When The Silver Bell Of Charlotte's Pharmacy Rings - Chapter 24

Strictly speaking, Charlotte herself was a magician, not a powerful medium, so she could not always see souls.

However, since there were quite a few mediums among her mother’s bloodline, she may have inherited it, as she occasionally—quite often by normal people’s standards—saw souls.

If she wanted to, she could converse with them and influence them, but unless it was an evil spirit worth capturing, she rarely intentionally made contact with souls.

A person’s body and soul are connected by thin, dense threads like a spider’s web.

Simply put, they were just ‘threads’, but to give them a more conceptual name, they could be called reason or mind.

As one ages or becomes ill in body or mind, the once-dense threads begin to break or fall away one by one.

When all of them fall away, the soul can no longer remain attached to the body.

To be precise……

‘There’s no need to stay attached. Those who occasionally go crazy and commit insane acts, such people are in a half-dead state. Because all the basic elements that make them human have fallen away.’

Charlotte, who had been unconsciously biting her nail tip, quickly scanned the side room where the funeral was ending.

‘A soul that has recently died cannot disappear right away. Unless it’s gone to a place where it has lingering attachments….. A soul that has just detached is in a confused state and tries to return to the body. So it usually stays beside its already cold body, but this person’s soul is not visible. I don’t sense any signs of it turning into an evil spirit either.’

She felt uneasy.

Charlotte kept twitching her heels as if an unpleasant chill was creeping up under her skirt.

The ceremonial priest called for the funeral procession rang a bell to signal the start of the burial procession.

That bell with its seemingly heavy handle left a lingering sound in the ears when rung once.

It was a bell rung to mean not to disturb the deceased on their way to rest.

The mourners began to slowly move in line following the coffin.

Matiel gradually slowed his pace to come beside Charlotte without drawing attention from others.

“Did you find out anything?”

“No. Nothing strange except that the soul is not visible.”

“What?”

Matiel, who had raised his voice without realizing it, glanced forward and said.

“What are you talking about? You, can you do such things?”

“It’s complicated to explain right now, so I’ll just say yes for now.”

“But what do you mean it’s not visible?”

Charlotte let out a short sigh.

“It’s exactly as I said. The soul…”

She turned her gaze to look at the people for a moment, then slowed her steps further and moved a step away from the procession.

Matiel did the same, and now the two were walking side by side at the very back of the funeral procession. It was a strange companionship.

“To put it briefly, in most cases, the soul lingers nearby immediately after a person dies. Because it doesn’t realize it has separated from the body… It may even try to return to its body. If it’s quick to assess the situation, it might realize it’s dead, but it’s not easy to accept. The younger the person, the stronger that attachment. But this man’s soul is nowhere to be seen.”

“Is there a possibility it went somewhere else?”

“There is. A place they were attached to in life, or a place they liked… But it’s too fast. And I discreetly asked people who might know, but they said this man didn’t have any place he was particularly attached to. He didn’t have a lover either.”

“Well, the existence of a lover is something that can be hidden, so we can’t be sure. The same goes for attachments.”

Charlotte nodded as if in agreement.

“That’s right. But even so, there should normally be some sense of presence.”

“But you don’t sense anything from this man.”

“Right. And… there’s a constant unpleasant fishy smell. It doesn’t stop. Even now.”

Matiel raised his head once more and sniffed the air.

However, as usual, it was just the smell of the cool night air, and he couldn’t detect the fishy odor Charlotte was talking about.

As they turned onto the path leading to the cemetery, there was a damp earthy smell from the moisture-laden soil, but it didn’t seem like something that would be described as ‘unpleasant’.

Lost in thought, Matiel looked at the line of mourners moving with sobs and murmurs.

The priest was walking at the front holding a lamp, followed by those carrying the coffin.

The baron was struggling to move, leaning on his eldest son, his steps reluctant to part.

If it were me, Matiel thought. If it were me lying dead there, my soul would…

“Yes, now that I hear what you’re saying, there’s more than one or two strange things.”

Charlotte suddenly raised her head.

“You think so?”

Matiel blinked and let out a short sigh, as if answering a difficult question.

It was a sound that seemed to cross between perplexity and bewilderment.

“Like you, I asked the baron and relatives a few things. About the dead man’s other social relationships or habits in life, or family relationships… They all gave exactly the same cookie-cutter answers. His relationship with his family was very good, and while he didn’t have many friends, he tended to have deep friendships with a few. Sometimes it was hard to know what he was thinking, and he would occasionally become irritable. Everyone said the same thing.”

“Then it’s even stranger that his soul isn’t here. If he had good relationships with his family, the place of lingering attachment would naturally be home, and people with narrow but deep human relationships usually show more or less paranoid tendencies.”

“Does one’s tendency in life affect even after death?”

“Anyway, unless it’s an exceptional soul, it can’t stay in this world for long. Some souls realize their situation as soon as they die and disappear. If not, then yes. During the short time the soul remains here, it’s naturally influenced. Imagine twins who have been one body since birth suddenly splitting into two independent entities one day. Could they change their living habits overnight from when they were one body?”

It was a reasonable point.

Matiel looked at the back of the priest entering the cemetery entrance and said,

“Then in this situation, there are three possibilities that you and I can consider.”

Charlotte looked up at him with puzzled eyes.

Matiel moved away from the procession with even slower steps and showed Charlotte three fingers.

Then, folding them one by one, he said,

“First, that man had a very secret and cherished place or lover, and his soul is lingering there. Second, he was an exceptionally intelligent young man with quick understanding and cognition, so he’s already gone to heaven in the clouds—or the fiery pit below. Wherever, it doesn’t matter—. Third.”

Matiel’s right hand gripping the cane tightened.

He seemed to hesitate whether to say the last words, his lips quivering, then whispered in an even smaller voice than before.

“Third, that man is not dead.”

It was fortunate that none of the people walking ahead heard those words.

Upon arriving at the cemetery, the gravedigger was already waiting, having dug the spot where the coffin would be buried.

The gravedigger himself was so old and gaunt that he wouldn’t have looked out of place lying in a coffin right away, but for all that, his eyes were sharp and his posture leaning on the shovel was upright.

As the coffin was lowered into the ground, sobbing sounds grew louder from various places.

Only Matiel and Charlotte stood side by side as if hidden in the pitch-black darkness, watching the mournful scene.

Both had expressions deep in thought.

When the priest’s eulogy ended, the funeral finally concluded.

The dead man’s brother and relatives each threw a handful of dirt before turning away, and the procession began to head back towards the mansion.

At that moment, Matiel, who had been mixed in with the people, quickly grabbed Charlotte’s wrist and pulled her towards an inconspicuous spot.

Charlotte sharply shook off his hand.

“What are you doing?”

“Shh, be quiet. Let’s wait and see what happens.”

What’s going to happen, Charlotte thought.

All that was left now was for the gravedigger to pile dirt on top of the coffin.

As people left, the gravedigger began shoveling the dug-up soil onto the coffin, dumping it in heaps.

It wasn’t a particularly sincere gesture, but at least he could be given credit for his professionalism in not grumbling flippantly.

The gravedigger finished his work in no time, then picked up the oil lamp he had set on the ground and left.

Fresh soil was still falling from the tip of the shovel like clotted blood.

Charlotte said,

“Hey, what exactly are we waiting for? Even in the midst of this…”

“Quiet.”

This damned man. Charlotte’s gaze turned fierce.

At that moment.

The sound of heavy footsteps was heard, and a presence could be felt approaching.

Matiel pulled Charlotte’s shoulder and hid their bodies further under the shadow of dense branches.

What appeared were two men of similar height.

One was clearly someone who had attended the funeral, judging by the mourning clothes he was wearing.

“Who is it?”

Charlotte’s lips, which had been muttering to herself, opened round.

Who it was could be known immediately. At least one of them.

“It’s the classmate who read the eulogy at the funeral. Can you see?”

Matiel said without taking his eyes off the two men who had approached near the newly erected tombstone.

“Yes, I can see. And the other person. That’s the problematic attending physician.”