Chapter 31: Celebration

Lu Mi just habitually felt a bit of heartache but didn't stop his sister.

When Ava, Raymond, and the others turned their bodies and walked toward nearby buildings, he deliberately fell to the back and whispered to Aurora:

"If 'Novel Weekly' has a reply, hurry and call me."

"Rest assured, I won't be negligent in such matters." Aurora gave Lu Mi a "you can trust me to handle it" look.

Carrying joy and happiness, the blessing parade team was filled with singing, knocking on the doors of villagers in Cordu village one after another.

Finally, they arrived at the Magistrate's residence.

This was a castle from the Solon royal era that had been renovated, located on a hill on the edge of Cordu village, dark in color, with two towering towers.

The outer wall surrounding this building had long been demolished. Lu Mi and the others passed through the garden specially opened by the Baurist couple and arrived at the entrance.

The double-leaf door was four or five meters high, a brownish-green color like trees, and looked very heavy at first glance.

However, it was divided into upper and lower sections. It didn't need to be fully opened to welcome guests; only the two-meter-high lower part needed to be opened.

The "Spring Elf" was the incarnation of spring and the messenger of harvest, naturally deserving the most honorable treatment. At this time, the heavy double-leaf door had been fully opened backward, and Lady Pualis stood there in a light green corset long skirt.

Her maid, Cassie, stood to the side, holding a basket woven from branches, half a step behind.

Ava walked over and sang the blessing song.

Lady Pualis smiled at the corners of her mouth, listening quietly, appearing noble and reserved, making the young people following the "Spring Elf" want to look but not dare to.

Lu Mi, who had "eavesdropped" on her and the parish priest doing dirty things, gave a "heh" in his heart upon seeing this.

The song came to an end, and Ava exchanged tree seeds for a basket of eggs.

With this, the blessing parade ended. Lu Mi, Raymond, and other young people surrounded the "Spring Elf" Ava and walked toward the mountain stream not far outside the village.

Next was the second part of the Lenten festival:

Waterside ritual.

Arriving at the place where geese were usually herded, Ava approached the clear river water, danced a simple dance, and repeated the previous song, while Lu Mi and the other young people all stood still, seven or eight meters away from the "Spring Elf."

After doing this, Ava took a turnip that had been given by a villager and cut into pieces from the basket beside her feet and threw it into the river.

While throwing, she sang:

"Harvest! Harvest!"

After Ava finished throwing, Lu Mi stepped on the ground and ran over in a few steps, bent down to scoop up the turnip pieces from the basket, and smashed them into the river.

"Harvest! Harvest!"

He shouted loudly.

The remaining young people were a full beat or more slower than him, and could only crowd toward Ava as if fearing to fall behind, taking turnip pieces, radish pieces, and other things that weren't too precious from the basket, throwing them into different places in the river, and shouting "Harvest."

Raymond didn't seize the opportunity and couldn't compete with others, so he was the last to complete the ritual.

The next second, he saw the ill-intentioned smiles of Lu Mi, Little Guillaume, and others.

These young people swarmed up and lifted Raymond.

They shouted "Harvest" while throwing Raymond into the water.

Splash, Raymond fell into the water, his clothes and hair instantly soaked.

And those on the shore picked up soil and branches and threw them around him.

This was a fixed process of the waterside ritual: the last person to complete the prayer would be thrown into the river and not allowed to go ashore. He could only swim a bit further downstream, sneak back to the village, hide in his house, and not go out until dark.

Raymond wiped the water droplets from his face, struggled for a few seconds, and headed downstream.

The blessing parade team then surrounded Ava and walked toward the "Eternal Blazing Sun" church on the edge of Cordu village square.

At this time, it was near noon, and the vast majority of villagers had gathered here, including Lu Mi's sister Aurora.

Compared to the "colleagues" in the city, this church wasn't magnificent, at most eleven or twelve meters high.

Its dome was arc-shaped. Looking from the outside, it looked like it was wearing an onion, and looking up from the inside, what came into view was a magnificent sun mural.

The entire church had gold as its main tone, looking very bright, which was also the common style of all churches of the "Eternal Blazing Sun."

The altar was located on the east side, with various sunflowers surrounding a huge holy emblem.

On the surface of the holy emblem, a golden sphere and lines representing light formed a symbol with a very mystical meaning.

This was the symbol of the "Eternal Blazing Sun."

Behind the altar, high on the wall, were two pure glass windows inlaid with a bit of gold leaf. Every day when the sun rose, the light would shine onto the holy emblem.

In the corresponding position, the west side of the church also had similar glass windows, used to receive the glow of the sunset.

Because this wasn't a formal ritual of the church but a folk traditional celebration, the parish priest Guillaume Bery didn't appear, and Magistrate Baurist presided instead.

Ava, still dressed as the "Spring Elf," stood beside him. The sounds of flutes, lyres, and other musical instruments followed, and the villagers sang songs praising spring and praying for a harvest.

They hadn't rehearsed, so the singing wasn't neat, and some people even danced while singing, making the scene look very lively.

Lu Mi opened and closed his mouth but didn't make a sound, looking like "I'm just going through the motions." Aurora beside him, however, sang very devotedly, but it didn't look like she was praying for a harvest, but rather taking the opportunity to play and hit high notes.

Because he was just going through the motions, Lu Mi had plenty of time to look around.

He didn't find any anomalies in the villagers' performance and subconsciously looked up at the golden sun mural on the dome.

Suddenly, Lu Mi knew why he always felt something was wrong.

Many people in the village hadn't praised the sun for a long time!

For a village that mainly believed in the "Eternal Blazing Sun," phrases like "Praise the Sun" and "My God, my Father" should appear frequently in daily life. But Lu Mi recalled this period and found that he rarely heard them!

As a casual believer, he didn't usually say similar things either. Plus, having offended the parish priest, he hadn't entered the church to participate in any activities for a long time, so he didn't feel there was any problem before. Only today, in the solemn and magnificent environment of the church with gold hanging high, did he suddenly perceive the anomaly.

Immediately after, the content of the help-seeking letter he had reconstructed floated into his mind:

"We need help as soon as possible."

"The people around us are getting weirder."

The people around us are getting weirder... At this moment, Lu Mi had a deeper understanding and agreement with this sentence.

He looked around again, wanting to find the figures of the outsiders like Lyra.

But Ryan and the others didn't seem to have come to watch the Lenten festival celebration.

"Really, not appearing when they should..." Lu Mi muttered in his heart.

He pretended not to have noticed anything, made a sound, and joined the chorus.

When the singing subsided and the celebration ended, he leaned into Aurora's ear and whispered:

"Go home first. I have something to tell you later."

As someone who escorted the "Spring Elf" parade, he still had to participate in the final part of the ritual and couldn't leave early like others.

He didn't intend to forcibly break out of the church either, as that might cause the anomaly to explode early.

Aurora nodded thoughtfully:

"Okay."

She didn't ask much and left the church with the vast majority of villagers, including Lady Pualis.

Not long after, only the young people who had participated in the blessing parade and the incarnation of the "Spring Elf," Ava, remained here.

The offerings received earlier, except for those thrown into the river, were all placed beside Ava. In addition, there were symbolic items like hay, axes, iron shovels, whips, and goose-herding sticks.

Next, Lu Mi and the others only needed to wait for someone to come in from outside the church to announce the sending away of the "Spring Elf," and they could surround Ava and remove the laurel crown, necklace, branches, and leaves from her body.

During this process, they needed to leave a gap for the "Spring Elf" to detach from Ava's body.

After twenty or thirty seconds, a sound of footsteps came from the church door.

Lu Mi instinctively looked over and saw two people.

One was the shepherd Pierre Bery, who had specially returned to participate in the Lenten festival. He was thin, with slightly sunken eye sockets, wearing a dark brown long coat with a hood, a rope tied around his waist, and very new black leather shoes on his feet.

Different from before, his greasy black hair seemed to have been washed, looking quite clean and smooth, and his messy and numerous beard had also been treated, not only not as long but also much neater.

At this time, his blue eyes carried a faint smile as always.

The other was the parish priest Guillaume Bery. He was still in the white long robe with gold threads representing the clergy. His black hair was shallow, his nose slightly hooked, and his temperament was majestic. Even though he wasn't tall, not even reaching 1.7 meters, he still overshadowed the shepherd Pierre Bery beside him.

Parish priest... How did he get in? Lu Mi was both surprised and confused.

As a member of the "Eternal Blazing Sun" church, he shouldn't appear at this folk celebration without a "Praise the Sun" segment.

Thinking of the parish priest's group secretly planning certain things, and thinking that he had deeply offended him, Lu Mi, after coming to his senses, immediately retreated slowly, covertly, but firmly toward the stained glass on the side.

Because it wasn't yet the stage to surround the "Spring Elf" Ava, this group of young people was standing in different places, so his actions weren't conspicuous.

Ava was also surprised to see the parish priest, but thinking that he was the most prestigious person in the village, it was more appropriate for him to announce the end of the Lenten festival celebration than anyone else, so she smiled again.

Soon, the parish priest Guillaume Bery and the shepherd Pierre Bery walked to Ava's side.

The former said in a deep voice:

"Send the 'Spring Elf' away."

People other than Lu Mi began to prepare to rush toward Ava and surround her.

"Send the 'Spring Elf' away!" The shepherd Pierre Bery shouted while following, bending his waist and back with a smile.

Not good! Seeing this scene, Lu Mi's heart stirred, and he subconsciously stepped out with his right foot, leaning his body forward.

Before everyone could react, Pierre Bery picked up the axe from the pile of items, gripped it with both hands, straightened his body, and swung it forcefully!

With a "pfft," a large amount of blood sprayed from Ava's neck, as if a mass of thick, crimson mist was rapidly taking shape there.

Thump.

Ava's head fell to the ground alone, rolling several times in the blood, finally facing upward.

There was still obvious joy remaining in her eyes.

Lu Mi, who had run two steps in her direction, felt his heart sink and immediately turned his body, running toward the stained glass on the side.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 32 =====