Chapter 370: Agatha Understood
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.com
Amid rising unease and curiosity, Agatha carefully surveyed her surroundings.
At first glance, the setting seemed like an ordinary home. Most of the furniture, though a bit dated, was well-maintained and pristine. The fresh air indicated that the windows had been opened recently for ventilation. From the kitchen came the distinctive sound of water simmering, as if a pot of tea was being prepared.
This didn’t seem like a “significant location”; it was simply a typical residential home.
Agatha knew from the outset that this was an ordinary house. It had even been available for rent at the local community center until a few days ago. The fact that a mysterious visitor had chosen it as a temporary residence intrigued her, making her wonder if there was something peculiar about the place. Yet, as far as she could tell, there was nothing unusual.
“Would you like some tea? Or perhaps coffee?” Duncan asked casually as he approached Agatha.
Startled, Agatha turned to face Duncan, who had positioned himself beside her. It took her a moment to process his question before she quickly declined, “No… thank you, I’m not thirsty.”
“Please, make yourself at home,” Duncan said with a friendly smile, settling into the sofa opposite Agatha. “Allow me to guess… You are the city-state’s guardian, correct? It seems unlikely that a routine guardian would visit a home at this hour.”
“Gatekeeper Agatha,” she corrected, nodding while striving to maintain her composure. “Did you expect my arrival?”
“Either you were destined to come, or it would have been someone else of higher rank from the church,” Duncan replied with a hint of indifference. “Annie would inform the gravekeeper about my presence, and the gravekeeper would then notify the church. All I had to do was wait for a senior church official from this city-state to arrive.”
Adjusting her posture, Agatha looked more closely at the imposing figure seated across from her. “I need to understand your true intentions. Who are you, and what brings you to Frost?”
“Didn’t I explain that already?” Duncan raised an eyebrow. “I’m here to address the issues that have arisen here. I thought I made that clear in my report.”
Agatha struggled with the simplicity of his response, eventually asking tentatively, “Is it… really that straightforward?”
“If you need a more sinister motive or a complex scheme to make this situation believable, I can fabricate one right now,” Duncan replied in a casual tone. “What do you prefer? A doomsday scenario or world domination?”
At this, Agatha’s body visibly tensed.
“You certainly managed to scare her,” Vanna interjected from behind Duncan, punctuating her words with a few light coughs. “This woman, the gatekeeper, she’ll take it seriously.”
“Will she really?” Duncan turned slightly, a puzzled expression on his face. “I assumed it was obviously a joke…”
“From personal experience, she will,” Vanna admitted with a resigned sigh. “Those in our line of work are always on edge; their sense of humor tends to be lacking.”
Momentarily taken aback, Duncan stumbled over his words, while Agatha looked at the towering woman with confusion. Ever since she entered the room, she felt as if Vanna had been intently observing her, almost as if she was being scrutinized.
“But this is not important. The key point is that she realized the superior entity before her was merely joking with a poorly conceived, intimidating jest.”
“I apologize for my overly cautious nature,” Agatha said earnestly. “The recent surge in anomalies in the city-state has made everyone nervous. I even started to suspect…”
She hesitated, unsure of how to finish her thought. Duncan, however, smoothly continued for her, “You suspected me, didn’t you? It’s understandable, given the coincidence of my appearance and my immediate interactions with the Annihilators and ‘counterfeits.’”
Agatha fell silent, a blush of embarrassment spreading across her face.
“I’d be interested to hear about the progress you’ve made in your investigations,” Duncan suggested, unaffected by her reaction. “Have you uncovered any leads?”
Agatha appeared conflicted, hesitant to share too much information with this mysterious “visitor.” However, after a moment’s pause, she cautiously began to speak, “Following your warning, we apprehended a few members of the Annihilation Cult, but we’ve gathered almost no useful information. Those heretics, deeply connected with shadow demons, are incredibly resilient and often choose to self-destruct at the last moment. The ones we captured alive are merely minor figures with little knowledge of the grand scheme…”
“At present, we can confirm that the frequent cloning phenomenon in the city is indeed caused by these heretics, and they have established a large, hidden base within Frost. However, we still don’t know the exact location of this hideout.”
After a brief pause, Agatha continued, “Regarding Dagger Island, which you mentioned in your letter… what’s more disturbing is that it has disappeared.”
“I’m aware,” Duncan replied calmly.
“You knew already?” Agatha asked, clearly surprised. “This information is supposed to be classified…”
Duncan responded calmly, “I have my own sources. Even without leaving the city-state, I stay informed about certain events in the outer sea.”
Indeed, the source of this information was Tyrian. After all, Dagger Island had vanished right before the eyes of the Mist Fleet. It made sense that the Iron Admiral would report the situation to the Vanished.
Despite the shocking nature of the news, Duncan was not overly surprised. The idea of such a large island disappearing into thin air was beyond his understanding.
According to the information provided by Tyrian, the island’s disappearance didn’t involve sinking but rather a sudden dissolution into the sea. Before it vanished, there were a series of continuous explosions, suggesting that something or someone on the island had been activated. But beyond that, details were scarce.
Due to the limited information available, the mysterious manner of its disappearance, and the lack of any residual traces, Dagger Island had transformed from an enigma into an even deeper mystery. What happened on the island and its current location remained unknown.
“Do you know where Dagger Island has gone?” Agatha’s voice interrupted Duncan’s thoughts. The gatekeeper looked at him with earnest eyes. “Do you understand what happened there?”
After pondering for a moment, Duncan decided that admitting his fruitless all-night deliberations might damage his reputation. So, after a brief hesitation, he pointed towards the ground.
“Beneath?” Agatha recoiled in surprise. “Are you suggesting that Dagger Island has sunk into the ocean… but eyewitnesses reported no whirlpools on the sea surface that would indicate an island submerging…”
Duncan was at a loss for words—he was equally puzzled by the sudden disappearance of such a massive island!
Nevertheless, he continued pointing downwards, right at his feet.
“You’re not referring to Dagger Island… you mean the clue is beneath our feet?” Agatha seemed to grasp his implication and almost immediately recalled her recent conversation with Archbishop Ivan about the “Second Waterway” buried deep underground!
City Hall and the Death Church had thoroughly searched the entire city-state. The strict curfew and repeated large-scale sweeps should have theoretically captured a significant number of hidden cultists, but the detainees were always minor figures… The initial waterway, subway, pipeline wells, and other potential hideouts had also been thoroughly inspected, yet there were no leads…
The city-state had its physical limits. If the aforementioned locations failed to yield any traces of these heretics, the only remaining possibility was the Second Waterway.
The collapsed sections, dark caves, contaminated vertical shafts, and pipes… They might indeed not be suitable for survival, but what if, against all odds, those cultists had managed to survive in such adverse conditions?
Of course, conducting a thorough investigation of the “Second Waterway” had already been planned, but Agatha had been hesitant to confirm whether this resource-intensive search operation held any significant value. Now, however, she had found the most compelling reason to undertake this endeavor—an amiable entity of god-like stature had explicitly indicated the need to search beneath the surface.
“I see—it all makes sense now. We’re on the right path,” Agatha sprang to her feet, her voice filled with enlightenment and joy. She looked at Duncan, sitting across from her, with an attitude that had suddenly transformed into one of genuine respect, and she proceeded to bow deeply, “I understand—thank you immensely for your insightful guidance!”
Meanwhile, Duncan continued to point at the floor, appearing slightly bewildered by the bandaged woman’s sudden burst of enthusiasm.
What exactly had she comprehended?
“We will immediately start the next phase of the search operation, and this time, we will surely find the hideout of the heretics,” Agatha, oblivious to Duncan’s confusion, spoke with confidence. She was soon ready to leave, “I won’t take up any more of your time—please excuse my interruption. I must take my leave.”
“Uh… okay,” Duncan stood up a moment too late, responding instinctively, “Take care…”
Agatha thanked him, turned around, and headed towards the door. Suddenly, she stopped as if she had remembered something important.
Alice, who was about to stand up to bid her farewell, almost bumped into her.
Agatha glanced at Alice, but she didn’t seem too bothered by the blonde woman who lacked a heartbeat and breath—it was quite common for a god-like entity to have followers with unusual traits, nothing surprising about that.
She shifted her gaze back to Duncan.
“I assure you, I will instruct the church’s guardians; no one will come to disturb you,” Agatha stated solemnly. “I hope you enjoy your stay in Frost. If there are any new developments, I will personally come to update you.”
“Ah, well, that’s great,” Duncan replied with a chuckle. He genuinely appreciated that, “I really value the privacy.”
Agatha nodded, then turned to leave again. However, after a few steps, she stopped once more, seemingly remembering something else.
“There’s one more thing I almost forgot.” The gatekeeper appeared slightly flustered as she touched her forehead, looking back at Duncan.
Duncan looked puzzled, “Oh?”
After a moment of hesitation, Agatha finally voiced the question that had been troubling her and many others for quite some time: “About the… ‘secret number’ you included at the end of your last report letter, could you explain its meaning? I apologize for our limited understanding; we’ve been trying to decipher it for a while, but we have yet to unravel the riddle you left behind.”
Duncan: “….Eh?”
One point for Vanna!
Secret number! Tell them Duncan.
I feel like this interaction had much more potential, kinda disappoinitng.
I found it okay, but now that you say it… yea it feels kinda too fast.
Maybe they should have talked about some other stuff too like the cloning, disappearing, and the Frost Queen’s role.
Maybe also some small talk first…
I kinda understand the situation in here. I mean, the city is currently facing an enormous problem, and just a while ago, Agatha found out that the “mud” could traverse inside water pipe, indicating that the heretic cultists might be underground. Wasting each second means whatever the heretics are doing right now is progressing toward the completion of their plan. That’s why she was straight to the point
Duncan bank account number made Frost’s Cypher and Mathematicians went and have a fistfight.
perhaps it wasn’t the island that disappeared. they did. and the place white oak came to was the copy that replaced them in the world,for now at least.
I was hoping that they would somehow find that both the flags and numbers are eerily similar 🙁