The ceremony concluded and everyone blew the flame of their candles. Light magic was used during these ceremonies to create a nice and amicable atmosphere.
― Fuuu…
Blowing sounds could be heard around the church. I diverted my gaze from the pink hair woman and blew the candle I was holding as well.
Small balls of light of the size of an adult's thumb were around the coffin, just like fairies. They released the sounds of small bells, from time to time, and were slightly bouncing, almost to emphasize that everything was okay. We were sending someone off, but it was a beautiful ceremony, nonetheless.
When I tried to look back at the woman, she wasn't there anymore. It was like she never existed in the first place. Curious, I decided to ask a question to the nun that was beside me.
"Sister Natalie, who was that woman?"
"Sniff… Woman? Who are you talking about?"
Sister Natalie was crying slightly. Her eyes were a little red and she was sobbing as well.
'Natalie is always happy but get sad when things like this happen, even though the deceased wasn't an acquaintance. It surprises me how she can be so emotional. Anyway, she didn't saw the woman?'
"The one that was standing right there. She had pink hair and was quite beautiful."
I pointed to the pillar where the mysterious woman was standing a moment ago. However, Natalie still didn't know about her.
"Sniff… I didn't saw anyone like that. Sniff… You should ask Sister Amelia. She was the one responsible for checking everyone that was coming to the funeral ceremony. Sniff…"
After her answer, I bid my farewell to the sniffing and sobbing Natalie and started to look for Amelia. Sister Amelia at the front door of the church saying goodbye to the people that attended the ceremony.
'Natalie said that Amelia was responsible to check everyone. Since she was the one to make the first contact with every participant, I will ask directly.'
With that thought, I approached Sister Amelia and asked.
"Good morning, Sister Amelia. Who was the woman with pink hair?"
"Oh? Hello Sieg, good morning. Pink hair? Who are you talking about?"
Sister Amelia returned my greeting and made a confused face. The face she made worried me a little because she sure didn't look like to know about what I was asking.
'… Was there anyone else with pink hair?'
Knowing that she wouldn't be able to answer me properly, I decided to be more specific.
"It was a woman with long, pink hair that was standing in front of one of the church pillars. She had a beautiful face and looked like she was taller than normal. She was also wearing a cloak."
Unfortunately, the confusion on Amelia's face deepened.
"… Are you still sleepy Sieg? There wasn't anyone like that among the participants."
"Could it be that she entered the ceremony without being invited?"
"?. No, no, that's not possible Sieg. There are magic seals around the church. These seals will not allow anyone to enter if they are not invited. That was why I was receiving and checking all the participants, to 'invite' them inside."
'What? It doesn't make any sense! She was there, glaring at me! There was even a menacing aura around her, how can no one notice it, but I can?'
I started to quest my sanity a little, but it was then.
A flash of memories started to appear in my mind. In them, I remembered the Pixie that was annoying me and even played a prank. The one that made me talk alone like a lunatic.
'So, YOU are the culprit…! Goddamn Pixie, If I ever manage to get my hands on you, I will make sure to trap you inside a bottle and throw it in the sewers!!'
While clenching my fists and thinking about all the tortures I could make a Pixie go through, I started to speak to Amelia so I wouldn't raise any suspicions.
"Oh, is that so? I must be tired then. Thank you for your help, Sister. I will take a quick nap in my room and then leave to collect donations."
I bid farewell to Sister Amelia and went to my room. Thinking that it wouldn't cause a problem, I decided to take a 30 minutes nap. After my nap, I got dressed like usual and left the church to collect more donations.
On my way to the central plaza, I spotted granny Sophia sweeping the front of her shop. However, this time she was happy and with a big smile on her face. Curious, I greeted her and decided to ask.
"Hello, granny Sophia. I see that you are very happy today, did something happen?"
Upon hearing my voice, Sophia started to look at me slowly. Somehow, she seemed a little different. Not because of the happiness, but because she didn't look like herself.
"Oh? Siegfried… Good morning. How have you been..."
"I have been good, thank you. Unfortunately, we had to do a funeral this morning, but aside from that, everything is normal. So, how are you?"
"Hm… That is… good. I mean… that everything is normal."
'She dodged my question twice… Is she feigning her good mood?'
Seeing that she, probably, didn't want to answer my question, I decided to rephrase it. Sophia was a nice granny, so I wanted to know if she was really okay.
"I can see that your shop is a little livelier today."
"Yes, Siegfried. It is. Someone that likes exotic things came in yesterday and decided to buy every flower in my shop. He paid upfront, so I only need to wait for him to get the goods…"
She answered me with a slightly ecstatic voice while looking deep into my eyes. That made me a little uncomfortable, but worse than that was the fact she was not calling me 'Sieg' but 'Siegfried'.
"Uh… I see."
"By the way Siegfried, why are your eyes like that? Did you do something to them or were they always like this?"
'My eyes? Is she really asking about my eyes? She knew that it was a sore spot for me and that is why she never asked about them. I must have bothered her somehow…'
Feeling a little sad because granny was 'attacking' me, I bid farewell and went my way.
"Well… Sorry for bothering you granny, have a nice day."
"Yes, Siegfried… Be careful to not damage yourself."
*
I decided to put my sadness to the side and do my work. I said that I wanted to stay in the city a little longer today, so Amelia gave me some money so that I could eat lunch outside. However, knowing the value of money in this place I decided to just eat a skewer and put the rest of the money in my pockets so that I could return it to her later.
Unfortunately, today wasn't a good day. I was receiving a lot of 'no' and even some disgusting eyes. In the box in my hands, only 2 copper coins could be found. They were given to me by a bearded old man and a female magician, which was probably another adventurer.
"Sigh…"
I sighed and started to think about my current situation.
'Should I wrap things up and just go training? I could try going to other parts of the city, but that would leave me open to attacks from possible thugs. Sigh… If only I could go to the upper part of the city…'
As I was thinking about the upper part of the city, I started to remember the damned Pixie that played with me. It took the form of a beautiful woman with long, pink hair. Her face looked like it was sculpted by a famous artisan and her silver eyes shone like the moon.
'Yes… Just like her… Even the cloak is the same. Is it a mass-produced item?'
It was then.
'!!'
I didn't notice it at first, but I was looking at damned Pixie from last time. The same look and the same attire.
'You damn thing… Are you trying to mess with again?'
However, to my surprise, the Pixie didn't come my way and started to leave the central plaza.
'Hoho? Are you challenging me? Do you think you can be sneaky and escape my eyes? Humph! I will make sure to hit you with the donation box!!'
Enraged by the behavior of the Pixie, I decided to follow her. Luckily for me, there were people where she was walking, so I could pretend and ask for donations. My tailing took some minutes until we finally came to the gate of the upper city, where she passed through without a second thought.
'Damnit! I can't enter because of the guards. As I thought, this Pixie was showing her "appearance" only to me. The guards didn't even bat an eye.'
Seeing that the Pixie went out of my sight, I tried to ask for donations from the guards at the gate.
"Cough. Good morning esteemed guards, would you li-"
"Get lost. You abomination."
"Get out of here before I lose my cool. You are making the citizens uncomfortable, ghost."
I frowned at their brusque behavior and turned around to walk away from there.
'Geez… Such insensitive guards.'
After walking a little, I looked back at the gate of the upper part of the city. The part of the city where the rich lived. It was like another city bordering the rest. They had everything that the rest of Gliphia had, so they didn't need to leave the upper part. They were mostly nobles, so it was rare for them to go to dungeons.
'Come to think about it… I never met a noble since I was reincarnated into this world. Of course, that is the case if you ignore that guy that made the royal announcement. He was, definitely, a noble.'
*
Three days have passed since then and now was Saturday. The nuns said that I didn't need to go ask for donations today, so I decided to spend my entire day training in the forest. Fortunately, the Pixie never appeared in front of me again.
After training for some hours, I decided to take a little rest. Not just because I was tired, but mostly because I was worried. Very worried. My mental state was a mess this last 3 days. A simple thought I had 1 year ago was the cause of all of my 'despair' right now.
"Huf… Huf…"
'What the hell am I doing?! Sleep, ask for donations, train, and sleep again. I thought, one year ago, that I was just too young to do anything else, but it became a damned endless cycle!'
My mind was in turmoil and my body, tired from my strict training, ended up giving up and I kneeled on the ground, with my two kneels. Both of my hands were touching the ground when I started to speak out loud.
"I said I would change, that I would never commit the same mistakes again and live a proper life… But I… I am just staying quiet and thinking, without taking any action!!!"
― POW!
I made a fist with one of my hands and punched the ground. It hurt. A lot. But I didn't care as I continued to punch the ground and shout.
"I WASN'T THAT MUCH OF AN INTELLECTUAL, TO BEGIN WITH, SO WHY AM I ONLY THINKING ABOUT THINGS?!?!"
― POW! POW! POW!
"It's like… It's like… IT IS LIKE I'M BACK ON EARTH FORCED TO LIVE A LIFE OF NOTHING!!"
― POW!
I punched the ground one last time and looked at my fist. It was hurt all over the place and I even managed to cut myself in the palm of my hand because of the incredible force I was applying to it when making a fist.
I spread my body on the ground and decide to look at the sky. It was still afternoon and the sky had clouds all over it. One of the clouds obstructed the sun that was shining towards my face, and I could feel myself being surrounded by darkness.
'Seriously, what am I doing? Did God know that I would act like this? I know that he was the one responsible for killing me, but did he plan things this far ahead? How am I repenting? By being given another life but acting just like I was on Earth or will it be something deeper?'
I was a complete mess now. My body started to feel cold and numb, and my mind was getting darker and darker. The world seemed to be slowly stopping.
'I… I am tired… It will be better if the world just stopped moving… I don't… I do not want to try anymore…'
It was then.
The cloud obstructing the sun moved away and sunlight started to hit my face. My eyes hurt a little, but I started to feel lighter. Ironically, the sun started to illuminate me, and I could think better.
'No… wait a minute. I didn't do anything yet!'
The origin of my problems appeared on my mind again, but this time, it wasn't a mortifying thing. Actually, it was something that started to inspire me.
'That's right… How stupid… How could I be tired when I didn't even do something, aside from training. Physical fatigue can be easily resolved with rest and sleep, but what I was complaining about was something totally different!'
I started to feel happy and motivated and immediately moved to the sword that I have previously stuck to the ground. I put my hands on the handle, removed the sword from the ground, and immediately started to take an Ox guard stance.
I spread my legs a bit with my left foot in the front, raised the sword with my right arm while, also, supporting it with my left arm, and put it beside my head. As soon as I finished putting the stance, I closed my eyes and started to feel the mana around me.
Yes. I could feel mana and use it rather properly. Besides it, about half a year ago, I discovered that I had a mysterious ability as well. I could control the Wind to a certain extent.
"Sigh…"
'How stupid of me… I "sealed" these powers thinking that I was too young for them. I'm surprised that I even forgot that my mental age should be from a 32-years-old man. HAH! Was I feeling tired? HAHAHA! Yes, I get it now. I was tired… Tired of waiting, that is.'
With my eyes still closed, I started to imagine myself gathering wind around my sword and compressing it. I could feel something 'burning' in my arms, but I decided to ignore it for now. After repeating this process about 2 or 3 more times, I opened my eyes and looked at my sword. Around the blade that was full of rust, I could see the wind. Air should be invisible, but the one around the blade was so compressed and full of mana that it had acquired a beautiful shade of light-green color.
A big smile appeared on my face.
Without a second thought, I moved my right foot forward and made a swift, cutting movement with the sword. I slashed through the air and a semi-circumference made of wind came from the blade. The magical attack had cut through some trees like they were made of paper and they, almost instantly, fell to the ground.
"Huf… Huf… Fuuuu…"
I was spent. Many months had already passed since I last used magic. My legs were a little numb and my arms were trembling. However, a smile full of joy was permeating my face. I wanted to do more.
"Heh… hehe… One more time!"
I was eager to continue, but I managed to 'recover' my sanity and started to sheathe my training, rusted sword.
'No. I have to resolve some pending issues first. I need to tell Sisters Amelia and Natalie that I will stop asking for donations. I hope they will not be hurt by it…'
While trying to think about some excuse to stop asking for donations, I started to make my way back to the church.
*
Upon reaching the church I already had some excuses prepared for me to tell. What I needed to do now was to find them and talk.
'Hm… Where could they be at this hour?'
I had returned earlier than expected, so the sun was still in the sky. When I entered the backdoor of the church and walked to the middle of it, I could see that both Natalie and Amelia were sitting together, with worried faces.
Feeling a little guilty for what I was about to do, I steeled myself and approached them.
"Sister Amelia, Sister Natalie, good afternoon. I… I need to talk to you two. It is important."
My voice carried worry, showing that it was something important. But, surprisingly, they didn't show concern. I felt a little dumbfounded by their behavior since they have always paid attention to me when I wanted to talk about something important. Curious, I decided to ask them.
"… Did something happen?"
Natalie was looking down, immobile, like she was guilty by something. Amelia was the that looked in my direction and started to speak.
"…Sigh. More people have died, and it looks like they were killed. The reports say that they were 'massacred' by something and that they are unrecognizable now…"
"What?"
I was truly surprised.
'Killed? There is a killer in Gliphia?'
"Their families have asked us to hold a ceremony for them and gave us pictures, so we could, at least, know who they were before… Here."
She handed me the pictures of the two people. Pictures could be taken with a magic item. The magic items that could record pictures, sound, and movement, like videos, were a little expensive, but not like clocks.
It was then.
My eyes clouded the moment I saw the people in the pictures. A cold sweat started to run down the back of my neck and my hands started to shake slightly. Some time has already passed, but I could identify the faces because I knew them. I couldn't say that they were my acquaintances, but I have met them before. I was flabbergasted.
The two in the pictures were the bearded old man and the female magician that gave me donations on the last day I saw the damned Pixie.