The Binding Festival.

Peolynca’s religious day dedicated to the binding of two souls together, or in other places, binding of several souls together. Regardless, it was a joyous day under the watch of the Origin Gods, as people wed each other and became family with the blessing of their local church.

As was tradition, the Binding Festival always took place on the first week of a new season, meaning there were four chances for people to get married each year. Each day of this entire week would have one Binding Festival associated with their respective Origin God outside of the last day—RestWeek. In other words, on FireDay people who worship Danterno would marry, while on EarthDay the dwarves would begin their grand celebration.

For on that day, clans would ally with each other as their stout sons and crafty daughters decide on their life partners. As usual, you had to associate revelry and alcohol with the dwarves, and that meant a lot of feasts, bar visitors, and many, many, many drunks. Today, the Dwarven God of Alcohol, Gnogvir, and the Fairy Goddess of Festivals, Aniuqa, would benefit the most from this merrymaking.

However, there was something different happening at a certain dwarven hold. The capital of Ankor-Nazta, Inkoran-Tazul, was experiencing something beyond the normal frolicking. Not only were there more dwarves in the city than usual, there were also far more foreign visitors.

Why? Well, why not? For this was the last week before the first ever Event Quest in history, and it would be hosted before the throne of the Ankoran King.

“Today is a day of love! No borders shall stop you from binding your souls to your significant other! Come! Be blessed!” A Crustacia priestess shouted out before the cathedral of the Church of Crustacia, promoting not only her race’s Binding Festival but also for every other faith. “Priests and priestesses of every church are in town! Come! Join your hands with the one you love!”

The dwarves were an inventive and crafty race. Through clever business deals and their lead over the rest of the world in manatech, they have amassed an insane amount of wealth for themselves, probably making them the wealthiest nation in Peolynca when it came to liquid assets. At the very least, they were only rivaled by the Aleistunum and the Folschreck Empire.

Realizing the Event Quest was a major opportunity for merchants, the Ankoran King had not only informed the world of the Event Quest, but also invited the priesthood of Saelariel to the city. The reason was clear: if so many people were to visit the city, then it was necessary to invest in the Binding Festival for each of the pantheons.

Danterno, Crustacia, Plesia, Zephira, Aurena, and then Marsven; every religion would have their Binding Festival begin on the first EarthDay of autumn inside this hold. Although some criticism was lodged with the Ankoran King, it didn’t matter to the average person. Those who visited the city to witness the historical event were elated that their plans to marry weren’t disrupted by their travels.

Even if it was uncommon for people to marry on the day of a different Origin God, it didn’t matter. The dwarves have been known to break from the status quo since the Revolution Queen, and one of her mortal relatives, the current Ankoran King, would follow in her footsteps.

As such, this event was important to Ankoran King Fugnarus. Over the many weeks coming up to the Event Quest, people have arrived in the city, causing it to fill up to the point guards had to be dispatched all across the city to prevent overcrowding and accidentally crushing someone. Wherever you went, you could see at least a guard or even a soldier making sure nothing went awry.

Naturally, criminal activities rose with the number of people. There were also cases of racial and cultural friction leading to fights, or even straight-up murders, right in the streets, meaning the guards also were needed to act as peacekeepers. This was especially necessary since the tension between elves and humans as well as dragonewts and dragonkin slayers could blow everything up. It was like a powder keg.

With the council of his wife, the Ankoran King had managed to control everything up until now, but once again, his planning would be put to the test today. For the Binding Festival would raise the morale and celebrations to an all-time high. With the number of celebrants getting drunk, anything could happen today.

“May the eternal fire of the God of Fire bless you! Fire consumes fire; may your love fuel the fire between you!”

The first of the six Binding Festivals began with the church of Danterno. An elven priest of the church gave a long-winding sermon, finishing it with the wedding ceremony. In the large, grand halls of the main cathedral of the church of Crustacia, the priest had a palace-sized nave to work with, allowing hundreds of people to gather inside to listen to him.

… Sadly, nobody came.

“…” The priest of Danterno gulped after he finished his sermon and the wedding ceremony, before taking a deep breath as he realized outside of his fellow clergymen, nobody was inside. The grander the cathedral, the emptier and more desolate it seemed if nobody was inside.

Most priests of Danterno were used to it, since the religion itself was the least popular amongst the Origin Gods. Not to mention, the social stigma surrounding most fire mages made them feel unwelcome. Even in Saelariel, where every religion was respected, it was rare to see a mage who only focused on fire magic. They would customarily diversify their magics and usually follow a different Origin God who seemed either kinder or had a more approachable religion.

This difference was immediately shown when the Danterno priests left the room, making way for the priests of Crustacia. The grand hall was filled up immediately with not only the wedding pairs, but also their clans and friends to celebrate things. Outside alcohol and food was forbidden inside the cathedral, but the revelry already intoxicated everybody.

“Ahaha, that’s my daughter! Ooooooh, your hand will be taken away from us. Ohohoho … my daughter—huek—is getting married.”

“Son! Be sure to not let your wife beat you when it comes to smithing! You have your pride and she has her own. Never forget, though, that you are husband and wife from now on! Bleidla and Earth Mother guide you!”

The cathedral was swarmed by people and filled with their words, making it near impossible for anybody to eavesdrop on anybody. After a bit, order was finally regained as a wisewoman entered the podium with a following of other wisewoman and clergy people.

She gave a sermon in Crustacia’s name, giving praise to her and the people of Ankor-Nazta for their hard work to build up the nation. She reinforced how Crustacia was watching over everybody, elevating everybody’s mood as the build-up prompted the wedding ceremony. As the many brides and grooms gathered before the congregation of priests and shrine maidens, a special alchemical tonic was handed out to everybody to drink.

Once every pair slowly imbibed the slightly alcoholic concoction for the ceremony, the priests raised their brown staves into the air. After a moment, they illuminated everybody in a topaz glow. This was the Church of Crustacia’s version of the Church of Aurena’s [Prayer]. Since dwarves were unable to cast spells, they rectified the problem through manatech and runes.

This one was a simple process to grant the “blessing of the Earth Mother.” Anybody who drank the tonic had not only their digestive system fortified for the upcoming feasts and drinks, but they also made the dwarves’ crust’lock—the petrified bits on their hair and beard—and the rock hide on their ears glow a dazzling topaz.

This ceremony was to prevent adulterers for the later feasts. People would get drunk, meaning accidents could happen. The gemstone glowing crust’lock and rock hide was to help drunkards identify who was married or not, hopefully preventing any problems for the newlyweds. It would only last for a single day, but it was a tradition made just for the dwarven lifestyle.

Speaking of wedding pairs, if one of the pairs wasn’t a dwarf, they would receive a different tonic. This one would turn their eyes and hair brown, allowing it to glow topaz once the manatech was used.

And so, the ceremony ended with the newlyweds embracing themselves either lovingly or for appearance sake, before they returned to their families and friends. With the Binding Festival for the church of Crustacia ended, it was time to empty and clean the room for the next ceremony.

It was revelry time; it was time for the in-laws and new clan allies to celebrate their familial ties with food and drinks. Once they left the cathedral, all of them suddenly stopped, stunned in silence as they stared at the scene happening right before them.

The sound of trumpets blasting drew their attention. Music, naturally, wasn’t a foreign thing for the dwarves, as many miner chanties existed, not to mention the Beats’N’Rocks genre was popular among the younger generations. Bands like Rosserto’s Punker Paradise were prevalent in all holds, and it wasn’t unusual for them to play on days of festivals like this one.

However, this wasn’t a rocker. This wasn’t even a dwarf. Strangely, the person performing the music wasn’t even physically around. No, what surprised the group of dwarves wasn’t that music was playing, but that the musician was being shown through a blue screen, similar to the one on everybody’s party bracelets.

Just as the trumpets stopped, the sounds of a violin—or geigler in Peolynca—took over, continuing the music. The musician in view deftly played her instrument, creating an energetic but also grand composition as she passionately danced while playing her geigler. As more people listened to it, it sounded similar to a marching song. However, for some reason, it felt fitting. The Binding Festival was an important day, and to the newlyweds, it felt like the world was welcoming their love and their new lives. They felt confident, as if they were the protagonists of this day.

The people already standing in front of the cathedral were drawn into the mood and the walk of the married, clapping and cheering for them as the music continued playing. Due to the mood, most didn’t really recognize or remember the black-haired girl playing on the blue screen. They didn’t realize how she was wielding wind to create the sounds, nor notice the obsidian stage she was playing everything upon.

Felix Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” would stay unknown to Peolynca’s denizens … for now.

However, the singer herself did not remain unknown. No, just as the wedding march began to die down, everybody’s eyes instantly noticed something in the sky. A floating sphere of a purple material moved in the air. It had neither wings nor any supporters to keep it up there. It was clear this was magic.

Mana usage outside of workshops, buildings, and any private establishment was usually outlawed if you weren’t a soldier or somebody with permission to do so. While small usages in daily life were often overlooked, since punishing every single usage would cause more unrest than solve anything, casting spells or overusing mana would mean a high fine or a more severe punishment.

Since dwarves couldn’t cast spells, this law was established to stop mages from potentially causing trouble. While the dwarves weren’t against magic and mana usage per se, they disliked the potential risks associated with it since not everybody could afford crossbows or wanted to bring runic weapons with them.

As such, the dwarves inside the mountain hold were slightly anxious when they saw this. However, seeing as none of the pillbug-like defenses situated on the ceiling of their city reacted to it, some guessed this wasn’t a threat. And this was further reinforced by what happened next.

.

“The day’s so wonderful ♫

The night’s so colorful ♫

But all I need is your smile ♫

These hands will catch’em all ♫

But all I want is you ♫

However far it is ♫

But I’ll never give in-in ♫”

.

Music, and it all originated from the floating platform. A young woman’s voice blasted from up there, piercing through the noise currently on the ground. Some didn’t mind her too much, some listened but quickly ignored her, but those currently in front of the cathedral could see it all.

The girl they saw play the wedding march was now singing with a band of dwarves behind her. Some even recognized that Rosserto, frontman and leader of the band Punker’s Paradise, was playing with this unknown human girl.

The voice of an angel and an enviable appearance; those who watched her perform a love song dedicated to the Binding Festival were captivated. Then, Rosserto went up, continuing the song after the girl finished her chorus. The verse continued the love story, causing quite a few of the newlywed or those about to be married to reminisce of their love lives.

.

“My heart’s all-in, rock solid ♫

My body keeps on working ♫

Tireless for my passion ♫

But this voice of mine is yours ♫

So I’ll never give in-in ♫

My heart’s all-in, fire hot ♫”

.

The rock band intensified with the woman raising her voice to match them. While tamer than what most were used to the Beats’N’Rocks genre of music, it was clear the influence was there. It was softer and easier to listen to what Rosserto was used to play, but that only lasted until the end of the first verse, as the beginning of the refrain caused the music to climax.

.

“You make me want that (Ring on Hand) ♫

Give my soul for (Ring on Hand) ♫

Our happiness (Ring on Hand) ♫

Reminds me of the flames of life (Flames of life) ♫

Wild emotions (Flames of Life) ♫

Roaring engines (Flames of Life) ♫

All so I can say, ‘I love you!’ (I love you) ♫

Motivates me (I love you) ♫

You’re my muse (I love you) ♫

All to share this ring on hand ♫”

.

Once the chorus began, the rocker dwarf took over, singing every word with power while the girl followed behind to create harmony. An unexpected union of voices was created between the two, as both synchronized to deliver a soul warming performance. It was like a second Binding ceremony, as the majority watching their performance kissed and embraced their significant other.

Those used to Punker’s Paradise were elated as they joined in. Although not completely to their taste, due to the girl’s softer voice and the unknown saxophone music no Peolyncian had heard before, their musical taste allowed them to understand the deeper intent of the song. They understood this duet was a love song, but at the same time, a celebration of life and to enjoy it while it lasted. Including warming up to the love of your life to set your heart on fire!

.

“We got heaven’s blessing ♫

Life’s too short to wait ♫

We gotta keep our smiles rolling ♫

So I’ll never give in-in ♫

My heart’s all-in, full power ♫

.

You make me want that (Ring on Hand) ♫

Give my soul for (Ring on Hand) ♫

Our happiness (Ring on Hand) ♫

Reminds me of the flames of life (Flames of life) ♫

Wild emotions (Flames of Life) ♫

Roaring engines (Flames of Life) ♫

All so I can say, ‘I love you!’ (I love you) ♫

Motivates me (I love you) ♫

You’re my muse (I love you) ♫

All to share this ring on hand ♫”

.

As the song died down, the platform in the air suddenly approached those at the cathedral. The girl waved at everybody below.

“My name is Atsuko Licht! Thank you very much for listening! It was a pleasure to see all of you and congratulations on getting married! May the gods bless all of you!” The girl introduced herself to everybody, causing the woman among the crowd to greet her, thanking her for the beautiful song.

Moments later, the girl’s duet partner stomped into the front, shouting, “But this ain’t the end of the day yet! Ya got time for family parties later! Come join us at the Hub for some real noise that will beat’n’rock ya up! Bunch of merchants, food, and drinks! Wraaaaahaaaaaaaha!”

It was a promotion, and it was an effective one since the duet immediately started to perform another song after the platform moved back to the sky. This time, however, they didn’t stay still, and instead began to fly away. All of this, however, was still projected through the blue screen at the cathedral, just like a live showing.

.

“The day’s so wonderful ♫

The night’s so colorful ♫

But all I need is your smile ♫

These hands will catch’em all ♫

But all I want is you ♫

However far it is ♫

But I’ll never give in-in ♫”

.

Urgh … the girl groaned internally, but kept her facade up for the song.

This “Atsuko Licht” was none other than Hestia’s pseudonym to hide herself from dragonkin slayers. As part of her plan to gain followers, she was performing as an idol while collaborating with Rosserto.

Still, how was it possible that she was on a floating platform and how was her image shown to everybody? First, the platform was a large [Unheiliger Engel] while she used another one to keep the video recorder following behind them. This was how Hestia was “streaming” her performance to everybody, for her team of techies managed to figure out how to make it work.

However, while that was interesting on its own—a true technological marvel—Hestia herself was more worried about how much mana she was consuming. Not only was she keeping everything in the air with her parallel minds, but she was also using [Aerokinesis] to perform her usual tricks to emulate instruments and to boost her voice.

Sadly, unlike the last time she performed a flash mob, this time she was in her complete human mode, meaning [Humanize Lv. 10]. Not only did she have to pay mana to keep her form active, she was spending a ludicrous amount for everything else. Since her human form reduced her total stats by two-thirds, she was weaker than her usual self.

As such, she rushed out of the undermountain hold and into the Hub. Since she wasn’t in her dragonewt form, she couldn’t even use her solar energy. She was, more or less, working on fumes at this point.

I need … urgh. To stop before my mana drops too low.

However, it would all be worth it in the end as they reached the Hub—the outer city—after finishing the song. The video recorder was shut off and Rossert and his band members helped Hestia into the building next to where the platform was placed, not to mention, where a crowd of dragonewts and other races were already waiting for her.

“Lady—Miss Atsuko!” The dragonewts Hestia met two weeks ago at the railroad guild—Skardrvo and Pradreo—tried to call out for her, but a large white-black virigress growled at them, reminding them what exactly was going on today.

Regardless, Hestia was immediately given some fulinoe tea by her maids Tasianna and Svena, allowing her to heal herself after consuming so much mana in the process of bringing her idea to life.

“Bad idea. Very bad idea, urgh! I should have practiced this in my human form,” Hestia agonized over her wish for today’s flashy show as she guzzled the tea down her throat. “Bwah! Haruka-chan! Daichi! Did it work?!”

Rushing out of a door inside this wooden building, a pale and sleep-deprived Daichi appeared and showed her a thumbs up. Haruka, on the other hand, didn’t appear from the room, as she was currently going through the blue screens on Aurora’s [Crystal of the Divine System].

Hestia, seeing them like this, could finally relax on her chair. A smile crept on her face as she realized she just had her performance not only streamed but also recorded for others to watch. However, seconds later, tears began to form around her eyes as she realized all of this had cost her.

My money … my money. I don’t want to be in debt anymore, man. Being a poor indie idol sucks …

Manatech cost money. Even if Haruka, Daichi, and Ellaine managed to construct something to Hestia’s demands, everything had a cost, and that meant Aurora had to go further into debt. Fortunately, though, that was just what she had to do to promote her new concert.

Hestia clapped her cheeks and stood back up and looked at Tasianna up and down, noticing she had already changed into her idol outfit. Ellaine wasn’t inside this room right now, but she had to be ready to. It was time to show Inkoran-Tazul what three trained idols could do to shake things up in this gruff place.

Not only that, but it was a brilliant chance to actually make some much needed money …

“Alright, let’s go!” Hestia jumped onto her feet, before entering the changing room for her next performance.

“Hurry up, though! I can’t stand in for you if ya takes years!” Rosserto called Hestia out before leaving the building with his iconic “Wraaaaahaaaaaha!”

Not only for the concert, but Hestia also had to hurry up for another reason. Something not part of her idol job.

Yesterday, a report had just come in that fifteen “Heroes of Aurena” and a Saintess by the name of Fleindia had arrived in the city through the train. Not only had they not spoken with the Ankoran King, but they had entered the rank B dungeon [Menagerie of Golems] but haven’t returned yet.