Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1470 1442. [Filth]

The villagers who had helped the village chief move a large pile of miscellaneous items for the ceremony began to dismantle things.

Daisuke Kikuchi gave his son some instructions before turning to Lan En.

"The world is unstable now. You can see corpses of people who were robbed and killed by bandits on the roadside."

The old warrior spoke casually, just like an ordinary old man complaining about the current situation.

"The more resentment and [filth] accumulate, the more monsters there are. It's really a pity."

"The village is protected by the sacred cherry tree. Who would have thought that hungry ghosts from the hungry ghost realm would appear in the village?"

[Hungry Ghost Realm].

Without making any movement, Lan En mainly caught the word.

One of the six realms of reincarnation, if that hungry ghost really escaped from the so-called hungry ghost realm and arrived in the human world, then at least it means that this world really does have a world after death and an order after death?
This is not an issue that can be easily concluded.

The destination after death is one of the ultimate questions of life in many worlds.

So far, even with Lan's experience, he has only encountered two worlds where the order of the afterlife can be clearly understood.

In the world of fire, the soul of life is born beside the original fire. Without the soul, it is just a zombie.

After death there is clearly nothingness.

In the world of Arda, which the Creator God still watches over, the halls of Mandos house the souls of the dead, and even the gods below the Creator God can release souls back to the world if they wish.

For example, the [Golden Flower Lord] Glorfindel, whom Lan En had once met.

From this perspective, any world that can clearly confirm the order of the afterlife does not seem to be very simple.

I just don’t know how ‘complex’ this world is.

"【Filth】?" Lan En chewed on the word meaningfully.

He could easily extract important information from Daisuke Kikuchi's complaints.

War is of course a bad thing, but the resentment and filth generated by war seem to be the main reasons for the increase in the number of monsters.

Among them, the so-called "filth" is the main concept.

At the right moment, the witcher showed an expression of being very patient and listening.

The old samurai, the old samurai, he is first an old man, and then a samurai. The children at home are not the kind of people who are easy to worry about, so if someone listens to his chatter, he will naturally say a lot more.

Lan's precise control and response of emotions made Kikuchi Daisuke feel almost nothing, so he naturally complained for a while longer.

"Yes, [Remnant]." The old warrior sighed, with a look of regret that the world is going downhill. "It's probably a caravan passing by to rest and raise horses. They encountered something unclean on the road and brought [Remnant] into the village."

“This is what attracts hungry ghosts from hell.”

"A lot of them have escaped from hell in recent days." Lan En praised the situation with some nonsense that seemed to be a sigh of emotion but actually had no substance.

The old warrior agreed: "This is what happens when the world is in chaos. Not only humans, but also monsters and evil spirits will run rampant in the world."

"Don't even think about resting tonight." Daisuke Kikuchi tightened the belt with the scabbard on it and said seriously, "The patrol team still has to patrol, but I have to speed up and find the person or caravan that brought the [filth] and have them purified."

[Residue] refers to the filth left behind in the mystical sense due to bad things that have happened in a certain place, such as death, epidemics, fires, floods, etc.

Lan En could understand the meaning of this word because most Japanese horror films are of this type.

In Chinese horror films, when ghosts kill people, it is usually a case of wrongdoing. If innocent people are harmed, the righteous masters will think that the ghost has fallen into the evil way and will eliminate it or send it to reincarnation.

However, in Japanese horror films, even if ghosts are killing people, most of the time it's not about revenge or vengeance, but just indiscriminate killing.

This is because the two cultural atmospheres have different understandings of the concept of "ghosts that harm people".

Chinese culture believes that the soul that turns into a ghost after death still has human nature, and can be seen as a person twisted by obsession. After resolving grudges, it is time to be reborn.

But in Japanese culture, they are no longer human beings, and they have no humanity. They are "remnants", the remaining filth.

Filth does not recognize anyone, it only contaminates everyone who passes by.

From the perspective of the victims, it means that the harm is expanded indiscriminately.

And in this world, [filth] seems to attract unclean things.

Just now, Daisuke Kikuchi mistakenly thought that Lan En didn't try to purify [Changshi] because he was a person who didn't want to get his hands dirty.

It can be seen that in this world, even killing ghosts is an act that will make oneself tainted with filth.

If there are no corresponding purification methods, the more ghosts are killed, the dirtier the world will become.

And just by being around people who kill ghosts, you will also be contaminated with dirt.

Therefore, people dare not approach, and even feel fear and rejection.

"Are you looking for someone who is infected with the [filth]?" Lan En looked at the villagers who were gradually dispersing and going home, and said to Daisuke Kikuchi, "I think I have seen that person."

"Huh?" The old warrior's eyes widened in surprise. This could really save him a lot of trouble. "Thank you very much!"

Saying that, he bowed again.

So it was natural that the old warrior asked for a torch from the patrol and followed Lan En to find the person who lived next door to the witcher and had just encountered evil.

Lan En also briefly told Daisuke Kikuchi what he had seen.

"He is disturbed, frightened to the point of fainting, weak, and there are strange noises in the room." The old warrior was a little angry. "This must be contaminated with [filth]! Why didn't you tell me when you came into the village, bastard!" "Maybe he doesn't know either?" Lan En said as he led the way, "I can see that he also looks very surprised and panicked."

"Don't know? Humph!" Daisuke Kikuchi snorted coldly, "The [filth] that can summon evil spirits was created in the past one or two days at most. The dead body's flesh has probably not been eaten by wild dogs and crows yet. How could they not know if they passed by?"

"I see, that bastard caravan just doesn't want to pay for the purification ceremony! Damn it! We have to make them pay for it!"

He walked away while talking angrily.

The village is not big, and one person certainly wouldn't dare to go out of the village at night, so just looking around would be enough.

But before Lan En and Daisuke Kikuchi could look around.

The young samurai, Kikuchi Sadakichi, who had just come down from the cleansing ceremony and was the leader of the night patrol, ran over in a hurry, holding a torch.

"Father! Father!"

"What are you arguing about? Didn't I tell you to go back and continue patrolling? The [Residue] hasn't been cleared yet, and now it summons hungry ghosts. What should we do?"

"No, no, someone's dead!"

"what?"

The old warrior, who had just been scolding his son with a stern face, was suddenly startled.

Regardless of the fact that Kikuchi Sadakichi hadn't stood up yet, he continued to ask: "Has there been another hungry ghost? Where is it?"

"No, it's not a monster." The young warrior swallowed, his eyes reflecting the firelight also revealed confusion, "A man hanged himself on a tree by the river."

"Suicide?" Daisuke Kikuchi's voice did not lower, but instead rose in tone in anger, "Don't you think the village is dirty enough now?!"

But Lan En frowned, stepped forward and said, "Please lead the way."

Not far away, they reached the river.

Amid the sound of rushing water, a man wearing only a short coat without even a loincloth was hanging on a tree in such a miserable state.

What was strangling his neck was his loincloth, which had turned black and shiny.

The people present also frowned and called it bad luck. Tonight, there were hungry ghosts and suicides. Who knows, there will have to be another exorcism ceremony to cleanse away the "filth".

As for corpses, most people of this era have already accepted them very well and don't feel anything about them.

But when Lan En saw the man's face, which had turned blue and distorted, he stopped and spoke softly.

"it's him."

So Daisuke Kikuchi also stopped in surprise.

"you sure?"

The demon hunter just nodded silently.

"This is really..." The old warrior's face twisted, "Trouble!"

This is different from modern people who may be frightened by the auditory hallucinations and strange things brought about by [filth], leading to mental breakdown and suicide.

Perhaps it was because ancient people paid less attention to spiritual issues, or perhaps it was because life was difficult and life was fleeting, so they were more resilient.

You can call it mental numbness or you can call it strength.

Anyway, in the eyes of Daisuke Kikuchi, there is nothing to say about killing the monster summoned by [Zanhui].

However, it is rare to see someone commit suicide due to the indirect influence of "filth".

How scared must that be?

What level of [filth] would that be?

"First see if he committed suicide."

The witcher said calmly, already walking closer to take a look.

Finally, after a scan with the witcher's senses, Lan could only shake his head at the old warrior.

This is really suicide.

"Let's go and invite the village chief over." Daisuke Kikuchi sighed first, called a militiaman to run to the shrine to inform the village chief, and then squatted down.

Observe the body that was put down after being investigated by Lan En.

"If he wants to hang himself, then just hang yourself. Why block his ears?"

The old warrior put his fingers into the ears of the corpse, tore the two cloth balls made of clothes into pieces, and then pulled them out from the corpse with a distorted face and bloodshot eyes.

"I know that," Kikuchi Sadakichi said after thinking for a while, holding up the torch. "Before he ran over to hang himself, he screamed like crazy."

"Something like 'Stop bothering me and make those babies shut up and stop crying, please.'"

"Maybe this is just trying to plug your ears."

"About the baby's [filth]?" The old warrior sighed and had a headache. "It scared people to death. Just relying on [filth] can do this. Has such a big thing happened near us recently? Why haven't I heard of it?"

The father and son sighed and discussed the instability of the world.

But Lan En frowned as he listened to their words.

(End of this chapter)