The calendar on the South Continent, including the Carpa Kingdom, was a lunisolar calendar based on the moon phases with a leap month.
Zenjirou had been used to the solar calendar, so it was extremely confusing to him, when some years lasted a whole month longer.
The New Year Festival in the Carpa Kingdom in particular had a lot in common with the New Year in Japan.
Neither did they have the custom to celebrate the first sunrise of the year, nor the custom to visit the shrine first thing in the new year.
Nevertheless, the general procedure revealed similarities, seeing as they calmly did a major cleaning at the end of the year and then celebrated extensively for three days starting with the New Year’s Day.
The first day of the new year was spent lively at home without going out much.
The people bought a lot of things on that day, because a myth said that “anything you buy on the second day of the new year will last longer”.
As a result, all the famous shops in the Capital were obviously crowded with customers on the second day of the new year, but even the stalls on the streets and parks, especially authorized for that day alone, were redundant with customers.
“Table wares! Buy your table wares here! Just look at this wild grain and greasy gloss! It pushes the price a bit, but they will last forever!”
“Kitchen knives, normal knives or pots! Do not forget to buy your ironware today! After all, today the Space-Time Spirit gives their blessing to us commoners as well! If not buy it now, then when?”
Just like the advertisement had promoted, a myth of the Carpa Kingdom said that the Space-Time Spirit, which usually was only benevolent to the Royal Family, was giving its blessing to all living things in the Carpa Kingdom on the second day of the New Year. It was the reason why it was said that anything you bought on that day would last longer.
Thanks to that, the economy of the Capital was flourishing, but the soldiers guarding the Capital got the short end of the stick in exchange for it.
“The street is getting crowded! Stop haggling over the price! The Spirit won’t bless the miser!”
The leather armoured soldiers were shouting at the top of their lungs while sweating all over.
Normally the guards of the Capital would equip a short spear with an iron tip, but they were holding a blunt wooden club just for today.
Words alone were just not enough for a couple of soldiers to fend off a bustling crowd. So far, the soldiers were just holding the clubs sideways and pushed away the people, but it was not always that harmless. Sometimes they had to resort to using them as the very “impact weapons” they were.
It was the job of the soldiers to put these people in their place, yell at them or literally punch some sense into them in the end.
It was one thing to use it against soldiers of a hostile nation or wild beasts, but flashing sharp metal at merely drunk people of the own country was out of the question.
Having said this, the club was still a proper weapon, even if it had less attack power. It could easily break bones, when swung with all its might, and depending on the spot, it could even end up being fatal.
“Hi there. We are here to relieve you.”
A pair of soldiers, who had fought off the masses, turned around, when they were called upon by their fellow shift workers from behind.
“Phew. We somehow made it…”
The young soldier had relative few muscles for a hard-working combatant and stumbled over to his replacing colleagues like a newborn fawn.
“Sure thing.”
As he no longer had the energy to respond to the joke of his co-worker, the young soldier just nodded once, wrapped the offered towel around his neck and staggered into the distance like a ghost, all the while keeping his mouth half-opened and a blank look in his eyes.
“So that’s how we’ll look after our shift…”
The soldiers from the shift change turned all pale, when the almost soulless appearance of their workmate reminded them of their own fate a few hours later.
“You okay? Here, some water.”
Relieved from the most arduous task for now, the two soldiers walked down a small alley separated from the main street.
The task of standing watch on the congested commercial district was one part of their job. The other part was to patrol the almost deserted living district.
Unfortunately enough, it was the way of the world that some shady characters considered it a “great opportunity for burglary” while everyone was engrossed in the New Year Shopping.
“Yes. Thank you. I thought I had been prepared for it, but it seems I was too naïve…”
The other soldier gave his dejected junior a shrewd smirk.
“And the hard way, at that…”
Unlike the other divisions, the Capital Guards Division suffered seldom if ever any casualties. After all, they were entrusted with the mission to guard the Capital, so even if war broke out, they would not be sent to the frontlines, nor would they get dispatched for a dragon subjugation like the soldiers based in the other Royal Domains.
And even more so, if you considered the fact that they had to deal with a lot more criminal incidents in the Capital than in the other domains, because of its dense population.
Anyway, the two soldiers patrolled the living district of the Capital while their clubs made dull noises every time they touched down onto the cobble-stone pavement.
Under that pretext, the soldiers casually chatted with each other.
The young soldier had almost choked from the sultriness in the commercial district, so he took a deep breath once again and spoke slowly in order to savour the fresh air.
The senior soldier shrugged his shoulders a bit and replied like that.
Based on the seasons in Japan, the “Rainy Season” would be Spring, the “Hottest Season” Summer and the “Vibrant Season” Fall and Winter alike.
“True enough, but you tend to forget the seasons in there.”
When the soldier in his teens said so in a weary tone, the soldier in his twenties agreed with a wry smile.
“The event only comes once a year. You can’t really tell them to restrain themselves.”
“Wait, you are after something?”
It had been a casual question, but the young soldier flushed his cheek and averted his gaze in response.
“Oho, let me guess: A present for a girl. Right?”
The younger soldier apparently resigned himself to the fact that he was not able to avoid giving an answer, so he looked down with his cheeks still flushed
and obediently admitted it.
Since the metal was cheaper than gold or silver, it was popular amongst commoners to be used for accessories like rings or bracelets.
Instead, it was much more a present for an important person with whom you were going to share a future. Realising that, the soldier did no stop the questioning of his junior.
Zenjirou had given Aura a Wedding Ring. That custom had spread throughout the Kingdom at an alarming speed in the past two years. The purveyor to the court, who had access to the Inner Palace, where Zenjirou lived, had deliberately passed on that information.
And as expected, even commoners with enough saving, not just nobility, had picked up the custom of “Wedding Rings” as of late.
“Yes. I can’t afford anything fancy with my savings, but I should be able to buy two of them, if I count every penny. Besides, they really add to a proposal.”
“Yeah, that’s for sure. I would have had it so much easier, if I had something like that back in my days.”
It was definitely more reassuring to have pair rings for a proposal than to do it empty-handed.
“Certainly. The story of the Wedding Rings has reached my home village, too, so she should know what I want, when I give her the ring by just saying ‘Please accept this’.
“Just be careful that she doesn’t mistake it for a simple present, though.”
The senior soldier threw cold water on the passionate speech of his junior, but at heart, he was convinced that it was not possible to imagine a Carpa Kingdom without the custom of “Wedding Rings” in the future.
The second day of the New Year was celebrated during the day with the “First Shopping”, whereas the end of the day was celebrated with the “Night Festival”.
That obviously applied to the commercial district, which had been crowded with people, since the morning for the “First Shopping“ on the second day of the New Year, but all the other districts such as the living district, the craftsmen district or even the shanty town, where nobody but the residents ever went to, were also illuminated with countless fires, banishing the night.
The brightest spot amongst all was the front yard of the Royal Palace.
Although it was opened to the public, it was still the Royal Palace. An hustle and bustle like in the commercial district was not allowed and the gathered people were behaving themselves under the watch of the Royal Household Guards.
Compared to the vegetable oil, candles were a lot more expensive, but were all the more safer, because they were a solid fuel.
Even if it was only an investment once per year, it still could only be afforded by people with a certain flexibility in their finances.
The front yard was illuminated by countless flames lit by countless people.
“Wow…”
“I know, right? It is like a starry sky on the ground. I am looking forward to this sight every year fraught with tension.”
There was no regularity in the point of lights, because they were not arranged beautifully, but just like Aura had said, it showcased the same unconstrained beauty as the starry sky.
“Yes, it is truly beautiful. Quite the privilege we have here.”
It was indeed appropriate to call it a “privilege”.
Sitting next to the Queen on these special seats on the balcony and looking down on the countless lights below, gave him the worrisome illusion that the gathered crowd was worshipping them.
It was passed down that the year had more daytime and less night-time, when the night was displaced by the “Night of Flame Festival” like this.
The daytime was seen as the time of prosperity and the night-time as the time of misery. It brought good luck to the year, when they fought against the symbol of absolute negativity, namely the night, with as much light as possible and acquired a prosperousness in form of the sunrise.
Experiencing his second New Year after coming into this world, Zenjirou was puzzled at heart.
(Oh, right. Last year, I was still too flustered to recognize this sight as “beautiful”.)
Last year around this time, Aura had been pregnant with the Crown Prince.
Right now, he was not wearing the third formal attire, which he had gotten relatively comfortable with lately, but rather the first formal attire, which he had only worn a handful of time so far.
The first formal attire had a lot of ornaments and golden threads worked into it in all places, so his whole body was shining brightly as the flame from candle stand next to him illuminated it.
Queen Aura seemed to sense his gaze on her, when Zenjirou looked at his wife sitting next to him, so she turned to him and gave him a smile.
The crimson cloth was wrapping around her body gracefully and had even more ornaments than the clothes from Zenjirou. Unlike him, she looked as radiant as the jewels on her clothes, though.
The Queen noticed that her husband was looking at her with semi-closed eyes as if dazzled, and happily intensified her smile.
It was truly refreshing that she could proudly hold the gaze of her husband again without feeling startled.
(My weight is back to normal and Carlos is already two years old. It might be time to consider a second child for real soon.)
By the way, their child Carlos Zenkichi was not present here, as it was expected. According to the counting method of the Carpa Kingdom, Prince Carlos was already two years old, but going by the conventional counting method, he was still an infant under the age of one. To be precise, he was about seven months old.
That discrepancy was especially harming in the early years. It made little difference whether you were twenty-seven or twenty-nine years old, but it made a world of difference whether you were thirteen or fifteen years old. And it was practically comparing apples to oranges, when you were either under the age of one or two years old, like Carlos right now.
Even if they were to start trying tonight, it would take at least nine month in the best case until the child was born.
It was not really a bad timing for the Queen to have a second child. And considering the fact that more inheritors of the “bloodline magic” meant more influence in this world, it did no harm to have a lot of children.
“…..”
Zenjirou cocked his head puzzled for a moment, when he sensed an overtone and sex appeal in the smile of his wife, but they were in the middle of the “Night of Flame Festival” right now. A little private chat might still be tolerated, but they certainly could not afford to ignore their surroundings and immerse themselves in a lengthy conversation.
“…..”
And then, the Queen and her Prince Consort silently kept watching the countless flames of the citizens gathered in the front yard until the sun dawned in the eastern sky.