Are MZ Shamans In Trouble In Romance Novels? - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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13.

***

Past the village entrance, barren fields stretched endlessly without a single blade of grass. Broken guardian posts and land drained of vitality, an eerie atmosphere that could be felt even in the bright midday sun.

It seemed misfortune had settled in quite firmly.

“A feast table?”

Calisia, who had been looking around with her hands clasped behind her back, stretched her head forward. It was because of an altar blocking the middle of the road. As if some great celebration had occurred, the table covered with white cloth was lavishly set with food.

“But where are the people? Why is only the table left here?”

Calisia tilted her head and waved her arms as she headed toward the altar. Ian, who had been warily surveying the surroundings at the strange sight, hurriedly followed behind her.

“Ha!”

Calisia let out a hollow laugh after examining the table setting closely. It was because of the bloody raw meat and sticky rice cake filling the altar.

“This is really troublesome.”

Generally, a feast table would have vegetables, meat, pancakes, fish, fruits, and such. But this was strange whether it was a celebration table or an ancestral table.

Moreover, large events that required an altar were usually held inside the village. Not at the entrance where no houses were even visible yet.

“Let’s go inside for now.”

Calisia gestured toward Ian, who couldn’t even begin to guess what was going on.

Following the path into the village, large and small thatched houses were clustered together. But still, there were no particular signs of people.

However, an unidentifiable savory smell was permeating the entire village.

“It’s not the smell of oil. Are they boiling something? With a smell this strong, there must be people here.”

Calisia said while sniffing.

“It doesn’t smell like cooking rice. Not meat either. Maybe pumpkin or beans. Or red beans.”

“Valus.”

Ian, who had been standing in silence the whole time, spoke with a meaningful tone.

“What. Do you have an opinion?”

“It seems you know where this place is.”

“Roughly.”

“As expected, is it the Demon Realm?”

Ian glanced at the thatched house and slowly moved his head.

“Yes, this is the Demon Realm— no, why are you suddenly jumping to conclusions… Never mind, continue.”

Why is he spouting nonsense out of nowhere again? Calisia swallowed her thoughts and crossed her arms while staring intently at Ian.

“To be precise, it seems like a demonized region.”

Ian said while meeting her gaze.

The Four Dukes Territory had such deep history that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a historic site. There were even mysterious ancient artifacts whose purpose had yet to be discovered.

So there might be objects connected to other dimensions or regions. It was weak evidence, but it was a more credible claim than ghosts or spirits.

“And this place has an unusually low amount of mana in the atmosphere. Even though it’s surrounded by mountains and fields.”

The closer to nature, the denser the concentration of mana became. Insufficient information and lack of common knowledge. It was definitely not a good sign.

Another concerning point was the alien energy surrounding the entire village.

“Land where almost no life force can be felt, the habit of eating raw meat, and those buildings. I heard that demon species, unlike regular monsters, have their own culture like humans. Have you ever seen architecture using that style?”

“Are you talking about that now? Thatched houses?”

“Valus is making strides in monster research, including demon species. Their language, writing, habits.”

Calisia scratched her nose at this completely new information. It was true that there were many monsters in the castle. But rather than research, wouldn’t it be more accurate to say they were grazing like a flock of sheep?

“And you read the demonic script carved on the wood golem without hesitation. Am I wrong?”

“Yes. You’re wrong. As I said before, it’s not a wood golem but a guardian post. And it’s not demonic script but Chinese characters.”

Calisia, mimicking Ian’s tone, pointed out his mistakes one by one. It seemed necessary to inform this foreigner about the historical background for the sake of rapid investigation progress.

“This is just a private residence. So where this place is…”

***

“The mysterious Eastern Lands that exist beyond mountains and across waters… Ha, calling this garbage an explanation.”

Calisia completely ignored Ian’s complaints and picked at her ear. She had been wandering along the roadside and was now sitting on the porch of a thatched house.

A modest exterior made of rice straw and reeds. There was nothing particularly special about it. The only notable feature was the dried persimmons hanging from the eaves.

“But that’s strange. There were no persimmon trees in this village.”

Calisia poked at the dried persimmon and got up, dusting herself off. It seemed necessary to examine the entire village more thoroughly.

“Let’s go, Lakies.”

Much later,

The two people who had returned from their search began to compile the information they had gathered. What was commonly found in every house was dried persimmons and red bean porridge.

All of them were items that didn’t belong in this village.

“A village without a single persimmon tree is full of dried persimmons, and while the rice containers don’t have a single grain of barley, the cauldrons are full of red bean porridge?”

Calisia rolled her eyes left and right and muttered to herself.

“Valus. Are you sure this village is residential? For that, there were quite a lot of weapons.”

What was even more suspicious was that weapons, not farming tools, were found in this village that was clearly agricultural. And in piles, no less.

“Were there any other unusual points?”

Calisia tilted her head to the side and asked.

“Well, I think you need to see this for yourself.”

Ian, who had been gathering his thoughts for a moment, took the lead and headed outside. His destination was near the center, a little away from the village entrance.

“This is no joke.”

Calisia stood dumbfounded by the roadside, looking down at her arms and shivering. Goosebumps had appeared on her transparent skin.

It was because of the numerous lanterns visible between the thatched houses lined up in a row.

On the lanterns that gave off an ominous atmosphere, blood-red characters were written.

“…Chinese characters, you said?”

Ian, sensing that the situation was taking an ominous turn, asked quietly.

“Yes.”

“Then can you read that too?”

“…In mourning.”

A short answer came from Calisia’s mouth.

“In mourning?”

“It means during a funeral.”

She spoke in a gloomy voice and covered her nose. As if the earlier sweet and savory smell had been an illusion, the entire village was filled with the stench of decay.

***

“Lakies. Listen.”

“…”

Ian leaned against a pillar and closed his eyes as if fed up. It was because of Calisia, who was repeating the same story for the dozenth time under the pretext of organizing her thoughts.

“Those lanterns with ‘in mourning’ written on them. They weren’t written with red dye but with chicken blood, right?”

Funeral lanterns announcing mourning usually used black dye. Red color, especially chicken blood, was excellent for warding off evil spirits and was mainly used as material for talismans.

“But if you write lanterns with chicken blood, the deceased can’t enter their own funeral. It’s a kind of team kill.”

The red beans that occupied the cauldrons instead of rice were the same. Materials for blocking evil spirits and dispelling impurity. It was an inappropriate sight for a house in mourning.

“But what I don’t understand here are the dried persimmons and that table, whether it’s for ancestral rites or celebration. They’re neither something ghosts like nor dislike.”

“…”

“Isn’t it strange? Why go to the trouble?”

“…Maybe it’s something another guy likes.”

Ian, fed up with Calisia’s chatter, gave a half-hearted response to play along.

“Another guy? Who?”

“There might be an accomplice.”

Ian rolled his stiff neck from side to side as he spoke.

“Ghosts that travel as a set?”

“….”

“Let’s set that aside for now. Then what about the weapons? Regardless of the era, metal items are expensive. Rural households like this wouldn’t even handle them.”

What use would spears and swords be against ghosts in the first place? Unless they were sacred swords used by shamans.

“They could belong to the Guard Unit. Mysterious, phew- even Eastern countries would have guard units or knight orders.”

“Government forces’ belongings? That makes sense. But why? To catch escaped criminals? Because of war? Or did someone start a rebellion?”

“They might have come to subjugate monsters.”

The Northern Region dispatched subjugation forces to areas adjacent to the Dorkan Mountain Range every year. This was separate from stationing troops there. It was for controlling monster populations and monitoring their movements.

“Monsters?”

“There should be monsters here too, shouldn’t there?”

“There aren’t monsters, but there are similar things. Wild boars and….”

Calisia’s voice, which had been continuing the conversation casually, gradually faded. She clamped her mouth shut like a clam and fell deep into thought about something.

“…Ah!”

As if struck by lightning, she bolted up from her spot and ran toward the village entrance. The pieces that hadn’t fit together were finally starting to fall into place.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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