When I Was Reincarnated, All the Heroines Were Stolen by the Fake Hero ~ The Guy Who Dominated With Original Story Knowledge, and Me Who Dominated With Talent. It Seems the World After the Ending Is My One-Man Stage ~ - Episode 62

Episode 62

A week passed after that.

Though it had been busy, the preparations for the festival progressed without any issues. And finally, the day of the Harvest Festival arrived.

The town of Kanaloa at night was filled with a different kind of excitement than during the day.

Bonfires were lit in the square. Their soft light illuminated the cheerful faces of the people.

Beastmen, dwarves, humans.

These races once would have kept their distance from one another. They were now drinking together and laughing with no discrimination at all.

Using that scene as a snack, I had a little of the beer-sama.

That’s right, it should be about time for the planned event to begin.

I pushed through the crowd and headed toward the special stage set up in the center of the square.

When I arrived at the venue, there were already players. They were seemingly chosen from each race. They were seated in front of a large table.

Two from each race, a total of six people.

On the table, dishes piled like a mountain were lined up.

A huge chunk of monster meat that had been nicely grilled. And a large salad dish with colorful vegetables generously dressed.

These had been prepared in advance at my request to Freyja.

The salad used freshly harvested crops from Vegetoria.

When I looked at the participants, I recognized a familiar face among the beastman team. It was Ron.

Compared to the other large and muscular participants, his build looked somewhat delicate.

It made me a bit anxious… but just as I was thinking that, the soldier acting as referee stepped into the center of the venue.

“Now then, we will begin the interspecies speed-eating contest! The rules are simple! Two people per team, and the first team to completely finish the food in front of them wins!”

As the soldier declared that, the once-buzzing crowd quieted down.

“Everyone, are you ready? …Then, start!”

With the soldier’s shout as the signal, the silence exploded into a roar of cheers.

“Go for it!” “Show them the pride of humanity!” “Don’t you dare lose!”

Voices of support flew from every direction.

Among them, I thought I heard a loud and overly spirited voice. It was one that sounded familiar, with blue twin tails flashing in my mind—but it was probably just my imagination.

I began observing what tactics each race would use to tackle this competition.

First, the dwarf team.

Without hesitation, they grabbed the meat and both bit into the giant chunk.

However, this meat came from a monster that wasn’t exactly suited for eating. Simply grilling it likely left it tough and sinewy.

They were biting with all their might. But they had a hard time swallowing. They were struggling to move on to the next bite.

Next, the human team.

They used the knives provided on the table to finely cut the meat. They then wrapped it in salad and brought it to their mouths.

No—on closer look, they weren’t really chewing at all. They were just swallowing it down. That might be a more accurate description.

Quite a rough technique.

Then, the beastman team.

They seemed to be dividing roles.

The more muscular one was devouring the meat. While Ron was relentlessly stuffing salad into his mouth.

Watching that, something came to mind.

Come to think of it, Ron and his fellow Thunder Beast Tribe had once said that food prepared by humans was too heavily seasoned and hard for them to eat.

Yet now, he was eating a salad drenched in dressing.

If I’m not mistaken… this might be the result of him training himself in his own way. It was so that he could eat Kotama’s cooking.

As the crowd cheered for their respective races, the contest finally came to a conclusion.

“Time’s up!”

The referee soldier shouted loudly.

“And the team that won with overwhelming speed is… the two from the Thunder Beast Tribe!”

With those words, several beastmen who appeared to be from the Thunder Beast Tribe leapt out from the crowd. They shouted as they jumped on the two participants:

“Great job, Ron!”

“Speed-eating is our specialty!”

The venue erupted in loud applause. And the first event closed successfully.

＊ ＊ ＊

After the speed-eating contest area was cleared, a large barrel and a chair were brought to the center of the square.

The next event was a simpler test of strength: arm wrestling.

Once again, the soldier referee appeared.

“Thank you for waiting, everyone! Next up is the 100-man arm wrestling challenge!”

The outrageous name of the event drew puzzled voices from the crowd:

“100-man challenge?”

“What the heck is that?”

“The rules are simple! Darphen-dono, chief of the dwarves, will face a continuous challenge from 100 beastmen and humans combined! Can the beast-human tag team defeat the strongest dwarf!?”

Even I, the planner, hadn’t been informed of this. So I was a little surprised.

Darphen looked quite elderly. But apparently, he was still very much active.

As I was thinking that, the star of the event, Darphen, walked confidently through the thunderous applause.

“Ga-ha-ha! Is there anyone here who can beat the best among dwarves, me!?”

He let out a hearty laugh and strode toward the barrel.

Then, from the opposite side, a single figure appeared.

“My, my… you’ve underestimated us, haven’t you?”

Appearing with a languid voice was none other than Lin, chief of the Thunder Beast Tribe.

“Hoh… I won’t go easy even on a woman, you know?”

At Darphen’s provocation, Lin grinned fearlessly.

“Ahaha. I wonder how long you’ll be able to keep that smug tone?”

Darphen climbed onto the chair. And the two of them locked arms atop the barrel.

“Now, the first match everyone’s been waiting for! A battle between Darphen, chief of the dwarves, and Rin, chief of the Thunder Beast Tribe… start!”

The soldier’s voice rang out loudly.

But before the sentence was even finished—

A faintly glowing magic circle appeared on Lin’s right arm.

No way—is Lin planning to use magic?

The moment I thought that—

*CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE!*

A thunderous roar pierced the eardrums. And bluish-white lightning surged through the area.

Along with the other spectators, I instinctively ducked on the spot.

When I fearfully looked up… there was Darphen, his eyes rolled back. He was twitching as he lay collapsed.

Lin puffed out her chest proudly. She was ready to declare victory.

“Hehe, how about that! When hit with our thunder magic, something like this is—”

However, she didn’t get to finish that sentence.

*Piii-piii!* The soldier referee blew his whistle sharply.

“Disqualified!”

“Huh?”

Lin made a dumbfounded face.

“You can’t use magic in arm wrestling! Lin-dono, you’re disqualified for a foul!”

“EHHHHHH!? Nobody told me that!?”

Lin screamed as two other Thunder Beast Tribe members lifted her by the arms and carried her off somewhere from the venue.

＊ ＊ ＊

After that, a different dwarf took over for Darphen. And the 100-man arm wrestling event ended peacefully with a complete victory for the dwarves.

There were plenty of unexpected incidents. But the festival could be considered a great success.

Just when I was thinking it was about to end, someone called to me from behind.

“Yutaka-sama.”

When I turned around, I saw Sebas standing there with a calm expression.

“When I first heard there would be a Harvest Festival, I wondered what would become of it. But it looks like things will wrap up without a hitch.”

“Yeah. I’m just glad everyone seems to be having fun.”

As I answered that, Sebas let out a theatrical sigh.

“Really now… Yutaka-sama, you’re always so sudden. My heart can’t take it, no matter how many I had.”

“Ugh… s-sorry.”

I apologized reflexively. But Sebas continued with a gentle tone.

His expression, as always, was warm.

“But if not for your spur-of-the-moment ideas, Yutaka-sama, this town never would have recovered enough to hold a festival like this.”

“If you’re going to say that, then it’s thanks to everyone—Sebas, Freyja, all of you. I couldn’t have done it alone.”

“Yutaka-sama… truly, thank you.”

“I just did what I had to do.”

When I smiled and said that, Sebas too relaxed his expression softly.

Then, he immediately returned to his butler demeanor.

“Now then, Yutaka-sama. The festival isn’t over until everything is cleaned up. The real work starts now.”

“Ahh… can’t I leave that to everyone else?”

I joked, and—

“No, you may not.”

Sebas responded firmly and decisively.