Lantern Festival?

Some people were naturally insensitive to writing. Akai was one of them.

The next day brought another round of studying, and Akai collapsed.

"Akai, have you remembered it?"

"I'm going to practice swordsmanship." Akai rose like a wooden puppet and stiffly walked toward the door.

He picked up the wooden sword in the yard, swinging it as he muttered, "Hello... good morning..."

"No! No!" Akai recalled the words he had just learned while swinging his sword with all his might.

They said one could not focus on two things at once, but Akai actually became more concentrated this way. Those unfamiliar words gradually became clearer in his mind.

Lily and Mel were already teaching him so earnestly. He had to remember them. He could not let them down.

Mel Carlo, on the other hand, was not thinking that much. Compared with learning the writing of this world, he still felt it was more important to first remember the contents of the game.

"Let me think carefully." Mel Carlo tapped his head with a finger.

The Kandow Continent IP had many spin-off works. The one he remembered most clearly was probably the otome game. Its story was set in the Royal Academy, where a commoner protagonist entered an aristocratic school and rose against the odds.

At first, he had not planned to play it. But Kandow Continent used the same account for everything, and playing it gave out rewards, so he tried it. It was his first time enjoying such refined fare, and it had felt pretty great—just not something he could easily tell others about.

"I should write everything down. Everything I can still remember, I'll write down in detail." Mel Carlo sorted what he needed to write into categories as he refreshed his memory, then wrote them down one by one. It was actually quite fast.

At this rate, he probably would not be able to do anything else this week. He would put training aside for now as well. After all, the skills whose proficiency could be quickly maxed out were already maxed, while the rest required much more time to practice.

"Mel, is this another kind of writing?" Lily looked curiously at Mel Carlo's notes.

"Mm. Remember to keep it a secret for me." Mel Carlo smiled.

Whether she kept it secret did not really matter. No one in this world could understand Chinese characters anyway.

For the time being, he could not think of a better method. If he had to write all this on paper while sneaking around, that would be truly troublesome. It was better to be open about it.

He could not write down every single word in full, so he kept it as concise as possible, recording the key points and some NPCs from the games.

Even if he had not encountered them yet, that did not mean he would never encounter them in the future.

When Mel put down his pen and looked toward the practice ground in the yard, Akai had already vanished.

"Where did Akai go?" Mel asked Lily beside him.

"He went out with Chocolate."

"Did he go rummage through trash cans with Chubby again?" Mel Carlo scratched his head.

"Mm. After all, tomorrow is the Lantern Festival."

"The Lantern Festival?" Mel Carlo sat down beside Lily, waiting for the little girl to explain.

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Although he could guess it was a festival from another world, he did not know exactly what it was for.

"Mel forgot even this?" Lily wrapped her arms around her knees and began explaining again. "It's a festival established to commemorate people driving away the darkness. I heard there were no ore lamps in the past, so everywhere would be pitch-black once night fell."

"I've seen ore lamps. They do not seem to glow during the day, but they give off red light at night."

"Mm. None of the shops will close tonight, and there will be all kinds of free little games in the city. People will enjoy delicious food and wine, along with bonfires and dancing." Lily's tone was calm, without much excitement, because she knew very well who they were. They were orphans.

On this night, they did not have enough money to enjoy delicious food and wine. That was why Akai had gone out to look for food.

Though the gang provided some food, it was only enough to keep them from starving. Eating their fill, let alone eating well, was nearly impossible.

Mel's relationship with Anke was subtle. It was not exactly good, but it was not bad either. He could not just rely on Anke's wariness of him to ask for food and drink. He did not think he and Anke were close enough for that; they had merely become somewhat familiar.

After all, Anke could still teach him a small amount of writing. Besides, books in this world seemed to be very expensive.

In his memories of his previous life, legitimate books had also been expensive. A complete authorized edition of the Twenty-Four Histories had cost over a thousand.

The system contained potato chips, cola, bagged instant noodles, and bottled water.

If he took them all out, they could probably have a very hearty meal, especially for children. The problem was that he had kept them hidden for three months already.

Ever since he had shared those Big B Rabbit milk candies, he had never taken out anything that did not belong in this world again.

"Can we find somewhere secluded and have a proper meal? I mean, not in this yard—somewhere far from the gang." Mel Carlo swallowed. He was craving it a little too.

As someone from Earth, he had grown accustomed to food made with modern technology and dubious additives. Having gone so long without those things truly felt awful. This world might have delicious food, but someone of his current status and position could not afford to eat it.

"We can. Let's go find Akai. We can play outside all night tonight! But we can't cause trouble, or the guards will take us away."

"Of course." Mel Carlo understood.

After all, it was a grand festival. With the shops open all night, there would definitely be many people outside, and the guards would patrol more often and in greater numbers.

He had already washed his hands of that life. If he wanted to practice his stealing skill, he could just find someone and grind proficiency directly.

The two had barely crossed two streets when they ran into Akai and Chocolate, who had come running toward them.

The little blond and Chubby were both grinning happily.

"Mel, guess what we found?"

"A huge rat?"

"No, half a roast chicken." Chocolate set down the burlap sack behind him and untied it. Inside was half a leftover roast chicken, covered in plenty of slop, though it at least looked fresh.

"And some vegetables. We picked them up from the market. Nobody wanted them, but if we wash and cook them, we can eat them. Too bad we don't have noodles, or they'd definitely taste great cooked together." The unnamed fifth person was also very happy.

It was rare for them to have something to be happy about. Even leftovers were not this good every day.

"Leave the noodles to me. Tonight, remember to find somewhere secluded. No one can see you, understand?" Mel Carlo looked at them, having made up his mind. Tonight, at least, they could have a proper meal. No one would be bored enough to bother them.

"A secluded place? Leave that to me." Chocolate patted his chest.

Mel Carlo had a system inventory, but he would not take the instant noodles out directly in front of them. He needed to avoid them first, at least. It made no difference when he took them out, so there was no rush.

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