Chapter 502: Heading South
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.com
Tyrian felt an unfamiliar word echo in his ears. Its peculiar cadence was unlike any language he had ever heard, making it difficult for him to comprehend.
Confused, he glanced down at the document in his hands, focusing on the image of a spherical rock, meticulously sketched with sophisticated brushstrokes. After processing what he heard, he looked up and asked, “Father, can you repeat that? The moon… is that the name of this object? Do you recognize this sphere?”
Duncan seemed lost in thought, staring intently at the moon’s image on the parchment. The sketch seemed familiar, and he ignored Tyrian’s initial question until his son repeated it.
The repetition brought Duncan back to reality. He looked at Tyrian and hastily asked, “What did you mention about Lucretia?”
“These are the details she sent from the Bright Star,” Tyrian replied, uncertainty in his voice.
Duncan’s unusual behavior unsettled him, but under his father’s intense gaze, he began to explain. Lucy had discovered a mysterious luminous object in a remote region and had been analyzing it. The sphere was part of the celestial debris. Tyrian detailed the entire saga, from the scholars in Wind Harbor’s assessment that the object came from Vision 001 to their ongoing investigation into the stone sphere and the challenges they faced.
Throughout Tyrian’s recounting, Duncan remained silent, listening attentively. His grave demeanor placed immense pressure on Tyrian, as if he intended to memorize every word, dissecting each syllable to fully understand its implications.
After about ten minutes, the office fell silent again. Duncan remained quiet for a while before sighing softly. “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?”
“Lucy wanted to update you once she had made more progress. But, more importantly, we were dealing with Frost’s crisis at the time.”
Duncan’s heartbeat slowed as he heard Tyrian’s explanation. He finally nodded. “This object is in Wind Harbor now, correct?”
“Yes,” Tyrian replied, nodding quickly. He felt his anxiety rise as he watched the changes in his father’s expression. After hesitating several times, he asked again, “Do you recognize this sphere?”
“It’s called the moon, or at least it looks like it. However, the moon I know is not ten meters in diameter, nor does it float on the sea and get hauled back to a city-state by a ship with a steel cable,” Duncan responded slowly and thoughtfully.
“Perhaps this is an artificial construct mimicking the moon, or it could be an artifact from the ancient realm of Crete…” His voice trailed off, his thoughts a whirlwind of paradoxes and confusion, preventing him from forming a coherent hypothesis. Nonetheless, one undeniable truth stood out.
The illustration on the parchment Tyrian held was unmistakably the moon. Whether the stone sphere Lucy found was the ‘authentic’ moon or a man-made object imitating the moon, the image was undeniably the moon.
A question persisted: Why was the moon’s image appearing here? What was its purpose in this twisted alternate reality?
Amid his swirling thoughts, Duncan furrowed his brows and addressed Tyrian, “You mentioned that the scholars in Wind Harbor confirmed that the luminous object fell from the rune circle of Vision 001?”
“Yes. They affirmed that it resembled the gap in the solar rune circle,” Tyrian replied.
Promptly, another query arose, “You said it’s called the moon… so what exactly is this ‘moon’?”
Duncan hesitated, suddenly at a loss for words to define such a basic term for Tyrian.
After a moment’s thought, he blurted out, “It’s a planet…”
Tyrian’s expression morphed into even greater bewilderment. “What is a planet?”
Duncan fell silent. After what felt like an eternity, Tyrian spoke again. “Is this a forbidden question? Have I overstepped?”
“No, it’s not forbidden… it should be the most fundamental question, but I find myself unable to explain it,” Duncan shook his head gently, his gaze meeting Tyrian’s, his expression a mix of emotions. “I’m sorry, Tyrian. The answer is simple, but helping you understand it is proving difficult.”
Tyrian looked somewhat taken aback. Observing his father’s complex and regretful expression, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu… as if this moment had happened long ago, buried in his distant memories, on a forgotten afternoon…
That day, he and Lucretia had stood on the deck of the Vanished for the last time, resolute in their decision to ask their father about the world beyond the border.
At that moment, his father’s reaction had been the same: possessing a simple truth but unable to explain it.
Suddenly, Duncan’s voice rang clear, jolting Tyrian from his deep reminiscence. “I’ve changed our course. The Vanished will head to Wind Harbor next.”
As his father reacted as expected to the spherical object called the ‘moon’, Tyrian felt a surge of anticipation. He knew this was how events would unfold.
“I understand. I’ll inform Lucy.”
Meanwhile, Nina cast a concerned glance at Duncan, who was standing at the edge of the deck, staring at the vast sea. Seeing Alice walk by, she took the opportunity to inquire.
“What’s bothering Uncle Duncan?” Nina murmured. “He’s been staring into the horizon for a while, looking troubled…”
“I’m not sure,” Alice replied, shaking her head. “He’s been like this since he came out of his cabin. He said he needed to think about some things.”
“Think about some things?” Nina repeated, confusion in her eyes.
“Did something happen? Why do you ask?” Alice mused, then smiled, “Oh, that’s right, he was talking to Tyrian, but I don’t know what they discussed.”
“Mr. Tyrian?” Nina was surprised, then her thoughts wandered. “Is it because Mr. Tyrian is still single?”
Alice looked puzzled. “Huh? What do you mean?”
After a moment’s thought, Nina began her analysis. “I heard Mr. Morris often worries about Heidi’s marriage prospects, and since Mr. Tyrian is older than Heidi, Uncle Duncan must be even more concerned.”
Alice was so confused she could only nod in bewilderment.
Just then, Duncan’s voice interrupted. “Enough, you two. Nina, don’t tease Alice like that. She might take you seriously.”
Nina jumped, realizing Uncle Duncan had somehow approached them unnoticed. Alice, still puzzled, pulled at her hair and looked at Nina with suspicion. “Were you teasing me?”
“In any case, don’t take her previous statement to heart,” Duncan advised helplessly, then turned to Nina. “Nothing is wrong.”
Nina made a playful face, but worry lingered in her expression.
“Uncle Duncan, what’s happening? You rarely seem so troubled…”
For a moment, Duncan didn’t know how to answer. In his mind, he still saw the image from Tyrian’s office and the unusual sphere Lucretia had found. He raised his hand to soothe his throbbing brow but paused to observe the young girl before him.
This calm, gentle, impeccably behaved girl was standing there, concerned for him. Duncan felt as if he could see the remnants of a star’s explosion, the dazzling flows of plasma that once coursed through the cosmos… The small sun tilted her head and gently traced Duncan’s furrowed brow, trying to smooth out the lines.
“Uncle Duncan, are you really okay?”
Duncan remained silent. He softly took Nina’s hand, placing it on his forehead, then slowly exhaled. He had come to understand something more. Behind the imposing veil of reality, the world had once again revealed a fragment of its truth to him. However, he had no one to share this piece of truth with.
“Don’t worry, everything is fine, Nina,” he said slowly, his demeanor gradually returning to its usual calm. “I’m dealing with some issues that are hard to explain right now. Once they’re resolved, I’ll explain.”
Nina listened closely, then nodded with fervor. “Okay.”
“Good. Let’s go back to the cabin. We need to set off soon, but first, we need to make a quick stop at the Mist Fleet’s base. We have something to deliver to Tyrian…”
Back at the governor’s dome office in Frost, the crystal ball glowed softly, allowing the figure of the ‘Sea Witch’ to appear.
“Brother?” Lucretia asked curiously. “Have you finished your work there? Did everything go well?”
“If you’re asking about the inauguration ceremony, it ended this morning. Everything went smoothly,” Tyrian said, his expression growing complex. “But I called for another reason.”
Lucretia’s brows furrowed. “Another reason?”
“Two things,” Tyrian paused, then poured a drink. “First, I’ve secured the spirit lens you requested. I’ve gotten the highest-quality, most precise lens available through legal channels.”
Lucretia’s face lit up with delight. “That’s wonderful. You’re reliable. What’s the second thing?”
“Guess who will be delivering the lens to you?”
“Is it your transport ship?” Tyrian remained silent, causing Lucretia’s expression to shift. “It’s your transport ship, isn’t it?”
Tyrian continued his silence.
A realization dawned on Lucretia. “It’s Father…?”
“Correct.”
So many mysteries so little time.
I can only hope for a scene with Duncan passionately explaining the simplest terminology of planets and moons just to be met with befuddled scholars accusing him of spreading subspace knowledge.
I will just add, MC is overly complicating things. It is very easy to explain to them, just mention that it represents something from the lost era, prior the recorded history. He doesn’t need to explain what a moon is or what a sun is or what a planet is, those are just rules and words to describe something that exists. They can easily understand what it truly means if he says it is from the erased era. Then link that it is like the sun vision makes allegory to something else also lost in history, that the sun cult refers to. Although, can their mind support such info? And I would say, yes, given he also mentioned so much before. His mouth seems to make taboo stuff digestible. Although, again, it will also reveal that the journey to subspace has elucidated him into matters no one else might know.
He is not overly complicating things. Can you understand that for the people in that world, even just hearing a whisper of knowledge from subspace, can make them go crazy? And not just that, even if this knowledge doesn’t make them crazy, the people/scholars will definitely go crazy by researching, whether this info is true or not. And don’t forget about demons that prey such specific people. So it’s not about making things complicated, it is also related to their safety.
That is the problem. He does not know what will happen. It could be as simple as you say or it could also make them go insane or something. We don’t even has any idea what the main character really is. Is he just a normal transmigrator or something else?
Honestly, I keep hoping that, like the fish, he doesn’t find out how he can affect reality. They should show it more, or how they went against him on the fish matter. I mean a rule states the captain is always right Maybe he would freak out and cause a rift. Now I wish when he spoke whatever language he uses, but in the modern world, it would’ve caused some storm or forbidden language type of thing.
We don’t know yet about the rule behind it, Duncan once tried with wood trying to turn the wood into McDonald’s but fail…
If I didn’t read this novel “I’m not demon God’s lackey” Before this, Then I would probably agree with you. But after I read it, I have to say I don’t want this novel to take a similar plot like that
Agreed, the perception filter is fun for like 3-5% of a novel, then it becomes really detrimental and vexing. It drags the whole story down and eventually (at least it did to me) kills your interest in it.