Chapter 21: Customs

Chapter 21 Customs Lumian unconsciously held his breath and shrank back a little. Naroka did not come in this direction. She slowly, slowly entered the grove and disappeared into the dark night. “She doesn’t look right… Did something happen?” Lumian sounded a little worried. Recently, there have been more and more abnormal situations in the village. He looked outside for a while. The night had become quiet, and only the swaying leaves proved the presence of the wind. "What are you looking at?" Auror's voice suddenly sounded behind him. Lumien was not surprised but delighted. He turned around and said to his sister who was wearing two-piece pajamas: "You also noticed something was wrong?" "No." Auror's blond hair was a little messy and fluffy, and it was obvious that she had just woken up. Then she said unhappily: "I didn't see anything wrong, I just knew there was a guy hanging around the window late at night."

"It's only an hour until dawn, how can it be considered the middle of the night..." Lumian muttered to himself as usual, and then asked, "Aren't you here because the owl flew to the window again? Didn't you see Naroka outside?" "Naroka?" Auror showed a rare confused expression. Lumian did not hide anything, and told the story from the moment he woke up and saw a shadow outside the window, all the way to when Naroka, in a strange state, walked into the grove. As for the special features brought by dream meditation, he planned to consult the mysterious woman first and then consider how to tell Aurore, or keep it secret for a while to prevent his sister from preventing him from obtaining extraordinary powers. Aurore's beautiful golden eyebrows wrinkled: "Something may have gone wrong with Naroka... "Go to their house after daybreak." “What’s the problem?” Lumian asked subconsciously. "How should I know? I didn't see it, so I can't make an accurate judgment." Aurore replied unhappily. "You really didn't see it?" Lumian thought his sister was monitoring the whole process. Aurore chuckled: "Do you think you can see whatever you want? If you see something you shouldn't see, you'll have to consider which cemetery to choose for me. "I won't look outside for no reason. I'll just monitor your condition and wake up if there's anything wrong." My sister is taking such great risks to look after me... Lumian was stunned for a moment and couldn't help blinking. Aurore added earnestly: "That's why I told you, don't look at what you shouldn't look at, don't listen to what you shouldn't listen to. Pursuing extraordinary powers is a very dangerous thing." "Yes." Lumian nodded solemnly. At the same time, he said silently in his heart: "It's because it's dangerous that I can't let you go alone." ………… After breakfast, Lumian went straight to Naroka's house, carrying out his sister's instructions. Before he got close, he saw many villagers standing outside the door, including several of his companions, Ava's father Guillaume Lizier, Raymond's father Pierre Clergue, the parish priest's brother Ponce Bennet and others.

"What happened?" Lumian carefully walked around Pons Bene and the thugs surrounding him and came to Raymond's side. Raymond replied rather sadly: "Naroka passed away." "Ah?" Although Lumian was prepared for Naroka to get into trouble, he didn't expect that she was already dead. Raymond continued to talk: "In the morning, before daybreak, the parish priest came to give her last rites. "When we asked her about the wizard legend a few days ago, she was fine and energetic. How could she suddenly pass away..." In the morning before daybreak? Lumian was startled. It was at this point in time that he saw Naroka, and the parish priest's final comfort would be either earlier or later, not much different. So, what I saw was actually Naroka's ghost? This happened after the owl flew over and stared at me... Can it really take away human souls? Well, Naroka was one of the living witnesses of the wizard incident... If I hadn't listened to my sister and didn't go out after dark, the parish priest might have given me his last consolation. Haha, his last consolation for me was to spit at me... Various thoughts kept flashing through Lumian's mind. Raymond didn't chat with him either. He stood outside the two-story house, quietly mourning for Naroka. After Lumian gathered his thoughts, he saw three strangers, Leah, Ryan and Valentine, approaching. "What happened here?" Leah asked before Lumian could say hello. They saw a crowd of people gathered on the road. Lumian sighed and said: "My cabbages, a respectable old lady has passed away." "Then why are you all standing outside the door?" Leah didn't express her condolences first because Lumian's words were not so convincing. She was still wearing the same clothes as before. Lumian immediately made an obvious gesture of looking her up and down, which made Leah feel a little flustered. "What's wrong?" Ryan asked. Lumian smiled. "You are definitely not from Dareb." "We are from Bigol." Ryan answered frankly. Bigorre is the capital of the Reston Province of the Republic of Intis, and Dariege is a city on the southern border of the Reston Province, governing a large area including the village of Cordu. "No wonder you don't know the customs of the Dariege area." Lumian nodded. He had previously thought that the three strangers were officials from Darriege, but it turned out that they were from Bigorre, the provincial capital. It seems that their status is much higher than I expected... Lumian silently updated his judgment of Leah and others. "What kind of customs?" Leah asked with great interest, "Can you tell us?" Lumian wanted to have a good relationship with them, so he smiled and said: “You are my cabbages, how could I not tell you?

“As you know, everyone has his or her own zodiac sign, and in the Dariege area, we also believe that each family has its own zodiac sign, which produces corresponding luck, and the death and funeral of family members, especially the head of the family, will take away this good luck. “In order not to affect the horoscope and retain the luck, we will place the deceased in the center of a family, that is, in the kitchen, before burying her, and then cut off part of her hair and nails and hide them in the house forever, but they cannot be discovered by guests. "At this time, if the people attending the funeral enter the house, it will affect the corresponding constellation and take away some of the luck. Therefore, when we attend the funeral, we mourn outside the door. At most, we look out the door and then go to the cemetery next to the church to wait." "I see." Ryan nodded slightly. "This is just like the sacred bones stored in the cathedrals of every region. 'Where there is a part of the Holy Body, there will always be a saint.'" He turned around, faced Naroka's house, took off his hat, put it to his chest, and began to observe a moment of silence. Leah and Valentine also followed suit to express their condolences. When they finished, Lumian said to them: "I'm going to the door to look at the body. See you later, my cabbages." "Okay." Ryan nodded gently. Lumian lowered his voice and added: "I'll help you find the little blue book." Without waiting for Liya and the others to respond, he stepped aside and said with a smile: "Why do you wear the same clothes every day?" "When you're going to stay in a foreign country for a while, you can't care too much about your appearance." Ryan said simply, and Leah subconsciously touched the silver bell hanging on her veil. After saying goodbye to Valentine and the others, Lumian walked to the door of Naroka's house. After waiting in line for a while, it was finally his turn. He stood by the door and looked ahead into the kitchen. Naroka's body had not yet been placed in the coffin, and was lying quietly on a simple bed made of several benches. Her fingernails had been trimmed and her thinning white hair was neater than before. Her face was pale and wrinkled, so even a brave young man like Lumian didn't dare to stare at her for too long. "Compared to what I saw before dawn, her face is even paler..." Lumian muttered to himself, bowed slightly, and left the door. As he and Raymond walked toward the cemetery, he suddenly slapped his head: "Oops, I forgot to inform Aurore." "Then go quickly." Raymond expressed his understanding. Aurore doesn't like to go out most of the time, and without her brother she has no way of knowing what's happening in the village. Lumian said: "It just so happens that this place is not far from your home. Lend me the little blue book for two days. The one I have at home has been gnawed by mice and I need to copy some of the pages." "Okay." Raymond agreed. Anyway, there is still a long time before the burial. …………

"Naroka has passed away." Lumian hid the little blue book, returned home, and said to Aurore. Aurore couldn't help but sigh: “Sure enough, something happened. "I don't know if it was caused by the owl..." “I doubt it too,” Lumian echoed his sister. Aurore said, “Hmm.” “You must not leave your home after dark. "You must also find a way to warn those who are pursuing the wizard legend with you." "Okay." Lumian had just threatened Raymond with the fact that "Naroka died two days after being asked about wizard legends," and told him not to go out after dark in the near future. "Naroka was a good person. I'm going to change my clothes and attend her funeral." Aurore asked as she walked towards the stairs, "Would you like to come with me, or read a book and do a paper first?" Why do you need to do a test paper at a time like this? Sometimes, Lumian couldn't quite understand his sister's thinking. Considering the need to compare the little blue book, he said to Aurore: "I'll do a test paper before I go." "Very good." Aurore was pleased. After watching his sister leave, Lumian's expression became solemn. He went up to the second floor, entered the study, took out the little blue book borrowed from Raymond's family, and compared it with the one in his own home with some words cut out. Time passed slowly, and the corresponding words were found one by one and written on white paper. Lumian put it together carefully for a while, then adjusted it to the size of two sentences. Soon, the possible content of the letter for help appeared before his eyes: “We need help as soon as possible. “The people around me are getting weirder and weirder.” (End of this chapter)