Feast festival passed with satisfaction. From talents to audiences, many attended the festival with no deep thought. Mostly with a simple purpose, to have fun.
In this world where the strong ruled the weak, more often than not, talents could be as ambitious as having a grudge against one another and bullying low background talents that stand out too much.
Feast festival was a good opportunity to flex one's competence. In addition, some bigshots visited the village, and talents naturally wanted to gain their favor for their better future.
However, almost no significant trouble occurred. This made Sapa pleased. His wish was for the village to live in tranquility.
On the other hand, Yolk secretly felt something amiss; his experience told so.
Talents usually prideful, fierce battle in such occasion is a way to evaluate themselves and motivate to step further.
Otherwise, they would be stagnant. Watching a performance is different from experiencing it oneself after all.
Alas, Yolk had no time to find out the reason. He could not waste his time asking talents one by one, nor had any reason to do that.
Had he asked them, it would make him more suspicious. It was as if he was not grateful for the less problems and hoped some fire burn the forest.
In addition, his hand were tied; researching four patients on his barn with Lena.
Over five days, besides being busy with the feast, they spent time more treating these four patients. He had ravaged his safe, used more than half of herb savings that painfully stacked over the years. However, it was not wasteful.
Tales said a fortune encounter is a work of fate. Lena and Yolk had bottlenecks for more than five years, yet this bottleneck easily crumbled, going into breakthroughs only by taking care of unconscious patients.
Blessed from heaven, that is. Their age was one of the obstacles to breakthrough, many in similar age were left behind with no hope to overcome the boundaries.
Even though this treatment squeezed their energy and materials, they could let the stress by attending the festival. Enjoying the melodies of life with their lovely daughter.
For Eldu and others, the supply of energy was given through fragrant herbs placed on a table near them and herbs that smeared on their skin. Otherwise, they would die out of hunger on the second day.
Anyway, Yolk and Lena made two hypotheses about Eldu and others.
Firstly, the unconscious state was a shock after they endured the life-and-death situation for a year. When someone faced a life and death situation, sometimes his sense was for nothing but survival.
He forced all his power, felt numb to almost every pain unless he stopped for a moment, using that moment to think about other matters which would instantly think about the pain he didn't realize before.
It was like when you sprinted towards a finish line with all power you had, and at that moment, you ignored the pain you suffered and only think to cross the line.
Once you crossed it, you will feel an enormous amount of pain in your muscles, then you will greedily inhale and exhaled.
On the next day, you might feel aches at a certain part of your limbs. With that being said, the unconscious state was the result of Eldu case, not mere muscle soreness.
Lena and Yolk had no idea how long their condition was in such a 'life-and-death' state and how they endured it.
Especially considering Lena's experience in treating patients, this was the first time. She couldn't help but wonder how the guests could reach such an extreme state.
Lena remembered their first meeting. It was justifiable to say that they were not in the right mind. They were in an inhumane state, feeble limbs, weaker than kids, and everything seemed absurd to her.
The second hypothesis was the river. Although it could be included in the first point, Yolk decided to separate it.
Lena remembered they emphasized the river as the final way out; the river stream could be highly dangerous that even some of their companions drown till their last breath.
Perhaps some substances, either poisonous or not, entered their body. These undetectable substances did not react instantly, but with the passage of time, there would be signs of it.
Oddly enough, Yolk detected no sign of drowning or excessive water inside them. Despite that, they might drink something and its effect appeared after certain requirements.
Brave as he always was, Yolk could not do one last examination: by blood. Lena forbade him until their condition was better.
He once said that their blood was tainted by something when he did a small check through physical appearance. He was confident that blood was an important sample, the key.
From the persistent persuasion, his wife gave up, allowing him to take it tomorrow.
Besides this nerve-racking activity, Mora visited them twice, taking some of his goods and having a casual talk about the village.
Lena appreciated Mora's hard work in building his business back. Mora eventually announced that he would settle a business in the village. Hearing that, she helped him as she could, for instance promoting his business.
Mora bought a small land, near the entrance gate as his starting business point. People loved his products; high-quality at affordable prices.
He frankly said that the next price could be higher since the current product was nothing but a leftover. Thus, many bought his products in bulk.
Externally, Mora was hectic with business. But, he was flexible, slowly gathered information, and was roughly aware of the circumstances after six days of his arrival. There was a rumor that caught his attention, about a beast tide that might happen this year.
In his new house, he sat on a chair comfortably. A man in front of him knelt on one knee, informing the rumor.
"Is this true? Which area?" Mora furrowed his brows.
"People at tavern talk about it. This rumor seems nothing big for them," said the man.
Mora's finger lightly tapped the edge of the chair. "Interesting."
How to not feel surprised? A beast tide was considered as a calamity, destroying one village into ashes like flipping one's hand. Yet, these weakling villagers overlook the calamity as if victory was already on their side.
The man apologized. "However, I don't know where the tide will come."
Mora waved his sleeve then the man bowed before he left.
Those who lived in town will go crazy if they hear this matter. Emergency meetings, forming an elite squad, and securing one wealth was the possible action the town would take. Nonetheless, it's not his problem anymore.
"Old Wang, what do you think? Should we use this to test the water?" Mora spoke alone in the room.
"Master, I shall take a walk to the black side. I will tell you after this sightseeing." Wang, the horseman, walked out from a different room.
"Good," Mora smirked. Take this. I'm waiting for the good news."
A sword with its scabbard intact appeared out of nowhere, thrown by Mora to Wang. Wang received it, then he cupped his fist as he immediately transformed into a fast light, shot outside at a high speed.
"I envy Old Wang. Sitting in this stuffy room will make me rusty. Not my thing, not my thing."
Mora looked at a tree through the window, then shook his head lightly. He stood up, wore a golden robe of a merchant, and step out of the house.
'Clicked!'
As he locked the door, a warm smile formed and he gently wave to another villager; greeting amiably.