Chapter 805 - Problems arriving
Chapter 805 – Problems arriving
When Bai Zemin returned to the Gales Kingdom, the war against the demons was already over.
It was no surprise to anyone that when King Philip appeared dragging the battered corpse of the demon general Bel’gos the demons immediately lost all spirit to continue fighting against the humans and tried to escape. However, without Third Order demons to stop the first princess and the king it was impossible for these demons to run faster than them.
The corpses of the demons were incinerated using a special method that burned everything except the bones. As for the skeleton of the demons’ bodies, Bai Zemin later learned that they possessed a strange quality that helped accelerate the growth of plants and also strengthened the soil for the cultivation of food.
The humans of Eventide World, at least in the Gales Kingdom, had a different way of doing things than the humans of Earth when it came to saying goodbye to their deceased. The process was more laborious so it required some work and it was only after two days that the ceremony began.
Of course, during the past two days many tasks were carried out such as the start of the repair of the north wall of the city and the rebuilding of new magic towers that were destroyed by the attack of the furious King Philip when the demon general dodged it.
In addition to the repairs and construction of new homes, the Gales Kingdom logistics team also had to count the number of casualties not only of soldiers who participated in the war against the demons but also the number of citizens who lost their lives either under the swords of a demon or the collapse of a building after being hit by the resulting shockwaves between two or more powerful attacks.
As for revenues… Although the Gales Kingdom managed to obtain a huge wealth of First Order Soul Stones and even nearly a thousand Second Order Soul Stones, as well as a lot of equipment and system treasures that previously belonged to the demons, the losses Bearcrest City had suffered were too great to feel joy.
The night of two days after the war against the demons, all the citizens of the Gales Kingdom took to the streets and walked while singing a strange ancient song that was passed down from generation to generation. Led by a group of old women who appeared to be witches, the citizens threw laurel tree branches as a form of respect for the fallen soldiers and innocents.
At the same time, on the top of the mountain and in the side courtyard of the castle where the royal family of the kingdom lived, the families of the soldiers who had fought in the war against the demons had gathered together with the families of the citizens of the Gales Kingdom who had lost their lives.
Standing under a tree, Bai Zemin dressed in his crimson armor with a glass of juice in his hand looked at the scene from afar with a calm expression on his face.
Twelve witches were dancing around twelve large towers built of wood. On top of the wooden towers, the corpses of the soldiers who fought for the kingdom and lost their lives rested.
While the witches threw some wreaths of roses on the wooden towers, King Philip personally took it upon himself to put gold coins in the closed eyes of the soldiers. The fact that the king himself was in charge of this task was a great honor that usually no one could receive. While the whole process was being carried out, the families of the dead cried and made preparations to say goodbye forever to their loved ones.
“Are the customs of our realm different from those of your world?”
A soft, calm voice sounded from behind him. Looking over his shoulder, Bai Zemin saw the first princess of Gales walking toward him.
Ellis was wearing an elegant sky blue silk dress. Her long golden hair was floored behind her back and a small silver crown glittered on the top of her head. Her violet eyes sparkled with charm and bravery under the glare of the stars.
“It’s a little different, but it’s not something I’d never heard of.” Bai Zemin replied, returning his eyes to the front.
Ellis stopped beside him standing an arm’s length, and as she fiddled with the wine glass in her hand, she said quietly, “Tell me a little bit about that.”
“The human history books of my world were written in the blood of many men and women who lost their lives in countless wars. Several generations ago, the time we call the Middle Ages used to have these kinds of rituals…. Except that it was usually people of great courage and bravery who received it while normal citizens were just cremated to avoid plagues.” Bai Zemin calmly summed up.
“I see.” Ellis nodded and asked no more questions.
After a few minutes of silence, Bai Zemin glanced sideways at her and noticed that Ellis’ eyes were slightly red; a sign that she had been crying.
He turned his eyes forward and his gaze automatically focused on the golden-haired beauty whose golden hair was tied in two ponytails and whose soft pink dress added an extra layer of purity to her innocent face.
During the previous two days, Seraphina had practically locked herself in her room and rarely came out. However, it didn’t take a genius to know that this little princess of Gales had been crying. After all, unlike Ellis’ slightly red eyes, Seraphina’s eyes were puffy and probably looked even worse under the makeup she had used to cover her dark circles.
The citizens of the Gales Kingdom had lost a queen, but the king of the kingdom had lost a wife while Seraphina and Ellis had lost their mother.
The fall of Queen Helena had hit many people hard, so much so that during the past few days many nobles and soul evolvers of the Gales Kingdom who lived or were in other cities of the kingdom did not hesitate to visit Bearcrest City to pay their respects during the farewell of one of the most talented and powerful mages of the human race.
Approximately 3 hours later, King Philip had finally covered the eyes of all the corpses of the soul evolvers that had been rescued from the battlefield as many of them had exploded in blood mist or were in unpresentable conditions. Those bodies were replaced by wooden coffins with two golden eyes drawn on the lid.
“May their souls rest in peace, my brothers and sisters!”
King Philip threw a flaming torch into the center of the twelve towers and the wood soon began to burn. His eyes, as well as those of his daughters, focused on the central tower where the body of Queen Helena rested with her eyes closed and two small gold coins covered her eyelids.
As the flames burned brighter and brighter, the sound of crying and wailing grew louder and louder as the families of the deceased watched the bodies of their loved ones slowly begin to be swallowed by the fire.
Unlike King Philip and Ellis who seemed to be able to hold back their tears, Seraphina did not even bother to play tough and directly burst into tears like a disconsolate little kid on her older sister’s shoulder.
Bai Zemin looked at the glass of apple juice in his hand and said under his breath, “I should have chosen the glass with alcohol after all.”
About 30 minutes later, the flames finally finished burning the twelve wooden towers and the mana-less bodies of the once powerful soul evolvers turned to ashes.
The twelve witches stepped forward and began to collect the Soul Stones. They stored them all inside a chest bathed in diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones before handing it over to the king.
Under Bai Zemin’s astonished eyes, King Philip walked to the edge of the cliff and without even hesitating threw the chest into the bottomless abyss which no one had ever visited.
“… Did they throw the Soul Stones into the abyss?” Bai Zemin murmured in shock.
In that chest were thousands of Soul Stones! There was even a possibility that Queen Helena had managed to form a Third Order Soul Stone!
“Just as you are unwilling to dig up the heads and use the Soul Stones of those who were once your subordinates and fought for you, the thinking of the people of this kingdom is probably not much different.” Lilith explained with a serious expression on her face.
After a moment of silence, Bai Zemin nodded and the astonishment he felt disappeared without a trace. At the same time, his respect for the citizens and royal family of this kingdom increased tremendously.
“All right, let the party begin!” shouted King Philip and immediately clapped his hands multiple times.
Several dozen pretty women dressed in silk clothing approached from the sidelines and a group of people began to play various musical instruments. The beautiful women moved their bodies with elegance and charm to the soft musical notes while soldiers and relatives of the fallen men began to dance and form small groups to chat.
In just a minute, the previously gloomy scene had turned into a party where everyone was smiling and chatting as they drank and ate merrily.
“This…”
Under the same tree as before, Bai Zemin observed the abrupt change feeling a bit speechless.
“Why are you standing alone like a stone? Don’t you know how to dance?”
A somewhat grumpy and mocking but at the same time soft and beautiful voice made Bai Zemin’s face turn to the left. There, the second princess of Gales was looking at him with both arms on her waist and a proud expression despite the fact that both her eyes were puffy and red.
Bai Zemin really wanted to tell her that her proud act wasn’t coming off very well, especially considering that her makeup had shifted which made her look like a panda. However, he reserved those words and instead asked something else.
“Seraphina, why are you all partying?”
“Uh?” She looked at him in confusion before a glint of understanding shone in her eyes. “Right, I had completely forgotten that you’re not someone from this world, Orc.”
Seraphina stuck out her tongue and stretched both hands forward, “Come, dance with me and let me explain.”
“This…” Bai Zemin hesitated to take her hands.
“What’s wrong? Are you really bad at dancing?” Seraphina raised an eyebrow before shrugging, “It’s okay, I can teach you a trick or two.”
“No, it’s not about that…” Bai Zemin looked to the right as he muttered those words.
Lilith chuckled and nodded her head as she said kindly, “Go. Dance with that little princess, at least that will help her feel a little better after all the things she had to go through.”
Bai Zemin watched Lilith’s expression for several seconds and it wasn’t until he finally realized that she really wasn’t jealous or upset that he let out a sigh of relief.
Seraphina had been looking at him confused as to why he was looking at nothing, but when she felt his hands on hers, all thought disappeared and soon the two of them found themselves dancing; though mostly it was Seraphina leading Bai Zemin on or scolding him for stepping on her toes.
“Every kingdom changed a thing or two over the years, but at least here in Gales that’s how we deal with our departed.” Seraphina explained softly.
“Gold coins are placed over the eyelids of the fallen so that when the fire melts the coin and the eyes open to the new life beyond death they can all live prosperous and happy lives. Since they will live happily, we suppress our own sadness and dance in this way to send them off completely with smiles on our faces.”
Feeling the tremor in the young woman’s voice in his embrace, Bai Zemin understood that the smile on Seraphina’s face and probably of everyone present was not one from the heart. After all, no matter what the customs of this world or the beliefs of each person, the reality was that each and every one of them had lost at least one loved one.
In Seraphina’s case, she had lost her mother and would never be able to see her again. It was impossible for someone who had been crying inconsolably for the past few days to smile just because her mother’s body had just been set on fire and that was it.
Basically, this was a ritual of respect to bid farewell to the souls of the fallen, and although Bai Zemin knew that in reality most of the souls of the dead had been absorbed by the demons that killed them, he did not point it out. After all, every soul evolver who knew how empowerment worked knew this fact.
Besides, who was Bai Zemin to say or opine on how right or wrong, weird or not weird, other people’s habits might be?
Just at that moment, several footsteps approached from a distance and King Philip immediately became on his guard as he realized that these people did not have good intentions. In fact, it was not only him who noticed it as the atmosphere immediately broke when these people appeared and the people who were dancing or drinking and singing stopped as they looked at the new arrivals cautiously.
“Prince and princess of kingdoms…” Bai Zemin muttered with narrowed eyes.
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