Harvest Festival (Part 1)

September 25th, 7487 of the Sacred Origin Era—this day was the Harvest Festival.

Rika Town, Aisk Kingdom, on the continent.

Passersby on the streets wore smiles, while children chased and played. The Harvest Festival was not only one of the four great holidays decreed by the sacred canon of Isidis, Goddess of Agriculture, but also one of the universal festivals that transcended religion and nation among most humans, and even many other races.

After all, for most intelligent beings, a harvest meant an abundance of food—and hope.

For many children, everything before their eyes made them incomparably excited. It was a rare day of rest in the year. No matter how busy someone was, after finishing the morning's work, they would have half the afternoon to rest and join the celebrations.

The next morning, Romon was awakened by the sounds of play and laughter below. He climbed out of bed, dressed, and went downstairs. The inn was quiet, with barely anyone inside.

Romon stepped outside and looked around. Most of the houses were wooden, while farther away stood the town's largest building—a stone temple.

To Romon, this temple was not unfamiliar in the least. It was the temple of the Goddess of Agriculture, and naturally the sole center of faith in Rika Town. A town could not afford to support several temples.

As he surveyed the street, although voices and noise filled the air, it still felt very quiet. After all, the town had only a few hundred households.

The houses crowded along narrow streets paved with gravel, grass sprouting from the cracks.

On the distant hills stood the pointed towers of a castle. That was the ancient castle of Baron Rokas, the lord of this place, and it already had a history of four hundred years.

Though September was drawing to a close, the entire town was lush with greenery at a glance. Towering ancient trees stood everywhere, their canopies blotting out the sky and covering the low houses nearby.

The ancient, tranquil atmosphere that had remained unchanged for hundreds, even thousands, of years became all the more distinct amid the Harvest Festival's revelry.

After lingering for a while longer, perhaps under the influence of his former memories, everything gave Romon a familiar feeling. That familiarity diluted his fear and estrangement. Romon fell silent for a moment, then finally smiled bitterly and completely accepted the fact that he had transmigrated.

Romon walked slowly down a small cobblestone street. The familiar yet unfamiliar blacksmith shops, general stores, craft shops, and mills on either side deeply captivated the newly reborn Romon.

In the distance stood a huge wagon—the touring wagon of a troupe.

Troupes were groups of pitiful people. They performed tricks, songs, dances, and clown acts to entertain the crowds and earn a meager sum. The women in such troupes all sold themselves. From the scattered discussions in his memories, Romon understood that this was extremely common.

Not just in troupes—even in ordinary mercenary bands, those young female warriors sold themselves. They had to earn a sum of money before their strength declined, or the days ahead would only be harder.

Romon glanced at the sun. There was clearly still plenty of time before the Harvest Festival officially began.

Without realizing it, he had arrived before the Temple of the Goddess of Agriculture. Looking at the stone temple, its mottled colors bearing the marks of age, joy at his rebirth welled up within him, mixed with a touch of melancholy.

He strolled into the temple. On the raised platform stood a statue—Isidis, Goddess of Agriculture.

The walls were carved with reliefs of bulls, trees, flowers, and grasses. The goddess's statue was entirely carved from white marble and stood about five meters tall. A crown woven of flowers and grasses rested on her head, and she wore a green gown. Her beautiful features and the faintly visible curves of her feminine body gave her an immense feminine charm, yet her eyes were especially lifelike, filled with loving compassion as she gazed down upon all living beings.

The former Romon had habitually come here to pray. It was the town's custom. Basically, once children reached the age of twelve, they would come pray with their parents.

The former Romon would never have noticed the holy light ordinarily hidden from the naked eye upon the statue. But now, with the power of the Shennong Horn, Romon saw a mass of green light covering the statue like a gigantic cocoon, flowing constantly, while green lights like fireflies occasionally danced through the hall.

Just as Romon stood blankly before the statue, lost in thought, a young girl slowly walked to his side. "Romon, why did you come here? Usually, you'd be having a wonderful time playing outside, wouldn't you?"

Romon was startled awake by the call. He turned to look at the girl.

She was around fifteen years old and was walking out from within the temple. She wore a long female priest's robe with a high slit that exposed her long, snow-white legs. A green floral sash bound her delicate, slender waist, and her gentle eyes were clear to the bottom.

"Miss Eileen..." Romon naturally called out her name. His rapidly surfacing memories told him that this girl was the object of every man in town's secret dreams.

She was the pride of the town. She possessed a devout heart and keen perception, able to form a connection with the goddess's power, and had therefore become an apprentice priestess of the Temple of the Goddess of Agriculture. If nothing unexpected happened, she might become the next priestess of the town's temple.

"Romon, why are you still so dirty? Come, wash your face at my place so you can attend this afternoon's Harvest Festival." Eileen saw the dirt on his face and clothes from his fall. As she spoke, she pulled him toward the back of the temple, where there was a pool of clear water.

This was one of the temple's benefits. Through channels connected to the Outer Plane, which Romon could not yet understand, the temple always had clear, sweet spring water available.

Romon accepted the towel and quickly washed his face with the spring water. As she watched him after he had cleaned himself up, Eileen did not know why, but her face suddenly reddened.

The boy before her was still so familiar; nothing had changed. Though it was easy to foresee that he would become a handsome man in the future, Eileen had never felt anything before. Yet now, the heroic air between his brows instantly stripped much of the childishness from the young boy, adding an indescribable charm.

"Big Sister Eileen, thank you. I pray to the goddess that you may be healthy," Romon said.

"Ah, thank you, Romon. We're getting ready to leave. Come along with us!" As Eileen spoke, her gaze had already spotted Priest Tennis. Priest Tennis came over, and when he saw Romon with Eileen, his face darkened.

"Eileen, let's go," he said.

"Alright, wait a moment. Come, Romon, go with me!" Eileen said.

A trace of malice stabbed at him. Romon frowned slightly. After becoming a druid, he had become extremely sensitive to such things, but there was nothing he could do except follow them.

The moment they reached the square, a young man in a tall black top hat ran onto the stage. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for waiting so long! Next, the Kado Troupe will bring you a marvelous performance to accompany you through a happy and delightful afternoon. Please welcome them with your applause!"

A woman dressed in tight black leather stepped out of the wagon, a whip in her hand.

A large parrot flew behind her, continuously squawking, "Welcome, welcome!"

Almost at the same time, a tiger followed behind her, with a monkey standing atop its back.

As they came out, everyone present applauded, watching the woman in black command the tiger to pass through an iron hoop and make the monkey roll about on the ground.

These tricks immediately made the crowd laugh, but to Romon, they were merely boring antics. Even so, he continued observing.

The young man in the tall black top hat waved a small wooden stick in his hand. With each swing, sparks emerged from its tip and flew into the air, where they exploded with a bang, forming fireworks of every possible shape.

The fireworks turned into flowers, into dancing golden snakes, into the propagation of trees... These beautiful fireworks instantly drew Romon's attention.

Was this magic? Even if it was only the lowest-grade trick?

After the performance, it was not long before Priest Tennis appeared atop a wooden platform in the square. The crowd around it automatically gathered toward the platform, and the hymn to the goddess officially began.

"Goddess Isidis, growth and harvest are both links in the eternal cycle. Since intelligent life came into being, they have been the most natural acts it can perform. Today, we have gained a harvest. We must thank the gods, thank the earth, thank nature. Then, next spring, we shall sow even more seeds of life and fill the world with green." This was Priest Tennis's sermon.

"Thank the goddess for giving us food! Thank the goddess for giving us abundance!" Neat voices echoed around the high platform as seven or eight hundred townspeople shouted in unison.

This town's Harvest Festival would not have any divine miracles, and the hymn to the goddess was also simple. Before long, the ceremony ended, and what followed was the revelry—the time for beer and roast meat.

"Big Sister Eileen, I need to see you about something tomorrow. Will you be there?" Romon stepped forward and asked during a break.

"What is it?" Eileen turned around. Of course, this world had no bras, and her priest's robe had a wide opening. With that turn, Romon saw a stretch of snow-white skin.

Astonishment at beauty—that was Romon's feeling in that instant.

Although this body had interacted with her many times before, looking at her now, she was still breathtakingly beautiful, and he could not help feeling a flicker of amazement. Sunlight fell upon her, and a faint layer of green light enveloped her body, carrying a strange, subtle fragrance.

A shiver rapidly spread through him. For an instant, Romon lost himself, but the gaze behind him immediately brought him back to his senses. "Big Sister Eileen, I would like to ask you to witness something tomorrow."

Eileen was somewhat surprised. "What is it? Oh, I'm busy right now. I'll wait for you tomorrow!"

Romon looked at the boiling crowd around them, nodded, and left. After walking for a while, he turned back and happened to see Priest Tennis's gaze—cold and sinister.