Jasper's Funeral

Castleton in October.

In the early morning, a light drizzle fell from the sky, and the north wind from the Frozen Sea gradually turned the climate here colder.

It rarely rains this time of year. When Roy arrived at the Goddess of Freedom Temple in the morning, the sky was already overcast. By the time the carriage carrying Jasper's coffin drove out of the temple, a light drizzle began to fall.

The carriage left Brown Street and headed directly towards the West Suburb Graveyard of Castleton City.

High Priest Reed sat calmly opposite Roy, his gaze fixed on the scenery outside the car window.

The temple has recently been plagued by a series of mishaps.

Because the Holy Radiance no longer shone on the Elf Continent, Priest Anderson forcibly performed the Divine Descent Ritual. Ultimately, his body could not withstand the enormous Holy Light power required for Divine Descent ritual, and he died in the Main Hall of the Goddess of Freedom Temple.

Priest Theodore orchestrated a theft to monopolize the Wisdom Holy Grail. In fact, Priest Anderson's death was somewhat related to the theft of the Wisdom Holy Grail. Priest Theodore ultimately succeeded in sending himself to Parrham Prison.

Now, the Novice Priest Jasper is lying in a wooden coffin, while the Novice Priest Abbott has become a wanted fugitive...

The Goddess of Freedom Temple, at its Gorfito Headquarters on the Elf Continent, has begun preparing for the second Expeditionary Force, and Priest from across the Elf Continent are gathering in Gorfito.

As a port Castleton City's Goddess of Freedom Temple will likely remain standing until the very end, probably when the third Expeditionary Force enters the Dark Land.

But now only High Priest Reed and Roy remain in the temple.

For High Priest Reed, this turn of events was undoubtedly the greatest failure!

"I've been thinking a lot lately about whether it's because I've neglected the management of the temple that so many things have happened one after another."

High Priest Reed rubbed his temples with two fingers and said in a low voice.

He turned his gaze away from the window and continued to Roy, "Looking back now, that makes sense. If I had known their thinking sooner and stopped some of their wrong decisions in time, things might not have turned out so badly."

After saying that, High Priest Reed sighed.

"I always felt that for a Priest, our hearts are bathed in holy light. As long as we pray devoutly every day, spread the doctrines of the temple, and let every corner of the world see the holy light, that is our faith..."

"But now it seems... this is just my life, and I've neglected the people around me."

He looked into Roy's eyes and asked him earnestly, "Roy, what proportion of your life is Novice Priest?"

"A third, or maybe a little less," Roy replied after a moment's thought.

"Every day, I spend a third of my energy at the Elf Academy, another third at the Temple, and the last third on other things. Sometimes I go to the Black Pearl to watch the sunset, and sometimes I go home to do some housework or practice battles."

Roy added something else.

High Priest Reed nodded, a hint of understanding in his eyes, before asking:

"So... that's why you decided to give up joining the Expeditionary Force?"

"Um."

Roy answered honestly.

However, he suddenly remembered the instructions Jasper had given him a few days ago...

This is indeed quite troublesome.

Jasper mentioned that if he couldn't go to the Dark Land himself, he wanted Roy to go Dark Land for him.

Roy felt that he was only a fifth-level Novice Priest, and if he went to the Dark Land, he might not even be able to come back alive...

The carriage entered the West Suburb Graveyard, where gravediggers had already dug the grave at the designated location. A metal plaque belonging to Jasper was hanging on a cypress tree in front of the grave.

No other elves attended Jasper's funeral.

High Priest Reed, the coachman, Roy, and the gravedigger of the cemetery braved the rain and barely managed to carry the wooden coffin into the tomb.

Then, High Priest Reed stood in front of the cypress tree and recited a eulogy in the rain.

In their final prayer, Roy and High Priest Reed watched as Jasper's soul floated into the sky in a pure beam of holy light...

Afterwards, Roy filled the grave with the excavated soil and covered it with the removed turf, thus concluding the funeral.

After the funeral, High Priest Reed turned and walked back to the carriage.

Roy stood in the drizzle, alone at Jasper's grave for a while.

He hesitated for a moment, then took the Golden Key out of his Magic Pouch, squatted down under the cypress tree, and buried the Golden Key under the tree with a shovel.

Little did they know that a treasure belonging to the Gray Dwarf pirates would lead to the deaths of Abbott and Jasper.

Roy turned and got back into the carriage, which then drove away from the West Suburb Graveyard.

Inside the carriage, Roy took off his wet Novice Priest robes and changed back into his usual school clothes. The carriage took him to the gate of the Elf Academy. Roy, clutching a textbook, ran into the academy in the rain.

He might miss the first martial arts class, but he could still make it to the second geography class.

Taking leave from the Elf Academy is very troublesome, and even if there is a legitimate reason, it will affect your usual grades.

The academy was abuzz with talk of the Nautilus's mishap at the Outer Sea, and Klayr had once again become a hero in the eyes of the young Silver Moon Elf.

Klayr won Hayeier's bet with her newly composed song ' Bernice ', and then successfully woke up all the fairies on the ship when nightmares struck at night, saving them from the slaughter of the Water Ghost.

... Just like every main character has a supporting character, Roy is Klayr's supporting character.

The bell rang, signaling the end of class, and Roy walked out of Building No. 3 with his geography book in his hand.

Klayr stood at the entrance of the Teaching Building, surrounded by many Silver Moon Elf eager to get to know him. Seeing Roy emerge from the Teaching Building, Roy quickly waved and said, "Roy, over here! I thought you weren't coming today!"

Everyone saw Klayr walk out from the crowd, put an arm around Roy's shoulder, and speak to him kindly...

Many Silver Moon Elf thought that Roy was a lucky guy to be friends with Klayr.

Seeing Roy's sighing expression, Klayr lowered her voice and asked, "You don't seem to be in a good mood?"

There were too many elf students gathered at the entrance of the Teaching Building, and Roy refused to say a word.

The two walked out of the crowded entrance of the Teaching Building, and Klayr said to Roy, "Instructor Nora asked about you during class!"

Roy said, "It seems I need to explain this to her."

The two walked towards the Training Ground. The passageway was quiet, and Klayr finally asked, "What exactly happened?"

Roy stopped and said to Klayr, "Jasper has been murdered. The killer hasn't been found yet. I went to his funeral this morning..."

Klayr took a breath and stared at Roy for a long time without saying a word.

After a while, he said to Roy:

"... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought this up."

The two continued walking along the path. Roy had already seen the grass of the Training Ground when he smiled wryly and said, "It's okay. Anyway, I'll have to say it again when I run into Instructor Nora later. Consider it a practice session."

Klayr didn't want to continue the conversation, so she said to Roy, "We're going to the Inscription Workshop at the Magic Guild later..."

Upon hearing Klayr mention the Inscription Workshop, Roy paused slightly and asked Klayr:

"... You mean the Inscription Workshop on the first floor of the Magic Guild is the Hayeier family's shop?"

"Yes, you know that shop?"

Roy nodded in agreement, "I went to that shop and looked at some Magic Inscription Construct, but even the cheapest one there wasn't something I could afford right now."

Speaking of this, Klayr said with a hint of pride, "If I had known... I should have increased the stakes in the bet, but we went too low! But then again, a Magic Inscription Construct can usually be used for a long time, so choosing the right first Magic Inscription Construct is very important."

The two arrived at the Training Ground, where Instructor Nora was checking the training weapons next to the weapons rack; they were mostly wooden swords and Wooden Shield.

Weapons like hammers and Wooden Stick also exist, but they are just a few decorative items.

Instructor Nora looked up at Roy, handed him a bundle of wooden swords from her bosom, and told him to hang them one by one on the wooden rack.

"Oh? You want to explain why you were absent without reason this morning?"

Instructor Nora curled the corners of her lips and asked Roy.

Roy hugged the bundle of wooden swords, and he and Klayr placed the swords on the wooden rack. Only after they finished did they say:

"Instructor Nora, I attended a friend's funeral this morning, so I missed your class."

"Understood!" Instructor Nora nodded, indicating that she understood.

She then stopped and looked at Klayr and Roy, asking them, "I heard you encountered Water Ghost in the Outer Sea?"

Almost all the students on the Training Ground had left.

Klayr chuckled and said, "To be precise, we encountered a Nightmare Vine near a sea reef, and it happened to be in bloom. So the Nightmare Vine released Cloud of Slumber on us and then controlled some Water Ghost to attack the Nautilus."

Instructor Nora stopped again, turned around and stared at Klayr, asking, "So how did you get rid of the nightmare? Did someone wear a lucidity device?"

Klayr pointed at Roy and said, "Roy woke me up, probably using the power of the Holy Light."

"Well done."

After Instructor Nora finished speaking, she patted Roy's shoulder forcefully.

She wasn't too surprised by this answer; she had obviously heard about it from others before...

After saying goodbye to Instructor Nora, Roy and Klayr left the Elf Academy.

The Magic Guild is right next to the Elf Academy; the two of them can just walk there along the main street, it's not far.

"You don't have to explain so much," Roy whispered to Klayr.

Klayr asked, puzzled, "Roy, why do you always prevent me from explaining the truth to them?"

"At the Elf Academy, the new hero can be Wagner Klayr, or Steve or Adams, but not the Half-Elf Roy. Otherwise, these things will bring you fame and prestige, but for me, they will become trouble. I feel like I have enough trouble already... Do you know what it feels like to attend court hearings for four consecutive weeks?"

Roy felt that the two of them needed to keep a lower profile recently...

Klayr didn't seem to care.

"All right!"

In the lobby of the Magic Guild's first floor, Roy and Klayr entered the Inscription Workshop, which had a small facade but a large interior space...

Klayr was about to take out the IOU from Yoram.Hayel and hand it to the elven waitress standing at the counter when she saw Hayeier come out of the workshop with a stern face.