As night falls, the world turns from light to darkness.

But for the Flame People, the happiest hours of the day have just begun.

Before she could get closer, she saw that the number of torches placed along the river had at least doubled—no, more than just torches.

On the east bank of the stream, numerous long tables are set along the river. They come in different styles and colors, and each table fully reflects the different preferences of different people.

Countless red-haired and fiery Pokémon wandered around the endless queue of long tables, busy serving food. From afar, Xiao Ye heard a loud voice yelling: "Heshu!

Seeing the stranger standing in place in a daze, the young man who was traveling with him smiled and dragged her, and the two blended into the lively flow of people together.

Each of the returning patrol members received a warm welcome from those left behind, and even a few children waited at the entrance of the valley to distribute snacks to those who passed by in turn - all while telling each other that "don't eat too much snack, and eat a good meal is a good child".

When the last person to go out also took a seat beside the long table, someone beat the Upe drum. The fast-paced drums beat like laughter from the sky, announcing the official start of the dinner.

Hundreds of Niwa lanterns flow along the river, and the lights mingle with the aroma of food, creating a carefree fireworks. At the request of the people around her, Saya released all the Pokémon and gathered around the table to feast - it is said that in formal banquets, Pokémon must be served with others as a tradition.

Of course, the more important reason is that under this chaotic situation of "the whole village is pouring out", no one will definitely count how many Pokémon she has released.

Most of the Pokémon inhabited by Mt. Aso are fire-based, and the people of the flames are all fire-type Pokémon. The opposite of the water system is a rare species for the mountain people, and within a few minutes, the tyrannosaurus was surrounded by adults and children looking fresh. When the first bold person found out that "you won't be bitten if you touch it", the big water dragon suddenly had hands all over his body.

The tyrannosaurus with two five-year-old children on its head did not dare to move, so it sprayed the people in the face with a huff of ice mist - which did not scare anyone away, but made itself more popular.

"Actually...... Chewing ...... It is customary to hold a collective dinner seven days before the fire festival...... Chew Chew Chew ...... Just ......"

Before Yong Zhen finished speaking, he received a light slap from his mother on the back of the head.

"You're rude, swallow the food before you talk!"

Yang Yu shook his head with a smile and picked up his friend's words, "It's just that the situation is a little special this year, and I didn't invite guests to come, so the patriarch announced a few days ago that he would not hold a dinner party for the time being." ”

Xiao Ye felt this deeply. Although the scene in front of me was joyful, it was also a mess, with cold and hot dishes and drinks flying all over the sky, and it really didn't look like it had been prepared in advance.

"Then why did you suddenly change your mind today?" asked Saya humbly as she pulled out the fire-breathing dragon that was about to bury her face in the fruit bowl.

"Because our fighters are fighting. After teaching her son, Yongzhen's mother, who immediately put on a loving smile, replied.

She tucked her brown hair behind her ears and said with a smile, "Well, making everyone happy is the greatest mission of those of us who don't go to war, isn't it?"

Xiao Ye blinked thoughtfully and looked around seriously in front of him again.

People hook up with their Pokémon companions and don't care how hot it is to huddle with fire-type Pokémon in the middle of summer. They drank their glasses of wine to their heart's content, laughed in unison at a sneering joke in their seats, sang inarticulate as those around them hummed songs, as if they had never experienced a sudden night attack by a wind thief, and had never lost their most important treasure.

- Oh, one thing to correct. The yellow and clear thing in their glass is not spirit, but sweet and sour juice.

After the feast was not in a hurry, people began to wander around the long table, talking to the people around them. On the contrary, the Pokémon, who far surpass humans in terms of food, firmly stick to their original position and still only care about eating hard.

Yongzhen's cough symptoms were still very serious, but he didn't care about it, put a mask on himself and pulled Yang Yu to run to chat with his peers.

Sayo-eye quickly saves the little Pichu who was almost swallowed as a yellow snack on the dining table, smooths the little one's hair, and strolls along the river.

It didn't take long for the girl's steps to slow down and stop again. She frowned slightly, her gaze swept over the sloppy bandages of passers-by—and this was not the first wounded person she had seen.

Yang Yu once said that if one of the patrolmen encountered a wind thief or was attacked during the search work, the others would also get the news immediately, and Yang Yu did not receive a notification about this for a whole day.

So...... Why were these people hurt?

She pondered, pacing to the end of the long table.

"Mr. Jingmu. ”

Hearing the girl's call, the middle-aged man turned around.

Jing Mu was dressed much more casually than when he was in the auditorium, wearing only a thin short gown. He had a lot of big and small scars on his arms, and the injured person didn't seem to care about them, and didn't even put a few band-aids on them.

Although they were only superficial abrasions, they looked a little too dense.

"What's wrong?" replied the middle-aged man as seriously as ever - unlike the laughing clansmen around him, he still kept a straight face even at this time, and almost wrote a line above his head, "I have borne the sorrow of all the big-hearted clansmen who don't want to lose it."

"Sorry to bother you. Xiao Ye looked up at the tall interlocutor, "I'm just a little concerned - it seems that quite a few people, including you, have been injured? Did you meet the Wind Thief?"

"How could those thieves hurt us so easily. Jing Mu raised his eyebrows, "It's just that after the work, I just learned a few rounds." ”

“…… I understand. Xiao Ye nodded, as if she didn't plan to continue asking.

Xiao Ye, who was very disturbing and self-conscious, was about to say "farewell", when she saw Jing Mu staring at her steadily, her brows furrowing tighter and tighter, as if she saw a green caterpillar crawling on her face.

“……？”

"You don't have to worry. Jing Mu suddenly said, "The vast majority of wind thieves are not good at fighting head-on. If you are in danger, just run for your life, they will not deliberately chase a foreigner who has no grudges or grudges. ”

"No, I'm not worried about this ......" Xiao Ye suddenly waved his hand with a smile, but he didn't expect this sentence to poke at the strange anger point of the person opposite.

"What?, how can you not be worried!!"

The middle-aged man's expression immediately turned pitch black.

Originally, I was worried that the injured people's Xiao Ye was caught and talked about it for almost twenty minutes, from how to strengthen self-protection to how to escape at a critical moment, until Xiao Ye's face turned to mosquito coils and I didn't know where I was.

The red-haired man sitting next to the middle-aged man couldn't help laughing for a long time, and finally spoke out with kindness to end this one-sided abuse.

"Jingmu, 'chatter' is enough, our guests have lost their ability to fight. ”

It wasn't until she returned to the Pokémon with bulging bellies that Xiao Ye still felt in a trance, and forgot that she should suspect Jing Mu's unreliable reason for being injured.

"Little Night...... What's wrong with you? Did something just happen?" Yang Yu leaned in worriedly, looking at Xiao Ye's expression.

"No, I just had a few chats with Mr. Jingmu. ”

"Ugh. The red-haired boy's expression changed, and his face was full of deep sympathy, "Why can't you think about it so much?"

Sayo: "......"

After chatting enough, the red-haired people finally got up and began to clean up the mess in twos and threes. Xiao Ye was about to step forward to help, but Yang Yu reached out and grabbed her.

"We're not in charge of chores. The boy smiled lightly and said, "Xiaoye, do you want to watch our training later?"

"Training refers to Pokémon battles?"

"Nope. Yang Yu shook his head and pointed to the waist drums stacked not far away.

It's a "Dance to the Gods." ”

The excitement of the dinner party gradually dissipated, and the flow of people dispersed several times. One of them pushed each other and rushed to the altar where the Pillar of the Covenant was.

- The final and most important part of the Fire Worship Festival, a dance performed by the Flame Folk to welcome the Niwa God during the Fire Worship Festival. It is said that in ancient times, when the Five Mountains Fire Ceremony was over and the Dance to Welcome the Gods began, the flame bird would emerge from the volcano and dance with its devotees, vowing to protect each other and never turn their backs on each other this year.

Xiao Ye had only seen the end of the dance rehearsal before, but today I really saw the full picture of this dance that has been passed down for thousands of years.

The red-haired people beat the Uppe drums around their waists, the sound of which was like thunder, like the burning of fire, and like the chanting of men, and the flames of the flames danced in rhythm on the altar, and the torches around the altar cast long shadows for the dancers, and finally all converged on the central pillar of the covenant.

The mountain people are full of pride in this dance and often talk about it at the dinner table. Therefore, even the strangers who have just been here for a day know that the Wupei drum is a very difficult instrument to play, even among the people of the flames, there are only a few people who can control it handily, and the twenty-four people who dance the dance to welcome the gods at the fire worship festival are carefully selected and evaluated by the good dancers. They are sincere, warm-hearted, and innocent, which is why they can play beautiful music with the Upe drums.

- Xiao Ye's friend, Yang Yu is one of them.

The girl stood at the bottom of the stage and looked up at the people dancing on the altar.

Yang Yu's smile was always gentle and restrained, but when he danced the ancient dance with his kindred, Xiao Ye saw that his expression was no longer the slightest bit suppressed, and the bright color of the torch reflected in the red pupils, almost illuminating the starry and brilliant sand of light.

"It's a pity that Harina isn't there, otherwise this dance would have been more perfect. ”

A clear voice came from behind. Xiao Ye turned her head and looked at the boy...... No, a pseudo-teenager, a real youth, a baby-faced, very short patriarch.

"Mr. Ye, good evening. ”

"Good evening. The patriarch finally took off his hot-looking array of feathers, and wore only a white single robe, and the two scimitars hung from his waist - the bright red cobblestone still shining on the hilt.

He smiled and beckoned, "It's hard work today, how are the results?"

"Yang Yu and I have searched the demarcated area, and neither the vision nor the power of the waveguide have found any trace of the wind thief. Sayo replied.

Before she could say the second half of the sentence "I saw a strange walkie-talkie", her smile gradually stiffened, "Uh, wait a minute, 'all searched' refers to ......"

Xiao Ye thought about it, thought that he understood the question of karma, and suddenly replied, "My usual waveguide detection range is a spherical shape with a radius of ten meters, so what is sure that there is no abnormality is ten meters above and below the horizon. Need I expand the scope a bit?"

“……”

Ye recalled the search area allocated to each team at the combat meeting, and raised a hand in slow motion, covering his forehead.

"It's too much, that's a three-day task......"

"Because probing is much faster than seeing with your eyes?"

"It's a lot more draining than looking with your eyes, isn't it?" the young patriarch blinked worriedly, "Are you alright?"

"Of course, I'm used to having it on all day. Xiao Ye replied bluntly.

She knew that the Flames couldn't just let a strange ten-year-old tourist go on an important mission as soon as they came up. If you want to help everyone better, you naturally have to show your strength first - just like she did today.

“…… Well, I see. Karma seemed to read Sayo's thoughts, sighed and stopped talking about the topic, and instead stuffed the dessert in his hand to Sayo, "Here you go, the rice cracker cake that I said was good!"

"Oh, thank you...... when did you say yes?"

The two of them watched the ancient dance of welcoming the gods for a while. To the rumbling of drums, the patriarch turned his head to look at the young "overzealous" guest.

"Xiaoye, can you please come with me to the place where the wind thieves are held?"

"Maybe I need your help. ”

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Small Theatre:

Tyrannosaurus with two five-year-old children on his head: Lao Tzu's neck is stiff, when will they go down!

Toddlers: Huh...... Call......

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PS：

After the end of the make-up shift, the next step is to return to the (slow) rhythm of the weekly Saturday shift.

In the latest chapter of the eponymous text of Jin/Jiang and Shu/Ke, the cover of the lottery is released. Friends who are interested in illustrations or postcard patterns can add a readership and go to the group file to view!

The release of the text content on the web is expected to be in March next year.

Please advise me in the future!