Chapter 37 Mi's Question
Surrounded by a group of people, the oxcart moved slowly forward, setting off at sunrise and finally arriving in the long-awaited city of Memphis at sunset.
As if instructed by the gods, or as if seeing that there were only ten of them left, including two children, the priests and nobles of Memphis did not target them this time.
The preacher and his seven most loyal disciples returned to the manor where they had once preached.
After entering the city, they saw some people who had studied in the manor, but their expressions were all indifferent.
They were fearful, worried that if they were to become associated with the "Putta" school again, they would lose their current affluent life and even implicate their families, so they dared not treat them warmly.
Both Arahu and his remaining disciples understood this.
During their ten years of wandering, the disciples had come to terms with it and no longer regarded these people as traitors.
Even the most desperate still believe that the seeds sown by their teacher, "Buda," still remain in their hearts.
Whether the seed will wither completely or bloom in the future is beyond his knowledge.
"You prepare dinner, let us have one last good meal."
In the abandoned and dilapidated manor, Aroha did not ask his disciples to clean up the manor, but instead asked them to prepare dinner.
The disciples nodded, some indifferent, some saddened, and followed their teacher's instructions.
Mi had a sudden thought and was about to take the wine brewed by Dionysus out to exchange for ingredients so that others could cook it.
But Araha suddenly called out to him: "Mi, we've never talked alone before."
"Leave the matter of going out to exchange ingredients to Sekhmet. You come with me."
A surprised smile appeared on Mi's face. He placed the drinks he had brought over in front of Sekhmet, and then went to Aroha's side.
"Teacher, why don't I go instead?"
The Desperate One remained silent throughout the journey, constantly pondering how to write the final chapter of this "Travelogue".
The sudden appearance of a beautiful woman and the child she gave birth to overnight made it difficult for him to put pen to paper.
Although he knew that the Amon family, and even Hatshepsut, had already embarked on the path to the extraordinary.
However, the sermons of the Desperate never mention "supernatural" power.
He only wanted future generations to know how sages among ordinary people walked the world preaching and how they taught people.
Therefore, even now, he hasn't figured out how to write this part, as it's detached from supernatural power, and all of this is simply inexplicable.
Upon hearing that his teacher, Buta, had asked Ms. Sekhmet, who had just given birth, to go out and exchange drinks for food, the Desperate Man still felt it was more appropriate for him to go himself.
Aroha shook his head and said, "Let her go. If she wants to join the 'Puta' school, she has to make sacrifices."
"You have to put in the effort to reap the rewards."
After he finished speaking, he led the young man Mi to an open space in the manor, where there was a large stone that Araha had once used to preach to his disciples.
Of course, more often than not, he and the two gods, Dionysus, would secretly drink wine behind the backs of their disciples.
This point is actually recorded in the book of the Desperate.
In his view, this is an important symbol that reflects the true human nature of teachers, and there is no need to hide it.
"Does one have to put in the effort to reap the rewards?"
Upon hearing this, Sekhmet smiled, hoisted his newborn "son" Nefertum onto his back, and carried the rather large wine barrel with both hands as he walked outside.
This time, she did not use any divine power, and the power she displayed was that of an ordinary woman.
Every so often, he would get so tired that he would put down the wine barrel and wipe the sweat from his forehead.
This scene was witnessed by many gods in Memphis.
"How come they all act so convincingly?"
The gods have already seen Aloh, the "god of miracles," and Dionysus from beyond the realm "perform" as mortals for decades.
Now, Hathor, the god of love and beauty, who had only joined the fold a day ago and had even given birth to a young god, was also "performing," leaving them speechless.
This scene was also witnessed by the mortals of Memphis.
Some of the bolder elderly people, upon seeing the priests in the city, stopped targeting them and took the initiative to inquire about the mother and child's names and origins.
Many people were shocked when they learned that they were the wife and son of a preacher.
The preacher, looking like he was about to die of old age, had such a beautiful wife and such a young and adorable child.
Is it really his child?
Despite a multitude of thoughts flashing through their minds, these people were still willing to help this "poor" beautiful woman in exchange for the ingredients she needed.
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On the other side, Aroh and Mi each sat on a rock.
It was a gloomy night; not only was the moon invisible, but there wasn't a single star.
Torches were lit in the distance where dinner was being prepared, but they couldn't illuminate this area.
In the darkness, an old man and a young man sat facing each other, and at the same time, they both sighed.
Hearing Mi's sigh, Araha laughed and said, "Mi, I don't know your true origin. Perhaps you are a god even more ancient than me, or perhaps you are just an ordinary mortal. It doesn't matter."
"You have been wandering with me for nine years now. The doubts in my heart have been accumulating for nine years, but now I can finally speak them out."
Regarding Mi, Araha initially regarded him as just an ordinary boy.
But after spending more time with him, one will naturally understand that a truly ordinary boy would never possess his kind of mentality.
He could laugh at the nighttime conversation between Araha and Sariyya, and he could also sit idly by while Araha and Sekhmet had a child. He even gave the child the name "Padmasambhava" to suit his origin.
He seemed to know many things, but never spoke of them, and Araha had no intention of asking.
This time, Araha's journey to "Ptah" is coming to an end, and it's time for him to have a final conversation with this "disciple".
"There is indeed a problem, and I would like to ask the teacher."
Mi smiled. In the darkness, there was no shyness of a young man, but rather the air of a wise man who had seen all the ways of the world.
However, even when this wise man was smiling, it seemed as if he was carrying endless sorrow.
He said, "I followed my teacher and saw all of humanity. I discovered that everything that exists is eternally stable and eternally cyclical."
What happened in the past will happen now and will happen in the future.
"Whether it's good or bad, it's the same. Neither gods nor humans seem to be able to escape this eternal cycle."
"Teacher, as the original preacher, could you tell me how to break this vicious cycle?"