473 The Celebration, A Whole Day of Headache (1/2)

Day ▋▋ - ▋▋:▋▋ AM - Stone Fortress, Eastern Dimension

The next morning, the celebration of the races commenced.

And of course, with Mark at the center of it all. It was despite all his rejection, Diwata Danaya begged him to do so. Even if it was just for a short time, he had to sit on the throne and meet some people.

With the Diwata's persistence and Karlene and Alana's urging, he agreed for one condition. If he could not stand it anymore, he would leave at any point in time in the celebration.

Even though Danaya was not satisfied with it, she accepted his condition. In the least, he would be present for the occasion for some time. Still, the Diwata could not fathom why Mark hated to participate. From what she knew, humans were fond of celebrations.

Thus, with his agreement, the preparation started.

Early in the morning, he had to prepare himself together with Mei, who would step out with him on the podium. She did not find being the center of a celebration a good thing too. However, she became more accepting of it because of how her parents raised her, being the center of business parties and such. Furthermore, Mark was with her this time.

Mark and Mei wore the clothes prepared for them. It was quite amusing how they were able to provide such clothes, a day after the battle. Furthermore, it was a perfect fit. Nevertheless, considering that what they encountered yesterday was already absurd beyond belief, this was way more acceptable.

The clothes were a set of Royal Tribal Attire made of something that was like silk, but as tough as leather.

Mark had a garb embroidered with intricate patterns.

The top was a pair of buttonless long sleeves and an inner shirt. Compared to the inner shirt, the patterns and designs on the outerwear looked more complicated. And even though it did not look like leather or petroleum, it had the same shine. The pair of pants was the same.

Fortunately, they were considerate enough to not make the clothes as colorful as possible. They should have based the color from what Mark always wore. A set of black clothes, and reddish black armor. It was because of the whole attire, despite having a lot of designs and patterns, it only had different hues of black and gray, with a streamline of red.

The pattern of the clothes and the atmosphere Mark had around him made him look fierce and cannot be opposed.

As for Mei, she had black patterned innerwear and a poncho-like outer garment of red color. It was paired with an ankle long red skirt with golden patterns. Aside from the clothes, there was also a box of accessories.

Aside from Mark and Mei, everyone had clothing of their own. Of course, except from the three little girls that the Mark and Mei called daughters, the others had a less extravagant attire.

Males and females had to separate the places they should wear their clothes. Well, they separated while dragging Karla, who followed Mark instead of the girls.

When everyone wore their clothes, for some reason, Mei was still not out. And it seemed that the girls had some presentation for Mark.

Sure enough, when Mei came out of the room, everyone's skipped a beat. Even Danaya, who was present in the lobby, had to question whether she was the Diwata or Mei was.

Even Teremillio had to be held back by his wives. If they let him go, he would get killed for sure.

Mei slowly approached Mark, who was staring at her. She did not even pay attention to anyone.

”Gege, how do I look?”

She asked with a blush.

”Uhm, you look beautiful.”

Mark said as he looked away.

That gesture did not escape everyone's eyes. They were surprised.

”Hoho, what do I see there...”

Alana teased.

Unfortunately for them, the time to tease got cut short. Mark closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Then, his expression return to the usual. It made Mei rather disappointed, but Mark was better looking with a dignified face than an embarrassed one. They were not used to it at all.

An aide of King Hieroman also came knocking on the door to tell Danaya if everyone was ready.

Thus, the celebration finally started.

And Mark almost backed out from the first activity.

To start the celebration, he had to present himself to every citizen that was currently residing in the territory of the Stone Fortress. All the races, big or small, young or old, were gathered at the main courtyard of the fortress. And for everyone to see him, he had to step on the highest podium of the fortress.

And there, a speech would start the occasion.

Fortunately, Mark did not have to say anything. He and Mei, who was accompanying him, just needed to step out after receiving the cue. It was Diwata Danaya and the King of the Stone Fortress, Hieromano, who would give the speech.

And the reason for that was the language barrier. Mark was very thankful that he could not speak their language in this regard.

Diwata Danaya and the Rey Hieromano came out first together with other few people. Aside from the Queen, and the two Princes that Mark and the others saw for the first time, the others were the king's personal guards. All of them right now was in human size for the sake of convenience. Of course, not every Duende was capable of this. In fact, Felenia, who was the princess, could not.

The speech of the two was quite long. Long enough that Mark yawned and felt sleepy. As Felenia and the others were present, they translated parts of the speech for Mark and those that could not understand it in their group.

Diwata Danaya and the King talked about the current situation of the Spirit World. The harsh truth about their low rate of survival considering the threat that they encountered yesterday. That was why they all needed to join forces together and thwart any obstacle that they face.

Diwata Danaya and the representatives of the races wanted to raise the morale of everyone. That was why they pushed this celebration to happen. It was even though their current supplies would take a good hit, it would be easier to make everyone move if the celebration was a success.

After all, surviving the catastrophe yesterday was surely something to celebrate. Even if not all of them died, too few might have remained. Furthermore, they would be left with nothing while wandering the infected world. Fortunately, someone stopped the disaster.

Finally, Mark and Mei were called. Cheers immediately erupted. Many saw the battle, both combatant or not. They all knew that they would not have any chance of survival at that time. And yet, to face the giant that even Diwata Danaya had no way of winning against, Mark appeared with a black trail of smoke.

At first, they thought that he was a human, yet, the truth that he was a Blood Demon soon spread. Many did not know what race that was and thought that they like other Demon Races. And those who knew spread the truth.