Cthulhu Gonfalon

Time flew by quickly; the huge explosion that destroyed half of Garth city was one and a half year ago.

Initially, the survivors lived a very tough life. Even though Ray wrecked his brain and took measures that were both legal and illegal, he only wanted to provide the utmost basic material security for victims that had lost their homeland. During winter that year, many of them froze to death, which saddened him.

After the winter, Garth City finally went through a time of repair. Although they were still in a depression and it was still quite a distance from the true “revival,” the entire city was on track to develop stably.

The harvest of the year was not too shabby and made Ray, who was ruler, beam with joy. He reckoned that no one would suffer cold and hunger that winter, or die due to poverty.

To celebrate their bumper harvest, when they had completed their work of reaping autumn grain, he who was called “Garth Iron Rooster” decided to splurge. He held a celebration for his people who had been working for one and a half years to relax and have some fun.

“That’s great! I totally support the idea!” Sui Xiong said. “Are you lacking money? If you are, I have a batch of magic nuclei that are quite good in quality. Although they are all negative energy, they should be worth quite a bit of money…..”

“Money is not a problem,” Ray replied with a smile on his face. “A simple celebration wouldn’t cost much. A normal barbecue, normal wheat wine, normal water, white bread, normal porridge… If we don’t prepare really luxurious items, three thousand gold coins will be sufficient for such celebration. Although it ain’t a small figure, for Garth city now, it is affordable.”

“Huh? You’re not preparing any noble items?”

Ray smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying, “I have no choice. I can’t afford it. A noble celebration would cost three to five gold coins per head, while a commoner’s celebration would be able to feed three heads happily with one gold coin. If it was Garth city back then, it wouldn’t be a problem to hold a celebration that was of an even bigger scale. But now, we really can’t afford it!”

“That’s really tough…” Sui Xiong sighed. “Then, is there anything that I can help you with?”

“Of course!” Ray smiled, “I want to invite Your Majesty to join our celebration. I know that you are taking a rest, so sending over your clone would do.”

Sui Xiong was stunned and said in confusion, “Why do you want to invite me? I’d really like to join the crowd, but during a celebration for human, if suddenly there was a green jelly fish that flew around… That wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“What’s not good about that? You are the God that I believe in, you are the final settling place of my soul. At such a celebration, if you are not there, that’s really not good!”

Seeing Ray being so persistent, Sui Xiong hesitated but accepted his invitation.

It’s just another clone after all; it wouldn’t expend much of my energy.

So, after half a day, an invisible green jellyfish was flying around happily on Garth Plaza, which was preparing for a celebration. It flew in circles and up and down, just like a naughty kid.

Ray could clearly see Sui Xiong’s delighted look from his office window. He couldn’t help but smile.

“Even if he is God, he needs entertainment just like human!” He sighed. “All this time; His Majesty must be exhausted from training and building the church. I’m glad he will seize the chance to relax. Looking at people’s smiling face would made one feel happy too.”

Then, he lowered his head to continue managing government affairs.

Along with Garth City’s gradual revival, the government affairs that he had to take care of increased. There were urgent cases every day. Even those that were not urgent, would become so over time. Plus, there would be more unexpected trouble that could happen.

Ever since he took up the post, for the past a year and a half, he didn’t even have time for martial arts training during his busiest times.

Fortunately, it had gotten much better…

Sui Xiong didn’t know Ray was having a tough live. At that very moment, he was enjoying his time flying around the plaza and savoring the leisure that was hard to come by.

All this time, he had been busy working underground and couldn’t see broad daylight. Even though his body didn’t feel exhaustion, spiritually it was tiring. He was delighted to be able to relax at the moment.

He flew past the busy crowd happily and saw smiling faces that were filled with anticipation and hope. He was feeling even happier then.

“Ray deserved his origins of a prince. He was capable, just as expected! Within the short timespan of two years, he turned Garth city, which almost fell into ruins, into quite something. Such efficiency; he could be considered as a capable person even on Earth!”

He flew while he sighed with emotion. Suddenly, his body shook and he stopped immediately to look at a corner of the plaza.

It was a stage set up for bard to perform. That very moment, there was a good looking young man that was playing his flute gently on the chair. He was not the kind that had broad chest and enough breath. He didn’t look like he was using much effort, but the deep melodious flute seemed to have penetration power to spread all over the plaza, leisurely. It was like a warm wind in summer, warming up everyone’s heart.

From what Sui Xiong saw, the young man was engulfed in a layer of intriguing divine light, something any commoner wouldn’t possess. Looking at his appearance and aura, and then his actions, his identity was vividly portrayed.

“Who would have guess that the Boy of Ceremony would visit such small celebration.” When the flute was done, he flew over. He cast magic to have people overlook the situation there, and greeted the young man with a smile. “Hello, I am Void Mask, a God that gained a few believers in this city.”

The one who was called ‘Boy of Ceremony’ was God of happiness and celebration. He was originally a human named Janvier. After he became God officially, he built a kingdom of god named “Joy of the Wild.” He placed it at the border of the Country of Light, God’s Kingdom of God for humans turned God. His teachings were to chase after happiness, and enjoy celebration regardless of purpose and standpoint, and to compliment everything about celebration. He himself always appeared as a handsome young man to participate in the celebrations in person, and cast blessed divine spells in large scale at the celebrations. He was a kind popular God.

When he saw Sui Xiong was introducing himself, the young man kept his flute and smiled. “To me, if it’s celebration, it deserves compliments. Not to mention that the celebration is filled with countless people’s hope and wishes. It’s the fruits of their labor. To me, if such celebration doesn’t deserve a visit, it’s a shame.”

Sui Xiong clapped his tentacles and smiled. “You are right! Celebration doesn’t need to be luxurious, doesn’t need scale. The most important part is sincerity in celebration, and the beauty of hope!”

In just a few words, the two Gods that had never met came to a mutual agreement. After a few minutes, they were seated at a table in the corner, chatting while drinking.

They hit it off well right from the beginning; it was like they were old friends.

“The world is big and there are countless worlds in various sizes. Almost every day there is celebrations. As a god post, I am supposed to sing the praises for every celebration. But actually…” Janvier let out a heavy sigh while he shook the big wooden mug and looked at the wheat wine that was bubbling. He smiled bitterly and said, “There were many celebration that I didn’t like!”

“Oh? Why so?”

“Invaders celebrate their victory. They slaughter innocent lives collectively. Shout and jump with joy amongst the bloody and moaning. This is the most common celebration.” Janvier hung his head low, and he didn’t look happy at all. “Such things; what’s the point of such celebration! This kind of celebration is worth praising!”

“Huh? You don’t like that kind of celebration?”

“Of course I don’t! I am a bard. What I like is for everyone to sing, dance, eat and drink, when everyone is having fun. Invaders cheer among the bloodbath. Such things don’t correspond with my concept of aesthetic and moral!”

Janvier sighed and looked up to the sky, “If I knew there would be such things, I wouldn’t have asked to be a God officially back then!”

He took a big gulp from the wine glass and finished it. He carried the big wooden pail next to him with his fine arms and poured himself another glass. “Oscar, you have yet to become an official God. As your senior, I’d like to give you an advice. When you are selecting a clergy, you have to be very very careful!”

Sui Xiong nodded lightly to show that he understood what he meant.

“I didn’t understand why those strong giant dragons from dragon tribes picked some weak post during officiation; like “birth of golden dragon,””celebration of black dragon;” Totally ridiculous! Then, I understood later on. What’s it called? Old fox? They are the old foxes!”

Sui Xiong couldn’t help but laugh. Those dragon tribe Gods were cunning!

“And,” Janvier continued, “After officiation, you must consider which God system you’d like to join. Let me tell you…”

He suddenly stopped and kept quiet. Then, he let out a heavy sigh.

When Sui Xiong looked at his maturity and haggardness which was entirely different from his face, he let out a sigh too.

Gods, clergy; such heavy topics. Almost every clergy that talked to him about this topic became gloomy and depressed.

He couldn’t help but recall the pitiful sight before Goddess of Ocean died. Forget about the physical pain; the hopelessness that surged from the bottom of her heart was even more startling.

“Forget about it.” He switched the topic and asked with a smile, “When do you plan to stay here until?”

“Got to wait till the celebration ends,” Janvier said. “You know, according to my rules, I have to cast a divinity spell in large scale. What do you think is better? Healing spell? Blessing spell? How about a Luck spell?”

“…Up to you. All good things, anyway,” Sui Xiong replied but he suddenly laughed. “I have another friend that just came. Would you like to meet him?”

“Sure!” Janvier took his wine glass in one hand and wine barrel in another hand. He laughed lightly as he stood up.

As a clergy, His range of senses was wide. He could immediately tell who the friend was that Sui Xiong was referring to.

With a flash of light, the two of them were before the sea, facing a breezy cloud that was spinning lightly.

“It seems that you have already combined all the energy that you have gotten from Timsar,” Sui Xiong smiled. “Then, how should I address you now? ‘Raging Tide’ Timsar or ‘The Living Tsunami’ Sarament?