Chapter 367: The Legacy of Shelter
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.com
The woman’s eyes, red and haunted by recent events, flickered with a volatile mix of insanity and terror. Though the gatekeeper’s calming words had steadied her, they barely pulled her back from the edge of a breakdown. Her fear remained deeply entrenched.
Agatha, an experienced gatekeeper, had seen this look countless times. With an air of resolute calm, she locked eyes with the woman, instilling a semblance of stability. As the woman’s trembling lessened, Agatha pressed for more information. “You say the man who returned to your home is your deceased husband? He passed away years ago, correct?”
Upon confirming, the woman shuddered violently, clutching at her hair as if trying to anchor herself to reality, unable to meet Agatha’s probing gaze. “He came back… he came back… but I know it wasn’t him…” she echoed ominously, her voice a chilling chorus of dread.
Furrowing her brows in concern, Agatha inquired further, “How did you fend off this… entity? Can you recount the events?”
As she spoke, Agatha produced a small potion bottle from her pocket, removing the cap with a deft flick of her wrist, releasing a calming aroma that subtly perfumed the room.
The potion’s effects were almost immediate. The woman, who had been writhing in distress moments ago, now rested on the sofa, her breathing more peaceful. Lifting her head slightly, her gaze timidly peeking through her disheveled hair, she whispered, “I… I struck it from behind with a hammer. It fell, but despite a significant indentation in its skull, it didn’t die. It tried to rise again… I panicked and kicked it into the bathroom, locking the door. It pounded on the door, emitting the most ghastly shrieks. It continued its horrible wails for nearly ten minutes before finally falling silent…”
She paused briefly, collecting her thoughts before continuing in a barely audible voice, “Later… when I cautiously cracked open the bathroom door… the creature had vanished…”
Agatha nodded, carefully cataloging the events in her mind. “How did this entity make its ‘return’?”
“I… I don’t know,” the woman responded, her voice trembling with pure terror, “It just materialized in the house! The doors were locked, but I heard strange noises in the living room. Emerging from the bedroom, I was met with the sight of… that thing… It was dressed in the clothing we buried my husband in, aimlessly wandering around the living room, producing sickening, squelching sounds as if it was filled with decaying, gelatinous matter…”
Agatha’s expression morphed into one of stern seriousness. Just as she was about to respond, a guardian broke the tension with an update, “We’ve thoroughly inspected all entrances and exits. All doors and windows are intact with no signs of forced entry, and all windows appear to be locked from the inside.”
All the doors and windows of the house were securely shut, their locks intact, yet this entity had somehow manifested directly within the home. This startlingly sudden appearance, devoid of any semblance of an open invasion, heightened her vigilance further.
The unique aspects of this case particularly piqued Agatha’s interest today. She cast her gaze downward, observing the woman slumped on the couch, still wrestling with her shaken nerves.
Agatha vividly recalled past cases: the haunting incident at 42 Fireplace Street, where a folklorist was tormented by the revenant of death, and the case of the unsuspecting female apprentice, who suffered severe cognitive contamination. In such instances, survivors were typically oblivious to the ‘counterfeit’ entities that haunted them.
The woman before Agatha, however, had identified the intruder. She had spotted the charade. Could it be that she had remained untouched by cognitive contamination?
“Madam,” Agatha began, choosing her words cautiously, “how did you conclude that this ‘monster’ was not your husband?”
“How could it possibly be him? My husband passed away years ago, and that… that monstrosity was all wrong, a mockery of his image. How could it ever be my husband?” The woman’s agitation grew, her voice rising in pitch. “Furthermore… furthermore, it was heading towards my child… my child, who referred to the creature as ‘Daddy.’ He… he must have been manipulated by that abhorrent thing, he…”
“So, in your belief that the monster had influenced your child, you nearly strangled him?” Agatha asked, her brow creasing into a deep frown. “Were you aware of your actions at the time…”
“I didn’t strangle him! I was merely attempting to pull him away, I didn’t choke him!”
Her denial exploded like a gunshot, causing her to leap from the sofa as if preparing to assault the gatekeeper. The fear and madness in her bloodshot eyes flared up again, obliterating all semblance of reason. The nearby guardians instantly moved to subdue the hysterical woman, but Agatha was quicker.
With a swift movement, Agatha raised her staff and delicately tapped the woman’s forehead. The impact instantly rendered the woman unconscious.
“She’s terrified,” muttered the short-haired female captain, shaking her head in sympathy. “These kinds of incidents are far too overwhelming for ordinary people…”
“No, it’s not simply terror; it’s a distinct form of mental contamination,” Agatha corrected, shaking her head and furrowing her brows. “She’s teetering on the edge of temporary insanity, preserving only the most basic communicative capabilities. She hasn’t suffered cognitive or memory interference. Although the exact reason remains unknown, she was able to discern the ‘counterfeit’ nature of the entity. However, this ‘revelation of truth’ has proven traumatic for her.”
While speaking, she cast a glance around the humble dwelling. “Where is the child?”
“The child has been relocated to a secure location for the time being. After experiencing such trauma and a near-suffocation, he may not be in a state to endure questioning.”
“Understood,” Agatha commanded, “Maintain a separation between the mother and child for now. Ensure they receive appropriate care and psychological therapy, with particular emphasis on the child. Offer him utmost comfort. Should they recall any important information, ensure that it is immediately relayed to me.”
“Acknowledged, Gatekeeper.”
With a curt nod of approval, Agatha ambled through the living room towards the modestly sized bathroom.
The floor area surrounding the showerhead was littered with indicators left by the guardians during their evidence collection. The so-called counterfeit had been confined within this bathroom, yet all it had left behind was a specimen barely the size of a test tube.
This peculiarity struck her as highly unusual.
While the nature of these counterfeits remained shrouded in mystery and their origins unknown, one fact was undeniable: they consisted of a quantifiable amount of physical substance. Even upon disintegration, this physical mass wouldn’t simply evaporate into nothingness.
Her brow creased in contemplation, and Agatha paced the narrow confines of the bathroom. Suddenly, she halted, her gaze fixed intently on a particular corner.
Nestled within that corner was a rust-encrusted entrance to a drainpipe.
She quickly approached the drain, tapping the worn-out cast-iron grate with the end of her tin staff while scrutinizing the murky abyss within.
The engulfing darkness within the drainpipe seemed to veil the truth.
“You’ve got to be kidding me… Damn it!” Agatha suddenly gasped, a chilling realization washing over her, causing a frigid shudder to course through her veins.
“Evacuate this building immediately; relocate all residents to nearby churches and public shelters,” she briskly returned to the living room, rattling off instructions with fervent urgency. “Get in touch with the local municipality, close down this building… no, seal off all auxiliary pipelines connected to this building, encompassing the sewage and water supply lines. Additionally, dispatch a team to the closest wastewater treatment facility and thoroughly inspect the sedimentation tanks and filters!”
The team captain was taken aback by the flurry of orders but offered no resistance. Her inherent obedience to the chain of command had her springing into action immediately. “Understood, Gatekeeper!”
After delivering the directives, Agatha’s attention was once again drawn to the unconscious woman sprawled on the sofa.
What was it that had allowed this woman to remain unaffected by cognitive and memory interferences, enabling her to discern the true nature of the “counterfeit”?
Even now, this lingering query continued to plague Agatha’s mind.
Just then, a guardian who had been diligently scouring other rooms for clues rushed into the living room – a small object clutched in his hand.
“Gatekeeper! We’ve found this!”
Agatha swiftly turned her attention towards the voice, and her eyes landed on a small, time-worn plaster figurine held in the guardian’s grasp.
It was an unmistakable effigy of the Frost Queen in profile.
“A representation of the Frost Queen?” a few of the guardians in the room murmured among themselves, “Quite unexpected to find something like this here.”
Agatha’s expression hardened as she moved towards the guardian and accepted the mid-bust statue of the queen, which stood approximately ten centimeters tall. She carefully scrutinized the detailed craftsmanship.
“…It’s a genuine artifact from that era, identifiable by a distinct anti-counterfeiting mark located at the base of the sculpture,” she made a swift judgment, then glanced up, “Where was this found?”
“Within a concealed compartment in a deep wall cabinet,” the guardian who had unearthed the statue of the queen promptly reported, “Alongside it were coins and a commemorative album from the era of the queen. It would appear… that someone has been secretly cherishing the memories of the Frost Queen.”
Agatha fell silent for a moment, her gaze focused on the plaster figurine clutched in her hand.
The Frost Queen… even after half a century, the residents of the city-state still harbored a concealed reverence for the queen. This didn’t surprise Agatha.
That period represented a time of glory, an era dominated by a formidable queen—fifty years was not sufficient to obliterate all traces of her reign from the city-state. Many from the older generation who had lived through that period, as well as their children, were still significantly influenced by it.
Indeed, the queen still had a smattering of adherents among the populace. Half a century ago, such covert acts of remembrance could have resulted in a public hanging, but today, fifty years later, the restrictions against such practices had been noticeably relaxed. Throughout her tenure as the gatekeeper, Agatha had encountered such instances more than once.
In most cases, if the people were simply indulging in the “collecting of memorabilia,” the guardians and sheriffs of today would seldom take strict action. At times, they would opt to turn a blind eye or merely offer a verbal warning.
The inhabitants of this household had only collected a statue of the queen, a handful of coins, and a booklet. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t a major concern.
However, in light of the recent anomalies that had occurred within this household, Agatha couldn’t shake off a nagging suspicion.
The individual embroiled in this incident hadn’t been subjected to cognitive interference but had instead seen through the truth of the “counterfeit.” Could it be… that this incident was somehow tied to the queen’s memorabilia present here?
A Ruler protects their people
I question the required degree of protection. Self-sacrifice is going too far, because only a small minority of her subjects would go at equal length for her.
That’s the point of a ruler. They are willing to sacrifice themselves in order to keep their people safe, they don’t care if the people will in turn sacrifice themselves. If they are, that is a cult not a place of order.
all hail Queen Ray Nora
Then it’s not a ruler but a glorified servant. No equivalent exchange, no investment. Anything more is sheer folly and a tail wagging the dog, so to speak.
Indeed, according to your logic, the best of the best leaders of history would be labeled as such.
They understood their responsibility and acted on it. Only such glorified servants can be legitimately considered as rulers.
Others are merely pigs getting fatter on behalf of those they consider ‘lower’
“Why does the dog wag its tail?
Because a dog is smarter than its tail.
If the tail were smarter, it would wag the dog.”
Something to ponder.
Yeah but the collective group is smarter, stronger, and wiser than the one ruler, so the ruler is simply a tail wagging for the dog.
“The average of a group is better than the supposedly best specimens of it.”
That’s your message in a nutshell.
that is pretty true in reality so that is why parliament exist and why scientist like to cooperate with the average person cause together they sometimes find new things that even the best team of scientist cannot.
Also that is what a ruler should be a servant to the people, no not even a servant but a parent because Nora sacrificed herself not made herself obey every rule of her population. Is a mother or father who sacrificed themselves for their child a servant of that child? Your logic is twisted seeing affection as a servant or dog being servile to their master.
Do you perhaps admire dictators like Kim Jong Un for not acting for his people and instead taking many things from them instead?
using a thought-terminating cliché because you can’t logically refute what they are saying is hilarious.
Why the dog wags its tail? Because they’re happy. It ain’t got nothing to do with being smarter.
The tail is part of the dog. The dog is not smarter than the tail, the dog owns the tail. Are you smarter than your hand? Does your hand have brain? What a stupid thing to ponder. Indeed, fools ponder foolish things.
Unlike a tail, populace have brain. They’re not the tail of the ruler. Just because the ruler is the “head” doesn’t mean they own the “tail”. Head is part of the entity, as is tail. If the ruler is the “head” of the country, then the populace is the “body” and “limbs” of the country. Not the “tail” of the ruler.
Your entire logic is retarded, and your intelligence is not much better.
Indeed the queen has been fighting of this counterfeit huh
Man this arc is so fascinating. Every new clue just seems to deepen the mystery so I can’t wait to see what will eventually come to light.