On Aquinas Street, a two-story ceremonial boat made of wood, cardboard and ribbons is equipped with four pairs of wheels, and is dragged forward by four horses with shiny and smooth hair.
This is an imitation of the "Governor of the Sea" boat, mainly with reduced material requirements and reduced size so that horses can pull around the city.
At this time, there were eight men and women standing on each of the upper and lower floors of the flower boat, dressed brightly, singing and dancing, spreading joy to people on both sides of the street.
Surrounding the ceremonial boat are the best folk bands in Puerto Santa Harbor, who either hang single-sided drums, beat rhythmically, or blow clarinets, oboes, flutes, and play a variety of stringed instruments.
The people on the side of the road were very happy, sometimes singing along, sometimes following Li Zhou, hoping to find an opportunity to splash some of the water droplets sprinkled between the sixteen men and women.
Lumian looked down at this scene from the fifth floor of the Solo Hotel, feeling that the sea prayer ceremony in Port Santa was no longer a pure sacrifice, except for the core part, it was already a folk festival celebrated by the whole city.
Many Puerto Santa residents are devout believers in the "Earth Mother Goddess" and do not believe that the sea has spirits that can protect them, but this does not prevent them from singing, dancing, drinking, and celebrating on such days.
After the flower boat cruised through Aquinas Street, Lumian turned back to Lugano and said:
"You take care of Ludwig today, no matter what celebration you attend, you have to take him with you."
"Yes, boss." Lugano was infected by the cheerful and lively atmosphere of the sea prayer ceremony, and his emotions were quite high.
Lumian said no more, took the golden straw hat, walked out of the suite, and went down the stairs.
When he arrived in the lobby, he saw the owner of the Solo Hotel, Ota. Guillaume was handing out cash to the front desk lady and two waiters, asking for two miles each.
"And holiday rewards?" Lumian asked the old Ota in Intis.
Old Ota laughed and said:
"This is compensation for them, they have to stay in the hotel today, watch this place, and cannot go to the onlookers to watch the rest of the sea prayer ceremony, and cannot participate in various celebrations.
"And I'm going to the pier, waiting to see my little cabbage dance!"
"I will go too." Lumian responded with a smile, once again feeling the festive atmosphere very really.
If the sea prayer ceremony was not occult, he would also like to immerse himself in such an atmosphere, just like he did during Lent in the years before his involvement in the village of Kordu.
After leaving the hotel, Lumian strolled towards the port and found that the citizens of Port Santa were wearing their most gorgeous and festive clothes, and at first glance, the streets seemed to be submerged in a sea of colors.
This made his white shirt, black vest, and dark trousers seem out of place with the environment, and at first glance he looked like a foreigner.
Lumian put the golden straw hat on his head, adding a little color to himself.
Bicycles carrying wooden boxes drove by, and vendors sold different flavors of popsicles to citizens waiting to watch the sea dance and boat races.
Lumian watched these two sessions in a leisurely manner enjoying the festival, and waited until the two-decker ceremonial boats of the "Governor of the Sea" and "Maid of the Sea" sailed towards Milo Village before leaving the port.
He did not participate in other celebrations organized by the citizens themselves, but found a common washroom in the nearest department store and entered the cubicles.
Then, he inspired the black mark on his right shoulder and appeared directly in a remote corner of Milo Village.
He immediately turned into a shadow creature and infiltrated the old and modern building of the Oro family, and came to Juan. Oro's bedroom.
The president of the fisheries association had been waiting here for a while.
Seeing the great adventurer Louis. Berry's figure grew out of the darkness, and Juan with deep wrinkles. Oro pointed to the two Milo villagers who were unconscious on the floor and said:
"This is the second of the four sub-deacons who participate in the vigil and the sea sacrifice ceremony, and you choose one to become him."
This is Lumian and Juan. One of the conditions for cooperation negotiated by Auror was that he would participate in the core part of the sea prayer ceremony.
Initially, Juan. Oro didn't agree, because he couldn't hide from the other sea relatives and get a stranger on the ship, he just promised to let Lumian sneak into the mansion of the "Governor of the Sea" before the vigil and secretly watch the corresponding link.
After discovering that "Salted Egg Superman" was suspected of being the core figure of the Fisheries Association, Lumian took advantage of Juan. Oro needed the opportunity to cooperate and help, and demonstrated the ability of the "lie" ear clip, so he came up with a plan to disguise himself as a certain assistant priest and board the ship.
Lumian carefully examined one of the assistant assistants for a few seconds, put on silver-white ear clips, imitated his appearance, and modified his appearance.
Before long, except for the clothes, he and the deputy assistant priest could no longer see any difference.
"It's my turn." Juan. Oro said in a low voice in Intes.
He will become another deputy deacon and personally board the ship to prevent accidents.
The reason he did this was that he was not worried about Louis. Berry participated in the sea festival, and he had to guard against the enemy lurking in the dark to destroy it in unknown ways, and no matter which method, the final foothold would be in the sea festival session.
——Juan. Oro is afraid of Louis. Berry was actually an accomplice of the saboteurs last year, and what he did before was just deceiving and fooling himself and others in order to get on board "openly" and wait for the critical moment to destroy the ceremony.
Lumian threw the "lie" ear clip to Juan. Aurora, without caring at all, changed the deputy assistant priest's clothes prepared by the other party in advance - it was a dark blue robe embroidered with many marine elements.
Juan. As soon as Auror put on the silver-white ear clips, he felt that he had wonderful control over every detail of his body.
He tried to adjust the wrinkles on his face, and immediately saw that he was ten or twenty years younger in the mirror.
Although he controlled powerful and diverse extraordinary abilities, the president of the fisheries guild couldn't help but secretly sigh:
"It's amazing."
Wait until Juan. Oro also completed his disguise, and Lumian pointed to the two deputy assistants who were unconscious:
"Who is responsible for watching them and not allowing them to appear before the sea prayer ceremony?"
"My wife." Juan. Auror was already ready.
That was the former "Maid of the Sea", the current old grandmother of the Oro family, who had not weakened her strength, but had not participated in the ring-making ceremony and other links, and was not the one who could leak secrets, and she was a trustworthy object.
Lumian asked instead:
"As the president of the fisheries association, will you be suspected if you don't wait for the news of the success of the sea prayer ceremony with other committee members?"
"No, I don't go every year, I can also wait for news at home, and my wife will disguise myself." Juan. Oro pointed to the "lie" in his left ear and took it off.
After repeatedly confirming the details, Lumian said:
"Have you investigated who among those people has ever had the experience of almost dying and coming back to life, or has there been a significant change in personality?"
Those people refer to the core members of the Fisheries Guild who hold the specific appearance of the "Ring of the Sea Queen" and the complete details of the sea prayer ceremony.
According to Franka's hint, every member of the "Curly Baboon Research Society" is a soul from another world, and they occupy the human corpse that has just died and "resurrected".
Juan. Auror shook his head slowly:
"No, at least I don't remember, hey, the time is too rushed to investigate one by one."
The old man who looked like a middle-aged man continued:
"Remember, your name is Brian now, I'm Jorge, if you don't understand what others are saying, it doesn't matter, I will remind you, and I will help you when you need to answer questions."
"Okay." Lumian still looked like he didn't know much about plateau language.
In fact, he has learned this language with high intensity under the spell of "knowing the language", and although he still can't fully hear other people's words clearly, he can capture the corresponding key words and tenses, subject dynamics and other information very well, and guess the general meaning very closely.
…………
Wearing the dark blue robe of the assistant deacon, Lumian was in Juan. Aurora, an old man who no longer faltered, led him into the "Governor of the Sea" mansion, passed through the hall engraved with many statues of sea creatures, and came to the room where the "Governor of the Sea" kept vigil.
The current "Governor of the Sea" comes from the Giaro family, named Simon, and is a member of a branch with a thin bloodline, and is not even qualified to live in the ancestral house.
At this time, he sat cross-legged on the cold floor, suppressing his excitement, half-closed his eyes, feeling the erosion of the moist air around him.
Although Lumian did not have a spiritual vision, he could still find that in the shadows, in the void, and on the statues, there were different sea relatives busy.
Juan. Oro took him out of the room, came to the most remote part of the building, pushed open the wooden door of the servant's room, and said to Miguel, the fake "Governor of the Sea" lying on the bed:
"After the sea prayer ceremony is successful, you can leave, but you must leave Santa Harbor with you the wealth you have accumulated this year."
Miguel sat up excitedly:
"Okay, okay!"
They communicated in the plateau language, but Lumian still roughly understood the meaning.
After doing this, Juan. Oro translated the conversation to Lumian and said to him:
"You can verify from Miguel's expression that I am lying."
So what if you don't lie, what you say may not be done...... Lumian muttered silently and returned to the hall, sitting cross-legged opposite the other two deaconies.
Time passed minute by minute, and in the middle of the night, the production of the "Ring of the Sea Queen" was completed, and one of the deputy priests went in to take it out, and took it to the basement in the dark environment of the moonlight.
Next is the part of honoring the ancestors.
Lumi watched this scene quietly, and suddenly her heart moved.
(End of this chapter)