The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 833

Chapter 832
The Painter’s Imagination

With a target in mind, Eivass continued to sway in the center of the dance floor while secretly listening to the conversations around him and observing everyone’s actions.
Thus, four to five minutes passed.
In a normal dance party, this song would have ended long ago, and the dancers should have taken a break before letting others take their place… but the people here showed no signs of stopping.
The band, their faces full of smiles, continued to play tirelessly, and the melancholic dance music showed no signs of ceasing—the music simply looped endlessly.
Seeing no unusual behavior from anyone around him, Eivass maintained his smile and gently greeted the girl in front of him, “Hello.”
“Hello, sir,” the girl replied in a clear voice, politely.
Hearing this address, Eivass’s heart stirred.
This likely meant that she also didn’t recognize him…
So, he followed up on her words, speaking in a voice similar to the other guests and with an unconcerned smile, “When did you arrive?”
“I arrived late, about two days ago. But earlier than you, sir,” the girl said with a smile.
Eivass asked with some surprise, “How did you know?”
The girl’s gaze fell upon the wine glass Eivass was still holding—even though her right hand’s five fingers tightly clasped Eivass’s left hand, he had not let go of the glass. He had no idea what it was for.
But the girl replied, “Because you haven’t finished drinking your wine yet.”
“…Mm.”
“If you feel tired later,” the girl smiled, “remember to stop and finish your wine first.”
“Thank you,” Eivass said gently. “What should I call you?”
“My name is Sasha, sir,” the girl said softly.
Hearing this name, Eivass paused slightly.
He remembered… the painting he was currently completing was titled “Tower of Revelry.”
If he wasn’t mistaken…
“Which Sasha are you?” Eivass asked, not entirely certain.
He almost blurted out, “Are you Sister Sasha from the Banquet Master’s family?”
But then he thought better of it and stopped himself—there might not be a “Banquet Master” in this era.
If this was a time before the Banquet Master became an Apostle, he wasn’t called Banquet Master then; and if it was after his ascension, he should be called Banquet Heavenly Envoy. Even in the distant future, it was not impossible for him to become a Pillar God.
The girl then gave Eivass a gentle smile.
She opened her mouth and said softly, “I am the lover of Master Zagreus.
“—When will the wine in your cup be finished? Shall I serve you?”
“No need…” Eivass smiled and declined, emptying the wine in his cup.
He had a rough idea of the time period of this painting.
He finally realized where the disharmony lay—
Both the “Sister Sasha” before him and the guests around him appeared to be humans!
Their ears were round, not pointed like elves. But in the era of the Banquet Master, humans had not yet been born—humans were the last creation of the Beast Lord and the first creation of Hengwo. And Hengwo and the Banquet Master were mortals from the same era…
This meant that even if the Banquet Master had already completed their sublimation by now, humans would likely still be in a primitive, barbaric stage. If such a grand banquet were held, it would most likely consist entirely of elves.
Perhaps there might even be some higher races remaining from the Beast Lord’s era… but in any case, they would not have been extinct by then.
And most importantly, Eivass had seen what Sister Sasha looked like.
He had prayed to Sister Sasha through a ritual—although Sister Sasha was only an Apostle, not a god, and required the Banquet Master as an intermediary. But he had indeed seen Sister Sasha in the Material Realm… and had even been embraced by Sister Sasha once.
There were subtle differences with the “Sasha” before him in terms of hair color, eye color, build, height, and even race. The only similarity was probably the hairstyle.
Sister Sasha was an elf first—she was not human!
Secondly, Sister Sasha’s figure beneath her nun’s habit was actually very good, but this girl’s figure was much more ordinary…
Thus, Eivass completely understood—
Although he had no knowledge of art history, which prevented him from precisely determining the time of this painting, he was certain that it was not painted during the Banquet Master’s era but rather during the human era.
This was a banquet imagined by that human painter!
He knew of Sister Sasha’s existence, and Sasha’s hairstyle was correct. This indicated that the painter had done some research and checked information—and judging by Sister Sasha’s build, hairstyle, and hair color, that painter had most likely seen a statue of Sister Sasha.
If that were the case, the source of the painter’s inspiration was quite clear.
The Secret Cult that enshrined Sister Sasha’s holy relics—the sacred site of the Children of the Moon during the Hrasal Empire era, Teresa Monastery!
The architecture here had a distinct ancient elven style, but the people’s attire and the content of their conversations were more akin to the Empire era… and this exaggerated floor covered in red carpets, as well as the white busts of the Candlemaster, were actually quite illogical.
The reason the painter made the bust of the Candlemaster white was simple—because the carpet was red, the guests’ formal wear and evening gowns were also mostly red and black, and the building was decorated with golden wooden structures. If the giant busts were also red, two-thirds of the central area of the painting would be red, which would not look good.
But he clearly lacked common sense regarding divine arts and did not have a deep enough understanding of the elven era—
To Eivass, who had studied High-Tier Divine Art as Pope, he could see through numerous common sense errors made by this painter at a glance. Or rather, it was precisely because there were so many errors everywhere that Eivass dared not be certain that this was the era before the Banquet Master’s ascension…
The custom of “red carpets at banquets” itself originated from later generations’ crude imitation of the former Zagreus.
He used to hold “wild feasts” where guests would strip naked or wear only a bathrobe, frolicking in a giant wine pool. There was an endless supply of gourmet food and fine wine, and people would become excited, drunk, and revel with wolf-like howls even without drinking.
… That was actually because their skin absorbed alcohol.
Even older Ritualists believed that “wine” imitated “blood,” and thus, just as one would regain youth in a blood pool, this method would fill guests with life force. Because this theory was sound according to Ritual Studies, this ritual was established—people could indeed regain life force through the Wine Pool Ritual.
But not all banquets could be so extravagant.
Because of this, people believed that laying a red carpet at a banquet could borrow the Banquet Master’s power through a ritual to make the banquet more lively—it was somewhat red, so they pretended it was a wine pool.
Since this custom itself originated from Zagreus’s imitation after ascending to become the Banquet Master, how could there have been such exaggerated red carpets at a banquet during Zagreus’s era?
And this cake-like stage was inherently unreasonable…
If these were all the painter’s imagination, then it would make sense.
—In other words, what Eivass was seeing was not true history but was related to the imagination in the mind of the painter who created this painting…
At this moment, seeing that Eivass had finished the wine in his cup, Sasha, who was not yet a nun, smiled charmingly.
She moved closer and looked towards the entrance.
“The Host of the banquet is coming,” she said.
“…Who is it?” Eivass felt a moment of nervousness.
Zagreus?
The seemingly young girl replied, “It’s my son—Cain.”
“…Ah?” Eivass was taken aback, losing his composure for a moment.
—Wait, this is also wrong!
The Blood Heavenly Envoy was the child of man and god born after the Banquet Master’s ascension!
When the Banquet Master was still Zagreus, Cain hadn’t even been conceived yet!
For a moment, he felt an irresistible urge to punch the painter on the head.
Can’t you check your sources before painting religious art!!!
(End of this chapter)