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Chapter 6
Chapter 6. The Funeral of House Louis
“In Human Calendar Year 189, the age of Orcs and desperadoes had already come to an end.
The Saphile Empire, which occupied one-sixth of the continent, was gradually becoming a realm governed by lords.
Only a small number of pirates still remained outside the law, but they could not escape the fate of being hunted down. In the end, they would cease to exist.
The Six Nations have lived in peace for a hundred years. The land-based military nobility has become a ghost, wandering through a world that no longer needs us.
Е́ ǹ û m а
My father was an ordinary Royal Knight. He once followed Saphile II across Whitebeard Snow Mountain in December, riding through the snow and drinking it to survive. He heard the Wind of the Ancestors roar from the mouth of the valley, charged at the very front, defeated the remaining Orc resistance army, and was awarded the Second-Class Six-Pointed Star Medal.
When he had just retired, he would often ask me whether I was truly prepared to go to war at any moment. He told me that a good knight kills without blinking, and a good noble lies without blinking.”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
As heavy snow fell, Fick wrapped himself in Alice’s scarf and continued reading the eulogy that he and Alice had discussed the night before.
Not many people had come to attend the funeral. His mother’s family had not even sent anyone. Only a few blood relatives from House Louis had come to offer perfunctory condolences. Fick was too lazy to deal with those snobs, so he took the initiative to deliver the eulogy and left the other troublesome matters to Alice.
“He taught me to ride a horse, taught me to hold a sword, and taught me never to look back at fallen comrades on the battlefield.”
When he reached this point, Fick paused.
W è b n̈о̌ v́ е̊l Е numа̄
Riding? Holding a sword? Those had all been things from a very long time ago, back when his old man had still been a strapping, muscular man. Unfortunately, Fick had forgotten all those skills.
The content after that point started to become fabricated, but Fick continued reading from the draft anyway. In any case, the dead could not testify.
Several distant relatives from House Louis stood on the outskirts, hunching their necks and rubbing their hands, their faces clearly saying, Why is this still not over?
He raised his head and glanced over. Alice stood at the very front of the crowd, closest to the coffin. Snow had settled all over her silver-gray hair, and she stood perfectly still, like a statue.
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From yesterday until now, she had kept staring at him, as if she was afraid that the moment he turned around, he would disappear.
Fick withdrew his gaze and continued reading.
Е̊ṅ ú m̊ а. і d̊
“After he retired, he often practiced swordplay alone in the courtyard. He said that in the past, he had worried too much about gains and losses and cared too deeply about what had already passed. Only after retirement did he understand that yesterday was history, tomorrow was a mystery, and today was a gift from heaven. Each day must be cherished as one would cherish a gift…”
The snow fell heavier and heavier.
At last, Fick finished the eulogy.
He closed the sheet of paper and bowed toward the coffin.
The people beside him began whispering. “This child actually looks like a proper person this year.” “Did smoking ice fix his brain?” “He is pretending, surely.” “That eulogy had strength.” “A Royal Grand Knight must have written those words.”
Fick pretended not to hear them. He turned and walked out of the crowd.
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A hand suddenly tugged at his sleeve.
He turned back. Alice stood behind him, her face red from the cold and her lips almost bloodless. She looked at him without saying anything.
“What is it?” Fick asked.
Alice was silent for two seconds, then let go.
“…Nothing.”
Fick glanced at her. Her eyes were not red, and there were no tear tracks on her face. But she stood there, in the snow, beside that coffin, like a tree that had been battered by wind for a very long time.
Ё n̂ u m а̊ . і̆d̈
He suddenly remembered what she had said last night: “Stay with me for one more day.”
At the time, he had not taken it seriously.
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Now, he suddenly felt that this girl might truly have never met any good people.
“Is the money enough?” he asked.
Alice said, “It is enough. There is a little left.”
Fick said, “That is good.”
E_n̊ ù m а
He stood there for two seconds, not knowing what to say.
Snow fell between them.
“You must be tired, Big Brother. Go back to the room first and warm yourself,” Alice said.
Fick asked, “What about you?”
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Alice said, “I will stand here a little longer.”
Fick nodded, then turned and left.
Е̃ ñu m̊ а̇. і d
After walking more than ten steps, he could not help looking back.
Alice was still standing there.
Snow fell on her shoulders, and she did not brush it away.
That girl whose mouth was sharper than a knife looked as thin as a sheet of paper at that moment.
Fick looked at her for three seconds, then continued walking toward the temporary warming fire.
Once the funeral ended, the crowd dispersed quickly.
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Those distant relatives left faster than rabbits after taking the funeral money they thought they were owed. No one from his mother’s family ever came.
Fick and Alice were the last to leave.
The coffin had already been buried, the earth had been filled in, and a simple stone marker stood in front of the grave. Carved on it were the words: “Pete Louis, Royal Knight, recipient of the Second-Class Six-Pointed Star Medal.”
“Let’s go,” Fick said.
Alice nodded.
The two of them turned and walked toward home.
Е̌ n úm̈ӑ . id̀
After walking for a while, Alice suddenly said, “Did Big Brother write the eulogy himself?”
Fick said, “More or less. I referred to Father’s deeds and embellished some of the content myself.”
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“Yes. The parts before his retirement were all true, but after retirement, he never practiced swordplay at all,” Alice said. “He sold his sword and exchanged it for Magic Crystals. The last time he held a sword was three years ago. After that, he just lay in bed all the time, smoking, smoking, and smoking, until he smoked himself to death.”
Snowflakes fell on her eyelashes, and she did not blink.
Fick opened his mouth, but he did not know what to say. After all, he had smoked crystals too.
Alice looked at him for a long time.
W̃ еḃñ о̂ v̌ е l̆ Е̇ nǔ ḿ а
Then she suddenly smiled. A cold-faced beautiful girl smiling on a snowy day really did have lethal force.
“Today is not over yet.”
She turned and continued walking.
Fick stood where he was, looking at her back, and had no choice but to follow.
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Seeing that Fick had taken the initiative to come over, Alice felt a little happy inside. “Is Mr. Devil’s true name also Fick?”
“How are you so sure I am not Fick?” Fick breathed out cold air. “According to religious concepts, if I told you a demon’s true name, would I not be enslaved for life?”
E ṅúm̆ а.i d̃
Alice smiled faintly. “You definitely are not. The old Big Brother even found it annoying to look at me.
That day, Big Brother went out to borrow money. When you came back, you were covered in sweat, and you smiled as you told me, ‘I borrowed it, Alice. You do not need to go begging everyone for help anymore.’ You were even willing to spend money to take me out to eat. That was how I knew Big Brother was no longer that old bastard.
And besides, even when the old Fick Louis was at his clearest, he would never have remembered my birthday. No one in the whole family remembered it, let alone the fact that Big Brother should only have had three silver Manes then, yet spent two silver Manes buying me a present. So from now on, I will still call you Devil Big Brother.”
Having been praised and insulted at the same time, Fick coughed. “I am Fick. After personally seeing Father smoke himself to death, I attained the Dao at the ice rink and decided to become a new man.”
Alice’s face said that she did not believe him at all. “When did Mr. Devil cast mind-control magic on me?”
Fick said, “What kind of damn magic is that? No devil would even look twice at this body, all right? You can understand it this way: from now on, I am Fick, and Fick is me. The old me must have done many awful things. I apologize to you for them.”
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Alice said, “Mm, I have received it. Then does Big Brother Fick still have enough Mana to return to hell?”
The final year of high school truly counted as hell. Rather, hell itself ought to be compared to the final year of high school. Fick remembered countless days and nights, countless times burning the lamp deep into the night, and how he had studied painfully for ten years without even dating a girl, only to end up with such a shoddy, anticlimactic sudden-death ending.
Fick sighed with emotion. “I cannot go back. I did not expect fate to play such a massive joke on this devil. You are covering your mouth. Are you secretly laughing?”
Alice half covered her reddened face. “No. Big Brother, come with me first to look at the new room I rented in the north of the city. Granny Philoga—the one who gave me copper coins this morning—is willing to let me help sell vegetables to offset the rent.”
“Speaking of which, where is my original noble outfit?”
“Yesterday, Big Brother vomited all over himself and dirtied it, so I took it to be washed. It will probably take two or three days to dry.”
Еn̊ ǔ m ā. і̃ d̆
“Then does that not mean I have to stay a few more days?”
“Yes. If you really want to leave, I will ask someone to send it to you once it is clean and dry.”
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“Then forget it. I will wait three days first. You now have three more heaven-sent gifts.”
“Many thanks for Big Brother Fick’s great mercy. May Big Brother Fick live to ninety-nine.”
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