The time approached six o'clock and the sun began to descend, giving the sky a reddish-orange color like a fireplace fire on a cold winter night, the festival was divided into major parts where each of them specializes in something, there is a music and dance one,the other one was composed of multiple section like a challenge section, a games section, an agricultural products competition section and others.

The comrades approached the dance and singing group, whose activities started from six in the evening and will continue till midnight. Eric, Mira and Aliana were all excited to participate, followed by the rest except Dante who remained standing next to Maximus. Every quarter of an hour, the dance groups are switched and others advance to take the next round. A large number of people gathered, approximately one hundred and fifty, holding the hands of each other, and forming a large circle while singing. Inside the ring, five groups formed smaller rings and rotate inside the larger one, and change the shape every half minute. Even if you do not know the movements, you just have to keep up with the rhythm of the group you were in. Some of them were able to participate in the internal groups and some did not so they joined the external group. Joy, laughter, songs and enjoyment, everyone was at least enjoying in some form and misery had no foothold.

Dante climbed up to one of the rooftops near this square to have a better viewing angle and was followed by Maximus.

'Why didn't you go forward too, boy?'

'This kind of thing is not for me; I can neither dance nor sing. I'll just watch.'

The period elapsed, the groups dispersed to allow other groups to advance and the comrades left away from the crowd.

'It was fun, I am feeling refreshed now.'

'We must visit the rest of the festival at all costs.'

'I almost forgot what awaits us tomorrow after entering the festival.'

'Speaking of tomorrow, where are Dante and the teacher?'

Both descended from the adjacent deck and Dante spoke:

'I'm here, do you need something?'

'We were thinking where we will be going now.'

'We will visit the challenges section and then head to the agricultural products section, you won't regret it.'

'Since the teacher said this, we'll go there and have fun.'

A few minutes later, the team reached the challenges section, people here were challenging each other in strength, speed, accuracy of aim, rope climbing, hand-wrestling and even wrestling and sometimes duel challenges. The competitions were friendly, injuries were minimal and a healer was present at the event to prevent serious accidents. The comrades stared at each other and each wanted to dominate a challenge.

'Just do not go too far, most of them are ordinary people and your strength is capable of killing them, act passive as possible and do not embarrass your rivals. The goal is to have fun after all.'

'Understood.'

Each of them advanced to the challenge he desired. The first participant was Aliana in the strength competition, which consisted of five participants, each with a row of tables and boxes placed on the floor with increasing sizes.

'All the boxes are filled with sand and their weights are increasing. The first to pick up all the boxes and put them on their tables is the winner.'

All the competitors were bulky and capable men while Aliana looked slender, weak and incapable. On the other hand, that is what it seemed to them at least.

'Don't push yourself, girl, it's not as easy as you think.'

'Thank you for the advice but take care of yourself first... It can be embarrassing to lose against a girl.'

With the provocation, the men's heads flared with anger and they prepared to show Aliana how wrong she was. With the bell ringing, the beginning of the competition was announced and each of them hurried towards the first box, easily lifted it, and violently placed it on the table. Aliana started late compared to the rest, it was a psychological ploy to force the opponent to relax his defenses, she pretended to have difficulty to lift the box and put it on top of the table. All the men had completed the second box and slowly headed towards the third box to mock Aliana. Aliana rushed in and quickly placed the second box opposite the first box and headed for the next box and at a similar speed to the others boxes and seconds later, she surpassed them and completed first with a gap of ten seconds from the second and fifteen seconds from the last.

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'Was the proverb like this? Whoever laughs last laughs the most; it was your fault to despise me for being a girl.'

'It was really unexpected, well done, girl. You deserved your victory.'

'Thank you.'

Aliana turned around and headed for the prize. It was a large basket of tomatoes and a blue fabric star with the number one written on it. It was not a big deal, but its moral value was not insignificant for Aliana. These competitions were not official or anything like that, they were volunteered by locals to add aesthetic touches to the harvest festival and add some content to it.

'It's your turn, only a fool won't get first place among us.'

'I'll go.'

Tai Min advanced into the speed competition section, it was a multiple rounds competition until there were two opponents left in the final, the rules were simple: you have to take the tape hanging on your opponent's chest before he takes yours. The better-fit wins, and Tai Min was more likely to do so.

............

Ten minutes passed, most of the knockout rounds were over, with only four contenders remaining. Each of them was adept for getting this far. The ring was divided into two parts to hold the two matches simultaneously; Tai Min's opponent was a young man close to thirty with a sporty build and high agility.

"I'm not going to use mana as I'm going to rely on my own speed. I can't cheat."

At the signal, the young man advanced in a wavy line towards Tai Min who was in a passive position and did not advance, did not want to embarrass his opponent and break his resolve by finishing the match rapidly. Tai Min turned to the right and slowly advanced to take the ribbon from his opponent, his opponent jumped back to keep enough distance from Tai Min and avoid losing humiliatingly. After several attacks and defense from both sides, Tai Min dropped down, avoiding the hand of his opponent, who tried to get away after his failure but was late, as Tai Min blocked him, knocked him to the ground and took the tape from him.

'It was a good game, it's really fun.'

'Thank you for not embarrassing me even though you could beat me easily.'

'It's not a big deal; I also wanted to have a little fun. Your skills are not negligible, mate.'

Tai Min reached out to the young man to help him stand up and the referee has declared the winner. The other match was over quickly and both sides advanced to the final. The opponent was not an ordinary person like the rest of the competitors; it seems that he got cavalry training or something like that. His abilities were not similar to others. Tai Min, who noticed his opponent's stance and movements, realized this; his opponent did not hesitate to give his best in the previous match and was able to win in less than thirty seconds.

'You are not an ordinary boy, have you received special training of some kind?'

'I came from a family that is famous for its swiftness and agility so that makes sense, but you obviously have received knight training.'

'Quick to observe! My name is Brik and I belong to the city reserve knights. Congratulations on reaching the final.'

'My name is Tai Min; I'm going to be famous one day so remember my name well.'

The events of this match were similar to the previous one, but the speed difference was noticeable, ordinary people could no longer track their every movement, especially the blitz movements of their hands, the fight lasted for almost a minute and Tai won with some difficulty. It was not difficult but it is not as easy as it might seem and He finished first as well.

The prize was a straw hat belonging to farmers, decorated with a bronze disc having the city's emblem engraved on it.

Amid cheers from the crowd, Tai Min returned to the group with a despicable smile on his face. He is making fun of the rest who have not played yet there is no guarantee that they will win unlike him who already did.

'I proved I'm not a fool, whose turn now?'

Eric stepped forward after seeing the list of competitions and this competition was the most suitable for him, archery is a children's game for him. It was not just archery, but also for anything that can be thrown such as axes, knives, metal stars, which expanded the scope of participation, many participants were not able to use a bow, and arrow, unlike them, an axe or knife may be easier to throw.

Participants lined up in front of a wooden board painted with black paint, several black rings representing points, each participant has five shots and who gets the most points is the winner.

Eric deflected some of his shots from the goal center so as not to embarrass the other contenders and the competition ended and it was time to announce the results:

- Eric: 21 points.

- Sebastian: 16 points.

- Fred: 14 points.

- Juan: 13 points.

....

Eric finished first and by a large margin although he thought it would put him in a difficult position but all accepted that.

'A skilled boy, he will become a good archer if he trains well.'

'Great competition, little one, congratulations on your win.'

'I thought I was good but I lost to a boy. It's embarrassing.'

Between praise for Eric and annoyance at their loss, the third competition concluded with the top runners advancing to take their awards. Eric got a wooden dial similar to aiming targets with thick, colored black rings with colors alternating between red and yellow and with a green center engraved within it the number one.

He returned to the group with a similar attitude and tried to predict which of the members would go next...