Re:Zero - Jobless Reincarnation: Succubus Sword God? I don't recognize it!

Chapter 241: The Stian Sect, the Aquatic Festival, and Ariel's Thoughts
In principle, Liupu City does not allow foreign ships to enter the city directly through the land bridge, the "city gate".

Even so, it is more convenient, faster and more efficient for people coming to Liupu City - some merchants or nobles who come as tourists can directly take hired boats or their own boats into the city in the early morning, take a leisurely tour, and then sail out of the city gate in the afternoon valley breeze.

Wouldn't it be great?
But this is not what the city managers have to consider, because the water system outside the city is well developed, and many sailboats are commercial ships. Commercial use means that this water transportation similar to buses is more profit-oriented. In the end, all the money went into the pockets of those boat owners, and even if they collected taxes, the management masters would still feel distressed.

How can I not feel sad?
Very simple.

I'm a boatman, right?

It's too troublesome to manage the thousands of ships outside the city, but I can easily manage the ships within the city, right?
No manpower? Huge investment?

Are you kidding? This is a water city. There aren't that many streets in the city. Aren't all the street troops on the water? Aren't they all riding on boats? Isn't this a natural resource?

With people and boats, things become simple.

- Chase the direction of the wind, throw your limited life into the surging waves, and make your own waves in the long river of life!

Slaughter it, kids!
Never mind the public security! Making money is the most important thing.

This is why all foreign ships have to dock under the land bridge.

Because all the paid buses in the city are police cars.

UnemployedThailand.

Including pick-up and drop-off.

At this time, people had died, and the street soldiers also came from the nearby "city bus" toll booth. They only roughly examined the cause of death of the two people on the boat, and determined that their identities were not nobles but adventurers who traveled from the south.

They quickly dismissed the crowd, disposed of the bodies, and returned to their respective posts to continue making money.

It's true.

But, no organ trafficking.

This is the blessing of the continent of sword and magic.

The good news of healing art resounded throughout the world - but only among the nobles.

"Don't look at it. Even Sylphy's healing technique can't make them talk. They're dead."

Alan was mumbling nonsense in a vague voice, looking at the huge land bridge beside him in a relaxed and casual manner, without any awareness of being a 'murderer'.

In the shadow where the sun doesn't shine, on the 'back' of the land bridge, many things are hung with many ropes.

Densely packed, shadowy.

Alan narrowed his eyes.

It's all 'people'.

There are alive.

Some are dead.

The living ones are the craftsmen. Each of them has a bag hanging around his waist, hanging in the air with various tools, hammering and banging under the bridge. There are depressions carved out at regular intervals at the bottom of the bridge, which seem to be deliberately left by the craftsmen for footing or climbing.

The mottled bluestone masonry around the depression has been beaten by the waves every year. The former edges and corners have been washed away and become extremely round, but there are still some sharp irregularities with sharp color contrast, which shows at first glance that they are newly built.

The dead ones were some gray dolls.

It swayed in the wind beside the living people, as if waving flags and cheering for the living cattle and horses.

Just as Allen tilted his head to look at the strange sight on the overpass, Rudy and Sylphy, who were standing nearby and stealing glances at the crime scene, shuddered and shrank their necks when they heard Allen's words floating in the wind, and quickly looked away.

The two grew up in a relatively peaceful environment. It was a blessing and a guarantee of order for a small village like Buena Village to have a quasi-saint swordsman like Paul and a mid-level healing magician. And Roya's short one year was even more peaceful. They were in the Lord's Mansion and were already in "order".

Although they witnessed Alan committing several murders, those were all within the law. After all, the people who were killed were completely outside the law and deserved to die.

Moreover, in a sense, in the territory of Fitoya, Allen's identity represents that he is "order" and "law enforcer".

But now, do those two assassins stand outside the 'law' and deserve to die?

Yes.

But in public, compared to the assassin, Allen's response did not seem like defense.

It's outrageous, this guy is more like an assassin.

Easily, casually, and elegantly, the two of them did it without a word, and even the accidental scene was easily prepared.

Guaranteed to die.

The key point is that this time they left the village of Buena, left Roya, and broke away from the "order".

Alan was no longer the 'law enforcer', and the real law enforcers were standing in a group next to them.

They couldn't help but feel guilty. They had a strange feeling of "Are we the killers?"

however.

Alice has no guilty conscience.

Whatever Alan does is right.

Anyway, no matter where she is, her brother, Alan Boreas Greyrat, is always the 'law enforcer' in her heart.

What is an enforcer?
My brother's knife is the 'Dharma'.

Law enforcers.

understand?
However, Alice was not very interested in the land bridge that her dear brother was looking at. She just glanced at Alan a few times, and immediately turned her head curiously to look at the shouting vendors around and the dazzling array of handicrafts on the stalls in front of them.

Isa Luti was also not interested in the crime scene, nor was she very interested in the land bridge. Similarly, she was not very interested in the vendors.

"Would you find it strange, Senior Brother? Those puppets?"

The girl was interested in her sweetheart, her black pupils reflecting his face.

The face on the eyeball blinked and stared at the large colorful paintings on the dolls hanging under the land bridge - blue waves with a religious flavor.

Swaying in the wind, it really becomes a rough sea.

Scarecrow? Sunny Doll?

"Is this some kind of custom? To pray for good weather?"

Isaruti crossed her arms, holding up her clothes, tilted her head to look at Alan, and smiled, "Yes, it is a custom to pray for good weather and good harvests, because of the 'Water Festival'."

"Aquatic Festival?"

"Well, it's a major festival of the Stylan sect."

Allen was overwhelmed when he heard about the sect. It seemed that there were indeed many religions of all sizes in the world of No Job, but at this juncture, and he had never heard of this sect in the original book, and he had never heard of it in this life. He subconsciously wanted to find out more.

“Um, I don’t think I’ve heard of it.”

"It has already declined, but the tradition has been preserved in Liupu City. At least I have never seen followers of the Stylan sect coming and going in the Misri sect."

Alan nodded and turned his gaze from the puppets to the craftsmen hanging under the bridge.

"Does this renovation activity have anything to do with the Stellan sect?" Izuluti replied with a sneer, feeling helpless about her childhood sweetheart, an atypical noble who stayed at the Mizugami-ryu dojo every day and had never studied properly in an aristocratic school.

But very patient.

"Not really. Liupu City is an important transportation hub to the capital, and the regular inspection of the Bridge is done every year."

"Before I left the capital, I heard from an apprentice who had family connections with this matter that someone would subsidize the repair of the land bridge this year. It's a big deal. Now it seems that during the time I was away from the capital, the repairs have been completed before the 'Aquatic Festival'."

"However, it is supposed to be repaired after the Aquatic Festival every year, but this year it was carried out ahead of schedule. I don't know why."

Alan nodded and stared at the craftsmen for a while, then he felt something fiery red and hard poking his face in the corner of his eye.

In a blink of an eye, a strange-looking wooden sculpture appeared in front of his face.

Being held by Alice who looked very excited.

His eyes were as wide as bells.

It's written all over his face, 'I want it! Buy it for me!'

Alan blinked, glanced at the stall owner beside him who was waiting for him, and reached out to rub Alice's head.

He thought there would be many fish sellers on the roadside, but he didn't expect that there were more handmade products. In front of him was the largest and most comprehensive stall after getting off the "pier".

Crouching down, he picked up the most common and most conspicuous handicraft and put it in front of him. It was exactly the strange wood carving in Alice's hand.

——About 20cm long, with a human body and a fish tail, painted, all female, with a plump upper body, a thin waist and a fat tail, and their bodies are inlaid with exquisite small fish scales, which seem to come from the hard scales on the tail of a kind of fish called flower scale fish, dotted on the key parts of the doll's chest and the sides of the eyes.

The scales are of different colors, blue, green, pink, white, and black, sparkling with colorful light in the sun.

Looks very pleasing.

But
Alan narrowed his eyes at 'their' eyes.

——It was pitch black, with no whites in the eyes.

This clearly distinguishes these fish-man wood carvings from humans, giving them a sense of alien characteristics.

Alan looked at it for a while, then pointed at the wooden sculpture of a fishman with red scales in Alice's hand and spoke.

"Stadium owner, how much is this?"

The stall owner was a middle-aged man with wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. Compared with the vendors next to him, he seemed more gentle and refined. Hearing this, he smiled and spoke.

"Is that lady your sister? You two look alike. The 'red scale' in her hand is only fifteen copper coins. Red scales are a common color of flower scale fish, and it is also easier to get the scales, and relatively speaking, it is the cheapest."

Allen looked at the stall owner's face and smiled. "Oh~ This is indeed our first time here." Then he pointed at a wooden sculpture of a fishman in front of the stall owner and said, "Oh, what about the one with pink and white scales over there? How much is it? Can I take a look?"

The stall owner picked up the wooden sculpture and handed it to Alan. "Fish with gradient scales are rare. Thirty copper coins each."

The two people intertwined their fingers, and the stall owner's fingers were clean.

Alan took the wood carving and handed it to Sylphy who came over to the side. The latter took the wood carving in her hand and looked at the upper part of the wood carving carefully.

It was completely different from the way Alice was touching the fish scales.

"Oh, this kind of fish-man wood carving seems to be everywhere in front of the stalls. Is there any special saying about it?"

The stall owner was very kind. "Because tomorrow is the 'Aquatic Festival', these 'Divine Servant' are offerings for the 'Aquatic Festival'. They are modeled after the maids of the river god and are the specialty handicrafts of Liupu City."

Alan raised his brows, picked up a wooden sculpture of a fishman with black and blue scales, and then held it in his hands to examine it carefully.

"'Minion of the Gods', 'Maid of the River God'?"

The stall owner was stunned for a moment, stroking his chin, looking a little distressed, "It seems that you are coming from a far place. How can I explain it to you?"

At this moment, someone beside me turned and squatted.

Alan subconsciously glanced to his side.

The best visual effect was right in the center of his sight—the three-petal open skirt was stroked from the hips to the thighs, gradually forming a rounded arc, the waist, the ribs, the soft black hair, and the neck line between the hair. All passed through Allen's vision one by one.

In just a breath, Izuluti squatted beside Allen in a very ladylike posture, and the hem of her skirt was caught between her legs as she squatted.

She looked at Alan with curved eyebrows, her lips and teeth moved, and her voice was gentle.

"The Stilan sect."

“It is also called the River God Cult.”

He stretched out his hand and pointed at the 'Divine Servant' in Alan's hand.

Following Isaruti's action, everyone lowered their eyes and looked at the wooden sculpture in Allen's hand.

Servant of God.

There was a smile on her lips, and her dark eyes were fixed on Alan.

Very focused.

-

Slender white fingers gently stroked the dark pupils of the 'God Servant'.

Gurgle, gurgle, a long and thin stream of red water was drawn above the exquisite cup.

Mist and smoke rose up and the aroma of black tea filled the gorgeous cabin.

Dilic dragged his eyes on the bridge of his nose and continued.

"Although it is an extremely unknown sect, its historical roots are much older than the Miris Holy Church."

"The doctrine originated from an ancient legend that is close to the mythological period. According to legend, 7000 years ago, when Liupu City was still a fishing village on the lake, it encountered an unprecedented drought. The drought was so severe that the Altir River system completely dried up, which lasted from autumn to spring. For the fishermen in the ancient Liupu City area who did not farm and had no farming experience, this was undoubtedly a devastating blow. Legend has it that many people starved to death at that time."

Ariel listened to Dilic repeating the knowledge she had already learned, and a hint of helplessness flashed across her blue eyes.

This personal guardian warlock of his is good in every way except that he is a little too steady and serious. Whenever there is a social event involving politics, he always likes to read all the relevant information to him in advance.

Even if you have prepared in advance.

What makes people feel even more constrained is that he always seems to have some unrealistic expectations of himself, imposing Asra's vision on himself.

"Your Highness"

Ariel took back her hand and pinched the maid's dangling hand while she was pouring tea. Looking at her blushing face, she smiled teasingly.

There were only three people in the very spacious cabin at this time.

Dilik, she, and this maid who had recently been chosen to live in the princess's mansion and was the most favored one day and night.

So it's inevitable to want to let loose a little.

So Ariel only let her wear a coat.

This is an order.

　I didn't update yesterday, so I'll post it now. I'll continue writing in the evening.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)