Compared to Sesk, who was lost in thought on the spot, Gosen maintained his usual flamboyant demeanor, like a peacock displaying its feathers, turning and walking towards the proprietress of Moli Restaurant, Ms. Shelly, under everyone's gaze.
A vibrant yellow flower appeared in his hand. Gosen knelt on one knee, offering the flower, "Beautiful lady, I am Gosen from the Aqua Deer Magic Knights. I wonder if I might have the opportunity to get to know you?"
'Aqua Deer? Isn't that the Order of Knights Bai En and Rill are in?... Could it be that there are too many people today, and they called members of their squad to help?'
'That's too thoughtful. This way, it saves two people's wages. Ah~ I should still give them something symbolically, after all, it's tiring after a day.'
Shelly smiled as she took the flower from Gosen's hand and softly said, "Hello, I'm Shelly. It must be very hard work here. After we close up, I'll treat you to dinner."
She handed the order pad to Gosen, "So, I'll leave this place to you now. Good Luck, don't disappoint me."
Gosen looked at her smile, his heart trembling. 'This... this is definitely a gift from the heavens... a god! The smile of a goddess!'
'Wait... what else did she just say? After we close, she'll treat me to dinner?'
'Did she agree?'
Gosen, looking at the order pad in his hand, was greatly encouraged. "Excellent, nothing will stop my date with Ms. Shelly today!"
And so, Sesk and Gosen, who had originally decided to go to a tavern for a grand gamble and then flirt with noble ladies, ended up staying at Moli Restaurant's stall, becoming two hardworking laborers.
Time passed quickly. As the long queue gradually dwindled, the blue sky also slowly darkened, and evening arrived.
Magical lanterns flying in the sky lit up the town beneath the royal capital, and the true festival only began now. Clowns performing acrobatics appeared on the streets, high-pitched female singers and elegantly dancing male dancers performed the Sea Dance amidst the crowd.
At the open-air taverns by the street, there were drinking competitions for women, and many people even gambled their yul on it. The cheering crowd shouted, "Who will be the victorious female drinking champion?"
After the long queue dwindled, the prepared ingredients were already running low, so Shelly canceled sales for the day. Guests who missed out on the delicious food could enjoy a certain discount if they visited Jika's Magic Restaurant another day.
Rill, being a Captain, had to attend the Star Award Ceremony, so he left early. He casually cooked something to eat at the stall, witnessed Gosen being rejected by Proprietress Shelly, and after he and Sesk tearfully headed to the tavern, he finished his dinner and bid farewell to Proprietress Shelly, walking alone through the surging crowd.
The games and activities on the street were no different from those in his previous life. There were also shooting games where you shot balloons. Bai En saw two acquaintances, Luck and Magna, wearing Black Bulls Squad cloaks, playing with extreme joy.
After aimlessly wandering through the crowd for a bit, Bai En brought his thoughts back to himself. Due to frequent training recently, he had given Xiao Tong a day off today. She was currently resting peacefully inside the grimoire.
Their coordination was already synchronized. The originally difficult "assimilation," with the help of those azure eyes, had become exceptionally successful. The current "assimilation" process had no problems whatsoever.
On another note, this birthday gift was like a gold mine, bringing not only those azure eyes but also assimilating the related abilities into magic.
Perhaps the previous few times he had hit rock bottom, and now he was rebounding with good fortune.
To get used to and adapt to the new magic and those azure eyes, Bai En had been tormented with pain these past few days. His mastery was only average, and it might require a hearty battle to practice and test it out.
As he thought of this, fireworks exploded in the dark sky, brilliant fireworks blooming in various strange colors, adding a layer of colorful oil painting to the black curtain.
His eyesight was excellent; even in the distant crowd, he could see Magic Emperor Julius standing on the royal capital's castle, preparing to speak using an amplifying magic tool.
Amidst the bustling crowd, as the fireworks faded, a clamor arose, "Look! There!"
"The Magic Emperor is going to make a personal statement! How amazing--"
The amplified voice through the magic tool spread through the crowd.
"Thank you all—for gathering here!"
"I will be presenting this year's Magic Knights' attack results. After my presentation, the King will also take the stage to speak, so please look forward to it."
Cheers erupted from the crowd, "Magic Emperor! Magic Emperor!"
As the sound wave subsided, Julius continued, "As you all know... currently, our Clover Kingdom is suffering invasions from the Diamond Kingdom and the Spade Kingdom, and a terrifying organization called Midnight Sun has emerged. We are constantly fighting them--"
"But in fact, there are even more people who bravely faced the enemy. Therefore, to commend and celebrate these brave warriors who are the pride of our nation, this festival should be held now. Let us, the people, together call out the Captains of our nine Order of Knights!"
Several figures emerged from the passage and walked onto the castle. Rill was prominently among them.
Although there were nine Order of Knights, only seven Captains actually attended this summary ceremony. The other two... Yami, the Captain of the Black Bulls Squad, was playing ring toss at a stall, and Charlotte, the Captain of the Thorny Rose, was participating in the female drinking competition and was completely drunk.
"Alright, to revitalize our spirits, I shall now immediately announce the rankings!" Julius waved his hand, and projection magic displayed the star points and rankings of each squad in the air.
"The first place is... Golden Dawn! They accumulated a total of 125 stars, greatly surpassing last year's score of 96 stars. Golden Dawn has truly shown us their outstanding performance this time!" Julius said with a smile, "Now, please welcome the member who contributed the most stars!"
Amidst the echoing cheers, the person who appeared was Yuno, who had recently joined the Golden Dawn!
"He's so handsome~"
"So stylish!" Girls' screams erupted from the crowd.
"Now, let's announce second place! This year's second place in star acquisition is--the Black Bulls Squad!"
"Eh?! How can that be? That's... a hooligan squad?! Their star count last year was negative..."
"Something must be wrong, right?"
Just as the crowd fell into murmurs of surprise, Rebecca and Gahno, who had been helped by the Black Bulls Squad, began to explain for them, and Magic Emperor Julius also presented evidence of the incidents they had resolved.
Asta, as the newcomer who earned the most stars, was violently thrown onto the castle by Yami.
The two standing on the castle glared at each other, "Come on, Asta."
"Yo, Yuno~"
"It seems one person is still missing..."
"Doesn't that mean we're already one step ahead of him... isn't it?"
That missing person... Bai En Lancaster was scrutinizing the seven Captains on the castle, "Who should I choose to adapt to combat?"
"From what I remember, the Captains usually go to the tavern for drinks after the ceremony..."
"Then I'll take this opportunity to challenge the Captains of other squads, and also try out... the 'Infinity' after magic assimilation."
...