Editing Amaryllis in the Ice Country:Chapter 6 (section)

===Part 1===

The funeral is held three days later.

There were six whose Mind Circuits were in an irreparable state—in other words, dead. Thirty-eight of them were grievously wounded, their limbs having fallen off, and more than eighty have light wounds. This is the biggest tragedy to befall the village.

The funeral is to be held in the arena at the center of the village, and of the villagers attending the ceremony, most of them are lacking in arms and legs.

“To the six compatriots who have devoted their all to the village, we shall pray for them to be blessed. The funeral shall now begin.”

Cattleya hosts the ceremony, and Götz handles the crowd. It’s the exact same allocation of personnel as the Prayer Festival a month ago, but the atmosphere is completely quiet, the old bustling atmosphere no longer present.

The altar on the stage has the corpses of the deceased. Those attending will take out bits of the corpses’ parts, and move them to the coffin. It’s akin to the ‘bone ash picking’ humans to, and this has been a custom in the village for almost a hundred years. I put the flower medal Gappy gave me before he died into the cinerary (Parts case), along with his parts.

“There’s still one more…?”

Only after the funeral ends, and everyone disperses, do we realize this.

“When did it vanish, it is unknown.”

Götz, who was managing the scene, grimly reports. According to him, there should be six ‘parts cases’, but one of them vanished.

“Someone actually stole a parts case…”

“This is the greatest failure of this Götz…”

Götz’s silver mask contorts, showing a pained look.

“No, this isn’t your fault. Nobody would have expected the parts case to be stolen.”

Till this point, there hasn’t been a crime like a robbery or theft in the village, let alone stealing a parts case.

“You say that there’s one missing. Whose is it?”

“Well…”

He winces harder than before.

“Sir Gappy’s.”

—Maybe?

I hide this shock inside my heart, trying to act calm.

“Leave the search to me. Please manage the arena, Götz. Keep this a secret from everyone, okay?”