"Kagu hasn’t shown up for so many days?"
Belvan looked around his study room and suddenly rembered sothing, asking aloud,
"It’s not the busy farming season right now, and he doesn’t need to work for others, so why haven’t we seen him for such a long ti?"
Not far away, Prince Mura raised his head and said:
"Yes, teacher, I haven’t seen him for a long ti either."
In fact, it was not particularly rare for Kagu to disappear without a trace for a while.
The poor Dwarf, even with the help of his teacher Belvan, still lived a rather straitened existence and often had to earn money by working for others, especially during the busy farming season, often disappearing for over a month.
But most of the ti, he would inform Belvan in advance, or have soone else deliver the ssage. A departure without notice like this, and for such a long period, was truly unusual.
Belvan rubbed his eyes, his face looking extrely fatigued,
"Send soone to look for him, I hope nothing has happened."
Prince Mura replied:
"I will have my servant look for him tomorrow; relax, teacher, soone like him is always resilient."
Belvan nodded slightly, then suddenly, his legs weakened and he nearly fell to the ground.
"Teacher!"
Seeing this, Prince Mura quickly turned around, anxiously asking,
"Are you alright?"
Belvan steadied himself on the desk, standing up properly, and with so breathlessness, waved his hand:
"I’m fine, I’m fine...
Lately, I’ve been having nightmares for so reason."
After speaking, Belvan pulled out a chair and slowly sat down, taking deep breaths. He felt dizzy and everything before his eyes seed to spin. He closed his eyes and rested for a while.
Prince Mura was startled by his teacher’s state,
"Nightmares, have you been having them continually? Teacher, what did you dream about?"
Belvan answered hoarsely:
"Such disordered dreams, I’ve even forgotten what was in them. It seed very noisy, clamorous, as if many people were surrounding ..."
The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was deliberate. As a student, Prince Mura showed concern and suggested:
"Should we consult a soothsayer? Or find a witch or priest to interpret them? I often hear people say that if one is beset by nightmares, it must be a sign of offending the Divine spirits."
Belvan was unmoved by Mura’s words, feeling all this unnecessary, and so he replied:
"There’s no need. Perhaps, it’s just nightmares. Besides, the things in the dreams are all insignificant. I don’t want those madwon to cause panic among us."
After speaking, Belvan stretched his limbs and stroked his thick beard on his cheeks,
"Dreams, dreams... I wonder, could there be a Path that connects with dreams?"
Upon hearing this, Mura sighed and said:
"Teacher, you’re too obsessed with research."
Belvan chuckled and said:
"Is that a bad thing? We are pioneers, the world’s Pioneers."
.............
That night, the Dwarf Scholar Belvan had a nightmare again.
The dream was so chaotic that when Belvan woke up, he had forgotten almost all of its content.
But so places left Belvan with impressions as fleeting and profound as a startled swan.
He dread of an execution platform, it was nightti, and stars twinkled overhead, their trajectories a mysterious wonder.
But when Belvan looked down, he saw an abyss, countless hands surged up from the deep, trying to drag him into a place like Hell, where thousands of human faces grew, so laughing, so cursing.
Moreover, Belvan rembered suddenly finding himself at a banquet, having accepted soone’s invitation, where delicacies abounded, so intoxicating that he could not help but indulge. He ate when he was hungry, and drank when he was thirsty. Towards the end, the host of the banquet ca out to et him.
Belvan rembered asking the host,
"How can it be so delicious, how is this food prepared?"
The host smiled and said,
"This dish is made from the flesh and blood of your disciples?"
It was then that Belvan woke up, his body drenched in cold sweat, his pupils dilated in the dark night, his mind filled with that bizarre smile.
This was another eerie nightmare. Belvan didn’t know what had happened to him, these nightmares had beco all too frequent these days.
"Do I really need soone to interpret my dreams?"
Belvan muttered.
After pondering for a mont, he nodded with so difficulty,
"Perhaps I really need soone to interpret my dreams... if this continues, I might one day sleep myself to death."
No sooner said than done, Belvan quickly got up, changed into his outdoor clothes, and left the Palace at a gallop. The sky was just welcoming the dawn, everywhere a dim grayish-black, Belvan estimated the ti, perhaps even the most diligent Priests had not yet risen to serve the Divine.
But since he was already out, he might as well seek dream interpretation.
Since the Craftsn Temple was not yet open, Belvan could not seek the Priests there to interpret his dreams, and unwilling to wait, he looked around in front of the Temple’s grand entrance.
At this ti, on the streets around the Temple, stood so heavily made-up prostitutes, most of them slender and willowy, or else they would not have stepped out at this point to wait for custors.
When one prostitute saw Belvan looking around, she stepped forward to greet him, a solicitous smile on her face:
"Would you like... to have so barley beer?"
Belvan abruptly asked,
"Tell , can you interpret dreams?"
The prostitute paused, looking at Belvan with a puzzled face.
"Can’t do it? If not, forget it."
Belvan waved his hand and was about to leave.
"Wait, wait."
The prostitute moved her sturdy legs and grabbed hold of Belvan’s clothes.
"Hey, stop touching , I just want to find soone to interpret dreams, not to arrange a wedding with soone."
Belvan shook off the prostitute’s hand and rebuked her.
As a scholar, Belvan rarely sought out prostitutes for sacred weddings like other Dwarves did from ti to ti.
The prostitute seed unwilling to let this custor go so easily and said hastily,
"Sir... I haven’t had many copper coins all day, if you do a wedding with , I can introduce you to soone who can interpret dreams."
Belvan asked,
"Really?"
The prostitute nodded and continued,
"Many of our sisters co from remote places, and one of them used to be a Witch. She’s good with herbs and unparalleled in divination, to say nothing of interpreting dreams, just arrange a wedding with and I’ll introduce her to you."
Hearing this, Belvan no longer hesitated, imdiately taking out a silver coin from his pocket and said,
"Either avoid the wedding and let see her directly, or get it done quickly, I want to see her as soon as possible."
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