Chapter 39 Sheep More than a dozen people from the Berry family were crowded in a two-story house with a shabby appearance. Lumian looked at the open door with familiarity, then carefully walked around it from the side and came to the open space surrounded by a wooden fence at the back. There were piles of hay and firewood in the open space near the eaves, and three white sheep, whose appearance was brown due to their dirtiness, were wandering around there. Lumian was thinking of what Aurore said about the sheep that Pierre Berry had driven back this time, and he didn't know what was strange about them. So he took the opportunity when the shepherd went to the church to pray to come here to check on the sheep. Although he had never herded sheep before, he had come into contact with at least seventy or eighty sheep in a village like Koldu, which was close to the plateau grasslands. He was definitely not unfamiliar with them. After observing carefully for a while, Lumian did not find any difference between the three sheep in front of him and their kind, so he could only mutter silently: "You can't see it with your naked eyes. You need to use supernatural powers?" But the "hunter" does not have any extraordinary ability in this regard. Lumian had just used his greatly enhanced eyesight, sense of smell, and grasp of various traces, but still did not find any problems. The only thing he found strange was that the shit from the three sheep was piled in the corner instead of being everywhere.
Of course, it is most likely that the Berry family cleaned the feces regularly in order to make more efficient use of the feces. After watching for a few more seconds, Lumian muttered: "Just looking and smelling doesn't seem to work...I have to get my hands dirty?" Without any hesitation, he supported himself on the fence and climbed over, as skillfully as if he were returning to his own home. The three sheep turned their heads at the same time and looked at Lumian, who immediately smiled: "Come, let me check your body." He was not worried at all about being discovered by his owner, because he had done similar things more than once or twice. Every household in the village knew that this guy was good at playing pranks in various ways, and using sheep as props was a normal behavior. In Lumian's own words: When your reputation is already ruined, there are naturally benefits to having a ruined reputation. With the title of "King of Pranks", anything he did in Cordu Village would not arouse suspicion. Even if he was caught on the spot by those who were clearly abnormal, they would not be able to directly confirm that there was something wrong with him. Of course, in this case, the parish priest Guillaume and the shepherd Pierre might try to silence him with the idea of "it is better to kill someone by mistake than to let him go", so you still have to be careful when you need to be careful. "BAA Baa baa!" As if they had sensed Lumian's ill intentions, the three sheep hid behind the haystack and their cries were not loud. But how can they hide from a "hunter"? Lumian grabbed a sheep and patted its side, forcing a tooth inspection. "That's no problem..." he whispered. Seeing the sheep looking at him, he added with a malicious smile: "It's very healthy. It should be very good as a pea and lamb stew." He said this deliberately to test the IQ of the three sheep. When there is no problem with the target's body, he can only start from this aspect. The sheep's eyes froze for a moment. Lumian smiled. "Very spiritual, you know what I'm talking about?"
The sheep's eyes returned to normal, and it tilted its head and began to eat the hay. “Ignore me?” Lumian stroked his chin. “I’ll ask Pierre Berry to buy you back and eat you tonight!” The sheep did not respond. It bit some hay and pulled it out with all its might. The haystack suddenly collapsed, and Lumian, the "hunter", saw something with his sharp eyes. His expression darkened, he walked over and squatted to take a closer look. They were a few pieces of nails that had been cut off and were entangled with black hair. “Why is this outside the house?” Lumian whispered in surprise. As a Cordu, he certainly knew the funeral customs of the Dariege region. He knew that when someone died in the family, some of the deceased's hair and nails had to be cut off and secretly hidden somewhere in the house to avoid affecting the horoscope and retain good luck. How did something like this end up in a haystack outside a house? Lumian picked up the nails entangled with hair and began to observe them while weighing them. It looks very new, as if it was cut not long ago... He quickly made a judgment. But no one has died in the entire Koldu village recently! Lumian could only suspect that this was a form of witchcraft similar to funeral customs, and planned to go back and ask his sister for advice. In order to avoid arousing suspicion, he stuffed the nails and black hair back into the haystack and restored the messy scene. Having done all this, he walked towards the wooden fence. After walking a few steps forward, he looked back at the three sheep, and with the mentality that there was nothing to lose by giving it a try, he said to himself with emotion: "There's something really wrong with Pierre Berry. It's not even May yet, but he rushed back to the village... “Did he commit a crime out there? "As a good citizen of Intis and a devout believer in God, should I go to Darriege and inquire?" The three sheep just looked at him, without any other movement, and there was no change in their eyes. There's nothing special about his IQ either... Lumian sighed to himself, feeling disappointed. He then raised his hands, with his thumbs up and index fingers down, making a gesture of contempt. What's wrong with taunting the sheep when you're in a bad mood? The next second, the sheep whose body was checked by Lumian suddenly took a few steps forward, and there seemed to be a little more hope in its eyes. It raised its front hooves and began to draw on the muddy ground. Lumian was dazed and confused, and was stunned for a moment. Soon, he came to his senses and quickly approached the sheep. The sheep seemed to be drawing letters on the ground, which Lumian felt were familiar but he didn't recognize them. He frowned and speculated: This kind of writing should be cognate with the Intis language...
But I only know Intis and some ancient Feysac... At this moment, Lumian realized from another perspective what Aurore said: "knowledge equals power." The sheep finished drawing quickly, took two steps back, and looked at Lumian with earnest eyes. The other two sheep also had similar changes in emotions and began to bleat softly. Lumian looked at the word on the ground and fell into deep thought. His mind was filled with thoughts like "What does this mean?" and "How should I respond?" It only took him a second or two to come up with an idea, and he nodded solemnly to the three sheep. At the same time, he stretched out his right foot and wiped the word off the soil. Although he couldn't understand it, he could at least pretend to understand it! Let’s fool these three sheep first, and then come back to ask my sister for advice! Without waiting for the three sheep to "respond", he nodded slowly with a heavy expression and walked towards the fence, as if to say "Wait a minute, I'll think of a way." After leaving the sheepfold, Lumian went straight home without delay and found Aurore sitting on a recliner in the study reading a book. "Sister." He shouted impatiently, "There is something." "You called me sister as soon as you opened your mouth..." Aurore instantly became alert, "What trouble did you get into this time?" Lumian calmed down and organized his words: "Didn't you tell me that there was something wrong with the three sheep of shepherd Pierre Berry? "While Pierre was at church praying, I went to the back of his house to look at the three sheep. Guess what I found?" Aurore's expression suddenly became serious: "If you want to do something like this, tell me in advance. It's very dangerous now. No one will provide you with protection." But if I tell you in advance, you probably won’t let me go... Lumian was touched by his sister’s concern, but he secretly complained. "I'll remember that next time," he promised sincerely. He has said similar words dozens of times. Aurore knew the difference between urgent intelligence and things that could be postponed, and nodded to indicate that Lumian could tell her about his findings. Lumian quickly recounted his experiences in the sheepfold, and Aurore became more and more solemn as she listened. “Write out the word from memory.” She stood up from the armchair, found a pen and paper, and handed it to Lumian. Lumian had tried hard to remember the word just now, and he remembered it in no time. Aurore just took a look and said solemnly: "It's a huge problem." I know...Lumian responded in his mind. Moreover, he believed that the problem was bigger than his sister imagined. "What's the problem?" he asked. Aurore pointed at the word and said: “This is Highland Language, the official language of the Feynapotter Kingdom. Like Intis, it is derived from the ancient Feysac language.
"It means..." Aurore paused for a moment and said in a deep voice: "Help!" “Help?” Lumian blurted out in astonishment. “Those three sheep are asking us for help?” Aurore said, “Hmm.” “I doubt they are sheep. "They were supposed to be human!" “People?” Lumian asked in surprise. This was beyond his knowledge. He had previously thought that the three sheep had high IQs, human-like emotions, and mastered some human languages, but he never equated them with humans. To him, humans turning into sheep only exist in those imaginative stories! As soon as the words left his mouth, Lumian was no longer shocked. Time loops have occurred, so what's so strange about people turning into sheep? In the world of mysticism, there is no shortage of weirdness and absurdity. Facing her brother's doubts, Aurore nodded solemnly: "I'm not sure if there is a secret technique that can turn a person into a sheep, but all the details now point to this possibility." "Indeed," Lumian agreed. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that the three sheep should be people. The shepherd Pierre Berry was herding people? Lumian turned and asked: "Why were those nails and hair hidden outside the house?" Aurore pursed her lips and said: “This is one of the funeral customs in the Dariege area, but it is rarely used under normal circumstances and many people have forgotten it. "As a 'wizard', I have studied this aspect to see if I can gain some useful knowledge." She then explained: "When a family member commits suicide, or is murdered by a relative, or has a very bad character during his lifetime, which has brought a very bad influence to the entire family, the hair and nails cut off after death must be hidden outside the house to avoid affecting the family's horoscope and bringing bad luck." Suicide, or murder by relatives? Lumian suddenly thought of something: In the last cycle, Pons Bene did not follow funeral customs and entered Naroka's house. Could he be going to take away Naroka's hair and nails? (End of this chapter)