It was already past noon when their group finally found a tavern where to stay, as almost every place in the whole town was already reserved because of tourists who came to see the festival. It wasn't a big place and it was a bit rundown as it was old, but that didn't really matter much since the view was absolutely beautiful.
They had to walk all the way to the farthest part of the southern section of the town and they could hardly see middle and north sections from there but that didn't really matter. They had a perfect view over the sea itself and that was what they wanted.
"I like this place", Bickslow cackled as they all sat in a big terrace that connected their rooms outside. They had a tiny little garden with a little stream, that had water so clean they could actually drink it.
"I agree", Evergreen smiled. Well, of course she agreed because this way they had more money for shopping.
Actually they had rented one big room that could be separated in two or three rooms. Freed thought it was rather practical. Their room was connected to the main part of the tavern by stairs and even though they saw customers coming and going, they hardly heard anything.
"I'm actually surprised by this place", Roscoe said as he looked up to the large ginkgo trees that gave them just enough shade so the air was feeling nicely cool. "Sure, this place isn't in a perfect shape or anything, but it's pretty nice place considering we have practically a whole house we can use."
"It's mostly all about the location", Freed said and he looked inside from open doors, where Felix and Chester were sleeping on futons. "The further we go from the center of the town, usually price of the rooms drops, no matter how nice the place might be. Only places with something of their own that draws people in can have higher prices."
This place certainly was really nice and it had its own atmosphere, but it wasn't special like having hot springs or something.
"Well, I don't care whatever the reason, this place is good", Laxus said as he was lying on the terrace his eyes closed. "And the tavern has its own pub which is only few steps away from here."
"There might be a festival tonight but we didn't come here for a vacation", Freed frowned.
"Don't be so uptight, baby", Bickslow grinned. "You're just cranky because you can't drink", he snickered.
"You know very well I'm not that fond of drinking anyway. I'm trying to focus on our job because that's why we're here", Freed reminded.
But yes, he would feel a bit left out if others went to drink and he had to stay here with Felix and Chester, it was only natural. Sure they could also take the boys with them, it wasn't like they had never seen drunken people since they spend all days in Fairy Tail...
"Let's just see how things go", Ever smiled to Freed. "It's no harm to have some fun as well since we're here."
After Felix and Chester woke up they ordered some food in their room.
"What are these?" Freed asked confused as one of the workers also brought clothes while she came to fetch the empty dishes.
"These are for the festival, we always bring some for our customers just in case they don't have these", she explained and unfolded one of the big clothes. It was round and had a hole in the middle. There were also lots of colourful embroideries all around the cloth. "You pull them on and use one of these belts to tie it around your waist."
"Nice, does everyone dress up in these?" Bickslow asked curiously as he unfolded a black cloth with lots of white and pink embroideries. He pulled it on, his head popping out from the hole in the middle.
"At least all the townspeople", the servant smiled and as Bickslow raised his arms, she adjusted the fabric slightly and tied the belt.
"Do they have a special meaning?" Evergreen asked and she took a bright green cloth pulling it on.
"They show the spirits that you're their friend as they arrive."
"We're going to see spirits?" Felix asked his eyes going wide.
"Yes", the servant smiled giving Felix and Chester smaller light blue clothes. "But you don't need to be worried, they are kind spirits of the river."
"It's not like we're scared of them..." Chester murmured and his hair got all tousled when he pulled the cape on.
"Is there anything more we should know about the festival?" Freed asked as he and Laxus chose two dark purple clothes, leaving Roscoe a dark silver cloth.
"The spirits will arrive when it's dark, at eight o'clock. Everyone will mostly gather at the central part of the town", the servant smiled and she took all the empty cups and bowls with her, leaving them alone.
Felix looked at his cape after Laxus had tied the belt for him.
"It's weird", he said and Chester nodded.
"That lady was lying, right?" Chester asked. "We can't really see spirits."
"Who knows", Bickslow smirked. "Let's go to the town now!" he decided.
"We have still many hours time to ask around about Baluhu", Freed nodded.
"Let's eat dinner outside as well", Evergreen said excitedly as they closed all the doors, locked them and walked down the stairs.
They walked around the town more now that they had time and they were all really impressed how it was built. Even if all the buildings were piled up, they were really sturdy and even if there were lots of streets and stairs, it was fairly easy to navigate in Ginkgo. There were even lifts for those who couldn't climb stairs that much.
Laxus growled when again he felt his hair getting tugged as Felix was sitting on his shoulders. It was easier to carry them so they wouldn't get too tired because of all walking.
"I told you to stay put", the lightning dragon slayer growled annoyed. "I will drop you off this bridge", he threatened as they were walking over one of the long and narrow arch bridges.
"Don't do that", Felix quickly said grabbing a tight hold of Laxus' head.
"Then stop squirming."
"I just wanted to take a peek down... We're really high."
"The more reason for you not to move around."
Soon they were at the other side of the bridge, at the middle section of the town. There were more people walking around and almost everyone was now wearing same kind of clothes as they were. They were colourful and sometimes decorated with tufts or ribbons or pretty buttons. It seemed like the more colourful they were, the better.
Even though they tried to ask around they didn't really find any information about Baluhu. When they asked if they knew anyone who lived outside the town near the forest, the townspeople looked at them like they were mad.
"So it's now at least obvious that they are really scared of that forest", Evergreen hummed as it was starting to get dark around them.
They had found nice peaceful place, sitting on narrow stairs while most of the townspeople were at the huge area that was facing the river. Everyone was walking around, talking and trying to find good places where to sit and wait. For them, this little place was just enough since they had a good view over to the river and mountains.
"Seems so", Roscoe huffed leaning against his hand. "It makes things harder for us to try and find Baluhu."
"I wanna see that forest", Bickslow cackled. "Maybe he lives there? I bet it would be really interesting."
"I'm sure the people here are not avoiding it just for fun", Freed said and he had Felix sitting on his lap and the boy was talking with Chester who was sitting on Bickslow's lap. "There must be a good reason why they won't go near it."
"I'm guessing there are lots of venomous animals and plants", Roscoe said. "Enough so it's better to stay away from there."
"Maybe there are some huge monsters that eat everything they can find?" Bickslow suggested.
"Well, this or that, if these people can't tell us about Baluhu, there's no other way to talk with him but follow the shoreline and try to find him ourselves", Laxus said crossing his arms. "Gildarts said he lives somewhere along the shoreline, right?"
"Right now it seems like that's what we have to do", Freed nodded. "We better rent some camping gears just in case if we have to travel so far we won't be able to come back during the same day."
"There should be some place from where we can find those", Evergreen said.
They talked and waited. Finally it was dark and suddenly it felt like the whole town had gone silent. They all just waited as minutes went by, the festival might start at any second now. Freed noticed how it looked like every single light had been covered in the whole town.
"I see something", Bickslow grinned and Felix and Chester quickly looked around. "Between the mountains."
They all looked at the dark path. There was something slightly shimmering. Slowly, the light got more clear and finally they saw some movement.
They were like tiny little fireballs dancing just above the water. They swung around rhytmically, their fire flickering and they formed a line as they appeared out of the dark path between the mountains. Everyone stayed silent, just looking at the fires that danced ahead until they were directly in the middle of the river. There they stopped after forming a largre circle.
Felix and Chester gasped loudly when they saw bright white light, coming from the same direction from where the fires had came. It was something really long and big, slithering under the water towards the town.
The fires got now rapidly bigger, burning with great power and their movements got quicker. They started to fly around and around, so fast that finally they only saw a bright burning circle and the water was splashing and sizzling.
Suddenly they flew up, forcing the water to hoist up like a pillar. The white creature dashed towards, swam up the pillar of water and for a moment they had to squint their eyes because the light was so bright.
Water splashed and a loud screech filled their ears. Freed and others looked with amazement at the huge spirit that was floating in the air.
"It's a dragon!" Felix shouted as other people were gasping and some of them cheered.
"I think it's a water serpent spirit", Freed chuckled. "But it does look a bit like a dragon."
"Is it really a spirit?" Chester asked and his eyes were round like plates.
"Seems so", Bickslow grinned.
"Oooh!" his 'babies' gasped with amaze.
The huge serpent looked like it was swimming in the air, following the river around the middle part of the town, going under the arch bridges and the water was surging under it. The serpent went all around the town and stopped.
Dozens of pillars of water hoisted up again and they splashed above the town like fireworks. The air was filled with glimmering water droplets that slowly fell down, covering the streets and trees like fresh snow and making them glow in colours.
It really looked like the whole town had suddenly got beautiful festival decorations. People were absolutely thrilled, everyone getting up and walking around the streets and admiring their surroundings.
As the serpent stayd in the air, more lights started to appear from between the mountains. First came an enormous swarm of colourful glowing butterflies in all kinds of shapes and they spread all around the town. They were followed by lots of other creatures, all moving in the air like swimming and most of them looked so bizarre they didn't even know what they were.
"Aah!" Chester suddenly yelled clinging onto Bickslow and they all flinched, looking behind them.
From up the stairs walked down long and slim spirits that were covered by purple sheets like ghosts, the bottom of their capes transparent. They all stood up and stepped aside, letting them walk down the stairs. They didn't see their feet, but on the ground were left glimmering footprints that slowly faded.
"They're scary", Felix whispered, grasping Freed's cape tightly.
"I'm sure they're harmless", the rune mage assured as they started to walk along the bright street.
Now that the spirits had arrived the whole town was again full of sounds. There were music, chattering and people were walking around among the spirits that came with so many different forms they always had something new to see.
They were just walking towards one of the bridges when Freed flinched, as there was a huge scarab with beautiful golden shell and green ornates all around, crawling ahead and kids were laughing as they walked alongside with it.
"You big sissy", Laxus laughed as Freed just kept walking past the bridge towards next one, even though they had agreed to use this one to get to the northern part of the town.
"Freed's a wuss!" the tiki dolls giggled hovering over the rune mage.
"Be quiet", Freed huffed, his cheeks slightly tainted pink.
Felix and Chester were now more curious and excited than scared after seeing how others weren't scared of the spirits. They didn't even care how much they had to walk around, they just wanted to see as much spirits as they possibly could!
"This really is a spectacular festival", Evergreen smiled as a little swarm of giggling lizard like creatures with flashy collars skittered right past them.
"But who is the one responsible of it?" Laxus asked with a frown, looking at a school of spirits that looked like horses, but instead of legs they had large fins which they used to fly where ever they wanted. "There must be someone who is calling them all out, right?"
"True", Freed nodded and they made some way for three cow spirits that had very long and thin legs, as well as long necks with five bells. Instead ot letting out chimes, they vibrated with every step and in the air they could see iridescent waves. "But we haven't seen anyone. No one has made a speech or anything like that. Usually the organiser helds a speech when a festival begins."
"Why don't we ask from the spirits?" Chester suggested.
"That's a good idea, baby", Bickslow smirked. "Hey! Spirits!" he yelled and the three cows that had just passed them stopped.
They turned their heads, big ears raised up to hear what they had to say.
"Yeah, you fellas", the seith mage said. "Can we ask something?"
The spirits slowly moved around, walking closer and Felix and Chester took few steps back when they lowered their heads right in front of them. Their heads were huge! They had really beautiful all blue eyes and very long eyelashes.
"Cool", Bickslow grinned.
"Wow!" his 'babies' giggled. "Pretty!"
The bells let out warm coloured waves as a thank you.
"Are you guys by any chance called here by someone?" Bickslow asked and they all stepped closer.
The three heads moved as a nod.
"We haven't seen anyone like that", Laxus said. "Shouldn't he be here somewhere?"
The spirits lifted their heads now and started to swing them from side to side, the bells letting out strong vibrations now. The warm waves filled their surroundings with bright light. Soon it was over and the cows turned around again, continuing their walk on their own way.
"Guess they can't talk then", Roscoe said. "Can't say that was much of a help..."
From distance they heard a screech. They looked at the direction, seeing the great white serpent slithering through the air, under the bridges and suddenly it leaped just right up in front of them. Huge emerald eyes looked at them and its scales were glimmering so bright it almost made everything else seem dim around them.
Freed jolted when Evergreen grabbed his neck, hiding behind him as the huge snake creature lowered its head, the round snout coming so close they wondered if they could touch it if leaning over the fence.
"So... Are you the one who called these other spirits here, baby?" Bickslow asked both amazed and slightly wary. It was easy not to be scared of regular snakes but when they were colossal like this one... Yeah, it was a bit intimidating. That snake could gulp them down like little snacks. But it didn't. It just observed them with its bright green eyes and they couldn't hear a thing to have an answer to Bickslow's question.
Suddenly a big, dark blue tongue swished out towards them and Evergreen screamed loudly. Just like many times when overly excited or truly disgusted, the brunette forgot and Freed was reminded how strong she could actually be as the swordsman choked.
"Wow!" they heard gasps and looked at 'babies' who flew over to explore the serpent more. It stayed perfectly still and just looked what the tiny tiki dolls were doing. Compared to it they looked nothing but flies, but it was obvious there was something really interesting in them that made the big spirit stay still and just look at the little souls that kept twirling around it.
"So it can't talk as well?" Roscoe said while Laxus managed to pull Evergreen off of Freed, getting himself clasped in tight grasp instead.
"Guess we're not gonna find out who is the one who called them out", Bickslow said slightly disappointed.
"Maybe they want to stay anonymous", Roscoe supposed.
"What's that?" Felix asked.
"They don't want people to know who they are", Roscoe explained. "But why did those three others then call this one over?"
"Maybe to see who are the ones who are asking to see the one who has called them?" Freed suggested.
The serpent looked at them and its tongue swished out again, making Evergreen almost strangle Laxus who groaned. For the mighty Thunder God's relief the spirit turned its head and headed back down towards the river, leaving them.
"Now I'm actually super curious to know who's their master", Bickslow huffed as Felix and Chester looked after the serpent that swam through the air.
"It's not really our business", Freed said and Laxus gasped some air when Ever finally let go of him. "If he wants to stay anonymous, we should respect his wish. We have other things to do here after all."
"Yeah, you're right, baby. But first, let's celebrate some more!" Bickslow cackled loudly and his 'babies' cheered loudly along with Felix and Chester.
"Let's eat something good!" Chester said.
"I want something sweet!" Felix smiled.
"I need a drink", Laxus grunted while brushing his neck and he looked at Evergreen.
"Don't glare at me! I can't help it that snakes scare me!" Ever snapped her cheeks burning red. "Whatever, let's just go find something to eat", she huffed.
Freed chuckled slightly and they started walking through the bright streets full of people and spirits.