Chapter 36

A few seconds later, Lumián looked into Aurore's eyes and slowed his speech:

"Is it still several days before Lent?"

He suspected that his sister had just played a reverse prank on him, but over the years, he had never seen her act frivolously about important matters, especially when it involved the survival and destruction of the entire village, including his own and his sister's.

Aurore sized up her brother a few times:

"Were you taking a nap and slept like a fool just now?

"Today is March 29, 1358, and it's still several days before Lent."

March 29... Lumián chewed on this date, suddenly feeling as if he were dreaming.

He had clearly experienced the Lent celebration that started joyfully and ended in bloodshed, and he had clearly seen Ava's head being chopped off by the shepherd Pierre Berry, with blood splattering into the air...

Was he dreaming now, or had he been dreaming before? No matter which was the dream, it was too real, wasn't it? Lumián couldn't find any trace of lying on his sister's face.

Of course, this could also be explained by Aurore's excellent acting, but Lumián believed Aurore was absolutely not that kind of person.

After five years of living together, countless details made it impossible for her to deceive him!

There were only two possibilities for Aurore to lie about the date:

One, she was controlled by the parish priest or someone else in secret;

Two, the matter had been perfectly resolved, so she had the mood to play pranks and pull tricks.

If neither of these possibilities held, then what she said was most likely the truth:

Time had indeed returned to March 29, several days before Lent.

By Lumián's common sense, this was clearly an impossible and unrealistic event, but his sister's attitude left him bewildered.

He needed to find a way to confirm... Lumián tried hard to recall his experiences during this period and found that he could still remember most of the details, such as the successful Lent celebration on March 29, when Aurore was indeed wearing this light blue dress, and that evening, he had met Lya, Lain, and Valentine, three outsiders, and led them to catch the parish priest in the act.

"What's wrong?" Aurore extended her right hand and waved it in front of her brother, who was inexplicably dazed.

Lumián snapped back to his senses and said hurriedly:

"Aurore, I just thought of something I need to go out for a bit.

"I'll be back soon!"

The best way to confirm whether time had really returned to March 29 was to find Ava!

If she was still alive, Lumián would have to seriously consider whether to accept this incredible change.

Without waiting for Aurore's response, Lumián bypassed her and rushed to the door.

"Call your sister! Don't miss dinner!" Aurore raised her voice and reminded him.

Leaving his house, Lumián sprinted to Ava Lizier's home, fearing that if he slowed down even a second, he would be caught by an indescribable nightmare and completely devoured.

On the way, he attracted the attention of many villagers, but no one stopped him to ask why, fearing it was a prank he had orchestrated and was waiting for them to fall for it.

Finally, Lumián arrived at his destination.

Ava's father, Guillaume Lizier, was a well-known cobbler in Cordu village and the surrounding mountain area. Their family was not poor but not rich either. They lived in a semi-underground gray-blue two-story building with a yard at the back, piled with hay and firewood, and a goose coop.

It was close to dinner time, and several figures were busy in the Lizier kitchen.

Lumián walked in through the open door and immediately saw Ava.

The brown-haired girl with blue eyes was wearing a gray-white dress, helping her mother prepare dinner, moving deftly and with lively eyes, clearly a living person.

She really hadn't died... Lumián instinctively looked at Ava's neck, trying to find any signs of stitching.

In one of Aurore's horror novels, there was a plot where body parts were stitched together to impersonate a living person.

However, Ava's neck was long and smooth, without even a scar.

"Lumián, is there something?" Guillaume Lizier, the cobbler, who was sitting on a kitchen chair, noticed the uninvited guest.

His brown hair was messy, and he wore a slightly greasy brown and white apron. He stood up at a steady pace and approached Lumián.

Hearing her father's greeting, Ava stopped what she was doing, turned around in surprise, and looked at the door.

She then saw Lumián standing there, dazed and bewildered.

"Is there something?" she asked.

Lumián snapped back to his senses and planned to make up a reason to敷衍一下.

But the approaching cobbler Guillaume Lizier gave him an idea.

He deliberated and said:

"Uncle Guillaume, did Pierre Berry order a pair of leather shoes from you?"

Lumián remembered clearly that he and Raymond would "meet" the shepherd Pierre Berry the next morning, surprised by his return to the village despite the dangers and hardships of the journey to attend the Lent celebration.

At that time, Pierre Berry was already wearing a new pair of soft leather shoes.

Unless he bought them from a ready-made shoe store in Dijon, it would take time to make a pair of leather shoes, indicating that Pierre Berry had been back in the village for at least two or three days!

"How do you know?" Guillaume Lizier was quite surprised. "Pierre Berry returned a few days ago, but not many people in the village knew. He also asked me not to tell anyone else."

Indeed... Lumián made up a reason:

"I saw someone who looked like him and thought I was hallucinating.

"Since he was wearing new shoes, I came to confirm with you."

"It's him," Guillaume Lizier confirmed. "He was also herding three or four sheep, saying they were given to him by his employer."

Isn't it usually around early May when the sheep are brought back to the village for shearing and milking? Why bring a few sheep back now? The highland pastures are still under a grazing ban... Lumián thought more and more that the shepherd Pierre Berry's behavior was extremely abnormal.

His actions at the end of the celebration confirmed Lumián's judgment.

But Lumián still had no idea what Pierre Berry and the parish priest were planning or had already done.

Thinking about this, Lumián smiled at Guillaume Lizier and Ava:

"I'm relieved it's really him. I thought I was drinking too much and my brain and eyes were both malfunctioning."

He then waved to the Lizier family:

"Goodbye."

Leaving the Lizier house, Lumián's smile quickly faded.

He was now quite sure that today was indeed March 29.

Was it time travel, or did I have a precognitive dream? A dream can't be that real, with every detail... Lumián thought hard as he walked.

Whether it was time travel or a precognitive dream, he had only learned about them from Aurore's novels and had never thought they would happen in reality.

On his way home, Lumián deliberately detoured to the square and went to the side of the "Eternal Sun" church.

The stained glass window, which should have been completely shattered with the frame flying out, was intact, and the depiction of Saint Cis teaching was glowing in the sunset.

Lumián looked at this scene with a very complex mood, feeling as if his thoughts were about to smoke.

On his way back to the square, he saw a familiar figure coming out of the church's main door.

It was the parish priest Guillaume Benet, with a slightly hooked nose, a stern demeanor, and wearing a white robe with gold trim.

Lumián's heart tightened, his legs slightly apart, and his body slightly bent.

This was both a preparation for an attack and a prelude to a sprint.

Guillaume Benet glanced at him and nodded without much expression:

"Come back to pray tomorrow."

Uh... Right, it was still the evening of March 29, and he hadn't been caught in the act or had a falling out with me, nor was there any worry about his secret plans being exposed... Thinking about this, Lumián instinctively reacted.

He straightened his body and spread his arms:

"Praise the Sun!"

"Praise the Sun!" Guillaume Benet responded with the same gesture.

After leaving the village square, Lumián habitually recalled what had just happened.

Suddenly, he noticed a point he had overlooked due to the shock of "time travel."

His extraordinary ability was still there!

He was still a "Hunter"!

Whether it was the fact that he didn't even pant after sprinting to the Lizier house or his immediate reaction to the best posture when facing the parish priest, it all indicated that his physical condition and state were far superior to before he took the magic potion!

Lumián thus concluded:

The previous experience was not a precognitive dream!

He was already a Sequence 9 Extraordinary Being!

I'll try to enter that special dream tonight and see if I can still enter and if there have been any changes... Lumián quickly had a plan for his next steps.

Back home, he acted as if nothing was wrong and shared dinner with his sister Aurore.

Since her brother often got into trouble and didn't want to always rely on her to clean up after him, she had similar reactions from time to time, so Aurore didn't ask much.

After washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen, Lumián said goodbye to his sister and headed straight for the old tavern.

He wanted to confirm whether the outsiders who didn't belong to Cordu village would appear.

Entering the old tavern, Lumián sat at the bar and greeted the owner and bartender Maurice Benet, the lean middle-aged man Pierre Guillaume, and others.

"A cup of sour wine," he said familiarly.

Sour wine referred to apple cider, which was only slightly more expensive than some beers in the tavern and was often sold on the streets of the city.

"Cheapskate, don't you like the bitter taste of absinthe?" Maurice Benet muttered.

"Are you going to buy me a drink?" Lumián said with a familiar phrase.

This gave him a sense of déjà vu.

Maurice Benet immediately stopped talking, poured a cup of sour wine, and pushed it to Lumián.

Lumián sipped the wine and waited.

Soon, he heard the jingling of bells.

He turned around and saw Lain, wearing a simple dark top hat, a brown tweed coat, and light yellow trousers.

What attracted the attention of almost all the men in the old tavern was Lya, still in a white, wrinkle-free wool tight dress, a beige jacket, and Marseilles boots, with silver bells tied to the boots and the veil used as a headscarf.

Similarly, Valentine was wearing a white vest, a blue tweed coat, and black trousers, with a touch of powder on his yellow hair.

They walked to the bar and sat down next to Lumián, one after another.

A cup of Dijon red wine, a cup of rye beer, a cup of "Spicy Heart"... Lumián didn't look up but silently said in his mind.

Lain took off his hat, placed it aside, and said to Maurice Benet:

"A cup of Dijon red wine, a cup of rye beer, a cup of 'Spicy Heart.'"

Hearing this, Lumián let out a long sigh.

"What's wrong?" Lain turned his head to look at him.

He took a sip of sour wine and said in a low voice:

"I am a failure, hardly noticing whether the sun is shining or not, because I have no time..."