What Changes, What Remains (8)

I headed northeast along the highway.

After walking along the highway for a long time, I would occasionally be overtaken by a carriage, or pass one coming the other way.

Carriages from Janpemon carry wheat, while those coming from Aldeno carry fruit.

If I tossed a few copper coins toward the driver's seat of a carriage coming from Aldeno, the driver would check them, take a piece of fruit from the cargo, and throw it back to me.

I caught it with a satisfying smack: a green apple.

I quickly wiped it with a cloth, then took a big bite. The crisp texture was delightful.

The sweetness was perhaps a little mild.

Its refreshing flavor wasn't bad at all for quenching my thirst during the journey.

I waved energetically as I saw the departing carriage off.

This time, I was traveling on foot, without using a ship or carriage.

I made my leisurely way onward, camping out along the way and letting the wind at my back push me forward.

As Aldeno gradually drew closer, rows of fruit trees began to come into view even from the highway.

Come to think of it, I hunted a large boar monster, a Greed Boar, around here before.

Even that felt nostalgic now.

After saving the farmer from the Greed Boar, I was invited to their home and treated to a meal.

It must have been unfortunate for the Greed Boar I'd hunted and the farmer it had attacked, but for me, it had been good fortune.

After all, simply hunting my prey had resulted in an elaborate and delicious meal.

This time, however, I did not encounter any such convenient stroke of luck. Instead, what awaited me in the town of Aldeno was

"Oh, young man, you're an elf, aren't you? How unusual. Hehe, it's a festival today. Enjoy yourself while you're here."

A riot of colorful flowers.

The young woman said this with a mischievous smile, then took a flower from her basket and gently tucked it into my hair.

No, no. Surely that was a little embarrassing, no matter how you looked at it.

I pulled the flower from my hair, but I couldn't very well spurn the kindness she'd shown me, so I tucked it into the opening of my pack instead.

The flower I had been given was an autumn flower: a pink cosmos.

It seemed that a festival celebrating the autumn harvest was being held in Aldeno today.

Aldeno was a major fruit-producing area, growing all sorts of fruit, including oranges and grapes, but its main crop was apparently apples.

The season when cosmos flowers bloomed was also the height of the apple harvest in Aldeno.

Thus, at this time of year, they would decorate the town with flowers to give thanks for the bountiful harvest and pray that the following year's harvest would be just as plentiful.

The unexpected burst of color lifted my spirits a little.

Perhaps Aldeno and I were a good match.

Just when I thought I wouldn't find any unexpected good fortune outside the town, I immediately came across an event like this inside it.

Besides cosmos, gentians, saffron, nerines, zinnias, and many other flowers delighted the people passing by.

Everyone walking along the streets wore a smile and looked happy.

Still, as expected, every one of the people I saw with a flower in their hair was a woman.

At least, that was the case as far as I could tell.

So that woman really had been teasing me after all.

I had no intention of getting angry, but, hmm, I was a little annoyed.

Even counting that prank, I found myself enjoying the festival from the bottom of my heart.

I made the rounds of the festival stalls, eating skewered chicken and baked apples, both a little more expensive because of the festival prices.

Many people had probably come from the surrounding villages to enjoy the festival.

The cheaper inns were already full, so I stayed at a somewhat pricier one.

It was an unexpected expense, but I suppose it couldn't be helped.

I had been working and saving money for precisely times like this.

If I were reluctant to spend money, I could hole up in the forest and live off its bounty, but I had grown tired of that sort of life a very long time ago.

Yes, splurging once in a while was one of life's pleasures, too.

Sitting on the bed at the inn, I breathed in the scent of the cosmos I had been given.

A festival adorned with flowers was a festival sustained by the lives of flowers.

But those flowers' lives weren't wasted.

After delighting people's eyes, the wilted flowers would be gathered, chopped into small pieces, or perhaps burned to ash, then mixed into the soil and tilled.

Life wasn't simply used up; it became nourishment for the next life.

Apparently, no insect-repellent chemicals had been used on this flower.

After confirming that, I took a large bite of the flower.

It certainly wasn't tasty, but chewing it made the cosmos's fragrance rise into my nose much more strongly than when I had smelled it, which was pleasant and interesting.

As a traveler, I wouldn't be staying in this town until the flower withered.

Then, at the very least, I could enjoy its fragrance while making it part of myself.

Once I had fully savored the fragrance spreading through and filling my mouth, I swallowed the flower.

...Yes, it was definitely not tasty.

Even so, my heart felt light.