WE WENT TO A TIGER FESTIVAL
Today was a holiday.
In my past life, holidays just meant a day off from work. But in this world, they were still partially meant to celebrate well-known saints.
That said, we didn’t really live in an area that worshipped anybody, so it just turned out to be a day off anyway…
The other effect holidays had on the house was…
Halkara was home.
“Oh, it would be nice if there were more days off, wouldn’t it? Going to work does offer a nice variety to life, but I do need to reward myself every once in a while~”
Halkara had slept in more than usual that day. She’d told me her plans beforehand, so I woke her up later.
Now she sat alone at the dining table while I was washing the other family members’ dishes.
“I feel like my soul is getting cleansed when I take it slow like this~ ”
“I know you’re exaggerating, but I can tell you’re happy to have the day off.”
Halkara herself was a CEO, so it would be completely acceptable for her to arrive late to work on “management” hours, but she never did that. She was earnest when it came to her work.
“I may go for a walk to Flatta. I’ll pick up anything we need there.”
“I think we’re good, but I appreciate it. I think a lot of places will be closed today since it’s a holiday anyway.”
“Oh yes, it is some sort of saint’s day, related to some god or another, right?”
She had no idea, did she? Well, I was at the same level, so I wasn’t going to comment.
“There must be a ton of saints in this world, considering how many gods there are.”
“Indeed. Elves don’t know very much about the teachings that humans believe in, but every day is some sort of holiday, strictly speaking.”
I figured it’d be best to ask Shalsha about this stuff, so I called her in. She had just finished the washing.
“You can indeed say that various days throughout the year count as some kind of holiday or another. For example, today is the anniversary of the death of Saint Madqua, worshipped all over the world. There are not many days off during this part of the year, so it became a day of rest as well.”
“So a popular saint’s day becomes a day off, right?”
“Your understanding is generally correct, Mom.” Shalsha nodded. “Madqua is a saint of the god Shokackey and is said to have proselytized to the demons and animals as well. He last preached to a tiger, but the tiger ate him. Madqua was a martyr.”
“I can’t tell if this is tragic or stupid…”
“Those who live in places that worship Saint Madqua will wear tiger hats and parade around town today.”
“That feels a little thoughtless… But I guess that’s what holidays are like.”
As we sat chatting, Sandra the mandragora came into the house.
“Tigers are cute. I want to see a festival like that.”
“You like tigers, Sandra? I didn’t know that.”
“Tigers are heroes that eat herbivores!”
No human could have ever thought of that!
But since a daughter of mine was showing interest in this festival, I wanted to bring her to the action if I could.
“Shalsha, is there any place near here taking part in the tiger festival?”
“Yes. In Nanterre province, there is a town called Widon that has a Madqua church. The tiger festival is rather lively there.”
Oh, Laika and Flatorte could take us there.
“All righty, then! Let’s go see this tiger festival!”
“What? Really? We can go?” Sandra’s eyes sparkled.
Of course. What was my time for if not to make my daughters smile?
“Festivals only happen so often. If one’s happening nearby, then we should go.”
“You’re right. I want to watch herbivores get eaten by a tiger.”
“I don’t think we’ll get to see that.”
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to such a bloody festival.
“Ahhh, a festival~ That is a nice way to spend the time on a day off. I would like to announce that I’m going with you, but I will pass this time—I’d like to stay home and take care of some things,” Halkara said.
“Are you going to sleep until sunset like you usually do on your days off, Miss Halkara?”
“You want to sleep while the sun’s out? Lazy.”
“No, Shalsha and Sandra. It is a genuine, honest reason, I promise!”
My girls thought Halkara was a sloth…
“I want to organize our treasures. We haven’t touched them for a long time, you see.”
“Treasures? When did we get treasures?”
I know we sometimes work part-time as adventurers, but I couldn’t remember ever picking up anything in particular from dungeons.
“You’ve forgotten already, Madam Teacher…? Remember when we cleaned the goddess Nintan’s pond, we got a lot of treasure?”
Then I finally remembered. “Oh! She asked us to get rid of the mosquitoes, and we ended up draining the whole pond!”
The central location of the Nintan faith had received a mountain of donations, so neither the priests nor the goddess herself had been able to manage it all.
Part of it had been given to us as thanks for clearing out the mosquitoes. It was basically a regift.
“We chucked them in an empty room and left them there. I think we should sort them out soon, otherwise we won’t touch them for years.”
“Yeah… Thanks for taking care of that…”
Now I went around to the family telling them we’d be going to the festival in a place called Widon, but I couldn’t find Flatorte or Rosalie. Falfa told me about them.
“Miss Flatorte said she was going to fly as fast as she could across the sky because the weather is nice. Miss Rosalie said she was going along with her.”
“It’s like they’re street racing…”
In the end, it was my three daughters and me hitching a ride on Laika to the town of Widon.
“If we hurry, it will take less than an hour to get there. Regular humans traveling on foot would take over two days to get through these hills, but flying will make it much easier.”
“You are honestly so reliable, Laika.”
We would pop in to Widon and then pop right out.
Just as Laika said, we got to Widon pretty quickly.
It was almost in the neighboring province, and it was on one of the highest points in Nanterre, but it took no time to get there on Laika. We were there in basically forty minutes.
Then, when we came to the center of town—
“It’s so yellow!”
That was my first impression.
Everyone walking around town wore hats with tiger faces on them. “Hat” was a little broad, though—the back part was long enough to hide the back of the wearer’s neck. That section looked like it represented the tiger’s body.
“It’s so bright! There are tigers everywhere! I can even see white tiger hats!” Falfa had sharp eyesight. She had to mention it before I started spotting the rare non-yellow hats.
“Wearing these reminds us of Saint Madqua’s death to the tiger,” Shalsha explained. As always, I let her handle the historical background.
“Good, very good. It’s nice and lively.” Sandra seemed pleased, which was great to see.
The tiger hats were not the only things that stood out, though.
Lots of people had thin wooden boards sticking up from their shoulders, like big popsicle sticks.
“Hey, Shalsha, what are those sticks?”
“You hit them, and the sound goes to Saint Madqua.”
I see. Sound was a necessary component in festivals, so this was how they checked that box.
“There are so many stalls~ They all look tasty!” Falfa’s attention had been stolen away by the street food on each side of the road.
It really was like a fair. I’d never gotten the chance to take my girls to something that was so obviously a festival, so this was perfect.
But on the other hand, Laika seemed down for some reason. I could tell right away. She was never one to talk much, but she was very expressive.
“Did something happen, Laika?”
“We just passed the Widon Public Museum, but it was closed.”
“You really like museums, don’t you?!”
“I would think that museums generally remain open on holidays, but I suppose they close so that they may celebrate the saint here…”
I agreed—I felt like facilities like museums typically stayed open during holidays; I guess it was the same in this world.
“W-well… It’s not too far away, so you can always come on your own if you’re that interested…”
“Yes, I will do just that. I have been completely unaware of this tiger festival, so I would like to read into it a bit later as well.”
I bet the people who ran this festival would be delighted to hear how interested she was in it.
Now the streets were busy, so we ran a real risk of getting lost.
Also, Sandra couldn’t see much of the actual festival because there were so many people.
This meant we had to work together. I came to the side of the road and knelt down. “Sandra, get on my shoulders.”
“Th-that’s a little childish, but fine. I’ll do it.” Sandra seemed a bit embarrassed about it, but she didn’t turn me down.
But I also knew that Falfa and Shalsha would ask me to do the same for them.
Their quiet stares turned to me.
“Falfa, Shalsha, hold Mommy’s hands. Is that okay with you?”
“Yes, Mommy! ”
“As you wish.”
They agreed, at least for now. Falfa came to my left, and Shalsha came to my right.
“This is good. Now that the tiger hats are at my eye level, they seem so fierce.” Sandra was pleased that she had a better perspective now. If she was happy with that, then her mother would have an easier time of it, too.
I could also tell that the girls on either side of me were enjoying the festive atmosphere. Yes, it’s always the simple pleasures. This was perfect for walking around a small-town festival with the children.
There were a lot of loud, distracting things happening in our lives, generally.
Actually, I’d say events spiraled into something big whenever the demons got involved…
Today, we were just going to leisurely enjoy the small festival in this little town.
But—I noticed something off once again.
There was a stall selling food I vaguely recognized.
It was called saucecake.
The dish was cabbage mixed in with flour, then fried flat on a griddle with a bit of pork on top; then finally, a sauce was drizzled over the completed pancake.
It reminded me a lot of…
“…Okonomiyaki?!”
I couldn’t say I knew a whole lot about okonomiyaki, so maybe the details were completely off, but the finished product closely resembled it.
“Are you interested in that food, Mom?” Shalsha had apparently heard me speak. “Saucecake is sold during the tiger festival. You can try it if you’re interested.”
“Lady Azusa, I was just getting hungry, so I shall buy ten of them, including your portions.”
“I appreciate it, Laika, but how many do you think one person is going to eat?”
I doubted the kids could eat two whole pancakes each. Sandra didn’t even eat.
“Well, one for everyone, and seven for me, is what I was thinking. Oh, perhaps seven is too much… I will have five instead.”
I think she was trying to look a bit more ladylike, but that was still way more than usual. That’s how much you’d buy to bring back to your coworkers.
Afterward, we sat at an empty table and ate our saucecakes.
They really tasted like okonomiyaki… All they were missing was the seaweed.
I was getting a horrible feeling. I thought this was just a simple festival at first, but maybe there was something deeper here…?
There came a voice.
“Oi, oi! I see you lot’ve shown up. Thought I might find ya ’ere.”
Oh no, that accent…
There stood Muu, queen of the Thursa Thursa Kingdom.
“Oh, Miss Muu!”
“Ah, the queen of the ghosts.”
Falfa and Sandra reacted. Shalsha had just bit into her saucecake, so she couldn’t say anything.
What a time to run into Muu…
Everything lined up too nicely for this to be a coincidence.
The thought had occurred to me before, but now…
Wasn’t this entire festival kind of Osaka-y…?
“Hey, Muu… Why are you here?”
I’d understand if she’d come to the house to hang out, but why would she ever come to Nanterre if not to see us? Maybe she was planning on visiting after stopping by the festival?
“It’s ’cause this town’s miraculously passed down a festival we use’ta cel’brate in my country. It’s only now that I ’eard ’bout it, though.”
They inherited the festival?
“Hey, Muu, I don’t really get what you’re trying to say. Do you mean that this town’s festival has something to do with your civilization?”
I thought there was a rupture in continuity between the ancient civilization and the modern civilization. After all, the magic of the two was completely different.
“Yeah, I says it were a miracle, didn’t I? This Saint Madqua’s nearly the same as a god we worshipped yonks ago: Duuma Quahmee.”
I felt like I was hearing a lot of unfamiliar names today.
“From Duuma Quahmee to Madqua. Though words often change in pronunciation, Shalsha finds such a dramatic shift difficult to believe,” Shalsha said, giving a sound argument. As her mother, I put a vote in her tally.
“It’s ’cause it’s changed after a real long time, yeah? Ya get me?! The tiger story sounds the same, an’ we ate that sauce fing back in the day, too! The recipe got chucked in wiv the Madqua myth an’ just happened to get passed down.”
I see…
Shalsha looked like she still thought it was a bit of a stretch, but…what Muu was saying was probably accurate.
So these Osaka-esque elements were part of Muu’s ancient civilization, too.
This couldn’t be a coincidence.
There was even a dish in her civilization that looked just like takoyaki to me, called gem o’ the crimson devil. That meant it was kind of a given that okonomiyaki would come along, too.
Honestly, I thought they both had the same sort of taste (just personally, though).
“By the way, Muu, what did you call this dish?”
“The deep-green bog o’ death.”
“Not something more…appetizing?”
My own appetite had vanished. Who wants to eat a “bog”?!
“Would you like one, Miss Muu?” Laika offered her a whole saucecake.
“Nah, I might ’ave a body, but I ain’t alive enough to eat. But ta. Cheers.”
“Oh, I see… I am sorry, I did not mean to offend…” Laika looked like she’d made a mistake.
“Nah, don’t get ya knickers in a twist. Not offended at all.”
“See? If she can survive without eating, then that makes perfect sense,” said Sandra the plant, who didn’t eat for different reasons.
I felt kind of sorry for Muu, but I guess it wouldn’t be a big deal to anyone who was used to not eating. Laika didn’t need to worry too much about it at all.
“Huh… From my perspective, I see it as a terrible ordeal not to be able to walk around eating during a festival…”
“You love eating, Laika, so your perspective’s a bit twisted.”
Things were getting complicated; too many people here with unique circumstances.
“Miss Muu? Did you come a long way just to see the festival?” Falfa asked. She was right—I remember Muu had a really hard time moving around.
“Deffo. Got my bloody blood boilin’!” she exclaimed before putting on a tiger hat that was bigger and more realistic than all the other tiger hats.
At that point, it was less of a hat and more like a whole outfit. Fabric patterned after a tiger stretched down to her legs over her back.
“These ’ere are the ’ats we used! Should be the main shindig soon!”
She then started walking toward the central festival avenue. Although, she didn’t get past the shade of the tent area.
“You’re walking faster now, Muu.”
In the past, she would have gotten exhausted just taking a single step. Right now, she just looked like someone with a slower gait.
“Nah, usin’ magic t’ lift up my body, aren’t I?”
“Oh, I see…”
“I got Nahna t’ time me runnin’ wiv my body, by the by, and I been slowin’ down… My time went up an hour…”
Seriously? Her running time went up by an entire hour? That didn’t make sense.
Maybe she would just keep herself afloat with magic from now on.
What was the festival’s main event, though?
Muu was holding those big popsicle sticks, like the other festival participants had been, and started smacking them together with a bang, bang, bang.
Hey, I’ve heard that rhythm somewhere before.
“Hiddit, hiddit, hiddit good! Madqua, Madqua, taykimdahn!”
“Is this a baseball chant?!”
To be honest, I was kind of expecting this. I was getting a ton of baseball vibes this whole time.
“When you say ‘hiddit,’ what are you hitting?”
“Mom, hiddit and taykimdahn are rhythmical filler that do not have any precise meaning.”
I figured Shalsha was supposed to be giving me an earnest explanation, but this whole thing sounded like a joke.
“Both hiddit and taykimdahn mean to beat up in my language, see. You’d say it like, Oi, wot’s ’e makin’ a mess of all dis for? I’ll taykimdahn, the wankah!”
“Sheesh, bad language for a queen.”
“I-it seems…your ancient civilization has indeed survived through the festivals of Saint Madqua…” Shalsha’s voice was deep with thought as she shivered.
This was apparently a huge discovery for her.
Muu wasn’t the only one, though. At some point, the other people wearing tiger hats took their big popsicle sticks in hand and began smacking them together.
Not only that, but I heard the sounds of wind instruments.
The melody sounded a lot like something I’d hear at a ballpark. I didn’t know the name of it, though…
At this point, I had nothing to say anymore. It’d never end, there was so much. Festivals were supposed to be lively, and so I shouldn’t complain about all the excitement.
““Hiddit, hiddit, hiddit good! Madqua, Madqua, run at house!””
“What’s ‘run at house’ supposed to mean?!”
I couldn’t help but comment on this new addition to the chant.
“Mom, there are tales of Saint Madqua that said that he would run in a diamond shape in his house whenever he was deep in thought. That was then called ‘running at house.’”
“Thanks for that, Shalsha. But I feel like some of this stuff still isn’t clear, and that isn’t enough to explain it all…”
“Indeed, no one solid interpretation as to why he would run in a diamond pattern in his own house has been settled upon. You are correct to recognize the ambiguity.”
My daughter complimented me, but I wasn’t an academic struggling to interpret a historical mystery.
Oh, I got it. But if I said it out loud, they would wonder what was up with me. And so, I decided to yell internally.
Run at house means home run!!!
“You lot giv’ it a go. Use ya hands if ya don’t ’ave any of th’ wood. Hiddit, hiddit, hiddit good! Madqua, Madqua, taykimdahn!”
Muu urged us on, so we all stood. I guess we had to cheer now.
Laika bought some wooden sticks. Today was the only day she could use them, but it wouldn’t be as much fun if she cheaped out on the opportunity.
I yelled, too. “Hiddit, hiddit, hiddit good! Madqua, Madqua, hooome run!”
But Muu gave me a strange look. What? I wasn’t off the beat at all.
“Oi, Azusa? Wot’s an ’ome run?”
Oops, I went with the wording I was more familiar with.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s, uh, a different dialect. It means run at house…”
We ultimately ended up cheering on (?) Saint Madqua for a little while.
It was a weird festival, but it was fun in its own right. Taking part is always a good idea.
In the end, we all clapped our popsicle sticks in an applause. It was probably similar to what we’d do when the batter hit the ball in baseball.
When we were finished cheering, Shalsha started crying for some reason.
“What’s wrong? Did something sad happen?” I panicked when I saw my daughter’s tears.
“An ancient faith lives on in the present. Shalsha sees now that that magic is in this festival. What a stirring experience…”
“I suppose, from your perspective, that is true. It’d be an unbelievable discovery.”
But to me, it felt like a huge joke, so I had a hard time taking this seriously… My past memories were getting in my way…
“By the by, the last fing we’d do is go pray at Coshyen Park. Guess that didn’t survive. But Coshyen Park were destroyed yonks ago, so I don’t blame ’em for not knowin’ it.”
It sounded a lot like Koshien Stadium, the holy grail of Japanese baseball! But I’m just going to file that away as a coincidence!
“An’ the ritual where we preten’ t’ stomp on the giants didn’t survive neivvah.”
“W-well… Wouldn’t it be better to try to get along with them…?”
“Oi, it’s not even lunchtime yet. Since I’m ’ere, may as well ’ead to yours. Rosalie’s ’round, right?”
Rosalie and Flatorte had gone out, but they would probably be back for lunch. Flatorte was in charge of lunch anyway.
“Sure thing. Come along.”
The festival had just been around the corner, so we still had a lot of day left. This was turning out to be a good holiday.
“Do you think you can carry one more, Laika? Things will probably work out because most of us are kids, right?”
“That would be perfectly fine, but I see them selling rabbit over there. Is it all right if I have some before we go?”
She really was a big eater!
Muu mentioned that rabbit meat was customary, and Shalsha was moved when she learned there was another connection between the ancient faith and Saint Madqua.
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