Iver held the Sun Scepter and followed Matilda toward the depths of the Holy Order Department.
Walking along the deep crimson carpet, he suddenly felt like a celebrity walking the red carpet.
Spectators slowly entered from both sides of the red carpet. Almost all of them were elves. Though there were many people, they maintained perfect silence with great courtesy, so there was no commotion at all. Only after quite some time did Iver spot Sherlock, Lily, and Pure White standing at the very front.
When the crowd stopped entering, Matilda happened to lead Iver to the end.
There stood an uneven, dark golden metal mural, reflecting radiance beneath the flames. It seemed to be copper, though it might have been gold. Every pattern protruded from the surface, giving the mural a highly three-dimensional appearance.
The scene was simple and easy to understand.
Two women and one man—three beings clearly identifiable as elves—knelt before the Candle Holder. The crimson stag draped in the thorns of sin was impossible to mistake. Its enormous antlers all pointed toward the sky, and every branch splitting from them resembled a candle flame, illuminating the darkness.
The entire scene was irregular... Or rather, the scene reflected by the mural consisted only of a small area illuminated by the stag's light.
Iver's gaze was inevitably drawn toward the mural.
Matilda raised both hands, as if praising the sun.
Facing the mural, she solemnly proclaimed, "We beseech the Candle Holder!"
In the next instant, every candle in the room went out at once, then was relit at the same time.
They were no longer the motionless red flames from before, as quiet as images pasted onto a wall.
Instead, they became extremely slender, pure-white radiance—
The candle flames were extraordinarily thin, like vertical pupils one after another.