Guardian Evil

CHAPTER 73: The Village of No Name

“What’s… what’s the sigil?” Romina asked him once again.

“I’ll tell you later. But first, let’s get out of here—”

What the f**k? The two of them looked around them and it looked like a deserted place—no distant lights and no road. Luciel couldn’t even feel any energy at all. What the f**k is going on?

“Hey, the two of you!” Luciel and Romina’s heads turned towards the girl around their age holding a torch and kept on waving her hand. “That place is dangerous! I’ll take you somewhere safe! Hurry or else the Maupet will come and get you!”

Luciel’s brows twitched into a frown. The Maupet?

“Hurry!”

Luciel immediately stood up and carried Romina and ran towards the girl.

“Luciel—why—?”

“I don’t want to do this but I need to investigate,” Luciel looked at Romina and kept on whispering. “If you wanted to save that ghost that badly, we need to investigate further and that girl,” his eyes settled on the girl who kept on waving her hand. “That girl will tell us the answer.”

Romina gripped Luciel’s shoulder and he already knew what the human was thinking at the moment. “Don’t worry. I will always protect you. If something will happen in this investigation, I will definitely ensure your safety.”

Romina looked at him and nodded and they finally managed to get closer to the girl.

“Thank God you made it. Now, let’s go!”

Romina was staring at the fire from the lamp when a cup of coffee was served in front of her. Her head perked up at the girl and she gently bowed. “T-Thank you.”

The girl smiled at her then gave another cup to Luciel who just nodded in response. After giving the two of them some coffee, she sat in front of them. “I’m sorry about our home. It’s doesn’t have any lighting but this lampara because this village of ours doesn’t have any electricity here. The people in this village didn’t want to adapt to the modernization outside the village so we got stuck in a situation like this.”

“No, it’s okay. We understand. We’re actually thankful that you saved the two of us that moment,” Romina said, smiling at her.

“That’s really the least thing I could do. By the way, my name is Delia.”

“Oh, hello, Delia. My name is Romina and this is my friend, Luciel.”

“Nice to meet you, the two of you.”

“You mentioned something to us earlier before leaving the place,” Luciel interrupted, making the two ladies look at him. “You said that we should leave that place or else the Maupet will come and get us?”

“Ah, yes,” Delia responded. “You see, this village of no name is not really this civilized years ago not until Ka Dionisio arrived in this place.”

“Ka Dionisio?”

“He’s a pastor that suddenly came here in the village and ever since he came to this village, the village became civilized and everyone considered him as a being who was sent from the heavens to lead the villagers. That moment, Ka Dionisio headed a cult named “Kapurihan” and he introduced this Celestial being he said named Maupet as the one who gave him the power to discover the village and do goodness for the village’s improvement and growth. Since then, the village starts getting so much abundance such as in farming and anything that involves the daily living of the people of the village,” Delia said.

“Everything was indeed smooth for the village not until one day, everything starts to deteriorate. From low, it almost became nothing. The villagers couldn’t get anything from the farm and the animals die for unknown illnesses. Everything became hard for the village and Ka Dionisio told the villagers that they angered the Maupet so we should do a tribute, an offering for the Maupet to forgive us and give the abundance back to the village and so that balete that you saw, it was considered as the Maupet’s home and no one—except for the villagers and the cult members—to come near that place for it will anger the Maupet,” Delia told them. “That’s why I told you not to stay longer in that place.”

“I see,” Romina muttered, nodding. “So, umm, are you also one of that cult?”

“I am. My whole family is. In my case, I joined the cult not because I wanted to. I was just forced to since my mother will get mad at me if I will not join. She’s so devoted to that cult ever since my father died and my auntie—her sister died,” Delia answered. “The real reason why I didn’t want to join that cult is because of what happened to my auntie 32 years ago.”

“32 years—” Romina looked at Luciel first before looking back at Delia. “32 years ago?”

“Yes. I may not be born that time but I heard so many stories about my auntie being the most loving, nicest, and prettiest teen in the village. She was loved by everyone because of her goodness. Not until one day…” Delia trailed off. “That cult… that cult took my loving auntie away, 32 years ago. Since then, after what happened to her and what happened to some of my friends, I realized that… that cult and this being named Maupet is not really up to good.”

“Why? What happened to her?” Romina asked her. “What happened to your friends?”

Delia went silent for a couple of seconds before she looked at Romina and the latter could tell that Delia looked so angry.

“She became the sacrificial bride for the Maupet 32 years ago… and my friends fell on the same fate as well.”