Entering the City (Part 2): The Festival
To go to the inn, I had to walk out of the residential area to the main street because the inns are mostly located in the marketplace. I walked in and asked the girl at the counter, "Hi, I would like to have a room for tonight."
"Do you want a regular or luxury room?" she asked.
"Regular is good for me," I answered and she started to look for a room in her book list.
"Alright, sir. That will be three coins," she said.
"Oh no. How am I going to show that I am in Long Dao's troop?" I was standing there scratching my head. Lucky for me though, the inn boss appeared out of nowhere,
"Look at his uniform, he is a soldier of general Quy. You don't need to ask him money now, I will inform the general tomorrow."
"Oh ok. Sorry, I didn't know that," the counter girl responded to her boss. "Sorry, I just started working here. Please follow me, I will guide you to your room," she turned to me.
"Thank you," I smiled and followed her up the stairs.
"Are you not going to stay up for the festival?" she started a small talk to make it less awkward.
"Oh? I didn't know there was a festival since all the lights were off," I replied.
"You must not from this region of Lai. Every year on this day, people will go home early and the city will be in complete darkness for a few hours. Then we will have a festival after that," she explained.
"This is new to me. What is this festival for?" I was interested.
"The festival is for us to remember the time when candles and lanterns haven't been invented yet, and we are grateful for the light we have all year round. It is also to show gratitude for the things we have in general. The reason we use light as our theme is that even if you have lost everything, you still have light in the night," she talked with joy showing her culture.
"Then why are you using a lantern right now?" I asked looking at her hand.
"Well we can't force guesses to participate in our custom, so the boss allows usage of lanterns to help the guess move around comfortably," she answered perfectly.
"That makes sense. So when will the festival start then?"
"It should be around now. You will know when your window lights up. Here, this is your room. Have a good night."
"Thank you, you have a good night too," I finished and went to my room.
I was sleepy and wanted to go to bed, but at the same time, I wanted to participate in the festival too. I saw some lights out of the window but I was waiting to go when there were more people. So I forced myself to stay up and write the diary for today. I was in the, let me see. Ah, the part where I shamelessly decided to go to the inn, then had to stop there because I heard people outside. So I stood up, stretched a little to wake myself, and headed out to the festival.
Opposite to darkness moments ago, when I walked out of the inn, the richness in colors hit my eyes and I immediately lost my words. The street was crowded with people walking, and the smell of food made my stomach yelling again.
I walked with the flow of everyone and looked to absorb the atmosphere. Everyone was happy, everyone was eating, everyone had a partner. Yeah yeah, that is all good. BUT WHAT ABOUT ME?
I was pretty excited and interested in the different food and stuff they were selling and then realized that I don't have any money and everyone here isn't walking alone.
My excitement quickly turned off. I was about to head back to the inn until I saw a bunch of people gathered at something. Being the curious person I am, I forgot about the hunger and loneliness and joined in to see what was happening.
"Please gather and look at what I have here. Today we have a very special item," there was a big stage, and a guy was talking on it. Besides him is a cage that was covered.
"I hope you didn't use much of your money already because you will regret it soon," he hyped up the atmosphere.
"Show us already!" people who were watching with me yelled.
"Alright alright. Not to keep you waiting for long," he said and took up the cover. "Here, we have a beautiful girl from Hoa."
"Wait for a second! Is this… slave trading? I would never imagine seeing this," I was shocked and terrified, suddenly the festival didn't look fun anymore.
"Alright. We will start with 10 gold coins," the guy said. "Oh look, a gentleman raised his hand already."
"12" another guy yelled.
"15" another guy.
"20" another guy.
"25" another guy.
I was about to vomit witnessing this. The whole scenario was twisted to the core. Dude after dude bidding to buy this poor girl because she is pretty. Who knows what will happen to her when one of them wins the bidding.
"100."
The crowd went silent from such a high price.
"One. Two. Three. Ding-Ding! The person with 100 gold coins wins. Please come up here and pay," the seller said.
"Wait. If my ears still function normally, that is definitely a girl's voice. And why does it sound so familiar?" I asked myself.
The mystery person walked up the stage with a mask hiding their face. They handed the money bag to the seller. He took it and started counting the coins. "That is it. You may now leave with your new slave," he happily said to the person. "Servants! Open the cage for our customer!"
The seller's men came out and opened the cage. They put on a handcuff and leash the slave girl. Then they gave the key to the mysterious person. The person silently took the key and started walking off the stage with the girl.
"Well then, that is it. Have a great night," the seller announced and people started to leave.
But I didn't have a great night after witnessing all of that, because when the mysterious person walked down the stage, underneath the mask, our eyes met and they gave me such a fierce stare. Immediately, I suddenly knew why the voice sounded familiar now and I rushed in front of them,
"Long Dao. Why are you here?" I asked angrily.