A group of young people surrounded Ava and came to the outside of Lumian's house, singing and dancing.
Little Guillaume from the Berry family walked to the door and banged on it.
He is a friend of Lumian, Raymond and Ava. He has slightly curly brown hair, obvious freckles on his face, and blue eyes that are smaller than normal and seem to be always squinting.
With a squeak, Auror appeared in front of them. She had her blonde hair tied up and was wearing a formal long dress with a light-colored collar and ruffles. She looked energetic and her face was radiant, and she didn't look tired at all after working out most of the night and not getting enough sleep in the morning.
Ava wore a crown made of branches and flowers, and sang: "I am the elf of spring" with a lovely and beautiful face "..."
"Sing and dance" Only in this way can we reap a good harvest...
Aurore listened quietly, took the leaves, and handed the small ceramic jar of animal fat to Ava.
"Good harvest! Good harvest!" the young people cheered.
When the "Spring Spirits" parade set off to the next place, little Guillaume from the Berry family deliberately fell behind and asked Aurore: "Where's Lumian? I haven't seen him in the past two days. Is he not participating in the Lenten celebration?"
Aurore smiled and said, "He's sick."
"Sick?" Little Guillaume was a little surprised. "He can get sick?" In his impression, Lumian was always full of energy. At most, he would fall and get hurt while playing pranks, and suffer some minor injuries.
"If he doesn't get sick, I'm afraid," Aurore responded jokingly, "All humans get sick." Seeing the parade of the "Spring Elves" getting farther and farther away, little Guillaume waved to Aurore and said, "Tell Lumian that I'll come to visit him after Lent!"
Aurore nodded slightly, watching little Guillaume running towards the parade team that had stopped in front of the next building. "How is it?" Lumian poked his head out beside his sister.
Aurore thought for a moment and said, "They are still normal now, but I don't know what they will become when the celebration is over."
Thinking of the bloody scene of Ava's head being chopped off at the end of the celebration, and thinking of the young people in the parade who were stimulated by some strange atmosphere and what happened at that time, and either went crazy and bid farewell to the "Spring Fairy" or completely collapsed physically and mentally and collapsed on the ground, Lumian felt that no one would be spared.
He silently looked at Ava who was singing at the neighbor's door and little Guillaume and others who were surrounding her, then slowly looked away.
Ryan, Leah and Valentine also came to the first floor and looked outside through the window.
"We have to pay special attention next." After the "Spring Elves" parade team left the area, Lai En said in a deep voice.
Aurore nodded and said, "Okay." While the celebration was still going on, they quickly prepared lunch and filled their stomachs.
Ding, ding, ding, the classical wall clock on the first floor chimes, representing the sound of twelve o'clock noon.
Lumian and the others who had already cleaned up the restaurant looked at each other, and they all couldn't help but tighten the string in their minds.
If all had gone well with the Lenten celebrations, they would have ended by now.
And if the ceremony of sending off the "Spring Spirit" is really completed, no one knows what will become of Cordu Village.
Because it was a semi-underground building, Lumian needed to raise his head slightly to see what was outside the window: the sky was blue, with white clouds and bright sunshine, without the dark clouds, fog and dim light that he had imagined.
Leah walked back and forth near the stove. The small silver bells on her veil and boots kept tinkling, a sound that was neither intense nor soothing.
Seeing Aurore looking at her, she began to explain: "We are already in danger, and it is a long-term danger, but it is currently at a level that we can cope with."
Aurore said "hmm" and didn't ask any more questions.
Lai En, on the other hand, sighed softly and said, "It would be nice if it stayed like this until the Twelfth Night."
Aurore blinked, feeling embarrassed to tell the Dawn Knight of the Mechanical Heart not to say such words, as it could easily have the opposite effect.
Although Lumian was in a heavy mood, he still smiled and replied to Lai En: "We have a proverb in the Liege area, 'Good and bad luck are all determined by fate, and it is predetermined in advance.' No matter how much we worry, we can't change what happens next."
What he didn't say was: The only thing we can do is to muster up the courage to face it.
In the intermittent conversation, the five people were alert to possible changes, but both the weather and the flying birds were so normal that they were scared.
After nearly half an hour, they both turned their eyes to the door. There were footsteps approaching. Not long after, Aurore's doorbell rang, and the ding-dong sound echoed throughout the first floor.
After exchanging a glance with his sister, Lumian cautiously walked to the door and looked outside through the peephole. The person who rang the doorbell was a man, their neighbor, Louis Baedeker.
"What's up?" Lumian asked as he opened the door, smiling.
Louis Baedeker, who is in his forties and has black hair and blue eyes, was injured while harvesting wheat in a field when he was young, and only has three fingers left on his left hand.
He was wearing a gray-blue short jacket and dark-colored trousers. He said timidly, "I want to borrow your oven. It's Lent, and I need to bake some fresh bread for the children."
As he spoke, he lifted the flour bag and kicked the bag of low-quality coal next to it.
Lumian hesitated and looked back at Aurore.
Aurore nodded and motioned for Louis Baedeker to come in.
She had just discussed this in a low voice with Ryan and the others, and planned to observe closely what changes had taken place in the villagers after the Lenten celebration.
"Just toast? I thought you were going to make some bacon for your kids." Lumian stepped aside and teased Louis Baedeker with a smile.
Louis Baedeker replied stiffly: "If there is a good harvest this year, we should be able to make a lot of bacon." His eyes were full of expectation, as if he felt that a good harvest was inevitable.
After entering the room, Louis Baedek said hello to Aurore, walked towards the oven, and started busying himself.
The more Lumian and the others observed, the weirder it felt.
Louis Baedeker didn't even look at En, Leah, and Valentine, as if they didn't exist!
It's like a person who has turned into a monster is trying hard to pretend to be normal, but as long as they encounter something beyond their original memory, they will show obvious abnormality or simply ignore it.
Lumian instantly recalled the parish priest Michel. Garrigu: He seemed fine at the beginning, but recently, he only cares about daily activities such as eating and sleeping and the desire for people to pray, and ignores everything else!
Under the gaze of the three strangers, Louis Baedeker baked bread like a set machine, chatting with Lumian and Aurore from time to time.
This is normal, this is abnormal. When Louis. Bedek left with the baked bread, Aurore looked at Ryan and the others and said with a bitter smile: "People who have participated in the Lenten celebration should have become like this."
"It's like being replaced by monsters little by little." Leah sighed sincerely.
She no longer tried to maintain the smile on her face. Lumian had adjusted his mindset and asked a question: "If you want to save such a person, how should you save him?"
"The only thing I can think of is 'purification'."
Valentine replied with a sigh, "But if the anomaly has become closely integrated with humans themselves, the final result may be that they will be purified together."
Just then, two more villagers passed by the window. One of them was Pierre Guillaume, a regular customer of the old tavern who had come to drink absinthe last time and the time before that.
He was chatting with his companions, laughing very happily, as if they were discussing the excitement of the Lenten celebration.
When they passed the door of Lumian's house, they all turned their heads and looked inside the house, their expressions were all extremely gloomy. After just a second, they looked away, their faces were full of smiles, and they continued the previous topic.
If Lumian and the others had not been observing outside when someone passed by, they would definitely not have noticed the change in expression in that brief moment.
The more obvious the laughter and joy coming from outside, the more oppressive they felt. Silence replaced discussion.
After a while, when the two villagers left, Aurore sighed and said, "This is not just being replaced by monsters bit by bit. I suspect that the entire village, except for us, is made up of monsters in human skin."
Is this a complete Lenten celebration? Lumian muttered to himself uncontrollably. Lane solemnly reminded: "It will get harder and harder every day, so hold on."
From noon to night they were always on guard against the alienated villagers attacking the house, but apart from the occasional person passing by and looking inside with a gloomy or cold expression, nothing happened.
This brought great pressure to Aurore and the others. Ryan looked around and said gently, "It's still a few days until the Twelfth Night. Don't be so nervous.
"After dinner, we will split into two groups and take turns to rest. We must maintain a good mental state." With such an experienced and calm Beyonder making the arrangements, both Aurore and Lumian were noticeably calmer.
After finishing their night duty, Aurore and Lumian woke up Leah and the others and returned to the bedroom.
Lumian glanced at the door and lowered his voice and said, "The mysterious lady hasn't shown up yet. Should I find a chance to go out and visit the old tavern tomorrow?"
"Everyone in the village now could be a monster. Once they get out, it will be very dangerous."
Aurore was not too pleased.
She thought for a moment and said, "Wait a little longer. If the mysterious lady doesn't show up tomorrow morning, I'll accompany you to the old tavern in the afternoon."
Lumian hesitated, but nodded.
He planned to discuss with his sister tomorrow morning whether to ask Lai En and others for help, and the five of them would act together.
In the bedroom filled with a thin gray mist, Lumian opened his eyes. He turned over and sat up, checked his body, and found that the serious injury he had suffered before had completely healed.
He was about to sigh when he suddenly heard the sounds of "ding-ling-ling" and "ding-ling-ling".
"Is someone ringing the doorbell?" This thought flashed through Lumian's mind subconsciously, and he habitually went downstairs to see who was visiting.
Just as he took a step forward, he suddenly froze. This was in the ruins of a dream! How could someone come to visit