Chapter 68 - 66: Friend

Chapter 68: Chapter 66: Friend

"Huh? How about Light Devourer?"

"No way. My nickname is ’The Golden Dawn that Pierces the Darkness.’ It sounds like I’d be swallowed by this sword."

"What about Black Moon! That sounds cool too!"

"Or maybe ’The Final Chapter of All Things.’ Doesn’t that sound epic!"

"Nightfall works too!"

"Wait, I just thought of another one! Let’s call it Confession!"

"Because looking at this sword makes you feel... heavy..."

Ten minutes later, as they walked on the road out of town, Furen was still tirelessly coming up with names for the sword.

All sorts of strange and incredibly grandiose names rolled off his tongue, the solid fruit of having read countless fantasy novels.

Lu Wei, at any rate, could never have thought of so many names.

"Fine, fine, that’s the last one. Just stop talking."

Unable to stand his incessant chattering, Lu Wei could only agree in desperation, "Let’s just call it ’Heavy’ then."

Furen frowned and corrected him, "Not ’Heavy,’ it’s Confession!"

"Alright, alright. Confession it is."

Lu Wei rubbed his forehead. He felt like Furen had completely ruined his excited mood.

It was only then that he realized something.

’Where’s Bai Ya?’

"Oh, there you are. I thought we’d lost you."

He glanced back and saw Bai Ya was still following them. Lu Wei asked in confusion, "Why have you been so quiet?"

"..."

’Did you guys even give me a chance to speak!’

Bai Ya pursed her lips and muttered with puffed cheeks, "I thought you’d forgotten about me."

"Huh?"

Hearing this, Lu Wei and Furen both looked surprised at the same time.

"You’re being sarcastic!"

"You... You guys..."

Bai Ya was stunned. She never expected them to react like this. After a long moment, she blushed and said stubbornly,

"S-So what if I was..."

"No, no, we’re not laughing at you."

Lu Wei realized she had misunderstood and quickly explained, "It’s because you’ve never been sarcastic before. This means your Perception has probably increased."

"Huh?"

Bai Ya paused. "Really? But I’d already thought of what to say. I was just waiting for you to remember me so I could complain a little."

"...Oh. Then it hasn’t increased."

Lu Wei and Furen were instantly disappointed and shook their heads in regret.

Bai Ya felt a little down too, but she quickly remembered the important matter at hand.

"By the way, where are we going now? Aren’t we going back to eat?"

"First, we’re going to visit an Undead," Lu Wei answered casually.

"Huh? An Undead?"

"Yep. We’re almost there. It’s just ahead."

Lu Wei pointed to a small hill in the distance, dotted with tombstones, his mood cheerful.

"My father is buried there~"

"..."

Furen: ???

Bai Ya: ???

...

...

Heitai Town’s cemetery was located on a small hill to the west.

A slightly crooked, low fence barely marked the cemetery’s boundary. The long, gentle rays of the setting sun slanted across the grounds. The air was filled with the scent of grass, earth, and the distant smell of evening meals being cooked. Some tombstones had bouquets of flowers that had not yet completely withered. All in all, the feeling wasn’t frightening at all; it was even a little warm and peaceful.

Here lies a truly good man.

Standing before a brand-new tombstone, Furen’s eyes went wide. He never would have thought that the "Undead" Lu Wei mentioned was actually this person...

’Why doesn’t Lu Wei look sad at all? In fact, he seems pretty happy.’

’Is he forcing a smile?’

"May you find true peace."

After a moment, Furen silently looked away from the tombstone, bowed deeply, and whispered the words of mourning.

It was very sincere.

But there was also a hint of the "Well, I’m here anyway, I should probably say something" mentality to it.

In contrast, Bai Ya’s mood was far more somber and sad.

After all, she too had recently lost her parents forever.

You could even say that of the three people present, she was the only "true" orphan.

She bit her lip gently, tears welling up uncontrollably in her eyes.

Bai Ya didn’t seem to want Lu Wei and Furen to see her cry, so she quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, took a deep breath, and lowered her head to repeat Furen’s words.

"May you find true peace..."

"..."

A gentle breeze blew past. A robin with a red throat perched on a nearby fence post, tilting its head to observe the three who had suddenly fallen silent.

To be honest, Lu Wei hadn’t expected the atmosphere to become so heavy.

After all, he felt no real "familial affection" for the man currently lying in this grave.

The merged memories had only preserved images, not emotions.

It was like an old diary filled with notes. The handwriting was his own, but he could never feel the joy, anger, or sorrow from the moment the words were written.

’You really can’t blame me for being heartless.’

"Ahem, let’s go."

Shaking his head, Lu Wei saw that Bai Ya was on the verge of truly crying if they stayed any longer. He finally broke the silence,

"It’s getting dark. We still need to go to the market to buy some more ingredients."

"Mm..."

Bai Ya nodded lightly, bowed to the tombstone once more, and then turned to walk back the way they came with Furen.

Down the hill, scattered lights had already begun to flicker on in the town. Wisps of smoke from cooking fires rose into the air, merging with the last rays of twilight, seemingly blurring the boundary between life and death.

After following the other two for a few steps, Lu Wei glanced back again at the tombstone standing silently in its place.

Just then, the sound of the church bells for evening prayer drifted up the hill on the wind. It rang three times—DONG, DONG, DONG—reminding the Believers that it was time to pray.

In this world, with its multitude of Divine Spirits, the deities worshipped varied from region to region.

Here in the Northern River Valley, most people had Faith in a God of Justice named Osiris.

He presided over justice, death, plants, and the harvest. According to the D&D classifications from his previous life, He was definitively of the "Lawful Good" alignment.

Because of this, the Northern River Valley was rich in Priests and Druids, and its people were generally honest and kind.

For Lu Wei, this was a huge advantage.

After all, if he had transmigrated to a region where the primary faith was centered on a "Chaotic Evil" Divine Spirit... he would probably find that everyone around him was far more treacherous than he was.

His title of Crafty Merchant probably wouldn’t be enough to stand out. He’d need to be at least a Demon to get a firm foothold.

In short, thanks to this God of Justice, Lu Wei had been blessed with the kind of smooth start a Transmigrator might only see once in a century.

Among the god’s teachings, the most frequently quoted line was—

Achieve the greatest good with the least harm.

To be honest, Lu Wei didn’t really understand that sentence.

However, he did understand another oracle from the teachings, one concerning "death."

Death is not the end, but a transformation of life’s form.

It basically meant "the soul is eternal."

So...

Looking back one more time at the tombstone, which was now just a blur at the edge of his vision, Lu Wei muttered to himself internally:

’Sorry, but I still can’t really see you as my father.’

’And since you’re already dead, that doesn’t seem all that important anymore.’

’I’ll just think of you as an elder. I’ll come bring you a bouquet when I have time, but that’s about it. It’s not like you guys are big on that stuff here anyway.’

’But once my business gets big, I probably won’t have much time.’

’Don’t worry, though. I’ll get you a luxury grave plot then. Can’t take so much advantage of your name for free, after all.’

’Alright, that’s settled then.’

’Oh, right. There’s one more thing. I forgot to make an introduction earlier.’

’These two are my teammates.’

’And my friends.’