Hope (3)
The only fortunate thing was that Princess Reciel seemed to realize she shouldn’t touch anything there recklessly. The sole item she had taken from that place was the very one she had shown me. Even though she knew it was best to leave it there, once she learned it might be the key to curing Princess Canaby, she simply couldn’t bring herself to give up on it.
“Is the situation that dangerous?”
“There don’t appear to be any people afflicted by the curse. And in matters like this, even we cannot say with certainty whether there is an effect or not. Nothing has been clearly proven, after all.”
Everyone knows that after death, souls return to His embrace, where they soothe the wounds, pain, and anger suffered in life, fully experience happiness and joy, and then reincarnate. However, right before reincarnation, they forget all memories of the afterlife and their previous life, so no one has ever retained knowledge of what comes after death. People speak of heaven, yet its actual existence has never been confirmed. Therefore, the idea that the dead could place curses on the living was never something definitively acknowledged.
“Still, if you have even the slightest respect for the ancestors who protected this world in the past…”
“There’s no need to persuade me, Priest Arthur.”
“Pardon?”
“I have no intention of denying that the reason we’ve lived without threat for three hundred years, in relative peace, is thanks to the sacrifices of the ancestors resting here.”
“Ah!”
“I simply regret not thinking of the Requiem Service. Priest Arthur, could you help me make up for my careless mistake?”
Since its effectiveness had never been proven, I had worried she might find the Requiem Service bothersome and tiresome amid her already busy schedule. Instead, she was the one apologizing for not thinking of it first and asking for my help. My heart sank with a heavy thud.
So this is what it means to be royalty.
If I had been a citizen of the Deltrack Empire, I wouldn’t have been able to help falling for her respectful attitude toward those who had sacrificed themselves. And if I didn’t already have Him, I might have wanted to serve someone like her as my liege.
I knew she had grown considerably, but I hadn’t realized she had matured into such a dignified young woman already.
They say children grow up fast.
I was already looking forward to seeing how Princess Canaby would feel upon waking from her long sleep and discovering how much her younger sister had grown.
“Is there anything you need for the Requiem Service?”
“Since they’ve been trapped in the Labyrinth for so long, they must be hungry. We’ll need to prepare ritual offerings.”
“No matter how abundant our supplies are, I’m not sure the things we brought will be enough to soothe all those spirits.”
There was no point in depriving the living of food just to comfort the dead.
“There is a ritual table that can be prepared with the minimum amount of ingredients.”
“As you know, no one on our team knows how to cook properly.”
While there were people who helped with daily chores and a few who handled cooking, none of them could claim skills on par with a professional. To enter the Labyrinth, one had to be capable of protecting their own body first and foremost, so cooking ability couldn’t be the top priority in recruitment. On top of that, Princess Reciel had to endure Prince Loras’s interference as well. Even if we asked a non-expert to prepare the ritual table, they wouldn’t know the proper methods.
“I know how to prepare ritual offerings.”
But all of those problems were solved by the simple fact that I could make the ritual food myself.
“You can do something like that, Priest?”
“When I was young and training to become a priest, I experienced many different things. During volunteer work, there were activities related to ancestral rites, and that’s when I learned how to prepare the dishes. It was a very long time ago, so I can’t guarantee the taste, but since I know the method, I’d like to give it a try.”
After receiving permission to use the cooking ingredients freely, I went to the team member in charge of managing supplies, explained the situation, and received the utensils and ingredients I needed.
“Did you hear? They’re saying he’s performing a Requiem Service.”
“Everyone’s making a fuss about wanting to watch it right now.”
“Are we even allowed to watch something like that?”
“I heard it’s better when lots of people attend the Requiem Service.”
“If Priest Arthur said that, then we should definitely participate.”
“By the way, when I first met him I thought he was just an ordinary priest, but he keeps becoming more and more mysterious. A Requiem Service, of all things…”
Among the team members, Priest Arthur was special. It started with the fact that it was difficult to find anyone who didn’t owe him their life.
“Did you know that if you pray with Priest Arthur, your body feels light and refreshed the whole day?”
“Isn’t that just your imagination?”
“It’s real. Why else would I go pray so diligently? I’m not even that devout.”
“So that’s why the people who go out never miss a single prayer session?!”
“Hey, why are you telling them? That was supposed to be our secret. The priest already has so many people to deal with, he’s probably exhausted.”
“Whoa~ You guys are the worst. That’s seriously not cool.”
“You never attended even once, so how would you know? That just means you have no interest in faith, so there was no reason to tell you.”
After bickering like that for a while, the conversation finally returned to the topic of the Requiem Service.
“So how exactly does a Requiem Service work?”
“No idea.”
“I doubt anyone here actually knows.”
In a situation where most people had no idea what a Requiem Service even was or how it was conducted, the ceremony began. Because it had been prepared in a hurry, it was far more modest than what the team members had imagined. On the table sat alcohol and the ritual dishes that the priest had made himself.
“They say Priest Arthur prepared all of those dishes personally.”
The portions were small, but the variety was enormous. It might have been less exhausting if there had been fewer types but larger amounts. Seeing so many different dishes in small quantities made it easy to imagine how much effort the priest had put in. What was even more astonishing was that those precious foods weren’t meant for people to eat.
“So the ghosts are the ones who eat that?”
“Apparently.”
“They’ve been trapped here for three hundred years. They must be full of resentment. Will food really be enough to ease their hearts?”
“That’s why Priest Arthur is here, isn’t it? You think just anyone making food would be enough to soothe them? It works because he is performing the Requiem Service.”
The people were watching the Requiem Service with great anticipation. He might be quiet and unassuming, but his abilities far surpassed those of ordinary priests.
“If I had been born with talents like the priest, I would’ve bragged about it and enjoyed life to the fullest…”
Who in this room hadn’t had that thought at least once? Everyone silently agreed, yet no one dared to voice it out loud.
“Oh, looks like it’s starting.”
“He’s even wearing the full priestly robes.”
Wearing his complete priestly vestments, Priest Arthur approached the table laden with food and knelt down.
Since so many souls were buried here, it would have been best to conduct a formal Requiem Service. However, the circumstances made that impossible, so I prepared a simplified version with the ritual foods. I believed those interred here would understand and forgive us for being unable to perform a proper ceremony inside the Labyrinth.
The most difficult part of preparing the service was identifying the people inside the coffins. If I had known their names, I could have skipped the cumbersome procedures, but how could I possibly know the names of people who had died three hundred years ago? If I didn’t know their names, the least I could do was show them my face and offer a greeting. Without opening the coffins, I offered a short, simplified prayer and greeting before each one. Only then did the Requiem Service truly begin.
I had only just started the service after making all the food, yet my body already felt completely drained.
Thank goodness Melody was here.
She had helped me with half of them, which was the only reason we could begin the service at this hour. There was no way I could have greeted so many people by myself in just a few hours. Even now, while the service was underway, she was assisting me with the mindset of a priest rather than a heretic inquisitor.
Following the procedure I had learned as a child, I recited the prayer. Reciting such long prayers for an extended period made my throat dry and scratchy. Whenever that happened, Melody would quietly step in and recite the prayer in my place. We took turns like that, reciting the entire lengthy Requiem Service prayer. Finally, I bowed in gratitude for our ancestors’ sacrifices.
“We will take care of things from here. You have endured and suffered for so long in this cold place. Please let go of your burdens, return to His embrace, and enjoy peaceful happiness.”
These were the words I had truly wanted to say to them.
You’ve been through so much. Now please rest in peace.
With those words, the simplified Requiem Service came to an end.
I stood up and turned around. I had expected that many people would have left, since the procedure would have been boring for them, but to my surprise, I saw that every single team member had stayed to watch the entire service.
“Participation was optional. Did everyone really attend?”
“We committed a discourtesy. The least we can do is apologize. Has the Requiem Service concluded?”
“Yes. And since it was done in ignorance, I believe their hearts have been eased.”
“Even so, if we did something wrong, we should apologize. Would my apology reach them even now?”
I had not expected Princess Reciel to go this far.
“Of course.”
When I answered with genuine joy, she stepped forward. She stood in the same spot where I had recited the prayer and bowed her head in apology.
“Even though I knew I should be careful, I could not restrain the greed before my eyes and committed a grave discourtesy. I wish to apologize, however belatedly, and with Priest Arthur’s help, I stand here now. Please release your anger and forgive your descendants.”
It was the first time I had ever seen a member of the royal family apologize with such sincerity. Most people would live their entire lives and die without ever witnessing such a sight. When Princess Reciel finished her apology, I gave her a small smile of approval and spoke.
“If anyone here has done something that weighs on their mind since arriving, please step forward. Eating even a little of the food placed here will help ease your heart.”
The food offered to spirits might seem impure, but it posed no harm to the living. And for those who, like Princess Reciel, carried something heavy in their hearts, this was likely to bring them considerable relief.