Chapter 69: Cosplay and Cultural Festival (3) Fin
Contrary to my initial worries when I first planned the festival—“What if people in this world aren’t used to this kind of festival and it flops?”
The people quickly grew accustomed to the first large-scale cultural festival ever held in this world.
And as time passed, the festival atmosphere began to ripen more and more.
In order to experience that fervor for ourselves, Aria and I headed out to the festival grounds together.
“Ooh. This is actually seriously well done, isn’t it?”
“Wow! I’ve seen all sorts of festivals in all sorts of places, but...
I think even I’ve never seen a festival like this before.”
The festival was far more splendid and lively than expected, and somehow carried a faint nostalgia from my previous life.
We naturally opened our mouths and exclaimed in admiration.
And the first thing that caught our admiring eyes was—
The cheering coming from the demo booth for the dating simulation game [I’m a Cleric, But I Want to Fall in Love!], one of the largest events at this festival.
“My choice is... Emma.
She makes my heart race the most.”
“Ahhh—! Once again, the chosen romantic candidate is Emma! It’s Emma!
Another vote for Emma! Going up!”
“Ushaaaa! I knew I could believe in her!”
“Damn right! Emma’s the best! The other girls are charming too, but they can’t beat Emma.”
“Kraaak! No! My grand dream of Sylphia decorating the title screen!”
“Hahaha! Dream dreams like that in bed!
From now on, this place is ruled by our Emma Faction!”
After winning the contest, this game had instantly risen to fame thanks to the flood of articles about it.
But because the number of people who had actually experienced it was inversely proportional to its popularity, the imbalance of information had caused no small amount of complaints.
So, in order to ease those complaints a bit, I had allotted them a larger space this time, and they had brought in an outright daring system that drew people’s attention.
“Thank you for voting for Emma, everyone!
Let’s do our best together until the end so Emma can grace the title!”
“Lord Wade, are those people perhaps...?”
“Yes. That’s right. They’re succubi cosplaying as the heroines who appear in the game.
Apparently, they were officially hired for the event.”
At the front of the demo seats where people were busy playing, succubi cosplaying as the game’s heroines were seated in a row.
Depending on which heroine people chose at the end after finishing the demo, the cosplayer dressed as that heroine received points in the popularity vote.
Each time their score increased, the tier of the seat they sat on rose by one level, intuitively showing who was ahead.
And whenever that happened, the cosplayer in charge of that heroine shouted words of thanks and encouragement.
The people, in turn, watched that and cheered for the heroine they liked to be chosen.
“Everyone is being incredibly intense.
It’s nice that they look like they’re having fun, but why are they competing so fiercely with each other?”
“They said the character who receives the most final votes will be placed on the title cover when the game is fully completed.
So this competition isn’t just meaningless competition. It’ll actually be reflected in the final product.”
“Ah! So that’s why they’re cheering for their own favorite character to win?
That really is a fun and clever idea!”
I thought so too.
It was a way to kill two birds with one stone: draw people’s enthusiasm and interest while building a kind of narrative.
Even I, the one who had introduced the idea, hadn’t imagined they would use succubus cosplayers like this.
“Anyway, running into unexpected situations like this really is fun.”
“Hehe. After all, it would be boring if everything only flowed exactly as one knew it would.”
And similar methods of actively using cosplayers could be found one after another at other event venues as well.
“Once again, contestant Mond picks up the elven female archer, Meiren!
His opponent, contestant Hark, has also chosen Fiona, the beastfolk female warrior he has continued to use throughout this tournament!
Then, together with the cosplayers in charge, everyone!!!”
“““Ready! Fight!”””
At the national tournament for [Races Fighter], succubi or incubi cosplaying as the characters selected by the players—
Struck each character’s signature pose like round girls announcing the start of a match, calling out the starting signal and providing quite the feast for the eyes.
“Uoooooh! I’m definitely going to win! In Meiren’s name!”
“The one carrying Fiona’s name is me as well, you brat!!”
“Why are the contestants going that far and getting so desperate? Well, it does make it fun to watch.
I guess once you’re a professional proxy knight who made it all the way to the national tournament, your competitive spirit is something else?”
“Who knows? Maybe they were moved by the cosplayers cheering them on.”
There were strangely many contestants who burned with passion at the sight of them and the cheers they sent.
As a result, the tournament was becoming quite thrilling.
“Come take a look at our new releases!”
“Um, miss, which work is the character you’re dressed as from?”
“Ah! She’s a character from this new release here!
If you’re interested in learning more because you like how I look, please buy a copy!”
“Ah, yes, yes. I’ll take one.”
They were also serving as sales staff for new works that had failed to win prizes in the contest but had been contracted by the guild after their potential was recognized.
When cosplayers dressed as characters from the new works were put in charge of sales—
The sight of them drew people in as if enchanted, and those people then became interested in the new works and bought them. It seemed to be a rather effective promotional strategy.
“Ah, that cosplayer has a very petite and cute appearance, unlike the other succubi. How fascinating.”
“I heard there are occasionally some born with that kind of body type.
From the look of it, that one seems to be from a slice-of-life work. Would you like to buy a copy?”
“Yes! I could buy it at the guild later, but...
Buying it somewhere like this would make for a nice keepsake.”
Aria and I also bought a few books as we wandered around looking at everything.
‘This brings back memories of the subculture events I attended in my previous life.’
Back then, I used to lug around dozens of books and goods I had bought, struggle onto public transportation, and collapse the moment I got home.
Here, I could just call people and a carriage and have everything sent away, so it was really convenient.
Money and power really are wonderful things.
Anyway, aside from that, the staff selling snacks had cosplayers hold up promotional signs they had made for them.
“Look at this! It’s [Real Life]!
No, not the novel—the board game version!
An actual physical game really came out!”
“A book compiling the skill button combinations for [Races Fighter]?! With this, can I finally become a proxy knight too?!”
“A collection of early concept sketches for the covers and illustrations used in Author Wei’s works?
Then does that mean they could have looked completely different from how they do now?
Ugh... I’m too curious to resist! Give me one copy!”
Places like the merchandise booths for already popular works were so popular that the staff had no time to rest.
Of course, even so, the most popular place at this festival was elsewhere.
A certain area of the event venue that had been specially separated on purpose, with entry strictly controlled.
“To enter this area, you must prove that you are an adult.”
It was the adult zone.
A limited edition of [Journey to Find a Wife], this world’s first adult comic, with a special festival commemorative chapter added.
An artbook containing various poses of succubi cosplaying as the characters who appeared in it.
And even the trump card: ASMR recording crystal orbs!
It was a place that sold various adults-only items.
And among insiders like us, who knew the circumstances, it was unofficially called “the Succubi’s Dining Hall” behind the scenes.
After all, anyone who went out of their way to visit this place was highly likely to be exactly the type of person succubi could target for absorbing vital essence.
Apparently, the customers who visited here received the most marks too.
Since I was with Aria, I couldn’t stop by and simply passed it by, so I didn’t know in detail how things were actually going inside.
“Hueeeeh—”
“Home. I need to get home quickly...!”
“I’ll never forget what I saw today...”
But seeing the faces of every customer who came out after going inside melting bright red, I could more or less guess.
‘The succubi will be feasting for the first time in a while.’
In other words, the plan to fill the succubi’s hungry stomachs seemed to have been a great success.
***
The “1st National Cultural Creation Festival,” held over two days, came to a grand conclusion along with the dazzling magic show performed at the end.
People lamented that it had only been held for a mere two days and wanted it to continue for weeks like other festivals.
‘This amount is just right.’
There still wasn’t enough accumulated content to continue the festival for that long.
And leaving behind a bit of regret would make people come to the next event too, wouldn’t it?
Well, even so, during those two days, every goal I had intended to accomplish by holding this festival had been achieved, so I felt quite proud.
The national tournament for [Races Fighter] also succeeded in drawing popularity with record-breaking fierce matches.
The promotion of new works was a success as well.
And the new culture of cosplay had successfully been spread throughout this world.
‘Of course, through that, I also achieved the goal of feeding the succubi.’
As planned, the succubi, who had enjoyed a proper meal for the first time in a while, were extremely satisfied and grateful.
‘If there’s ever anything you need from us, please tell us anytime!’
‘For Author Wei, the savior of our race, we’ll help with anything!’
Thanks to that, I felt like the overall favorability of the succubus race had risen considerably.
As a bonus, I had gained the ability to mobilize a ready-made army of beautiful cosplayers whenever I wanted, so wouldn’t there be countless ways to make use of that?
It had been worth taking responsibility and asking the royal court for permission.
‘Someday, I’ll probably be able to reveal the fact that they were succubi too.’
Right now, people might feel resistance simply because they were demons.
But if we held a few more festivals like this, let them show themselves in cosplay—
And then announced it after building up familiarity and fondness, wouldn’t people accept it well enough?
‘As long as we dilute the image that demons are dangerous, providing them with vital essence doesn’t necessarily mean dying or being put in danger.’
If that could happen, another interesting change might occur in the Kingdom of Justia.
Well, I’m getting ahead of myself for now.
Anyway, was it because I had succeeded in accomplishing the achievement of improving the lives of an entire race and making them friendly?
Or was it because I had successfully held a large-scale festival and brought it to a proper close?
Along with a message praising my accomplishments and efforts, I received an invitation.
“The royal court wishes to meet with you.”
“...Pardon? From where?”
It was an invitation sent by the royal court itself.