Ch.136136. Memorial Shrine

“Nnngh!”

“Oof! It’s heavy!”

“Is a piano always this heavy?”

Owen bowed his head in gratitude to each of the soldiers who had moved the piano while sweating profusely.

In response to the boy’s thanks, the soldiers accepted the water bottles he offered, encouraged him to do his best, and then departed.

This was the mountain village that had been attacked first.

After the Great Warrior was defeated by me, the Marias tribe abandoned their stronghold at the mountain village and fled back into the Great Forest.

It was like rats scurrying back into their holes, but Gloria, the Knight Commander, had no intention of letting it go.

She had even received a royal command to enter the Great Forest and bring back those responsible for massacring the kingdom’s citizens.

But I had no particular desire to follow them.

I had other things to do.

Just as Lucia the Saintess had appeared to boost the morale of the soldiers with her warm welcome and support.

Conversely, I needed to provide peace for the dead.

I stood in the plaza of the ruined mountain village, having gone to the trouble of bringing in a piano.

As I waited briefly, the Dark Spiritmaster approached.

[All the soldiers who just helped move the piano have left. There’s only you and that child in this village.]

“Yes, thank you.”

[I’ll be leaving too. As a former Black Mage, my presence would only have a negative influence.]

With that, the Dark Spiritmaster vanished.

I closed my eyes calmly and settled my mind. Despite it being summer, dark clouds naturally gathered on the cool breeze, shielding us from the scorching sun.

It might rain.

Thinking this, I slowly extended my hand and created a round cover over Owen’s piano.

Now even if it rained, it wouldn’t seep into the piano. Next to the piano were water bottles I had placed in case the boy became tired.

“Begin.”

“Yes, understood.”

Owen, dressed once again in the vintage performer’s clothes he used to wear while traveling from city to city, slowly sat down at the piano and moved his fingers.

Dong.

The keys descended and sounds resonated.

These sounds connected into a performance.

A funeral song that called to the souls who had met their deaths in resentment and suffering.

Like moths drawn to light in the late night.

Hundreds of souls began to gather around me, drawn by Owen’s performance.

I could summon them much more efficiently using Lemegeton, but that would involve a kind of coercion that I didn’t want to use.

For those who had suffered unwanted deaths, I didn’t want to take away their freedom once more after death.

Looking up at the gathered souls, I asked.

“How was it?”

No one answered.

They simply waited calmly for my next words.

“Yesterday, did you drive away the Great Warrior? Has your mind found some peace?”

Now countless answers poured forth.

Some said it was satisfying.

Some said it was a relief.

Some trembled saying they were afraid.

Some pleaded their grievances with tears.

Some lamented that it had no meaning at all.

Hearing everyone’s answers, I nodded calmly.

Amidst all this, one soul asked me.

[What was the right answer?]

“……”

[Since you called us here, you must know the answer. What should we have done?]

In response to the request to point out the correct answer among all these different emotions, I smiled gently.

“All those emotions you hold—they are all correct answers.”

[……]

“You met unjust deaths. Sadly, you must accept that your lives ended here.”

It was a sad thing.

It was also a cruel declaration.

But it needed to be stated clearly and definitively.

There were quite a few souls who believed they were still alive, and most of them often became evil spirits.

One doesn’t harbor resentment only before death.

Even an ordinary soul could become an evil spirit through emotions developed after death.

Especially when so many people died simultaneously, there was a sufficient possibility they could become a single thought entity and wander like a monster.

Though cruel.

“There is no longer a place for you on this continent.”

I declared firmly, and they, each holding their own emotions, divided into those who accepted and those who did not.

[You’re cruel. You are cruel.]

[I did nothing wrong!]

[Please at least save my children! Please! They’re still young!]

[Save me! Why should I die! I’m not dead yet!]

These were natural reactions.

I knew it was a cruel act.

But it was what I had to do. It was the only thing I could offer them.

[Then why did you arrange this meeting for us?]

The soul of an elderly man who appeared to be the village headman slowly approached me.

Meeting his eyes, I slowly turned my gaze. From the young villagers to the children, the village women, the vigilantes who guarded the fence, the knights who had been dispatched and died.

Looking at the many people, I answered gently.

“To listen.”

[……]

“To your stories, to the sadness you hold inside. Please share them with me before you go.”

I am Deus Verdi, the spirit comforter.

“There must be many stories inside you. You will fall into a long sleep from now on. So that time won’t be disturbed.”

One who exists for the departed dead.

“Let’s sit together and talk. A little oversleeping should be allowed.”

I slowly bow to them in respect.

“Please, give me the chance to be your comfort.”

A somewhat long farewell had just begun.

* * *

Before leading the knights into the Marias Great Forest, Knight Commander Gloria was looking at the mountain village with her childhood friend Lucia.

It seemed like it might rain at any moment from the gloomy sky, and accordingly, piano music flowed softly out from the village.

And.

People’s tearful cries, angry shouts, deep sighs of resignation.

And finally, voices of gratitude.

Hearing these various sounds, Gloria was feeling complex emotions for the first time in her life.

Whether this was joy, disgust, or being moved. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it was clear that the spirit comforter was doing something for the dead in the village.

In front of this, Saintess Lucia was praying with her eyes tightly closed.

Not wanting to interrupt her prayer carelessly, Gloria waited for a while, and Lucia slowly opened her eyes after about 10 minutes.

She also needed to enter the Marias Great Forest, so she couldn’t spend much time.

“Let’s go.”

After Lucia finished her prayer, Gloria hesitated for a moment but finally couldn’t contain her curiosity and asked.

“What is Deus Verdi doing in there?”

“Huh?”

“No, I mean, there are incredible sounds coming from there. It doesn’t look like something that will end in a day or two.”

She was right.

It would probably take quite a long time.

He wouldn’t let even a single soul go just like that. That’s the kind of person he was.

And that’s why Lucia could trust and leave it to him.

“He’s comforting the dead.”

Because he’s a spirit comforter.

Because he’s a being who comforts souls.

As if she had been waiting for those words, Gloria made a subtle expression.

“Is that really possible?”

“Huh?”

Lucia tilted her head in surprise, not expecting such a question from the knight.

Even while thinking such words didn’t suit her, Gloria continued.

“After all, they’re people who died unjustly. What can he, essentially a stranger, do for massacre victims?”

It wasn’t wrong.

Lucia also knew that completely resolving everything was impossible and a kind of arrogance.

“You’re right, he can only take passive actions at best.”

He would listen to their stories, empathize, talk, discuss, argue. He would spend a very long time with the dead.

“But on the other hand, he’s the only one who can do such things.”

Gloria was momentarily speechless at those words. It was true.

The one unique act that neither she nor the Saintess could do. This was something only Deus Verdi could do.

“He doesn’t comfort someone with sweet words. Nor does he persuade them to close their eyes now.”

He would simply cry with them.

Hearing this, Gloria wondered if Deus Verdi even had tears.

The cold-hearted man seemed as if he didn’t even have tear ducts.

But.

“Our knights are in there too, right?”

“Of course.”

“…I hope he does well by them.”

Remembering the members of her order who had been with her, Gloria slowly closed her eyes.

She wasn’t praying to God.

She wasn’t in the mood for that, and it felt like sending a wish in the wrong direction, like a letter with the wrong address.

The Knight Commander’s prayer was directed at the man who would be shedding tears inside.

A feeling of slight peace of mind.

Not simply because he was comforting the fallen knights as well.

But because of the deep reassurance that settled in her heart at the thought that if she were to close her eyes on this battlefield, he would be there to see her off.