Chapter 161 - Chapter Nine: The Ghost's Grumbling
Before long, Fiona emerged.
She put on the ring, allowing Captain Lewis-san to see her as well.
"Fiona, good work. How was it?"
I handed her a water bottle. While not actually necessary, atmosphere is important.
After she took a sip, I asked for the results.
"She was someone who resided in this tomb."
"An ancient?"
"I suppose so? She was a person enshrined in the burial chamber of this tomb—she served the lord of this area."
"She's guarding the tomb?"
"In a sense, yes. When the lord passed away, she was burned alive and offered alongside him, it seems."
Eh?
According to Fiona's account, long ago, when an influential person in this area died, slaves were killed and buried with them. What a terrible story. For the chosen individuals, it was nothing but a nuisance. They would surely become ghosts.
Who was killed and offered depended on the deceased's last will. When the next generation died, their successor would be killed, and at that time, a priest would be dispatched to send them to heaven—that was the promise.
In other words, even if they became a ghost, there was no one to exact revenge upon. It was clever, or perhaps cunning, in a way.
They couldn't curse anyone, nor could they ascend to heaven. They had simply continued to guard the tomb as they were ordered in life, but it seems the promise was never fulfilled.
All the tribal members who knew the circumstances and visited were gone, leaving no one to talk to.
Having no other choice, she had quietly lived within the tomb. However, in recent years, snakes had taken up residence. It seemed to have been utterly unpleasant, but we successfully exterminated them.
"She says she wants to thank you. Would you mind coming inside? Captain-sama and Vice-Captain-sama, please do as well."
For now, we consulted among the relevant parties. Everyone was present except Marcelo-san.
"Hey, Flora. What do you think?"
"If Fiona says it's fine, then it's fine, isn't it? I want to meet her too."
"You know her?"
"Know her? This tomb was already here when I was born. It was off-limits to everyone except priests—or bishops, in your society—those kinds of people."
We definitely had no prior acquaintance. However, since we were here, I decided to have her join us.
I had already informed the church that I would be bringing Fiona. Reporting the outcome later should pose no problem.
Unfortunately, Paul-san and Bonnie had gone to scatter bait for the wild boars. There wasn't enough time, so it couldn't be helped. More importantly, Bonnie would probably dislike meeting a ghost for the first time.
Using the torch held by the Vice-Captain as our light, we entered. As we proceeded down a longer passage than I expected, we saw something white and fluffy floating in the burial chamber where the snakes had apparently nested.
Fiona handed over the ring, and presumably, the ghost put it on her finger, as her form became visible.
It was an elderly man with a gentle face. His face was quite blue, but it seemed to be painted. It was a tribal custom, he said.
"You are the ones who exterminated the snakes, aren't you?"
"Yes, but Flora—the Alraune—also helped us."
I showed him the basket in my hand, and Flora emerged from a flower, revealing her upper body.
"Oh, an Alraune. You helped us, did you?"
He bent at the waist, looking nostalgic.
"The Alraune you knew must have been my ancestor."
"Hmm. I died a very long time ago, you see. After all, I died in the fifteenth year of King Griffith's reign."
I had no idea what he was talking about. Who was that? Since our conversation wasn't connecting at all, I decided to move on to the main point.
"I heard you had a request...?"
"Ah, yes, that's right. Having been a ghost for so long, my sense of time has become quite distorted. Just recently, I spent my time simply watching that rock outcrop weather and become round."
How many years did that take?
"Well, I ended up interrupting it, though. That's because chasing away the bats that wandered in was so amusing. You see, I'm a ghost, aren't I? If I reach out, my hand passes right through their bodies. The look of surprise on their faces the moment my hand passed through them was just—"
He kept talking and talking. When I called Fiona, she said it had been a long time since he had spoken to a living human, and he seemed to be quite excited.
Perhaps that's what happens when you live alone in such a place, quietly watching a rock outcrop, but we also needed to exterminate the wild boars. We couldn't stay here forever.
"Um, putting the bats aside, the snakes—"
The ghost gasped and covered his mouth with his hand.
"Oh, forgive my rudeness. Yes, the snakes. Those snakes were so incredibly brazen, you see—"
For nearly two hours, we listened to his endless complaints about the snakes: how they smelled foul, how dirty they were, how they never laughed when he spoke to them.
The others looked as if their souls had been sucked out, but surely they weren't cursed.
Flora had even retreated into her flower, becoming a bud.
"—And so, thanks to you successfully exterminating the snakes, my peaceful life has returned once more."
Finally, it was over.
"Excuse me," I said, taking a drink of water.
Like a restorative, I calmed everyone down and we passed the water bottle around.
"I merely wished to offer a word of thanks."
It felt like more than just a word; the number of words was off by four or five orders of magnitude.
"No need for thanks. We got paid. We're monster exterminators, you know."
Now that she mentioned it, Beatrix was here too. I had been so focused on maintaining myself and listening that I had forgotten.
"Monster exterminators, you say? That's wonderful! Might I hear more about your work?"
"Sure, but we have to exterminate monsters today, so we need to go now. You know, because there are people in trouble."
"That won't do. As you say, monsters are a great nuisance. In that case, I mustn't detain you any longer."
Good, Beatrix had created an escape route for us. The rest, I would leave to the church.
"Eventually, priests from the church are scheduled to come for an investigation. I believe they will ask you many things then, so please cooperate."
"An investigation, you say?"
"This place is planned to become a fortress. But it's an important tomb, isn't it? So, the burial chamber itself will be managed and preserved by the church."
"I see, I understand. Then, until that time, I shall find something else to do."
Leaving the rest to Fiona, we fled outside.
"Let's take a short break."
As a restorative, we passed around diluted mead that Beatrix had brought.
"Ah, my apologies. Dealing with a ghost is truly arduous. I've gained new respect for you. I thought my soul was going to be sucked out."
Lewis-san squatted on the spot.
"I believe this was a special case..."
As a priest, I was accustomed to listening to complaints, but even I was exhausted by such incessant talking. A normal person would probably be quite mentally drained. The two Jaegers sat back-to-back.
"That ghost, isn't he dangerous?"
"Why?"
"If the investigating priests have to deal with him talking like that, they'll have a tough time."
That was certainly true. Unless they sent multiple people to take turns listening, they wouldn't last. I would have to make sure to inform the Archbishop properly when we returned to town.
As the four of us sighed in relief, Fiona emerged.
"Fiona, good work."
When I spoke to her, she was smiling.
"She just ascended to heaven."
Um, what does that mean?
"That person's role was to safely hand over the burial chamber to the next generation. But since there was no next generation, she had been waiting all this time. Then, Jeanne and the others came, having exterminated the tomb-robbing snakes, and you told her that the church would manage and preserve the burial chamber, didn't you? Hearing that, she was relieved and called to heaven."
Oh no, what should I do?
He was such a talkative ghost. If the church's investigation team had come, they might have gained various academic research results, but—
"I might get scolded..."
As a result, I had caused him to ascend.
If only Marcelo-san had been here, but unfortunately, he was away on business.
"I think it'll be fine."
Fiona tried to comfort me, but—
"Instead, I received this."
It was a bundle of parchment. There was a surprising amount, as thick as a church doctrine book.
"The person she served was quite educated, and at his own request, a large quantity of parchment and ink was offered as grave goods. He used them to write down his memories of when he was alive, as they came to him."
That's amazing. He must have been incredibly bored.
But it must have been more meaningful than spending his time watching a rock outcrop.
"She said that having been a ghost for a long time, she wrote it intending to give it to whoever she would eventually meet."
The top page had something written in large characters, but it was ancient script, so I couldn't read it at all. Lewis-san was also tilting his head.
After scattering the bait, we showed it to Paul-san, who had been waiting for us. He tilted his head repeatedly but managed to decipher the characters on the cover.
"Probably, 'My Life,' isn't it? It's likely a diary or a memoir."
The second page onwards was densely covered in text.
"It's better to leave this to the church."
I agreed. I might get scolded, but it couldn't be helped. It was better than lying.
After taking Fiona to hunt wild boars, we returned to town for a while, and I went to the church to explain the situation.
"Priest Jeanne. It must have been quite a heavy task. This is a splendid achievement."
Unexpectedly, I was praised.
"But he ascended on his own, so I can't ask him anything more..."
If an expert had listened, the conversation would have been much more meaningful, but all I heard were complaints about snakes. And the souvenir was a ghost's diary. What if the majority of that thick bundle of parchment was just observation records of the rock outcrop?
"It's perfectly fine. In my experience, such ghosts, once they've spoken unilaterally and are satisfied, will ascend on their own. Conversely, until they are satisfied, they will talk incessantly for days. In that case, we would become exhausted from listening, and we would have to send out many priests in rotation. Yet, you managed to make him ascend in just two hours. Moreover, normally they would just talk themselves out and ascend, but you brought back such a large quantity of historical materials!"
When the Archbishop asked, "Are these records from when the ghost himself was alive?" Fiona replied, "Yes."
"In that case, this is an extremely valuable and wonderful item."
The Secretary-sama and he were both smiling broadly.
I didn't quite understand, but it seemed to have gone well.
Beatrix's intervention midway through was also a big factor.
"Many things happen around you, but everything always turns out well. Surely, you have the Goddess's divine protection."
The Archbishop and Secretary-sama, beaming, thanked me profusely, holding the thick bundle of parchment.
"'My Life. My name is Griffith,' it says. Judging by the words following the name, he was royalty. Jeanne, were you perhaps deceived? The ghost you met was not a slave who died in殉死, but the enshrined person himself—King Griffith, it seems."
Huh?
I looked at Fiona, and she apologized, "I'm sorry."
"He earnestly requested that I keep his identity a secret. Royalty isn't supposed to complain, you see. But he..."
She covered her mouth with the back of her right hand and laughed elegantly, "Ufufu."
"He said he wanted to pretend to be a slave and thoroughly badmouth the snakes."
What a troublesome old man. I wish he'd consider the listener's feelings.
Are there many royals like that around here?
I've been secretly listening to or reading complaints here and there, but—
"Also, Archbishop-sama."
"Yes, Fiona?"
"Please dig at the foot of the stone sarcophagus in the tomb. There should be some golden items. They are offerings to the church. In return, he wished for the burial chamber to be preserved."
"What a gracious offer. I accept. In the name of the Archbishop of the Nakanohara Parish of the Sertoria National Church, I promise its preservation."
"Thank you. And also, a portion of it—a small bag of gold grains, he said—he wished for one bag to be given to Priest Jeanne."
She chuckled, saying, "It's surely for exterminating the snakes and for listening to all his complaints about them."