CH 25

“…… It’s been a while, but I guess it worked. Now, we can’t take our time.”

Souya had transformed himself into a spirit through the magic, Wraith Form. The body is translucent, and nothing is on it. When he looked at his empty body, he saw Mia standing beside it, counting the seconds with her fingers. 

“Hey. Boy.”

Souya spoke to the ghost boy standing in the shade of the tree.

“Uncle ……, do you understand my language?”

“Yeah. My name is Souya. And you are?”

“…… Connie.”

“So it’s Connie-kun …… Why are you here?”

“…… I came to get some water. But I slipped.”

“Do you know when that was?”

Connie, the ghost boy, thought for a moment, then shook her head.

“I don’t know. But when this tree was still this small.”

Souya looked up at the large tree towering beside the boy. It was an old tree that was well over a hundred years old, judging from its height.

(…… So you’ve been here for hundreds of years.)

Souya decided to ask the boy a question about Merylou.

“The girl there is called Merylou. Is she someone you know?”

“Yes. She’s been coming to visit me sometimes for a while now. But I don’t understand a lot of the words.”

“Did you hear Merylou-kun’s play?”

“Yes. I like to play the ocarina.”

“I understand her language. If you have a message for her, I’ll say it for you.”

“Well, say thank you for playing for me. And.”

Now we just need to find out what Connie’s intentions are.

“…… What do you want to do now?”

“I want to go to my mother. That’s right …… Yes, my mother has a bad leg, and I have to get her some water …… So why can’t I move from here?”

In the distance, where Connie gazed anxiously, he saw what had once been a mansion, crumbling with age.

(I see, they must have lived in the ruins of that house hundreds of years ago …… And he seems to have a blurred perception of matter and time, of life and death.)

Soya looked at his own body, and Mia was signaling him with a panicked hand gesture. It seemed that three minutes had already passed. If he continued his spiritualization any longer, he would be in danger of not being able to return to his body. Souya hurriedly piled up his spirit body on his own body.

When Souya returned from the spirit body, he looked a little lifeless, stood up weakly, and managed to lean his body to the large tree.

“H-Hey …… Souya, are you alright? You’re looking very pale.”

“Don’t worry. It’s just that it takes time for the spirit to adjust to the body once it has left …… In conclusion, this boy, Connie-kun, seems to have drowned in this lake when this large tree was still small and died. And he doesn’t properly understand that he’s dead.”

“…… So you’re called Connie. This tree is at least three hundred years old, from what I can tell …… Connie is much older than I am, huh.”

Merylou touched the tree sadly.

“I guess that’s how it goes. When he was alive, this place may not have even been a forest. Connie said she wanted to go to her mother, but if she lived in the ruins of that collapsed mansion, her mother would already be dead.”

“…… Souya. What should I do? Do I have no choice but to leave Connie alone?”

“I think it would be better to let Connie rest in piece. But memorial services can only be held by those with the rank of priest or higher …… I guess we’ll just have to look for one in Ilstadt.”

But, Souya thought, it would not be easy to find a priest who would be willing to travel all the way to the depths of the Thrail Forest.

The boy was an earthbound spirit who couldn’t leave this place, let alone harm people, and if you didn’t take his feelings into consideration, he was obviously a low priority that could be left alone.

“I’m sorry. I said something that seems great, but just because I talked to Connie-kun doesn’t mean I solved anything.”

“…… No. That’s not true. Thank you. I now know his name is Connie. All I have to do is earn some money from my adventures and get a priest who can do memorial services.”

As Merylou selfishly put it, if she were to ask a high-ranking priest to accompany her to this remote place to perform a memorial service, how much money would she need to offer him? Souya couldn’t imagine what it would be like.

“Um …… Souya-san, Merylou-san. Can I try my hand at the memorial service?”

Mia, who had been watching the conversation between the two of them, hesitantly raised her hand.

“I was wondering if perhaps you expected me to do that at first, Merylou-san. Of course, I’ve never attempted memorial service, ever.”

“…… Mia-kun, you are a cleric. With all due respect, it would be impossible, considering your abilities. In addition, isn’t the Sacred Art Salvation only allowed to be used by priests?”

Exorcisms and memorial service are basically performed through the prayers of a priest or higher rank, called exorcist. Clerics were forbidden to engage in memorial services due to the dangers involved and the doctrine of the Earth Mother Goddess Mikaela.

“You’re right …… It’s also a violation of doctrine, and in the first place, it’s a difficult thing to do with my prayers …… But, it is the doctrine that people have decided to forbid it. The Earth Mother Goddess Mikaela did not forbid it.”

Mia regulated her breathing and, with a dignified expression, grasped the cleric staff with both hands.