Chapter 57: Sacrifice
Andrew forced himself to smile. "My father had sold me as a sacrifice to the clan, young master."
Edgar took a long minute to process the information, and suddenly a lot of things began to fit in.
From Viera’s begging to stay in the Fortress to the oddness within the family. Everything was making sense now.
Still, Edgar didn’t jump ahead and slowly said, "Elaborate."
"Our Bullan Clan is just on the edge of the Han River. Every year when the Eternal Rain arrives, we are bombarded with Nightmares from all directions.
To deal with it, the elders of our clan began to worship a half-snake, half-human whom they call a goddess.
For her blessings, they need to sacrifice a male at the start of the Eternal Rain and a female at the end of it."
Andrew laid bare all the secrets of his clan without hiding anything from Edgar.
In the southern side of the Roselle Kingdom, the concept of sacrifices and gods was much more prominent.
But it’s still frowned upon by many. If things about the Bullan Clan got out, they would be socially ostracized.
Receiving no response, Andrew chuckled and continued.
"It wasn’t too bad for the sacrifice though. If I stayed, I could have lived like a king for an entire month. I could have eaten what I wanted to eat and had sex with whichever woman I chose."
Edgar raised his brow at the peculiarity of the sacrifice.
Andrew smiled and said softly, "I was planning to impregnate all the elders’ daughters out of spite."
’Chill out, Johnny...’ Edgar chuckled, shaking his head.
Though, he was still happy that Andrew was in the mood to crack jokes.
With a sigh, Edgar leaned back against the wall and looked at the young boy.
"What is the name of your snake goddess?"
"They call her by a lot of names," he replied. "But she is well known as Medusa."
"....."
Edgar’s smile froze, and he looked at him with clear doubt.
Hearing a familiar name that belonged to the myths from his world made him stiffen.
"...Medusa..."
Edgar whispered as if it were a foreign word to him.
Andrew nodded his head as a look of fear appeared on his face.
"Her strength is extraordinary. She gave our Clan Leader, Berlin, a skill that is truly terrifying."
His words quickly piqued Edgar’s interest.
"What might that be?"
"No one can lie or go back on his words in front of him," Andrew explained. "If someone does that, then he will be turned into stone."
’...Even the power is similar.’
The coincidences were growing harder and harder to ignore.
Edgar was having a rather weird feeling that he couldn’t put a finger on.
Still, he didn’t let it appear on his face.
"I see..." he mumbled. "Guess she does have some power to her."
Andrew nodded. "That’s why nobody dares to challenge the Clan Leader."
Edgar just nodded and looked at the expanse of the night.
Finally, Andrew asked the question he was dying to ask.
"...Will you abandon me now?"
"No." Edgar replied without hesitation. "I will never do such a thing."
He patted the young boy’s back with an assuring smile.
"No one will touch you when you are working under me."
A genuine smile bloomed on the young boy’s face.
"Thank you, young master."
---
The Eternal Night receded, and the murky grey-black fog once again took over.
Last night, no Nightmare attacked the Fortress once again.
The entire night, Edgar stood on the patrol path, but he didn’t feel the presence of any monster.
Even though it was a good thing, Edgar couldn’t help but feel anxious.
Ever since the appearance of the Forgotten, the Nightmares around the Fortress had practically disappeared.
’Why are they actively trying to ignore my Fortress?’
Edgar climbed down from the patrol path just as the others began waking up.
Andrew was already drawing water from the hand pump while Viera prepared breakfast.
Old man Oswald walked over after finishing his morning patrol and feeding the horses and chickens.
The old butler asked concernedly, "No Nightmares again?"
Edgar shook his head.
"It seems like things are really dire."
The old man nodded his head and gave him some words of advice before leaving.
Edgar rubbed the back of his neck and thought about the task that he had to complete.
Tonight was the full moon.
With all the weird things happening, Edgar decided to do the body reconstruction ritual tonight.
He couldn’t afford a delay and give birth to more variables to mess with him.
’First, I need to complete all my mundane tasks.’
After finishing breakfast, Edgar headed straight toward the warehouse.
He picked up all the Nightmare Wheat seeds that he had stored and walked towards the Agricultural House.
Andrew quickly tagged along with him with the intent to help.
Reaching the top floor of the house, Edgar put down the bag filled with seeds and looked around.
The creamish soil covered the whole place, emitting a gentle warmth that soothed one’s soul.
"We have enough seeds to fill this floor," Edgar mumbled. "I just wonder how long it will take for them to grow."
Andrew looked around the empty floor with excitement.
He really wanted to know how the building would grow plants.
"So... we just bury them?"
Edgar nodded. "More or less."
The two of them began working together.
Using simple wooden hoes, they dug long, straight rows across the warm soil.
Andrew followed behind, carefully dropping the Nightmare Wheat seeds one after another.
Once an entire row was finished, Edgar covered it with soil before moving to the next.
Within an hour, the entire third floor had been planted.
Edgar wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked over the field.
Thousands of seeds now rested beneath the soil.
With a smile of satisfaction, he mumbled,
"Now, we wait."
The young boy, Andrew, looked around energetically while his smile never dimmed.
"How much can we get from this, young master?"
"We will wait and...."
Edgar’s words died down in his throat when he saw something unbelievable.
The Agricultural Land trembled softly before a small sprout grew out of it.
"..."
Slowly, more and more green sprouts began to cover the third floor swallowing the soil below.
’What the hell....’