Below, cheers erupted. The euphoria of the kingdom's citizens was incredible.
Paul was a seasoned man who had witnessed many incredible performances and sporting events, but this emotion, this fervor of the crowd was unlike anything else in the world.
He looked down at his arms, and sure enough, goosebumps were rising from them.
An unprecedented occurrence, a phenomenal festival that had existed since antiquity.
He looked down from the balcony and noticed that the common people were also dressed in white.
Paul was visibly perplexed. Although he was a "modern man," it was also true that after becoming acclimated to royal life, he had felt unconsciously superior to ordinary people.
A voice interrupted his thoughts, and it was the first princess, Laserie.
She, too, was dressed in a pure white gown and approached him gently to hold his hands.
"Little brother, are you wondering why we all wear the same type of clothing, whether we are commoners, nobles, lords, or royalty?" she asked calmly.
Laserie said, shaking her head, "This wonderful festival is shared by all of us, whether we are highborn or not. The most important aspect of this occasion is to demonstrate unity as a whole, as one race."
"The only difference is that we wear better quality garments while most of them wear rags," she muttered as she looked up at the sky.
She led him up to the balcony's edge and said to him, "Do not be arrogant, my little brother; arrogance belongs to the ignorant. The wisest person in the land is also the most humble."
Before Paul could respond, he was bound by two strong hands. A knight in clear white crystal armor had held him up and led him back to the castle, then downstairs, and they entered the vicinity of the massive crowd that had gathered.
Paul was shaking with anxiety. The view from the ground was vastly different from the view from above.
When compared to the completely red capital city, the pure white dresses appeared to be like a white dot.
The atmosphere was also intense. The common people, regardless of profession, were dressed in white garments and appeared to be holding the best weapon they could find in their hands.
It was as if Paul had walked into a cult gathering, and seeing all of this made him feel even more uneasy.
He continued walking until he reached the very end of the crowd, which had already reached the outskirts of the royal estate. From a distance, he noticed a small patch of water and realized that this was the destination.
Paul also noticed that several children dressed in white garments were walking alongside him.
"Can you explain what's going on here?" He inquired of the crystal-armored knights who were walking alongside him.
But then there was silence. Nobody answered his question, making him feel quite stupid.
"Coming of spring." A shaky voice full of immaturity reached his ear.
A little boy with greyish-red hair and light black eyes had responded to him.
He was also dressed in standard white robes, but it was clear that this clumsy little boy came from a noble family.
His crooked teeth trembled with fear as he followed the group of children.
"P-Prince, this is a tradition performed to commemorate the maturation of the various children born in the last decade. This was something my father told me." He said this while struggling to keep up with the crowd's pace.
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They arrived at their destination before Paul could respond.
It was not a small body of water, but rather a large lake in front of them. A lake that was so clear and transparent that you could see the bottom without difficulty.
This was Lake Silver Sky, the most iconic lake in the Ravalar kingdom.
Paul had no idea why it was so famous, but after seeing it, he could see why.
It was breathtaking to witness. The lake's water level was low enough that you could easily cross it on foot. But before he knew it, he heard his father's voice again, this time from the very back of the crowd.
"All rise and pay homage to Lady Mithrielye, guardian of the kingdom and a true deified being of the Aasimarian race."
His voice was filled with respect and reverence, which was unusual for Paul, who had never spoken to his father since the day he was born.
Drip...Drip...Drip
Suddenly, water began to rise from the lake's surface, and a woman appeared out of nowhere.
We couldn't see her face, but she was wrapped in a red muslin cloth, and a sense of holiness washed over them.
Suddenly, the children were dragged to the side, making way for everyone else in the crowd.
The strange lady who had risen from the water suddenly decided to stand up and stood on the water's surface.
It was like magic! Unbelievable!
The children all had gaping mouths and were shocked beyond belief.
Paul was in the same situation as them. When he saw this, he was completely terrified.
"Could the wheel I saw before I died to be real, or was it just a hallucination?" As he watched the woman suddenly wave her hand in the air, he thought to himself.
Nothing happened, much to his surprise. Nothing happened for a minute before tremors could be heard from the ground.
From the other side of the lake, he saw swarms of pale white humanoid beings with black mist swirling across their bodies.
The other side of the lake was densely forested and stretched as far as the eye could see.
However, a shockwave hit the lake through the trees and forest, and the entire crowd took a step back.
This did not affect the lady in red; instead, she waved her hands again, and the white-colored humanoid beings' black mist that was swirling around them vanished, revealing their body features.
They all had two eyes that were completely black with no pupils. These beings appeared to have a strange type of fur on their bodies, but they were all different.
They seemed to come in a variety of sizes, with some as small as a dagger and others as large as the wall of a small fortress.
They all had no ears or noses but a massive mouths that could eat anything in the entire world.
When Paul saw them, he thought to himself, "Corrupted creatures."
These beings were responsible for much of the world's carnage, destroying villages and cities for the sake of slaughter.
Sometimes as a group, but most of the time an individual corrupted creature was the culprit.
But this kingdom that worships blood was a bad place for these insane and aggressive beings.
Normally, they targeted smaller and weaker races, but the kingdom generally went to the places where these beings lived just to hunt them down, and it appeared that someone had captured them just for this occasion.
"Ahhh!! Charge!" The crowd rushed towards these beings, their weapons in hand. As they charged toward the enemy, they crossed the lake on foot.
This was a battle. The first battle Paul witnessed after arriving in this world. His heart seemed to be pounding as he anticipated the great battle that lay ahead of him.
Then there was a slaughter, one side slaughter of the creatures. They were too weak to respond.
All of the common folk easily slayed their enemies, with even teenagers and elderly people slaughtering all of the creatures with ease.
It was difficult to see.
His countrymen appeared to have transformed into wild animals, biting and ripping off the flesh of these creatures and tearing them apart with their hands alone.
They laughed happily as they killed on, with hearty glee and wide smiles on their faces.
The creatures, on the other hand, squealed and screamed for mercy before being chopped off with a weapon.
Even the children who were watching from the sidelines were filled with ecstasy as they witnessed this great massacre.
Someone had tampered with the creature's body and forced these mighty beings to be sacrificed for this occasion.
"These barbarians are completely primitive in their ways. At this point, my suspicion that they are descended from elves seems to be utter nonsense." When Paul saw this murderous scene, he was dumbstruck.
Even worse than the commoners were the nobles and other influential members of the kingdom. Their methods were a little harsher than the common folk's.
They crushed and tore apart the creatures with their weapons, and now and then they would just focus on one large creature and target it as a group.
This made killing a powerful giant creature countless times their size appear simple.
Nothing in nature was fair; simply because you were bigger than the next person did not mean you could easily defeat them.
While a one-on-one fight was honorable, those who maintain their honor do not live as long as those who act dishonorably and put everything they have into winning.
The clear water appeared to have turned a dark red color from all the bloodshed during the battle, while carcasses, flesh, and bones lay in the lake.
The kingdom and its people had a glorious day. Everyone had been looking forward to this moment for a decade, and it was a relief for them. A release of all of their emotions that have been suppressed within them for the past ten years.
As the killings became more intense, the stench of blood reverberated from the lake, and everyone's white garments began to turn red.