We followed Blockhead to the dirt road in the village and saw many villagers coming out of their houses. They called their friends and gathered in one direction. Everyone looked happy. It seemed the 'Village Elder' that Blockhead had mentioned had a high prestige among the local people. We followed the villagers. Finally, when we were about to reach the village entrance, we saw an old man surrounded by a large group of children. That old man must be the Village Elder.
I didn't hurry to approach him. I just stood behind the crowd and watched. The old man who was addressed as the village chief looked to be in his seventies. He was leaning on a crooked wooden walking stick and had a slightly hunched back. He was neither fat nor thin, and he wore a dusty gray robe. The hood of the robe was pulled down, revealing a head full of white hair. The old man had deep eye sockets, and his face was full of wrinkles. He also had the gray skin of an old man. However, his complexion was good, and his sunken eyes were full of vigor. His gaze seemed to have the calmness and open-mindedness of an old man of his age. The old village chief was surrounded by a group of children. His robe had been scratched black and white by the naughty children in the village. However, he did not look angry at all. Instead, he opened the wide front of his robe and grabbed a handful of coarse sugar cubes to distribute to the children. When he smiled, all the wrinkles on his face were squeezed together. The old man was full of energy. "There's all of them, there's all of them! Don't snatch them! Good kids, don't snatch them! Lu An! Take care of the kids who are younger than you! "
The adults in the village formed a circle. No one went up to steal the limelight from the children. Everyone looked at the group of children with a happy expression. The children who received the candy finally dispersed. Some ran to their parents and received a slap on the face. This was to teach them that they shouldn't have pulled off the village chief's clothes. Then, the group of naughty children grabbed the candy and ran in all directions. The villagers greeted the village chief. Some young people who were impatient or liked to join in the fun jumped behind him and asked him about the big city. The old village chief happily answered them one by one. Then, he raised his head and saw the most conspicuous blockhead at first glance …
It couldn't be helped, Blockhead was like an iron tower standing in the crowd, no matter if it was length, width or height, he was two sizes bigger than the others. The old village chief looked at him standing at the back of the crowd and shouted loudly, "Blockhead! Why aren't they squeezing forward this time? Usually, you would run at the front even when you're carrying several of them with one arm. Have you changed your mind today? "
Everyone stepped aside, leaving a wide path between Blockhead and the Village Chief. The Village Chief scratched his head and answered gruffly, "Hehe, I'm leading a distinguished guest, so I can't make things difficult for them."
"Ah, there are guests!" Gramps came in a few steps. He was agile like a young man. He looked at us in surprise, his eyes puzzled. "I don't recognize you. Where did you come from? Oh, I'm the village chief of Pine Forest Village, Koto. You've just arrived two days ago, right? "
I nodded at the old man. Just as I was about to introduce myself, Blockhead shouted, "These esteemed guests are all from Imperial City. Chen is a traveling scholar. He's a learned man. The others are his family members, but I don't remember their names …"
Only then did I realize that the blockhead had forgotten all of our names in one night! He only remembered one word of my name …
"The capital?" A trace of doubt crossed the old Village Elder's face. Then, he observed our clothes. Lin Xue reacted quickly. She took half a step forward and explained with a smile, "Our hometown is the capital, but we've been away for a long time. We've been traveling around the world. We just came back from a remote place in the south. Look, our clothes are from there."
"Oh …" Of course, the old Village Elder was smarter than Blockhead, but his knowledge was limited to ordinary people. He nodded and said, "No wonder. However, from the way you're dressed, I can tell that you're not ordinary people. This lady's clothes look like she's from a noble family. "
I could see the doubt in his eyes. The meaning of his last sentence was: If she looks like a noble family's young lady, she naturally doesn't look like a traveler. As the head of a village, this old man was still subconsciously suspicious of us, a group of people in strange clothing.
The village head was referring to Bindis, the only one of the girls with me who was wearing a long dress. Qian Qian was wearing a casual outfit, while Lin Xue was wearing a pair of jeans and a sweater. Although in the eyes of the locals, they were all gorgeous and fancy clothes, at least they didn't seem to affect their activities. Only Bryndis was wearing her gorgeous gown as usual. No matter how you looked at it, she didn't look like someone who traveled around the world.
In fact, Bryndis's outfit has always been the biggest hidden danger when I go around fooling people into saying that I am a traveling scholar. Because other than those who live in martial arts movies and palace dramas, it is difficult for ordinary people to believe that a normal girl can wear a skirt that reaches below her ankles and walk as if she is flying in the wilderness, not to mention wearing this kind of skirt to travel the world. Normally speaking, Bryndis's outfit is only suitable to find a castle that is more than a hundred years old. Inside, she walks gracefully and gracefully, walking less than twenty meters in five minutes. Occasionally, she goes to the tower of the castle to look at the wheat fields outside, waiting for a literary youth to play the guitar below, or a silly youth to build a ladder to hook up with her. But do you think this scene is compatible with me, Big Ice?
Although I was very clear that Bryndis could indeed run in any environment in this dress, and she could even swing a brick to destroy the world in this dress … But I couldn't ask Sis Bing to perform a mountain run in an evening gown just because someone questioned this, right? I thought it was interesting but it could easily cause Sister Bing to get angry and hurt people. Plus, she would definitely beat me up first …
Icetis looked down at the aristocratic outfit she was wearing. She first smiled at me proudly to show off her 'aristocratic temperament'. Then, she casually pinched a fireball in the air and explained to the village chief after it caused a small commotion, "I am a high-level cursemancer. Wearing a robe is necessary for my job. I modified the robe to burn money …"
The second half of her sentence obviously didn't have any aristocratic temperament. But it seemed that no one paid attention to her temperament. Everyone was shocked by the fireball in her hand. The village chief subconsciously bowed and said respectfully, "So you are a cursemancer. No wonder."
"The lice spirit that I released yesterday found some information," Icetis explained through the mental connection, "I have a basic understanding of the clothing habits of the people in this world and the characteristics of different classes and occupations. I will tell you when I have time."
I nodded slightly and thought that this female pervert was quite reliable at crucial times.
Actually, the dress that she modified from an evening dress was quite suitable for everyday wear. Moreover, to those who didn't know the truth, she looked like a noble lady from a wealthy family. When this female pervert didn't speak, just by looking at her back, she looked like a good girl. But in this world, things like evening dresses were too 'detached from the working class'. Of course, I didn't need to think about this anymore. Since Icetis was able to deal with the village chief as a cursemancer, I didn't need to plan how to make her run in an evening dress …
"Chief, I beat up the big guy yesterday. Let's have bear meat for lunch today." Blockhead did not seem to care about what had just happened. He did not even care about the instantaneous fireball. Seeing that no one was talking, he quickly said, "The priest should be waiting at the square."
"Oh, Big Blockhead is really capable." The Village Elder came back to his senses. He wore a cheerful smile and warmly invited us. "Guests, please come quickly. This is our village's custom. If two little girls come, the stewed meat can also be eaten by children."
Pandora silently accumulated her rage bar with a blank expression. Visca jumped up and said, "I'm not a child! I'm older than you! "
Who would believe that? It would have been better if this little girl didn't say anything. When she jumped up, the surrounding people looked at this little girl who was only 1.2 meters tall and laughed. Visca's words just now were treated as a child's babble. If this happened on the battlefield or in enemy territory, blood would flow within a hundred miles in two seconds. Pandora and Visca could have blasted all the primates in the area to less than 1.2 meters. However, they knew that they couldn't act recklessly in this place. So, Visca and Pandora started to accumulate rage bar …
The old village chief, Ke Tuo, gently smiled at Pandora and her sister. His gaze lingered on us for a moment, but it was a meaningful look. Then, he walked toward the square with a group of villagers. Blockhead called us and followed him.
I scratched my head. What did that look mean?
Anyway, we wanted to see what kind of person the priest was and see if we could understand the details of the church and the Goddess's faith. So, we followed the crowd to the square. Lin Xue purposely slowed down her pace and followed behind me. Suddenly, she whispered, "Ah Jun, did you feel that the old village chief wanted to say something when he looked at us for the last time?"
"I saw it." I nodded slightly. "It was as if he was worried about us. Or if he had something he wanted to say to the villagers but didn't say it in front of us."
I just couldn't understand what the old village chief was worried about. If he still felt that our sudden appearance of strangers was suspicious, or if he was curious about our strange outfits, then it would be a bit unreasonable. Didn't Bryndis already find a reasonable explanation for it? Moreover, if the old village chief was an old spy guarding a secret base, then it would be fine. This kind of person had an occupational disease of being suspicious of everything. If a fly flew past them, they would quickly slap it down to see if there was a camera attached to it. But why would the village chief of this small mountain village be so vigilant? From his appearance, the old man looked like a simple old man from the countryside. He was respected by the villagers as a leader. I guessed that this village was far away from the emperor and the local village chief wasn't a civil servant. Logically speaking, even if an old man was more knowledgeable than the ordinary villagers, he wouldn't be hostile towards outsiders. In theory, there was no need for him to be so vigilant towards a few strangers passing by.
"This village seems to be quite simple. After contacting the locals, we can also confirm that this place is indeed hospitable." Bindis also came over to share his observation. "Since yesterday, we have greeted a lot of people, so we can basically rule out the possibility that this village has always rejected outsiders. If that's the case, then the village chief's suspicion towards us isn't because we are 'strangers', but something else. Perhaps we are just innocent bystanders. "
That was what the female pervert said, but her tone didn't sound like she didn't care at all. In fact, none of us cared. To us, this wasn't an important matter. We didn't come to this small village to freeload. Everyone had a heavy responsibility on their shoulders. Compared to world peace, how big of a deal could this situation be? We were just a little confused, that's why we were making guesses here.
"Did you see something?" I suddenly realized that Lin Xue hadn't said anything yet. She was the prophet of the team. Other than seeking luck and avoiding calamity, she was also here to be a guide. How could she not say anything at this time?
"Actually, it's just a small problem. Don't worry about it." The young miss said absentmindedly. "Everything will go smoothly. When it doesn't go smoothly, I will come and give some advice. I only have one thing to say in advance: What you see isn't necessarily true. Don't be fooled by first impressions, and don't be fooled by second impressions. "
The prophet's reminder was as usual … I didn't quite understand it. However, I understood that she told us not to act impulsively and to analyze the situation calmly.
At this time, we had already arrived at the village square. The empty space where the statue of the goddess was enshrined seemed to have many functions. It was a 'religious place', a gathering place for various activities, and it was also an open-air restaurant for the village's traditional gatherings.
At this time, the square was already set up. Wooden tables of all sizes and a variety of chairs and stools were randomly distributed on the square. There was also a group of young people running back and forth to carry more tables and chairs from afar. It seemed that not everyone went to welcome the village chief. There were also many people who stayed behind to arrange the things for the gathering. This should also be according to some kind of rule. I saw that there were all kinds of tables and chairs. Most of them had traces of being handmade. There was even a solid log that was propped up on the ground to serve as a stool. These must have been gathered from different households. The blockhead was the one who contributed the most. He was the one who caught the prey, so of course, he didn't have to provide any furniture. However, I guessed that even if he did, no one would be willing to use it. The blockhead didn't have much in his house. After searching the entire house, there were only three wooden chairs. The rest of the stools were from the pile of stones in the courtyard. Each of them was at least half a ton. He didn't kill the young men who were carrying the tables and chairs …
"Oh … Ah Jun, Ah Jun, why did I think of the temple fair?" Shallow Shallow happily ran around the large group of tables and chairs. When she came back, her face was flushed with excitement. She waved her hands and shouted at me, "It's so lively! I went to a temple fair in the countryside when I was young, but I haven't seen it since middle school! "
I also felt that the scene in front of me was a bit like a temple fair (of course, the scale was definitely not big enough, but the atmosphere). It was really hard to associate this scene with the religion of a certain goddess in Star Domain, and of course, it was impossible to associate it with "Holy Communion." In fact, this religion might be high-end in places like the imperial capital. Before the meal, there would be an old man in a robe standing in front of the crowd and giving a five-minute thought speech. Then, all the diners would have to bow their heads and give a five-minute thought speech to the goddess. Finally, they would have to say "Praise the Lord" to the statue of the goddess in unison. In other words, they would say "I'll eat first, you can do as you please." Then, after the meal, they would give a five-minute thought speech to the goddess. In any case, I guessed that places like religious centers would be this serious. However, in this small pine forest village, everything was simplified to the scene in front of us. A group of children and a Shallow Shallow were running around the tables and chairs. The villagers were happily chatting about their daily lives as they casually sat down. There was a hubbub of voices as people brought out coarse wine or snacks from their homes and placed them on the table. In the middle of the square, in front of the goddess' statue, an unprecedentedly large pot was set up. The soup inside was boiling, and the aroma of meat filled the air. A fat, dark-skinned uncle with a priest's robe tied around his waist was using an iron shovel to stir the soup. This uncle even had a golden badge of the goddess hanging around his neck. As he stewed the meat, he held something that looked like a bible and muttered, "Thank you, Goddess, for the food! Thank you, Goddess, for the peace! Thank you, Goddess, for the pepper seasoning and the soup base … Jon! Chop the remaining half of the bear paw and throw it into the pot — Thank you, Goddess, for the bear paw! Goddess, I f * cking added too much salt … "
I was speechless.
Icetis gaped at the dark-skinned man who was using the priest's robe as an apron, wiping his hands on the robe, and randomly changing the words in the bible. She muttered to herself, "… This is the priest of the village?"
I immediately felt that I wouldn't be able to get much information from this uncle. He might not have even finished reading the bible in his hand. If I were to ask him about the legends of the goddess, I might as well steal his book …
Lin Xue tugged on Icetis's arm. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but she also couldn't help but laugh, "Sister Bing, don't take it to heart. After all, this is a religion that was created with a USB as its core. Their teachings are definitely not compatible with the Star Region …"
The missy wanted Sister Bing to calm down and prevent her from killing the dark-skinned uncle in front of the statue to uphold the dignity of the Star Region. In the end, Sister Bing's next words surprised everyone, "This believer is too compatible with my taste! I used to have a pope who had the same temperament as him. Unfortunately, that child died of old age when I was sealed. I haven't met such a compatible believer in the past two years … "
I was speechless.
I finally understood. Sister Bing's standard for recruiting believers was to have a similar temperament. I peeked at the high-spirited female hooligan and tried to figure out what kind of pope she had to be in order for this hooligan leader to like him. In the end, I came to a conclusion: If Sister Bing's believers were to be thrown into any normal church, they would probably be dragged out of the church and killed on the spot. It would be beneficial to the country and the people …
However, I looked around and saw the happy children and the smiling villagers. There was also the dark-skinned uncle who was still nagging in front of the statue as if he was talking about family matters. Suddenly, I felt that this kind of believer wasn't bad. That maverick "priest" might not be very cultured, but I believed that he was sincere to the goddess he believed in.
Bryndis seemed to have sensed what I was thinking. She said leisurely, "A believer who kneels in front of the God's statue and prays day and night might not be sincere. He might have a guilty conscience, or he might have selfish desires. However, a believer who sits in front of the God's statue and complains about his grievances to the God's statue is definitely sincere. I prefer to treat the second type of believer as a child. However, sometimes when they are too annoying, I will send a clone to jump out of the statue and give them a slap. How old are they? Why are they still crying in the confessional … "
I opened my mouth but nothing came out. It was hard to imagine what kind of people were in Sister Bing's religion back then!
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