184th
Get out of our yard!
184 ? Get out of our yard! #4
“Now, kneel here and place your hands firmly on your palms.”
I drove the intruders I had subdued into a corner of the yard.
Even though we subdued them by beating them with clubs, we never knew when these suspicious guys would change their minds and come at us.
They knelt down and trembled before Luna and I’s clubs, muttering something to each other.
What should I do?
I don’t know, look, look this way-!
“From now on, please raise your hand and speak only when you have an answer to a question I ask you.”
When I hit the end of the club on the floor, the startled crowd finally shut their mouths under their masks.
Eventually, a somewhat chaotic but pleasant silence and order came to the yard. As expected, strong force helps solve most problems.
“So, why did you come into our yard?”
When I asked, a girl of decent build who was trembling among the crowd spoke. I think her name was Kamie.
“I thought this was the ferry crossing of the river… I didn’t know it was the goddess’s sanctuary. Please, just take a look… .”
But no matter how many times I listened to the story under that mask, I couldn’t understand what it was saying.
What Naruto?
There’s not even a single river visible around here.
So, just when I wanted to ask more about what the hell they were talking about, Luna shouted as she slammed the Silence Totem on the floor like I had threatened the guys.
“Once you’re in my yard, you all have to pay the entrance fee! You have to follow my rules here!”
Luna seemed excited about making money even in this situation, as she was quite good at business.
In fact, we had already taken two coppers from this little girl named Camie. But despite Luna’s growls, the intruders only hesitate and look at each other.
So I decided to chime in.
“Didn’t you hear me? Hurry up and give me all the money you have! Or I’ll stick this club up your butt!”
Clang. Clang.
Only then did the boys start to fling their jingling coins onto the floor one by one, as if they were scared.
They were all made of copper and brass. Each person gave two coppers, so a total of about 20 coppers were earned.
I frowned as I counted them.
“Is this all?”
How could there not be even one silver piece among all these guys? I was feeling slightly disappointed by the poorer than expected collection, when someone raised his hand.
“what.”
“I, my name is Bertos. Excuse me, but may I say something…?”
The man’s voice sounded quite old. He must be an old man.
As I said, I raised my hand to get the floor and spoke politely, so I was able to tone it down a little.
“Tell me.”
“That, that money is the money we worked hard to save up today. Without that money, we wouldn’t be able to cross the river this year…!”
“…Okay. Please give it back.”
“I barely managed to save up….”
His words caused a commotion here and there. Of course, when I struck the club on the floor again, it became as quiet as death.
“Shh, be quiet.”
Anyway, according to what they said, these small coins, which are less than 1 silver, were said to be a very precious and enormous amount of money.
After all, this must be their entire fortune. Just as a rich man’s two coppers are worth different things than a poor man’s two coppers, their sense of money and mine seemed to be different.
When I was a slave, I treasured 30 silver coins as if they were my life. It was the money that meant my freedom.
So, is this 2 Cooper also a significant amount?
So I decided to ask the inspiration behind the mask I just mentioned about this situation.
“I don’t understand. Who the hell are you? Why are you climbing over someone else’s fence in the middle of the night? Let me ask you something.”
“that is….”
At my question, the inspiration for the mask, Bertos, tilted his head. The plain wooden mask with only hollowed-out pupils seemed to move around as if it was examining its surroundings.
After seeming to hesitate for a while, he finally opened his mouth under his mask.
“We are the dead who couldn’t cross the river because we didn’t have the money for two coppers. Today, we barely scraped together the money from the festival floor and came to the ferry… .”
Beneath the mask, the old man’s blue eyes met mine.
“Isn’t this really the ferry? No matter how I look at it, it looks like the ferry to the underworld….”
The old man who revealed himself as the deceased acted as if he couldn’t get away from the keyword of the ferry or whatever.
Not only that, but the people around there were also no doubts that this was a ferry landing place for boats.
Luna, who was listening to the story, asked a question.
“If they’re dead, then they’re already dead, right?”
“Yes. We are all dead souls. We are beings that can be called ghosts or spirits.”
A ghost screaming after being hit by a club.
I can’t figure out why these guys who claim to be ghosts keep barging into our yard.
Is the site not good? Luna said that this place is a very good site.
More importantly, are these guys really ghosts?
There are goblins, skeletons, talking cows, elves, and god-like beings in the world, so there’s no reason why there shouldn’t be ghosts.
I was a little disappointed by the discrepancy between the creepy ghost I had in mind and the ghost screaming after being hit by a club.
“Are you guys really ghosts? To be honest, they don’t seem that different from people.”
It was Mr. Bertho who answered the question politely.
“Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. Just as the light is strong, the shadows become darker. On nights when the energy of light is strong, the energy of yin is also strong. That is why we can interfere with the world like this only today.”
Ugh.
Old Berthos looked at his own arms, exposed beneath his black robes. He examined his wrinkled palms and added a few words as if he found it fascinating.
“But this year, I’ve been able to become quite human. There’s no rot, and no visible injuries. If I can do this, I’ll be able to easily fool the eyes of my pursuers.”
I don’t really know what they’re talking about, but I could feel that these guys were somehow different from living people.
Sval, what a horrible yard full of ghosts.
I’m seriously considering moving.
While my head was spinning with complicated thoughts like that, Luna, who had been quietly listening to the story, spoke as if trying to sort out the situation.
“So, you are all dead people and want to go to the formless land?”
“Yes, that’s what will happen if we organize it. If we can’t cross the river at this year’s festival, we might really get caught by the pursuers.”
“What is a pursuer?”
Luna’s question caused a commotion here and there. Everyone was chattering, “The pursuer-the pursuer,” which seemed to frighten them.
“The pursuers are monsters that prey on the dead like us. The reason we wear masks and cover our bodies is to hide from them. Many of our comrades have already been eaten… .”
Soon Berthos bowed his head towards us.
“This year, I must board the ship safely…. Souls that have not attained Buddhahood for a long time attract pursuers because they harbor corrupting magic powers…”
Bertos, lying flat on his stomach, continued speaking.
“Goddess, it was our fault for entering the sanctuary without permission. Could you please forgive us just this once and return our money?”
They seemed to mistake this yard for a temple of some goddess, and Luna for some goddess.
Luna is the daughter of Nox, the goddess of the night, so it didn’t seem like such an outrageous statement. There’s also a statue of Nox inside that cabin.
But Luna burst into laughter under her mask as if it was a very funny situation. Well, I guess there’s no woman who wouldn’t like being called a goddess.
If we compare it to a man, it would be similar to hearing someone say, “This little guy is so big.” It would probably feel good.
That’s why Luna said that, as if she was in a very good mood.
“Okay, I’ll get you safely to the Formless Land. I even got the money.”
“Is that true?”
The crowd that had been gloomy until just now also brightened up at Luna’s words.
Although their faces were covered by masks, I could vaguely see that they were all opening their mouths wide in joy.
“You are a merciful goddess. Thank you. Thank you-!”
“Finally, my spirit and soul can rest. Will my wife be waiting for me across the river?”
“I’m glad I didn’t get caught by my pursuer….”
The yard became noisy again as everyone started talking.
“Shh, be quiet. I need to concentrate now.”
Luna warned those guys to be quiet, then drew a spell or magic circle about a pyeong in a wide corner of the yard.
The star-shaped spires with many points looked like brightly blooming wildflowers.
“I learned the voodoo of requiem a long time ago. Communicating with spirits is the basics of voodoo. Now, come in here one by one!”
Luna raised the Silence Totem and shouted, and the masked crowd looked at each other and conversed.
“Who goes first?”
“Inspiration Bertos has reached his limit. He has been dead for a long time. Let’s send Inspiration first.”
“Yeah, that would be good. Let’s stand in order of death.”
Perhaps that old man Bertos was the first to be chosen to test Luna’s voodoo skills. Was he the oldest?
When I was thinking like that.
“Where are you, you idiot? This kind of thing should start with Lee Cliff, the leader of Dosaksan. Everyone else is all twisted up!”
“Well, Cliff, but the one who has wandered the earth the longest is you….”
“What the hell are you doing? Get out of the way. I’ll do it first.”
A fairly large man stood up from the crowd, greeted Father Bertos, and stood within the magic circle.
It was about the same size as me and had a loud voice, so it looked more like a tiger than a ghost.
Perhaps horrified by the sight, the crowd could only mutter curses like “What a rascal” and “He will burn in Tartarus.”
You’re ignoring everyone’s established order. Is there a hierarchy even among ghosts? You’re a bunch of ghosts.
But Luna said it didn’t matter who went first.
“Come here and stand!”
So, in the end, a punk named Cliff or something stood inside the magic circle. We were all watching with nervous eyes, wondering what was going to happen next.
Cliff looks around and asks.
“Hey, Goddess. What should I do now? You’re going to send me to Elysium, the sanctuary of warriors, right? Hurry up and do it.”
“Shh, be quiet, and stay still, don’t move!”
With those words, Luna swung the Silence Totem at Cliff’s head.
“Voodoo of the Soul!”
Phew, bang-!
A huge ghost that screams “Kkwaaek!” and falls to the ground while making a loud noise like its head is splitting.
He suddenly lost his balance and fell down, then lay face down on the magic circle and began to writhe around.
“Eww, ugh! Huh, t, stop! What the heck, what the heck is this!”
“Requiem-! Voodoo!”
Thud, thud, thud-!
But Luna’s hands showed no sign of stopping.
“Ghhh!”
The man, who had been thinly layered under his black robe and mask, soon let out a desperate cry and fell unconscious.
All of us, including me, watched the scene in silence. Luna, who had been going wild for a while, suddenly stopped waving her hands.
His breathing was ragged and his shoulders were shaking, indicating that he was exhausted from swinging the heavy club.
“Huh, that’s strange.”
Soon Luna tilted her head and said.
“I guess I made a mistake. It won’t work. Was the spell wrong? There’s no chance of it failing.”
Soon, Luna dragged Cliff out, who was writhing and convulsing on top of the magic circle.
After that, he re-wrote the spell on the worn-out magic circle here and there and spoke to the remaining people waiting.
“Okay, next one! You’ll make it this time! I’ll send you to the afterlife in one go!”
Phew, phew!
The way he swung his huge bat back and forth like a confident 4th batter made it seem like even a living person who got hit by it would go straight to the afterlife.
But perhaps because they had seen the frenzied beating of clubs that had just occurred, the dead who had been deciding their turn just a moment ago all kept their mouths shut.
“I’m really confident this time!”
Even though he shouted as if he was really confident, the dead people all remained silent. Some of them were so scared that they were overcome with emotion and ended up crying.
That’s why I have no choice but to ask now.
“Luna, if I really get hit with that, can I go to the afterlife?”
“…I don’t know either!”
“I see.”
“But, that’s what I learned. This here is Chiron’s magic circle. It’s like the boat that Chiron, the ferryman of the underworld, rides on. And if you offer a sacrifice… Ah-.”
Luna paused, as if realizing something.
“To complete the spell, I had to offer a sacrifice! It was a rather unfamiliar spell, so I forgot. Did you say Cliff? Sorry.”
Perhaps because she realized her mistake, Luna apologized to the punk Cliff, who was lying on the floor, shivering.
“… .”
But Cliff just trembled, as if he didn’t even have the energy to speak anymore. Of course, Luna didn’t seem to care much about whether or not the guy received her apology.
“The sacrifice is the virgin’s blood. What should we do?”
A virgin’s blood as a sacrifice? It really feels like a sacrifice, and it makes me a little creepy.
“Luna, your fatigue is not working?”
“Uh, yeah… I guess so.”
Indeed, Luna can no longer be considered a virgin.
Luna herself seemed to be well aware of it. But where could she get the blood of a virgin in the middle of the night?
So while she was struggling for a while, Luna hurriedly went into the first floor of the cabin.
Then he took out what could be called a small stuffed doll in his hand and started playing with it here and there.
“Luna, what are you doing?”
“I’m calling Paranoy! This doll is like a Paranoy clone. If you tickle it like this, it’ll come.”
How many minutes did I spend scratching the armpit area of the stuffed animal with my finger?
“Luna, did you call me…? I have a feeling that Luna is looking for me, so I came here. My side feels really ticklish… .”
Indeed, at the entrance to the yard over there, a tiny nymph, Paranoy, appeared.
Although his face was unrecognizable because he was wearing a large mask, his absent-minded attitude was something I could only imagine as a paranoiac.
“Maybe it’s because of the festival, but all the inn rooms are full and there’s no place to sleep… Could you let me sleep in a cabin today…?”
Indeed, it seemed that Paranoy had no place to sleep on the festival day when the inn business was at its peak.
“But there are a lot of customers here. May I ask what you are doing now?”
“I can tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to take your blood!”
“…good bye.”
“Hehehe, I can’t go!”
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