nucmednet Chapter 169 Hatred and Wheat Fields
Chapter 169 Hatred and Wheat Fields
The wind blew through the mountains and forests, and the golden wheat fields rippled up and down like waves. A boy dressed in a white priest's robe held a cross and looked at the scene before him.
"By the goddess..."
For him, demons were undoubtedly enemies. Although demons had no connection with him or his family, the priest had told him since childhood that demons were evil, that demons were enemies, and that demons could look at his head at any time.
When he was a child, his parents would use the excuse that "if you don't stop crying, the demons will come for you" to stop him from crying. He had never seen what the demons were like, but he imagined them to be red all over, with ferocious faces and horns, sharp claws, and that they took pleasure in killing.
But it was only when he set foot on the land of the demons that he saw the demons for the first time.
It was an unforgettable day when, as an apprentice priest in the city of Song, he was summoned by the bishop. As one of the few young apprentice priests in the area, the city bishop praised his piety and told him that he would become a holy priest, but he had to perform a task for the goddess.
Go to the lands and schools of the demons and reclaim the knowledge and wealth that rightfully belong to the lady's followers.
The boy looked terrified, but ultimately accepted the goddess's mission to travel to the demon realm as one of her children. After all, the church had already paid a sacred price (referring to gold coins), so the demons wouldn't do anything to him.
A blessed cross hung on his chest. The blond boy, holding the cross, stepped onto the filthy ship. As a young priest, the boy wore a pure white shawl and shirt under his delicate face, and pure white socks under his black shorts adorned with crosses.
With the goddess's blessing, the journey was smooth sailing, but when the ship docked at the port of Hira, the boy couldn't help but tremble.
He saw the demons for the first time, amidst the busy figures on those concrete piers. He clutched his cross pendant tightly, chanting sacred words over and over.
Despite his lingering fear of demons, curiosity compelled him to look at them. Demons and humans were not so different; at least in appearance, demons were simply different from humans, except for a pair of small horns.
I disembarked in a daze, and followed the head of the Vatican's International Student Affairs Department to make contact and enter the school... In a daze, I had already been attending a week of demon classes.
But attending classes is one thing, and interacting with demons is another. Social issues trouble every international student from the church: Should they communicate with their demon classmates? Should they communicate with their teachers? These are crucial and difficult questions.
The boy who prayed to the goddess in his dormitory every day eventually couldn't help but communicate with the demons—the school required the biological sciences to submit a research report on agriculture.
The boy stood on the edge of the field, where the wheat fields stretched out in a vast expanse. He looked along the golden waves and saw that he was sitting on the edge of the field. Outside the Southwest Agricultural University in Amelia, south of Hilla, lay an endless wheat field.
He looked at the land; there was no ominous sign of blood in the sky, only blue skies with white clouds, and golden waves rolling like those over the church grounds.
When he was little, the bishop told him that the demons' land was full of blood-red thorns, and that they fed their plants with human blood. But now, the wheat, like everywhere else, is golden as sunlight.
Several demons came into view. He silently recited the goddess's holy words, but then looked on curiously. The demons were wearing straw hats, and the sun was making them sweat profusely. They were wielding scythes.
"Heave-ho! Heave-ho~ The wheat is golden like waves~ Heave-ho~ Harvesting hard to support the family!"
Farmers shouted work chants as they harvested wheat, and scarecrows, made of straw, stood in the fields.
Further away, a roaring metal monster was rampaging through the fields, but upon closer inspection, it was sucking wheat into its mouth. As we learned in class before, it was a combine harvester, a machine made by the demon race to harvest crops.
If you don't look closely, who would think this is a demon? To him, it's hard to imagine that the actual demons are no different from humans. They sow seeds just like the people of the church, wield sickles just like the people of the church, and grow wheat and rice in the fields just like the people of the peninsula. The sky is just as blue as the peninsula. They all work just like humans and are just as hardworking.
The demon children running in the fields saw the boy. As the children ran over, he was startled and broke out in a cold sweat.
"Big brother~ Hello, are you a college student? I've never seen you before, Baal~"
The child simply asked him a question, and the boy breathed a sigh of relief. The older child in the lead handed him something, and he curiously reached out his hand; it was a sheaf of wheat.
"Dad said that college students like you should need these things, so I'm giving them to you, big brother!"
He took the ears of wheat; each ear was golden and plump. Unconsciously, a slight smile appeared on his face, and his heart softened. He looked up and saw the child's expectant gaze.
"This is for you."
He took out maltose from his pocket, which was part of the Holy Communion. He brought it from the church; it was sweet, and it was said that the goddess liked to eat it, so it became part of the Holy Communion for Her people.
"Wow! It's sweet! Thank you, big brother!"
The children skipped away, and he held the sheaf of wheat, blankly sorting out what had just happened.
"Not only did I... arrive in the demon realm... I also made a deal with the demons? I..."
"That's how communication begins, isn't it?"
A white-haired loli appeared before him at some point. Her clothes were plain, but they added a touch of beauty to her white twin tails and red eyes. The dark elf behind the loli stood quietly.
"Who are you......."
"It doesn't matter who I am, young man. Have you noticed that we are all the same? We live the same lives, worry the same things, and experience the same sunrises and sunsets. So why do we become hostile to each other?"
"You'll have to find the answer yourself. Most of the people living in the church have never seen demons, and most of the demons have never come into contact with the church's people. So why do you hate them?"
"Why the hatred..."
"Perhaps the wheat field is more important than hatred, isn't it?"
Perhaps the wheat field was more important than hatred, the boy suddenly realized. Perhaps the golden wheat was more important than the bishops' hostility.
he muttered.
“Gustavo....."
"Ok?"
"My name is Gustavo..."
The boy murmured.