#972 Where Santa Returns

On a night when soybeans piled up like snow...

The relentless soybean gift campaign by Letasreit is still going strong.

“Master, this is bad! At this rate, the town will be buried in beans!!!”

Even Veil feels the urgency of the situation.

Enough, Letasreit! Is this the utopia you dreamed of?!

“Huh? Is that even a question?”

She responded like it was the most obvious thing ever?!

“Drowning in beans! What could be a happier way to go?!”

“Did you just say ‘way to go’?!”

“Well, it’s just a figure of speech... As the former princess of the Human Kingdom, I want to give bliss to the common folk. This is my last bit of noblesse oblige! Come on, everyone, accept my greatest gift! If there’s no bread, eat beans!”

“You’d eat beans even if there was bread!”

It’s hopeless.

Letasreit, who never seemed like a royal, is now unstoppable with her newfound sense of duty!

“As expected of Letasreit. Then I shall also bring gifts as the reindeer.”

Horkosfon’s joining in, too?!

We’re already drowning in Letasreit’s soybean blizzard, imagine if that natto angel joins in!

“And reindeer aren’t supposed to bring gifts!”

“Now, please accept this natto waterfall from the angel Horkosfon.”

I knew it was gonna be natto!

Wait, stop, Horkosfon! If natto floods the town on top of the soybeans, it’ll be a disaster!

Veil, if it comes to this, breathe fire to stop them!!!

“If I breathe fire from this distance, the town below will be roasted, too, you know?”

There are side effects?!

Maybe the forty million beans already scattered can act as insulation and make some tasty roasted beans?!

“Okay, be buried in natto.”

Horkosfon opens another white gift bag.

Is a flood of natto going to pour out of that?!

...Or so I thought, but what came out of the bag wasn’t natto.

It was Sensei the Lifeless King.

“Huh?”

“You’ve gone a bit too far.”

Thunk, thunk!

With a few knocks from Sensei, the bean duo’s rampage stopped.

They’ve got some classic manga-style lumps on their heads.

“You asked for help with warping space to create a wormhole, and seeing the beans rapidly decreasing at the farm gave me chills.”

So this abnormal bean flooding was due to Sensei’s magic.

He probably connected the bag directly to the bean storehouse on the farm.

But even so, it’s crazy to have enough beans to bury an entire town.

“Lord Saint is also at fault. Leading Veil into a human town was bound to cause chaos.”

“Uh...!”

Sensei also aimed his reprimand at me.

And every word was true, leaving me with no room to argue.

“I understand the excitement of this ‘Christmas’ event, but you must not overdo it. Any pleasure taken too far becomes a nuisance to others.”

“WE’RE SORRY...”

We had become annoying party-goers.

The madness of a holiday is terrifying.

“I’d like to apologize on their behalf. They mean no harm but tend to overdo it and always go overboard.”

“Ouch, ouch, ouch!” “My ears hurt!!!”

Sensei apologizes to the townspeople.

The fact that the Lifeless King is the one trying to mediate is probably leaving them completely baffled.

“As an apology and a blessing to ensure everyone gets through the winter safely, I shall grant this town my blessing. Holy spirits, dance in the night sky.”

With a wave of Sensei’s staff, sparkling white lights float into the air.

Many of them, too.

They dance in the night sky, illuminating it like Christmas lights.

“Oh, this is...!”

“These are holy spirits that have followed me since I gained the holy attribute. They are not only visually splendid but also bring good fortune to those who see them, so they should serve well as an apology.”

Like shimmering stardust in the night sky.

Even though they are white particles like the soybeans, the town’s people are mesmerized by their beautiful glow.

“How beautiful...!”

“It’s like my heart is being cleansed...!”

“The beans are delicious! The beans are so good!!!”

There are still some people captivated by the delicious beans on the ground, though...!

Have the townspeople understood the wonder of Christmas thanks to Sensei?

He truly is the herald of Christmas!!!

...Wait, hold on.

Sensei’s real name is Thomack Moore.

He’s recognized as a saint by the church.

Saint Thomack Moore.

Saintu Mackmoore.

Santa Claus?!

Could Sensei be this world’s Santa Claus?!

“The switch from ‘Moore’ to ‘Claus’ seems like a bit of a stretch.”

Thanks to Sensei, we finally made peace with the townspeople.

We joined hands with the adults, gave presents to the kids, ate some beans, and had a fantastic feast before heading home.

Traveling around the whole world was a bit too much, though.

***

Back on the farm.

As soon as I got home, I felt a wave of exhaustion hit me.

Sensei said we’d have a debrief later with me, Letasreit, and Horkosfon.

Well, I can’t argue with that.

We did go a bit overboard this time.

I’ll make sure to reflect on this for next Christmas.

But this Christmas isn’t over yet.

There’s still something really important left to do.

Yes, no matter how many presents I give to other kids, I can’t forget about my own.

My kids are the most adorable, after all.

That’s why I saved the best for last for my kids, Junior and Norito.

The true Christmas gift is the one you quietly place by your sleeping child’s pillow.

“Platy, are the kids asleep?”

“All set!”

With Platy’s help, we brought the presents to our peacefully sleeping kids.

First up is my eldest, Junior.

“Neither sound, scent, nor touch, no sight, no mind, no consciousness... No ignorance, nor end of ignorance... No old age, nor end of old age... No suffering, no origin, no cessation, no path... No wisdom, no attainment... because there is nothing to be attained…”

“Sleeping like a log, huh?”

As usual, his sleep talk is quite unique...

“Junior’s grown up a lot, so I picked out an intellectual gift for him.”

What I slip under his pillow is a life-sized statue of the Thousand-Armed Kannon from the Sanjusangen Temple.

It’s something Junior has wanted for a long time.

I got it from Vairocana, whom I met during the last S-rank exam.

For Norito, who is just about to start talking, I got a deluxe Masked Saint action figure that responds when you talk to it.

I can’t wait to see their faces in the morning.

Having completed the most important Santa duty of the night, I went to bed.

And the next morning...

“Dad! Dad! Dadadadadadadadadadad...!!!”

Junior is over the moon as soon as he woke up.

He must have loved the present by his pillow.

“Was Santa good to Junior because you were a good boy?”

“Dadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadad!!!”

Junior has lost all coherent speech...

I guess the Thousand-Armed Kannon statue really hit the spot.

The most important goal is seeing my kids happy, and with that, my first otherworldly Christmas came to a close.