Lynx’s corpse was sent off in a blaze on a hill east-northeast of the Labyrinth City.
The City faced the Fell Forest and contained a labyrinth inside it. If a person’s remains were buried, they would be devoured by monsters or taken by the Labyrinth. Even in death, that person wouldn’t be able to escape from the monsters. That was why they were burned with fire magic until not even the bones remained.
Fuel was precious in the Labyrinth City, and ordinary households even used magical tools and lifestyle magic to cook with fire. Firewood wasn’t necessary in funeral rites thanks to fire magic. However, it was believed that piling the wood and sending the deceased off with a towering blaze would allow that person’s spirit to be released from the corruption of this world, ascend into the heavens, and return to a better world—the ley line.
An altar had been set up on this hill to see off the departed, and people had gathered to honor Lynx.
“Make your offerings.” In charge of leading the ceremony, Dick gave the signal for the attendees to offer flames to the firewood.
“Daddy, Lynx is gonna burn…,” Emily protested.
Emily was still young. This may have been her first time saying good-bye to a close friend. Tears tumbled down her cheeks as she clung to her father, the owner of the Yagu Drawbridge Pavilion, and endured the grief of parting.
“Emily, we’re lucky to be able to have a memorial service for him in this city. In many cases, it’s hard to recover a part of the body. Didn’t Lynx play with you? Now let’s send him off.”
The owner led Emily to the altar, and she used lifestyle magic to offer a small flame. They weren’t the only ones: Ghark, Amber, Merle, Caroline, Gordon and the other two dwarves had all gathered here to say their final good-byes to Lynx. And of course, every member of the Black Iron Freight Corps was present; all of them had risked their lives alongside him over a long period of time.
If someone couldn’t conjure a flame, they could use lifestyle magic. The gratitude and sorrow of those offering fire nourished the spirits of flames, who released the deceased from their body and the fetters of this world. The Black Iron Freight Corps and the attendees had gathered the wood for pile, and the ceremonial fire formed a pillar high enough to scorch the clouds hanging heavy and low overhead.
“Thanks for everything.” “Thank you.” “My gratitude.” “We’ll miss you.”
They expressed their appreciation for the time they spent with their friend, and the sorrow of a final parting.
What the attendees said to each other—It was a good funeral; I’m sure he was happy to hear us wish him well—was largely for themselves, to fill the gaping holes in their hearts. The words may have been the manifestation of their desire to stay with the deceased just a little longer after his passing, even though they’d sent him into the heavens to return to the ley line.
The flames weakened, and although the attendees began to head for home one after another, Mariela and Sieg stood motionlessly at the altar. The members of the Black Iron Freight Corps did, too. Even a certain raptor silently saw Lynx off from a distance. At last, the firewood burned out, and the wind carried away the remaining ashes. Mariela tightly grasped the trick pendant that Lynx had given her.
“Miss Mariela, shall we go?” Malraux asked, and she nodded. Mariela and Sieg pulled their hoods over their heads, low enough to hide their eyes. After Malraux and Dick escorted them to an iron carriage, they headed to the estate of Margrave Schutzenwald.
Mariela recalled the smoke rising high into the sky and Lynx’s final facial expression.
She still couldn’t believe she would never again hear their silly banter when he came to Sunlight’s Canopy every day.
Lynx, I promise to destroy the Labyrinth… Mariela gripped Lynx’s pendant as she cemented this wish into her heart.
“Destroy the Labyrinth,” he had said—for Mariela to smile and live as an ordinary girl. This wasn’t what he would have wanted.
If he could see Mariela now, he would not be pleased in the least.
But Lynx could no longer tell her anything. The armored carriage bearing Mariela and Sieg passed through the gate of Margrave Schutzenwald, and the tall, heavy doors thudded closed behind them.
The armored carriage would never bear Mariela and Sieg to Sunlight’s Canopy through these doors again.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Please take me to General Leonhardt.”
Mariela and Sieg had paid a visit to the Black Iron Freight Corps the afternoon after that fateful night. In her hands, Mariela clutched the magical contract she’d signed with the Corps. A contract could be voided by burning it along with any duplicates in a designated process.
She had been selling potions through the Black Iron Freight Corps, receiving protection and confidentiality as part of the compensation. If Mariela entered Leonhardt’s jurisdiction and dealt directly with him, the contract would need to be annulled. The Corps would be handsomely compensated for bringing them the alchemist, which would cover their losses once they stopped acting as middlemen. If that wasn’t enough, she would pay them the money she’d saved up to this point.
And she wanted to meet Lynx one more time.
Lynx’s room in the Black Iron Freight Corps’ base was surprisingly dreary, and she could just picture him there stretched out with a sheepish smile on his face.
“In that case, we’ll go together,” Malraux and Dick responded after listening to Mariela.
Lynx had been more than just a fellow Corps member to Dick and Malraux. He was their comrade who’d gone through the Fell Forest with them more times than they could count. He was their subordinate who excelled at collecting information and scouting; he was their lovable friend who admired them and called them “Captain” and “Lieutenant”; he was their family.
Dick knew the death lizards had surged out of a shallow stratum, a direct reaction to the Forces’ failure to subjugate the red dragon. Malraux knew Lynx’s last smile at once showed contentment of protecting someone important to him and sadness at parting.
Both Dick and Malraux understood that blaming Mariela for wanting to gather herbs, Sieg for failing to protect Lynx, and Jay for being a fool was just shifting the responsibility for the sake of their own peace of mind.
Dick had failed to bring down the red dragon. Although Malraux hadn’t been there, he was the one who’d brought Jay into the Black Iron Freight Corps. They understood there was something they needed to do more than blame their own folly.
Avenge Lynx by destroying the Labyrinth.
Every single member of the Black Iron Freight Corps had come to share this goal.
The Black Iron Freight Corps was a transportation group with pride in their strength that enabled them to travel through the Fell Forest to the imperial capital and the Labyrinth City. However, that didn’t mean every member had the ability to fight on the front lines in the Labyrinth Suppression Forces. Many of them could only demonstrate their true talents precisely because they were in the Corps.
At the same time, they’d been transporting all kinds of goods that the Labyrinth City had lacked for many years now. Neither the City nor the Labyrinth Suppression Forces could afford to lose them. All the members of the Corps stayed up that whole night discussing how supporting the Forces from behind the scenes was still adjacent to destroying the Labyrinth.
From this discussion, they decided for Dick and Malraux—who had once served as commanding officers—to return to the Labyrinth Suppression Forces, and for the remaining members to continue their activities in the Black Iron Freight Corps. Although those who couldn’t directly avenge Lynx by annihilating the Labyrinth knew it was for the best, they were still overcome with regret. Dick and Malraux let those feelings motivate them to destroy the Labyrinth with renewed purpose.
Mariela and Sieg visited them on the very day they’d planned to go to the Labyrinth Suppression Forces and convey their wishes to return.
Still, despite their plans, they couldn’t afford to take the sole alchemist in the Labyrinth City to the Forces without any advance notice. After discussing with Mariela and Sieg, they agreed to seek an audience with Leonhardt after Lynx’s funeral.