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It was the morning two days after I said those cringy things that made me writhe in shame whenever I remembered them.

Ria stood at the stage that had been installed in front of the branch’s counter.

“From now, we will be holding the first(temporary) game tournament!”

Cheers and applause rose up. Once Cynthia, the moderator of the event, saw it grow silent as Ria stepped down, she proceeded with the ceremony.

Simple confirmations of the rules and explanations about the rewards went without a hitch. Incidentally, the prize was given in shogi, go, and chess, while other games had special awards in the form of gifts like during the snow sculpting festival.

And finally, Ector spoke up at the end of the opening ceremony.

“I’m participating in the chess tournament this time, but I won’t forgive you if you hold back on me. The main goal here is for everyone to enjoy it. I hope you don’t forget that and compete using all your wits.”

With that, the ceremony was done.

Cynthia once again got on the stage and proceeded to read aloud about the tournament locations.

“The dining hall will be holding shogi, go, and chess from the first floor onward. The first floor of the main building would be reversi and jenga, and the second floor – cards. The tournament brackets and the seat allocations are in the corresponding halls, so please check them once you get there.”

Cynthia paused there and a sense of tension akin to suspense spread through the place.

“Well then, please head out!”

The people got into the action as if the dam had broken.

From managing, serving, and progress schedules to fraud monitoring — for the staff members other than at the reception, the real work started from now on.

“Does everyone have a wind crystal?”

The staff members all nodded. The fist-sized crystals were the simplified versions of the Dragon God’s piercings, so to speak. The crystals simply had my magic power in them, so they were only effective within my magic power’s reach, but the crystals resonated with each other and served as transceivers that could do the work of speakers.

“Use them as we practiced. I’m sure you know well enough, but unless you cut the magic power off properly, even your monologues will get leaked, so keep that in mind.
“““……”””
“Kh…”

Bard went beet red as everyone’s gazes fell on him, having shamed himself by leaking his honest feelings during yesterday’s practice. I had to warn them, so stop glaring at me like that.

“Now then, please contact me once you arrive at your destinations.”
“““Understood.”””
““““Okaay!”””
“Pii!”

They gave their respective responses and dispersed.

I was in charge of the reception while supporting every venue and kitchen.

“Haku, let’s stay together today.”
“Pii~♪”

I sat on the seat I specially put at the counter and patted Haku who was resting on my apron.

Now, this ends my role in all this for the time being. With that, I once again moved my sight to the scenery outside the window.

Outside the window— far, far away. Above Nort Sea, Sylph and Nina, who took the birdman along, were playing a large-scale game of tag.

Even Sylph, who was probably angry that his fun was disturbed, had his mood restored once he saw Nina’s excelling flight magic. He was chasing her happily with a big smile.

Being absorbed in chasing, he didn’t realize that he was being led to the ground. Neither did he notice the great earth spirit awaiting him there.

Unlike the sea, the ground was Gnome’s playground. Due to the rivalry between wind and earth, both Sylph and Gnome weakened. The angry Sylph’s spearhead was turned to Gnome, but Gabril’s Iai, which was a sword drawing skill that severed Factors without using them itself, made his attacks ineffective.

Confused, Sylph failed to fully dodge the Elder’s attacks supported by the rest of the elves.

No matter how much wind he blew, it was guarded by Gnome’s earth. But Gnome couldn’t catch Sylph either, as he excelled in speed. Due to the Elder’s bulldozing and Parsha’s disturbance, Sylph’s movements grew duller. The rest was on Nina.

It was the contract of the love charm, or more accurately, of the ritual prayer.

There were three ways you could make a contract with a great spirit. The first was unconditional mutual acceptance. The second was to carry out the contract terms given by the great spirit. And finally, the contract could come from the human’s side, as it was happening right now.

Weakening the great spirit was the first step to making forced synchronization possible. The second step was to form a contract with the ritual prayer while synchronized. Though this was a brute-force approach, it still required enough skill to make the great spirit yield and also the nature that allowed you to sync with them, which made it even more difficult than the rest.

I suppose it would be better to describe it as a method that someone would use just to make the great spirit that only caused trouble to behave.

Even that selfish Sylph wasn’t refusing to sync with Nina despite everything, so the two were probably quite like-minded. I mean, she was someone to whom even a whimsical wind spirit would lend a hand, so I guess this was an expected result.

At any rate, the contract succeeded as the dumbfounded elves watched on.

“Illya, there’s a problem.”

Hearing the voice from the crystal, I turned off my Clairvoyance. It was Cathy speaking, who should’ve been on the first floor of the main building… which was right next to me.

“What’s wrong?”
“Cake desserts are being consumed fast. At this rate they won’t last until noon.”

Looking toward the hall, I saw Cathy looking fearfully at the table with sweets. I sighed with a sense of lethargy and spoke to the crystal.

“Understood. I will start cooking right away.”
“…Understood.”
“We have some reserved for the staff, so—”

Calm down and focus on your work. Before I managed to say that, my voice was erased by a large chorus.

“““Thaaaank god!!”””

Maybe it was a mistake to make various bite-sized cakes that we normally sell in the store.

The game tournaments concluded favorably.

Everyone was so absorbed in it that they stopped caring about the rain altogether and would probably be like, ‘Rain? Is that something tasty?’ if you brought it up. Those who lost also asked for another tournament to be held regardless of the rain so they could get their revenge.

The only blunder was that Ector managed to win the chess tournament and incurred everyone’s displeasure.

Though there was one more issue.

“…Ouch…”
“…It’s hot.”
“Cynthia, Cathy, you’re being too slovenly.”

Because Sylph consumed a great amount of water and wind factors, Rondoville suffered from a fierce heat stronger than the summer despite being out of season.

“Pii…”

Even Haku looked exhausted from this scorching heat.

Even the middle-aged men who used to enjoy their booze were languidly sprawled over their tables now.

“…Sigh.”
“…So even you’re suffering from this heat, huh, Illya.”

Unfortunately for Cynthia who said that happily, the cause of my gloom lay elsewhere.

Or rather, in front of my eyes.

“…Illya, let’s return to the village…”

This f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g geezer wasn’t going back despite the heat wearing him out.

“Elder. Just go back already.”
“…I can’t accept this.”
“Stop throwing a tantrum and go back.”
“…Don’t wanna.”