Chapter 225. The Gods of the Haikor Tribe
"Did you use chili peppers for this sauce?" Charles asked the Haikor vendor.
"Chili peppers? What is that? I used Redheart Leaf," the Haikor vendor replied. He took out a red leaf the size of a lotus leaf. The leaf's margins were black and serrated.
Charles accepted the leaf and tore it into two. The leaf was spicy, and the spiciness instantly coated his tongue. However, it tasted completely different from chili peppers, as it had a bitter aftertaste. It seemed that the Haikor vendor had used another ingredient to neutralize the bitterness of the leaf.
The dish was called Shuker. Charles and Lily ate until they were half belly full before leaving. Of course, it wasn't like they had gotten fed up with the food; Lily's keen nose had caught a whiff of another enticing aroma around the corner.
Charles and Lily walked down the streets along the docks, and they ate any food that caught their eye as they headed deeper into the heart of the island.
Charles enjoyed the unique variety of sights that the huge island had to offer. The food they had eaten tasted great, but the serving sizes were massive. In addition, the vendors weren't willing to sell Charles half a serving.
Fortunately, Charles didn't have to stuff himself full, as Lily's mice friends ate the leftovers. Every single mouse ate until their bellies were round, and they all looked like bowling balls.
Just like that, Charles and Lily continued on their journey to enjoy what the Shattered Heart Isles had to offer. Unbeknownst to Charles, they had ventured into the island's central district.
Charles realized upon arrival that regardless of which island, there was a clear demarcation line between the poor and the central islanders.
Snow-white bones arranged neatly in a straight line formed the demarcation line that kept the poor away from what was considered the more upscale central district.
The shops on both sides of the street were built in a different style compared to the buildings outside. It was Charles' first time seeing traces of industrialization on an island he considered primitive.
There were glasses and watch shops; the Haikors on the street were dressed in more fashionable pieces as well.
"They don't look that unique anymore, aside from being really tall," Charles muttered.
Of course, buying anything here was out of the question, as the goods in the shops were custom-made to fit the Haikors; everything was the opposite of miniature.
If he were to buy a pocket watch here, it would become a wall clock back home.
Snap!
Lily whipped out the cell phone and took a photo of the street.
"Don't play with it. It's a bit of a pain to recharge," Charles said and took the cell phone from Lily's hand. They took one photo after another until the cell phone's battery was half depleted.
Charles was about to put his cell phone away when a terrifying and hideous-looking monster appeared on the screen. Charles calmly put his phone away and looked up to see where he had seen the monster. The monster was inside one of the shops, and it was a five-meter-tall statue.
The statue was in a half-squat. Its forelimbs were riddled with pitch-black holes of varying sizes, and its fingers were thin and long. Its face looked like melting wax, and its three black eyes were drooping; on the cusp of falling to the ground.
A few thin tentacle-like green strands of flesh were dangling beneath its head, while its hind limbs were also covered in jet-black holes of varying sizes. However, they were twisted, seemingly broken.
"Is that the God of the Haikors?" Charles muttered.
It seemed like his guess was spot on. The Apostle looked so hideous, so Charles expected their god to look as equally hideous or perhaps even more repulsive-looking than the Apostle.
Gods worshiped by humans were usually modeled after humans, just like the gods on the surface world. Charles reckoned that since the God of the Haikor Tribe looked vastly different from the Haikors, it had to be a creature of the Subterranean Sea.
Just as Charles was engrossed in his deductions, the wooden door next to the statue was flung open. A hunchbacked old Haikor with a missing left leg walked out.
"Would you like to come in and take a look? I have quite the selection inside," the hunchbacked Haikor said, sounding hoarse and hurried.
Charles looked around briefly before entering the shop. The dim room behind the wooden door was filled with all sorts of bizarre statues, and Charles was surprised to find even a statue of God Fhtagn.
"You sell something like this as well?"
"Well, someone paid me for it. Why shouldn't I make money when there's money to be made?"
Charles swept his gaze across the statues, and he soon noticed one crucial detail. The statues were strewn about haphazardly and casually, which was considered blasphemy.
Thud!
A dull thud echoed as a half-meter-tall blood-red statue of a monster was placed roughly in front of Charles.
The statue's appearance was exactly that of what he saw at the display unit, just that this particular piece was red. Also, it had more intricate details as though it was living.
"I just made this thing with red coral. You should buy one and take it home with you."
Charles took one glance at the monster's bizarre and hideous appearance before decisively shaking his head.
Of course, the monster's appearance wasn't the only reason he declined to buy a statue. It just wasn't a great idea to buy statues of unknown existences in the Subterranean Sea.
Charles had heard far too many stories about people inviting calamity upon themselves after buying ominous objects from strange islands, and he didn't want to deliberately bring trouble upon himself.
The hunchbacked Haikor lost all interest in Charles upon seeing that the latter had no interest in buying a statue. He casually carried the statue over to one side and started smoking using a brown pipe.
"You have no eye for a good deal. A coral with such a vibrant color is rare, and it's definitely going to fetch you a handsome sum outside," the hunchbacked Haikor said with a sigh.
"Isn't this your god? How come you're treating your god like a commodity? Are you not afraid of divine punishment?" Charles asked.
The hunchbacked Haikor stared at Charles as if he were a strange man and said, "I made all these gods by myself. Do you expect me to attend to all of them by myself?"
Charles chuckled wryly to himself. The hunchbacked Haikor knew how to differentiate between faith and livelihood. Perhaps these statues were just goods that he had to sell rather than objects of devotion.
"Are you going to buy one? I'll give you a discount."
"How much is a statue going to be?"
"Cheap. Thirty Goldkrons each."
Charles instantly turned around to leave. Goldkrons were valuable, and it seemed the statue was worth as much as its weight in actual gold. Charles had a lot of money, but he wasn't foolish enough to buy clearly overpriced items.
Charles was about to push the door open when he abruptly came to a halt.
"What? Changed your mind?" the hunchbacked Haikor asked and put his pipe down.
Charles walked up to the vibrant red statue and picked it up. He weighed it in his hand and asked, "What will I gain if I kneel and worship this god sincerely?"
"Nothing. It's a dead god. This statue is to commemorate its existence."
Charles was taken aback by the remark. He had a fair share of encounters with cultists, and they had all claimed the same—their gods were both omniscient and omnipotent.
It was Charles' first time hearing someone say that their god was dead. Could a dead god be even considered a god?
"How did it die?"
The hunchbacked Haikor pointed at the statue in Charles' hand with his pipe. "Buy it, and I'll tell you."
"Fine."
Joy suffused the hunchbacked Haikor's demeanor, but he quickly suppressed it as he turned around and fetched a wooden box.
He carried the wooden box over to Charles and started packaging the statue while saying, "The Apostle said that this god named Pede perished long before we were born, but He was a great god.
"If it hadn't been for Him, we wouldn't have been born along with the gods after him. In other words, He was the beginning of everything."
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