Chapter 30: Funeral?

  After finishing making the items, I returned to the vilge. After a while, I received a message that the funeral preparations were complete.

  I was guided to the central square of the vilge, where four bodies were pced on top of straw for burning.

  The bodies were wrapped tightly in cloth. I thought to myself, a little out of pce, "I see, so this must be what a real-life mummy looks like." but inside I was relieved that the bodies were no longer visible. Even though I was feeling better than the other day, it would have been terrible for my mental health if I had seen them as materials again.

  But this cloth is in tatters. It's probably hard to get supplies in the desert, so I'll give the vilge some ter.

  ?

  Everyone gathered and the funeral began. I had no idea how funerals are held in Japan, let alone in Asteria, so I left the proceedings to the priest. I'll remember the general idea, but... I hope I never need to use this knowledge again.

  The ritual prayer was recited in a wet voice, and sobs could be heard from the line of vilgers. I listened to it, feeling out of pce, and waited on the sidelines with Uru and Fricka. Well, I can't really empathize with the funeral of someone I don't know, so please don't think I'm heartless.

  ?

  "Well then... Miko-sama, I'll leave the rest to you."

  ?

  "Yes."

  ?

  Once all the steps were complete and all that was left was the cremation, I was called.

  There didn't seem to be any particur procedures or rules, so I decided to just stack the holy attribute. I'd be devastated if an undead appeared due my mistake.

  ?

  First, I created a sanctuary with the usual holy water. I sprinkled it in a circle around the corpse. After I'd finished sprinkling it once, a faint line of light appeared where the holy water had soaked in, and I nodded, knowing that the sanctuary had definitely been created.

  Next, I sprinkled oil on the corpses to make them burn easier. This isn't just any oil, it's oil extracted from holy attribute pnts. It's an item I'd only just imagined might be useful for making holy lights and food offerings. I had just created it, and never imagined it would fail, but I'm gd it was a success.

  Finally... I drew a magic circle with my blood. Both Uru and Fricka had scolded me for this when I discussed it beforehand, but I went ahead with it. I didn't cut my wrists in front of the vilgers, instead I had bottled them up before returning to the vilge. I'd lost quite a bit of blood so I'm slightly anemic at the moment, but I think I'll be fine.

  ?

  The preparations were complete.

  I crouched in the center of the magic circle and made a cut in my palm so the others couldn't see, letting blood drip from it, then pressed my hand against the ground pressing a magic stone against it. I had charged it with ignition magic to back it up, but the magic stone was disproportionately rge for the simple ignition magic, and there was still some space left. This magic stone the Amphisbaena's magic stone I obtained just the other day. I felt it would be better to use it here, to provide at least some comfort to the souls of those who had died because of its attack.

  Now I'm going to charge this magic stone with 'one more' spell.

  The reason I didn't choose to use the sacred fire magic this time is simply because it's too powerful. I thought it wouldn't be suitable for a farewell bonfire. I had a vague feeling that it should be something softer, warmer.

  The reason I took the trouble to create the blood magic circle instead of creating it on the magic table beforehand was because I felt it would be more effective if I made it right in front of the target.

  I took a deep breath, muttered "Creation start", and began to chant.

  ?

  "Oh Holy fme."

  ?

  I send MP into my palm. The ignition magic reacts, and a small fme is released under my palm.

  Strangely, I don't feel the heat.

  To an outsider, my hand looks like it's being burned, but I continue chanting.

  ?

  "May the power of purification keep evil away. Arnold, Eric, Damien, Renard... May the sacred fmes bring peace to the souls of those who have died."

  ?

  This time my blood reacted, and a faint light rose from the magic circle. It wasn't blood red, but a pale blue color indicating holy attribute.

  No matter what part of me was, it seemed the things that made up my body still had holy attributes. I had mixed feelings about it, but I pushed them to the back of my mind and continued working on the final touches.

  ?

  "Dwell and burn. Funeral Fme."

  ?

  I activated the magic stone as soon as it was created.

  A blue fme erupted with great force, originating from my hand.

  It headed forward - towards the corpses, engulfing them and burning in an instant. Even though I did it myself, the fact I wasn't burned at all looked quite strange to me.

  ?

  "...!"

  ?

  Perhaps the smell was too strong even with the holy fmes, or perhaps I hadn't prepared it properly, but the smell of burning humans began to drift away.

  Smelling it so close made me want to throw up, so I quickly switched to breathing through my mouth. It would be extremely rude to throw up in a pce like this.

  ?

  I thought the cremation would take quite some time, but perhaps because the power of the sacred fmes was strong, the corpses were reduced to ash in just ten minutes.

  ?

  "Guh..."

  ?

  ... It's no good. The ashes... Looked like an item.

  I shut my eyes tightly and gritted my teeth to hold back the urge to nausea again.

  I took deep breaths again and again, telling myself that it wasn't an item, then opened my eyes and stood up. I had to rake up the ashes before they were blown away by the wind.

  ?

  I took out a small shovel and put the little bit of ashes that remained into the jar that I had prepared. Even though it had been burning just a moment ago, the ashes didn't feel hot at all.

  I made sure to cleanse it with holy water, sealed it up, and then stuck a seal that also contained holy properties on it.

  If I've done this much, they won't turn into an undead... They won't, right? Well, I shouldn't have failed, so if they did turn into undeads, then there would be nothing I could do with my powers...

  ?

  "Well, with this it's all finished. Please pce it in the grave."

  ?

  I turned around with the jar in my hand... The vilgers were all frozen.

  Some had their eyes wide open, others had traces of tears, and some with their mouths wide open, there were all kinds of faces, but the only thing in common is that they all remained motionless.

  I slowly moved my gaze and saw that only Uru and Fricka were smiling wryly, as per usual.

  ?

  ... Uh?

  ?

  ?

  "That's why I said you didn't need to go that far."

  ?

  "Rion, everything you do seems a bit exaggerated..."

  ?

  "Oh... I'm sorry..."

  ?

  In conclusion, I think I overdid it.

  The reason they were hesitant to let me use my blood was not only because of my health condition, but also because they thought it was unnecessary in the first pce.

  There was probably a desire in the back of my mind to reduce my guilt, even if just a little, so I was stubborn saying "I'll do the best I can." It's not that there's anything wrong with that, but... The more mentally unstable a person is, the more it need to listen to others.

  In this case, it's better to go overboard than to lower the items rank and cause the dead turn into undead, so it's not a big problem. However, in the future, I would like to be able to properly judge the situation so that I don't end up wasting valuable materials.