Anton woke up from the noise coming through his door. It was his father wanting to make sure that he would join everyone in the grand opening of the Cosplay Event. When he checked the time, it was already eight in the morning. The opening of the Cosplay Event would be in a couple of hours, and his father wanted to make sure that everyone would be there with plenty of time to spare.

  He joined his family and friends downstairs for breakfast after he took a shower from the bathroom inside his room and was thankful that the hotel had bathrooms inside the rooms. He knew he shouldn’t have wondered since, at the price that they were paying, it only made sense that the facilities were complete.

  Even though everyone hardly anyone had any sleep, Anton could see that all of them were excited. While they were eating breakfast, Anton informed everyone that the cinema was already open and it was full house already even though it was very early.

  “How did the locals know about the films?” Anton asked his father.

  “By word of mouth. The passengers and the crew talked to the locals during their business of ordering the supplies the ship needed yesterday, and most of them were wearing costumes from the films already, which, of course, caused their business partners to ask questions.”

  “We will be earning a lot of gold coins from the locals since we priced the cinema tickets absurdly high. It was still full house, though, since the locals were driven by curiosity. The locals were also prepared to spend their coins since ships don’t come very often,” Nemina added.

  “Aren’t there any formally scheduled trips from Rendindura or any other continents, for that matter?” Anton asked.

  “Well, according to your friends Antonia, Lucia, and Philip, the citizens of Norbuna knew that they might not encounter any travelers from Rendindura because of the Undead Coalition’s invasion. They would probably start stopping any ships that came from our home continent from now on to make sure that no undead would arrive in the islands to cause trouble,” Lucas said.

  “Apparently, some of the ship’s mages flew ahead of our arrival to inform the mages of Norbuna that hour ship is clear of the undead, but they did inform the locals of hidden assassins,” Fredrick mentioned.

  “How come they’re being honest?” Anton asked.

  “They probably didn’t want to cause any incidents in case the hidden assassins started causing trouble. At least with the locals informed, the guards, locals, and from the ship are being very vigilant,” Anton’s father said.

  Anton was happy about that since he wanted to have a peaceful Cosplay Party. He wanted to enjoy the event together with his family and friends.

  After breakfast, they all headed to the warehouse where the Cosplay Event would be held, even though there was still an hour left before the formal opening, a huge crowd was lined up to enter the warehouse, and most of them were the passengers of the Amelia.

  Anton knew that the next day’s crowd would probably be bigger since it would include the locals who were currently watching the movies next door. He saw Torun and the others lining up as well, but he directly invited them to come up with him so they could enter the venue first.

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  When they reached him, they all went inside first, leaving Antonia and the others to check the customers who were going to enter the event. His father and the others headed directly to the cinema next door to examine the happenings there.

  Anton, Anna, Ramona, Belinda, Torun, and the others went inside the venue first with the blessing of Antonia and Lucia.

  “Isn’t it unfair that we’re here first?” Andrea asked with a bit of trepidation.

  “Of course not. This event was my idea, so at the very least, we have the privilege of entering it first,” Anton boasted while Anna snorted.

  “It might have been your idea, but you haven’t moved a muscle to help in setting it up,” Anna said, and Anton just shrugged.

  Everyone was giddy with excitement, and the air was filled with energy that one would only encounter in these kinds of events. Anton imagined that the same energy could have been in the air in comic cons all over Earth, this kind of energy was addicting, and that was one of the reasons why a lot of people were avid attendees of comic conventions. Anton had to admit that if he had the time and the means, he would have been one of them.

  It was fun to roam around the convention looking at the decorations that resembled those of the scenes from the film trilogy together with Anton’s friends. Especially since the merchants and all the workers they hired to take care of their boutiques were wearing costumes.

  Anton and the others were hugely surprised when they stumbled into a place that sold fan-fiction books based on the Lord of The Rings movies.

  Soon, they saw that the venue was open, and a lot of people entered. The Cosplay Event became livelier, and there were smiles on everyone's faces. The excitement was truly palpable, and Anton began to feel like he was back on Earth attending one of the famous comic conventions that he had always dreamed of attending. It was one of his regrets, actually, and the thought that he managed to attend one in a different world fulfilled something he thought was unimportant but somehow made him let go of a lot of things from the old world that was holding him back.

  He knew that the future was uncertain and filled with danger. This world was an exciting one, full of mystery and magic, but the danger it held was also something that could encompass the whole world.

  Anton was sure that there was an epic fight that would happen in the future, and these types of joyful moments might be rare, so he fully intended to embrace it for the next three days. At the very least, it was going to be one of the memories that he would probably treasure while in the middle of his fight with conquerors.

  He then decided to forget about the depressing thoughts that were filling his mind, and that was the moment that Anton fully embraced the enjoyment of the event.

  Anton, together with his friends, roamed around, fully enjoying the sights they were seeing in the venue. They admired the people’s costumes and the items that were for sale, and he had to admit that he had already spent a good amount of coins purchasing items that he knew he would regret buying when he examined them again in the future. Not because he didn’t need those items but because of the fact that they were severely overpriced, but buying merchandise at a convention was part of the fun.

  Anna was the same as him, purchasing everything she fancied, which were mostly dresses and accessories based on the Lord of The Rings films. Anton couldn’t believe how ingenious and fast the merchants were in creating the products they were selling and knew that magic must have been involved the way magic was involved in making sure that the venue would be ready in a day.

  The music that was floating around was great as well, and Anton could imagine them coming from the composers of the music of the Lord of The Rings Films. This one he could believe since he had been to the Patron Bar several times and knew how talented the bards and minstrels of this world were and knew they could copy the music of the Hobbits partying without any problem.