After the celebration

A group of young people surrounded Ava, singing and dancing as they arrived outside Lumian.

Berri Family the Young Guillaume walked to the door and banged on it.

He was a friend of Lumian, Raymond, and Ava. He had slightly curly brown hair, noticeable freckles on his face, and smaller-than-normal blue eyes that always seemed to be squinting.

With a creak, Aurora appeared before them.

She had her Blond Hair pulled back and was wearing a rather formal light-colored high-necked Long Dress with ruffles. She looked radiant and full of energy, showing no signs of the fatigue from working most of the night and not getting enough sleep that morning.

Ava, wearing a laurel wreath woven from branches and Flowers, stepped forward and sang. "I am the Elf of spring."

"Her face is friendly and pretty"

"...

Sing it out, dance it out!

"Only in this way can we achieve a bountiful harvest..."

Aurora listened quietly, took the leaf, and handed the small earthenware jar containing animal fat to Ava.

"A bumper harvest! A bumper harvest!" the young people cheered.

As the "Spring Spirit" procession set off for its next destination, Young Guillaume of the Berri Family deliberately lagged behind and inquired of Aurora:

"Where's Lumian? I haven't seen him for the past two days. Isn't he going to attend the Lent Festival celebrations?"

Aurora smiled:

He's sick.

"Sick?" Young Guillaume was slightly surprised. "He can get sick too?"

In his memory, Lumian was always full of energy, at most he would fall and scrape himself while playing pranks and suffer some minor injuries.

"I'd be more afraid if he didn't get sick," Aurora replied jokingly. "Humans all get sick."

Seeing the "Spring Spirit" procession getting further and further away, Young Guillaume quickly waved to Aurora:

Tell Lumian that I will visit him after Lent Festival!

Aurora nodded slightly, watching Young Guillaume run towards the parade that had stopped in front of the next building.

"How is it?" Lumian peeked out from beside her Older Sister.

Aurora for a moment and said, "They're normal now, but I wonder what they'll be like when the festival ends."

Thinking of the bloody scene at the end of the celebration when Ava was chopped off, and how the young people in the parade were all stimulated by some strange atmosphere and what had happened, either going into a frenzy to bid farewell to the "Spring Spirit" or completely collapsing in body and mind and collapsing to the ground, Lumian felt that no one could escape it.

He glanced silently at Ava was singing in front of her neighbor's house, and the Young Guillaume and others surrounding her, before slowly looking away.

Ryan, Lya, and Valentine also came down to the first floor and looked out the window.

"We need to be especially careful from now on," Ryan said in a deep voice after the "Spring Spirit '" procession had left the area.

Aurora nodded and said, "Okay."

Before the celebration ended, they quickly prepared lunch and filled their stomachs.

Ding, ding, ding— the Classical Wall Clock on the first floor struck, signaling the noon hour.

Lumian and the others, who had already tidied up the Restaurant, exchanged glances, all of them involuntarily tensing up.

If the Lent Festival celebrations went well, they should be over by now.

Once the Ritual to send the "Spring Spirit" away is truly completed, who knows what will become of the Cordou Village.

Because it's a semi-underground building, Lumian needs to slightly raise his head to see what's outside the book window:

The sky was azure, dotted with white clouds, and the Sunlight shone brightly; there were none of the dark clouds, fog, and dim light he had imagined.

Lya paced back and forth near the stove, the Silver Bells on her veil and boots jingling softly, neither loud nor gentle.

Seeing Aurora looking at her, she explained, "We are in danger, and it's a long-term danger, but for now it's manageable."

Aurora hummed in agreement and didn't ask any further questions.

Ryan, however, sighed softly, "If only it stayed this way until the Twelfth Night."

Aurora blinked, feeling embarrassed to tell the "Dawn Paladin" of the "Machinery Hivemind" not to say such things, as it could easily have the opposite effect.

Although Lumian was heavy-hearted, he still smiled and replied to Ryan:

"We have a proverb in our Dalege Region: 'Good or bad fortune is all Predestination beforehand.' No matter how much we worry, we can't change what's going to happen."

What he didn't say was:

The only thing we can do is Courage to face it.

In their intermittent conversation, the five people were wary of any possible Mutation, but everything—from the weather to the birds—was so normal that it frightened them.

Nearly half an hour later, they both turned their gaze toward the doorway.

Footsteps are approaching.

Not long after, the doorbell of Aurora's house rang, its ringing sound echoing throughout the entire first floor.

After exchanging a glance with her Older Sister, Lumian cautiously walked to the door and looked outside through the peephole.

The person who rang the doorbell was a man, their neighbor, Louis Bedek.

"What's up?" Lumian asked as he opened the door, a smile on his face.

Louis Bedek, with black hair and blue eyes, is in his forties. He was injured while Harvest wheat in the fields when he was young, and now only has three fingers left on his left hand.

He was wearing a grey-blue short-sleeved shirt and dark trousers, and said timidly, "I'd like to borrow your oven. It's Lent Festival, and I need to bake some fresh Bread for the children."

As he spoke, he lifted the flour sack and kicked the sack of low-quality coal that was placed next to him.

Lumian hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at Aurora.

Aurora nodded, gesturing for him to let Louis Bedek in.

She had already discussed it quietly with Ryan and the others, planning to observe up close what Change had occurred in the villagers after the Lent Festival celebrations.

"Just Bread? I thought you'd make some bacon for your kids." Lumian stepped aside, chuckling as he teased Louis Bedek.

Louis Bedek replied tentatively, "If this year's harvest is good, we should be making a lot of smoked meat."

His eyes were full of anticipation, as if he believed a bountiful harvest was inevitable.

Upon entering, Louis Bedek greeted Aurora and headed towards the oven, busying off to his work.

The more Lumian and the others observed, the more strange a feeling arose within them.

Louis Bedek didn't even glance at Ryan, Lya, and Valentine, as if they didn't exist!

It's like someone who has become Monster trying hard to act normal, but when faced with something beyond their original memory, they will show obvious abnormalities or simply ignore it.

Lumian instantly recalled the Assistant Parish Priest Michel Galligu:

He seemed fine at first, but recently he's only shown to eat, sleep, and have a desire to be prayed for, ignoring everything else!

Under the watchful eyes of the Three Foreigners, Louis Bedek toasted Bread like a pre-programmed Machine, occasionally exchanging a few words with Lumian and Aurora.

This is normal, this is very abnormal.

After Louis Bedek left with the freshly baked Bread, Aurora looked at Ryan and the others and said with a bitter smile, "Those who have participated in the Lent Festival celebrations should all look like this now."

"It's like being replaced by Monster bit by bit," Lya sighed sincerely.

She no longer tried to maintain a smile.

Lumian has adjusted his mindset and raised a question:

"How can we save someone like this if we want to?"

"The only thing I can think of is 'purification,'" Valentine replied with a slight sigh. "But if the anomaly is already so closely intertwined with humanity itself, the end result might be that they are both purified."

Just then, two more villagers passed by outside the window.

One of them was Pierre Guillaume, a regular at the Old Tavern who had sampled Ryan's Absinthe in the last two Loop.

He was chatting and laughing with his companion, as if they were discussing the lively aspects of the Lent Festival celebrations.

As they passed Lumian's house, they all turned their heads to look inside, their expressions unusually gloomy.

They looked away after only a second, their faces beaming with smiles again, and continued their previous conversation.

If Lumian and the others hadn't been observing the outside as people passed by, they certainly wouldn't have noticed that brief Change in expression.

The louder the laughter and chatter outside, the more oppressed they felt.

Silence replaced discussion.

After a while, once the two villagers were far away, Aurora sighed and said, "This isn't just being replaced little by little by Monster anymore; I suspect that the entire village, except for us, is made up of Monster in Human Skin."

Is this the complete Lent Festival celebration? Lumian murmured to himself, unable to contain himself.

Ryan then solemnly reminded:

"The next few days will be tougher, everyone hang in there."

From noon to night, they remained on guard against attacks from the mutated villagers, but apart from the occasional passerby who peered inside with either a gloomy or chilling expression, nothing happened.

This put immense pressure on Aurora and the others.

Ryan looked around and said gently, "There are still several days until the Twelfth Night, don't be so tense."

"After dinner, we'll split into two groups and take turns resting. It's important to maintain a good mental state."

With such an experienced Personality, and powerful Beyonder making arrangements, both Aurora and Lumian became noticeably calmer.

Midnight.

After finishing their night watch, Aurora and Lumian woke up Lya and the others and returned to their bedroom.

Lumian glanced at the doorway and said in a low voice, "That One mysterious Lady hasn't shown up yet. Should I take a chance to go out tomorrow and check out the Old Tavern?"

"Everyone in the village now could be Monster. It would be extremely dangerous if we went out," Aurora, not entirely in favor.

She thought for a moment and said, "Let's wait a little longer. If That One mysterious Lady hasn't shown up by tomorrow morning, I'll go to the Old Tavern with you in the afternoon."

Lumian hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

He planned to discuss with his Older Sister again tomorrow morning whether they should ask Ryan and the others for help, so that the five of them could work together.

In the bedroom filled with a thin Gray Fog, Lumian opened his eyes.

He sat up, checked his body, and found that his previous severe injuries had completely healed.

Just as he was about to make a remark, he suddenly heard a "ring-a-ling" sound.

"Someone's ringing the doorbell?" Lumian subconsciously had this thought and instinctively went downstairs to see who had come to visit.

He had just taken one step when he suddenly froze.

This is in the Dream Ruins!

How could anyone possibly come to visit?