LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 108 Sherlock's Funeral
The weather on Sunday was quite obliging, with a fittingly gentle drizzle beginning from the early morning.
The climate of Avalon was warm and humid. Even in winter, it rarely snowed.
This rain was not heavy, to the point where one might stand in it for half an hour without their clothing becoming completely wet. Still, at the funeral, many black umbrellas were unfurled.
With Sherlock's current achievements, he was not yet eligible to be enshrined within the St. Genvieve Chapel. Therefore, the location here was a private family cemetery exclusively for the Hermes family, situated near the Red-White Queen District in the metropolitan area.
Aiwass too, in a rare sight, wore a black suit. His legs were covered with a thick black cloth detailed with intricate white knitted patterns, and he held a bouquet in his arms. Sitting upright and quietly with his head bowed, his upper face was concealed by the shadow of the black umbrella and the veil of rain.
Lily, who had accompanied Aiwass and held the umbrella for him, wore a simply adorned black dress. She had her thick, dense, flaxen curly hair gathered and hidden under a large black hat.
The priest on the stage was not Bishop Mathers, but some elderly bishop whom Aiwass did not recognize.
His hair and beard were both bushy and grizzled, with an abundance of locks.
The old bishop, wearing thick glasses on stage, struggled to read the words on the lectern before him, reciting slowly. These were all about Sherlock's life achievements and the liturgy written in advance.
For a priest of the Path of Devotion to appear so aged, it meant that he was frightfully old. This also implied that he was very senior in tenure and held a high position, not someone who could be easily summoned by just anyone.
However, in principle, it was supposed to be Bishop Mathers who the Hermes family asked to come. As a Clergy Councilor and the highest bishop of the Cathedral of the Candle Master, Bishop Mathers was the highest-ranking clergy member of the Nine Pillars Divine Church within Avalon, and the one they should have been able to invite at the highest level.
But he had evidently excused himself, hence it fell to this elder of sufficient age, even seemingly on the verge of crumbling as he walked, to preside over Sherlock's funeral.
—However, Aiwass thought, the real reason Bishop Mathers didn't come was probably that he feared he couldn't contain himself.
If he saw Sherlock's "corpse" and couldn't restrain a laugh, that would have caused a fiasco. Therefore, he didn't dare to attend.
At the moment, the huge coffin behind the old bishop was open, with the lifelike "Sherlock" lying inside. Beside it stood three pillars, atop which burned serene white flames. And next to the "corpse" in the coffin was a delicate little box of silver, inlaid with tiny rubies and emeralds.
Of course, it wasn't Sherlock in the coffin, but it wasn't some illusion or puppet made to deceive the eye, created by someone Mycroft had found either. It was simply an ordinary wax effigy.
After all, Sherlock had died in an explosion, and the guests present could likely imagine the horror of his death. Thus, the Hermes family's decision to cremate Sherlock and then commission a wax effigy for the funeral to maintain the dignity of the deceased was a very reasonable action. Discover more stories at empire
But to create a lifelike wax effigy in just a day or two, an ordinary wax sculptor definitely couldn't do it. It had to be a Preserver from the Path of Dusk who could achieve this. Finding a Preserver in Avalon was challenging, but not for the Hermes family—Mycroft Hermos, the only "minister" of the Hermes family nowadays and the elder brother of Sherlock Hermes, was a Preserver himself.
Queen Sofia was sensible.
When Sir Arthur was framed and lost his position as a minister, and his reputation has not fully recovered to this day. But he was an innocent... Thus, the Queen chose to compensate by using Sir Arthur's children, giving them access to higher privileges. Just as Sherlock could walk the Path of Wisdom, his brother Mycroft was also allowed to walk the Path of Dusk.
Apart from being an Arbiter, Mycroft was also studying the Preservation Arts of the Path of Dusk.
The Preservation arts were a very broad field of mystical skills. More than a technique, it was a philosophy.
Making wax figures, models, specimens, or preserving bodies and food over long periods, as well as ensuring that contracts, evidence, wills, deeds, manuscripts, paintings, and other items susceptible to damage over time, all required Preservation Arts. It even included skills to quickly stop bleeding from wounds or enable those close to death to struggle on.
The ability "to ensure that the situation does not deteriorate further" was the extensive knowledge that a Preserver had to master.
And the wax effigy that now replaced the body of Sherlock Hermes was personally made by Mycroft.
It was said that he was so deeply shocked upon seeing Sherlock's body that the image was profoundly etched into his mind.
Therefore, he did not need to refer to the original; just relying on the memory lingering in his mind, he was able to create a wax effigy to attend the funeral in place of the body.
If the guests stood a little farther away, they might not even be able to tell whether that in the coffin was in fact the person himself—after all, there's a great difference between a corpse and its living counterpart. Furthermore, it was a version with closed eyes and a pale face.
"...Henceforth, his spirit shall rise with the flames, and his soul shall return to the Stag God of the Candle. He shall drink the blood of the Stag, and the Stag shall bear his sins."
The old bishop's eulogy was nearing its end. He recited shakily and unsteadily, "We invoke the God with the sacred number three, The God of Thorns Bound, The God Who Burns Body and Pursues Darkness — the Stag God of the Candle, to shelter his spirit. Like Your protection over the smallest candlelight in this world, watch over the weakest of flames."