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“Wow, that’s a lot of people.”

When we arrived at the plaza in front of the Karion Temple, where the offering ceremony was taking place, there was already an impressive crowd gathered there.

“Maybe there’s not much else to do around here?” Arisa commented.

“The more the merrier, I insist.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

A lively atmosphere was an important part of a festival, even if it felt like we would bump into other people if we weren’t careful.

“Pochi, look ooout?”

“Waaah, sir!”

Pochi stumbled over a bump in the road, possibly due to the egg blocking her view.

Rather than protecting her own face, she covered the egg at her waist with both hands as she dove headfirst toward the ground.

Luckily, Tama and Liza quickly grabbed her belt and saved her from disaster. She should really prioritize her own safety first, although I understood that the egg was important to her.

“Statues.”

Mia pointed at a stage on the other side of the crowd, where several figures of the young goddess were on display.

Since it looked like they were all the submitted entries, we searched for our own pieces, but for some reason ours were on an altar in front of the temple.

I used the Space Magic spell Clairvoyance to get a bird’s-eye view and confirmed that the boss and his sons were in that area, too.

“Looks like our statues are over there.”

We admired the other goddess statues as we made our way toward the boss and company.

“It doesn’t look like we can go any further.”

“Yes, Liza. There is a line of restricted entry, I report.”

Stone statues that looked like wild boars with wings stood in front of Karion Temple. A white cord was strung between them to discourage unauthorized entry.

Someone from the temple spoke to Liza and Nana. “I’m sorry, only staff and participants are allowed past this point.”

Apparently people would still go inside if it was only a cord stopping them, so some of the temple workers were also stationed there to tell people not to enter.

“Entry conditions registered. I will not enter the restricted area, I declare.”

Nana nodded and stepped back.

“Hey, young master! Over here!”

The boss called out to me from the other side of the cord.

“That young man and the little lady with the cat ears are entrants. Let ’em in, please.”

At the boss’s words, the temple worker allowed me and Tama inside.

“Whew, I’m glad to see ye. We never did ask where ye were staying.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I forgot to mention it. Why, is there a problem?”

“Far from it. I wanted to tell ye to come today ’cause you and the little missy’s works were chosen to be the final twenty candidates. My sons are in there, too.”

“Congratulations to them.”

I had the boss show me his sons’ submissions.

“This is my elder son’s piece.”

“Agressiiive?”

“Very inspiring.”

It was a statue of a girl holding a sword and a book.

Interestingly enough, she was wielding the book like a shield.

“And this is my younger son’s.”

“Wow, fantasticooo?”

“This is really wonderful work.”

This girl statue was holding flowers and a book and looking up at the sky. Somehow, it was deeply moving, to the point where just looking at it brought on bittersweet feelings.

“Will the offering be chosen from among these twenty finalists?”

“No, all the submissions are up for offering. Out of these twenty, five will be given awards and brought to the Karion Central Temple. There, they’ll decide which is the winner, and it’ll be passed down there for eternity as a treasure of the temple. For us wood-carvers, there’s no higher honor.”

The Karion Central Temple was in the “Sage’s Tower” City-State of Kalisork, which was a bit far to transport the statues by land. They would probably be brought by boat or airship.

While I was chatting with the boss, the judges must have finished making their decisions. An important-looking priest walked over to stand in front of the entrants.

In order, they were going to announce the excellence awards, a grand prize winner, and the special jury award.

The first excellence award went to the preeminent carver from a famous workshop. As for the second…

“From Beardbear Workshop, ‘Sword Maiden’ by Ralus!”

“Yessss!”

It was one of the boss’s sons. The elder one, if I remember right.

“Congratulations, Big Brother. You really are amazing.”

“Yeah, sure. Yours was pretty damn good, too.”

The elder brother grinned proudly. His father and brother looked happy, too.

“This next excellence award also goes to a work from Beardbear Workshop. ‘Praying Maiden’ by Jes!”

“Good going, Jes! You got an excellence award, too!”

As the younger brother stood there looking shocked, the boss smacked him heartily on the back. It looked a little painful.

The grand prize went to a nude figure called “Pure Maiden” by a name none of us recognized. I was surprised anyone would go for a nude statue to offer to a temple, even if the most important areas were tastefully hidden.

“That leaves the special jury award. Normally, this would only be given to one work, but the judges were simply too divided in this case. So, there will be two winners this year.”

As the head priest spoke, the entrants stared intently at the paper held in his hands.

“The first special jury award goes to ‘Deliciously Dancing Girl’ by Tama Kishreshigarza!”

“Tama, you did it, sir! Congratulations, sir!”

Hearing the announcement, Pochi shouted excitedly from far away.

“Well done, Miss Tama.”

“Thank thee berry much…”

Tama looked nervous as she accepted the award from the priest.

“And the other special jury award goes to ‘Cherry Blossom Beauty’ by Satou Pendragon!”

Whoa, I didn’t think I would win, too.

Despite my surprise, I stepped up next to Tama to accept my award.

“The six winning entries will be transported to the site of the main festival at Karion Central Temple in the City-State of Kalisork on a high-speed ship generously provided by King Lodolork.”

The priest explained that the ship would leave the following afternoon in order to get there in time for the festival.

While the carvers weren’t required to go with them, we were already planning on going to Kalisork City. Besides, I was curious about this high-speed ship of the king’s, so I figured we would take advantage of the offer.

“Master, my stuffed animals won an award in the plushie category, I report.”

Nana held up the stuffed sea lion sisters she’d made.

“Arisa’s doll won a special prize, too, Master.”

“Hee-hee, I didn’t think my little figure would get an award for originality.”

Arisa looked rather pleased as she held up her creation.

It appeared to be a half naked figure of a young man with a rose in his mouth, though he looked a little familiar…

“Arisa, could I take a quick look at that?”

“N-not on your life! This isn’t for men to view. It’s a lady’s little secret.”

“That’s right, sir! A little secret lady, sir!”

Ignoring Pochi’s declaration, I snatched the figure Arisa was trying to hide.

“Aaaaa! Not my sexy Master figure ‘Aesthetic Afternoon’! Noooo!”

…So it was modeled after me. I knew it.

“I’m confiscating this.”

I put the figure into the Confiscated folder in my Storage.

“I beg of yoooou! Pleeeease, have mercyyyyy…”

“Mercedeees?”

“Confiscerated, sir!”

Tama and Pochi danced around Arisa as she shrieked.

Pochi’s steps looked off-balance, probably because of the egg at her waist.

“All right, let’s go celebrate.”

We went to the best restaurant in Lodolork and toasted all the winners. The next afternoon, we boarded King Lodolork’s galley and departed for the City-State of Kalisork.

Incidentally, the smell on the ship was met with disgust from all of my companions; we used a great deal of Deodorant magic to save the day.

Yeah, that was the first time I’ve had to deal with the gross realities of a fantasy world in a while.

I guess that’s part of the adventure, too, but I’d rather avoid it if at all possible.





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