Chapter 70 — End
Shaking his head, Natsuki Subaru pushed the unrealistic thoughts out of his mind.
After all, Puck couldn't possibly have all sorts of bizarre, indescribable forms.
The fact that Emilia and Beatrice sculpted such statues only proved that their craftsmanship was just like that.
Moreover, they had no awareness of their own shortcomings.
With this in mind, Subaru looked at Beatrice, who was standing with her arms crossed, waiting for praise. He sighed and silently wrote a "4" on the score sheet. After doing this, Subaru turned to leave, but then heard Beatrice's voice.
"Wait! What do you mean by that, you jerk!"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Subaru stopped and looked at Beatrice with a puzzled expression, genuinely not understanding what she was talking about.
"Don't play dumb with Betty!"
Beatrice looked somewhat displeased, which made Subaru sigh helplessly, knowing that if he didn't explain clearly, he wouldn't be able to leave.
But if he told the absolute truth, Beatrice would definitely get angry.
"Because it doesn't look like Puck at all. It just looks like some weird creature." He said it out loud, not knowing why, but since it was out there, he decided to just be honest and do what he thought.
Walking up to Beatrice, Subaru looked at her calm expression and understood what emotions were hidden beneath that look.
"I get it, Beatrice, you really put a lot of effort into this. Without magic, just using your own hands to make something like this — even though it looks bad — there must be your heartfelt intentions in it. So I wasn't planning to say anything at first. But since you don't like my reaction, let's work together to remodel it."
With that, Subaru reached out and took Beatrice's hand, starting to tweak the details on her sculpture.
Beatrice, initially angry, didn't join in immediately, but after watching for a while, she began to participate.
Without much conversation, the two of them continuously optimized this not-so-good work bit by bit.
As time passed, the sculpture gradually transformed into the image Subaru had in his mind.
The second Beatrice appeared in the snow, holding Puck in her arms.
On the second Beatrice's face appeared an expression that the original Beatrice had never shown but was exactly the one Subaru wanted to see most: a smile. Even though it was just a snow sculpture, it made people feel it was very lifelike.
"Betty doesn't remember ever having such a foolish smile," she said.
"Foolish? Then I really want to see that kind of 'foolish' smile. I wonder if Beatrice-sensei can fulfill my wish."
"You're dreaming, but... if it's you... maybe it's possible..." Beatrice said somewhat inexplicably.
Hearing this, Subaru was momentarily stunned but quickly understood what Beatrice meant. He smiled and patted his chest.
"I'll do my best!"
"Then go ahead and perform to your heart's content. Betty will be sitting in the front row waiting for your show." With these words, Beatrice turned and left the snowy field.
After Beatrice's figure completely disappeared, Subaru turned to the sculpture and fell into deep thought before continuing to optimize it.
When Subaru finally felt satisfied, he smiled contentedly at the statue he had put his heart into.
On the original base, beside Betty stood Rodwell with his arms crossed; Emilia was bent over, looking at Beatrice's profile; and Ram and Rem stood behind Beatrice on both sides.
As Subaru turned to leave, he realized that he should have also sculpted himself into the statue but gave up the idea, feeling too shy.
The shyness was only the surface emotion; the real feeling was that Subaru had convinced himself he could never stay by Beatrice's side.
No matter how many people he met or what he experienced in this world, he only wanted to go home—to return to the family with his parents.
The event was over, and the winners this time were all the villagers, because the first-place work recognized by everyone didn't have a known creator.
Seeing this, Rodwell simply waved his hand, and every villager received two gold coins. Although two gold coins could greatly improve the villagers' living conditions, the event itself was the most precious reward for each villager.
That night, the manor was unusually lively.
To celebrate the successful conclusion of the event and the resolution of Puck's puberty magic issue, a banquet was held where everyone ate and played happily.
However, the greatest contributor, Subaru, had quietly left the manor at some unknown time. At night, he walked again through the snowfield filled with many statues, feeling an unusual sense of fulfillment.
When Subaru had almost finished his walk, he saw the sculpture he had optimized and immediately noticed many changes.
His own figure had been added to the statue. He was standing beside Beatrice, and the position and distance between the statues were very close.
Besides that, many other strange sculptures had appeared.
Subaru smiled helplessly, seeing that although some of the sculptures looked odd, it was still possible to tell who they represented.
These must have been made spontaneously by the villagers themselves.
"..."
"Surprised, aren't you?"
"Puck?"
"Subaru, you're the real star of tonight's banquet, yet you came here alone. Do you hate us now?"
"Hah, how could I hate you?"
"Exactly! Knowing you'd say that, I brought everyone here on purpose."
Subaru turned his head toward the manor's entrance and saw everyone inside walking toward them.
"Subaru, I've lived so long, and you're the first and probably the last human I admire. I know you have things you must do, but please rely on us more, because we owe you a lot."
"..."
Puck looked at Subaru's silence and said no more, just watching the crowd gather around Subaru, surrounding him.
"Here comes the final move! Let me show the people of the royal capital some beautiful snow."
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Puck raised his hand and cast a spell.
Soon after, snowflakes began drifting down from the sky, and people far away in the royal capital looked up, watching the snowfall.
This unnatural snowfall marked the end of this year's Ice and Snow Festival.