Mystery: The Returner of the Stars

Chapter 284 The price of a good harvest

Steal food?

I am a majestic Earl, will I come to steal your food, or is it in a dream?

Hastur suppressed the corners of his mouth that were about to twitch, and couldn't help but think of a certain penguin's food stealing game. At that time, it was really a food stealing game for the whole people, and some even set the alarm clock to get out of bed in the middle of the night, which was crazy.

"I'm just curious as to why your food looks so good."

"Of course it's because we have the blessing of the goddess!" The girl replied quite naturally.

Hastur pretended to be ignorant and continued to ask, "Which goddess?"

"The God of Valley, the Goddess of the Breath of Spring, we all call him that. He has always protected our land and is our patron saint." When mentioning the gods she believed in, the girl unconsciously puffed up her chest and raised her voice.

"Oh, I have heard that it is said that a female priest is required to preside over the sacrificial ceremony every year."

The girl had a bright smile on her face, "I am the priest of this year's Valley Sacrifice Festival."

Hastur also showed a smile on his face, "It's amazing. I also heard that the priestess of the Sacrificial Valley Festival will change every year. Is this also chosen by the goddess herself?"

"Of course not. This is a quota that my father bought from the mayor, saying that it is to accumulate fame for me."

The girl said something that surprised Hasta, but after thinking about it, it was very mundane and normal.

No wonder the priestesses change every year. It turns out that their inheritance has long since declined, and the current priestesses are just symbolic dolls pushed out by the mayor.

The girl worried: "You are not allowed to tell others. I only told you because I saw that you are not bad. If others find out, my father will definitely punish me."

Hastur had no choice but to assure her that she would not leak the secrets indiscriminately, and praised her for being a priest at a young age.

When the girl was in a happy mood, Hastur took the opportunity to ask her some other secrets.

For example, the origin of the Valley Sacrifice Festival, what kind of sacrifices were offered during the sacrifice, and whether any unusual things happened in the town.

One question and one answer, when Hasta asked almost the same, he wanted to leave the dream.

"Will we meet again?"

"If there is a chance."

Facing the girl's reluctance, Hastur just smiled and gave an uncertain reply.

The girl's eyes lit up, she smiled happily and said, "I have a hunch that we will meet again, soon."

When Hastur left the dream, the girl in the dream lost her light in her eyes and stood aside blankly, not knowing what to do, as if she had lost her soul.

Hastur left Miss Liv's room and returned to the street with a solemn face towards the place where the mayor lived.

According to what Miss Liv said just now, the origin of the Sacrificial Valley Festival is indeed to worship a girl who used to live in this town, but that girl was not willing to dedicate herself to the harvest of the town's crops.

Because she herself was the first chosen sacrifice, for the people at that time, it was a transaction that did not require thinking about being able to exchange one's life for a good harvest.

But for some reason, as time passed, the sacrificial girl gradually replaced the god who gave blessings, and was posthumously named the God of Valley, the Goddess of the Breath of Spring.

Be the gods who enjoy offerings today.

Every year during the Sacrificial Valley Festival, the sacrifices are not the priestesses, but the young lovers.

The specific situation, the girl did not disclose in depth.

Hasta found it strange that she knew so much. Logically speaking, a little girl like her should not be able to know these secrets.

When he came to the mayor's house, Hastur used his dream ability to enter his dream again.

This time it went well, the mayor's dream was divided into two halves, one half was the harvested farmland, and the other half was the weird world where spiders weaved webs.

The mayor in the dream had his feet entangled with spider silk, his eyes were dull, and he was stupid, which fit the description of the nightmare ability.

Facing Hastur's inquiry, the mayor was like an answering machine, telling what he knew.

The mayor also didn't know how the girl who was first sacrificed became the goddess of the breath of spring sacrificed at the Sigu Festival.

He only knew that if he wanted the town to have a bumper harvest every year, he had to hold a Grain Sacrifice Festival, otherwise disasters would come here.

This is something that every mayor will be told when he takes office.

In the first Valley Sacrifice Festival, the priestess was indeed the chosen sacrifice.

But later they gradually evolved into lovers, and they had to reproduce in front of the god statue.

From one couple at the beginning to the current five couples, the appetite of the gods is getting bigger and bigger, but for a good harvest, it is still necessary to hold the Grain Sacrifice Festival.

So in the past few years, the town will secretly buy a few couples from other places and make them sacrifices to please the gods, so as to obtain a good harvest.

As for the selection of the priestess, it was randomly drawn at the beginning, but as the girls who have been priests are more likely to marry and obtain high-value gifts, some impatient parents will secretly bribe the mayor to buy the once-a-year number of priests.

The number of priestesses this year was bought by old Jeff for 50 gold pounds.

"What will happen to the couple who became the sacrifices of the Sacrificial Valley Festival?"

When Hastur asked this question, a strange smile appeared on the mayor's face, and he said sadly, "Of course he was eaten by the gods!"

"Where is the god in your mouth?"

"Hehe, right here on this land..."

Before the mayor could finish his words, the spider silk that was originally wrapped around the mayor's feet suddenly surged wildly. In just a few breaths, the mayor was wrapped into a white spider cocoon, and then hung in mid-air.

In the dream world that was originally half divided, the golden field was completely swallowed by the spider web world.

In the depths of the white spider web, the cocoons of white spiders suspended in mid-air began to crack, giving birth to adult-sized spiders with snow-white abdomens, red spots on the backs, and black spiders on the rest.

"Did you realize the danger, so you exert influence from the air?"

Hastur did not hesitate, and immediately left the mayor's dream.

In reality, the mayor, who was lying on the bed and sleeping soundly, was completely wrapped in spider silk, turning into a white cocoon.

Those white spider silk threads are spreading from the mayor's body to the edge of the room.

And the instigator is a thumb-sized spider.

These spiders came from the mayor's belly button, where a hole was opened, and more and more spiders crawled out of it and began to weave webs.

Soon the whole house was a white spider cave.

The weird scene made Hastur retreat to the window, and Hastur left through the window when the spider silk thread spread over.

Strangely, when the spider web covered the whole room, all the spiders went down the navel again and burrowed into the mayor's body.

Hastur stared at the opposite house for a long time, until a suppressed exclamation sounded from that house.

Although the relatives of the mayor saw this strange scene, although they were panicked, they did not shout as expected. Instead, taking advantage of it being late at night, they carried the mayor's cocoon-wrapped body on their shoulders, and then went down The building was placed on a bullock cart covered with straw, covered with thick straw and other fruits and vegetables.

Seeing such a strange behavior, Hastur naturally followed. The speed of the ox cart was not fast, and Hastur reluctantly followed behind.

Occasionally losing the direction of the bullock cart, he can also use the guidance of fate to find the right direction for himself and continue chasing.

The bullock cart left the gate of the town, drove along the main road for a while, then turned into a small road and drove into the growing farmland.

At the end of this flat farmland, there is a 200-meter-high hill, and the ox cart is parked at the foot of the hill.

There was no bullock cart to speed them up, Hastur quickly caught up with them, a group of four people, the front one was responsible for leading the way with a lamp, the middle two were responsible for carrying the cocooned mayor, and the last one was on guard. , to prevent someone from following.

Look at their skilled division of labor, it seems that this is not the first time they have done this kind of thing.

Hastur thought of the five young couples who held the sacrificial ceremony last night, and they disappeared accordingly after the sacrificial ceremony.

It seemed that, like the mayor, they were wrapped in cocoons by spider silk and sent here secretly.

Feed the gods?
Hastur followed them slowly up the hill.

Tonight, the light of the crimson moon is temporarily shrouded in dark clouds, the sky is dim, and the cold wind is blowing in the mountains. Although it is much warmer than Backlund, in the middle of the night, people still feel the icy atmosphere Wet clothes and soak into skin.

At the top of the mountain, through the dense forest path, came to a deep cave. The two men carrying the mayor's cocoon approached cautiously, and then directly threw the weight on their shoulders into the cave.

After all this was done, a group of four people knelt on the ground and prostrated, chanting words such as asking the gods to forgive and forgive sins.

Until there was a slight dragging sound in the cave, the four people hurriedly got up and left here without looking back.

After they had left, Hastur emerged from the shadows and came near the cave.

This deep cave is facing vertically downwards, and the dim moonlight that is not very bright makes it impossible to see the things inside the cave clearly.

Moreover, there are spider webs all over it, which blocks the sight of prying eyes.

Hastur carefully observed the edge of the cave for a long time, and did not choose to venture into it.

He doesn't have the hobby of feeding tigers with his body. Under the unknown conditions, he will not let himself take risks easily.

But he didn't leave right away, but waited here to see if any other changes would happen.

After waiting for about an hour, Hastur moved a large rock from nearby and threw it directly down the cave.

According to the time it takes for the stone to fall to the ground, it is speculated that the cave should be about 130 meters high.

According to the height of the mountain, the navel of the mountain should be the location of the spider's nest.

Soon, the sound of dragging a heavy object was faintly heard from below the cave.

Hastur listened for a while, and then moved two large stones from nearby, both weighing about [-] kilograms.

He dropped a big stone first, and when the sound of dragging sounded again, Hastur threw another big stone down.

Soon, there was a piercing sound from below, as if many spiders were pouring out of the cave below.

"Tsk, I can't afford it."

Hastur left the vicinity of the cave, climbed up a three-meter-high tree, stood on the trunk, and overlooked the cave.

Under the faint light of the crimson moon, pairs of blood-red eyes lit up in the dark cave.

(End of this chapter)