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“But why did the Demon Lord suddenly?”
“Haha. What happened was…….”
The summary from Ryan’s story was…
He handled his work faster than usual to attend the picnic, but Castle’s side felt strange about his behavior as he was barely sleeping.
The news immediately reached the Demon Lord’s ear.
So when Ryan explained to the Demon Lord why he acted strangely, he eventually spilled about the farm’s picnic…….
“Demon Lord showed great interest in the picnic. So, I explained as much detail as I could about the picnic culture in the other world, and hearing that, the Great Lord prepared so many gifts without my knowledge.”
“Okay. I now know how it happened. But, what does this gift have to do with the picnic?”
“If there was an event like this, won’t they prepare prizes to boost the participants’ initiative?”
“Ah…”
It was only then that I realized the meaning of these gifts.
When a company picnic is held, the company prepares various prizes.
Technically, our farm also belonged to the Demon Castle, so it wasn’t a strange picture if we put the company’s situation into it.
Should I say that it feels like Chairman Demon Lord sponsored the prize at the company picnic where Kaneff is the president?
“I think the Great Lord prepared these gifts in consideration of your achievements in solving the problem of the Dragon demon village last time. The Great Lord also said that she would support all the expenses for the picnic preparation.”
Oh!
A Picnic sponsored by the Demon Lord!
The fact that the two words, Picnic and Demon Lord were connected alone gave rise to a mysterious echo.
“In fact, the Great Lord even said that she wanted to attend the picnic herself…….”
“……?!”
“Unfortunately, she said she would only send gifts this time because she was so busy.”
“Well, that’s a shame.”
I breathed a sigh of relief at the story that the Demon Lord almost attended the picnic in person.
Ryan smiled silently as if he had read my mind, while I felt embarrassed and scratched my head.
“Brother Ry, can I check what’s inside?”
Lilia, who came to the side before I knew it, asked carefully. Others were also looking at the gift of the Demon Lord with anticipated eyes.
“You can check them all out. Instead, there may be valuable items, so please be careful when checking them.”
As soon as Ryan’s permission was granted, everyone moved quickly, and the gifts from Chairman Demon Lord appeared one by one.
From precious metals that looked expensive even at first glance to colorful ornaments, mysterious fruits, and herbs that felt mysterious.
Every gift was too precious that it felt too much to touch.
“What is this?”
I tilted my head when I found the contents of the small box. Unlike other rattling gifts, there was only one letter in the box.
There was no recognizable writing on the outside, and the sealed part of the letter was stamped with a bird with a big needle in its mouth pattern.
“Ryan, what’s this letter?”
“Oh! It’s not a letter, it’s an invitation.”
“Invitation?”
Ryan continued his explanation, pointing to the pattern.
“It’s a pattern that represents the tailors of the Demon Lord. If you have that invitation, you can always leave an order to the tailors for clothes.”
“Hmm… Is it precious?”
“Is it precious, umm..? If Sihyeon says he will sell the invitation, there will be at least hundreds of nobles who will rush the second they hear the news. Ordering clothes from the Demon Lord’s tailors is the highest honor and pride for a noble. It’s something that’s hard to put a number in its value.”
“It’s true, Sihyeon. Even in the Schnarpe family, my father is the only one who was entrusted with the clothes made by the tailors of the Demon Lord.”
Following Ryan, Andras also added an explanation. Listening to their explanations, I began to realize the value of this letter.
“Is that so?”
I looked at the letter in my hand with a puzzled expression. It was burdensome to hold it still, so I carefully put it in the box so that the letter would not be wrinkled.
Meanwhile, by the time all the presents were opened, Lia took out a bottle of wine from the long vertical box.
It was a very luxurious-looking bottle with a silver pattern on a black background.
“Huh? Is this alcohol, too?”
As Lia looked around holding the bottle in a casual way, someone who looked at that figure, screamed.
“Hold on! Lia, stay where you are!”
“What?”
The owner of the loud cry was Kaneff, he moved so quickly that it left an afterimage, after which he stole the bottle in Lia’s hand.
“Hey, this is Last Breath, isn’t this Last Breath”
Last breath?
I don’t know what it is, but if Kaneff showed such a surprised reaction, it would truly be an unusual item.
I asked Ryan again this time.
“What’s that alcohol? And, what’s wrong with Boss?”
“It is called a legendary drink among alcohol-loving Demons. A long time ago, a craftsman who devoted his life to making alcohol used all the secrets he had accumulated to make it.”
“It looks very special just by listening to it.”
“That’s not the end. The craftsman who made the alcohol didn’t leave a recipe, so it became a more difficult item to get. Because of this back story, it’s named [Last Breath].”
“Is it that precious item?”
To my question, Ryan answered, pointing towards Kaneff.
“I’ve never seen such an excited Mr. Kaneff before. I think that’s enough of an answer.”
As Ryan said, Kaneff was still holding the bottle and unable to control his excitement.
“By the way, Ryan?”
“Yes, Sihyeon.”
“Isn’t this too much to call it a picnic gift”
If you think of a prize prepared for an ordinary company picnic, only the first and second prizes are a little expensive, and the rest would be daily necessities or cheap items, or a commemorative towel with the company logo.
“Haha. It’s usually like that, but we can’t help it because it’s from the great Demon Lord herself. Gifts not only show the value of the recipient but also the value of the giver.”
“Um….”
I nodded sympathetically to the explanation.
If a towel with the pattern of the Demon Lord came as a gift, I think it would look a little cheap.
Ryan stepped up in front of the farm members, who were excited by the piled-up gifts.
“Everyone, will you put the presents you’ve seen back in place and step back?”
Then, he took out a document in his arms and showed it.
“Here is the document with the Demon Lord’s seal on it. I have a duty to take responsibility for these, even though they are gifts.”
“Oh! Is that why you said you’d drive the carriage yourself?”
“There was that too, but I wanted to keep the gift a secret until the atmosphere was ripe.”
Soon, the farm members put the gifts back in place as Ryan said, after which they carefully moved away with lingering eyes. In particular, Kaneff couldn’t take his eyes off the [last breath] even as he stepped back.
I asked Ryan instead of the anxious farm members.
“Ryan, can’t we just take the gift?”
“Of course, we can just give it out, but wouldn’t that be too boring?”
“……?”
He smiled as he looked around the farm members.
“We’re going to bet these gifts as prizes at this picnic. In the end, we pick the owner of each gift by drawing lots.”
The prize…
Drawing lots…
People’s eyes moved quickly around.
“But it would be boring if we just decided by drawing lots, right? So I’ve prepared some simple games.”
Game?
Wasn’t he busy dealing with backlogs? When did he have the time to prepare this……?
Ryan looked great in many ways.
“If you win the game, you can increase your chances of drawing lots even more. On the contrary, if you lose the game, you will be less likely to get the gift you want.”
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
Tensions crept up among the farm members who heard the explanation.
All the gifts hung as prizes were so great that the seriousness in their eyes was no joke.
In particular, Kaneff became as determined as if he was facing a life-threatening duel. He felt more serious now than the last time when he fought with Gastra.
Ryan smiled contentedly as if he liked this atmosphere.
“Now~! Shall we start the game?”
The way Ryan prepared it was simple.
If you win the game, you add a paper with the winner’s name to the draw.
When the game is over, put the prepared gifts one by one, and draw lots to decide the owner.
The more one continued to win the game, the higher the probability of taking the gift they wanted, and also being able to get many gifts.
For the game, we were divided into three teams.
The first team was me and Lia.
“Please take care of me, Sihyeon.”
“Let’s work hard and take a lot of gifts.”
“Yes! I’ll do my best!”
Lia’s eyes shone with her fists clenched in front of her chest.
I thought it was cute, so I drew a smile around my mouth without realizing it.
The second team was Andras and Lilia.
“You look confident, Andras.”
“I hope Sihyeon, who suffered in many ways, gets a lot of gifts, but I can’t help but do my best in a fair match. I will do my best in the honor of the Schnarpe family.”
“In the honor of the Schnarfe family!”
What?
Why is he putting his family’s honor on the game for picking out a picnic prize…….
The last team was Kaneff and Alfred.
Once again, the two became a team following their previous run.
Kaneff called Alfred in a grim voice.
“Elaine…”
“Yes, Boss Kaneff…….”
“It’s not about giving our best. We have to win no matter what. We’ll win and bring [Last Breath] that you see over there. Got it?”
“Yes, we’ll definitely win.”
“If [last breath] falls into someone else’s hands…… You know what’s going to happen, don’t you?”
“…….”
Even before the game started, Alfred’s face turned pale. It was a moment when everyone, including myself, thought it was fortunate that they weren’t on the team with Kaneff.
“Now that the teams are divided, let’s start the game in earnest. Are you all ready?”
Ryan skillfully drew people’s reactions like a professional host of a TV show.
“Yes!”
“Ryan, enough with the gimmicks, hurry up!”
“Let’s do it!”
“Now~! The first game is…….”