Published: August 2, 2025
The Next Day
After the splendid festival, dawn broke over Gimul Town, which was gradually returning to its everyday rhythm.
Festive decorations still lingered here and there on street corners, but they would surely be cleared away by today or tomorrow. Most of the stalls from out of town had already packed up, and it seemed that some groups had already left the town.
“The South Gate must be chaotic with tourists heading home after coming just for the festival,” the guard at the North Gate, where I had passed through, said casually.
And as for me…
“This part will be reused!”
“Understood! I’ll separate it!”
Under the instructions of the Semiroid troupe's stage crew, we were dismantling the stage.
Although I’m pretty good at construction work, stages and related equipment are a different matter, so I decided to take this chance to learn. Even just dismantling gives a good understanding of the structure.
“Excuse me, what about this screw-like pillar?”
“That’s part of the stage apparatus, so it’ll be reused. You turn that handle down below to raise the person or object placed on top. We didn’t use it this time, though.”
“I see.”
There were hidden mechanisms invisible from outside, which was quite interesting.
“Manager.”
“Ms. Dolce? What is it?”
“A member of the security team is here regarding the soap theft from the other day.”
“Understood. Sorry about this.”
“I heard that. It’s okay here, you should go.”
“Thank you.”
On the way back to the shop with Ms. Dolce, we passed many customers.
Although it was the day after working hard during the festival, our shop was open as usual.
I thought about taking a day off, but housewives said they had piled up laundry during the busy preparation period or that their clothes got dirty while preparing and cleaning up. Seeing the demand, we decided to stay open. Instead, we planned a gathering tonight, like the previous social party, to show appreciation.
It seemed the plan was correct; by morning, there was a line of customers about 20% longer than usual. Among them was Mr. Arnold, whom I had just met yesterday. He said the Founding Festival was held every year, and decorations like cloth and flags were reused.
Usually, before storage, the person in charge would sort, discard, and wash reusable items, but this year they were considering using our shop to save costs and improve efficiency. He had come to test it with his own clothes.
The results were still unknown, but an unexpected large contract might come through.
“Excuse me.”
Now for the meeting.
Inside the reception room, a male security guard rose from the sofa.
After formal greetings, we got straight to the point.
“The thief behind the soap theft reported recently has been caught. Is this correct?”
From a package beside him, he took out the soap with its net.
Had they really caught the culprit? I felt guilty thinking that way after their efforts, but I had believed stolen goods never came back.
“Sometimes they don’t return, of course. This thief also committed pickpocketing, which led to his capture yesterday. When we seized his belongings at his lodging, this soap was found. Confronted with the evidence, he confessed.”
We were lucky. I should pray to Gain and the others later.
When asked to sign a certificate confirming the stolen goods' return, I checked the contents before signing.
“…Yes, certainly. Thank you very much.”
He smiled, took the papers, and hurried away.
It seemed the security team was quite busy.
“Hmm, hmm-hmm.”
After seeing the guard to the door, I noticed Ms. Fina humming while carrying luggage in the back of the shop.
“You’re in a good mood.”
“Ah! Manager, when did you get here?”
“Just now, after the security left.”
“Oh, that…”
“Did I surprise you?”
“A little… You were listening?”
“It was Mr. Prenance’s song.”
Her face turned red. She was quite good, and it wasn’t something to worry about… but I wondered if something good had happened.
“Oh, by the way, listen, manager. While I was serving customers earlier, many asked if we weren’t selling barley tea anymore. They said it was tasty at yesterday’s stall.”