Fashen live room

Chapter 452 Christmas Day

Christmas Day is the day when the holy son Tanggula was born, and it is a long-standing commemoration day in the Father God religion.Every year on this day, the church will hold corresponding celebrations for it, and because of the special status of Father God in human society, Christmas Day has become more and more important in human society, and it has already developed into a celebration day for all mankind. Those dynasties before Augustus were, and so was the United Kingdom of Augustus.

This celebration extends even to the most grassroots village organizations.

In Norman's memory, Christmas Day represents happiness, because on that day of the year, people don't need to work, and the church will provide delicious white bread for people to enjoy (Norman now knows the so-called white bread. What a crude thing bread is), Lord Patton will also be merciful on a rare occasion, providing a venue for people to sing and dance to celebrate, and will take a horse-drawn carriage to inspect the village, and then celebrate with the people, and even provide drinks.

In Arica, which is far away from Ashley Village, there is no shortage of Christmas joy.

Arica, which had already been crowded with people two days ago, was even more overwhelmed on this day. Every street was crowded, but even the small area of ​​Arica still couldn't accommodate all the people. Can't get in from outside the city.However, they can still celebrate Christmas outside the city. The camps set up around Arica are full of joyous scenes, music, dancing, you can see them everywhere, and the scene of slaughtering cattle and sheep can be seen everywhere. It will be the most generous dinner for the grassland people in a year.

Compared with those independent celebrations outside the city, the celebrations in the city are much more formal and orderly.

After the 3 bells struck, the parade of floats began.

The thick-armored oxen that are unique to the grassland dragged the floats slowly on the main road. In this kind of scene of shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, the shortcoming of the thick-armored oxen moving slowly is no longer a disadvantage at all.On the floats decorated with flowers, there are various performances, such as the dance of prairie beauties, the loud singing of bards, and narrative drama performances, all of which are rare. For those nomads, this is a rare program. It makes them very happy to watch, especially this year there is a special performance that is unprecedented in previous years, which is the symphony.

It was on the fifth float, which was also the largest float. There were more than a dozen fair-skinned foreigners sitting on it, with various musical instruments in front of them. The largest float was also Crowded to the brim.In the front of these people, there is another person standing, holding a wooden stick with his back facing the direction of the float, moving continuously, and under his dancing, the dozen or so people in front of him are playing in coordination.

This scene made many people who had watched the Christmas celebrations in Arica look sideways and talked about it.

"So many people playing together? I have never heard such music before."

"I just saw so many people and thought there would be chaos, but I didn't expect it to be pretty good."

"Oh, Father God, what a shocking and great music! I seem to have seen how the church led people to successfully drive the dragons out of the mainland!"

……

Norman squeezed into the crowd, and the voices of these people in his ears came to his ears in an endless stream.

Today's Norman has changed his appearance. He is no longer the young man in the past, but a middle-aged man who seems to be in his 40s and has begun to age.

This is the look that Norman made for himself this morning, because he is going to participate in the sword drawing ceremony today.As a former saint, many people have seen his appearance. Although Arika is located in the remote Penkeland, it is inevitable that some people here will have seen him or seen his portrait. The participants of the sword ceremony should be under the gaze of countless pairs of eyes.At that time, it would be a little troublesome for him to be recognized under the eyes of everyone, so it's better to disguise himself.

Beside Norman are Chen Qinghe, Atrimesia and others, and Harriet is also there, clinging to Norman's side at this moment.

Her face became more and more haggard, her eyes were dim and weak, and an ordinary person with common sense could see how bad her body was from her haggard and weak appearance. In a slightly fantasy language, it can be said directly that "a dead breath lingers in the on her".But the magic of love is indeed great. Whenever she looks at Norman, her bleak eyes will light up surprisingly, which may be the great motivation for her to survive until now.

Regarding her condition, the guilty Norman also tried to cast some spells to treat her, but all were useless, and the Knights Templar had nothing to do about it, so Norman could only watch her slowly usher in death.

However, among this group of people, only Norman felt pity for Harriet. Artemisia, who has always been expressionless, is like a wooden person every day. No concern or sympathy whatsoever for the death of this tiny human being.Even compared to Harriet's death, a sentence from the surrounding crowd made them care more - when he heard "the church led people to drive the dragons out of the mainland", Qin Hao showed dissatisfaction and a little anger .But he was not without brains, and it was really hard for him not to crush the bug who had the guts to say such things in front of him immediately.

Chen Qinghe cared more about the music itself. After listening to it for a while, he softly praised: "This is indeed a great piece of music. Unfortunately, the level of the performer is limited, which affects the effect of the music." Taking a look at Norman, it seems that he really appreciates his virtuous younger brother. This appreciation is not limited to his strength, but more because of his virtuous younger brother's amazing attainments in various miscellaneous studies.For a dragon like Chen Qinghe, that was more appreciated than his achievements in magic.

Hearing this, Norman glanced at this shriveled old man with a rustic look on his face, then looked away, and looked at the parade queue again——Chen Qinghe had only walked in Augustus in the past year, and had contact with There were a lot of people there, just to be prudent, Norman changed his appearance today, so that he couldn't see his original appearance.

The discussions of people around continued, but the direction was gradually changing.

"I heard it in Preston, and I heard it was composed by that wanted apostate."

"What, this song was composed by that person?"

"Listen to it again, the symphony doesn't seem to be that good anymore."

"People and music should be separated. Although he is a bold insulter, his music is good. The church has not shy away from this aspect, and I don't think we need to be too nervous."

"I've heard people say that this piece was originally supposed to be performed by more than 20 people, but now there are only a dozen or so, and the effect is compromised."

……

On the float behind the float of the symphony orchestra invited from nowhere, there are no performances, but a few people, the one in the middle is a dark-skinned, slightly fat man, very gorgeously dressed , Norman saw not only elements of aristocratic clothing in the north-central region, but also some native clothing elements on the prairie.And from the comments of the people around him, he knew that the person in front of him was the city lord of Arica.

On the float behind the lord of the city, there is a black priest, dressed plainly, holding a scepter, with a serious face and no smile, and from the conversations of the people around him, it can be known that this black priest is Arikadu Church His Excellency the Metropolitan.

There were also a few priests standing beside the metropolitan, all of them black, and Norman naturally didn't know any of them.As the line of floats passed by slowly, looking at the floats behind, it was a show again, and there was nothing that Norman thought would appear.

It seems that he did not come to Arica.

Norman thought so.

In the tavern before, he heard someone say that Hardy was exiled to the prairie, and wondered if he would meet him on Christmas Day, which was one of the reasons why he changed his face so much today.But I haven't seen it now. It seems that Hardy is not in Arica. Otherwise, with Hardy's status, he should stand with the Metropolitan...

In addition to the float parade, today's program also includes the delivery of Holy Communion.

Christmas Day is a rare time for wealthy churches to show mercy every year. A large number of Holy Communion will be distributed for free along the streets today, which is one of the reasons why there are so many people in the city today.And Norman and the others, relying on the domineering bodies of the dragons, will naturally not lag behind in this kind of activity, and they easily solved the lunch problem for Harriet and Atrimisia. As for Norman and the others , the structure is already different from these human beings, and they don't need to eat.

After the meal, they all headed north, where the Metropolitan Church is located and where the sword-drawing ceremony was held.When they got there, they realized that the sword drawing ceremony had already begun.

Norman had seen many churches, including majestic ones, strange ones, and simple ones, but this was the first time he had seen a church in the style of the Metropolitan Church in Arica.

This flat-style church looks like a reclining cow. It is more appropriate to say that it is a windmill and water house than a capital church that is the head of all parishes in a city.Compared with the simple church in Ashley Village, it is not simple, but its style is extremely rustic.

Now, in front of the Metropolitan Church, there is a large square as usual.The surrounding area of ​​the square was already crowded with people, who squeezed into the square, leaving only an open space of ten meters square in the very middle.In this open space, a high platform with a height of one person was built in the center, connected by stairs on both sides, guarded by armored knights around the platform, keeping the order of the crowd, and above the platform was placed a large stone in the center , with a striking protrusion on it.

That should be the sword in the stone.

Norman stared at the sword in the stone. Although the distance was a little far away, his extraordinary eyesight allowed him to see the sword in the stone clearly.

The hilt, which is half an arm long, is inlaid with broken gems, and the end of the hilt is split in a fan shape...

Norman compared its appearance with his own memory, and finally confirmed that it was indeed the sword of Amyrius! ——Unless there is another identical sword in this world.

The stone that encloses the sword in the stone is a super large irregular ball, several heads taller than a normal adult, which made the church build another platform behind the sword in the stone, Those who participate in the sword-drawing ceremony stand on a platform and draw their swords.

Now the contestant is standing on the platform behind the Sword in the Stone, holding the hilt in one hand and pressing the other on the stone, clenching his teeth with all his strength and pulling out the sword. Norman even the dense sweat on his head The dripping and bulging veins can be clearly seen.

This contestant can be said to be very burly and muscular, but after he pulled it out with all his strength for a long time, the sword in the stone did not move at all.In the end, his face was flushed, and he wanted to pull it out, but was driven off by the priest beside him.

As the contestant stepped down from the sidelines in shame, there were strong boos and boos, and people laughed and shouted like watching a monkey show.But this scene couldn't stop people's dream of becoming famous and blind confidence in themselves. The second contestant soon came up from the side stairs and started a new round of monkey show.

Norman and the others squeezed forward while watching, and when they finally squeezed into the registration office, nineteen people had already tried again, but they all failed without exception. Lively, Norman also heard some yelling bets and frustrated voices of frustration.

It seems that the sword drawing ceremony is not just as simple as watching the excitement, there is also a gambling market, maybe this is why no one has been able to draw the sword after so many years, and the annual sword drawing ceremony is still the most lively event in the Christmas celebration the reason.

The registration process for the sword drawing ceremony is very simple. You only need to submit an indulgence ticket and you can wait in line to play.

Chen Qinghe and the other dragons have the inherent arrogance of the dragons, and they are not interested in the sword in the stone of humans (Norman naturally didn't tell them that this thing is actually a relic of the demons), so they didn't plan to try it. For a moment, only Norman participated, so he went up to submit the indulgence note by himself, but when he handed the indulgence note to the priest, his hand paused for a while, and after a delay of 0.3 seconds, he finally delivered the indulgence note. Hand in the voucher.

After the priest took the indulgence, he pointed to the side in a flat tone: "Go there and line up."

Norman glanced at the priest, his eyes were deep, but he didn't stop on his feet, and walked towards the queue beside him.Behind him, the priest continued to receive the next contestant.

The priest who received the Norman was not a native of the prairie. His skin was yellow and white, he was old, his face was full of wrinkles like ravines, and his head was full of white hair. He was more than enough to be the grandfather of the young priests around him. It is extremely clear, not as cloudy as ordinary old people.

It's Hardy Euwenstein.

Norman couldn't find it after searching for a long time just now. He thought that Hardy was exiled to other cities on the prairie, but he didn't expect that he actually came to Arica.But what surprised Norman even more was that the robes worn by Hardy, a once powerful cardinal priest, showed that he was just an ordinary grassroots priest.

Norman was a little surprised by this huge change, and turned his back to Hardy, so he didn't notice that the old pastor glanced at his back seemingly intentionally or unintentionally after guiding the next contestant , a layer of ripples appeared in the clear lake water in his eyes, and then disappeared.

(End of this chapter)