The Funeral of a Light

I, the Hero, was utterly bewildered at this moment.

“Ah!” Everyone’s eyes were momentarily blinded by this so-called ultimate move!

“This guy’s a fraud! What ultimate kill? It was clearly a flashbang!” Crimson Aironi was the first to react.

“What!!!!”

It took a full minute for the group to gradually regain their vision.

“Damn it, he escaped!” Helter angrily drew his sword and slammed it against the floor. “That cunning scoundrel!”

“Calm down,” I interjected. “The important thing now is, what do we do if he seeks revenge?”

“He won’t be able to exact revenge anytime soon,” the Village Chief said slowly. “It’s incredibly difficult for one person to gather enough forces.”

“But that’s just a matter of time, isn’t it? What if he really does return?”

“Don’t worry, Hero,” the Village Chief reassured me. “We just need to be prepared before his next attack. You should focus on your journey instead.”

“Hmm… Village Chief, may I ask, what preparations do you intend to make?”

“Naturally, I’ll send a Guard to the Royal Capital to deliver a message, requesting reinforcements.”

While getting help from the Royal Capital was a sound plan, there was a critical issue.

“Aside from Crimson Aironi, the Guard… everyone else perished, didn’t they?” I wiped the sweat from my face.

The Village Chief slapped his thigh. “Oh, right!”

Thus, before we departed Newbie Village, we incidentally accepted a new quest: to deliver a message from the Village Chief to the King in the Royal Capital.

Crimson Aironi, in any case, already intended to go to the Royal Capital. Due to his professional ethics, he still needed to report his resignation to his superiors.

Afterward, the villagers gradually began returning to their homes.

The surviving Tailors prepared new equipment for Helter, as he had been wearing nothing but boar hide armor since the forest encounter.

“Hey! This size is too small!” Helter complained to the Tailor.

“That is the largest size! Ah, never mind… I’ll custom-make it immediately. Give me two hours!”

Concurrently, I decided to purchase a suitable mage robe for Naya, given that her lower half had been somewhat… exposed since she joined our party.

“It’s so big…” Naya shivered, the oversized clothing practically swamping her.

“One hour! Custom-made, right away!” the Tailor exclaimed, beads of sweat trickling down his face.

As for Crimson Aironi…

“At least give me some new clothes! Is this how you treat a member of the Hero’s party?!”

Yet, not a single person was willing to custom-make anything for him.

And so, the day passed until evening fell.

We had originally planned to set off on our adventure immediately after getting organized, but the Village Chief and the Blacksmith stopped us.

“Hero, are the four of you leaving soon?” the Village Chief asked, a kindly smile gracing his lips.

“Yes, that’s right,” I nodded.

“Might you, perhaps, stay for one more night?”

“Why? Do you need our help?”

“No, no, no, it’s for the village’s evening banquet… ah, no, perhaps not quite a banquet,” the Village Chief lowered his head. “It’s for Lu Ren’s funeral, which I mentioned before…”

‘My funeral…’

“Please, you must attend.” Both the Village Chief and the Blacksmith bowed deeply before the four of us.

“Alright,” I conceded.

Attending my own funeral felt unsettling, to say the least.

“Are you truly alright with this?” Helter asked, patting my shoulder.

“What’s there to be alright or not alright about?” I replied. “The exhausting battle is finally over, so let’s just rest for a bit.”

I knew Helter actually wanted to ask why I was attending my own funeral. However, due to the need for secrecy, I couldn’t explain it openly; it would be difficult to justify if Crimson Aironi and Naya were to find out.

“Big Sister Hero? Who is Lu Ren?” Naya asked, hugging my arm in a dazed manner.

“A friend… whom I must forget,” I said, smiling as I gently stroked her head.

“Oh, Lu Ren,” Crimson Aironi began, picking his nose with a complete lack of decorum. “I’ve heard a bit about him during my years in this village. He was the village’s only ‘assassin,’ though in truth, he was just a handyman with no real title to speak of. Why would the entire village hold a funeral for him?”

“I don’t know,” I mused. “Perhaps it’s out of respect for him being a friend of the Hero.”

Without further ado, the four members of the Hero’s party made their way to the center of the street—the designated site for the funeral.

“How shall I put this? Lu Ren was, in a way, one of my adopted sons.”

Just as he did during past festivals, the Village Chief stood on a makeshift platform, beginning his speech.

“Throughout my life, I’ve adopted many children, but this particular child was very special to me,” the Village Chief said, swallowing hard. “From a young age, I taught all the children to earn their own keep, never to assume they had a right to be cared for just because they were young. It was a challenge, yes; I’d give every child some form of hardship, big or small. I initially thought this boy would cry and plead for my help, but he proved me wrong.”

“He was more exceptional than anyone here. At just six years old, not long after I found him, he learned to be self-reliant, even earlier than his playmate, Helter.”

“From the very first time he helped with farm work, I sensed he wasn’t ordinary. He seemed to possess the mind of an adult, and I’m not joking, even if he was a bit silly, heh heh.”

The villagers chuckled in agreement.

“He truly was foolish,” the Village Chief continued, pausing slightly. “When I told him that living here required paying rent, he naively believed he owed rent from the very moment I found him, calculating it all the way up to now. He thought he had ten years of overdue rent, heh heh, truly foolish!”

“Slowly, the child grew older. His playmate, Helter, left, and the already somewhat lonely boy became even more so. One day, he asked me, ‘My playmate can become a useful person; what can I become?’ I replied, ‘What do you wish to become?’ He said he wanted to be a cold-blooded assassin, so he wouldn’t be troubled for half a day over someone else’s minor issues.”

“He was a kind child; I knew he would silently weep whenever he saw an animal die. To fulfill his small wish, the village’s first ‘assassin’ was born, under my authority. Though it was a false profession, the tasks I gave him were like playful tricks, yet he accepted every one willingly… so naive… why was he so naive…?”

The Village Chief’s voice suddenly caught in his throat. “Why? Because I always saw that child as a light. Even when surrounded by darkness, he never forgot his purpose to shine.”

‘A light… was I a light?’

“His soul was utterly pure! Absolutely extraordinary! He was the pride of this village, even if he wasn’t always the most agreeable person!”

[Your soul is exceptional!] Key had said those very words before.

“Now, let us all send this child off. His adventure, his journey, has begun. May he forever remember, on this road of no return, that he is a truly pure person… All right, let us offer our blessings to him.”

At his cue, the Blacksmith beneath the platform lit the fireworks.

With a series of soft pongs, beautiful blossoms erupted across the dark canvas of the night sky.

‘How beautiful…’

Helter gently patted my shoulder again. “Just like that year…”

Just like the magnificent fireworks we had watched when Helter and I parted ways all those years ago…

“Big Sister Hero?” Naya tugged at my arm. “Why are you crying?”

“Something got in my eye…”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Hero,” Crimson Aironi said, finally speaking something resembling a sensible remark. “I’m not trying to mock you, but I actually think this kid wouldn’t be a bad Hero himself. Perhaps even better than you.”

“Farewell, my child! If you ever miss the village, come back and visit!” The Village Chief looked straight ahead, as if gazing directly at us. “Goodbye…” The weathered, stern old man finally teared up at that moment, quickly turning his back.

That “goodbye” felt as though it was directed at me, the Hero I was now.

Goodbye, Village Chief. Goodbye, Newbie Village.

It was time for the four of us to depart.