Chapter 104: Ch 103: New Festival - Part 2

Their first festival preparations had been filled with nothing but hardship.

It had been Aiden’s first time organizing such a grand festival, so he had struggled and gotten a lot of help. ℯℯ𝑙.

Rather, it won’t be wrong to say that he threw the work on others to figure out while he gave orders.

And this time was no different. Except, this time the others also had experience, and they knew what they needed to do in order to help him out.

They worked in a systematic way, and soon, it was time for the festival. Everything was prepared and ready to go.

Merchants and other guests had started to arrive already, and Aiden made sure they had more than enough inns this time around.

Along with this, he had also expanded the area in the temple for commoners to sleep in and made it free of charge during this festival time.

The first day began with enthusiasm, and it had more people attending than the whole of the last festival.

Most people looked in awe at their village, and Aiden heard some people express their interest in coming here as a vacation since there was so much to do.

It gave Aiden an idea to create a recreational facility and introduce activities from his time. But that was a matter for a later date.

For now, he needed to focus on the festival and whether everything was going alright or not. There were too many bad parties lurking in the shadows to cause him trouble.

He grabbed Goddess Apophis and rested her comfortably on his shoulder when he felt a sudden spike in energy. Someone important had entered the barrier, and Aiden felt his senses zoning in around that new entry.

"Goddess Apophis-"

He called out immediately, and his goddess nodded.

"I feel that as well. It feels like another god has entered our territory. And this must not be a normal god for his presence to be this strong."

To call that new presence strong was an underestimation.

Usually, a god’s power was suppressed when they entered another god’s territory, and this time it was no different either.

The second that foreign god entered Goddess Apophis’s territory, his powers and aura were suppressed by her barrier.

But it was still leaking out so much, which meant that this was not a low-level, ordinary god, but a strong one.

’Ah, we will need to be careful with this god. I am sure he will also respect our boundaries and not push his luck. But these days...who knows what can happen.’

Aiden let out a sigh and decided to pay this god a visit. And his Goddess agreed with him as well.

They headed down to the town, only to notice that there were loud noises coming from the middle of the square.

Now worried, Aiden decided to head there to see what was happening. And his eyes landed on top of the small group that was causing this mess.

It was a group of 10 people who were carrying a palanquin with someone sitting on top. Since it was a covered palanquin, it was hard to see who was inside. But the aura that Aiden felt was coming from in there.

His instincts warned him to be careful, but since this was a mess being caused in his goddess’s territory, he felt validated to stick his foot in there.

"Excuse me, but may I help you with anything?"

The shop owner who was being harassed looked relieved to see Aiden, and he quickly bowed to him.

"Priest Aiden, are you here to check on us? Ah, please don’t worry about it. We are fine here."

Even though the shop owner said that, it was clear to see how uncomfortable he was.

The palanquin carrier frowned as soon as he heard the shop owner’s words and started to yell.

"You are fine? How are you fine when you are charging us an arm and a leg for something that does not even seem to work? This medicine is fake. Only the medicine given out by us is effective. You can even try it out and notice the difference."

The palanquin carrier threw a bunch of powder on the ground, and the system immediately filled Aiden in on his scheme.

[Substance identified. Type: Marijuana]

[Please proceed with caution.]

The ’medicine’ being proposed by the palanquin carrier was no medicine but a drug used to hook people up.

While most people could feel better after taking it, the effect was only temporary and an illusion.

’Hmm, then again, I did hear that people used to use drugs as medicine in the past. Maybe it is something similar?’

Whatever the case here was, Aiden was not going to allow drugs to be circulated in his territory.

The shopkeeper being harassed did not reach out to grab those drugs, and it made the palanquin carrier angry.

"Huh? What’s wrong? Do you think I am lying? Me? Unbelievable. Let me show you how useful this medicine is. I am going to cut your arm and then give you this drug to prove my point-"

The man took out his sword and took a few steps toward the shopkeeper, but the fairies on duty tripped the man, causing him to cut his arm instead.

The shopkeeper stumbled back in surprise as the man fell to the ground, clutching his injured arm.

"Are you alright?"

Aiden immediately asked, stepping forward.

The shopkeeper nodded quickly, still looking shocked by what had just happened.

"I-I am fine, Priest Aiden. The fairies protected me."

Aiden glanced toward the fairies and gave them a small nod of approval before turning his attention back to the palanquin.

The people surrounding it had gone completely silent.

None of them had expected their leader to be stopped so easily.

’There is definitely something strange about these people. If they are bold enough to openly sell drugs during a festival, then they must have some kind of backing.’

He looked toward the covered palanquin.

Whatever god was inside, Aiden had a feeling that this encounter was not a coincidence.