From Corpse to Crown: Reborn as a Mortician in Another World-Chapter 66: Finding a Method, Not Forgiveness

After the whole story was finally revealed, Merry could only say "I’m so sorry, Lucian. It sounds really unfortunate, but...someone knew about this, and decided to tell the Goddess of Justice. She then sent her messenger...and they are relentless."

Cadrel nodded. "Quieter than breath and utterly silent. He didn’t speak a word."

Alice tilted her head, a little confused. "Can’t we protect Lucian?"

It caused Lucian pain to hear her voice, like it was the most natural thing to do.

Merry patted her shoulder and said gently, "The Messenger can’t be reasoned with. He was made to close situations where someone did not receive their due justice."

"And the Loom already let me know what...could happen. If I didn’t help myself."

He couldn’t help feeling it was a little unfair, to be honest.

+

It bothered him enough to disrupt Lucian’s sleep.

I thought that was correcting the injustice? I died in the last world. Is that not enough? Velrithane was supposed to be a new start for me.

He considered just giving up and letting the messenger end his life, because wherever he would end up next couldn’t be as bad as this.

"Being hunted down because someone decided to crucify me for a sin in the past...that’s a tough one."

No matter how long he examined the problem in his mind, the result was the same. He would have to turn to someone with even more power than himself and Merry.

I need to either return to Atreaum, or Gethra’s library. If I return to Atreaum, it will be like returning to a gilded cage...well, if the Queen will even let me go at that point.

Clearly, it wasn’t his favorite option--but it was an option. Another one would be to visit Gethra and hope she had a solution that didn’t require visiting Queen Marguerite.

Before anything else, he covered the embers of their dying campfire and crawled inside his tent. He could discuss this with the others in the morning.

+

Lucian lay on his side and clutched the pale blue strand in his mind’s eye. That was his fate if he didn’t fix this problem. And then he examined the thread next to it: paler than milk. It was the thread of the young girl he lied to.

Every time he closed his eyes, it reappeared. The child in the wardrobe. The firelit silence. And the golden locket.

By morning, his sleep had been minimal at best, but at last, Lucian made his decision.

"She’s still alive," he said aloud, standing before the others. "I have to find her."

Cadrel blinked away sleep. "The child?"

"She’s a woman now," Lucian said, voice firm. "And I have to give her what I stole."

+

They didn’t argue with him, and Lucian didn’t know why. Maybe because they understood what that meant to him. Or maybe the wind shifted in the middle of the night, and they all felt what he did:

Gabriel had located Cadrel, but thankfully, hadn’t followed him back to camp. Merry had no idea if he was just waiting for a chance to strike, or for Lucian to be completely alone.

One thing was certain: time was no longer on their side.

"How do you propose we do that?" Cadrel asked quietly. "You said Veyron Hollow was back in your original world."

Lucian turned to him. "I thought about that. And there are two places I know of that have information. The person who gave me the Grimoire...or Gethra. She’s been saving Staesis’s original library. Surely...there’s something there about trans-world judgment."

Alice wrapped her blanket tightly around her shoulders. "How can you be so sure?"

"She isn’t from Velrithane. I have a feeling. Also, I think she had a halo the last time we saw her."

Merry nodded. "It wouldn’t be the first time angelic and demonic powers landed on our doorstep. But Lucian...you have to be sure about this. If Gethra truly does have that knowledge...someone else will want it. The Queen...or maybe even the Spymaster. You aren’t chasing forgiveness this time. You’re looking for a method."

Lucian nodded.

"I know."

He looked at all of them.

"I’m not asking you to follow. Not this time."

Alice stood up before he finished.

"I’m not letting you face the Messenger alone."

Cadrel grunted. "You’d probably trip over your own boots trying to take him down."

Alice rolled her eyes, but Lucian smiled faintly.

Merry just said, "We’re going. Don’t insult us by pretending we wouldn’t."

Lucian bowed his head.

"Thank you."

+

They began their journey the next morning. Walking back through the underground tunnel was a harrowing sight for Cadrel, but he was determined to see this through.

And it had a benefit for him as well--he could see Prince Alexander again. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Instead of the creature-filled and noisy tunnel of his past, Cadrel saw a cleared-out blood vessel. It was silent, and Alice had a lantern gifted from Gethra. She walked in front of the party.

"This was a completely different place before you found me." Cadrel said softly. "I always saw it as a site of bloodshed and violence." He shivered at the memory.

"Will you be all right? We’ll be returning to...well...a different kind of Staesis." Lucian asked. He informed Cadrel of his act of treason in that town: ringing the old bell in the bell tower, and disrupting the flow of their "efficiency."

"You didn’t ring the bell that killed my comrades, then," Cadrel replied. "The bell in my dreams echoes like a gong, and awakened creatures that were normally very docile and silent in these tunnels."

When Alice and Lucian walked through the tunnel, they didn’t see or hear any sort of creature. "It was completely empty."

"Mm. I don’t know how much time passed between the unit dying and me getting lost in this tunnel. I am no longer a young man, and Prince Alexander must not be, either."

Lucian said truthfully, "He seems tired."

Cadrel nodded. "Aren’t we all? It is a sign of youth slipping away from one’s body, I’m sure. Aches and pains that weren’t there before."

"Yes. Especially for the undead."

Cadrel seemed a little surprised by the comment, and laughed at himself. "Oh right. You’re still alive. It’s hard to remember, because you look like one of us now."

Lucian had slight shadows under his eyes, but his skin, after spending time traveling outdoors, wasn’t as pale anymore. He supposed it was his soul projecting outward that he was just one of them.

One of the newly dead.

He idly wondered if dead inside counted, and then laughed when his Grimoire appeared and flipped a few pages.

"No, being dead inside doesn’t count. Nice try though."