Chapter 100: After the Celebration (Requesting Monthly Votes)

A group of young people surrounded Awa, singing and dancing as they arrived outside Lu Mi’s home.

Little Guillaume Berri walked to the door and pounded on it loudly.

He was a friend of Lu Mi, Raymond, and Awa, with slightly curly brown hair, prominent freckles, and blue eyes smaller than normal, as if always half-lidded.

With a creak, Aurora appeared before them.

She had pinned up her golden hair and wore a formal, light-colored dress with ruffled collars, radiating vitality and glowing with health—completely free of any sign of fatigue from staying up half the night and skipping sleep the next morning.

Awa, wearing a crown woven from branches and flowers, stepped forward and sang:

“I am the spirit of spring,

“With a sweet and lovely face,

“...

“Sing and dance,

“Only then will you reap the harvest...”

Aurora listened quietly, took the leaves, and handed Awa a small clay jar filled with animal fat.

“Harvest! Harvest!” the young people cheered.

As the “Spirit of Spring” procession moved on to the next location, little Guillaume Berri deliberately lagged behind and asked Aurora:

“Where’s Lu Mi? I haven’t seen him these past two days— isn’t he joining the Lenten celebration?”

Aurora smiled:

“He’s sick.”

“Sick?” Guillaume blinked in surprise. “He gets sick?”

In his memory, Lu Mi was always full of energy, at most suffering minor scrapes or bruises from his pranks.

“If he never got sick, I’d be afraid,” Aurora replied with a jest. “All humans get sick.”

Seeing the “Spirit of Spring” procession grow distant, Guillaume quickly waved to Aurora:

“Tell Lu Mi that after Lent, I’ll come visit him!”

Aurora nodded gently, watching Guillaume sprint toward the procession, now halted before the next house.

“How was it?” Lu Mi peeked out from beside his sister.

Aurora paused, then said:

“They still seem normal now, but I don’t know what they’ll become by the end of the celebration.”

Thinking of the bloody scene where Awa’s head was severed at the celebration’s climax, and of how the young participants had been driven mad by the strange atmosphere and events—some falling into frenzy to bid farewell to the “Spirit of Spring,” others collapsing utterly—Lu Mi felt no one would escape unscathed.

He silently gazed at Awa singing at the neighbor’s door, surrounded by Guillaume and the others, then slowly withdrew his gaze.

Ryan, Lyra, and Valentine also came downstairs, gazing out through the window.

“We must be especially vigilant now,” Ryan said solemnly once the “Spirit of Spring” procession had left the area.

Aurora nodded:

“Understood.”

While the celebration was still ongoing, they quickly prepared lunch and ate their fill.

Ding, ding, ding—the classical wall clock on the first floor chimed the hour of noon.

Having cleared the dining area, Lu Mi and the others exchanged glances, every one of them tensing the invisible string in their minds.

If the Lenten celebration had proceeded normally, it should have ended by now.

And if the ritual to send off the “Spirit of Spring” were truly completed, who knew what Coldu Village would become.

Because the house was partially sunken, Lu Mi had to slightly lift his head to see outside:

The sky was deep blue, dotted with white clouds, the sunlight bright—nothing like the dark clouds, mist, or dim light he had imagined.

Lyra paced near the stove, her headscarf and boots’ silver bells jingling softly—not frantic, not soothing.

Seeing Aurora look at her, she spoke:

“We are already in danger—long-term danger—but for now, it remains manageable.”

Aurora hummed in acknowledgment, asking no further questions.

Ryan, however, sighed lightly:

“If we could just keep this level of danger until the Twelfth Night, it would be enough.”

Aurora blinked, unwilling to tell this “Dawn Knight” of the “Mechanical Heart” not to say such things—doing so would only invite the opposite outcome.

Though Lu Mi’s heart was heavy, he kept a smile on his face and replied to Ryan:

“In our Dariel region, there’s a saying: ‘Good or bad fortune is all fate, predetermined before the event.’ No matter how much we worry, we can’t change what’s coming.”

What he didn’t say aloud was:

The only thing left to do is muster the courage to face it.

Amidst fragmented conversation, the five remained alert for any transformation—but whether the weather or the birds, everything was unnervingly normal.

After nearly half an hour, they all turned their gazes toward the door simultaneously.

Footsteps were approaching.

Soon, the doorbell of Aurora’s home rang, its jingling echoing through the entire first floor.

After exchanging a glance with his sister, Lu Mi cautiously walked to the door and peered through the peephole.

The person ringing the bell was a man—their neighbor, Louis Bedec.

“What do you need?” Lu Mi opened the door with a smile.

Louis Bedec had black hair and blue eyes, was in his forties, and had lost part of his left hand in a wheat harvest injury—only three fingers remained.

He wore a gray-blue short jacket and darker trousers, speaking timidly:

“I’d like to borrow your oven—Lent’s here, and I need to bake fresh bread for the children.”

As he spoke, he lifted a sack of flour and kicked a bag of low-quality coal beside him.

Lu Mi hesitated, glancing back at Aurora.

Aurora nodded, signaling him to let Louis Bedec in.

She had already quietly discussed with Ryan and the others—they planned to closely observe how villagers changed after participating in the Lenten celebration.

“Just baking bread? I thought you’d make some smoked meat for your kids,” Lu Mi stepped aside, teasing Louis Bedec with a smile.

Louis Bedec replied stiffly:

“If we have a good harvest this year, I’ll make plenty of smoked meat.”

His eyes were filled with hope—as if a bountiful harvest were certain.

Inside, Louis Bedec greeted Aurora, then walked to the oven and began working on his own.

The more Lu Mi and the others observed, the stranger it felt.

Louis Bedec hadn’t looked at Ryan, Lyra, or Valentine even once—as if they didn’t exist!

It was like a monster who had already replaced a person, desperately pretending to be normal—but when confronted with anything beyond his old memories, he either reacted abnormally or simply ignored it.

Lu Mi instantly recalled Father Michel Gargu of the Halfway Chapel:

At first, he seemed fine, but recently, he’d reduced himself to only eating, sleeping, and an urge to pray—everything else was ignored!

Under the watchful eyes of the three outsiders, Louis Bedec baked bread like a programmed machine, occasionally exchanging a few words with Lu Mi and Aurora.

It was normal. It was not normal.

When Louis Bedec left with his baked bread, Aurora looked at Ryan and the others and smiled bitterly:

“Everyone who took part in the Lenten celebration has become like this.”

“Like being slowly replaced by monsters,” Lyra murmured in awe.

She no longer forced a smile onto her face.

Lu Mi had steadied himself and asked:

“If we want to save someone like this, how?”

“The only thing I can think of is ‘purification,’” Valentine replied with a sigh. “But if the anomaly has fused tightly with the human self, the result may be that both are purified together.”

At that moment, two villagers passed by outside the window.

One was Pierre Guillaume, a regular at the old tavern who had once mooched off Ryan’s absinthe in the last two cycles.

He was chatting merrily with his companion, laughing as if discussing the festivities of the Lenten celebration.

As they passed Lu Mi’s front door, they both turned sharply to look inside—their expressions suddenly dark and grim.

After just one second, they looked away again, their faces instantly filled with smiles, continuing their conversation as before.

Had Lu Mi and the others not been watching the outside whenever someone passed, they would have missed that fleeting change in expression.

The louder the laughter and joy from outside, the heavier the oppression they felt.

Silence replaced conversation.

After a while, once the two villagers had moved away, Aurora sighed:

“This isn’t just being slowly replaced by monsters anymore—I suspect the entire village, except us, is now monsters wearing human skins.”

Is this the full Lenten celebration? Lu Mi whispered silently to himself, unable to control the thought.

Ryan solemnly warned:

“Each day ahead will be harder than the last. Hold on.”

From noon until night, they remained on constant guard against attacks from the transformed villagers—but aside from occasional passersby glancing at the house with either gloomy or icy expressions, nothing happened.

This placed immense pressure on Aurora and the others.

Ryan looked around and said gently:

“It’s still several days until the Twelfth Night. Don’t be so tense.”

"After dinner, we’ll split into two groups to take turns resting—we must maintain good mental condition."

With such an experienced, calm, and extraordinary individual making arrangements, both Aurora and Lu Mi seemed noticeably calmer.

Twelve at night.

After finishing their night watch, Aurora and Lu Mi woke up Lyra and the others and returned to the bedroom.

Lu Mi glanced at the door and whispered:

"That mysterious woman hasn’t shown up yet—should I find a chance tomorrow to go out and check the old tavern?"

"Everyone in the village right now could be a monster. Going out would be extremely dangerous," Aurora did not fully agree.

She thought for a moment and said:

"Let’s wait a bit longer. If that mysterious woman still hasn’t appeared by tomorrow morning, I’ll accompany you to the old tavern in the afternoon."

Lu Mi hesitated, then nodded.

He planned to discuss with his sister tomorrow morning whether to ask Ryan Cos and the others for help—five of them acting together.

…………

Inside the bedroom filled with thin gray mist, Lu Mi opened his eyes.

He rolled over and sat up, checking his body—he found the severe injuries from before had completely healed.

He was about to sigh in relief when suddenly he heard "ding-dong, ding-dong."

"Someone’s ringing the doorbell?" Lu Mi instinctively thought, and automatically moved to go downstairs to see who had come calling.

He had taken just one step when his entire body froze.

This was the Ruins of the Dream!

How could anyone possibly come calling here?

ps: Please vote for monthly tickets~

(End of Chapter)