Chapter 136 : Scary Lister Festival

TL:SummerPeanut

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What the hell is this place...I came here because everyone said it was fun and that I should definitely go…but I almost traveled to the other side of the world on the Wind Travel (the jet coaster was what Mars called it)... I can't believe that's one of the main attractions of the Lister Imperial School… That's just too scary.

I won't ride it again. ...I'll go to a milder place next...

“That was fun, sis! I heard the water thing over there is fun too! Let's ride that one too!"

I-is this girl stupid?

“A-Alice? Alice, you know, it's not nice for a girl to cackle and ooh and aah. Alice was terrible just now."

I didn't have time to pay attention to Alice next to me, and I didn't look at her for even a second, but I didn't have time to choose my means.

"I knew you were watching. As expected of my big sis. It was scary but it was fun and I couldn't help but scream. I was so occupied with myself that I couldn't see what was around me."

Scary but fun...? I was so scared that I wet myself! That's why kids are so troublesome... By the way, Alice is very scared. Maybe even more so than I am. But she's even more curious than her fear, which makes it worse. And it's annoying that she's not much different from me, even though she's a child.

“Look, let's go to that one.”

I pointed to something I saw at random, and it said school graveyard.

"Eh, a haunted house won’t even deceive children...it's boring."

Alice was complaining but I needed some time to calm down right now. There is no way that a haunted house that is put on by the school will be scary. The haunted house I went to at Diadora Saint School, was really not scary. Or rather, the quality was so low that the guests laughed at it.

"Let’s just go. Haunted houses are a staple in my school so I'd like to see how scary the Lister Imperial School’s is like."

I forced Alice to get in line, and after about five minutes, it's our turn. The description of this haunted house is written on the website. Let see...

This is probably the scariest haunted house in the Lister Confederacy. Please do not come if you have a weakness for fear. There is a history of several couples breaking up. Men should never leave a woman behind.

Hmph! If it's as simple as writing, our school can do it! Don't make fun of me for only a haunted house! For some reason, I was filled with anger. Maybe it was the anger from spilling a little at the Wind Travel earlier.

"Welcome to the...school graveyard...how many are you...?"

Hm? There’s a voice from somewhere... did someone use Wind magic to put the voice on? As usual, it’s pretty elaborate...

“Where are you? There are two of us.”

"Thank you. Please, pay me with your hand and move forward."

A woman's severed head fell from above and said. Well, someone leaked again... Even though I just finished watering the flower before entering the haunted house... I pretended to be calm as if nothing had happened and tried to move forward with Alice, but the woman's severed head got in the way. If I avoid it, Alice will find out that I am scared.

“Alice, if that head is scaring you, you don't deserve to go in there. If you don’t dare touch it, let's go back..."

I looked away from the head and turned to Alice and said above.

"Kyaaa! It's so real! It's so scary! I can't wait to get in there!"

She’s already very scared? She is making a lot of noise by touching the real head. ...
What's with that tension even though she’s scared? Eh? Are you really scared...?

The first thing that strikes me when we enter the haunted house hand in hand with
Alice is how pitch black it is. It’s so dark that it seemed impossible to even be scared of the ghosts. After a short walk, my eyes gradually became accustomed to the darkness and I was able to see a little.

The pitch black darkness is scary but being able to see only a little is also scary. ... I walked slowly, holding Alice's hand and holding on to the wall with my other hand. There were relatively few gimmicks in the first floor.

“I knew it was going to be like this. It's a piece of cake.”

I said in a loud voice to cheer myself up.

“I'm not afraid because big sis is here.”

She trusts me completely. As we sisters walk around, a little on guard, we saw a pure white woman who keeps hammering nails into a straw doll just before we go upstairs.

Naturally, this ghost was a woman with a gaping mouth. If it were only this much, it would be more or less the same as Diadora Saint school, but the haunted house here was different...

The face of the straw doll changes every time a nail is hit. The face endures intense pain, the face is stained with despair, and every time a nail is hit, a scream is heard from the straw doll.

For some reason, the faces of the straw dolls were made to give the impression of a woman's face. Oh, no... this is so creepy that I'm going to dream about it... I'll sleep in the bed with Alice today for a variety of reasons.

When I went upstairs, I found a small box that said, "Open this”. Hmm. Who would listen to you people! Then Alice broke her hand from mine and opened the box without hesitation. How dare you, you little brat! I thought for a moment but then I saw a white mask in the box. The mask resembled the face of a straw doll and had a look of fear on its face.

“What should I do... Sis I'm scared...”

You opened it, you handle it. ...was what almost came out of my mouth but…

“Alice. You can ignore these things, let's go on."

I suggested we leave the place immediately. Alice trailed silently, following my lead.

Speaking of which, I realized that I wasn't holding hands with Alice so I immediately held out my hand behind my back, and Alice held it back firmly. After all, Alice must be somewhat scared too...

After a short walk, I saw a sign that said “Never look back”. This time I decided to tell Alice firmly before she acted strangely.

“Alice. You don't have to follow these things.”

I said to Alice, who is following behind me, but she didn’t reply. She was too scared to speak up. ...let's be a big sister and encourage her here.

“Don't worry. Even if you're scared, I'll sleep in bed with you today.”

When I said this, her grip on my hand became a little tighter. This is a big score in terms of big sister points. I also promised to sleep with her in the confusion so I killed two birds with one stone. I kept my eyes on the front all the time, leaving the back to Alice.

I walked around touching the wall with the hand that was not holding Alice's hand.

After a short walk, I noticed that the hand that was touching the wall was damp. I looked at my hand to see what it was and found red blood on my hand.

“Huh. It's a common one. Alice, take a handkerchief. I touched the wall and got blood all over it.”

I called out behind me but Alice didn’t respond at all.

“Alice, hurry up… Hey, are you listening?”

I ran out of patience from Alice's lack of response and turned around... and there stood someone in a mask of reminiscent of the straw doll from earlier... and I was holding hands with that masked someone. I tried to...scream but that someone did something unexpected.

The masked someone is trying to take off the mask. What the, it was Alice after all... When my thought reached such conclusion as I calmed my beating chest, I saw under the mask the face of a woman with the same expression of despair as when the straw doll had been staked. This was as far as I could remember ...

☆☆☆

“Hey! We've got another fainter! Two girls! No men please! Girls, please!"

As I was leaving the haunted house, loud voices could be heard coming from the haunted house. It must be pretty scary… If I come with Clarice... and why can't men go there...?

With these questions in mind, we went to the fighting tournament Ike and his friends were holding this time.

Entry fee: 3 iron coins

Participation fee: 1 silver coin

10 gold coins reward…for winning against everyone (limited to the first person)

Both the entrance fee and the entry fee seemed reasonable.

But still, 10 gold coins reward, huh... in other words you get 10 gold coins if you beat everyone until Ike.

I thought if an A-rank adventurer come the show wouldn’t go on but it was strictly stated that the age of the participants should be under 15 years old. Putting aside A-rank adventurers under 15 years old, even normal adventurers (of that age) are rare. The rarity is at the level where only those with special exception like us can fulfill.

After paying the entrance fee, we entered the large gymnasium or hall where the tournament was being held. The number of people was so large that we couldn't watch the games at all... Just as we were having trouble, senior glasses walked by and ushered us all into a room reserved for the officials.

“You've come just in time! Ike is about to fight for the first time!”

“What, did Senior Garl lose?”

I asked the glasses senior.

“Garl got a little sore in another match... and now three of us have been pulled out and Ike is on the fourth... so if Ike loses, you'll have to go out, Mars. I'll give you lots of service."

Said the glasses senior, making fun of me as usual. Only the glasses senior could say this in front of the Reimei girls...

“Who is brother Ike's opponent?”

“Sometime ago, the ring announcer lightly said in the waiting room earlier that in a way it’s a fated opponent...”

I couldn't hide my surprise at the name that was given out by the glasses senior.

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Author’s note:

Some people might knit their eyebrow regarding how Sofia only leaked a little when Karen and Misha are at the level of spoiling themselves in the reception area for the first time but that was when Karen and Misha were much younger.

Sofia, on the other hand...

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