? What about parades?」

「Yes. That is all. It was said that a parade is held when there is a change of Kings.」

「It was said…? Oh I see, there probably hasn’t been a change of Kings in several centuries.」

The long-living Elven race were incredible.

But it doesn’t seem like there were parades.

When I thought about who would be paraded if it’s the Sanctuary, I had a bad feeling. I thought it would be possible if it was just Sylph, Undine, and the others, but……

「I don’t know what kind of festivals Takumi-sama and Akane are talking about, but as far as i know, harvest festivals are the most typical. The population has increased since last year’s harvest festival, I believe it’s only natural the festival becomes bigger.」

「Let’s see. Basically, most Beastkin villages are poor and struggle to survive, so they couldn’t afford to have any other festival apart from the Harvest Festival.」

「So it’s like that.」

Sophia and Marnie explained as such. This world was definitely harsh. I’m once again made to realize this.

I think festivals were to worship gods for prayers, gratitude, and comforting the deceased. That was similar to this world, and the harvest offerings offered to the gods in thanks, regardless of how big or small it may be, were a standard in this world.

The object of their worship was Norn-sama or the Spirits, but all races generally believed in Norn-sama, and even though the Elves and Dwarves revere the Spirits, they seem to believe in Norn-sama first then the Spirits added on. ⱤάɴỐ₿ÈŞ

「Then how about we have a grand harvest festival, far bigger than last year? What it will have should be discussed from here on.」

「Very well. The festival itself is something that everyone enjoys, so it might be nice to have all sorts of events.」

In my past life, I only went to festivals when I was a kid, so I couldn’t think of anything at the top of my head. If it hadn’t been mentioned previously, it never would have crossed my mind.

My past self really wasn’t all that good with people.

「Listen, listen, I don’t really know much about harvest festivals, but since it’s a festival, we should have fireworks.」

「Fireworks, huh. That sounds nice.」

As I thought back on the festivals in my past life, Akane mentioned lighting fireworks, and I thought that was a great idea.

To me, a fireworks display and festivals were separate events, but a festival that included dedicated fireworks were also a set [4]. They’re visually impressive, after all.

「What are fireworks?」

「Hm? Do fireworks not exist in this world?」

I learned from Laeva’s question that fireworks did not exist in this world.

「I suppose so. In a world where high powered magic could be cast easily, gunpowder wouldn’t be invented.」

「Definitely. But we should really be careful with handling gunpowder.」

「Yeah, I think us advancing the science in this world is different.」

「I think it’s a little too late after having made the Oceanus and Ouranus, but it would best to hide the existence of the gunpowder.」

Even if gunpowder was to leak in this world, black powder and brown powder are the limit to what can be made right now, but once they know of it, it would be difficult to stop the progression of science once it starts rolling.

The advancement of science isn’t necessarily bad, but we shouldn’t be careless about its rapid advancement because of war.

There were also things like pollution, which isn’t good for this world.

「I will make everything related to the fireworks. I’ll make a golem to launch them.」@@novelbin@@

「Sounds great.」

「I don’t think we need to be that worried about it. Anything that happens in the Sanctuary wouldn’t be seen outside of it.」

「That’s true. Still, I will make the fireworks by myself just in case.」

As Sophia said, thanks to the barrier, what happens inside the Sanctuary isn’t visible. But I should be extra careful. We don’t know where information could leak from.

Especially the loose tongues of low and intermediate ranking innocent Spirits. While there’s no worry over accurate information leaking, it was inevitable that the fact that something happened in the Sanctuary would come out.

「Can you tell me what’s done in normal harvest festivals?」

「「「…………」」」

Since I will be preparing the fireworks by myself, when I asked about how other places do their harvest festivals, everyone aside from Akane exchanged glances.

Until last year, Mimir-sama raised a prayer to the gods before the offerings, and we simply had food, drinks, and made merry, but I wonder what happens in a formal Harvest Festival. Mimir-sama said that the harvest festival was like this in Yggurle Kingdom, but there were people of various races and countries here, after all.

In the end, after asking various residents, there really are a variety of customs based on race and region.

I wonder how we can find a middle ground.

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Footnotes:

1. A Mikoshi is a sacred religious palanquin. It’s carried by people from one shrine to another during festivals.

2. Obon (お盆) or just Bon (盆) is a fusion of the ancient Japanese belief in ancestral spirits and a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one’s ancestors.

3. Hadaka Matsuri (裸祭り, ‘Naked Festival’) is a type of Japanese festival, or matsuri, in which participants wear a minimum amount of clothing.

4. 花火大会 – Fireworks festival / display dedicated specifically for the fireworks. As far as I know, there’s usually a competition for it by various groups that people go specifically for. As for the dedicated fireworks, imagine a show at the end of the night to close the festival.