Chapter 6 watery grave part 4

A few days passed since my partner and I solved the case. Out of curiosity, I observed that night one of the Gongers coming out of the water… I will not do it again… I saw a lot of strange creatures in this world already, but this one definitely lands on my list of “Top 5 ugliest and smelliest creatures…”

I shook my head, trying to forget the image, and the smell still lingering in my nose.

The good thing is today is the day of the festival, which means tons of tasty food!

I wagged my tail in anticipation as I watched the people prepare for the festivities.

People hung ship flags with all kinds of symbols and colors out their windows, and on the sides of the streets even more stalls appeared.

I wandered along the roofs until I could see the town hall’s backyard. Standing there was a shrine in memorial of all the sailors lost at sea, that the mayor and the wolf woman had arranged to be build. It will be carried all the way through town to the port.

“I wonder how they managed to build it in just a few days.”

Anyway, they already prepared a spot at the port to put the shrine, and the mayor, in his public announcement, encouraged the townspeople to make small wooden dolls with the names of their deceased relatives to place them on the shrine afterwords.

***

As the sun was about to go down, the festival started. The streets were brimming with people; red and blue lights illuminated the town, chains of lights hung from one building to the next.

The townspeople were in high spirits, as if the stress and anxieties caused by recent events were washed away.

I hopped down the roof and walked through the loud crowd,

“Grilled fish! Get your grilled fish!”

“Come and try out this new game, imported from-!“

*Indistinct chatter*

Here and there, a kindhearted soul gave me their food~

“Mmm, this is great!” I thought while my nose caught an exquisite aroma.

“If I’m not mistaken, it has to be from them.” I followed the scent until I arrived at a stall with two familiar faces.

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“My favorite food givers!” I jumped on the calm man’s lap, sitting behind the stall. The muscle man was busy doing a live show of his cooking and many people watched him as if spellbound.

“Here to get your share of food?” the calm man asked while patting my head.

“Of course!” I meowed at him with a look of anticipation.

The calm man laughed lightly and grabbed a plate with food on it “I already thought you would come, so I let Bruno prepare this especially for you.”

“You are the absolute best!” I wagged my tail excitedly and looked at him with approval before digging into the food.

***

“This was the absolute best~” I laid with a feeling of pure satisfaction on my back, all limbs stretched from me.

By now, the calm man had to help out the muscle man with all the customers. I continued to chill and observed the people until I heard dreadful, to me known laughter, three tiny beings were having fun running through the crowd…

“…” I decided to get up and follow them…

I’m a resentful cat spirit after all…

I observed their evil doings: playing games at the stalls, winning some prizes, mostly losing though and finally they decided to buy some food…

They bought skewered food. “This is my chance! Don’t think I would let you off the hook with just a lecture!”

I sprung out of the crowd, my mouth aimed at the skewers in their tiny hands. I moved at such high speed that let them unable to react, in split seconds I stood before them with three skewers in my mouth. The tiny beings looked at me perplexed, not comprehending what just happened.

I looked at them with my eyes glistening triumphantly,

“Take this!”

*Insert evil laugh here*

I turned my back at them and ran through the crowd, in the distance I could hear them shout “wait-“, but I was already too far away.

I stopped at the entrance of a bar, for the festival they put tables and chairs to sit on outside; from inside you could hear drunken people singing. The outside was like the rest, decorated with flags and chains of lights.

“ONE MORE!” a drunken wolf woman shouted in a cheerful voice while slamming the empty wooden jug on the table she was sitting on.

“Coming!” the busy waitress responded before quickly rushing inside.

“Wait! That’s enough, you’ll have a hangover tomorrow!” complained the assistant.

“So what?” The wolf woman replied without a care in the world.

“You still need to work tomorrow!”

The wolf woman pretended not to hear her…

I hopped on an empty chair next to them and ate my well-earned skewers.

The waitress came back with a new jug of alcohol and placed it on the table, while drinking it she finally noticed my presence,

“Fancy seeing you here little cat!”

*hic*

“She is totally drunk…”

Unable to hold her head up she rested it on the table…

The assistant shook her head in disbelief, then looked at her and mumbled “Hangover or not, I will get you to work tomorrow.”

“Scary…”

I finished my meal quickly and went on my way.

***

A few hours went by and less and less people could be seen on the streets, the different stalls slowly closed one by one. I walked out of the town’s center towards the port, here and there a few happy drunks walked arm in arm along the streets.

The port was almost dark, one of the few remaining light sources, the shrine which was adorned with wooden dolls, names carved into them.

In front sat the old man, we met during our investigation, with a bottle in his hands.

I slowly walked over and sat down next to him.

He glanced at me shortly before looking back at the shrine, his eyes locked in place. I observed him before following his gaze, which was fixated on three wooden dolls…