Chapter 572

On Aquinas Street, a two-story ritual boat made of wood, cardboard, and colored ribbons was placed on four pairs of wheels and dragged forward by four horses with shiny, oily hair.

This is a replica of the boat the "Sea Viceroy" sits on, mainly reducing the material requirements and shrinking the volume scale, so that horses can drag it to tour the whole city.

At this time, eight men and women were standing on the upper and lower floors of this flower boat ritual boat, dressed in bright colors, singing and dancing, spreading joy to the people on both sides of the street.

Crowding the ritual boat was the best folk orchestra in Santa Harbor. They either hung single-sided drums and beat them rhythmically, or blew clarinets, oboes, flutes, and played a wide variety of string instruments.

The people on the road were all very happy, sometimes singing along, sometimes following the ritual boat, hoping to find an opportunity to be sprinkled with a little water by the sixteen men and women in the gaps.

Lumian looked down at this scene from the fifth floor of the Solo Hotel, feeling that the Sea-Praying Ceremony in Santa Harbor was no longer a pure sacrifice. Deducting the core part, it had already become a folk festival celebrated by the whole city.

Many Santa Harbor residents were devout "Earth Mother" believers and didn't believe that the sea had spirits and could protect them, but this didn't prevent them from singing, dancing, drinking, and celebrating on such a day.

After the flower boat finished touring Aquinas Street, Lumian turned to Lugano and said:

"You look after Ludwig well today, no matter what celebration you participate in, you must take him with you."

"Yes, boss." Lugano was infected by the cheerful and lively atmosphere of the Sea-Praying Ceremony, and his emotions were quite high.

Lumian didn't say anything more, took the golden straw hat, walked out of the suite, and went down the stairs.

Arriving at the lobby, he saw Ota Guillaume, the owner of the Solo Hotel, distributing cash to the front desk lady and two waiters, two liso each.

"Is there also a holiday reward?" Lumian asked old Ota in Intis.

Old Ota laughed and said:

"This is compensation for them. They have to stay in the hotel today, watch over this place, can't go to watch the subsequent links of the Sea-Praying Ceremony, and can't participate in various celebrations.

"And I, I'm going to the pier, waiting to see my little cabbage dance!"

"I will go too." Lumian responded with a smile, feeling the festive atmosphere very truly once again.

If the Sea-Praying Ceremony didn't contain mystical factors, he would also very much like to immerse himself in such an atmosphere, just like the Lent of the few years before Corder Village.

Leaving the hotel, Lumian walked toward the port leisurely, discovering that the citizens of Santa Harbor had all put on their most colorful and festive clothes. Looking at it, the streets seemed to have been drowned by a sea of colors.

This made his white shirt, black vest, and dark trousers look out of place with the environment, looking like a man from out of town at a glance.

Lumian put that golden straw hat on his head, adding a bit of color for himself.

Ding-a-ling, bicycles carrying wooden boxes drove past, and vendors sold ice pops of different flavors to citizens waiting to watch the Sea Dance and boat racing competitions.

Lumian watched these two links in a leisurely festive posture, and only left the port after the two-story ritual boat carrying the "Sea Viceroy" and "Handmaiden of the Sea" sailed toward Milo Village.

He didn't participate in other celebrations organized by the citizens themselves, found a public washroom in the nearest department store, and entered a cubicle.

Then, he activated the black mark on his right shoulder and appeared directly in a remote corner of Milo Village.

He immediately turned into a shadow creature, sneaked into the building that was both ancient and modern, and came to Juan Oro's bedroom.

That president of the Fishermen's Guild had been waiting here for a long time.

Seeing the figure of the great adventurer Louis Berry grow out of the darkness, Juan Oro, with his deep wrinkles, pointed to the two Milo Village villagers who were unconscious on the floor and said:

"These are two of the four vice-deacons participating in the Vigil link and the sea sacrifice ceremony. You pick one and turn into his appearance."

This was one of the cooperation conditions Lumian and Juan Oro had reached: he wanted to participate in the core part of the Sea-Praying Ceremony throughout.

Initially, Juan Oro hadn't agreed, because he had no way to deceive other Sea Kin and get a stranger onto the ship. He only promised that he could let Lumian sneak into the "Sea Viceroy's" mansion before the Vigil Ceremony and observe the corresponding links in secret.

After discovering that "Ultraman" was suspected to be a core figure of the Fishermen's Guild, Lumian took advantage of the opportunity that Juan Oro needed cooperation and help, showed the ability of the "Lie" earring, and thus had the plan to disguise as a vice-deacon and board the ship.

Lumian carefully examined one of the vice-deacons for a few seconds, put on the silver-white earring, imitated his appearance, and modified his own shape.

Not long after, except for the clothes, there was no difference between him and that vice-deacon.

"My turn." Juan Oro said in a low voice in Intis.

He wanted to turn into another vice-deacon and board the ship personally to prevent accidents.

The reason he did this was that he neither trusted Louis Berry to participate in the sea sacrifice, nor was he prepared to guard against enemies lurking in the dark using unknown methods to cause destruction. No matter what method, the final landing point would be the sea sacrifice link. He quietly boarded the ship, could handle changes in time, and give those guys a "surprise."

—Juan Oro was afraid that Louis Berry was actually an accomplice of those saboteurs last year, and the actions he had done before were just to deceive and fool himself and others, in order to "openly and honestly" board the ship, waiting for the critical moment to destroy the ceremony.

Lumian threw the "Lie" earring to Juan Oro and changed into the vice-deacon clothes prepared by the other party without caring at all—it was a dark blue robe embroidered with many marine elements.

As soon as Juan Oro put on the silver-white earring, he felt a wonderful control over every detail of his body.

He tried to adjust the wrinkles on his face and immediately saw himself in the mirror looking ten or twenty years younger.

Although he controlled powerful and diverse supernatural abilities, this president of the Fishermen's Guild still couldn't help but sigh secretly:

"It's truly magical."

After Juan Oro also completed the disguise, Lumian pointed to the two unconscious vice-deacons:

"Who is responsible for watching them, not letting them appear before the Sea-Praying Ceremony?"

"My wife." Juan Oro had long been prepared.

That was a former "Handmaiden of the Sea," the old grandmother of the Oro family now, who possessed not-weak strength, but hadn't participated in links like the ring-making ceremony, wasn't one of those who might leak secrets, and belonged to a trustworthy object.

Lumian turned to ask:

"As the president of the Fishermen's Guild, won't you be suspected if you don't wait for the news of the Sea-Praying Ceremony's success with other committee members?"

"No, I don't go every year. I can wait for news at home, and my wife will disguise as me." Juan Oro pointed to the "Lie" on his left ear and took it off.

After Lumian repeatedly confirmed the details, he said:

"Have you investigated clearly who among those people has had the experience of almost dying and then coming back to life, or whose personality has had obvious changes?"

Those people refer to the core members of the Fishermen's Guild who know the specific appearance of the "Sea Queen's Ring" and the complete details of the Sea-Praying Ceremony.

And according to Franca's hint, every member of the "Baboon Research Society" is a soul from another world. They occupied human corpses that had just died and "resurrected." From this point, one can rule out who among the suspect targets is suspected to be "Ultraman."

Juan Oro shook his head slowly:

"No, at least in my impression, there isn't. Hey, time is too rushed, no way to investigate them one by one in depth."

This old man, who was wearing the appearance of a middle-aged man, continued:

"Remember, you are called Brian now, and I am Jorge. If you don't understand what others are saying later, it doesn't matter, I will prompt you. When you need to answer questions, I will also help you."

"Good." Lumian was still in the appearance of not knowing much Highland language.

Actually, he had already mastered more words and grammar after high-intensity learning with the "Tongue of Language" charm. Although he still couldn't hear the complete words of others, he could capture the corresponding key words and tense, active/passive voice, etc., very well, and guess the general meaning very closely. When expressing, short sentences with simple structures were no problem.

…………

Wearing the dark blue robe of a vice-deacon, Lumian entered the "Sea Viceroy's" mansion under the guidance of Juan Oro, this old man whose steps were no longer stumbling, passed through the hall carved with many marine creature sculptures, and came to the room where the "Sea Viceroy" was keeping vigil.

The current "Sea Viceroy" came from the Giallo family, named Simon, and was a member of a branch with thin bloodline, not even qualified to live in the ancestral house.

At this time, he was sitting cross-legged on the cold floor, suppressing his excitement, half-closing his eyes, and feeling the erosion of the damp air around him.

Although Lumian didn't open his spirit vision, he could still discover that in the shadows, void, and sculptures here, there were different Sea Kin busy.

Juan Oro took him and left this room, came to the most remote place in this building, pushed open the wooden door of the servant's room, and said to Miguel, the fake "Sea Viceroy" lying on the bed:

"After the Sea-Praying Ceremony succeeds, you can leave, but you must leave Santa Harbor, taking the wealth you've saved this year."

Miguel sat up excitedly:

"Good, good!"

They used Highland language to communicate, but Lumian still roughly understood the meaning.

After doing this, Juan Oro translated the conversation just now for Lumian and said to him:

"You can verify whether I lied from Miguel's expression."

So what if you didn't lie, things said might not necessarily be done... Lumian muttered silently, returned to the hall, and sat cross-legged opposite the other two vice-deacons.

Time passed minute by minute, and in the middle of the night, the "Sea Queen's Ring" was made. One of the vice-deacons took it out and walked toward the basement in the hazy dark environment under the moonlight.

Next is the link of paying tribute to the ancestors.

Lumian watched this scene quietly, and suddenly a thought arose in his heart:

(End of chapter)