Around the Campfire #3

As long as you're alive, the unexpected can, and often does, happen.

If you don't keep that in mind and stay prepared, you'll leave yourself fatally open.

For example, during a fight...... what if an enemy you thought only had means of close-quarters combat suddenly unleashed a great spell that burned everything in a wide area?

If you aren't prepared, you can't avoid taking a heavy blow.

At worst, you die.

That's why it's very important to handle things with the mindset that anything could happen.

Even a child would understand that without being told.

But if you ask whether I can go through life always on guard, ready for anything to happen, that's impossible even for me.

Especially lately, with the work on the base moving along, more people around and the base getting safer, I can't help letting my guard down while I'm inside it.

I was careless.

So I was completely surprised.

“““““Happy 9th birthday, Emi!!!”””””

Suddenly, everyone gathered around the campfire said that to me.

“Come on, come on! Hurry and sit, sit!”

Booze-Reek Woman pats my back as I stand there frozen in surprise.

“......Booze-Reek Woman.”

“It's Niese. Lately there's no liquor to drink, so I shouldn't smell anymore, you know?”

“The bucket? What do I do with the bucket?”

Right, I had been told that we needed water, so I'd stood up with Booze-Reek Woman to go fetch some from the well.

That's why I'm holding a bucket right now.

“Who cares about that! Look, just put it down around there!”

I see, I just put it down around there.

Um, um......

“Around there, where? Oh, right, should I go hunt? Do we need meat?”

“......What are you talking about?”

“My, she's really flustered!”

The perverted old geezer laughed out loud.

“I'll take the bucket. You sit in front of the fire, Miss.”

“Dirty Shaggy.”

“It's Modokin. Miss, I always think this, but ain't your nicknames a little too harsh?”

Dirty Shaggy takes my bucket for me, so I manage to walk over, stiffly, and sit down in front of the fire.

My head is filled with questions, my thinking has stopped, and I keep leaving myself open.

Emotion interferes with normal thought.

Joy.

The feeling of being happy takes all the fuel my head needs to run, so I can't do anything I need to do.

I just stay silent, staring expressionlessly at the campfire's flames.

In the darkness of the night, the flames dance happily, swaying, swaying, without a care in the world.

<......Emi...... Emi, can you heaar me? Are you okaay?>

......Ha!?

O, Omake-sama!?

Wh, what was I even doing just now!?

<Calm down, Emi. You just got a surprise birthday party, got surprised, and froze stiff.>

R, right!

I just got a surprise birthday party, got surprised, and froze stiff!

Get a surprise birthday party and get surprised, and it's frozen stiff!

Surprised, frozen stiff, and birthday suddenly!

<......Still hopeless, I see. Deep breaths, please, deep breaths.>

“Suuuuu...... fuuuuu......”

Alright, I've calmed down a bit.

Now that I'm calm, let me sort out where things stand.

Right now, everyone at the base is celebrating my birthday.

I understand that situation.

But, I have one question.

“Why, did you think today was my birthday?”

I ask the old man.

The ringleader of this celebration is probably the old man.

The proof: the surprise worked, and this old man is grinning from ear to ear.

He has a villain's face to start with, so it looks very evil, but for the old man that's meant to be a kind smile.

“No, whether today's really your birthday, I don't know.”

Hah?

“Only, you let slip somewhere that you were born around autumn. So I figured I'd celebrate at some good moment while it's still autumn. You're slapdash anyway; you wouldn't remember your exact birthday, would you? It's the wish to celebrate that counts.”

“I see.”

<Don't you ‘I see’! Even if Emi doesn't remember, I alone remembered your birthday properly, counted the days and celebrated it! Celebrating Emi's birthday was my privilege!>

Ahaha, Omake-sama's sulking.

By the way, when is my exact birthday?

<It's tomorroow!>

Wow, so close.

“Foooh~~~! Now, now, now that Emi-chan is herself again, here's our present! Darmacy!”

“UOOOOOH!”

At the perverted old geezer's signal, Noisy Muscle hoists high the wooden crate he'd set down behind him!

That wooden crate wasn't here a moment ago.

They were hiding it.

Next, Noisy Muscle sets the wooden crate down in front of the fire with a zushin.

It's pretty heavy.

“Now, feast your eyes, Emi-chan! Unveiled for the first time today! Destined to become a specialty of Zamago Forest, or so we plan......!”

The perverted old geezer, together with Fairly Blond, slowly opens the lid of the wooden crate.

And inside it was......

“It's Demon Realm-Style Smoked Zamago Toad~~~!”

“O...... ooh!”

In spite of myself, I let out a cry of admiration!

Judging by the shape, it's probably a Zamago Toad's hind leg: a smoked joint about as big as my whole body, a beautiful golden color.

Illuminated by the campfire's flames, it glitters and shines!

And above all, reaching even my nose, though I'm sitting on the far side of the fire, a savory, mouthwatering aroma......!

What is this smell, it smells so good!

It's a scent I've never smelled before!

“We tried all sorts of things from this forest, and so we made a smoked meat you can only get here!”

The old man explains proudly.

Ah, come to think of it, there were times when the old man and the others were sending up clouds of smoke in a corner of the base.

They were making this!

So that's why they wouldn't let me near it, for this surprise, right!?

<Also so that Emi wouldn't snack on it, I'd think.>

Omake-sama's saying something, but I'm ignoring it!

“It was meant to be preserved food to get us through the winter, but it turned out rather splendidly. With this, I thought, once we start trading with the outside, it would sell perfectly well as a product......”

The old man is saying something too, but that doesn't stick in my ears either.

I can't take my eyes off the golden smoked meat!

The old man saw me like that, gave a wry smile, and dropped his explanation.

“Well, that aside. Anyway, this is how the finest smoked meat came to be. This meat is our present to you. You like meat, don't you?”

“Meat, I like.”

“Drool, drool, you're overflowing with drool...... Well, it's cruel to keep you waiting any longer. Patchino, the grill.”

“Of course it's ready already, Giovanno-san!”

Fairly Blond and the others set a grill over the fire.

The perverted old geezer slices the smoked meat thinly with a knife and places it on the grill.

Fat drips down with a juwa juwa, making a wonderful sound.

Ah, the smell, the smell...... the smell is amazing.

Looks so good, so good, so good!

“Alright, it's done!”

Saying that, Fairly Blond spears the smoked slices, grilled even more savory now, on a skewer and hands it to me.

Ah, ah, ah!

I don't have to hold back anymore, right? Right!?

ITADAKIMAAASU!!! (Thank you for the food!!!)

“Ah, you idiot! Who eats the skewer too!”

“Hey, Miss, are you okay!?”

“It's crunching like crazy...... no good, she ain't listening.”

“Well, she'll be fine, I'd say...... she's Emi-chan, after all.”

“UOOOOOH!”

What is this, IT'S SO DELICIOUUUUUUUUUUUUS!!!

Meat that bursts with flavor the more you chew!

A unique smell, but a good one that makes you want bite after bite!

The perfect chew!

“How is it, Emi?”

The old man looks very proud of himself.

This, I really have no choice but to say......

“The best......”

is what I said!!!

<Galling as it is, even I must admit this...... For the crime of stealing Emi's birthday from me, I'll call it even with this.>

Nobody stole my birthday, and it was never yours to begin with, Omake-sama.

“Foooh~~~! Now, you can keep eating the meat, but on to the next! Next is the entertainment!”

Now, at this point the perverted old geezer sprang to his feet!

“My homeland Nuidosten is a land of flame, devout in its faith in the Fire God! Hence, at any celebration, fire entertainment is the standard!”

As he said this, the perverted old geezer pulled off his clothes, stripped to the waist, and started some dance I don't really get next to the fire.

The way he sways his body, wiggling, wiggling, is very funny to watch.

“Wahaha!”

“Hilarious! Is that the pervert dance!?”

“Don't say such sacrilegious things! It's a sacred dance offered to the gods!”

The perverted old geezer's dance is a huge hit, and the whole place livens up!

“Now, preparations are complete! What we shall now perform! On the occasion of Emi-chan's, probably-about-now, 9th birthday! In prayer for her healthy growth to come! Is the Votive Fire-Walking Rite~~~!!”

“Ehh!? Seriously!?”

“Fire-walking, old geezer, are you gonna be okay!?”

“UOOOOOH!?”

At the perverted old geezer's sudden announcement, Fairly Blond and the others look stunned!

“Of course, I shall be fine!”

The perverted old geezer nods with full confidence.

“Now go, Patchino! Bare your feet and walk splendidly all the way across this fire~~~!!”

“Wait, me!? I'm the one walking it!?”

“Wahaha!”

“Go! Go! Patchino!”

“Like hell I can!!”

“UOOOOOH!”

“Ah! Darmacy went!”

“Whoa! Darmacy, whoa!”

“““Darmacy! Darmacy! Darmacy!”””

“UOOOOOH!!!”

“Hey! Wait, what's with this turn of events! What about me? What's my part!? What am I supposed to do at this point!!?”

“““Darmacy! Darmacy! Darmacy!”””

“DON'T IGNORE MEEEEEE!!!”

Sitting by the fire, I watch everyone's silly uproar.

Before I knew it, the old man was sitting right beside me, and as always he roughly tousled my hair.

And so the fun night wears on, noisily.

From tomorrow, I'm 9.

Happy 9th birthday!