The festival was over.
From morning until noon, we spent our time cleaning up, and eventually, everyone set off on their respective journeys home. Dos, Raimeiren, and Draim departed shortly after midday.
"Please look after Hakuren," Raimeiren said, speaking for the group before they each headed off in their own directions.
Michael hitched a ride on Draim’s back to reach Draim’s Nest. His subordinates were waiting for him there, and it seemed they would travel the rest of the way by carriage under their protection. Galf, from the beastman race, accompanied them as an escort. He was apparently heading to Shashato City to broaden his horizons. Since Galf has been a huge help to me in various ways, I gave him a bit of pocket money—not much, but enough to show my appreciation.
The Four Heavenly Kings and Yuri also departed just after noon. Hou and the dwarves had become quite close, it seemed. Seeing the dwarves present her with a sake barrel in total, stoic silence was quite the sight... Gratz was clearly reluctant to say goodbye to Ronana, while Beezel and Yuri exchanged their farewells with Frau and the civil official girls. Randan was... busy saying his goodbyes to the lizardmen. I was just glad they all seemed to have enjoyed themselves. I made sure to send them off with plenty of souvenirs for the Demon King.
After Progenitor-san sent Fouche back home via teleportation magic, he headed to the hot springs with the Death Knight. He mentioned wanting to soak and recover from the festivities. Urza waved goodbye to the knight as they left. The lamias and giants were planning to stay one more night before heading out. The lamia race even requested more work around autumn, and the giants, eyeing our crops, asked if there were any tasks they could help with. I’ll have to give that some thought.
The residents of Villages One, Two, and Three also began their trek back. They moved together as a large group. Since Kuro’s offspring and Granmaria’s team were acting as escorts, they would be safe. With the population of the Village of the Great Tree finally thinned out, the festival executive committee held its review meeting.
"The Quiz Tournament took up far more time than we anticipated."
That was our first major point of reflection. While the event was a hit, the sheer number of participants meant that moving everyone around took forever. This was partly due to differences in gender and age, but the biggest factor was the physiological differences between the races. Some were fast, others were slow. Moreover, when the larger races moved, they naturally got in the way of everyone else. As the rounds progressed, we tried having certain races move along the outer perimeter of the venue, but still...
Hmm. Maybe it would be better to hold the Quiz Tournament in a more spacious location—like the racetrack. However, that would make it difficult for eliminated participants to watch or get food. We also felt that the order of the questions shouldn't be entirely random; some manual management might be necessary. Easy questions were clumped together toward the end, which meant the number of players didn't decrease for a long stretch, dragging the whole thing out.
"We also had a request from the guests to include more questions related to them next time," someone noted.
I wasn't sure if there would be a second Quiz Tournament, but I kept the suggestion in mind. The next big topic was Yamakuzushi.
"Did the team aspect really feel meaningful?" "I think it needed a bit more strategy." "Maybe we should let each team choose how many logs to pull instead of relying on dice." "How about 'trap' logs linked to the board on top? The early game always feels a bit listless." "We could make the symbol even more unstable."
The actual progression of the event was flawless. It went very smoothly, likely because we were putting our experience from previous festivals to good use. Consequently, the feedback focused more on improving the competition itself rather than addressing logistical errors. Again, I wasn't sure if we’d do it again, but I filed the ideas away.
After discussing the evening banquet and the morning cleanup, the review meeting officially concluded.
"Thank you all for your hard work on this year's festival."
Even though the meeting was over, we didn't disperse just yet.
"Next, let's go over the status of the other villages."
I felt a little guilty making them talk shop right after a festival, but I had the representatives from each village give their reports.
"Agriculture in Village Two and Village Three is proceeding without issue. We expect a decent harvest, even if it's not a record-breaker. Village One... well, they haven't started yet. We'll see how they do next year."
It seemed there were no major concerns. When the residents of Village Three were preparing to leave, I told them that new centaur migrants would be joining them soon. Since the newcomers were people from the "wanted acquaintances" list, the news was met with great joy. However, Beezel, who had located them, had a request: he wanted a full list of the current residents in Village Three.
"I'm sorry," he explained. "When I find people, they ask me exactly who is looking for them, and I haven't been able to give them a clear answer."
I had assumed Beezel already had that information, but it turned out he had only recorded the names of Gluewald and a few others. I worried for a moment if our management was too lax, but then I realized our main village didn't have a formal registry either. That was a point of reflection for me.
If I put together a list, we might even see more migrants. On that note, there were apparently several centaurs who wanted to move even though they weren't on the list. They likely just wanted to live among their own kind. If it were up to me, I’d welcome them, but I’ve entrusted Village Three to Gluewald. I decided to leave the final call on their acceptance to her. She looked a bit anxious, but I chose to trust her judgment. I simply reminded her that no matter who joined, she was the representative of Village Three. That conversation would happen a bit later; Beezel planned to take Gluewald with him to interview the candidates.
Fouche also had a request for the Village One migrants. Apparently, there are people worried about them, so they wanted them to reach out—even a simple letter would do. Jack, the representative of Village One, agreed to write it.
"Village Head, how much detail can I include about the village?" "There's nothing to hide, so write whatever you want," I told him.
It was an odd question. He finished the letter on the first night of the festival extension. It was addressed to an acquaintance, letting them know he was doing well. He showed it to me, though I told him he didn't have to. I guess he wanted me to check it? It was fine. There were some typos, but I didn't mind. I didn't have any complaints about the content, either... though it was basically all about him. I wondered if he should mention his wife or the other migrants, but he said as long as people knew he was alive, that was enough. If he says so.
Interestingly, the paper he used was produced in Village One. The conversation moved to how letters were handled elsewhere.
"How do they send letters in the cities?" "They use messengers. Letters are generally a luxury for the wealthy." "Is that so?" "Paper is expensive, and very few people can read or write."
Before Village One started their production, the paper we sent out was what I’d received from Dos. Thinking back, Beezel and Michael usually sent parchment, and letters from Howlin Village arrived on wooden boards. Even without a printing press, paper alone could be a viable business.
"The only problem is that communicating with Fouche-san is difficult without Progenitor-san acting as an intermediary."
Other routes, like handing a letter to Michael, would take forever. Two months at best. At worst, the letter might just vanish.
"When sending mail over long distances, the standard practice is to send multiple copies through different routes."
I see. On a side note, because of the centaur situation, we decided to create an official village registry. With our population growing, it was becoming a necessity. I wanted to set up a system where a person isn't officially a resident until they've been registered. And, of course, the task of maintaining the registry fell to me. I thought this was something the civil official girls would handle, but apparently, they’ll handle the minutiae while I do the final entries. Understood. I'll do my best.
Looking at our current population, I felt a slight wave of gloom.
"Now then... for today's main topic: the Third Martial Arts Tournament." "Isn't that still a long way off?" "It’ll be here before you know it."
Our meeting lasted until nightfall. I really wanted to just relax the day after a festival, but I persevered, all while stroking the cat asleep on my lap.