Chapter Four: The Demon Lord Gets Into the Festive Spirit
Chapter Four: The Demon Lord Gets Into the Festive Spirit
The lingering warmth of the days of early autumn was long gone, replaced by chilly winds and biting cold. The mornings and nights were especially cold, but it was brisk even during the daytime. The sun took less time to complete its daily march across the sky, which meant the girls had less time to play outside as well.
One day, however, around noontime, the weather was exceptionally pleasant at the Scarlett house. It was a perfect day for the girls to enjoy outside, yet all of them were cooped up in the dining room, drinking warm milk.
“It’s too cold, m’kay?”
Bram hated cold weather. She’d lived her life in a country where it was warm all year round, so she wasn’t used to the chilly winds of Garaat. She refused to get out of bed in the mornings, clinging to Anima for warmth, and would always challenge him to see who could stay in the bath longer because she never wanted to get out.
It must have been hard for her to deal with the rapidly dropping temperature. Even that day’s relatively gentle weather was too extreme for her, so she’d opted to stay inside and sip on warm milk. Anima didn’t mind it at all, of course, nor did the girls. They didn’t want to force her to go outside when she was cold.
“I’m done with my milk… I want one more, m’kay?”
“You’ll get a stomachache if you do that. Here, I’ll hold your hands and warm you up, okay?”
“You’re an angel, Myuke. Your hands are really warm, m’kay?”
“Me too! I warm too!”
“Mm-hmm, yours are too, Marie, m’kay?”
Myuke and Marie merrily snuggled up to Bram, happy that they got to help her. It didn’t matter if they were inside or outside, the girls were sure to make their own fun.
Anima watched over them with a mellow smile. He didn’t mind spending the whole day inside, but he also wanted to help Bram in any way he could. She was already wearing her warm, heavy winter clothes, but that was clearly not enough to keep out the cold. Just as he thought that there had to be something else he could do, his vision caught on an interesting part of the room.
“Can we use the fireplace?”
“Totally, m’kay?!”
Bram jumped on the idea. Lighting the fireplace would definitely warm the room up enough to stop Bram from shivering.
“Whassa ‘fyepace’?”
“That.”
Myuke pointed at the brick fireplace, which was covered with soot on the inside. Given that Luina always made sure that everything in the house was sparkling clean, it was unimaginable she had just ignored it. The bricks were likely just permanently dirty.
Luckily, the soot didn’t render it useless; it was still fully functional. If anything, it proved that a fire could indeed be lit in there. Even so, judging from the fact that Marie wasn’t familiar with it, they probably hadn’t used it in a good while.
“Let’s set it up and fry some potatoes!”
“Nummy!”
“Oh, that’s making me hungry, m’kay?! The room’ll smell so good! C’mon, let’s get the wood out and start a fire, m’kay?!”
“We have wood out in the shed; just use some of what we heat the bath with,” Luina told them. “We’ll have to clean the chimney first, though.”
One of Myuke’s fingers suddenly shot up as if she’d just remembered something.
“The room got filled with smoke when we used it like three years ago, and we haven’t touched this thing ever since,” she explained.
Three years ago was when Luina’s father had passed away. With that in mind, it was understandable why she hadn’t immediately jumped in to sweep the chimney squeaky clean. Without anyone to go up there and do the job in the past few years, the fireplace was left uncleaned and unused.
“Is cleaning the chimney all we need to do before we can use the fireplace?” Anima asked.
“Mm-hmm. Once we clear out the thick layer of soot, we’ll have no problem using it.”
The soot buildup was restricting the passage of air through the chimney. As such, much of the smoke rising from the fireplace had nowhere to go except into the house. That was what had caused the incident three years prior.
“I’ll clean it,” Anima offered immediately. He was eager to do something for his family.
“Sorry to give you such a dangerous job.”
“Don’t worry about it, I’m happy to be of help. Instead of worrying, think you could tell me how to clean it?”
“You’ll need to go up on the roof and scrub it clean with a brush.” It sounded simple enough, which was great, because basic, laborious tasks were Anima’s bread and butter. “Could you wait for me outside? I’ll find the brush for you.”
Anima nodded and took off his comfy scarf.
“Shouldn’t you leave that on if you’re going outside?”
“I wouldn’t want to dirty the scarf you put so much care into making.”
He carefully placed his birthday present on the table. He’d worn that scarf every waking moment since he’d gotten it, the only exceptions being his time working in the field and eating as a means of making sure it remained spotless. Chimney cleaning was also exempt; even though it was cold outside, he couldn’t possibly wear it while scrubbing soot.
“We can always wash it if it gets dirty. Don’t be afraid to put it on if you’re cold.”
With that, Luina left the dining room. Anima took off his robe to avoid creating more laundry than necessary, which made Bram shudder.
“Just looking at you is making me shiver… There’s no way you’re warm, m’kay?”
“This is nothing. I told you before, I’m very sturdy.”
While he gave his explanation with a reassuring smile, Bram tightly hugged his waist.
“I’ll warm you up! Take all my heat, m’kay?!”
“I warm Daddy too!” Marie said as she latched onto his leg.
“For crying out loud,” Myuke sighed, “you know he’s gotta go outside, right? How’s he supposed to move when you guys are clinging to him like that?”
“That’s not an issue at all, see?” He lifted both Bram and Marie. “You’re free to join in as well.”
“I-I’m good, thanks. Uh, I mean, I wouldn’t mind if you carried me, y’know? I just don’t want you to get all tired before you start working, or something like that.” She was either trying to protect her dignity as the oldest, or was too embarrassed to ask for a lift. No matter which it was, she sheepishly walked to the door and opened it. “Look, I’ve got the door, so just take those two out to the garden, okay?”
“Yaaay! Lessgooo!”
Anima walked the girls out to the garden, then carefully put them down. Soon after, Luina arrived with a long brush.
“Thank you. I’ll get started on the cleaning, then. You three go on inside; it’s cold.”
“The girls and I will clean the fireplace.”
Anima knit his eyebrows.
“I thought that was already clean. Unless you’re talking about cleaning up the soot that falls in there?”
Getting the soot out of the chimney was the simplest of simple tasks for him. He had planned to clean out the fireplace once that was done, but it sounded like the girls were going to do that for him.
“Mm-hmm. We’ll clean up down here while you sweep up there.”
“I’ll try to keep as much as I can out of there, then,” Anima replied with an understanding nod.
“Don’t worry about us, clean however makes you most comfortable.”
“But I don’t want to create more work for you.”
“It’s okay. I’m just happy to know that we’re doing essentially the same work, even if we’re separated.”
“Sure is getting hot out here, m’kay?” Bram teased, turning Luina’s face beet red.
“T-Time to get to work, girls! Let’s hurry inside!”
Luina took the girls’ hands and led them into the house, and Anima hopped onto the roof and peeked down the chimney. It was too dark to see all the way down, but not so dark that he couldn’t see the soot buildup.
He stuck the brush down the chimney and, in hopes of keeping the dining room clean, tried to pull up as much of the soot as he could. In doing so, a thick black cloud rose from it, painting his upper body black. The silver lining was that it covered Anima instead of the dining room. Happy with his progress—and that he had covered himself rather than the inside of the house—he continued to sweep the chimney.
“That should do it.”
After cleaning all the soot he could see, Anima hopped down from the roof and washed up at the well before heading into the dining room.
“I’m done!” he shouted, and the girls all burst out laughing when they saw him.
“Daddy, you’s bwack!”
“You actually look good with black hair, m’kay?”
“I feel like we can’t really tease him about this,” Myuke said to her sisters, their faces also completely black. He’d tried really hard to pull the soot up and out, but it seemed his effort had been wasted.
“Can I help with anything?”
“Nope, we’re all done.”
“Oh, so you are! It looks great; well done, girls! By the way, where’s Luina?”
“She went to get the bath ready, but she should be back soon. Ah, speak of the devil.”
Luina entered the room, her face black with soot just like everyone else’s.
“I see the fireplace gave you some trouble,” Anima teased.
“You’re one to talk,” she retorted playfully. “You really got into that chimney and cleaned it as much as you could. Thank you so much, Anima, it really means a lot.”
“I’ll wash your back as a reward, m’kay?”
“Let’s all go hop in the bath.”
“Yaaay!”
The five of them went to the changing room and started undressing. Having already been half-naked, Anima was done in a heartbeat, so he helped Marie get her clothes off as well. He then brought her into the bathroom so they could wash themselves off and have a nice soak.
Anima wanted to jump straight to the soaking, but he first had to wash the soot off his head and chest. He filled a bucket with water, poured it over his head, and watched as the soot flowed down onto the ground, forming a black puddle beneath him. Meanwhile, the other three girls had finished taking their clothes off and entered after them.
“Wow, you even got it all over your back?!” Myuke shouted. “That’s crazy!”
“That’s why I offered to wash it, m’kay?”
“We’ll be there to wash it off in a moment,” Luina said, “so make yourself comfortable, okay?”
“Me too! I make Daddy sparkly!”
“Of course! We’ll all help make sure Daddy is squeaky clean.”
The girls cheered when Luina said that, then they all started working. Luina poured water over Anima’s back, while the kids used washcloths to scrub him clean.
“Sparkly!”
“Thank you. I feel like a whole new man now.”
“You’re welcome, m’kay?”
“And washing you got us all cleaned off too!”
“Shall we get into the tub, then?”
They entered the bath upon Luina’s suggestion.
“Pfwahhh… It’s so nice and warm, m’kay?” Bram said as she melted into the warm bath.
“Make sure you warm yourselves up; we can’t have you girls catching a cold before the Festival,” Luina told them with a warm smile, causing Myuke to leap up from the water.
“We get to go to the Festival this year?!” she asked, practically screaming in excitement. While she must have known that the Festival was approaching, she probably wasn’t sure if they were going to take part in it, which wasn’t surprising considering her personality. She had begun to open up a lot more, and in doing so showed that she was an understanding girl who wasn’t a stranger to making sacrifices. She wasn’t going to pester Luina about going to the Festival while they were down on their luck.
“There’s gonna be a festival?! M’kay!”
“It’s not just any festival, it’s the Costume Festival!”
“Whassa ‘Cossume Pestibal’?”
“I wanna know all about it, m’kay?!”
Enjoying the attention, Myuke cheerfully shared everything she knew about the event. Her sisters wore big, bright smiles as they listened attentively to her every word.
Luina was right, Anima thought. She’d warned him that he should keep the Festival a secret from the girls. She was afraid that if they learned they were going, they would get too excited and exhaust all their energy before the Festival had actually rolled around. Lo and behold, she was exactly right. Fortunately, though, the Festival wasn’t far away; if they’d found out about it months prior, they would have either gotten bored or collapsed from the continuous hype.
“I love Pestibal!”
“This’ll be my first time there! I’m super excited, m’kay?!”
Anima hadn’t expected them to get quite as excited as they were—especially not Bram. She had likely never gotten to participate in a festival due to her parents’ poor health, and she definitely wasn’t old enough to go out alone.
To make matters worse, never having gotten the chance to participate in a festival was likely the best-case scenario for her. It was entirely possible that her family had tried to participate in one, but it would have been a tragedy if something had happened in the middle of it. If her father were to have collapsed while surrounded by cheering festivalgoers, she would have held herself responsible and wouldn’t have wanted to hear about festivals ever again.
None of that mattered, though. The Costume Festival was for welcoming spirits that were returning to their families to bring them warmth. Anima wanted to make sure Bram had a wonderful time so that her late parents could rest peacefully.
“It’d be cool if we could wear whatever costume we want, m’kay?”
“You can! You’re free to wear whatever you’d like!”
“I wanna be bun-bun!”
Marie expressed her undying love for bunnies.
“Does that mean you’re gonna wear the PJs Daddy got you?”
“Uh-huh! They’s is ’dorbable!”
She was correct, that onesie was incredibly cute on her. She genuinely looked like a little bunny whenever she nestled up in her bed to go to sleep. It had been half a year since she’d gotten it, but Anima still found it just as adorable as he had on day one.
Traditionally, the goal of the costumes was to scare away evil spirits, but the Festival had more or less become just an excuse for everyone to have fun. Even so, if evil spirits were to descend like they did in the legend, they were sure to be threatened by Marie’s sheer cuteness.
“You really are just so adorable in those pajamas…”
Myuke listened to Anima’s murmur with a wry smile.
“You know you see them every day, right? I swear, sometimes it’s like you’re in love with us.”
“He is,” Luina chimed in, “and that’s one of the things I love about him.”
“I love Daddy!”
Praised by his wife and daughter, Anima smiled.
“I’m excited to see what you all dress up as.”
“Less all be bun-buns!”
Both Myuke and Bram had their curiosity piqued by Marie’s proposal.
“That’s actually an awesome idea! It’d be super fun to pick a theme, m’kay?”
“Wearing a bunny costume outside would be kinda embarrassing, but I guess it is a festival. All right, yeah! Let’s do this!”
“I’m not too sure about wearing a bunny costume,” Luina said coyly. “It would certainly be embarrassing…”
“It’ll be fine, m’kay?”
“I’m sure it’ll look great on you!”
“Mommy cute!”
“Yes, that would look really cute…”
Just imagining his wife wearing a bunny costume put a smile on Anima’s face. Seeing that in real life would’ve probably made his eyes pop out of their sockets.
“Well, if you all think so, then I suppose I could join in,” Luina decided.
“Yaaaay!”
“I can’t wait!”
“It’s gonna be great, m’kay?!”
“Hang on, you guys! We gotta calm down! We don’t wanna tire ourselves out before the Festival!” Myuke warned, but she was just as excited as everyone else. She looked at Anima and Luina with an expectant gaze. “When’re we gonna go and buy the costumes?”
“We’ll go and buy them tomorrow, but that means we’re going to bed early tonight, okay?”
“Yaaay!”
The girls’ cheers echoed through the bathroom.
◆◆◆
The next morning, Anima and his family sat in the dining room, watching a flame as it danced in the fireplace. They were planning to head out right after breakfast, but the quiet crackling of the fire quickly put the girls, who had been sipping on cups of warm milk, to sleep.
“I’ll take care of the laundry. You can stay here and relax,” Anima whispered, trying his best not to wake the girls up. It was cold, and he didn’t want to risk Luina getting sick while working outside, so while she protested at first, she agreed to let Anima take care of the chores outside at least until the end of the festival.
“Okay. I’ll look after the girls and the fire.”
He stepped outside, hurried to the well, and quickly did the laundry. Making his way back into the dining room, he picked up on some lively chatter.
“Oh no, we fell asleep! We gotta go, quick! We’ve got shopping to do, m’kay?!”
“They might run out of bunny costumes if we don’t hurry up!”
“Bun-buns! Bun-buns!”
As if the previous silence was but an illusion, the girls were awake, running all over the house to get themselves ready for their outing. Their excitement was contagious, however; Anima couldn’t wait to head into the town with them.
“All right, we’re off!” Anima told the girls.
“Let’s go!”
He quickly put the fire out, wrapped his scarf around his neck, and left the house with the girls. Bram shuddered under the cold air the moment she stepped out. Leaving the warm room behind must’ve been especially tough on her.
“Midder Leaf! Wait!” Marie cried, chasing after a fallen leaf as it got carried away by the wind.
“Come back, m’kay?!”
“Jeez, don’t just start running like that.”
Bram, figuring that going for a run would warm her up, chased after Marie, while Myuke chased after the two of them. Behind them, Luina took Anima’s hand as they walked, keeping an eye on the girls until, before long, they arrived at Garaat. Bram had warmed up well enough, judging by the beads of sweat rolling down her forehead. That was all well and good, but they had to find their costumes quickly to keep her from getting sick. Thus, they decided to make a beeline to the tailor.
The road to the tailor was filled with families who had likely come into town to buy costumes of their own. Watching the moms and dads as they were dragged left and right by their children put a wry smile on Anima’s face as he too was dragged along by his girls. The stores dotting the streets tried to take advantage of the busy day, attempting to entice the children with the sweet scent of baked goods, the moms with all kinds of discounts, and the dads with beautiful women promising them a good time. Unfazed by their efforts, Anima and his family forged ahead, not taking so much as a single step off their path.
“We here!”
Marie rushed into the store. The normally quiet, relatively empty tailor was filled with families browsing through their displayed costumes. Children were running around with stars in their eyes, and adults were browsing the wares with childlike wonder. Seeing the buzz in the store made Anima all the more excited for the festival.
“Wooow, so many!” Marie gasped at the incredible display laid out before her. “Daddy, lookie! Lossa cossumes! Wooow!”
The store had an incredible variety that kept urging its customers to explore. All kinds of costumes could be found—from clowns to witches, bees, butterflies, cows, and even cats, the selection was truly nothing to scoff at. They even had various masks and other types of headgear for those who truly wanted to embrace their costumed identities.
“Ah! I found a dragon costume, m’kay?!”
Bram pointed at one of the display pieces. As she’d said, it was a dragon costume, complete with a hood and a tail. It seemed to be popular with boys, and as a matter of fact, a little boy was excitedly jumping up and down in front of it while reasoning with his parents.
“Boys’ll be all over me if I use my Jade Dragon stone, m’kay?”
“I’d prefer if you got something cute,” Anima said, hoping to talk her out of it. He wasn’t practically worried about her gaining popularity with the boys and getting a boyfriend—well, he was, but there was more to it.
The main issue was that the Jade Dragon was huge and dangerous. She could accidentally hurt people with its sharp talons, and its sheer size would no doubt strike fear in people’s hearts. He wanted to protect her from blaming herself for injuring innocents. She picked up on Anima’s worries and answered with a smile.
“I’m just kidding. I’ll only ever use this stone to protect my family, m’kay?”
“Good girl.”
Bram giggled as Anima ruffled her hair. He had no intention of letting Bram fight ever again, and would personally obliterate anyone who dared threaten his family.
“We should really start looking around,” Myuke reminded the group of their original goal, putting Marie back on track from marveling at the fancy dresses on display.
“Where bun-buns?” Holding Luina’s hand, Anima started looking through the store, but he couldn’t find a bunny costume anywhere nearby. It seemed like bunny costumes weren’t a hot item, so they didn’t have them displayed near the entrance. “No bun-buns…”
“It’s okay, there are sure to be some in the back,” Luina said. They walked to the back of the store, and just as she’d claimed, found a row of bunny costumes.
“There! Bun-buns!”
Marie had finally found her holy grail: a fluffy, adorable bunny costume that easily doubled as pajamas during the cold months. Thanks to that, Anima would be able to enjoy the adorable sight long after the Festival had ended.
“He’e! Fow you!”
Marie handed Myuke one of the costumes. It was a red bunny costume with a white belly. It matched perfectly with her red hair.
“Thanks, Marie! Wow, the size’s perfect, too!”
“You welcome! Fow you, Brum!”
She handed Bram a black bunny costume, which would contrast well against her silver hair.
“Thanks, m’kay?!”
“You welcome! Fow Mommy!”
Luina received an all-white costume, the same size as Marie’s pajamas.
“Thank you, but I think this’ll be a bit too small for me.”
“A bit” was an understatement. Marie put the costume back where she’d found it and started looking for one in Luina’s size.
“No bun-bun for Mommy…”
“There might be more over there.”
“Lessee!” Marie wanted to get everyone their matching outfits quickly, so they marched over to the adults’ section. Unfortunately, it proved fruitless; there were no adult bunny costumes in sight. “No bun-buns…”
“It doesn’t seem like it.”
“Mommy won’t be bun-bun?”
She began to tear up. She really wanted to hop around with everyone in bunny costumes. Anima couldn’t let his precious little Marie be disappointed; he had to find a way to cheer her up.
“I’ll go check other stores.”
“I think we should all go, then.”
“No, it’s cold outside. Just wait here, I’ll be back in a minute.”
Anima dashed out of the store, and began looking around. Rushing at full speed through the busy streets would no doubt blow some innocent passersby away, so he took to the rooftops. In only a couple of minutes, he’d checked every last clothing store in Garaat, but with no luck. Disappointed, he returned to his family.
“Tell us whatcha found, m’kay?”
Anima merely shook his head, but he spotted Bram’s earring in doing so, which gave him a brilliant idea.
“Say, Myuke. Is there a stone that makes you look like a bunny?”
Using a Dragon stone turned the user into a dragon, and using a fire lizard stone made the user grow a tail, so if they had some sort of bunny stone, it was sure to provide its user with some bunny-like characteristics.
“There is,” Myuke answered with a slow nod. “It makes you jump, like, super high. The only problem is that you can’t get one anywhere.”
“Are they that popular?”
“No, the exact opposite. They’re too dangerous. They make you jump so high that you’re pretty much guaranteed to hurt your legs when you land, maybe even break them.”
That makes sense, Anima thought to himself. Why would a shop owner replace a more popular stone with something so dangerous it was difficult to sell?
“I guess you might be able to find one somewhere in the capital,” she continued.
“Then I’ll run all the way there.”
It would take a normal person about two weeks to make the trip there and back, but Anima was able to do it in just two days. The only problem was that he didn’t want to spend two full days away from his family, so ideally, he wanted to be back later that evening.
“You don’t have to go that far.”
“I’m more than happy to go that far. I want to see you look like a bunny.”
“No, I mean… I wouldn’t have enough mana to maintain the stone’s effects. Even if you’d found one, any physical traits would vanish halfway through the Festival. Besides, none of it matters if we don’t have a costume for you as well.”
“I see…”
Anima couldn’t use magic stones. While he had an unbelievable amount of mana, it was of a different kind since he was from a different world.
“Iss’kay!” Marie tried to cheer him up with her bright smile. “I’m big girl! Iss’kay if we’s not all bun-buns!”
She was the one to propose the idea, and she probably wanted to see her family in matching bunny costumes more than anything, yet was ready to throw all that away to make him happy. Moved by her kind heart, Anima nearly began to cry.
“I’ve got it! Wait here, m’kay?!” Bram excitedly shouted, then rushed off. She returned some time later, panting. “Just put this on and you’re set, m’kay?!”
Bram presented each of them with a bunny-ear headband. While they were technically child-sized, they could fit an adult’s head as well.
“Oh, that’s a great idea!” Myuke lauded. “C’mon, try ’em on!”
Anima and Luina put the headbands on.
“How does it look?” Luina asked.
“Do I look like a bunny?” Anima followed up.
“Bun-buns!” Marie cheered, hopping up and down with twinkling eyes.
“They look great on you!”
“Our bunny family’s complete, m’kay?”
The kids were overjoyed that their bunny family was finally complete. They purchased the headbands and costumes, then left the store.
“I can’t wait for the Festival!”
“I be a bun-bun soon!”
“We’re totally gonna hop around, m’kay?!”
Making their way back toward their home, they merrily discussed the fun times ahead of them when Luina suddenly stumbled.
“Luina?!” Anima rushed to her side. “Wh-What’s wrong?!”
“What happened?!”
“Please tell us you’re okay, m’kay?”
“Mommy sick?”
“I’m fine,” Luina replied, dispelling their worries with a warm smile. “I just tripped on something.”
The girls all sighed in relief, but something bothered Anima. The roads of Garaat were constantly maintained; there shouldn’t have been anything to trip on. She must have been feeling dizzy, but didn’t want to distress the kids. Fortunately, she didn’t look pale or otherwise different than usual, but Anima wasn’t going to take any risks.
“Hyanh!” she cried as he picked her up. “Wh-Why are you doing this?”
“I figured that you’re exhausted, so I’ll carry you back home.”
“I appreciate the thought, but this is really embarrassing…”
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Isn’t that right, girls?”
The kids immediately nodded in agreement.
“You look like a princess!”
“Pincess! Mommy a cute pincess!”
“Ah, look! She’s turning red! No need to be shy, m’kay?!”
Bram’s teasing only made her turn an even brighter red.
“Umm, I’m not really tired. If anything, you’re the one who should be tired. I’m worried about you, Anima.”
“You don’t need to be, I can do this all day. Holding you in my arms only gives me more strength.”
“B-But I must be heavy…”
“No, not at all. Unless you don’t like it when I carry you?”
“It’s not that…”
“Then please. Let me carry you home.”
“O-Okay… Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
With Luina in his arms, Anima and the girls slowly made their way back to their house.