Chapter 126: Festival

The Halfling Frodo was very happy during this time. He had not only found that kind of spice in the Wilderness, but also learned a completely new cooking method—stir-frying.

This brand-new cooking method amazed Frodo. Under Su Lun’s guidance, he made many delicious dishes during this period. Now he felt very confident about winning the championship in the cooking competition after returning to the Shire.

At the same time, he remained very curious about what was inside Su Lun’s mind. After all, these dishes were all Su Lun’s suggestions: Ice Cream, braised pork, stir-fried pork, mushroom stir-fry, Cumin lamb, and so many other stir-fry dishes all came from him.

Frodo really wanted to crack open Su Lun’s head and see how many wonderful ideas were hidden inside. For example, just now, Su Lun told him how to make a snack called potato chips. Frodo had already started trying to make them based on Su Lun’s description.

The reason Su Lun wanted to make potato chips was that they had too many Potatoes. They couldn’t eat mashed potatoes every day, so making some snacks was a very good solution.

The process of making potato chips was not difficult: you just had to slice the Potatoes thinly, fry them in oil until golden, and sprinkle seasoning on them when you took them out. The only somewhat tricky part was slicing the Potatoes, but for a Rogue who could handle a dagger skillfully, this was just basic work.

Last time they had hot pot, Frodo showed off by slicing mutton. A large piece of mutton was quickly sliced into thin, evenly sized pieces under his knife, thinner than cicada wings. His knife skills were even better than those of the mutton-slicing masters from Donglaishun in his previous life.

Soon, the potato chips were ready, giving off a rich aroma. Su Lun tasted one; it was crispy and delicious, not much different from what he had eaten in his previous life. Heatherway and Chris liked them even more. From that day on, besides Ice Cream, potato chips were added to their snacks.

“Hey, Su Lun, your Territory has had a good harvest. Why not hold a Harvest Festival or some other celebration? I think a fishing contest would be great!” Frodo suggested while munching on potato chips.

“Harvest Festival and celebrations? What good would that do?” Su Lun was a bit puzzled.

“Festivals can make the people in the Territory feel happy and increase their sense of belonging,” Frodo said with a laugh.

“Alright, I agree.” Su Lun thought about it. Hosting a festival in the Territory would indeed cost a lot, but as Frodo said, it could improve the people’s sense of belonging—more plainly, it would boost Popular Support.

After the recent immigration, the Popular Support in Su Lun’s Territory had declined a bit. Even though Su Lun gave them good treatment, many of these people were still slaves, so naturally Popular Support wasn’t high. Although killing the wyvern had increased Popular Support and stability by ten points, the current Popular Support in the Territory was still around eighty.

“You agree? That’s great!” Frodo said excitedly. Basically, all Halflings loved all kinds of celebrations.

“I think we can have a cooking contest and a fishing contest. To be honest, back in my hometown, the Shire, I won both the cooking and fishing championships. It was the first time in hundreds of years that anyone in the Shire had won both.”

Su Lun didn’t really believe Frodo’s boast about winning both championships, because many Halflings liked to brag like that. Most of them claimed to have won either the fishing or cooking contest, but very few claimed to have won both like Frodo.

However, Frodo now had stir-frying as his secret weapon, so he might actually have a chance to win both. As for being the champion of the whole Shire, that was unlikely, because the Shire was made up of villages, and each village held its own contests, but there was no unified large-scale competition.

So, the championship he mentioned was probably just winning in his own village.

“Cooking contest and fishing contest? I think that’s fine, but let’s add an archery and a fighting contest too,” Su Lun said after thinking it over. Since they had decided to hold a festival, they might as well make it a grand one.

“Archery and fighting contests?” Frodo shrugged. He wasn’t very good at either of those, but it should be lively, and that was enough.

The fishing contest was held soon. Not many people participated in the fishing contest; more went for the fighting and archery contests. Especially the Barbarians, who all signed up for the fighting contest, and the Archers who joined the archery contest. Su Lun didn’t participate in either of these contests, because if he did, others wouldn’t stand a chance. So, he joined the fishing contest with Heatherway.

“Now this feels like a festival atmosphere,” Frodo said excitedly. He pulled a few rod sections from his pocket, connected them front and back, and quickly assembled a fishing rod. Then he put on bait, cast the hook, and started fishing.

“Today, I’ll let you see the skills of the Shire’s fishing champion.”

Su Lun also made a fishing rod and went to fish nearby. Next to him was Heatherway, who had also joined the fishing contest, while Chris wasn’t interested in it.

It was Heatherway’s first time fishing, but her luck was surprisingly good. Before long, her float began to move, and she started to pull with her arm.

“Wait, don’t rush. The fish is just testing. If you move, it will swim away,” Su Lun quickly stopped her.

“Your luck is pretty good. This fish should be a big one.”

“Really? Then if we catch it, we’ll eat it tonight!” Heatherway said excitedly.

“It’s hooked!” At that moment, Heatherway’s fishing rod suddenly dipped down. The straight rod bent like a bow, and the fishing line tightened.

“Let out the line, let it out slowly,” Su Lun directed beside her. “Yes, like that, then slowly reel it in. This way you tire it out without breaking the line.”

“Isn’t this too much trouble?” Heatherway frowned. “I’ve got it!”

She snapped her fingers, and a transparent hand suddenly appeared in the water, directly lifting out the lively big fish.

Su Lun: “…”

“This fish must be at least fifteen pounds!” Heatherway said excitedly.

Su Lun: “The fun of fishing is in the struggle with the fish. Using a thin fishing line and skillful technique to successfully catch them—that’s how you get satisfaction… Fishing like this has no soul…”

Heatherway didn’t hear Su Lun’s words at all. She threw the fish into the bucket and continued fishing. But today, her luck seemed incredible. Within minutes, a second fish was hooked, while Su Lun hadn’t caught any, and neither had Frodo, who had boasted so much earlier.

After that, fishing became Heatherway’s personal show. The third, fourth, fifth—fish were caught one after another. Beside her, Frodo finally couldn’t sit still.

He threw down his fishing rod, grabbed a fishing spear, and jumped into the water with a splash. Soon, a figure emerged from the river, holding up the spear with a river fish of about ten pounds on it, and laughed happily: “I caught one too!”

“This is a fishing contest, not a spearfishing contest,” Su Lun rolled his eyes. “You’re cheating. Disqualified.”

In the end, Heatherway won the fishing contest. The prize was three Plasma Cannons. The other contests also produced winners: as expected, Johnson won the fighting contest, and the Archer captain won the archery contest.

In the evening, the Territory held a banquet, and the whole Northguard Keep became very lively. Su Lun also heard the System’s notification.

“Ding, congratulations, Host. You successfully held a Harvest Festival. The people were very satisfied with this festival. Popular Support +10.”

“Congratulations, Host. You have unlocked the festival system. Current festival [Harvest Festival]. Holding festivals can make your Territory’s Popular Support stable and increase Prosperity.”

[Harvest Festival: A grand festival can bring more happiness and a sense of belonging to the people. Popular Support +10, Prosperity +5]