Chapter 351: Strolling Through the Festival
She pinched the four gold coins between her fingers and displayed them to the audience, a confident smile appearing on her face.
"Alright!"
The audience below cheered loudly, applauding Bisca's performance.
"So... so cute!"
Alzack, watching Bisca from the audience, turned bright red, his eyes practically shooting out hearts.
"Next up is Contestant Number 8! Possessing both the strength and the appearance of an angel, Sorano Aguria!"
Max introduced the next contestant loudly with a highly excited expression.
"Hehe, my turn!"
Hearing Max call her name, Sorano smiled confidently and strode out from backstage to the front.
"And now, the self-presentation segment!" Max shouted.
Sorano snapped the fingers of her right hand. Two beautiful female angels with large white wings appeared and floated behind her.
Simultaneously, a massive amount of feathers materialized around Sorano, completely enveloping her entire body.
Suddenly, a pair of large white wings burst open from within. The white feathers were blown away, turning into specks of light in the air.
Sorano, wearing a light blue princess dress, appeared before everyone, framed by the sparkling motes of light.
She had a pair of large white wings on her back. With a gentle flap, a soft breeze blew the floating specks of light in all directions, instantly creating a breathtakingly beautiful scene.
"Ohhhhh!"
The audience cheered in unison, their massive shouts echoing throughout the entire guild.
Noah didn't hesitate to add his own cheers. If Laxus hadn't been holding him down, he would have jumped up long ago.
Sorano winked smugly at Noah, then gently flapped the wings on her back and floated back backstage.
"Everyone is so amazing!"
Lucy watched with a rather serious expression from backstage; she was feeling quite a bit of pressure.
"Next up is Contestant Number 9, our guild's super rookie! Her radiance is guided by the Celestial Spirits, Lucy!"
Max waved his hand and loudly introduced the next contestant.
Because Lucy had given him a heads-up beforehand, Max deliberately omitted her surname.
"Wow!"
"That girl is so cute!"
"Not bad, not bad!"
The audience below cheered.
"Uh... well, I will be performing a cheerleader dance with my Celestial Spirit."
Lucy was wearing a cheerleader outfit: a blue crop top, a pleated skirt, white athletic socks, and sneakers. The left chest of her top featured a yellow Fairy Tail guild mark.
She pulled out a golden key and swiped it through the air. "Open! Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!"
Virgo appeared beside Lucy, dressed in her maid outfit with pinkish-purple hair and shackles on her wrists.
"Are you going to punish me, Princess?"
"Ohhhhh!"
"A maid!"
"She went straight to asking for punishment!"
"That's so kinky!"
The audience below immediately burst into discussions, looking back and forth between Lucy and Virgo with highly suggestive expressions.
"No... it's not like that!"
Seeing the audience's reaction, Lucy panicked completely, waving her hands frantically in front of her to defend herself.
"A-Anyway, just change into the cheerleader outfit first!" Lucy ordered Virgo.
"Yes, Princess."
A flash of light enveloped Virgo, and she instantly changed into a cheerleader outfit matching Lucy's, though the shackles remained on her wrists.
Lucy pulled out two pom-poms. "Let's begin!"
"Yes, Princess."
Two pom-poms also appeared in Virgo's hands, and she flawlessly synchronized with Lucy to perform a cheerleading dance.
"Ohhhhh!"
After Lucy and Virgo finished and stopped, the crowd's cheers instantly erupted, and everyone clapped continuously.
In the audience, Jude's face was flush with excitement, clapping non-stop. If Layla hadn't been holding him back, he would have stood up and cheered at the top of his lungs.
Looking at Lucy on stage, Layla also smiled. Seeing her daughter so healthy and happy naturally made her happy too.
After the dance ended, Virgo returned to the Celestial Spirit World. Lucy waved to everyone and ran back backstage.
Next, Evergreen, Lisanna, Edolas Lisanna, and several other girls in the guild who weren't as famous but were exceptionally beautiful took the stage.
Even Kagura went up and participated, performing a sword dance that won a continuous round of applause and cheers.
The audience showed immense enthusiasm for all the girls who took the stage, their cheers and applause practically non-stop.
The guild members, especially those led by Makarov, Macao, and Wakaba, cheered and shouted loudly no matter who was on stage. The hype of the competition remained at its peak until the very end.
"And with that, the Miss Fairy Tail Contest comes to a close! The ballot box is right over there. Please don't forget to vote for your favorite contestant!"
Max's enthusiasm remained high as he pointed toward the ballot box's location.
"Please exit in an orderly fashion after casting your votes. Thank you all for coming! Also, please look forward to the Fantasia Parade tonight!"
Max bowed to the crowd from the stage.
The guild members stood up one after another and walked toward the ballot box with the rest of the audience.
A magic circle unfolded before Noah's eyes as he monitored the situation throughout the guild.
With such a dense crowd, accidents could easily happen. Although runes had been set up early on to ensure everyone's safety, adding another layer of security was always better.
Makarov glanced at Noah's actions but didn't say anything; he had full confidence in Noah's handling of things.
No accidents occurred, and the audience exited in an orderly manner after voting.
Once they were all gone, the guild members restored the hall to its original state.
"Freed, please dispel the runes," Laki said to Freed.
"Alright."
Freed drew his rapier, traced a few lines on the floor, and the runes surrounding the ballot box were deactivated.
"Okay, boys, step aside. The girls will count the votes," Laki called out, then she and a group of girls lifted the ballot box and moved it aside to begin counting.
Noah had originally wanted to invite Ultear and the others to stroll through the festival, but they were all extremely curious about their vote counts and stayed by the ballot box with the other contestants, waiting for the results.
Noah had no choice but to wander the festival alone for a bit, deciding to scope out the fun games and good food first.
"Huh? Alzack? Aren't you going to invite Bisca to explore the festival together?"
Just as Noah was about to step out of the guild, he spotted Alzack in a corner and walked over to him.
"Ah! I... I... I..."
Hearing Noah's words, Alzack opened his mouth, his face turning bright red, stammering the word "I" repeatedly without managing to form a sentence.
"Well, good luck with that!"
Noah patted his shoulder. One look at him was enough to tell that let alone a successful invitation, he definitely hadn't even managed to ask her yet.
Glancing over at Bisca, who was chatting with Erza and the others, Noah shook his head at Alzack and walked out of the guild, leaving the blushing gunslinger frozen in place.
Stepping out of the guild doors, Noah hadn't walked far before the bustling noise of the festival gradually grew louder in his ears.
Noah picked the liveliest street and walked down it. As he approached, the mouth-watering aromas from various food stalls washed over him.
He immediately felt his stomach rumble a bit, but to save his appetite for when he hung out with Ultear and the others later, Noah held back.
He just made a mental note of the stalls with the richest aromas, planning to try them later with the girls.
The street was filled not only with food but also with all sorts of mini-games—standard festival games as well as ones specifically designed for mages.
However, those games had significant restrictions. Still, Noah memorized their locations so they could play them together later.
After wandering for a while, Noah used Telepathy to check in with Ultear and the others. He learned that the vote counting had finished and they were already on their way toward him.
So, Noah arranged to meet them at the entrance of the main street.
When Noah arrived there, they had already changed into casual clothes and were standing there waiting.
"Oh? What's that in your hands?"
Sorano immediately noticed the small wooden sticks Noah was holding, which had some yellow, slightly transparent figures attached to them. She quickly asked out of curiosity.
"These? They're sugar paintings, made specifically for you girls."
Seeing that Sorano had spotted them, Noah handed the sugar paintings one by one to the four of them.
"Oh my, are these our appearances from earlier? They look so realistic!"
Mirajane examined hers from different angles and realized the sugar painting depicted the wedding-dress-style gown she wore during her first performance.
With just a few strokes of caramelized sugar, the artist had captured not only her facial features but also the distinct characteristics of her dress, making it instantly recognizable as Mirajane.
"It's true! The one on this sugar painting is me!"
Sorano happily raised her sugar painting.
She held it up to the sunlight. The highly transparent, golden-yellow sugar painting sparkled brilliantly in the sun, making the image of her spreading her wings look as if it were truly glowing.
Sorano's eyes crinkled into crescents as she smiled brightly at it.
"Did you make these?" Ultear asked curiously.
Her sugar painting showed her wearing the princess gown, with a few strokes illustrating the castle behind her.
"Yeah. I happened to see a stall making sugar paintings, so I made these," Noah said with a smile.
"Where is it? I want to try making one too!"
Looking at her own sugar painting, which depicted her in the Gothic Lolita outfit, Erza immediately became interested and wanted to try making one herself.
"Let's just stroll through the festival first. That stall is situated right in the middle of everything, so we'll pass by it eventually," Noah told Erza.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Hearing that, Erza grabbed Noah's hand and confidently took the lead, marching forward.
~~~
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