The Goddess Reborns as a Nobody

05 A Visitor

Months passed and summer turned to fall, the library is now almost filled to the brim with ladders, courtesy of my Dad's exemplary carpentry skills.

Well, it's also a result of Mom nagging Dad to make everything reachable for me in the library because, no matter how much we hid the incident where I almost fell, Mom somehow got a whiff of it and...let's just say it was a very difficult time for Dad and me.

Uhm, other than that, my idea to hold a festival was welcomed with open arms by my family and the townspeople alike. I'm happy to see that they're pretty excited about the upcoming festival which will be held at the end of this season.

Even though I haven't been to one myself, I remember watching other kingdoms celebrate festivals when I was little, when the inhabitants of Asturias were still peaceful and the temples are unharmed, enabling my siblings and me to watch the happenings in the Human Realm.

Besides drawing in information from memory, I also refer to the book that almost killed me. And what were the odds that book has to have the title 'Festivals: The Where's, How's, Why's, Do's and Don'ts?'

Thanks to that, I have drafted a rough plan of the events I will be incorporating into the festival. Not only should it be fun, but it will also be useful to the festival itself.

Since we're planning to have a feast in the evening as the main event with fireworks, courtesy of Fire mages, spearheaded by my Dad, I added activities that'll contribute to the humble yet filling banquet.

First, grains and vegetables. I'll ask Mom to become the game master of the Harvesting event. In this, participants will harvest the most grain or vegetable for them to win.

For the meats, I'll ask Dad to supervise the Fishing contest, see who catches the most fish in one category and who catches the biggest in another. Uncle Roger will be in charge of the Hunting contest where the accumulated hunt will be converted into points based on how many they caught and how big the catch is.

That's for the ingredients.

For the meals, there will be a Cooking contest. But I'm not a cook and I don't know who will be in charge of this event but I'll put this on hold until I find someone who can fit the role.

Unlike the Fishing, Harvesting, and Hunting contest, all the food doesn't have to come from the Cooking contest itself. There will be some cooks in charge of the feast and the Cooking contest is just a nice added event to make the feast even more interesting and give the cooks a helping hand.

The prizes?

Uhm, I'm still going to work on that but I'm definitely going to ask some beautiful girls in town to bestow a kiss upon the victor. Even though we're so busy with rebuilding Aster, my hopeless romantic side just can't give up the fact that there's always room for love even during these trying times.

As a matter of fact, the greatest love of all is one that continues to bloom and survives even during a crisis. And what better chance for that than today?

Sure, rebuilding Aster is hard work and before I came here, everything seemed hopeless and that probably stopped the people from being happy or finding happiness from others. I'm sure there are a couple of repressed feelings here and there because they have to prioritize survival, but not anymore!

With me here, I'll definitely give those lonely hearts an opportunity to finally be happy! That way, I can finally see love blossoming from the townspeople other than my parents.

I mean, I really like watching them be so sweet and caring with each other. However, as days pass, in my eyes, they're my parents(even if we're not bound by blood), and recently, watching them all lovey-dovey makes me feel nauseous now.

That's why I need for springtime to come to the fall festival ASAP!

The doors of the library open. Looking up from scribbling my plans for the festival along with some doodles, I beam when I see my Mom, Dad, and Uncle Roger head inside. However, they have someone else with them.

Tilting my head in curiosity, I study the stranger in a scholar's outfit. He looks pretty young for a scholar, probably fifteen years of age. Even though scholars are known to have white hair or a balding head with wrinkly skin, this particular scholar doesn't look the part as well.

He has short, fluffy bright orange hair and warm, friendly green eyes. If I were mean, I'd mention that he looks like a carrot but he's just so cute that I don't have the heart to do so. That and I'm not mean.

But never mind my attitude at the moment. Other than his age, his eye and hair colors, another peculiar physical trait I notice from him is his pointy ears.

He's an elf!

In my head, elves live in the Zion Kingdom southeast of Aster. Very southeast of Aster. The travel must've been rough on him but as much as I want to offer him rest, I might as well talk to him for a little bit so his journey so far had been worthwhile.

Oh, and before anything else, I have to greet him the Elven way as what they practice in their own Kingdom.

I scramble to stand on my chair and nodded my head, putting my right fist to my heart. It's the only polite thing I can manage since my seat is too high and I can't reach down to do the greeting back on the ground.

When I lift my head, I see his eyes widen with surprise yet I can also see a glimmer of respect and admiration from there too.

He smiles and mimics my greeting.

"Greetings from the land of Zion. My name is Thaddeus Thornton and I'm a scholar from Solaceburg. It's an honor to be meeting the genius behind the resurrection of Aster."

I blush and look away for a moment. It's kind of a stretch to say that I'm a genius. I'm already a grown-up, though I'm still a baby compared to my siblings but compared to Humans, I already lived for hundreds of years.

Unfortunately, I can't say that. But because of my life span, I know a genius when I see one and that's Thaddeus Thornton, not me. The golden aura he's sporting like a body halo means that he's destined for greater things in the future.

What luck to have him meet me! But wait...did he just say that he's Thaddeus Thornton?

There's only one Thaddeus Thornton that I know of who's also a scholar before I was sent to the Human Realm.

"Thaddys...Uhm, Thaddus...?" Ugh, darn my lisp and inability to talk properly.

Seeing my frustration, he gives me a gentle smile. "It's okay, Young Miss. Please feel free to call me whatever's comfortable for you. I don't want you hurting yourself."

"Thaddy, then, I'm sorry if I couldn't say your name properly yet. Uhm, please have a seat." I gesture on the seat in front of my huge desk and nodded at my family.

Dad and Uncle Roger immediately positioned themselves behind me and I hope Thaddeus doesn't think it a threatening move. Glancing up at him, he doesn't seem to look that way so I guess that's a relief.

"I'll go get some tea and cookies," Mom announces as she heads out the door, closing it firmly behind her.

Now that I know we have a semblance of privacy, I put my hands firmly on the table and ask him a very important question.

"Are you THE Thaddy Thornton also known as the Great Mind of Solaceburg? The one who achieved the highest position of the scholars at the mere age of twelve?"

Thaddeus flushes a tiny bit before he gives me a small nod.

"Yes, Young Miss, that's me."

And my eyes and mouth drop open, at the same time, Dad and Uncle Roger whip out the books with the titles: How a Great Mind Works and The How's and Why's Behind a Genius' Life, penned by none other than the young man sitting in front of me.