The public cemetery in Randall Valley City is divided into the East, Southeast and South districts according to the time of development. The South District is a cemetery built in the past decade or so, and the funeral that Shad is going to attend is here.
Because I knew the address in advance, I didn't get lost when I hurried over. But just as the cab driver said, last week's earthquake caused too many tragedies, and there were quite a few people in the cemetery on this foggy Monday morning.
No matter which region of the Old World, funerals need to be held in churches for the final farewell ceremony. But because I'm too busy recently, the church's farewell ceremony is simple. Hillis's appointment time is 10 am, because there are two funerals scheduled before, so Shade's arrival at 9:30 is just the right time.
When Shad found Hillis, all the people attending the funeral had arrived and were standing and talking beside the tomb selected for Mr. Lathers on the side of the church.
The four witches and four witch apprentices were very conspicuous. The tall witches all wore black long skirts, black hats decorated with black artificial flowers, and veils. Their long red, golden, brown and black hair were all tied up, looking very capable.
As for the young apprentices, they were dressed differently, except Tifa who was still wearing a black and white maid dress.
The real relative at the funeral, Hillis, wore a black velvet skirt, a black undecorated fitted jacket, a white flower on her chest, and a black hat with black artificial flowers, but she was not wearing a veil.
In addition to the nine people, some members of the Golden Dawn also came here. However, these ring warlocks did not approach the witch, but stood on the periphery, as if on guard.
When Shad emerged from the mist, the girls spotted him immediately. When Shad came under the big bare pine tree, Hillis opened his arms and hugged him.
The witches said nothing, and Miss Benannis even patted Sirius on the back. The two were best friends.
"We still have about twenty minutes before we enter the church."
Miss Aurora whispered on the side that this lady usually liked to wear various gemstone rings, but today when attending the funeral, she only wore a relatively simple black gemstone ring.
Hearing her voice, Shade immediately thought of what happened yesterday after lunch. He immediately cleared himself of distracting thoughts and gently patted Hillis on the back.
It took the young girl a long time to let go of Xia De, and she lowered her head and stood beside him.
Shade asked again:
"Where is the coffin now?"
"It's in the church basement. The church staff will arrange to have it delivered to the auditorium in a while."
Miss Carina said that this was the first time that Shade had seen the Grand Duchess of the Northern Country wearing this style of clothing, but she was still very beautiful.
"I thought the funeral would be held at the Forgotten Church."
"Since my father chose to become the protector of the earth, I think his faith is not limited to our Lord."
Hillis spoke beside Shade, her voice a little hoarse.
"The statue is heavier than the body. Wouldn't the people in the church notice that there's something wrong with the coffin?"
Shade asked again, and this time Miss Benaness answered:
"It's okay. I carved runes that affect gravity inside the coffin."
The beautiful blonde lady had a sad expression on her face behind the veil. She was sad for Sirius. When Shade looked at her, the witch gently hooked Shade's hand, and then a piece of paper appeared in Shade's hand.
So Xia De put his hand in his pocket, opened the note, and rubbed it with his fingertips.
It said: Come to the opera house tonight at nine o'clock, and I promise to give you a solo performance.
"She" whispered to Xia De the contents of the note.
So Shade nodded slightly to Miss Benannis without being noticed, and asked again:
"For a public funeral like this, the body needs to be registered with the police department. What is the cause of death? I remember that according to the official records, Mr. Lathers disappeared more than ten years ago."
"I asked Margaret to help change the official records."
Miss Sylvia said, pointing to the princess who was talking to Miss Rita Swift and Miss Hayley Aurora. In order to conceal her identity, Margaret covered herself tightly today, and her veil was the thickest among all. However, Shade could still see that she turned her head slightly and smiled at him.
"It's not a complete revision of the records, just some details. We changed the missing to the body found after the missing. Because the grave was damaged by the earthquake, we wanted to hold a funeral and move the grave. A dozen years ago, the Golden Dawn was not a very famous opera company, so few people remembered this gentleman, and the revision of the official records would not attract other people's attention."
Miss Sylvia explained, and the youngest witch was also dressed simply. However, when she spoke, her eyes were always fixed on Shade's eyes. Shade thought that she was probably thinking about what happened yesterday afternoon.
"That's fine."
Xia De sighed. The atmosphere at a funeral is always sad. As he spoke, he looked up at the tall trees in front of him:
“This location is really well chosen.”
"Yes, I plan to move my mother's grave here when the weather gets warmer. The underground cemetery where my mother is buried has been seriously flooded in recent years."
Hillis whispered again, and Shade thought about it and said what he thought:
"Actually, I have a way to turn that stone statue into flesh and blood."
Sirius looked up suddenly, and the other witches also looked at Shade.
Shade shook his head:
"It's not resurrection, it's just turning the stone statue into a corpse. Mr. Lathers is already dead, and his soul can't return. This cannot be changed."
Then Miss Benanis looked at Sirius, who pursed his lips and nodded:
"Well, burying a body is better than burying a stone statue."
Although the body is stored under the church, family members will not be prevented from taking another look at it before the funeral.
There was no need for everyone to go, and in the end only Hillis, Miss Benannis and Miss Sylvia followed to the church basement.
There is a special place in the church basement of the cemetery for storing corpses. Because the first two funerals had already been held, Mr. Lathers's funeral was the last one before noon, so there were no other family members here.
The young priest who came with his group was tactful enough to leave the place for four people. Xia De reached out and opened the brown lacquered wooden coffin, and then saw that the sitting stone statue had been transformed into a lying position by some unknown means.
After confirming with Sirius for the last time, Shade reached out and pressed his hand on the forehead of the stone statue:
“Active clay.”
The spell from the divinity of the earth emitted a faint golden light under Shade's hand. In that light, the gray stone slowly transformed into the color of normal human skin.
Because Mr. Lathers was a normal person before being petrified, when the transformation was completed again, the person lying in the coffin was a corpse that looked as lifelike as a living person.
Hillis lowered his eyes and cried:
"Father."
Miss Benannis glanced at Shad. Although she had seen Shad use this spell to treat Miss Carina early Saturday morning, she was still curious about this almost miraculous spell.
No matter how you look at it, this doesn't look like a normal spell. Although spells and magic are both supernatural powers, they also have to follow rules.
The corpse's hands were originally placed on both sides of the body. Hillis reached out and moved the corpse's hands to the chest, then took off the ring on his hand and placed it in both hands.
"If the body is kept from decaying, maybe one day, I mean maybe, Mr. Lathers will be willing to leave the Guardian group and he can be resurrected."
Miss Benannis said softly, but Shad knew that this was absolutely impossible. The Guardians' unity was not reversible.
"No, he wouldn't do that and I don't want to do that."
Hillis shook his head and took a step back from the coffin:
"My father has passed away. I would not want to resurrect the dead. I would not..."
"Okay then."
Xia De nodded and put on the white bone ring, the clerical-level relic "Eternal Life Magic Ring", which he had finally gotten from Mia before leaving. After rubbing it twice, he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly:
"Breath of Time."
A barely detectable stream of grey air gushed out of the nasal cavity, covering the corpse, which quickly shrank like a living person. Although it had not rotted, under the current 10-year time limit of the "Breath of Time", it turned into a dry corpse in the blink of an eye.
"Goodbye, Father."
Hillis said goodbye softly, and then solemnly closed the coffin lid. Miss Sylvia asked Xia De worriedly:
"How much of your life was lost just now?"
"No loss."
He shook the ring on his finger, the devil's "reward" he did not tell anyone except the doctor:
"I found a way to offset the loss of lifespan. Of course, this is the power of the relic, so I still can't use that magic easily."
The four of them returned to the ground and reunited with the others. At 9:50, they were finally led into the church by the priest and sat down. Under the priest's guidance, the funeral farewell process began.
The Lathers family was not large, and there were no relatives to call in this generation. In addition, the process was kept simple, so the part where the elders recalled the deceased's life story was skipped, and Miss Lathers, as the daughter, went directly to pay the final tribute.
The witches sat in the first row, followed by the members of the Golden Dawn, and Shade and the witch apprentices sat at the end. Because Shade had also met Mr. Lathers, he would also give a short eulogy in a while.
On his way here, he prepared a short paragraph in his notebook. When he was lowering his head to do the final check, he suddenly heard someone coming from behind and sitting next to him.
Shad turned around and saw that the face was that of Mr. Thomas Granger, the "Guardian".