Vera happily watched the fairies treating her with such respect. She was already wondering how many gifts she would receive at the end of the festival... That was when the queen accepted gifts.
By forming a Starfire Wreath, Vera had already made her ambition to claim the throne clear. Any fairies still willing to attend the festival would surely follow its usual traditions.
Nobles could present their gifts themselves, while commoners could ask the queen's steward to present theirs. The queen would open each gift in person. She and every fairy in attendance would judge it, and their opinions would have a profound effect on the giver's social standing.
If a gift surprised and delighted the queen, its giver might receive a small token of thanks. If it was deemed dull and ordinary, the fairy who gave it might become the object of everyone's ridicule—or worse.
Vera did not have a steward yet, so she had the Flower Fairies who had just led the dance open little reception houses. These were Mushroom Toy Houses she had bought from the Undead. The colorful little mushrooms stood scattered across the clearing; previously, they had served as registration booths for fairies arriving from elsewhere to perform.
To the Undead, who loved alchemical creations, these pretty little houses had been nothing more than practice pieces, the sort that usually sat in their bags gathering dust. They did add a little space, but the pinch of Spatial Crystal powder made hardly any difference... A Mushroom House ten centimeters tall was, at most, one meter square inside.
For the fairies, though, they were just right. Once the Undead discovered how eager the fairies were to buy them, they began making these otherwise useless little houses in bulk to hone their skills.
Before that, only people who