Chapter 34

Lumian just felt a habitual pang of sympathy but did not stop his sister.

When Ava, Raymond, and the others turned their bodies and walked towards the nearby buildings, he deliberately fell to the back and whispered to Ourore,

"If the 'Novel Weekly' calls back, come and get me quickly."

"Don’t worry, I won’t be careless about such matters." Ourore gave Lumian a look that said, "Trust me to handle it."

The blessing parade, filled with joy and celebration, moved through the village of Cordu, singing all the way. Finally, they arrived at the administrator’s residence.

This was a castle from the Sorel royal period, transformed into an administrative building. It was located on a hill at the edge of Cordu, with a deep black color and two towering towers.

The outer walls surrounding the building had long been demolished. Lumian and the others passed through the garden specially opened by the Beost couple and reached the entrance.

The double doors were about four to five meters high, a dark brown-green color, and looked very heavy.

However, they were divided into upper and lower sections. For welcoming distinguished guests, they did not need to be fully opened; only the lower two-meter section needed to be opened.

The "Spring Sprite," the embodiment of spring and the messenger of harvest, naturally deserved the most prestigious treatment. At this moment, the heavy double doors were fully opened, and Mrs. Pouaris stood there in a light green, tight-fitting long dress.

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

Ava walked over and began to sing the blessing song.

Mrs. Pouaris smiled, listening quietly, appearing noble and reserved, making the young people following the "Spring Sprite" want to look but not dare to.

Lumian, who had "overheard" her and the parish priest’s dirty deeds, inwardly scoffed.

After the song ended, Ava exchanged tree seeds for a basket of eggs.

With this, the blessing parade concluded. Lumian, Raymond, and the other young people escorted the "Spring Sprite" Ava to a nearby mountain stream outside the village.

The next part of the Lenten celebration was:

The water ritual.

Arriving at the usual place for herding geese, Ava approached the clear river, danced a simple dance, and repeated the previous song. Lumian and the other young people remained in place, about seven to eight meters away from the "Spring Sprite."

After completing this, Ava took out a turnip, cut into pieces by a villager, from the basket beside her and threw it into the river.

As she threw, she sang,

"Harvest! Harvest!"

When Ava finished, Lumian took a few steps forward, bent down, and fished out the cut turnip from the basket, throwing it into the river.

"Harvest! Harvest!"

He shouted loudly.

The other young people, reacting a beat or more slower, rushed to Ava, taking out pieces of turnip and other not-so-precious items from the basket and throwing them into different parts of the river, shouting "Harvest."

Raymond, who did not get a head start and could not outpace the others, was the last to complete the ritual.

The next second, he saw the malicious smiles of Lumian, Little Giacomo, and others.

These young people rushed forward, lifting Raymond up.

While shouting "Harvest," they threw Raymond into the water.

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

The people on the shore picked up dirt and branches and threw them at him.

This was a fixed part of the water ritual: the last person to complete the prayer would be thrown into the river, not allowed to come ashore, and could only swim downstream, secretly return to the village, and hide at home, not going out until nightfall.

Raymond wiped the water from his face, splashed for a few seconds, and swam downstream.

The blessing parade then escorted Ava to the "Eternal Sun" church at the edge of the Cordu village square.

By this time, it was almost noon, and most of the villagers had gathered there, including Lumian’s sister, Ourore.

Compared to the "colleagues" in the city, this church was not grand, with a height of only about eleven to twelve meters.

Its dome was round, looking like an onion from the outside. Looking up from the inside, one could see a golden and splendid sun mural.

The entire church was primarily golden, looking very bright, which was the common style of all "Eternal Sun" churches.

The altar was on the east side, surrounded by various sunflowers and a large holy emblem.

The surface of the holy emblem was a golden sphere with lines representing light, forming a symbol with a mystical meaning.

This was the symbol of the "Eternal Sun."

Behind the altar, on the high wall, were two pure glass windows with some gold foil. When the sun rose, the light would shine on the holy emblem.

On the corresponding position on the west side of the church, there were similar glass windows to receive the light of the setting sun.

Since this was not a formal church ceremony but a traditional folk celebration, the parish priest Giacomo Bene did not appear, and the administrator Beost presided over it.

Ava, still dressed as the "Spring Sprite," stood beside him, and the sounds of flutes, seven-string guitars, and other instruments filled the air. The villagers sang songs praising spring and praying for a harvest.

They had not rehearsed, so their singing was not in unison, and some even danced while singing, making the scene very lively.

Lumian’s mouth opened and closed, but he did not make a sound, looking like he was just going through the motions. On the other hand, Ourore, standing beside him, sang very enthusiastically, but it seemed she was more interested in playing around and hitting high notes.

Since he was just going through the motions, Lumian had plenty of time to look around.

He did not notice anything unusual about the villagers’ behavior and subconsciously looked up at the golden sun mural on the dome.

Suddenly, Lumian realized why he always felt something was off.

Many people in the village had not praised the sun for a long time!

For a village primarily devoted to the "Eternal Sun," phrases like "praise the sun" and "my god, my father" should be common in daily life. However, Lumian recalled this period and realized he had rarely heard them!

As a casual believer, he did not usually say such things, and having offended the parish priest, he had not attended any church activities for a long time. Therefore, he did not notice anything wrong until today, when he was in the solemn and golden environment of the church.

Then, the content of the help letter he had decoded appeared in his mind:

"We need help as soon as possible.

"The people around us are becoming increasingly strange."

The people around us are becoming increasingly strange... At this moment, Lumian had a deeper understanding and agreement with this statement.

He looked around again, trying to find the figures of Lya and other outsiders.

However, it seemed that Layne and the others had not come to observe the Lenten celebration.

"Really, they don’t show up when they should..." Lumian muttered to himself.

He pretended to notice nothing, joined the chorus, and made sounds.

When the singing subsided and the celebration ended, he leaned close to Ourore’s ear and whispered,

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

As one of the people escorting the "Spring Sprite" parade, he still had to participate in the final part of the ritual and could not leave early like the others.

He did not plan to force his way out of the church, as it might lead to the abnormality being prematurely exposed.

Ourore nodded thoughtfully,

"Okay."

She did not ask more and left the church with Mrs. Pouaris and most of the other villagers.

Soon, only the young people who had participated in the blessing parade and Ava, the embodiment of the "Spring Sprite," remained.

The offerings they had received, except for those thrown into the river, were all placed beside Ava. Additionally, there were symbolic items like grass, axes, shovels, whips, and goose herding sticks.

Next, Lumian and the others only needed to wait for someone to come in from outside the church and announce the departure of the "Spring Sprite." Then, they could surround Ava and remove her crown, necklace, branches, and leaves.

During this process, they needed to leave a gap for the "Spring Sprite" to leave Ava’s body.

After about twenty to thirty seconds, footsteps were heard at the church entrance.

Lumian instinctively looked over and saw two people.

One was the shepherd Pierre Berry, who had returned specifically for the Lenten celebration. He was slender, with slightly sunken eye sockets, wearing a deep brown hooded cloak, a rope tied around his waist, and new black leather shoes.

Unlike before, his greasy black hair seemed to have been washed, looking relatively clean and smooth, and his messy beard had been trimmed, making it shorter and neater.

At this moment, his blue eyes carried their usual faint smile.

The other was the parish priest Giacomo Bene, still in his white, gold-trimmed robe, with light black hair, a slightly hooked nose, and an authoritative presence. Despite his short stature, he still towered over Pierre Berry.

The parish priest... Why is he here? Lumian was both surprised and puzzled.

As a clergyman of the "Eternal Sun" church, he should not be present at a folk celebration without a "praise the sun" segment.

Thinking about the parish priest and his group secretly plotting something and remembering that he had severely offended him, Lumian, after regaining his composure, slowly, secretly, but firmly moved towards the side stained glass window.

Since it was not yet time to surround the "Spring Sprite" Ava, the young people were standing in different places, so his actions were not noticeable.

Ava was also surprised to see the parish priest but thought that as the most respected person in the village, it was fitting for him to announce the end of the Lenten celebration. She smiled again.

Soon, the parish priest Giacomo Bene and the shepherd Pierre Berry walked to Ava’s side.

The former said in a deep voice,

"Send the 'Spring Sprite' away."

The others, except for Lumian, began to prepare to rush towards Ava and surround her.

"Send the 'Spring Sprite' away!" The shepherd Pierre Berry shouted, bending his back with a smile.

Not good! Seeing this, Lumian’s heart raced, and he instinctively took a step forward, leaning his body forward.

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

With a thud, a large amount of blood spurted from Ava’s neck, forming a dense red mist.

Splash.

Ava’s head fell to the ground, rolling in the blood, and finally landed face up.

Her eyes still held a clear trace of joy.

Lumian, who had taken a few steps towards her, felt a heavy heart and immediately turned around, running towards the side stained glass window.