I wasn’t entirely sure why, but Dos and the others had absolutely pulverized the Whale Skeleton. They beat it to a pulp—thoroughly and without mercy. I wondered what that creature could have possibly done to deserve such a thrashing. However, I was far too far away to intervene, so I simply watched from a distance.
More importantly, Ashura had stopped dancing. I checked in with him to see if he was all right, and thankfully, he was. It seemed the skeletons had returned to the earth as well, which was a relief. The Whale Skeleton hadn't crumbled away like the others, but I assumed Dos and his kin would handle the remains. The competition they’d been engaged in earlier—the one with the incomprehensible rules—seemed to have concluded as well, so there were no immediate problems left.
"Ashura," I said, "about that dance from earlier..."
I wasn't angry, of course. I just told him it looked remarkably similar to a Bon Dance I was familiar with. I even showed him a few moves, but he explained that his dance was fundamentally different. According to Ashura, his movements were a way of chanting a spell through the precise motions of his arms and legs.
He seemed puzzled that I hadn't felt the urge to mimic his movements when everyone else did. I admitted that I actually had felt the urge to join in; I’d simply held back because I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate for me to participate at the time.
"But if that’s a spell... I mean, if it's magic, is it safe for others to perform your dance?" I asked.
He assured me it was fine. Apparently, most people simply lacked the requisite number of limbs to actually trigger the magic. I see. It was a style exclusive to someone with Ashura's unique physique.
Dos and the others eventually returned from finishing off the Whale Skeleton. I expected them to look refreshed after the battle, but none of them were smiling.
"It escaped," Dos grumbled.
"It did?" I asked. "It looked like you finished it off from here."
"We merely forced it to discard the vast majority of its power."
I asked what that thing had been. I’d gone out to defeat a whale once before, so I wondered if there was a connection. Dos hedged his words, explaining that there were some things he couldn't disclose, but he gave me the gist of it. Apparently, the entity was an ancient spirit that had fought life-or-death battles against the ancestors of the dragon race roughly ten thousand years ago.
"It’s a dangerous existence," Dos admitted, "but since it discarded that much power, it should be dormant for about five thousand years. I suppose it will be our descendants' problem then."
That was a difficult thing to respond to. If the threat were ten or twenty years away, I’d feel obligated to do something, but I couldn't exactly worry about what might happen five millennia from now. At most, I could leave a record behind to warn the future generations.
Dos then turned a troubled gaze toward me before glancing pointedly in another direction. I followed his eyes and saw one of the Civil Official Girls heading our way. Ah, right. Between the "competition" and the battle with the whale, the parade was significantly behind schedule.
I told Dos and the others to head to the standby area, promising them that I would handle the logistics team. They fled the scene in a hurry. The arriving Civil Official Girl glared at their retreating backs, but I did my best to mollify her and smooth things over.
Just as I was thinking about heading to the standby area myself, Aegis arrived. He was clutching something large in his talons.
"For me?" I asked.
It looked like a bone fragment—likely a piece of that whale. I chided him, telling him he shouldn't go around picking up strange things, but he immediately demanded a reward. It was a bit frustrating to be extorted for bringing me junk, but I eventually gave in.
"Fine, fine. I’ll give you something from my bento."
It was the lunch I’d packed for myself this morning before the parade began. Aegis seemed satisfied with the offer, but as soon as I opened it, he snatched the grilled fish right out of the center.
"Hey! Don’t take the main course!"
Usually, you’re supposed to go for the side dishes first, but since he’d already put his beak on it, there was no taking it back. Then, because he didn't want to eat his meal off the ground, he demanded I give him the bento lid to use as a plate. I eventually just gave him the whole thing. It was lucky we were in Shashato City; I could just order something from Maruura for my own lunch.
As for the bone, I initially thought about burying it and offering a prayer, but something felt off. The fragment had a strange aura about it. I worried that burying it might cause problems later, so I decided it would be better to enshrine it somewhere I could keep an eye on it. I planned to take it to the Village Five Shrine after the parade and entrust its care to the Silver Fox Race.
The original plan for the outside parade was to finish the processions for both Village Five and Shashato City on the first day. However, there had been a small delay in Village Five and a massive one in Shashato City. We were supposed to be done by sunset, but the festivities were still going strong well into the night.
While the city celebrated, an emergency meeting was held in a large inn. The attendees included me, the Demon King, the Civil Official Girls, and several officials from the Demon Kingdom. The agenda was straightforward.
"We were scheduled to advance to the outskirts of the Royal Capital by tomorrow. Shall we proceed as planned?"
We had managed to get through today, but it had been an exhausting push. If we tried to maintain the schedule tomorrow, there were concerns about the physical toll on the participants. The Civil Official Girls and the capital officials proposed postponing the next leg by one day to ensure everyone was rested for the final parade at the Royal Capital.
Postponement wasn't a simple matter. It meant extending the closure of the Teleportation Gates and increasing the budget for lodging and food. It was a difficult decision to make on the fly.
Still, I wondered why I was even at this meeting. I told them I would simply follow whatever instructions the Civil Official Girls gave me. I wasn't about to demand they push through when the people on the ground were telling me it was too much.
I did, however, wonder about the Demon King’s stance. This parade was partly a decoy to facilitate investigations in the region. I worried a delay might throw his plans into disarray, but when I looked at him with concern, he addressed me directly.
"Is the Village Head all right with a postponement?"
"Me? I'm fine," I replied. "I’ve left Zabuton and Flora in charge of the village. They can handle anything that comes up. And if there’s a real emergency, I can just use the Teleportation Gate to pop back for a bit."
"I see. Then we shall proceed with a one-day postponement."
The Demon King made his decision, and the matter was settled. I really didn't think I needed to be there for that. If anything, Magistrate Ifuls should have been the one participating.
Speaking of the Magistrate, he had actually invited me to dinner. It was intended as an apology for the disruption he’d caused alongside the dragons. Even though I’d told him I wasn't bothered by it, Miyo had gone as far as using her own Reward Medals to secure the appointment. Honestly, I felt he should be apologizing to the logistics team rather than to me.
Miyo had initially said the dinner would take place after the parade was over, but with the new one-day delay, I expected she would try to move the meeting up. I braced myself for the social obligation. When I asked if the Civil Official Girls should join us, she gave me a wry smile and declined, saying she would arrange a separate event for them. I wouldn't have minded if we all ate together, though.