Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1516: Lathis’s Funeral

The public cemetery in Randall Valley City is divided into the East, Southeast, and South areas, based on development time. The cemetery where Shard is attending the funeral is located in the South area, built in the last decade or so.

Since he already knew the address in advance, he didn’t lose his way when rushing over. But just as the cab driver had said, last week’s earthquake caused too many tragedies, and on this foggy Monday morning, there were indeed quite a few people in the cemetery.

No matter which part of the Old Continent it is, a funeral requires a final farewell ceremony in the church. But due to recent overwhelming demands, the church’s farewell ceremony was simplified. Ciris’s scheduled time was 10 AM, and since there were two other funerals before it, Shard arriving at 9:30 was just right.

When Shard found Ciris, the attendees of the funeral had all gathered and were standing beside the grave selected for Mr. Lathis at the church’s side, talking.

The four Grand Witches and four Witch Apprentices were quite conspicuous. The tall Grand Witches were all dressed in black long gowns, wearing black hats decorated with artificial black flowers, and veiled, with their red, golden, brown, and black long hair all neatly pinned up, looking very efficient.

As for the young apprentices, they were dressed in various styles, but only Tifa still wore a black and white maid’s long skirt.

The actual relative at the funeral, Ciris, was dressed in a black velvet narrow skirt with a fitted black jacket with no adornment, a white flower pinned on her chest. Her black hat also had artificial black flowers as decoration, but she did not wear a veil.

Besides the nine of them, some members of the Golden Dawn also came. However, these Circle Sorcerers did not approach the Witches but stood on the periphery as if on alert.

When Shard’s figure appeared through the hazy fog, the girls noticed him immediately. As Shard joined them under the large barren pine tree, Ciris directly opened her arms to hug him.

The Witches said nothing, and Miss Benanis even gently patted Ciris on the back; the two were best friends.

"We still have about twenty minutes before we enter the church."

Miss Aphrola said softly on the side. This lady usually loved wearing various gemstone rings, but today she only wore a relatively simple black gemstone ring for the funeral.

Hearing her voice, Shard immediately remembered what happened after lunch yesterday. He quickly cleared his mind and gently patted Ciris on the back.

The young girl took quite a while to let go of Shard, lowering her head to stand beside him.

Shard then asked:

"Where is the coffin now?"

"In the church basement; later, the church staff will arrange to move it to the hall."

Miss Galina replied. It was Shard’s first time seeing the Grand Duchess of the Northern Country in this style of clothing, yet she remained very beautiful.

"I thought the funeral would be held at the Church of the Forgotten."

"Since Father chose to become a Guardian of the Earth, I think his faith was no longer limited to our Lord."

Ciris spoke beside Shard, her voice somewhat hoarse.

"A stone statue is heavier than a corpse; won’t the church staff notice something wrong with the coffin?"

Shard asked again; this time, it was Miss Benanis who answered:

"It’s fine. I inscribed runes inside the coffin to affect gravity."

The beautiful blonde lady, her expression mournful behind her veil, was grieving for Ciris. Seeing Shard looking at her, the Witch gently hooked Shard’s hand, and a note appeared in Shard’s hand.

Thus, Shard slipped his hand into his pocket to open the note, rubbing it with his fingertips.

[It read: Come to the opera house at nine tonight, I promised you a private performance.]

"She" softly revealed the note’s content to Shard.

Shard subtly nodded to Miss Benanis and then asked:

"For a publicly held funeral, the corpse needs to be registered at the police department. How was the cause of death recorded? I remember that the official records have Mr. Lathis listed as missing for over a decade."

"I asked Margaret to help alter the official records."

Miss Sylvia said, pointing to Her Highness the Princess, who was talking with Miss Rita Swift and Miss Haley Aflora. To conceal her identity, Margaret was heavily disguised today, with the thickest veil of all. Yet, Shard could still see her turn her head slightly to smile at him.

"The record wasn’t completely changed, just some details modified, altering the status from missing to discovered deceased. As the cemetery was damaged by the earthquake, we planned the funeral and relocation of the grave. The Golden Dawn was not a well-known opera troupe over ten years ago, so few remember this gentleman, and the modifications to official records won’t attract attention." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Miss Sylvia explained, the youngest Grand Witch dressed modestly as well. However, as she spoke, her eyes were fixed on Shard’s, suggesting she might have also recalled yesterday afternoon’s events.

"That’s also good."

Shard sighed; the funeral atmosphere was inevitably sad. He spoke while gazing up at the tall trees before him:

"This location is quite well-chosen."

"Yes, in some time, when the weather warms up a bit, I plan to move my mother’s grave here too. The recent years have seen serious groundwater seepage in the underground cemetery where Mother was buried."

Ciris murmured again, and Shard thought for a moment before sharing his thoughts:

"Actually, I have a way to turn that stone statue into flesh and blood."

Ciris looked up abruptly, and the other witches also looked at Shard.

Shard shook his head:

"It’s not a resurrection, just turning the statue into a corpse. Mr. Lathis is already dead, and the spirit won’t return; that can’t be changed."

So Miss Benanis looked at Ciris, who pressed her lips and nodded:

"That’s fine, burying a corpse is better than burying a stone statue."

Although the corpse was stored under the church, the family, wanting to see it once more before the funeral, would not be stopped.

Not everyone needed to go; eventually, only Ciris, Miss Benanis, and Miss Sylvia went to the church basement.

The church basement of the cemetery has a designated place for storing corpses. As the first two funerals had already taken place, Mr. Lathis’s funeral was the last before noon, meaning no other families were present.

The young priest who brought the group was considerate enough to leave the space to the four of them. Shard reached out, opened the brown lacquered wooden coffin, and saw the stone statue, somehow turned from a sitting to a lying position.

After one last confirmation with Ciris, Shard reached out and pressed his hand onto the statue’s forehead:

"Active Soil."

A sorcery derived from the Earth’s divinity emitted a faint golden light under Shard’s hand. In that light, gray stone slowly transformed into the color of normal human skin.

Since Mr. Lathis was a normal person before petrification, once the transformation ended, what lay in the coffin was a lifelike corpse, as if it were a living person.

Ciris looked down, tears falling:

"Father."

Miss Benanis glanced at Shard. Although she had seen him use such sorcery to heal Miss Galina early Saturday morning, she remained curious about this miracle-like sorcery.

It didn’t look like ordinary sorcery. Though both sorcery and arcane techniques are supernatural powers, they still follow rules.

The corpse’s hands were originally placed at its sides. Ciris reached out and moved the hands to rest on the chest, then removed the ring from her own hand and placed it between the two hands.

"If the corpse doesn’t decay, maybe one day, I mean perhaps, if Mr. Lathis wished to leave the guardianship circle, he might be resurrected."

Miss Benanis spoke softly, but Shard knew it was impossible; the unity of guardians was irreversible.

"No, he wouldn’t do that, and I wouldn’t want that either."

Ciris shook her head, stepping back from the coffin:

"Father has already passed away. I don’t wish to bring back the dead. I just won’t..."

"Alright then."

Shard nodded, placing on his finger the white bone ring, the Scribe Level Relic known as the "Ring of Immortality," which he had painstakingly retrieved from Mia before leaving. After rubbing it twice, he took a deep breath and slowly exhaled:

"Breath of Ages."

A barely detectable gray airflow exhaled from his nasal cavity, enveloping the corpse, which then quickly shriveled as if it were alive. Though not decayed, under the current "Breath of Ages" ten-year extreme time acceleration, it withered into a desiccated corpse in the blink of an eye.

"Goodbye, father."

Ciris softly bade farewell, then solemnly closed the coffin lid. Miss Sylvia worriedly asked Shard:

"How much of your lifespan did that just consume?"

"None."

He shook the ring on his hand, keeping the "reward" from the demon a secret from everyone except the doctor:

"I found a way to offset the loss of lifespan. Of course, it’s the power of the relic, so my arcane technique still can’t be used lightly."

The four returned to the surface to join the others. At 9:50, the group was finally led by the priest into the church for the farewell process of the funeral.

The Lathis family was not prosperous; in this generation, there were no relatives to call upon, and with a simple procedure, the part where elders would reminisce about the deceased’s life was skipped, allowing Miss Lathis to make the final eulogy as the daughter.

The Grand Witches sat in the front row, followed by members of the Golden Dawn, with Shard and the witch apprentices sitting at the back. Since Shard had also known Mr. Lathis, he would also deliver a short eulogy.

During their way there, he had hastily prepared a small segment in his notebook and was bowing his head for a final check when he suddenly heard someone walk up from behind and sit next to him.

Turning his head, Shard saw the face of Mr. Thomas Granger, also known as the "Guardian."