"Its expression is normal, and it shows no desire to attack the living. When it appears, it does not cause people nearby to unconsciously fall into a state of panic. In fact, only I, a ring mage, can observe it... It is not an evil spirit, but just a soul that refuses to leave."
Xia De summarized silently in his heart, but on the surface he still looked expressionlessly at the old woman behind the small pulpit in the church, recalling her past life.
There are many reasons why the soul does not leave with the death of the body. In this world of the supernatural and the mystical, relics, the power of gods, the power of strange evil creatures, unfortunate places of death, coincidental birth dates and times of death, strange ways of death and the characteristics of the soul itself, etc. may all cause this phenomenon.
The attacks of evil spirits on ordinary people are actually the most common supernatural events that the Orthodox Church has to deal with in the Steam City, and they are also one of the most harmful events to ordinary people.
The reason is simple. The souls in this world have the property of being "completely immune to physical attacks". In other words, if an evil spirit attacks an ordinary person, unless he is a devout believer wearing a holy emblem, he can only run for his life. Otherwise, it would be useless even if he had steam bombs tied all over his body.
The one next to Shade was not an evil spirit, but a soul that stayed in the world of the living, otherwise it would have been destroyed by the power of the church long ago. As for the reason for its appearance, Shade didn't know, and he didn't want to know, after all, it didn't have any adverse effects.
"This is probably Mr. Watson's soul. It will disappear after the funeral is over."
This was a beautiful expectation for the current scene, but unfortunately he guessed wrong.
Pretending not to see the souls around him, he kept staring forward for five minutes. Another cold breath appeared on his left hand side, and at the same time, the second man's voice appeared:
"It's really funny that I got to see my own funeral."
Xia De glanced to the left again, and sure enough, a second soul appeared.
The two souls, both middle-aged men in their forties, stood side by side on the aisle carpet leading from the church door to the pulpit. They almost blocked the church door, and neither of them noticed that someone was watching them quietly.
Judging from what the second soul said when it appeared, he was the deceased Mr. Watson.
"I didn't expect you to die too, Mason."
Mr. Watson said, and Shad's ears moved. Mason seemed to be Mrs. Watson's maiden name, and also the surname of the guy who killed Mr. Watson.
Shade focused his attention and became interested in the following conversation. After all, a conversation between two souls must be more interesting than a boring stranger's funeral.
"Yeah, I'm fifteen years later than you. I didn't expect to see you here."
Mr. Mason said that both souls kept looking forward and not at each other, as if this was just a casual chat during the funeral.
"I don't know why I'm here, I just heard her crying, so I came. Greta is still so beautiful when she's old. I really hope I can live to see this scene."
Mr. Watson exclaimed.
"I also hope that I can live to see my sister grow old, but unfortunately..."
Mr. Mason sighed. Shade didn't expect that the soul could do such a thing:
"Have you ever felt resentful since you appeared here?"
Mr. Mason asked again in a chatty tone, and Mr. Watson replied:
"That was over thirty years ago. What's the point of resenting her?"
"Her? Why do you hate Mrs. Watson? Shouldn't you hate Mr. Mason?"
Xia De was suspicious in his heart, but his expression remained unchanged, for fear that he would be discovered eavesdropping and thus would not be able to hear the entire conversation.
"Yes, it's been thirty years. I still remember that rainy night when I went to your house to deliver red wine. Sister Greta, who opened the door, was drunk and smelled of alcohol and blood..."
Mr. Mason paused:
"I've always known that you two had a deep conflict, but I didn't expect that she would kill you."
Shad blinked, not really caring what he was looking at, he was more interested in the conversation between the two ghosts. It seemed that Mr. Watson was not killed by his wife's brother, but by his own wife.
"She drank a lot that day and asked me about Miss Emma again... You know I can't explain it."
Mr. Watson's tone was very complicated. Shad was not the kind of person who could parse seven or eight emotions from a sentence, but at least he knew that this soul was helpless, annoyed and regretful.
"Yeah, you can't explain it. After all, that woman is pregnant with your child. Look, the middle-aged man in the third row is 32 years old this year."
Mr. Mason prompted, and the conversation was interrupted for a moment, while Mr. Watson's spirit looked up for a long moment:
"Greta didn't embarrass them? I clearly admitted it before I died."
"She drank too much that night, and the next day she didn't remember what she heard or did. I was the one who moved your body away that rainy night and washed away all traces. Sister Greta only remembered that you had a big fight, and then you left home in anger."
Mr. Mason's soul was telling stories from the past, and Shad had a question. Of course, he didn't plan to say it out loud, because he didn't want to lose the right to listen to the story because of his interruption.
"Then you 'disappeared' and your sister was very sad. I persuaded her to travel to another place. During this time, I transported your body back and hid it in the basement of your house, sealing it behind a brick wall."
"So, she was not questioned by the police and was able to continue to live a decent life?"
Mr Watson concluded.
"Yes, I was suspected of murdering you, so I turned myself in. I spent a very unforgettable time in prison and became ill. I died shortly after I was released from prison. I didn't tell anyone about what happened that night. After all, it wasn't her fault."
The two men talked about these past stories without showing much emotion, as if they were just chatting with old friends.
Xia De, who was eavesdropping on the conversation, was already thinking about telling Miss Louisa what he had seen today. This might be a good material for writing. He accepted this commission just to relax before the war and see Mr. Sparrow. Now that he heard such an interesting story, the time he spent this afternoon was not wasted.
The conversation between Mr. Watson and Mr. Mason ended temporarily here. They stood side by side and watched Mr. Watson's friends say goodbye one by one. The two souls just commented on their old friends' appearance from time to time when they were old, and didn't talk much other than that.
When the last pastor came on stage to evaluate Mr. Watson's life, Mr. Mason laughed at the comment of "loyalty to love". When he heard that "he was generous and charitable by nature", he even ridiculed Mr. Watson beside him.
The latter was not angry, but just calmly explained his life. Shade heard Mr. Watson's confession in its entirety. If what he said was true, then he should be a typical middle-aged businessman who was lustful and greedy for money.
He is not a particularly evil person, but he is definitely not a good person.
At the end of the funeral service in the church, everyone stood up and prayed for Mr. Watson with the pastor. Shad also stood up and repeated the words of blessing in the voice of the old pastor.
The two souls did not speak with everyone else. Only when everyone was seated and the priest announced that the coffin could be moved to the crypt, Mr. Watson suddenly asked a question, which was also the question that Shad had when he was listening to the story:
"You said... ... Has Greta really completely forgotten what happened on that rainy night? Or is it just..."
"... she was unwilling to take the blame for killing her husband, and ended up having her brother imprisoned."
Mr. Mason completed the sentence.
When Shade heard this, he quickly glanced at the two souls, worried that they would suddenly turn into evil spirits. But fortunately, they only asked questions and remained calm.
Everyone stood up, and four professional pallbearers from the church lifted the coffin from the aisle. The pastor, Mrs. Watson, Shad, and Mr. Watson's brother John Watson left the church first, followed by the coffin, and finally the relatives and friends who came to say goodbye.
The two souls did not leave, nor did they stay in the church, but moved forward with the team and happened to be beside Shad.
While watching Mrs. Watson crying while being supported by the middle-aged bodyguard, Shad continued to listen to the conversation between the two souls.
Walk along the stone path that connects to the small lecture hall, and turn left after walking 100 steps forward. The underground tomb is used to store coffins, which is a more high-end burial method. Large families can even own an entire underground tomb, so that every generation of the family can rest together after death.
Of course, it is expensive and high-end not because the decoration of the crypt is good, but simply because that is the tradition of the people.
"Now that you put it like that, I really want to know how she forgot it, or if she deliberately didn't want to remember it."
Mr. Mason said quietly, and Shad caught a glimpse of his soul looking ahead at Mrs. Watson.
"Although what happened in the past is in the past, I still want to know. After all, her forgetting this matter caused me to be buried thirty years later."
Mr. Watson said the same thing.
"Then why not just ask her directly."
"Do you know how to make her see us?"
"have no idea."
"I don't know either."
The souls' dialogue was monotonous. Shade understood that what the book said was right. Without protection, the souls of mortals could not remain intact in the world. The two souls around him were probably just fragments, only slightly stronger than the soul phantoms that Shade had summoned with the Soul Echo.
Even if nothing is done about it, they will probably soon dissipate.
In the summer, weeds and trees grow vigorously in the cemetery, but the dedicated gravekeepers keep the area they manage well. In the cracks of the stone road, the weeds are only as tall as the stone steps, and in the gaps between the neatly arranged graves, the big trees let the sun leave mottled shadows on the tombstones.