Chapter 12 – An Old Tradition.

Usher sighed as he watched the sun go down quickly. While Mascapir is open during the day, simple snacks, medicinal herbs, and wooden sculptures are sold. If you listen to the words of outsiders passing by, it seems that the festival is not very different from other village festivals, except for wearing a mask. Still, it seems that in this village, you can get medicinal herbs and precious trees that are rarely seen outside.

But Usher couldn’t understand what was so special about it. Most of the weeds and things that are difficult to distinguish from those that are hard to distinguish are often run down without even realizing it while walking in the forest, and the ones that are scattered are trees. Nevertheless, if you look at the crowd of people like this, the special thing about Mascapir will be at night. In fact, no one knew what he and the other children were doing on Mascapir night. Usher would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious about what he does at night. But if there’s a reason you don’t want to go, that’s it.

“Usher, it’s time.”
“Ha, okay.”

It must be because of the girl next to him. Belka’s participation in the festival was not dissatisfaction. But the villagers were the problem. As the zelkova tree became like that, he had no choice but to bring it to the village, but even now, Usher was anxious that people would not find out about the girl’s existence. However, Belka’s not being able to enjoy the festival with him because of them was just as irritating. Unfortunately, the reason he was able to think of bringing Belka out this time was because of the rules of the town he hated, to be exact, the rules of Mascapir.

The woman’s mask concealed the girl’s golden color, and the accompanying opaque veil concealed the flower-like redness. The fluttering clothes emphasized Belka’s delicate physique rather than covering it, but it didn’t feel bad. Usher didn’t want to take her with him if possible, but he was afraid to leave her girl alone since he was obliged to attend the festival, so he decided to go with her.

“You have to stick close to me.”
“Huh.”
“You must never leave me.”
“Huh.”

Belka didn’t seem to listen to him, but she wasn’t without some flaws, and Usher asked for help, unable to calm her anxious mind.

“Really, no matter what…”
“Usher.”

Then the girl reached out and took his hand.

“Can you be relieved of this?”
“That, that’s it. Uh.”

Feeling the soft touch of his hand, Usher nodded his head bewildered. He sure thought holding his hand would keep him from falling, but he couldn’t help but feel his ears burning. Just like that, he and Belka held hands on their way to the village. The area around his house was quiet enough to make it hard to believe that it was the same village where the festival was taking place. He was always uncomfortable at this far distance, where he couldn’t even feel the energy of the festival held in the village. It took a long time to go to the village and it was lonely.

Suddenly, the scenery of the same rural village passed my eyes. The harvest time has not come yet, so it is full of green crops, and among them is a lonely scarecrow wearing worn-out clothes standing firmly in place of people. The same scenery in the afterglow of sunlight that remains even after the sun has set. Since I was walking with the girl, why is it that I am glad to see that boring sight? Just when he realized that it wouldn’t matter if he stayed with the girl in this silence.

-Thump thump thump!

Scary to do so, the sound of a festival in the village came closer to them. Usher looked at Belka, thinking that there really was no place for this town.

“Did you wear the mask well? You can’t take it off even if it’s frustrating.”

Even after that, after he had looked more closely at the girl’s attire, they were able to enter the opening of the mascapir. A loud thumping sound could be heard from somewhere, as if a large drum was beating, and people’s murmurs penetrated the background of the sound. I had seen the festival quite a few times during the day, but the night festival had a completely different atmosphere from the daytime. It was probably because of the color of the lanterns that did not light up the village as brightly as the torches did.

Lanterns that I don’t know when they were prepared were hanging in a row, lighting up the town at night when the sun went down in different colors depending on the color of the paper they were coated on. The lanterns, which are not as bright as torches, but do not overly light up the surroundings, create a mysterious atmosphere, and the loud sound of drums and the voices of people excited about the festival linger in your ears longer than during the day. Even the smell of delicious food that brushes the tip of your nose. It’s a festival he didn’t expect much, but seeing it like this made his heart pound.

It was only the atmosphere that had changed, but Usher was excited because it felt like he was at a completely different festival. Even when it is not daytime, men wear masks and go around the festival, and women wear masks, veils, and clothes to cover their bodies. A festival where no one shows their face. While that appearance encourages a more secretive feeling. He took the girl and walked down the street full of people. His hand was still holding the girl’s.

Mascapir was held every year in the town, so Usher knew almost everything the town did during the festival. At least during the day, the children were able to enjoy the festival and play normally. However, it is only once or twice to enjoy a festival, and if it is a similar theme every year, it is bound to get boring. But now it’s different. It was full of things different from what he used to know. He is now with his secret friend at the secret night festival that adults forbade him to come out every year.

“Belka, is there something you want to do?”

A special place at a special time, a special friend, none of them were special, so even the street vendors at the festival, which I wouldn’t have bothered to look at, seemed special. The girl was staring blankly at him, wearing a mask that did not allow even the light of her eyes to be seen. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but at least she couldn’t deny that the gaze was full of her goodwill. It was a fact that could easily be known just by hearing the girl’s voice coming through the mask.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know much about this stuff. Teach me. Usher.”
“There’s no need to be sorry, but yes!”

Knowing how Belka always taught him anything he asked, he wondered if this little girl really knew everything in the world? He was even thinking about doing it. However, when such a girl asked him to teach him, the role that was reversed from usual and the strange feeling of joy derived from the sense of incongruity from the difference made him even more excited, so Usher willingly offered himself as her guide. When he was leading Belka to a street vendor, passing among people wearing masks, unable to calm his excitement.

“Are you curious about that?”

The first place that caught the girl’s attention was a secluded shop without a single customer in the countryside, but overflowing with people saying it was a festival even if it was rotten. It was a place that Usher, who had experienced the festival even during the day, had never seen before. He also became curious about what he was doing, and as he approached, he saw the masked owner sleeping leisurely snoring as if proving that there were no customers. And there are things like ink or pigments scattered around, which I don’t know what they were brought for.

“Hey! You’re not doing business?!”

I don’t know why the girl saw this place, but when I shouted to wake him up, he woke up in amazement. As if he hadn’t even expected guests to come, Usher became more and more curious about what he was doing here, but he was taken aback by his words and voice.

“Hmm?! Why is there a customer at a place like this… No, isn’t that the bachelor I saw today?”

It was no different, he was the owner of the place where he bought Belka’s mask and clothes during the day. And sure enough, his gaze turned to the girl Usher was with. And then there’s the unpleasant voice.

“Hehe, I was bored because I was on duty. Did you come to introduce me? I think it’s smaller than I thought. This is it.”

Even though she was wearing a mask, Belka shuddered at the unfiltered gaze and words that overflowed with intense desire.

“Kuh, after all, was he the shy side? Would he deserve a fuck?”
“Never mind!”

Usher didn’t know what he meant, but he could tell that it was a bad feeling. In particular, the gaze that scanned the girl’s body gave me goosebumps. Usher, who hid Belka behind his back, reacted sharply, and he giggled. No matter how excited he was in the festive atmosphere, he cooled down. He really hated this town.

“Looks like I didn’t come to introduce you to a girl. What’s going on?”

Usher wanted to go back from this place right away, but more importantly, Belka was curious about this place. First of all, seeing that it’s on duty, it doesn’t seem like it’s something I want to do and it doesn’t seem popular, but I was curious about what I was curious about.

“What are you doing here, so there are no people like this?”

Ignoring the rising disgust, I asked him about the place he seems to be running. Then he turned into a steamy expression. Anyone can see that being here is really boring and annoying.

“It’s just a place to put on a mask.”
“A mask?”

Come to think of it, men’s masks were too plain. Women’s masks, no matter how flamboyant, had appropriate patterns engraved on them like Belka wore, but men’s masks didn’t even have that. If you think about it, it doesn’t seem strange to decorate a mask, but it was strange that there were no customers like this.

“It’s normal to have no guests. Who wants to arrange a mate for a party like this?”

What the hell does putting on a mask have to do with choosing a mate? Before Usher could even ask a question, he continued.

“Anyway, because of the rules, I can’t get rid of it, so I set up a duty to operate it, but I became the duty officer.”

It was the time when I was watching him grumble, saying that no matter how much money he earns on duty, there are no customers who come to see him, so he is only losing money. Suddenly, he felt a hand tugging at the hem of his clothes. The only one who could do such a thing was the girl who came to the festival with him.

“I want to?”

When I asked just in case, the girl quietly nodded. Usher asked him without thinking.

“How much is this?”
“What?”

Then a man who looks at him as if he heard something he never thought of.

“How much?”
“Are you sure you want to?”

He looked at them as if seeing something strange and said,

“Well, I won’t stop you from doing it, but please give me three or six iron coins at a time, but only five.”

If it was five iron coins, it wouldn’t be too much trouble, but it wasn’t a small amount of money either. When Usher helped the woodcutter he got fifteen coins, but usually he got a penny or two for errands. Did he know what he was thinking? Belka whispered as she tugged at the hem of his clothes again.

“If it’s hard, it’s okay if you don’t overdo it.”

When her girl, whispering her so that only he could hear her, tried to move as if telling her to go somewhere else, he grabbed her.

“No, it’s not enough to save that much.”

I was trying to save it as much as possible just in case, but there was no need to act like a miser. In the meantime, with the goal of getting out of town, I saved a lot of money, even if it was a small amount. It was okay to use up about 20 iron coins. I handed him five pieces of iron.

“So how do you usually decorate it?”
“Rather than decorating them, it means that you have a partner so don’t touch them, so usually you simply draw the same pattern on each other.”

It was unfair to think that he had given him five iron pennies just to paint it when he said he was wearing a mask, but Usher accepted the black ink and the feather of an unknown bird he offered him. The ink seemed to be made of sap, but it smelled faintly sweet.

“How are you going to shape it?”

In response to his question, the girl raised one of his hands and moved her index finger across his palm from top to bottom and once from right to left. That small movement tickled her, but she knew what shape Belka wanted. First, the girl took a quill and placed the ink-stained root of the quill on his mask. Even though Belka was just drawing a simple shape, she carefully drew a picture on his mask, as if he would get hurt if he got it wrong. It is regrettable that we cannot directly see the expression of the girl who is concentrating because of the mask.

Next it was his turn to do something for the girl. He also drew a picture between the eyebrows of the mask Belka had told her to wear. There was a slight scratching sound as a quill pen touched the wooden mask. When the girl did it, it moved smoothly without making a sound. When he did it, it made a grating sound like scratching a piece of rough unfinished wood. The girl didn’t seem particularly concerned, but he drew the picture as carefully as possible.

It was a hard and plain mask that was difficult to draw with a quill pen, but the ink was quite good, so it didn’t take long for it to dry well like the pattern that was originally engraved on the mask. Perhaps this ink was not simple sap, but rosin. I think I’ve heard that ink made like that is sold at a fairly high price. I wondered if it could be used in a place like this, but if it wasn’t for that kind of ink, the mask wouldn’t have been painted.

“Oh, no way I thought there would be someone coming to do this.”

He looked at the ink bottle as if it was a waste and licked his lips. Ignoring him because the business is over, he gestured to Usher as they were about to leave. I want to see what’s going on with him.

“Looking at you doing that, you seem to be a very dear girl, but you better be careful.

He was a bad guy to the end. The festival of the night, where they went around with Belka like that, was colored with various lights. At first, I liked the atmosphere created by those lights because it was just secret, but now, after hearing his words, I felt somewhat uneasy. How many things does this town hide? This festival was also strange. Obviously, according to the rules, men should only wear masks during the day, but everyone is walking the streets at night wearing masks as if it doesn’t matter. Could it be that the people who were so strict with the rules were right?

Perhaps because there were so many people, the girl, who had become much less talkative, wandered around the town for a while, but no one was angry with him or other men for breaking the rules. Rather, they themselves were walking around the festival to their heart’s content wearing masks. The grown-ups who acted as if something big would happen if they broke even one rule and went wild on the road were all covered in white masks and were nowhere to be seen. I couldn’t understand how it happened. If this is the case, why are the adults so strict with the rules?

I don’t even see anything special about the festival. The only difference from daytime is that everyone wears a mask. Except for the atmosphere created by the lanterns, it was no different from daytime. So why on earth is it compulsory to attend such a festival for the first time? As Usher grows more and more suspicious of the festival. Suddenly, a strange sound passed his ears.

“What are you talking about?”

Thump thump! In the midst of the loud drumming that echoed through the village, he heard another sound. The sound was like an animal’s mandible, but it was different. A more sticky, unpleasant, one-sided sound of desire. Even though it was the first time he heard it, the strange sound was firmly lodged in his ears even during the very short interval when the drums stopped. When he stopped walking, his ears followed the faint sound even as the girl with whom he was walking hand in hand gave him a curious glance.

Unable to shake his curiosity about where the sound came from, who the owner of the sound was, and what caused it, he quietly chased the tail left by the sound in the middle of the road. Passers-by sometimes looked at him and the girl standing still on the side of the road, but no one particularly disturbed them. And once again, the moment when the term of the drums became longer.

“~!”

The sound was definitely heard. Unlike the first, the clearer sound was definitely the sound coming from a dark alley. He peered into the alley to see what caused the sound. The alleyway was narrow enough for two adults to barely pass through, but it was easy for him and the little girl to enter. There was nothing in the dark alley where not even the dim light could reach. I thought he heard it wrong.

“Haaa!”

It sounded like a denial of his thoughts. A woman’s shrill voice. At first glance, it sounded like a scream, but it was different. If that was a scream, couldn’t that voice be deeply permeated with a sticky, slimy pleasure? The sound came from another alley through which the light of a lantern seeped in. I could feel the girl’s hands clasping with him nervously, but he was going deeper and deeper into the alleyway, as if he was unconsciously being led by something. And when he cautiously poked his head out to check beyond.

What was reflected in his eyes was a crucible of frenzy.