Chapter 182

182nd Episode

Get Out of Our Yard!

The streetlights shone brightly.

The convenience store lights.

The neon signs of the downtown area.

It feels like ages ago, but as far as I remember, the streets of Korea at night were fairly bright.

And if you headed towards the bustling districts that every major city usually had, you could easily see people wandering around even late at night.

But the evening in the wild and uncivilized Gaia Continent was neither bright nor lively, and the only noise you could hear was from the inns packed with drunken guests.

Waggle waggle-.

Tonight, however, the downtown area seemed filled with people, despite the late hour.

“Wow, Hassan! There are so many people!”

Luna, who had been holding my arm and guiding me, shouted loudly from beneath her skull-shaped helmet, watching the masses that packed every street.

“But it’s kind of creepy, right?”

At Luna’s words, I too glanced around.

Although many people were walking through the streets, their faces were obscured by various masks, giving off an unsettling vibe.

Suddenly, it felt like someone was about to pull out a dagger and start mugging someone. Hell, with people wearing masks like this, it’s understandable to feel this way; it’s suspicious.

The crime rate will probably increase with this late-night festival.

Among the bustling crowd, there might be young pickpockets waiting for a chance, and only the imagination could guess what’s happening in the secluded back alleys.

CRASH, BANG.

“You just touched my b*tt, didn’t you! Pay up, you little brat!”

“sh*t, who touches a man’s b*tt?! Uh? Did that just hit me?”

“No, I didn’t!”

“…Alright.”

In the middle of the lively main street, occasional screams, shouts, and the sounds of fights—things breaking and rolling around—could be heard.

Clang, crunch.

Of course, guards with helmets covering their faces were frantically moving around in various directions, but since there were too few of them compared to the massive number of citizens flooding the streets, they seemed to be struggling.

“Alright, line up. Origenes of the Minerva Guild will manage the traffic.”

So, the Minerva Guild is responsible for this festival?

It’s quite common to see adventurers in masks roaming around. Their identities are evidenced solely by their guild emblems—either bronze or silver badges.

Man, there are seriously a lot of people.

I’ve always wondered what would happen if I just bulldozed through this crowd of festival-goers.

But it’s not just me. Everyone must have thought this at some point—it’s natural. My two cents: deep down, everyone wants to plow over others with a bulldozer. They just don’t do it.

sh*t, all sorts of thoughts come to mind when there are so many people around.

I shifted my attention from imagining the large wheels of a bulldozer.

“Luna, hold onto my arm tightly so we don’t lose each other.”

“Hassan, look! A mage is performing!”

Unlike Luna, who was frantically pulling me left and right despite the risk of getting separated in such a crowd, I worried endlessly about losing her.

Luna, however, seemed to find everything around her fascinating.

Following her lead through the throng of people, we reached a circle where a masked woman was performing a fire act using torches.

WHOOSH.

WHOOSH.

Ah, sh*t, is this some kind of fire-eating trick?

The woman, with a mask covering the upper part of her face, opened her mouth wide and swallowed the flame from the torch, leaving streaks of ash and extinguishing the fire.

The crowd was amazed, clapping and cheering. Some even threw coins at her feet, creating jingling sounds all around.

Apparently, it’s some sort of street performance troupe. With the festival underway, such entertainment seems to be abundant, making the experience enjoyable.

“Hassan, look! She ate the fire! Is it magic? It seems like fire-eating magic!”

Luna excitedly slapped my arm at the sight, but I was more focused on picking up the coins that had rolled under my feet.

TING-a-ling.

A coin thrown at the performance troupe had rolled over to my feet.

I subtly stepped on it, ensuring no one noticed, and pretended to tie my shoelace while collecting all the scattered coins.

Let’s see… three coppers.

It’s like they’re performing for free while I profit from it. Money sure is easy to make.

Maybe it’s because of the masks, but it looks like actions that would normally embarrass me or violate my conscience are becoming easier to do.

“Hassan, why are you still looking at the ground?”

“Because I’m picking up coins. This place is literally a coin mine.”

“How much?”

“I’ve already picked up three coppers.”

“d*mn… let’s pick up more.”

And so, Luna and I knelt between people’s legs, diligently collecting coins.

It was pretty dangerous since we occasionally got stepped on by the bustling crowd. Even so, by the time we were done, we had managed to gather around ten coppers.

Picking up money from the ground might seem lowly, but I wasn’t alone—there were others wearing masks who were doing the same thing here and there.

But maybe the people who dropped the coins considered them trash, since no one seemed to care. Is this also one of the festival’s activities?

“Haha, with this, we can buy corn!”

Watching Luna, who was delighted at the clinking coins, made me realize that a man should indeed earn money well.

Thus, Luna and I headed to a street stall with the coins we had collected from the crowd’s feet to buy snacks. However, the line was incredibly long, so we couldn’t tell when it would be our turn.

Are there really this many people in this city?

It seems way more crowded than during the daytime when I visited the market—could it just be my perception?

“Luna, aren’t there a bit too many people?”

“It’s a festival! People probably came from other cities!”

Indeed, Luna’s words had merit.

Since the festival goes on for several nights, it makes sense that travelers from other cities would come to enjoy it and merchants would capitalize on the opportunity.

Luna’s smarter than I thought.

While marveling over Luna’s wisdom, she suddenly continued in a dramatically eerie voice from beneath her mask.

“Also, in this Sodomora festival, things that are not human also mix in.”

“Non-humans are mixed in?”

“I heard that spirits who couldn’t pay the ferryman’s toll to cross the river of the underworld come through this city of Sodomora during this period. So they wear masks to prevent the living from being harmed, making it hard to distinguish between the living and the dead.”

Is this the strange origin of this festival?

I recalled what I had read in the library books about the origins of Sodomora.

The long-titled book on the history of Sodomora’s founding—mostly boring content—I had only read up to the first chapter before giving up.

According to the records, it appears that deep within the abyss under the city of Sodomora flows the Styx, the river of the underworld.

The city was built at the river crossing to harness the magic power emitted from there. This eventually developed into the city as we know it today.

Thinking about it now, it’s essentially saying there’s a huge water vein—a river, if you will—running beneath the city.

While I know nothing about feng shui, having a water vein beneath is clearly not beneficial to humans.

sh*t, and it’s not just any water vein—it’s the river of the underworld!

It reeks of danger.

Now I understand why Pluto cultists, who were rarely seen in Kolkata, are so active in this city of Sodomora.

*

“Ah, it was fun, wasn’t it?”

The festival is supposed to last until dawn.

Luna and I, having tired quickly, decided to leave after watching a bit more of the street performances and headed back to the cabin.

Luna had been working hard throughout the morning and afternoon, and her stamina was already drained. Even I was feeling a bit exhausted after a grueling training session with Hippolyte.

Still, I was quite satisfied after enjoying the delicious snacks and some sight-seeing. But since this is a rare festival, I wondered if going back now was alright for Luna.

“We’ll come back to watch on the next days! The festival will continue for the next four days!”

The festival isn’t just for one day—it will go on for quite some time, so it’s okay. It seems the main attractions and events will start from the second day tomorrow.

“Let’s end the work earlier tomorrow, or finish tomorrow’s quota at home today. How about that?”

Even though we had just returned from the festival, Luna, who seemed to enjoy the chaotic and eerie atmosphere, was already excitedly planning for the next day.

“Did you have fun?”

“Yeah! It’s the first time I’ve seen the night this lively!”

Indeed, people are sometimes enveloped by a curious excitement when out late at night. Could the dark, moonlit night really possess such magical allure?

Speaking of Luna, as the daughter of a great deity ruling the night, maybe her experience of the night is different?

An evening stroll with Luna would be nice, but given the city’s security level, it’s probably impractical.

Anyway, we wandered back to the Western Slums from the central bustling area of the city.

It was eerily quiet; it was hard to believe how lively the place had been only moments ago.

From time to time, groups of masked individuals huddled in the dark alleys, prompting me to instinctively place my hand on the club at my waist.

sh*t, they all look like thieves, really unsettling.

Let them come at me if they want—I’ll take them all down.

While I was unconsciously emitting a threatening aura towards the surroundings, Luna, who was munching on a corn on the cob, said:

“I couldn’t even get close to the festival last year, but this year, it’s exciting to participate in all kinds of events.”

“You didn’t see the festival last year?”

“Because I was hungry, I would just sleep without doing anything at night.”

“Right.”

Luna had mentioned earlier that when she had first arrived in the city, she had practically nothing and led a very poor life.

She survived by sleeping or weaving ropes in barns to earn a bit of money and would do anything to avoid burning calories at night.

She probably didn’t have the luxury to enjoy the festival.

Of course, now Luna is a successful businesswoman earning one gold coin per month.

She’s also a dominant landowner who invests in traps priced at ten silver coins to protect her territory—who would have guessed Luna could achieve such success?

It is quite a remarkable change.

“Luna, you’ve become really successful.”

“Right? Now, I have land and a house, even opened a workshop. It seems like I’ve achieved almost everything I wanted. Next, I need to make enough money to lift the curse on Ideope’s island.”

Luna had a goal.

And I believe a woman striving toward her goals is quite impressive.

Despite being physically much smaller than me, this girl somehow felt grand in my eyes now.

In a world where many struggle to make ends meet, sticking to her goals, even while eating roots, speaks volumes.

Could I have withstood that if I were her? Probably not—I would’ve collapsed long before a year passed. Thinking this, Luna’s efforts seemed quite extraordinary.

In a way, this made me feel somewhat inferior.

After all, I’m just a common adventurer living hand-to-mouth.

Certainly, Luna has never looked down on me, but as a man, I can’t help but feel a sense of inadequacy.

Romances where there’s such a disparity in status are far more complicated than expected. But why am I thinking about such things in the first place?

I suddenly realized I was drowning in too many thoughts. Does Luna ever worry about all this?

Out of nowhere, I became curious about how Luna manages her life normally. What does this firm mind, beneath the hard skull helm decorated with pink hair, think about daily?

“Luna, what are you thinking about?”

“Nothing much.”

“I see.”

It seemed Luna wasn’t thinking about anything specific.

Was I just being overly sensitive? Nights and early mornings tend to make people sentimental. I should go to sleep when I get home.

“Keng Keng, everything alright?”

KENG KENG!

After entering the house and confirming nothing was amiss during our absence, we roughly cleaned up and climbed into bed.

BANG, PA-PA-PA!

Though the fireworks outside the window were quite loud, lying next to Luna while watching the sky painted by sparks somehow felt graceful and enjoyable.

It seemed Luna felt the same way.

“Lying down to enjoy the festival is quite indulgent, isn’t it?”

At Luna’s statement, I clung to my consciousness slipping into sleep.

“What did you say?”

“I never imagined I’d be lying here watching fireworks this year. If I hadn’t met Hassan, I’d probably have returned to Ideope’s land by now.”

“Is that so?”

“After meeting Hassan, it seems my financial luck has improved. Is black my lucky color? Could it be because I’m a worshipper of the night?”

Honestly, I knew little about lucky colors or financial fortune. Luna often believed in superstitions like these.

While struggling to think what to say with my sleep-laden mind, Luna suddenly spoke as she nestled into my arms.

“Let’s watch the fireworks again together next year.”

“Sure.”

I felt very happy. It means I’ll have at least another year to be a part of the life Luna has crafted for herself.

Just as I began to drift off to sleep with the sound of fireworks as my lullaby,

SLURP.

Luna slipped out of my arms and sat up.

“Are you going to get some water?”

“No.”

Luna shook her head in response to my question.

“Someone has trespassed onto our territory… or maybe not. I’m not sure. What is it? What could it be?”

“What’s that supposed to mean…?”

Just as I was about to ask what she meant, suddenly—

CHINK!

The sound of a precise mechanism engaging, followed by the sound of metal clamping together, reverberated loudly from the garden. It was the bear trap Luna had set going off.

I woke up instantly and quickly climbed out of bed.

“sh*t, are they raccoons? Did raccoons come?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know, it feels strange… Is it my imagination?”

Luna appeared disoriented, perhaps still groggy from sleep. I stood up and approached the window.

“I’ll peek out. Wait here.”

Looking out the window cautiously, I saw a group of strange people in masks swarming into our yard.

“Skull sign noted, it’s here! This is the ferry crossing for this year, hurry inside!”

“Quick, let’s go in! We must cross the river this year!”

What the hell? What are they talking about and what are they coming here for?

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