Tremendous Troubling Task to Take Temple Treasure

Tremendous Troubling Task to Take Temple Treasure
Two Travel Tales

Translator	several
Country	South Jute
Language	South Jutean
Subject	Account of a treasure hunt in Loheta
Genre	Travel literature

Tremendous Troubling Task to Take Temple Treasure is a 1895 South Jutean travelogue describing a treasure hunt undertaken by a Gfiewish and a South Jutean treasure hunter, a Lufasan priest and a Lohetan guide, seeking to obtain the Lohetan relic named the Statue Box of Kezei. The journey was funded by the Gfiewish Society Instructing Treasure Hunters (SITH), an academic society providing libraries, lectures and language lessons for self-declared adventurers. The two tales in the subtitle refer to the two main parts of the journey, the difficult voyage from South Jute to Loheta on sailing ships and then the actual treasure hunt in the Kezei region of Loheta.

Originally published in South Jutean, the quick success led to versions in Gfiewish, Ohnaucan and Coastal Jutean following shortly after.

Cover text

"Loheta, the distant land on a large northern continent that South Juteans reached in the late 19th century didn’t turn out to be exactly as the legend depicting it as a pastoral paradise had claimed it to be. But the country has its own share of legends that captured the curiosity of the seafarers and also later visitors.

As the idea of Loheta as a mystical country hence persisted on the South Jutean cultural imagination, ideas about it eventually spread to neighboring countries on their small home continent of Ystel, and a number of people became particularly fascinated by the legendary great and valuable artifacts said to be hidden or lost in Loheta."

Synopsis

Wealthy SITH academics hear of what was widely seen as the crown-jewel of Lohetan treasures: the Statue Box of Kezei, said to be carrying an statue made of jade, gold and brass depicting the Sky Legendary, one of the main deities in Loheta, standing on a pedestal made of marble.

It isn't just the materials that make the statue so valuable and sought after, because it is supposedly the only object depicting the gaze of Feza or Holy Mother, the main deity of the Kezei region, unlike most of Loheta, where the Sky Legendary is seen as an immortal peacock phoenix with fiery rainbow colors. The gaze of Feza, usually described as a black-haired woman wearing red and pink robes adorned with various regalia, is said to either blind the owner, or grant them immense spiritual powers, if they have the necessary rigorous mental training and right attitude. As a result, other depictions of her usually show her faceless.

The sole depiction of the relic

There is just one problem: there are no records of the statue ever existing, and the only evidence for it are rumors, as the last person who is said to have hold it in their hands died 70 years ago. This doesn't stop the SITH from taking a particular interest in it and sponsoring a trip to the far-away country, however.

A ship with Gfiewish and South Jutean treasure hunter plus a Lufasan priest interested in studying the power of other deities soon sets sail, but manages to get lost in a storm along the way and arrives much later at the coastal harbor of Gollisad in Loheta than intended, when winter has set in, making the journey to remote regions such as Kezei much more difficult, with many of the trade routes connecting the country suspended until the beginning of spring.

After weeks of waiting, the adventurer group finally reaches Kezei, but finds itself among the biggest unrest in the history of Loheta, with locals objecting to the lavish spending and heavy-handed rule of the regional octarch, one of the eight members of Loheta’s governing council.

However, this also makes more people sympathetic to the quest of the treasure seeking Ystelians, who otherwise might have decried it as sacrilege, as meeting the gaze of the Feza is only allowed for religious leaders. As this position is also always taken up by the octarchs, and with the regional octarch having their authority questioned, some people suggest the statue could serve as a test for the local sovereign and if necessary help find their true religious leader.

While various elders and old library books offer several hints as to what the statue box exactly looked like and where it could be found, after many more weeks of wandering through alleys in towns and villages as well as combing through meadows and searching farms, sometimes at night, the search ends at a watchtower that has an illustration of what appeared to be the box and a note that it has been taken to a secure location by a soldier, but no information as to what this location would be.

Thus, the Statue Box of Keize remains an unsolved mystery, and the octarch is forced to make political concessions, agreeing with the other regional leaders of the country for a parliament to be created that could control the budget and limit punishments. The adventurers return home, taking solace in having had a great adventure.

Reception

The book was a runaway success in South Jute, leading to translations being published in several Ystelian countries, such as Jute, Lufasa and Gfiewistan. It inspired many more trips by readers to Loheta and Ystel-Loheta Friendship Societies grew significantly. Even in the present day it is credited with continuing to encourage many more people to take up an interest in the far away country of Loheta, treasure hunts, and the mystical in general.