Alaric followed the man with visions of free food making his mouth water when a tap on his shoulder snapped him from his tummy-filling daze. Alaric’s skin was not the only one that reacted to the touch.

His nose reacted as well, shamelessly reminding him of the perfume still lingering on the person touching him. It was not a scent he was familiar with but one that got imprinted in his mind the moment he recognized its owner.

“You’re looking good, Alaric,” Darla’s eyes scanned his garments from top to bottom.

Unlike him, she was dressed in her clothes from before although they weren’t as messed up as they’d been. How they’d been washed and dried in time for the festival was beyond Alaric’s imagination.

“Darla,” Alaric breathed before engulfing her in a hug.

Surprised, the girl stiffly hugged him back before yelling, “He’s over here guys. I found him.”

Peeking out a corner, Finn revealed himself… A moment later, he was accompanied by more familiar faces. The group was silently followed by a knight dressed in light clothes. While the children reunited, Gunther joined a sombre LionHeart in quiet conversation. Alaric missed the look of shock on his face as their conversation continued.

Aiden was part of the group as well, dressed in an outfit similar to one Alaric had on, albeit not as luxurious.

While Alaric donned a marvel of shimmering silk whose every thread spoke of fine craftsmanship and the delicate touch of a master at work, Aiden’s kimono was a duller material with just the right amount of elegance.

Alaric’s clothes made him stand out in ways he was not used to at all. From Finn and Darla’s appearances, he could tell they hadn’t been given the same amount of special treatment, which made him question the old man’s motives even more.

“Looking sharp, Alaric,” Finn whistled, “Hail wasn’t joking about the old man doting on you.”

“Are you friends of Lord Alaric?” the man who’d tried escorting Alaric suddenly spoke up.

“Who are you?”

“A humble restaurant owner. If the lord so wishes it, we could extend Elder Jill’s offer to you as well,” the man replied with a gentle smile.

Behind the gentle smile, however, hid giddiness, excitement… and a little greed. It was all too clear for Alaric to see now that he wasn’t beguiled by dreams of mountains of free food.

Now, however, something clicked in his mind. He suddenly remembered what the old man had said to him earlier at the manor.

“That old man wasn’t kidding, was he?”

“Kidding about what? I’ve never heard Master Jill… kid,” the man responded, leading the group up to the restaurant.

The group finally got seated and was served without questioning their tastes. Plate after plate, a feast was piled in front of them, “Eat to your fill. Julia, bring some of your chicken in here. The Lord’s treat.”

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“Aren’t you… overdoing it a bit?” Alaric tried.

The man shook his head though, “Oh no… I remember Master Jill’s words were, ‘Feed him till he bursts.’”

Alaric nodded, “Ah… What have I gotten myself into?”

Without much choice, Alaric ended up narrating what happened between him and the Village Elder, a man whose name he hadn’t known until now.

One mention of his daughter’s cakes sent Aiden and his little sister reeling with laughter. Apparently, it was a known fact that the old man loved his daughter more than anything in the world… and anything from her, was by extension, a treasure.

Alaric barely remembered eating those heavenly cakes… His memory only retained the first bite, then a blur of a continuous flow of that heavenly taste before they were suddenly gone…

Darla laughed it off as well, “Let’s eat… then we’ll go check out the festival. There is so much to do here.”

“Really?” Alaric wondered.

“Yes… I saw a few booths further in. Some of them require money though, so we won’t be able to try it all out,” Darla shrugged her shoulders.

“I offered to help you out with that,” Aiden blurted out. Alaric could tell this wasn’t the first time they were having this conversation.

“What if I paid for those?” Alaric tried.

Aiden turned to Alaric, “You have money?”

“Yeah… As long as the games are not too expensive, I think we should manage,” Alaric replied.

“Wow… If I didn’t know any better, I’d think the old man was trying to adopt you,” Aiden chuckled.

Alaric smiled in response to this. He didn’t want to mention the money he spoke of was from the Tower of Seekers instead. Now there was an old man who seemed interested in adopting him.

“Gunther, LionHeart, join us,” Alaric called to the knights standing not far away. Fortunately, they didn’t object which made this all easier for Alaric. He still wasn’t ready to start actively talking to LionHeart.

“Get this, Alaric. Aiden here, says he’s a decent swordsman. Trained by Master Jill himself,” Finn mentioned.

“I said I was under training,” Aiden turned red.

“Yeah yeah… but then I challenged him to an arm-wrestling match to test out his strength… and guess what-“

“You cheated,” Aiden cut him off, “What kind of coward pretends to be weak just to win an arm-wrestling match.”

“Hey, I won out of pure skill. Swordsmanship is not all about brawn, you know,” Finn winked.

“Tell that to Alaric,” Darla said before taking a sip from a glass of juice.

“Alaric stays out of this. Logic doesn’t apply to him,” Finn threw his hands up in defeat.

The girl giggled in response, “You’re just a sore loser.”

The meal continued in a similarly light mood. Alaric made sure not to fill himself up too much since they had a lot of moving around to do. In the end, there was a lot of food that wasn’t touched.

“Gunther, does food go bad inside of storage items?” Alaric asked when everyone was done.

“No… it stays fresh if it’s packed well, why?” Gunther replied from his seat across from the children.

“I would like to pack this food. Would be nice to take a bit of festival back to the Five Hills with us,” Alaric responded with a smile.

“Good thinking,” Gunther responded, standing up to get the owner of the restaurant.

The food was carefully packed in containers which were paid for with a few silver coins Gunther had on him. Once packed, Alaric placed his silver band above them and willed the magic to take them all to the storage space.

In a flash, the food was gone, “Let’s get going then.”

For the next two hours, the group visited every part of the Festival that looked to be fun. They took turns playing the games each of them wanted to play, even that which Aiden’s sister wanted to play.

There were shooting contests, archery ranges, magic casting competitions which only Alaric and Darla could take part in, haunted houses, fortune-tellers, card games, sword-fighting arenas, performances that ranged from dances to songs, story-tellers and many others.

The fun only stopped when the moon neared its zenith. At that point, a loud gong rang from the top of a large building that looked nothing like the rest. The Ceremony House, Aiden had called it.

When this gong sounded, he had to go and get ready for the main part of this ceremony.

“I want you guys to be there,” Aiden said, “Everyone will be there.”

And with that, he left to prepare.