Silas's final destination was his own grave.
He gazed blankly at the photograph mounted on the tombstone, a picture of himself and Cecilia together.
In it, he looked handsome and young, his smile radiant. Cecilia sat in a chair, her elegant long dress setting off her pretty, faintly bashful face, the corners of her mouth curved in a happy smile.
Right, after he'd dressed his little sister in new clothes, he'd made a point of taking her to have this photo taken as a keepsake. He'd nearly forgotten.
Beneath the photograph were his name, his dates of birth and death, and this epitaph: "An unyielding warrior; a dependable comrade; a responsible elder brother."
Silas glanced at the epitaph, then silently reached out and removed the photo from the tombstone, tucking it away inside his clothes.
Looking at the grave that belonged to him, he suddenly felt an urge to simply climb in and lie down.
That way, he could be just like all the other dead in the entire cemetery: no need to think about anything, no need to do anything at all.
But he knew in his heart that he couldn't do that, and that he never would. The flame of anger was still burning inside him, reminding him constantly not to forget those who had died.
That was as far as such weak feelings would go. Silas needed to pull himself together and set out once more.
Whoosh!
So he took out the Deep Slumber Flower that Arianna had left him, flames rising from his right palm, and lit it. The vivid looking flower caught fire easily, giving off light and crackling as it burned.
Silas tossed the flower down in front of his own tombstone, the firelight illuminating his face.
Rustle...
Just then, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching.
Leonard strode forward, brow furrowed, staring silently ahead of him.
At the end of his line of sight, in front of Silas's tombstone, a pile of ash remained, faintly glowing with sparks.
Judging by the shape of the ashes, it looked like it had been some kind of plant.
Leonard crouched down, pulled off his bright red glove, and reached his fingers into the ashes.
A trace of warmth met his touch, indicating it had only just finished burning. Whoever had lit it must not have left this place long ago.
He rose to his feet warily, glancing left and right. The entire graveyard was steeped in crimson light, peaceful and tranquil, with no sign of anyone lurking about.
Who could it possibly be...
Leonard pressed his lips together, thinking to himself.
A few minutes later, he finally gave up trying to trace the previous visitor's footsteps, and turned his attention to the tombstone instead.
"I'm sorry, Silas."
he said. "I need to know the truth no matter what. If this offends you, please forgive me."
With that, Leonard picked up the shovel lying nearby, walked around behind the tombstone, and dug a spadeful of earth from the spot where the coffin lay.
As an extraordinary being of no low Sequence, this kind of labor wasn't much of a hardship for him.
His arm swung in wide circles, the shovel rising and falling without pause, quickly piling up two mounds of dirt beside him. In this way, the grave that held Silas's coffin gradually came into view.
Once the pit had been widened enough, Leonard tossed aside the shovel and jumped down into it, bending forward and reaching out his hand to grip the edge of the coffin lid.
He gave a sudden, forceful heave, and the heavy wooden lid flipped open all at once.
Moonlight, like water, poured instantly into the pitch black coffin.
There was nothing inside.
No, that wasn't quite right. Aside from the fact that the body had vanished without a trace, there was still something inside the coffin worth taking note of.
Leonard saw, inside the coffin, countless bright red scratch marks.
It looked as though whoever had been placed inside had come back to life after death, and, wracked with tremendous agony, had thrashed about wildly in the pitch black coffin, clawing and scraping until the hard inner walls were gouged to shreds, not even sparing his own fingers, which had been dug down to broken bone.
He froze for several seconds, then flipped the coffin lid over.
Sure enough, on the underside of the lid he found a pair of bright red handprints. A pair of blood soaked palms had once pushed it open, returning to the world of the living.
Only, what had returned: a person, or a vengeful ghost?
Leonard touched the long dried bloodstains with his fingers. He hesitated for a moment, then finally climbed out of the grave, picked up his shovel, and set off toward another gravesite.
Some time later.
"Damn it!"
The elite operative known as Red Glove cried out, losing his composure, and slammed the shovel in his hand against the ground.
In the other grave he had dug open, the coffin lid had been thrown back, and the iron nails that should have secured it had come loose at some point, scattered inside the coffin.
That one, too, was completely empty.
Both graves Leonard had dug up that night had given him the same result. Though he had already half expected it, now that it had truly been confirmed, his mind couldn't help but take a blow.
"Impossible... it's actually true, it's actually true!"
he muttered to himself, trying to regain his composure.
As though drawn by some unseen force, Leonard lifted his head and looked once more in another direction.
There lay the grave of Dunn Smith.
Could the Captain be the same...
His foot moved forward almost of its own accord. But the instant he took that step, he snapped back to his senses and punched himself hard.
"I'm sorry, Captain..."
he cried out in despair, suppressing the emotion welling up inside him. "I don't know. I really don't know anything anymore..."
The night wind swept across the graveyard, scattering his low, choked sobs completely away.
Silas lifted his head and looked at the woman who had suddenly appeared before him. She was still dressed in the same extremely simple attire, her bare feet standing on the earth of the graveyard.
"Lady Arianna, you haven't been following me this whole time, have you?"
Silas asked, somewhat suspicious.
She had appeared at just the right moment, and he couldn't help but wonder whether she'd also witnessed his moment of weakness earlier.
"There's no need to address me as 'Lady.' I'm an ascetic. You may simply call me Ma'am," Arianna said calmly. "Once this flower is lit, it lets me locate you. I have not been following you."
"Fair enough."
Silas shrugged, setting the matter aside.
"So then, Silas Londor, what is your decision?"
Arianna looked into his eyes and asked evenly.
"My answer is,"
Silas glanced at his own tombstone, took a deep breath, and said, "I'm willing to return to the Night Church once more."
For the sake of those people, those things that could not be forgotten, he had to keep advancing, until he tore that inverted evil god down from the cross!
"Welcome."
Arianna's expression remained just as placid as ever, giving no hint of what she was truly thinking.
"We'll prepare a brand new identity for you. By the way, what would you like your new identity to be called?"
As for this new identity, Silas had already decided on a name.
"Let's call it... Ahab Ishmael."
he said.
Whoosh!
A sudden gust of wind blew through, snuffing out the last remaining flames of the Deep Slumber Flower entirely, and the whole graveyard settled once more into its familiar quiet.
---
[End of Volume]
Reflections on This Volume and a Preview of the Next
Reflections
1. The story became too drawn out. There were simply too many things I wanted to write, which made the overall structure somewhat bloated and the narrative less cohesive from beginning to end.
2. Some parts of the story weren't engaging enough. After such a long period of continuous updates, my inspiration inevitably ran low, and a few scenes ended up feeling rather flat. I'm not particularly satisfied with how they turned out.
3. My grasp of the setting still isn't good enough. There are aspects of the original novel's lore that I still don't fully understand. I hope all of you, my readers, can help me out as well. If you notice I've gotten something wrong, please point it out. That said, I'd appreciate it if you didn't flame me. I can't possibly remember every single detail, so there are bound to be things I've overlooked.
Looking Ahead to the Next Volume
1. A young man arrives at the Church of Evernight.
2. Kill Ince.
3. The spread of Silas's honorific name and faith in him as a True God.
4. ...
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