147 – Taming the Madman (7)
The escorts made their way along the river.
It was a moderately windy and warm day, so the princess also left the carriage window open for some reason.
I was continuing my march next to the princess’s carriage.
In the meantime, I felt a stinging gaze from time to time. I don’t know if he was looking at the scenery outside, but Bibi had his eyes fixed on me.
I turned my head and looked at the baboon. My eyes met and she suddenly shut her window and drew her curtains as if feeling bad.
It was a very peaceful journey.
If there is one thing that bothers me, it is about the ‘Divine Spirit Festival’, but seeing that the faces of the villagers I occasionally run into have no wrinkles, I don’t think there will be a big problem. I’ll have to watch more.
I reached the lower reaches of the river leading to the river along the road that connects the villages.
There, I saw women doing laundry and children practicing dancing on cobblestones.
Singing songs and going round and round.
The tired knights also seemed to take a mental break while watching the calm scenery.
The baboon stopped her wagon and showed interest.
“Contrary to what I have heard, it is peaceful and beautiful.”
Then he called the aide and asked.
“Is it a tradition in this region to hang a long string like a clothesline on each tree and decorate it with flowers?”
“It is said that the Divine Ryeongje will be held soon to pray to the gods before entering the farming season and pray for a good harvest. That’s why everyone is excited with a festive mood everywhere they go.”
Meanwhile, a group of girls who were playing by the other side of the stream saw her baboon’s carriage and approached her, splashing their feet.
They lowered their bodies to show their respect with clumsy gestures. Then a woman stepped up and spoke as her representative.
She said, “I heard that a noble person passes by in Barbisia. We don’t know much about the principality, but we know that the princess is a noble person.”
As a group of young girls approached, a warm wind blew through the mostly male escort.
Gerald stepped up and said.
“Back off.”
“Don’t princesses and knights come to the divine rite? It is a tradition of Barbisia to welcome any guest from afar on the day of the Spiritual Festival.”
These maidens are not interested in princesses, but their eyes are turned to stalwart knights. And, he also sent me a subtle signal with his eyebrows twitching. Heck, the chance to find a mate in a land like this doesn’t come easily, right?
Gerald and Nielen got caught in the middle and cut it like a knife.
“Get out of here.”
As the two came out ruthlessly, the women looked disappointed.
“I’m sorry.”
They backed away with grim faces.
And the knights licked their lips as if they were sorry.
Bibi, who was watching the scene, said to Gerald.
“What do you do at the Divine Spirit Festival?”
Gerald replied.
“I’m not sure. However, it is said that the settlers scattered in Barbisia gather to dance, drink grain and wine, catch livestock, and hold grand festivals. It’s hard to gather like this unless it’s the dry season.”
“Bring them back. It wouldn’t be bad to take a break from a boring and arduous journey.”
***
We took a slight turn on the road from our original destination.
“To go to the altar of the Divine Spirit, you must cross the Puros River.”
It was embarrassingly small and shallow to say that the village woman pointed out that it was a river. There was only one bridge across the Puros River.
I wondered if I had to go to the bridge far away according to the guide, but fortunately I didn’t have to go back.
Looking at the calmly flowing river, wizards stand side by side.
As they chanted in unison, something black began to rise from the riverbed.
As many as six ice pillars grew at intervals and began to connect in an arch shape.
In just 30 minutes, an ice bridge was created that could withstand even a wagon crossing.
The knights belonging to the same escort also exclaimed in amazement. It seems that they are not a common sight.
I couldn’t just admire it. It was because he had a lot of trouble with the thought of dealing with a wizard.
We crossed the river and walked a couple of hours further until we reached the site of the ancestral rite. Round tombstones stood in a row like a fence, and in the center was a small pond. Behind it, a white stone pillar that could be used as a pillar of a palace stands tall. I heard that it was a kind of symbol called a divine monument.
There, about 200 settlers are gathering and preparing for the festival eve. On one side, pigs and cows are gathered and sharpened for slaughter, and on the other side, folk songs are sung and practiced for rituals.
On the other side, a man and a woman were drawing patterns on each other’s bodies as if brushing with white clay, exposing her upper chest and breasts.
And the eyes of the men are naturally drawn to that place.
An old woman wearing a necklace woven with animal fangs and claws approached us, pressing on the ground with a cane decorated with a skull.
“It is a noble person. The nobleman has come.”
Then, with a graceful gesture incongruous with his appearance, he bowed to the baboon’s carriage.
“Princess Bibi has come to join us at the Divine Spirit Ceremony! God must be pleased!”
The old woman turned around and shouted at the workers.
“According to the principle of hospitality, hurry up and bring wine and meat and treat the nobles!”
***
A fire like a mountain rose from the pyre piled up on the altar and lit up the evening. A grand banquet was held with shimmering flames.
From noble mtl dot com
The soldiers of the escort stood one step away from the banquet and held on without budging, but when the princess gave permission, they gradually let go of their guard and began to melt.
With the sound of chattering, drinking glasses are clinking here and there.
A first-of-its-kind folk string instrument plays a song with a cheerful rhythm. Soon after, young men and women gathered around the campfire and started dancing folk dances.
Some of the knights hold hands and dance with the village girls.
Nielen, the captain of the escort, was drinking lightly alone near the princess’s tent.
It is a very peaceful scenery, but I couldn’t relax at all. Because he knew that the escort’s journey would not end peacefully. The second is because I don’t like alcohol and I don’t know how to enjoy festivals.
I don’t know if Bibi wants to let her soldiers go unnoticed or just enjoy herself, but she’s stuck in the tent and won’t come out.
The night was getting late, and I got up. It was because it was Vivi’s washing time.
***
As I entered the tent with the bucket of water, she stopped writing at her table, sighed, and shot me sensitively.
“Why don’t you enjoy the banquet?”
It’s a way of saying that you don’t even know how to play.
“This is my job.”
She shook her head reluctantly, threw off her long knee-highs one by one, and turned her bare legs into her chair.
“Where did the water come from? I would have had to go far.”
“I brought it from the pond in the center of the shrine.”
“The water seems to be considered sacred, but is it okay?”
“The villagers also draw the water and use it for drinking, cooking and bathing.”
“…”
I put the bucket in front of Bibi.
Baby tried to dip his feet first, but I stopped him.
“Not yet.”
I took out holy water, sprinkled a few drops in a bucket, and stirred it with my hand. A gongnyeo can only be water that has been dipped in holy water.
But then a strange thing happened.
When holy water was mixed, the water suddenly turned black, as if ink had been sprinkled on it.
“…”
“…”
We stopped at the same moment as we saw the strange change in the bucket. Bibi asks as if to double-check.
“Are you playing a prank on me?”
“No.”
Holy water does not react to normal dirty water. Holy water turns black only to those that are spiritually contaminated. Vivi also seemed to know this.
As if the situation was over, Vivi’s expression becomes serious.
“You brought water from the pond?”
That’s right. This is the water that the locals drank without hesitation and used it for cooking.
“Yes.”
In the meantime, urgent footsteps approach where we are. And Nielen suddenly jumped into the tent without a word.
He gasped.
“Princess, I think you should come out.”
The baboon looked to her side at the same time.
“What is it?”
“This is an issue you need to see for yourself.”
Nielen’s expression is also severely frozen. Bibi, sensing an unusual energy, hurriedly put on her shoes and she came right out.
***
Bibi’s escorts were summoned all at once with weapons in hand.
The festive atmosphere at the shrine had subsided, and everyone was solemnly standing around one place, presumably to prepare for the ceremony.
Soon after, an old woman with a staff moves to her altar accompanied by a group of young men and women.
This is the same scene as the one we saw in the cave paintings when we were in the bait group.
A young man and woman were dragged out with ropes tied around her wrists, with her little twine on.
I made them stand in front of a towering rock in the center of the altar and shouted.
“God who watches over the poor people in the land of the dead, thanks to your blessings our little ones gain weight and the earth bursts with life. I will pay tribute to you and pray for the next ten years.”
After that, other men came with kettles and started pouring them out on the dragged young man and woman.
It was oil.
Those who were dragged trembled and closed their eyes as if they had intuited their fate.
“What are you doing!”
The baboon burst out at her shouting and stepped forward. Armed soldiers followed behind her.
Her path soon opened around her.
The old woman who was in charge of the ancestral rite was furious.
“I know you are a noble, but this is our business. Besides, if you disrupt the ceremony, you will pay a heavy price.”
“Human sacrifice is not tolerated under the principality’s laws, and no god requires an innocent human being as a sacrifice.”
“This is the way we have maintained it. Has the principality ever looked down upon the withered people of Barbisia? You were having a party in the palace while we boiled and ate the dead children torn apart by the mouths of the demon beasts. We just live in our own way.”
“Burned to death as a sacrifice, or torn to death by demonic beasts. The same goes for innocent people dying in meaningless rituals.”
Called the old woman with a harsh metal sound.
“These children were raised from birth to be tribute. These children know their destiny too. If you disrupt the ceremony, you will surely pay for it.”
At this, Bibi shouted in anger.
“As of today, the question of whether or not this is a divine spirit festival is over. As long as I keep my eyes open, this ceremony will never be performed again.”
The knights raised their swords in unison and entered the altar and dragged out the oil-soaked young man and woman.
The villagers looked on their faces in panic as their sacred rites were disrupted. However, the strength of the knights was overwhelming, so they only screamed and could not attack.
“Destroy all of these altars so they can never be used again! Fill that rotten puddle with dirt!”
Soon after, the soldiers tied a rope to the white rock that was like the symbol of the altar and gathered their strength and pulled it.
Soon after that, the dirt rose up and the rock leaned forward and fell headlong. The rock was split into several pieces.
Some villagers even rushed at the knights, but were easily stopped because they were pushed back.
The old priestess, unable to budge because of the knights’ blades right in front of her eyes, shouted at Bibi.
It was a curse with a desperate cry.
“All who follow you will die miserably. Your white skin will become food for maggots and flies. Your position will become fetters and choke you. You will always suffer from lack and starve, and you will be alone and wander in the swamp until you rot and break down. No one will be on your side and everyone will only want your end.”
Nielen yelled.
“Shut that mouth!”
“Ha ha ha! Kyahahahaha!”
The old woman started cursing and bursting into madness as if she had lost her mind. Then he stretched out his arms to the sky and prayed.
“Lord of the Swamp….”
Ni Ellen ran her eyes open and she swung her sword straight at the woman.
The blade of the sword flashes once, and the old woman’s head falls to the floor with her dry green onion-like hair flying.
“Kyaaah!”
“My, the priest!”
“The wrath of the gods will come!”
The residents who watched this screamed loudly. They were full of fear.
Nielen approached her princess without even wiping her blood and knelt down in front of her.
“Just give me orders. Those who commit disrespect will be summarily executed.”
From afar, the inhabitants of Barbisia were glaring at the escort with full of anger. Because of Ni Ellen’s example of her, they were not allowed to approach them.
Bibi shook her head.
“I don’t need to see any more blood.”
I think the same. There was no need for further stimulation. Their hostility contains a sticky resentment that cannot be removed by simply threatening them with a knife.
The old woman’s fierce shout of curse also gave a strong shock to those who saw it.
The head of an old woman rolling on the floor with a smile also added to the ominous feeling.
That’s how the festival ended.
The energy and vitality that filled Barbisia had disappeared.
Something landed on Vivi’s shoulder.
Other soldiers also look up at the sky and raise their palms.
And like a lie, raindrops began to drip from the sky.
Surely, the sky was clear and starlit just a moment ago.
And then one of the villagers muttered.
“God…God was angry.”
***
The escorts, having done a bout of rebellion, got out of the place as if they were running away without staying up all night.
The air around me became heavy in an instant, and the raindrops grew thicker as time passed.
Gerald muttered to himself, his eyes wide open.
“Surely, the rainy season is about a month away….”
Then, on the way back, we met the first ominous sign at the Puros River.
One knight sighed in despair.
“I can’t believe it.”
The little river we crossed was overflowing in the blink of an eye.
Dark skies. Rain blocking the view. Muddy water gushing out like a waterfall laid horizontally. As if a change in the world had occurred, the place we passed through had become a different world.
The escorts silently looked at the swollen river as if they were enjoying the scenery in a painting. As if they still haven’t intuited their fate.
The wizards chanted several times to build an ice bridge, but the ice pillar collapsed before it could be built.
It didn’t end there.
And the soldiers, who had been fine until just now, suddenly grabbed their stomachs and complained of abdominal pain.
“Mo, I feel strange… !”
“Bae, bae!”
“Ooh!”
They held their stomachs, leaned over, and soon began to vomit one by one.
What came out of their mouths was not something like digestive juices mixed with meat and alcohol.
It was an unknown liquid, black like ink.
Bibbi did not enjoy the festivities in the plague village-like hell.
From noble mtl dot com
And I was the only one.