Chapter 377: Origin
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
A small village straight out of a fairytale—the Seedling Village—sat around a giant Cranbul Tree which presented the residents with benevolent fragrance throughout the whole year. There were traces of life everywhere. Under the leaves, along the tree trunk, among the branches…
The entire village showed brilliant craftsmanship. Every house was built using mortise and tenon joints, without using any metal or nails. Every single tile and brick was carefully carved with delicate decorations, including small corners under roof hinges which couldn’t be seen usually.
Houses on different heights were connected by a number of exquisite “elevators” that were powered by wind generators made from giant tree leaves. Here, the Krakoks had shown the most perfect side of their construction talent.
It was high noon, and each of the houses was had smoke coming out of its chimney.
A small green figure dashed down the mountainside and entered the village, leaving only a brief moment for potential onlookers to see.
“A little late, Papaya!” An old Krakok, who was smoking from a pipe, greeted the girl with a smile. Another heavy-looking woman appeared from the house while dusting her flour-covered hands.
“Dear Papaya’s going to join the Grand Ceremony in Hippocrotee tomorrow. Of course she needs her practice, silly!”
After scolding her husband, the woman smiled gently at the girl. “Hello, my dear, I made some Granbul cakes today. You can try some.”
Papaya forced a smile on her pale face. “No thanks, I really need to pack my luggage for the travel now.”
The old woman nodded.
As Papaya traveled through the village, many villagers came to pay her their regards.
“As the only choir singer in this place, do make us proud, girl!”
Unfortunately, Papaya was too panicked to answer them with her own politeness now.
…
Her grandmother already prepared lunch at home.
“Ah, you’re back? Come. I’ve made an exception by making you Cranbul cheese bread today. Just this once though!”
Despite feeling joyful at being able to eat sweet food, Papaya still rushed into her grandmother’s chest while crying.
“I’m so scared, grand…”
“Papaya? Whatever’s the matter?”
“When I was practicing singing on the hill, I saw intru—”
She suddenly stopped and looked up, only to see her loving grandmother speaking in a male voice.
“What did you see?”
The gentle and clear voice sounded nice to her last time. Here, however, Papaya immediately found it cold like the worst winter frost.
She took another careful look and saw the wrinkled and kind face of her grandmother had become that of a young man… Angor’s.
When she backed away in fear and sat on the ground, she heard her grandmother’s voice again. “What is it, Papaya? Are you tired?”
Papaya’s eyes lost focus for a while. Then, she saw her grandmother again.
Hallucination?
The old woman quickly helped Papaya up and dusted her clothes while giving her gentle lectures as she had always been giving in the past decades.
These kind words couldn’t possibly come from anyone else.
Papaya tried again. “Granny, I just saw—”
Again, her words were interrupted by a series of strange laughter. She turned around and saw her own shadow shifting.
A terrible, grinning maw suddenly emerged from it.
Papaya backed away against a wall, sweating.
“Papaya dear? What happened to you today?” Her grandmother asked again.
Papaya no longer dared to answer. She knew that those pair of giants would never give her a chance.
…
Meanwhile, on a hill slope not for from Seedling Village, two concealed individuals were looking at the giant Granbul Tree in the distance.
“She stayed awake? She got a strong heart, that girl,” Shadow’s voice came.
“Stronger than you expected, no doubt. Even such a small soul knows how to act strong in front of supernaturals,” Angor’s compliment was sincere.
Despite their topic, Angor was more interested in the Krakok village in front of them.
He only heard about the perfect craftsmanship of these creatures from legends. And now, he got to witness the work of true geniuses for real.
“Their small bodies possess some really amazing intelligence… frightening, even,” Angor mumbled to himself.
“Let’s go already. Guess we already convinced her not to speak about something that she isn’t supposed to,” Shadow called.
Angor nodded and turned away, leaving the “toy village” behind.
The experience was something like a child’s dream, in which “bigger” people stumbled into the lands of “smaller” people, and it depended on the story’s reader to find out who was the main character.
“This is quite fun.”
Angor began to realize why so many wizards loved to write down all kinds of travel diaries and fantasies; it was because this world was full of fun things that were worth noting down.
Seeing more meant seeing things with more perspectives and broadening one’s mind. Such was the point of traveling.