Chapter 48: Pathways

“Are you crazy? What are you doing!?”

“I thought you would comfort me more gently!”

“Why should I comfort you!? You let the remaining monster go!”

Although these sentences seemed like a loud argument, both parties were actually crouching in the bushes, arguing in extremely suppressed voices.

Duogaluo looked at Nagu with a bitter expression: “You don’t understand, he’s not a monster… he…”

“Have you already teamed up with Gongduo?” An anxious Nagu didn’t notice the conflict in Duogaluo’s words; she was just worried about Hamoyin’s situation. “But you can’t act so hastily. It will arouse suspicion.”

“No, I haven’t talked to Gongduo yet. He still thinks I’m unaware.”

“Then why did you let the monster go?”

“…Because he said, ‘Please save me.’”

“Huh?”

At this point, Nagu saw Duogaluo painfully grabbing and rubbing his hair again, looking like a desperate groundhog. Because of Duogaluo’s incomplete words, she was full of doubts: “He said? Who said? Who said that?”

“That monster… he can talk, he said ‘Please save me,’ he doesn’t want to die.” Duogaluo released his hands from his hair and stared at Nagu in disbelief. “He doesn’t look very old, maybe just a few years older than you.”

“So you let him go?” Nagu couldn’t believe Duogaluo was so reckless. “What… what are you doing?”

“The first time, I didn’t let him go. I thought even if he could talk, it was just a monster’s trick. If I let him go, he would still come out and attack us. But…”

“But?”

“But he kept begging me softly and finally cried,” Duogalo said dejectedly. “But after letting him go, he didn’t attack anyone. He just ran away.”

“I thought of Hamoyin. What if this monster is like Hamoyin? He can talk, be afraid, and think like us? Should we really let such a being become a sacrifice for our rituals?”

“…But the remaining monster also escaped, Azuran will start to suspect.”

“Who cares about him.” Duogaluo waved his hand, not caring about Azuran’s thoughts. “Many people disagreed with him on capturing the monster alive. Now that both have escaped, he should have some trouble.”

“But if we don’t find the escaped monster by today, someone will go to Hamoyin’s house for help. Hamoyin’s illness hasn’t completely healed yet, so… you know, we have our own troubles.”

“Of course, I considered that. When they go to find Hamoyin tomorrow morning, I’ll say I’ll go instead. What do you think?”

Instantly, Nagu’s little dissatisfaction with Duogaluo disappeared completely, and she breathed a sigh of relief: “Okay, that makes me feel better.”

“Feel better about what?”

“…”

“…”

Duogaluo and Nagu crouched in the bushes, looking up at Hamoyin standing outside. His golden pupils glowed slightly coldly in the moonlight.

“What are you doing in there?” Hamoyin looked at the two almost head-to-head people. He had been lying in the storage room when he heard voices outside, one of which he could clearly recognize as Nagu’s.

At first, he thought Nagu was talking to someone from the village, but the more he listened, the more it seemed wrong. Although the content was unclear, it sounded like an argument, which worried Hamoyin. So he quietly left the storage room to see who Nagu was arguing with.

He saw Duogaluo and Nagu hiding in the bushes, which annoyed Hamoyin a bit. So he bent down and grabbed Nagu’s arm, pulling her out of the bushes: “Come out.”

Nagu stumbled as Hamoyin pulled her, while Duogaluo, still crouching, nodded at Hamoyin: “Are you feeling better?”

Hamoyin didn’t answer Duogaluo; he just looked down at Nagu and asked, “What were you talking to him about?”

Ignoring me, huh? Duogaluo coughed awkwardly: “I was talking to her about the monster. You heard it, too. The last one escaped.”

“Yes.”

“I let it go…”

For Duogaluo’s brave admission, Hamoyin didn’t give much response. He just didn’t want to see Nagu talking to this guy: “You should go back. Staying at the witch’s house so late will raise suspicions.”

“I… originally planned to leave after delivering the items.” Duogaluo looked at the bag of scales in Nagu’s hand and stood up embarrassedly. “Indeed, I should go now. Don’t worry about the monster. I’ll handle it.”

“And the ritual time is confirmed to be in two days. It won’t change. Hamoyin, you and Nagu should come together then.”

After saying that, Duogaluo hurriedly left, probably thinking staying here under Hamoyin’s cold gaze wouldn’t bring any benefits.

After Duogaluo left, Nagu began to convey the information she had obtained to Hamoyin: “You don’t have to go back to the treehouse tomorrow. Duogaluo said he would go instead, so don’t worry!”

“Yes.” At this moment, Hamoyin was staring thoughtfully in the direction Duogaluo had left. “He let the remaining one go.”

“Yes, he said the remaining one could talk and think like you and looked quite young… He felt sorry for it and let it go.”

“He’s lying.”

“Huh?” Nagu looked at Hamoyin in confusion. “No, he wouldn’t lie to me.”

“Tell me everything he said to you.”

So, at Hamoyin’s request, Nagu recounted everything she remembered: “That’s what he said. What do you think he lied about?”

“He didn’t tell the whole truth.” Hamoyin was very sure of this because he knew Duogaluo was not a reckless leader. He wouldn’t let the monster go only because it said, ‘Let me go.’ Duogaluo would consider the safety of his people. So, he either lied about the ‘reason’ for letting the monster go or the ‘way’ he let the monster go.

Chapter 49: The Square

In the end, Hamoyin doesn’t specifically tell her what “the way” means.

The way? Is there any other way to release the monster? Isn’t it just opening the cage and saying, “Run, little dog”?

After Hamoyin fell asleep under the blanket at night, Nagu pondered this question deeply.

Could Hamoyin mean that Duogaluo had help? It’s possible. This would mean Duogaluo had secretly communicated with that bad guy, Gongduo. As for why he didn’t tell her, Nagu thought Duogaluo might be hiding it for her sake. Knowing too much wouldn’t benefit her anyway. However, it was good as long as Hamoyin wasn’t involved in any danger at this stage.

Fortunately, the two days before the festival were peaceful. The village was still under lockdown because the escaped monster hadn’t been found. Nagu hadn’t seen Duogaluo again, possibly because he hadn’t returned to the village since that night.

“Are you worried about him?”

“Huh? Ah… a little. Duogaluo has been looking tired lately.” Nagu sighed, handing Hamoyin his bone blade and fastening it to his belt. The festival was at noon, and Hamoyin was required to attend.

So, he got up early to leave the village. Luckily, his cold had almost healed, or Nagu wouldn’t have been so relieved. “Actually, I’m still thinking about his lie. Do you think he really released that monster?”

“I think so.” Hamoyin fastened the belt and tied his messy hair at the back of his head. He then noticed the peacock green decoration he had woven into his hair was missing.

“It’s here. I kept it for you.” Seeing Hamoyin’s confused look, Nagu quickly took the decoration from her small cloth bag. She had removed it when Hamoyin had a fever because it was uncomfortable for him to sleep with it. “I’ll weave it back for you.”

Hamoyin looked at the scales in Nagu’s palm. “…No need.”

“No need?”

“These are scales from when I was a child. You wear them.”

Me? Nagu felt her cheeks flush. “Where should I wear them…”

Hamoyin didn’t speak. He took the decoration and wove it into a strand of hair behind Nagu’s ear. “Done.”

He tied a small braid behind Nagu’s right ear, just like he had done before.

“Won’t you wear it?” Nagu felt Hamoyin’s knuckles brush her cheek as he withdrew his hand, making her heart itch.

“No, you wear it.” Seeing his scales in Nagu’s hair felt much better than seeing someone else take them. Hamoyin had a vague feeling that he wanted something on Nagu to show others she had a protector…

Although wearing scales didn’t mean much to humans, it gave Hamoyin psychological satisfaction. He was too shy to tell Nagu his thoughts, so he just said, “You wear it.”

“Okay.” Nagu happily touched her hair. “I’ll take it as a gift from you.”

“Mm.”

Nagu giggled, and Hamoyin wanted to say more but didn’t know what. He just nodded again. He didn’t expect to be troubled by his reticence one day.

Hamoyin saw the girl’s happiness and began to understand why Nagu sometimes ran to hug him. He also wanted to pull Nagu into his arms.

Nagu didn’t know what Hamoyin was thinking. She was just happy he gave her something and braided it into her hair. “Are you leaving now?”

“Yes.” The sudden conversation made Hamoyin retract his hand. “See you later.”

He couldn’t leave the village with Nagu, so he needed to go to the market first. Nagu would join the village women and be escorted by the men to the market.

“… You’ll really come, right?” Knowing she was about to part with Hamoyin made Nagu uneasy. She had gotten used to sticking with him.

“Mm.”

“So, how are you leaving the village now?”

“There’s a small waterway underground at the back. I’ll swim out.”

“…Then I’ll wait to see you.” Nagu tugged at Hamoyin’s clothes. “Be careful on the way.”

“Okay.”

After that, Nagu followed Hamoyin out of the storage room and watched him quickly disappear along the edge of the high wall in the backyard.

Mm, that speed is like a lizard… His body is indeed almost recovered.

After Nagu could no longer see any trace of Hamoyin, she turned back to the front room, where the old witch was talking with a group of middle-aged women.

Nagu recognized those women; they all had seriously ill family members. The witch was handing them pieces of leather, each containing a patient’s tooth or a small piece of finger. For different effects, the witch mixed in various medicines, rare stones, and animal eyes.

When the women heard the noise at the door, they all turned their eyes towards it. Seeing it was Nagu, a few familiar ones greeted her, and Nagu nodded and walked to the witch’s side.

“Do you need my help?”

The witch shook her head, handed the remaining three packages to the women, and instructed Nagu to follow them. “Go with them.”

“Are we preparing to go to the sacrificial site now?” Nagu looked up at the women. “I thought it would be later.”

“No, you need to come with us to the square to prepare now.” The woman urged Nagu. “Hurry up.”

“Okay, okay.” Nagu glanced back at the witch, who, due to her old age, no longer needed to make the trip to the sacrificial site. “I’ll go with them first.”

The old witch nodded to show she heard, then slowly walked towards the inner room.

As Nagu followed the women out, she double-checked the scales of Hamoyin hidden on her body. They were placed inside her clothes, close to her skin. They should be safe there, right?

However, when the confident Nagu followed the women to the square, she was stunned.

Nagu hadn’t been to the square for the past two days, so when she came here again, she had no idea what had happened. It was like the pumpkin and rags in Cinderella that the fairy’s magic wand had transformed. The square now looked completely different from the simple, earthy yellow circular square it had been before.

The wooden central pillar was wrapped in tender green vines covered with white five-petaled flowers, making the initially dull ceremonial pillar look like a vibrant tree in spring.

The top of the pillar was draped with thin white curtains, with the other ends attached to the rooftops around the square, forming a tent-like canopy. In the soft, sagging parts of the curtains, various fresh flowers and brightly colored feathers were scattered, gently falling with the breeze.

The ground was sprinkled with shiny, crushed shell powder, which, under the sunlight, enveloped the entire square in a faint, hazy glow.

At this moment, all the village’s young women had gathered here. They were picking through the large baskets of flowers under the central pillar. Of course, picking flowers wasn’t the main activity; they were all naked.

The women and girls stripped off their clothes, and the adult women washed away the golden patterns drawn on their bodies with clean water. After decorating their hair, they began to choose flowers to adorn the young girls’ hair. Vines covered in small white flowers were wrapped around their full breasts and legs.

Looking at the brown, healthy bodies surrounded by flowers, Nagu felt dizzy.

“Come here, witch’s child.”

Noticing that Nagu, who was standing still behind her, didn’t move, the woman turned back and urged her, “We need to finish decorating quickly and head to the sacrificial site.”

“I, I… also have to take it off?” Nagu, being pulled by a woman by her wrist, was staring blankly at her surroundings. Many women and girls had already adorned themselves and were sitting in a circle outside, waiting. “Take everything off?”

“Yes, you should meet our beloved mother in the form closest to your birth. Come on, don’t be shy.”

Actually, Nagu wasn’t shy. After all, being seen naked was quite common here. As long as she had enough thick skin, she could blend in as if nothing had happened. The reason she was so worried now was because she had taken off her clothes and didn’t know where to put the Hamoin scales.

Although the women here would carry a small cloth bag, it was for offerings to their family members. If they were to make an offering, the tribe would have strict records kept by the people in charge. She had never made an offering before, so what should she do? If someone saw her holding the bag, they would definitely come to ask!

Nagu watched the women walk past her, all naked and adorned with flowers. She even caught a glimpse of Momoli, who was running by with a bunch of flowers.

What to do?

What should I do?

Where should I hide these twenty-something things??