Chapter 283 Harvest and Spiders

Desire and reproduction?

This was the first thought that came to Hasta's mind. He looked at it carefully for a while, but did not find the key element of desire, only pure reproduction.

Reproduction is also feasible for crops, but hiding in the red cloth to gather people... after all, it is a bit inappropriate.

In his own territory, it is better to have fewer such things.

Hasta began to think about how to change the town residents' concept of holding the Grain Festival. If they believed in the festival held by the Mother Earth, he would not care about it.

Because believing in the Mother Earth will not cause any uncontrollable events.

But this town believes in reproduction, not the Mother Earth. If it continues to develop like this, it will be dominated by reproduction, and sooner or later it will fall into the arms of the Mother Tree of Desire or the Fallen Mother Goddess.

This is something he will never allow.

"There should be wind here, strong wind!"

Hasta murmured softly, preparing to raise a gust of wind to overturn the red cloth and reveal the true face of the so-called Goddess of Spring Breathing in front of everyone.

But when the wind blew from afar, the corners of the red cloth were lifted, but the red cloth in the middle seemed to be pressed down by something, allowing the strong wind to blow.

Something is happening.

Hasta opened his spiritual vision and looked in the direction of the red cloth. He vaguely saw an illusory figure lying on the red cloth, admiring the reproduction art between the five couples inside.

That figure looked like a spider, but it didn't have so many spider legs, and it didn't have hair all over its body. Its abdomen was round, as if it was pregnant, but its upper body was slender and long, like a person planted in a flower bed, then stood up and dragged the flower bed to walk.

Perhaps it felt the gaze, the figure looked back, it should be a human face, but there were no facial features on the face.

Human-faced spider? Is this the true face of the so-called goddess of spring breathing?

Hasta didn't disturb him, and still chose to watch quietly. The human-faced spider didn't do anything else, still lying on the red cloth, admiring the reproduction inside the red cloth.

When the sun's rays came from the sky, the slightly illusory human-faced spider disappeared in the sunlight without leaving any trace.

With cheers, this year's Grain Festival has ended.

At the order of the priestess, some strong young men brought the firewood that had been prepared on the side, piled it around the red cloth, and then lit it.

During the whole process, the red cloth was never lifted, and the statue was burned out with the flames.

According to the residents of the town, all living things will eventually return to the soil and become nutrients that nourish the growth of all things.

The same is true for the Goddess of Spring Breath. When she turns into ashes and merges into the soil with the wishes of the believers, she will nourish the crops and usher in a joyful harvest.

This statement is well-reasoned and convincing, and it is difficult to find fault with it.

But Hastur still doesn't want to let the Goddess of Spring Breath exist. He doesn't believe in the mercy of the gods.

Everything is equal, and what you gain will be lost.

This kind of shelter can never be without cost.

Silver City, the gift of the earth formed by the remains of the giant queen Omibella after her death, allows people living here to have the staple food of black-faced grass, so that they can survive in the harsh and dangerous God-forsaken land.

The price that the residents of Silver City need to pay for this is: from then on, they will bear the cursed fate, and only those who are killed by their immediate family members will not become terrible evil spirits.

There is a price for a good harvest.

Hasta did not act immediately, but went to the bathroom to wash up, then went downstairs to have breakfast, and then went out for a stroll.

Although the sacrifice has ended, the festival is still going on, and this excitement usually lasts for a week.

Every household will show off the fruits and vegetables produced by their own family during this festival.

The quality of fruits and vegetables here is indeed better than the crops produced in other areas. The fruits and vegetables needed by Hasta's castle on weekdays are all purchased from this town.

One is because it is close, and the other is because the quality is really good.

Hasta walked around and asked about the priestess intentionally or unintentionally. In such a remote village, the words of a respected priest are often more useful than a mayor.

The priestess in the town of Moira is not fixed, but is replaced every year. As for why it is so frequent, the residents here give the same answer.

A good harvest needs to be brewed, just as women always need a certain amount of time to recover after giving birth.

The same is true for the sacrifice to the goddess of spring breath. After a year of harvest, a new priest is needed to brew the harvest again.

This statement makes some sense, but it does not convince Hasta. He specifically asked the priestess who held the sacrifice every year whether he could see her next year.

The answer he heard was that he could see her, and she was more popular when getting married, because many people believed that the priestess who presided over the sacrifice was also conducive to reproduction.

This made Hasta feel something was wrong. In his impression, priests have a lofty status. In order to maintain their own holiness, most of them are not allowed to marry and have children, and need to remain single for life.

But according to the local customs, priestesses can not only marry and have children, but are also very popular.

Not only that, Hasta also found that the townspeople attach great importance to reproduction.

Some families have seven or eight children and continue to have more. The oldest family has 23 children!

"You must be a foreigner. People here know that the more offspring you have, the easier it is to get the blessing of the God of Grain, and the easier it is for your family's fields to have a good harvest, and even no insects all year round." A drunkard who was a little drunk ridiculed Hasta's ignorance.

Some people on the side thought that Hasta came to their town specifically to find a suitable girl to marry.

This is nothing new. There are always many foreigners who value the blessing of the harvest here and want to marry a daughter-in-law here to make their fields have a good harvest.

But in the end, they often fail. They have a lot of children, but the fields are still poor and barren.

People have come to a conclusion that only an area around the town can enjoy the blessing of the harvest of the God of Grain.

Hasta disagreed with this statement, but he still took the opportunity to say that he did come here to find a suitable daughter-in-law to marry, and successfully got the family address of this year's priestess.

"It's not that easy to marry the daughter of old Jeff. You have to prepare at least 100 pounds of betrothal money and have a field that can be plowed by ten cows before you have a chance to marry his daughter." Someone grumbled loudly.

"I think you have no hope. Although you look good, old Jeff's daughter is only fourteen years old this year. He is reluctant to let his precious daughter marry far away."

"Young man, I will teach you a way. Just take out 500 pounds and slap it on the table at old Jeff's house. I guarantee that old Jeff will not say a word of objection, but will happily recognize you as his son-in-law."

When the discussions faded away, Hasta did not go to old Jeff's house immediately, but returned to the hotel to rest and wait until night to go out.

After all, he was not here to covet other people's daughters, and he was only fourteen years old, so he did not have this bad habit.

At ten o'clock in the evening, Hasta came to the vicinity of old Jeff's house according to the information he had learned during the day.

Old Jeff's home is located northwest of the town's central square. It is a two-story townhouse, and it belongs to a relatively wealthy family in the town.

Old Jeff has two sons and a daughter. The eldest son has married and moved out. The second son currently lives in the farm, responsible for taking care of the crops. Only he, his wife and his fourteen-year-old daughter are left at home.

Hasta was really surprised by this. When he observed the priestess last night, he could not tell that she was only fourteen years old. It should be because of the heavy makeup.

When the family turned off the lights and rested, Hasta appeared in the room of Old Jeff's daughter.

Liv, a relatively easy-to-remember name.

In order to find out the priest problem in this town, Hasta used the ability of nightmare and entered Liv's dream.

I don't know if it was because she had just experienced the sacrifice last night and was very impressed by it, or for other reasons.

In the dream, there was a field with a brilliant harvest, and golden rice ears were hanging down, with drops of shining dew on them.

Corn, pumpkin, carrot, cabbage and other crops are growing very lush and pleasing, with abundant fruits and even the sky is very blue.

There is only one thing that makes Hasta suspicious. There are white silk threads wrapped around the roots of each crop here, extending deep into the ground.

These silk threads are very thin, and some are covered by the soil. If you don't lie down, it is difficult to see the problem here.

Silk threads, human-faced spiders... Is it really the blessing of the goddess of spring breath?

He is sleeping in the depths of this land?

Hasta couldn't help but have such doubts in his heart. He walked straight to the depths of the field and finally saw the protagonist of this dream.

She was carrying a bamboo basket in her right hand and picking fresh fruits and vegetables in the field. Her young, tender, and beautiful face was filled with the joy of harvest. The bright red tomatoes were picked neatly by her and put into the bamboo basket.

Soon the bottom of the bamboo basket was filled, and she began to pick cucumbers, cabbages and other things.

If no one disturbed her, she seemed to be able to keep picking like this.

Hasta looked for a while, but didn't find anything unusual. Finally, he spoke to break the silence.

The little girl seemed to be startled, and subconsciously took a few steps back and hid behind the cucumber rack.

When she saw the person clearly, her eyes lit up slightly, and a touch of red clouds surged on both cheeks.

Her eyes shyly dodged for a while, and then she slowly walked out from behind the cucumber rack and whispered: "Who are you? How did you get into our field?"

This made Hasta frown slightly, and he looked at the girl seriously again.

According to the ability of nightmare, she should be confused and not have much consciousness, and she would only ask and answer simple questions.

Is it because the blessing from the goddess of spring breath has not completely dissipated, which allows her to temporarily resist the nightmare's ability to enter the dream?

Perhaps because Hasta was silent for too long, the girl pouted unhappily and said, "You really have no manners at all. I took the initiative to ask you a question."

"I am a foreigner. I came to your place by chance and found that the crops here are very beautiful. I was attracted here unconsciously."

"Oh, you want to steal our vegetables!" The girl showed an expression of enlightenment.