Are MZ Shamans In Trouble In Romance Novels? - Chapter 50

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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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50.

Thud…!

Thud thud thud thud thud!

The sound of earth cracking and crumbling echoed through Gosire Village. Soon after, Hungry Ghosts swarmed in like a swarm of bees.

-Grrrrr!

Their eyes turned blood red as they let out ear-splitting cries and hurled their bodies toward the pile of stones.

“Eastern Jiazi Blue Earth General Blue Magistrate Blue Lady Blue Boy….”

Calisia closed her eyes and recited the Twenty-Eight Constellation Suppression Sutra, a scripture for trapping ghosts. There was nothing wrong with being extra careful.

“One incense stick.”

Calisia’s gaze reached the incense sticks stuck in the dirt pile. Incense stick—the time it takes for incense to burn. She had roughly one hour left.

***

“Ugh, urk!”

“Dis, gud mugh, brgh!”

The Village People, covered head to toe in salt, frantically grabbed food from the cart with their hands and devoured it.

“….”

Ian and the Scholar, who had been pushed away from the cart early on, stared at the people with blank faces. They wondered if they should try to stop them, but doubted whether anyone would listen.

“I told them to sprinkle salt, but they’ve gone and pickled themselves entirely.”

Calisia, who had entered the village, clicked her tongue at the sight of the chaotic cart.

“You’ve come! Here! Please do something about this!”

The Scholar, who had been standing there dumbfounded, spotted Calisia and rushed over with quick steps.

“You…!”

Just then, Ian roughly pushed the Scholar aside and grabbed Calisia’s wrist. Blood was spreading from her forearm that had been hastily bandaged with fabric from her skirt.

“Ah, this. I got slightly scratched by the Hungry Ghosts’ claws.”

Calisia hurriedly made excuses. If she told the truth, she was bound to get an earful of nagging.

“Didn’t you say those things couldn’t see you.”

Ian’s thick eyebrows furrowed with worry and disappointment. At the same time, guilt washed over him for leaving her side. The gradually spreading bloodstain. His gaze wouldn’t leave the blood-soaked bandage.

“There was one among them with really good eyesight.”

Calisia, feeling burdened by that gaze, continued making excuses to defuse the situation.

“Valus.”

Ian, watching her awkward movements, lowered his voice. Anger settled in his fiercely elongated eyes, and the muscles in his jaw stood taut.

“What. What is it.”

“Tell me the truth.”

His beast-like yellow eyes gleamed persistently at Calisia. The expression she made whenever she was secretly plotting something or making excuses. She was making exactly that face right now.

“What do you want me to say.”

“If you don’t want to tell me, fine. I’ll see for myself.”

Ian quickly unwrapped the blood-soaked cloth with hands tinged with anger.

“Hey, hey! What are you doing! Why are you unwrapping what’s tied up! I just finished bandaging it!”

“….”

Ian’s expression gradually twisted with rage as he rolled up Calisia’s sleeve. The wound on her forearm was clearly a self-inflicted cut, no matter who looked at it. A wound she had made herself.

“So you sent me away first to do this.”

Ian gritted his teeth and growled at Calisia. His handsome face instantly transformed like a demon, frighteningly contorted.

“Don’t overreact. I needed to fool the Hungry Ghosts’ noses, so I just made a small cut.”

Calisia bit her lips and twisted her wrist from side to side. Ian’s persistent gaze made her stomach churn for no reason. It was just a small wound. In this line of work, minor injuries were closer to necessity than choice.

“Let go. Don’t make a fuss.”

Her words came out crooked. It was uncomfortable and embarrassing.

“I’ll decide whether it’s a fuss or not.”

Ian spoke firmly and examined Calisia’s wound while suppressing his anger.

“…I said it was just a small cut.”

Calisia mumbled and twisted her wrist once more. Even while the veins stood out on his neck, his gaze looking at her wound was still warm.

“I suppose in Valus, they call flesh falling off ‘slight’?”

Ian, firmly gripping Calisia’s wrist, bit his lips. His eyes grew hot and his breathing became increasingly rough. It was due to some unknown frustration that made his blood boil.

“I suppose so. Every family has different traditions. Just accept it.”

Calisia, whose insides had become noisy at that sight, immediately twisted her words.

“I’m not in the mood for wordplay.”

Ian’s face crumpled at her endlessly light response. Now anger was truly beginning to overtake his worry.

“It’s not wordplay though? Isn’t it true that every household has different traditions?”

“Really, there’s no getting through to you.”

Ian, his face deeply furrowed, roughly tore off a piece of his own clothing. Even while they were arguing, the blood from her pale forearm wouldn’t stop.

“Just leave it. I’ll do it myself.”

“Don’t be stubborn.”

“Who’s being stubborn right now.”

Calisia and Ian, each hurt for their own reasons, glared at each other and continued their war of words.

“Um- Sorry to interrupt your lovers’ quarrel….”

Just then, a voice like an ant crawling came from below. It was the Scholar who had been pushed by Ian and ended up sitting on the dirt ground.

“What.”

“What is it!”

Ian and Calisia snapped irritably at the same time.

“Well- it seems like everyone has come to their senses. Hehe…. Heh….”

At the Scholar’s words, the two looked around. The Village People, holding pancakes and rice balls in both hands, were watching them in awkward positions.

“We were originally a band of bandits who had set up camp on that mountain stronghold.”

The story told by the Village People after filling their stomachs was this: The Gosire Village People were originally those who wandered from mountain to mountain, living as bandits. But they couldn’t keep roaming the mountains forever with young family members. So after much deliberation, they settled in this Gosire Village.

“At first, everything was good. We farmed like others, sold crops, and lived such simple daily lives. But one day, a severe drought struck.”

As days without a single drop of rain continued, the land dried up. Plants lost their color and crumbled, and animals withered and died from starvation. So how could humans be fine? When their throats became parched, the first thing that came to mind was their old habits.

Banditry.

“We knew it was wrong. But since our own bellies weren’t empty for the moment, we thought we were fortunate.”

Then came that day. It was when everyone was excited about the light drizzle that fell after so long. It was nowhere near enough rain to survive the drought, but people believed it was a sign of good fortune. It was because of a group passing through the mountain path just then. Plump pigs, pancakes soaked in oil, various fruits and expensive sweets. It was enough to get through the drought without any worries for a while.

And that was the source of disaster.

“Mountain God rain ritual.”

Calisia pressed her forehead with an exasperated expression. The food lineup was clearly for a rain ritual asking the Mountain God to bring rain.

“If even drizzle fell, it means the Mountain God responded, but they interfered with that, so trouble was bound to happen. But even so, cursing the entire village seems excessive.”

“…Because we harmed people.”

The Gosire Village People hesitantly spoke up and hung their heads low.

“With just that food, our families wouldn’t have to starve for a while, so we lost our minds.”

To make excuses, it was an accident. What was supposed to be just subduing them became too forceful at some point. In the end, a Young Man died after hitting his head on a rock. After that, it was pandemonium. Lightning struck from the sky and Hungry Ghosts attacked Gosire Village.

“We received divine punishment, the village was sealed, and we too became bound by Sacred Rope, unable to come or go.”

“I understand up to that point, but what’s the story with Jacheongbi?”

At this incredible development, Calisia pressed her temples and asked.

“Could you take a look at this?”

At that, several Village People quietly began untying their clothes.

“Oh my!”

The Scholar, who had been standing with a pitiful expression, let out a strange cry.

“Even so, how can they be so… so exposed like that…!”

The Scholar covered both eyes, not knowing what to do, and hid his body behind Ian’s broad back.

“….”

Ian let out a silent sigh as he looked at the Scholar clutching his clothes with both hands.

“He’s like that because he’s from a wealthy family. Don’t mind him and finish undressing.”

Calisia gestured toward the Village People. Shortly after, pale swollen skin and gaunt bones were revealed without filter under the sunlight. The problem was that the people’s bodies were deeply gouged in various places.

“These are marks from being bitten by Hungry Ghosts. If it weren’t for Lady Jacheongbi, these bodies would have been devoured long ago.”

The Mountain God’s anger showed no signs of subsiding, and Jacheongbi had descended to stop him.

“You call it helping to work to death in the fields while being beaten with clubs?”

The Scholar hiding behind Ian’s back became uncharacteristically angry. He said the current punishment was excessive when not all the Village People had harmed anyone.

“When they work, don’t they provide Barley Rice and Seasoned Vegetables to offer as sacrifices? It’s better than the pain of being torn apart by Hungry Ghosts.”

“What I’m saying is, wouldn’t it be enough to just lift the Mountain God’s curse! There’s absolutely no reason why even those young children should suffer such pain!”

The Scholar pounded his chest repeatedly as he looked at the children with innocent faces. It was because his frustration had exploded at being unable to do anything.

“…It’s karma.”

Deep, profound sorrow descended upon Gosire Village. It was natural, since the actions they had justified as being for their families had returned as terrible misfortune.

“But is this the end?”

A voice full of doubt pierced through the sorrowful silence. It was Calisia, who had tilted her head askew.

“Pardon?”

“I’m asking if this is really the end of the story.”

She asked while looking around in the air. Listening to Gosire Village’s story. Despite completing the mission, the Scroll Banner had not unfurled.

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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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