The entire city of Doom was incredibly lively for two reasons.
The first was the victory of the Garden of Shadows against the powerful nightmare creatures that wanted to take over the city.
After a whole month of long siege, the Garden of Shadows had finally consecrated victory under the leadership of its lord, Dark.
The other reason was the Festival of Dawn, which occurred once every several months given how long the nights were without the sun coming out for months. When it began to rise, a festival was celebrated to give way to a new day.
Likewise, this festival served to let all the inhabitants of Doom have fun and release accumulated stress.
For those two reasons, all the inhabitants of Doom enjoyed either the various games, the music, the food, or the drinks while telling stories among themselves.
The laughter of the children filled the streets, creating a quite pleasant atmosphere.
In the center of the city, on top of a wooden stage, was Uriel, who had used a memory to slightly change his appearance.
"Now, I congratulate all of you who have fought bravely during this long and hard month. Thanks to your great effort and sacrifice, we have achieved our victory... Let us not let the sacrifice of our comrades have been in vain! Let us always remember it in our hearts! Cheers!"
Everyone present raised their mugs in unison.
"Now, take and drink as much as you want, there is enough for everyone!"
"Viva!" everyone shouted.
"Long live Lord Dark!"
With the clinking of mugs, the music began to play while the plaza began to become incredibly lively.
The aroma of food, laughter, drinks, and animated conversations, as well as the challenges between civilians and those who had awakened.
Sitting in a somewhat distant corner, Uriel watched with a satisfied smile as a group celebrated the winner among awakened ones in an arm-wrestling game and as the loser began to complain about losing.
"....."
"You are quite down today," commented Scarlet.
"Since the party began, you have barely eaten anything."
Uriel looked at Scarlet with an amused smile.
"So you really do worry about me. This boss of yours feels like crying."
Scarlet sighed.
"Don't make my good mood go away with your comments, Uriel."
"Hey, my comments are excellent."
"Excellent at being bad. Anyway, we just defeated something that could threaten all of humanity without suffering great losses. It seems to me you could be a little happier."
Uriel brought the beer mug to his mouth, drinking half the mug in a single gulp.
"Great losses," he murmured, looking at the great walls of Doom. Here and there were cracks of considerable size that would take time to repair.
"Although not as many died as I imagined, there were still those who died."
'Whether many or just one, every life is important, and all are appreciated. I know that. I cannot save everyone. Trying to want to save them all is just being arrogant, but if I were only a little stronger, this...'
Uriel felt a strong blow to his head that made him let out a groan of pain.
He looked at Scarlet, who had an expression of clear annoyance on her face.
"Leave those thoughts alone. It doesn't take reading your mind to see how you blame yourself for the lives that were lost. I'll tell you something: if you try to protect everything, you won't protect anything. You did the best you could, and you have done so since you saved my life on the Forgotten Coast so many years ago. Don't undervalue yourself so much. Look around you. This is a victory festival. If you, our lord, are not happy, the atmosphere will become heavy, so at least for now, let yourself be carried by the atmosphere and be happy with all of us."
Uriel looked at Scarlet with a strange emotion crossing his face, something close to genuine admiration.
Uriel let out a snort mentally.
'Who would have thought that Scarlet, of all people, would know how to use words.'
"That's the way to talk, Scarlet!"
Uriel jumped with a curse upon seeing how a wild Shade appeared out of nowhere.
"Holy crap, Shade, you almost killed me from a heart attack!"
"That doesn't matter. You don't even need a heart to live. Anyway, although it is good to mourn losses, you also have to take time to celebrate victories and be happy. So change that face and start drinking like a barbarian and have fun."
"You ruined the atmosphere, Shade," he grumbled.
"Who the hell cares about the atmosphere? Here, eat your vegetables."
Uriel received a plate of roasted vegetables in his hand, looking at Shade confused.
Grabbing a tomato, he began to eat it.
Out of nowhere, Shade turned toward the crowd.
"You, what do you think you're doing?! Lord Dark has no meat on his plate, so he only eats vegetables!"
Immediately, all the cooks and those who had meat on their plates ran toward Uriel.
"Forgive us, lord!"
"We were ignorant! Take this, eat this great piece of steak!"
"No, better eat this fried chicken, my wife made the recipe!"
Uriel smiled nervously upon seeing so many plates in front of him and the almost tearful faces of his subordinates upon learning that he had no meat to eat.
'What the hell is wrong with these guys?'
"Hey, what are you doing!" Scarlet shouted.
'Ah, Scarlet, please calm all this commotion.'
"What are you doing? Bring meat for Lord Dark and also all the alcohol!"
Uriel was dragged into the middle of the chaos, surrounded by noisy men who loved alcohol while they sang.
"Glory to the Dark Lord!"
"Glory to his power!"
"I heard he fought a titan with one hand tied behind his back and won!"
"That's nothing. I was told he was the cruelest tyrant!"
"Those are slanders!"
"Glory!"
"Glory!"
"Cruel glory!"
'How did all this end up like this?!'
Somehow Uriel managed to get out of the main scandal, approaching Frost, who had a strange smile on his face.
"Hehehehe... Captain, oh my captain," said Frost with a smile worthy of a villain.
"I feel like causing an eternal winter that covers the entire world. Come on, serve more alcohol and I will reward you with snow!"
"Hey Frost, here you have more alcohol. Come on, drink until you're toothless... kekekeke."
Uriel watched as Lily was filling Frost's glass with a demonic smile.
"Listen to me, everyone!" Shade's voice made all faces turn to the stage.
"Let's play a simple game. Are you willing?"
"What kind of game?"
"Will there be rewards?!"
"Of course, the winner will receive a supreme memory forged by Lord Dark himself!"
The crowd cheered with excitement.
"The game is King of the Bottles. The winner is whoever lasts the most rounds without collapsing!"
"Quick, set up the tables and bring the barrels!"
"Gather the crowd and grab Dark so he doesn't escape!"
Uriel sighed.
'This is going to be a very long night.'
***
When the sun finally rose after an endless night in the city of Doom, Uriel woke up with a strong hangover and half dazed.
"Waaah... uhh, what happened yesterday?"
"My head is killing me. And why am I half naked, but above all, where am I?"
Hearing a strange noise, Uriel looked beside him and saw a figure wrapped in a long gray-haired sheet.
Swallowing his saliva, the figure got up, revealing an extremely muscular old man.
He was not the only one around. There were dozens of men, all shirtless, which made his face turn green.
"Why are there so many men here?!"
"Lord Dark, it's us, the members of Shadow Garden. Did you drink so much that you forgot everything?"
"Not yet, I just feel a terrible hangover and a headache. But leaving that aside, why is no one wearing their shirt...?"
"Oh, you ordered it, don't you remember?"
Uriel narrowed his eyes and then blinked as he remembered a certain moment from the night.
"Let's drop the pretenses! Let's drink comfortably among men! Everyone take off your clothes and shout, Viva Dark!"
"Viva Dark!" While shouting that, a bunch of shirts were thrown into the air in a thunderous shout.
"So we all took them off."
"It really was one of the best parties of my life," said one with a rejuvenated face.
"I had never done it so much in my life," said another.
"It was an unforgettable night."
"Shut up already. Don't make it sound like it has another context."
A long while later, Uriel, after taking a shower and putting on his usual clothes, returned to the castle.
The party was over, but there was still quite a bit of work to do, although he would leave that work to Scarlet and leave slowly. It was time to return to his quiet life in Bastion as a simple restaurant owner.
Pulling out a sheet of paper, he quickly wrote a message, leaving it for Scarlet.
Stretching, Uriel disappeared into the gloom.
A few minutes after he left, the doors opened, revealing Scarlet, who was in quite a good mood from the previous night's party. However, her good mood immediately fell to the floor along with the papers she had upon seeing the letter on the throne.
Grabbing it, she read its contents.
[I have to go. As always, I leave you in charge. Kisses and hugs: Uriel]
Scarlet began to tremble. The temperature inside the room rose to unusual levels, burning the documents she had.
That day, within Doom, all the inhabitants heard a curse so horrifying it would make a sailor on the high seas ashamed.