I Became a Slave to a Mythical Shepherd

Episode 8. Festival (2)

A large street that would normally be clean becomes a mess with food thrown by people, and wild dogs and cats that go out to pick it up. Stalls were open along the road, selling simple snacks.

When the shepherd asks where to spend the money…

I flicked a coin and walked down the street chewing on pork-stuffed bread.

In celebration of the festival, wandering merchants open stalls and engage in solicitation, and the original stores put up awnings and begin a struggle to drive out competitors.

Of course, as it is a place where the lower class people who want to enjoy a day’s entertainment by freeing up cheap money gather, the quality of products is very low.

“here! Come see the handsome boy dancing with only a thin veil on!”

“Take an apple and go! One apple at a time…”

Insects wriggling among the fruits, and crappy wooden dolls pretending to be luxury goods are scattered randomly.

This kind of thing is like Charlie in my eyes after trying to run away from my parents.

Uncharacteristically for the inattentive shepherd parents of ancient times, my parents were extraordinarily tight-fisted.

Instead, they rarely raise their hands, and they were kind in this and that, but something…

I wonder if this is something different from the standard parents of this era, who beat their child to the brink of death just because they lost a sheep, and can’t breathe well.

I wanted to have freedom of movement, even if it was only when I came out to the festival with God as an excuse. After all, I have no intention of getting lost in a city that is not very big and is only inconsequentially crowded even during festivals.

I took a moment to look up the hill where the upper class would live. The floating population gradually decreases as you go there, and the hem of people’s clothes becomes long.

“If this is an opportunity…”

I barely got out of my parents who had been wrapping me up all this time. I didn’t intend to be satisfied with just trivial entertainment.

good. naturally. Try moving there naturally. I’m just a slave boy who came out to drink, so I can go to the upper class district without knowing how to look cool…

“Are you here?”

familiar voice.

Looking back, it was Theo. Unlike usual, after putting on a cloak in clean clothes, he looked down at me with his characteristic half-closed eyes.

It seems that the neighborhood girls who are babbling at Theo have followed him all the way here. Theo skillfully flirted with them and looked back at me.

“Where are you going to go alone, leaving your parents behind? Where will you go with me?”

“Oh, no. I have some personal business to do.”

“What about personal business? Are you a girlfriend?”

“Well, it’s nothing…”

“It’s obvious. Didn’t you just want to play alone?”

At Theo, who was talking mischievously, I smiled awkwardly and evaded my words.

“Come to think of it, it looks like you’re looking up there. Have you heard the rumors too?”

“What rumors? I am hearing it for the first time.”

“Someone seems to be distributing a strange drink over there, but I don’t have the confidence to join the nobles, so I won’t go. Are you thinking of going?”

In the eyes of the older brother who said that, for some reason, he was half concerned. I was worried that I might get close to it.

After seeing such a reaction, my curiosity was piqued and I had no choice but to ask.

“A strange drink?”

“okay.”

Just like that, a dancing procession dressed as a satyr crosses the road. Beyond that, Theo pointed with his finger.

A building located on the highest elevation in the city.

“If you look up there behind the Temple of Zeus, someone is giving out free drinks, and if you eat them, your legs will feel weak and you will feel dizzy. isn’t something ominous? A little spooky.”

‘Something on fire’? ‘Slightly spooky’?

Just hearing the description doesn’t seem to end there.

“…isn’t that a drug?”

“No, what?”

“Oh, no…”

What, no concept of drugs? What kind of world are you really filming?

If you think about it, opium was an over-the-counter drug in the 19th century, and Coca-Cola was originally made with coca leaves used to make cocaine. Theo hyung, who seemed to react with some hesitation, was at the least better.

···Anyway, drug trafficking in the middle of a festival? Are you crazy?

From murder in a closed society to drugs, this world was more dead end than I knew.

“I’m not going.”

“uh? okay? The other kids are begging the adults to go, but your reaction is different again?”

Well, if you get addicted, you probably don’t want to eat it, so you have no choice but to eat it even if you pay for it.

“…don’t go if you don’t want to embarrass your family.”

“There should be one or two people around you who sell drinks like that and end up in jail or get exiled. I’m not going.”

Look, that’s suspicious.

It’s a drug… It’s a drug…!

I don’t know how many evils of this world I learn in one day. My older brother saw my ‘hypersensitivity’ and laughed at my cuteness and left, but I quietly turned my head away.

I moved my trembling legs toward the upper town that my older brother pointed out earlier.

It was behind the Temple of Zeus.

Once you do, you will never go there.

***

Horizontal lines are drawn between the poles, like clotheslines, and colorful fabrics are hung on top of them.

As a child, it is difficult for me to walk under the weight of the cloth. And as you walk like that, you have to hear the voices coming from nearby.

“Do you want to wear new clothes?”

“Just give it to me. Hmm… blue, blue.”

“Will you go ahead with your money?”

“Just give it a try. Take a look!”

“This person is having a temper…”

Cloth shop, pass.

With the pennies the slave boy had saved up, there were only clothes that were difficult to even look at.

Touching and seeing is all I can do. Under the premise that even that would shamelessly endure the notice of dissatisfied merchants.

Even this would normally have been followed by a slap. If today wasn’t Pan’s feast day.

After exiting the relatively narrow street where the cloth shops were clustered, enter the main street again. When I went up the hill to the neighborhood, the crowds were noticeably less than before.

Many of the wild dogs looking for food have disappeared, and only dogs with clean hair and various animals that seem to be raised in a house sometimes go out on leashes.

“Would you like to hear the following interesting and instructive story? The next story is…”

“money! This dude’s money bag isn’t heavy enough for the next story! Pay to hear the next story!”

“Haaa, damn things. After we stopped talking there…”

The storytellers vividly recount the legends and folktales they know with dolls and gestures. As the guests continue to curse word by word, they take out coins from the hem of their clothes and throw them into the windman’s pocket.

I listened to the storyteller’s story like that, and after getting caught several times, I walked around again with nothing to do.

“Ha… After all, status is a problem.”

Of course, the clothes I’m wearing now are the new capes that a cloth shop gave me, saying that if you walk around a child in Pan’s clothes naked, you’ll be punished.

Even if it’s not that, since it’s a festival day for Pan, it’s a day that allows for tolerable rudeness or damage to avoid the wrath of the gods. Thanks to such a cultural taboo, there was no reason to be dismissed as a slave without money in most stores.

Exactly, that much.

I didn’t get kicked out of the door, and except for the previous cloth shop, I had no choice but to just look at the products while salivating profusely.

I have no money, so I have no options.

I couldn’t help lamenting this low-level world, and shed tears of blood because I couldn’t enjoy the pleasure and luxury I expected. In the end, storytellers who could only pretend to pay for a story were the best to get it cheap. It’s a so-called cost-effective restaurant.

When I went back to the street where the storytellers were gathered, an old man in a blue and orange cloak, as if he had a high position, and a slave like me in a dirty gray tunic were all sitting on chairs with legs that did not fit together.

As if the story had just ended, the audience clapped and scattered coins again. I hesitated in between them, chose a chair, sat down, and waited for a new story to begin…

“Little boy.”

The wind catcher is approaching. For some reason, I got up from my chair and stepped back.

“You saved a lot of money for the story earlier. They heard our story for a very, very cheap price.”

“Are you talking about stealing?”

Saying so, the windcatcher speaks, and the storyteller also approaches this way.

Feeling intimidated by two adult men approaching, I grabbed my pocket and took a guarded posture.

“…Today is Pan’s festival day. If you intimidate the shepherd, you will be out of luck.”

“uh···? Scared?”

“Others must have already paid enough for the story.”

“That is not the case.”

The windslayer shakes his head as he looks down at me expressionlessly.

“Look at your outfit. What wealth do we expect from you? No, I did it because I wanted to be friends with you.”

“…”

Still a suspicious impression.

A face that seems to be asking for an answer.

Suppressed by that momentum, I unknowingly paid the price for the story I overheard earlier.

The wind catcher and the storyteller looked at the coin I handed over with interest for a moment, then looked at each other and shook their heads together.

“We don’t need money. What would you do with a small amount of money? Go over there with that money and buy some roast sparrows or something to eat.”

“You still have to pay the price. What I received is what I received.”

“Hoho…”

The windcatcher’s eyes glow more suspiciously.

“You are very smart. Not suitable for your age.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“I know a place that gives out what you want.”

“···I beg your pardon?”

“It’s not a big deal. But I’m sure you can get what you want.”

The wind catcher points to the road beside him.

“Go up this road. Then you will understand what I mean.”

…was there such a road?

But before I had time to think, I bowed to the windman and climbed the road.

Is there something out there?

Can you give me what I want?

As I walk so blindly, the surroundings are momentarily distorted, like a scene in a dream. It’s nothing strange, the sight is distorted.

And come to your senses…

“What is this…”

It was behind the Temple of Zeus.

***

.

“Were those the drug dealers from earlier?”

Looking back, the storyteller and the wind catcher just disappeared. Still, there is no guarantee that the way back in that direction will ever be safe.

At the far end of the narrow alley between the temple and other auxiliary facilities, whispers and a few crowds can be seen.

Fortunately, today is a festival day, and there are many worshipers who have come to the shrine. Even if you move a little closer, you can mix with the crowd of worshipers.

‘…First of all, I have to think that the duo of kidnappers is watching me from close range.’

Useless resistance is forbidden. In the end, the story is that you have to go to the end of that alley, where suspicious whispers continue.

First of all, stick close to the side of the temple of Zeus. The distance from other facilities next to it is not too wide, and there are dark alleys, so it is a good place to do suspicious things.

Just in case, I picked up a few large stones nearby and secretly took out the dagger I always carried with me when cutting branches from my waist. Trying to stimulate a duo? But such self-defense is unavoidable.

Of course, people who want to openly do ‘business’ in the city don’t want to harm people recklessly and lose money…

no. Come to think of it, there’s no reason why crazy people selling drugs in the middle of a festival, especially in a temple, can’t drown a person.

As the thought progresses, you feel it stretch towards more sinister possibilities, and you shake your head to come to your senses.

He put the hand holding the dagger behind his back and slowly moved forward. Anyway, just in case.

After all, I am a child.

If anything, it would work even if I tried to catch rats during the festival.

At the far end of the alley, on the way back to the Temple of Zeus, a suspicious rumble was heard as expected.

“Try a cup of this. Pleasure will rule your body, oppression will be washed from your soul, and you will be able to face the world with your own mind.”

“Really, can I just drink this?”

“Then of course. Trust me.”

“Then just one sip… something, it’s sour.”

“Once you get used to it, you’ll be fine.”

A somewhat high, soft, muffled yet distinct voice.

When I peeked my head out from the corner, the man with the voice was opening his wine bottle and pouring some liquid into the crowd.

…Even the PR is incredibly flashy. ‘Pleasure’, ‘Liberation’, ‘Self-Realization’… Anyone who hears it will think you’re a hippie using LSD. I wonder if the words of drug addicts are similar beyond time.

Anyway, it seemed that the liquid was the free drink we had just been talking about.

As the uncle said, the type of drink you drink. Is it like a diluent?

Surprisingly, no one was armed. A few men and women were just circling around the man in a daze, as if they were intoxicated.

If so, wouldn’t it be possible to solve it by just shouting in moderation… or by secretly summoning people to be safer?

Perhaps this body has innate motor nerves, it has once chased away a bear that was aiming for a sheep with a sling. It’s enough to sneak up and bring the ‘adults’.

It would be at least to the extent of interfering with the ‘business’ of the drug lords, and in addition to that, it would be possible if the citizens and soldiers of the city were summoned in earnest…

The man looks like he’s drunk, and there are people in front of the temple of Zeus, so it won’t be easy to escape.

After putting the dagger in the sheath, I placed the stone in my hand on the sling and slowly turned it.

while slowly stepping backwards. If someone follows you, throw a stone at it and immediately shout…

“I-I brought a glass too. Take a sip this way too…!”

“We have so much joy to share, enough for all. Just for now…”

[Please wait.]

Momentarily, the crowd begging for medicine stops.

Everyone stopped talking in unison, stood at attention, and did nothing.

Everyone stiffened to an unnatural level, as if his entire body was being controlled by that man.

It’s a bit of a creepy sight.

“There are many customers today…”

The man escaped from the crowd that was asking him for drugs. They, too, could not do anything because their bodies were stiff, and they only barely moved their eyes to follow the man.

The suspicious man walks straight ahead without taking his eyes off the crowd.

right in front of me

I couldn’t even move from the terrifying sensation.

“…there are a lot of obstructions.”

And the man looked straight at me.

[Look at everyone.]

As the man snapped his fingers, his unmoving followers followed him and turned their heads towards me.

Dozens of eyes are focused on me.

“What, what, what? What are you doing…”

“A simple joke.”

Lazy eyes, an appearance that would have made it difficult to determine the gender if it were not for the clothes, a strange atmosphere, a purple tunic and cape, and a youthful face.

I was bizarrely easily overwhelmed by those languid, drugged-up eyes.

I had no thoughts of running away or of resisting.

The man opened his mouth.

“you···”

The sack opens.

familiar smell.

A scent that drives people crazy that I have never smelled in the past 7 years.

It’s a smell that can’t come from here…

“Do you like to drink?”

I misunderstood.

“under···”

“Um, what is it?”

“Even in Christ, there is a person who knows the way of being strong.”

-“Surely you can get what you want.”

free booze.

I never thought that such a great man would exist in this era.

***

It’s weird when you think about it.

This is the place where you come to this world and meet alcohol for the first time.

No wonder grains and fruits were precious to slaves. Then, the wine made from the grains and fruits is bound to be precious.

I’ve heard that you can make alcohol by fermenting the milk of horses or sheep, but I’ve never encountered it. Since the owner of the sheep is not a cage, it is not that you can drink sheep’s milk to make your stomach burst.

So, as a slave shepherd, I may never have had any contact with alcohol.

But the festival wasn’t just this one time, didn’t it come back every year? But have you never seen anyone drunk?

“It’s strange, but…”

“Are you not going to drink?”

The man lowers his head and whispers to me.

It may be kindness for a child, but it only comes as a sense of intimidation to me.

and,

“That’s Okay.”

I went out of my mind at the moment when I smelled the smell of alcohol, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, and that of wine.

I knew what would happen if I poured alcohol into the body of a 7-year-old, an 8-year-old in Korean age.

“Didn’t you already say you knew what alcohol was?”

“I know. . . I love you.”

I was the one who had a spiritual confrontation with leading professors of Korean literature who seemed to be ignorant of the concept of cirrhosis of the liver and high blood pressure to see who emptied 10 bottles of soju first.

– You’re attacking us with alcohol. Hey, do you know what my childhood nickname was?

-What is it?

– If you beat me, I’ll let you know.

– That friend just now is the weakest among the four great heavenly kings of our ancient generation. Don’t be relieved that you let him go.

-So Professor Park, the lecture schedule is…

– I’ll think about it if I win.

– It’s me next. Let me tell you the difference in status between Dr. Han Gat and Professor Tenure.

-Professor Lee’s nickname and schedule for Professor Park’s lectures…

-If I win.

In the end, when old and tired middle-aged people became pizza makers and walked the ground on all fours, didn’t I stand up proudly and get them a lecture appointment?

Alcohol was the last pride of a humanities student who had lost his life, and at that time, the heroic victory in the 1v4 masterpiece circulated like a legend to ruined lives similar to mine.

Do you know how to drink? Do you like it?

More alcohol than hemoglobin flowed through my veins at one time.

“You even love me? But won’t you drink? That’s contradictory.”

“…I’m still young. When you are young, your body is weak.”

But my seven-year-old body is not yet.

If you make a mistake, you just go to the goal.

“Isn’t that common sense?”

“I don’t know. Have you come up with that kind of common sense already?”

The man tilts his head while talking bizarrely.

Well, it was ‘common sense’ until the early 20th century to pass morphine and opium into children’s mouths, so the man’s words are not wrong.

“So, put away the bag…”

A little bit, it just feels like something.

Ha… it’s unfortunate Free alcohol for the first time in 7 years, body age of 7, free alcohol, 7 years old…

I hear the sound of my mind breaking.

“Oh, just give it to me.”

“Suddenly, you talk like an old man for a seven-year-old.”

“Are you even picking on customers’ tone on the topic of moonshiners? Give it to me and I’ll try to taste it.”

Strictly speaking, since I don’t pay, I’m not a customer, but what about the subject of secretly selling alcohol hidden in the dark?

“her.”

The man who lifted one of his rings as if he was having fun at my words snorted and took out a glass from the pocket attached to his belt and handed it to me.

“It is a gold-plated cup. You are too vain to do anything shameful.”

“It is not plating.”

Crimson waves ripple and are sucked into the glossy golden circle. When the glass is filled, the man moves his hand and offers me a drink.

“It’s just gold.”

“Ha, what…”

-Mulkyung.

When I bit into it, teeth marks remained.

I look up at the man wide-eyed, and he still only smiles languidly.

“Come on, drink. Break yourself down, have the pleasure of humiliating yourself.”

I still think so.

I still tilt my glass, unable to take my eyes off the confident smiling man. The wine came closer and closer to my lips…

“He who spreads blasphemous fluid!!”

-widely.

What, what, give it back why are you drinking I’ve only touched a drop of it…

“Where’s the point of giving away!!”

“Don’t you see the soldiers over there?”

“So you’re going to get caught, but I’m going to get caught…”

“The kid puts an unholy liquid in his mouth!! That too is blasphemous. Catch him!!!”

“What, what, what…”

“You really don’t know anything.”

A man with startled eyes hides me under his cloak and lifts me up with one arm.

Then he runs fast with a wine bag on his other arm.

“catch!!”

“Me, me, why are you holding me?”

“Drinking a profane liquid that melts a person’s reason, distorts his piety, and reminds him of treason.

Did you even say you loved me?”

The man casually lays out some terrifying sentence. No, it doesn’t seem to be out of breath even though it runs very fast.

Aside from that, the man even gives me a meaningful smile.

“You are an incompetent to them, an unbeliever. A traitor.”

“Have you had a drink?”

“He had a drink.”

After saying that, the man digs into the narrow alley. Even the soldiers who came in droves, only one or two could stand in the lead for the pursuit.

and,

– flutter.

When the man throws the cloak backwards, the soldiers with entangled limbs fall.

In the confusion, the man quickly hid among the boxes next to him, and the unnoticed soldiers passed through the alley and left.

“I will be fine now. The soldiers were far away and couldn’t see your face. There aren’t just a couple of kids like you walking around naked…”

“Yes, status window! Status window!!! Status!!! system!!!”

“…you’re screaming strange noises.”

“Shut up and be quiet. It is a matter of my life.”

“Could it be a spell from the distant east? Well, I’m done with my business here.”

The man drops me off and calmly brushes off my clothes.

Even though they are only wearing tunics, many people who want to enjoy today’s festival will also wear them comfortably. There are many shepherds in the city who cannot afford to dress formally. There is nothing to be caught.

“Farewell, young apostle of pleasure and ecstasy. Someday I’ll pay for the drink I couldn’t give you today.”

“What do you mean by that? Give it to me now.”

“Unfortunately, the soldiers have located me, so I will have to leave this city soon.”

The man grins and puts something in my hand.

“We will meet again someday.”

Before I could say anything, the man ran away, and as I couldn’t keep up with the adult man’s running, I had no choice but to watch his back.

“···what is this.”

I staggered out to the plaza near the temple, and, like other worshipers, prayed appropriately and came out of the temple of Zeus.

bewildered

what happened

My brain was still tingling with the vision that seemed to warp that mind just now. It’s like the residue from wringing out a rag called hair…

The moment I thought about it, my legs gave out.

about to fall…

-dump.

A skinny, hard arm holding me. I looked up and saw a familiar face. This place is still near the temple…?

“are you okay? what’s the matter?”

“… Brother Theo? Since when···”

“I came here because I was worried that you had really come this far. Anyway, be careful…”

Theo carried me on his back, down a straight road from the temple, from the nobles’ quarters to the common people’s quarters.

“Are you okay? Have you ever been involved in a commotion?”

“Because it’s okay. brother?”

“What is the little guy worried about me for? Are you hurt anywhere?”

As my older brother strokes my hair and examines my limbs, I relieve my tension and let out a sigh.

“are you okay. The drink I mentioned earlier isn’t too bad…”

I stopped to speak casually.

Is ‘alcohol’ really a non-trivial drink in this era?

As expected, when the story of the drink came up, Theo said with a wry smile.

“I heard that it was the worshipers of Dionysus who spread the blasphemous drink? Look, it’s ominous.”

My brother tossed my hair and threw me an apple saying he bought it at the market. While leaning on Theo’s back, chewing on an apple, I pondered. A bug came out of the apple, but he thought it had a hair in it and ate it all up.

…the more I think about it, the weirder it gets.

It is not an Islamic kingdom, and it is not simply a ban on drinking in bad years.

In a society developed to such an extent that city-states were formed, how could one not be aware of the very existence of alcohol?

I feel a sense of heterogeneity, but the more I think about it, the more my head gets clogged up. like···

“$@#%! Are you all right? Theo, thank you. We thought we lost a child… Isn’t it dangerous to go up near the temple by yourself!”

“Do not worry. #$$# stayed with me.”

“Isn’t it true that something happened? From now on, don’t fall away from us. Suspicious people wandering around taking advantage of the festival… I really hate it.”

Father’s familiar voice.

mother’s familiar face.

Facing the two, I was somehow relieved and my legs gave out. When my mother, startled, took me over from Theo and held me in her arms, I said it was okay and walked on my feet.

Thinking I’m scared, my father approaches and whispers to me as if to reassure me.

“Let’s come back tomorrow. There will be many things to see and do tomorrow as well. Tomorrow, the wrestlers will come out and have a match, so the three of us can watch it together.”

“···yes.”

“#$$%, don’t be afraid. because it’s okay now Got it?”

“yes? Bar, what did you just say…”

“You, $#$#, look tired. Don’t talk too much. You can scold me later.”

My name sounds blurry for some reason… but I can’t seem to remember my name…

-Okay.

Okay.

[This is not very important.]

Because it doesn’t matter very much.

It’s no wonder you hear a faint voice in your head.

Holding my parents’ hands, I escaped the fading festival scene. The festival will continue tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, but today I am going home.

For some reason, he squeezed his father’s hand tightly like a normal child. My father saw me and gave me a light. I was delighted to have ascended to a higher place.

I didn’t know anything.