Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

Chapter 416 Winter Festival

Culturally, there's a unique festival celebrated on each special occasion thought the world. And seasonal festivals are some of the most important ones for the common folks as well as the upper class, nobility, and even royalty.

One such seasonal festival is celebrated throughout the great Roxana empire every four major seasons.

The summer and winter festivals are some of the grandest ones celebrated by the commoners and nobles with similar enthusiasm, the spring festival being the bringer of joy for the common folks, and the fall festival, which comes around the birthday of the emperor and empresses, being important for the nobles.

Festivals. A cultural event where a certain group of people comes together to celibate something festive.

Now there sure is discrimination against common folks and the upper class holds great pride in their superiority.

In general, the nobility is a minor group that just looks down upon the commoners, the vast majority. And it's a truth that's deeply rooted in any culture or society with a unique upper and lower cast.

The people in higher position looks down upon the common people, forgetting the important fact that the existence of common folks themselves makes them superior.

Without the common people that do most of the common things, there would be no nobility or maybe even the monarchy.

But still, the nobles understand the importance of the lowly commoners.

And their own 'nobility', their own power and superiority make the winter festival of the Roxana empire special...

Celebrated during the middle to end of November, the winter festival is held for three days, and during these three days, the privileged upper class comes down from their higher houses and does 'good deeds' for their underprivileged citizens.

Winter being a cold season inappropriate for farming or harvesting, greatly affects the people who do not have food storage or are just too poor to afford even warm clothing.

Now it may be propaganda or whatever but in the Roxana empire, the upperclassmen must do these certain 'good deeds' during this season regardless of their wills.

And the 'good deeds' involves helping the 'actually' needy people who might suffer during the harsh season without their help.

The help doesn't have any upper limit but they must help people according to their ranks in society, their 'black' and 'white' income, and their strengths.

It would naturally be impossible to keep track of every single person's good deeds but as this was a tradition that has been going on since the founding of the great empire, it had become deeply rooted in the culture itself.

People do good deeds. And may it be because of their inner pride or because of the eternal rumor among the people that the emperor actually keeps track of these good deeds through some 'special means', they sure do these good deeds.

Nobles with money donate their resources, people with strength help in the construction or by hunting and securing food supplies, and the normal people who can help with their talents and skills help in various different ways.

Common folks try to live through the winter while the nobles actually have it comfortable with their food storages and stored resources.

The three-day festival might be just to keep the spirits of the people from falling into despair but it has helped the society as well as the people making this great society.

And there definitely are people in this society who do things without keeping the small things like a 'good deed goal' in mind.

People who 'use' the festival but ultimately help society, people who are just too good and believe in sharing their happiness, or the select few who try taking from those who have it and giving back to those who would need it...

The royal family would fall in the first category while the families like Atraxia household follow the second one, gaining an eternal name of true nobles.

As for the third category...

The house of Heliox, and even among them, the one holding many nicknames like (Golden demoness), (Cold demoness), (Auction master of Hiraani), or the (Guild master) of [Faron merchant alliance], has been known by the whole of the empire and world for her special events held during this season.

They started just a few years ago when she got back her rights to all her confiscated property and her trading rights in the empire.

Today the name Nolen Heliox was known throughout the empire by the most normal child to the emperor.

There would hardly be any person who hadn't heard her name or the famous names of the establishments she had created.

From her first companies focusing on food, jewelry, potions, and literature, to her new food chains and artifact business that overtook the markets of the entire continent one by one, becoming one of the greatest known names.

And one such establishment, her very first business become one of the greatest infrastructures of the known imperial history.

Hiraani. One of the six great structures of the capital city Gwyneth. And the greatest auction house of the holy capital.

This one building is one of the greatest symbols of the Nolen. The demoness who 'mercilessly' crushed her competitors and established a foundation that has already gone down in the empire's and world's history.

And in this building that she raised from the ground up, she holds the greatest (Annual great auction) and (Great ball) on the first day, the greatest (Open trade fest) on the second day, and the (Charity giveback) on the third day when she donates half the money earned from the first day's grand auction.

That one auction house becomes some of the most cheerful places in the whole capital on the second and third days but the most important of the three days, the first day holds the greatest impotence for not just the common people but also the nobles.

Some of the greatest items appear in this grand auction and nobles who value the resources and artifacts far above the 'good deeds' don't hesitate to spend a fortune on their desired items.

There had already been great instances when unbelievable items like a very rare resource, jewelry, or even artifacts with an unbelievable rating of (Divine artifact) had appeared for auction these past few years.

For this reason, the nobility does their very best to free their schedules and attend the auction at all costs.

They never display the details of the product after all. They never do and it hypes the buyers even more.

No one knows what they are purchasing, even from the name of the product too.

One has to use appraisal skills or basic analyzing knowledge to win the lottery. And luck plays a crucial part in this whole blind auction process.

One can strick gold or end up buying junk after giving a fortune. But that's what one calls legal and noble gambling.

And every nobleman is given an 'equal' opportunity to put their own item in the auction with their desired name.

After dedicating ten percent charges, the amount one can earn in this event if they get lucky is just off the charts!

And the entertainment-seeking nobles would never miss such an amazing event.

Even the royal family attends this event. And just that fact should be enough to show just how great importance this event has on the whole of the empire.

But the preparations for this great event are naturally no easy thing.

Not only it requires a great workforce but just the data analysis, paperwork, resource handling, and other important factors could make a normal person faint. And that was when handling everything individually.

One person doing most of these things? It was unimaginable and absurd in itself.

But the owner of this auction house, the main organizer of this event, actually did most of the work all by herself these past few years.

At least most of the things she could do from her office, and that included more than half of the off-site work.

And she used to do those things by herself, almost pushing herself too far. And even with that, she controlled the entire auction day with a smile, and that smile stayed on her face most of the time till the very end of the third day...

Anyone who knew just how much she worked admired her and all her subordinates considered her no less than a transcendent.

But this year was different...

Not only she had her son this time, he was so competent that he handled a great lot of paperwork with her, cutting her burden by almost half.

His 'friend' was also so good with actual resource management that no one preparing for the event at the auction house had to complain about a single thing.

They got all the materials and important items safely and either on time or before the scheduled time.

Her war experience and habit of handling a great lot of stuff were part of her persona now. She naturally was good with a lot of things.

So, the preparations for this year's winter festival and the great annual auction were finished safely and lady Nolen was in a better condition than she had ever been.

It was already the day of the auction, the first day of the winter festival, and they were ready with their fancy clothes.

The whole of the Heliox family was going for the auction for the first time and... a ballroom party would be held at night so, there would certainly be some fun moments. But for now...

It's time for the auction everyone~!