Victor woke up to the sound of festivities downstairs. He groaned, twisting and turning around the bed, even pulling the pillow over his ears to stop himself from hearing the cheerful laughter and explosion of chatter that traveled up to his room. What was even going on? He had not heard of any kind of festival happening today so what was up with all that? He sat up. After coming back home from recruiting city guards for Captain Devon, all Victor remembered was falling on top of his bed and passing out. He wasn’t expecting drum rolls and music to wake him up the morning after.

Throwing on the same pair of jeans as last day along with a new T shirt, Victor barely washed his face before he walked down towards the front of the inn. He spotted the old lady, the inn owner, standing around a bunch of other women, engaged in animated chatter that Victor wondered for a moment if he wanted to interrupt. “What is going on?” he did it anyway, walking up to the woman. She turned around, a huge smile on his face. “It is Medias’ daughter’s seventh birthday,” she said it as if that was supposed to explain everything. He still looked confused. “Why all this hype for a birthday?” he asked but soon regretted it when they looked like they took offense to it. They looked at him as if to ask why he was even asking such a ridiculous question. “I understand that you are a traveler but you don’t know who Midas is?” the woman asked. Victor’s lips pulled into a straight line. “I’m afraid I do not,” he said.

The women looked around each other and sighed collectively. “He is well known here in Magnolia for throwing parties. He is such a kind man. Today his daughter turns seven. He is throwing a city wide party today,” they told him. He was taken aback. So Midas, this person threw so many parties that the citizens are now used to it and they are not even wondering why someone is throwing such a ridiculously expensive party for a seven year old child. He didn’t understand the sentiments but nodded and walked out the inn, coming face to face with the man that everyone kept addressing as Midas.

Victor approached him, engaging in a conversation that told Midas that this man wasn’t extravagant but just didn’t know how to spend his money wisely. He was the kind of man that wanted to celebrate anything and everything and he would gladly drag other people into it. At the end of their brief conversation Midas agreed that he would want Victor to help the citizens around with the decorations as well, and well, as ridiculous as the whole thing seemed, Victor didn’t mind earning some extra keep. He agreed, listening intently to all of Midas’ instruction as his eyes wandered around the town, the decorations of that block almost complete. He guessed that he would be doing the odd jobs.

He was asked to grab some colored paper and hang them up, which he did. He joined the other citizens engaged in the same kind of work, taking some of the colored papers and climbing up homes and poles to hang them up. Some mages who had magic to help them managed to finish it up earlier than the rest and Victor, while he struggled with climbing up and down, didn’t feel anything else to be so bad. He had hung the colored papers up as instructed by everyone around him, during which he engaged into a bit of chatter about Midas. It was surprising but not a single man helping out at the party had anything bad to say about him. They mentioned that the extravagant parties threw them off in the beginning but as they got to know the kind man Midas was, everyone felt comfortable with aiding the man with his selfish wishes.

He even went from roofs to roofs in an attempt to put up the twinkly little lights and some lacrima effective items as well. His athletic build came in handy when he was asked to help out with all of those kinds of jobs, something he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to do. He carefully arranged the decorations, even creating fun shapes out of them as instructed.

Once they were done hanging up all the decorations, Victor was asked to help out in arranging the food. He had to run across all the restaurants and bakeries, carrying a large amount of them out to neatly arrange them in order on top of the white clothed table. He placed them all in the way that the female citizen told him to do. They were in charge of the cake while Victor took care of the other stuff. Victor had the chance to talk with them as well, something that continued for hours without end. They only had praises to wing for the middle aged man that was throwing the party. Apparently one person or the other had been helped by Midas in some way at some point for some reason. The man was like a God in their eyes. He exhibited his wealth in parties but his heart was pure. Or, at least, that’s what Victor was hearing.

They even put up some lacrima lights and other decorative items in the latter half of decorations. He went from roofs to roofs again, climbing up all the odd places to attach all the decorative items. Some mages even created some beautiful decoration effects with their magic. One of them that he liked the most was the little sparking butterflies that flew around the town. Whenever they touched something, they exploded into a burst of golden lights that sparkled and disappeared. Another one was the large sakura tree behind the cake. It glowed and shiny flower petals kept falling off of it. They filled the air. All in all, the sky, as it turned dark, was starting to look colorful and vibrant with all the lights and effects that were added on to it.

It was starting to wrap up into a nice little party. He even caught glimpses of Midas and his daughter walking around the city, going through all the party preparations and he felt something warm squeeze at his heart. It was weird. Was it because it was the kind of family that he desired? He wanted to meet up with his sister too and wanted to have them both talk and reconcile. He knew that his sister wanted nothing to do with him but he just couldn’t help but think that his sister was his number one family, as half similar their bloods may be. Maybe he would find Eva soon during his travels and maybe they will talk like true brother and sisters instead of strangers born out of different mothers’ wombs.

In the evening, once all the decorations and preparations were over, Victor was approached by a merry looking Midas. He sang praises for the pink haired adventurer and gave him his rewards, welcoming him to stay and enjoy the festives. He had to think for a moment. Did he really want to stay, watch, and feel envious or would he want to go back up his room and stay all by himself, listening to the burst of happiness outside? What was he even going to do back in the room? He would be alone with the thoughts of his own family haunting him and that was not how he wanted that colorful night to end as.

He decided to stay, at least until the little one managed to cut her cake and officially celebrate her birthday. He stood to a side, observing as the people chatted together, clinked their glasses, drank, danced, and sang different songs. It was a true festival fit for the city of Magnolia and he soon found himself in the middle of it, enjoying his time along with the citizens as well.

A few hours later, Midas’ daughter finally cut the cake, sending the first big slice off to her father who happily gathered the child in his arms. The rest of the cake was magically cut up and distributed evenly to the others present there. The party continued blaring into the night, only laughter echoing through the city. It was quite fun.

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