The banquet went on as scheduled. The wood elves' hostility didn't affect the Players at all, and instead, many of them seemed to be saying 'I like the look on your face when you don't like me but can't kill me', which in turn made them even more excited.
The fragrant barley was being roasted over the square, and the scent of cumin wafted over the square. The Players' banquets seemed to have become more varied after they gained Life Skills.
Outsiders might think that the Players' behavior was unreasonable: after all, the elven capital was a foreign place to them, and the first thing they wanted to do after arriving here through the Lifestone was to host a banquet instead of befriending others …
Only the Players themselves understood the meaning of the banquet.
Be it the refugees outside Cromwell City, the survivors of Tierra or other refugees, most of the Players were wanderers who had left their homes aside from the residents of the Unnamed Town.
Having lost their home, they saw the Church of Games as their second home.
On the other hand, the Church of Games' presence was very faint. Unlike other churches which had specific religious buildings, there were no cathedrals, temples or ancestral halls.
If there was one thing that could represent the Church of Games, there was no question that it was the Lifestone.
That was precisely why the Players would instead see the Lifestone as the Church of Games, and holding a banquet was a special way for them to recognize the place as part of their second home.
They wore dolphin or fish masks and sang and danced in the square. Even though the songs they sang and danced were not the same, making it look messy and disorderly, for some reason, it gave people a particularly cheerful and lively feeling.
As usual, the edge of the square was filled with grilled meat and drinks. Out of consideration for the wood elves' feelings, a lone cabbage (a vegetable similar to lettuce) was added to the tons of grilled meat. Be that as it may, the cabbage remained untouched even after half of the meat had been eaten since the banquet began …
It seems that the cabbage would have to stay here all by itself until a brave warrior discovers the unique way of eating meat wrapped in lettuce.
That was why the Players saw many unusual fireworks on this day, with some of them having problems with their original design and would explode on the spot instead of being fired.
Watching as the apprentice alchemists were happily blowing themselves up, Marni ate his roast meat while arguing with Ivan about how they could sell the meat tenderizer to the wood elves, which was not selling well.
"Impossible, Boss Marni. The wood elves don't eat meat … Even if we take a hundred steps back, those fellows are too proud to even look at us." While Ivan himself did not care about the wood elves' attitude, he clearly understood how they viewed humans.
"No, that's not it, Ivan." Marni shook his head. "It's true that the wood elves don't like us right now, but the partnership between us is a reality. It's just that we need to get used to it. I'm sure that one of the wood elves would step forward as a bridge between humans and them sooner or later. "
"… But what does that have to do with meat tenderizer, Boss?"
"We could sell meat tenderizer to them as cosmetics!"
"…" There was a look on Ivan's face that said 'if the relationship between humans and the wood elves falls apart, it's ninety percent because of you, Boss'.
Marni was about to retort and argue for his reputation, but he turned around as if sensing something.
The young wood elf from before was standing timidly in an alley some distance away from the square where the banquet was being held, as if afraid to come forward.
"Look, didn't the first wood elf who dares to step forward show up? That's why I believe there will always be a bridge. " He smiled at Ivan and finished his grilled meat in a few bites, before rising to his feet and walking towards the young wood elf.
"Hey, you're here." Seeing that the young wood elf was about to flee by instinct, Marni simply greeted him with a gentle voice. "Incidentally, our banquet has reached its most interesting moment."
"Most interesting moment?" The young wood elf cocked his head and looked at the Players in the square.
At some point, the fireworks contest had turned into a fireworks battle. The Players were holding the inferior fireworks the apprentice alchemists made and firing them at each other, leaving the scene in utter chaos.
"Is burning people with weird flames that interesting?" The young wood elf asked in confusion.
"Ahem. It's just a small interlude." Marni's smile stiffened, but being an old merchant who traveled the world, he naturally wouldn't show too much of a flaw in his expression.
Even so, before he could think of what to say next, a louder cry of surprise could be heard from the Players.
They all subconsciously looked in the direction of the square and saw a Holy Lancer flying straight into the sky on a condor like a human bomb with fireworks tied to his body.
In the next split second, the Player shouted, "I'm splitting!"
Then, he crashed into the wood elves' barrier and exploded into the most dazzling firework of the day!
Not only were the Players not surprised, but all of them were applauding and cheering, giving him a thumbs up and shouting 'awesome' as he was reduced to ashes that rained down from the sky.
It wasn't just the wood elves — even Marni who was watching felt that he would have mistaken the Players as suspicious and dangerous self-destructors if he didn't know inside information about the God of Games' Church.
All at once, he felt that the young wood elf's gaze had become prickly.
The young man narrowed his phoenix eyes and glared at him, asking suspiciously, "… Interesting?"
"There are always some weird fellows who would choose to put on a show like this to impress the crowd." Marni cleared his throat and answered a little pathetically. "We have to respect their hobbies, don't we …"
Oh no, it seems that the bridge of friendship between humans and wood elves is about to collapse.
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Chapter 206:
The Players' Day of Rest, Five and Half
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