Chapter 142

Chapter 142: Inquiry and Treatment

Duncan looked completely sincere, with the kind of confidence that said: “If I open my doors to sell counterfeits, then I’ll at least let every sucker know exactly what they’re buying. If you can find a single real thing in my back room, I’ll give up the whole shop.” That calm, stubborn honesty clearly startled Vanna. She stared at him for a long moment before finally reacting: “Your honesty… really is impressive.”

“Do you have anything else you want to ask about that fire?” Duncan didn’t care about the odd tone in her voice. He asked calmly: “I heard afterward that The City Museum was sealed off that very day?”

“In fact, we strongly suspect that the fire at The City Museum involved supernatural influences.” Vanna did not hide this. Rumors of that kind had already spread through every street and alley, and the occult studies scholars at City Hall were publicly warning citizens not to go near the square in front of The City Museum for the time being. For the citizens of Pland, the existence of supernatural events did not need to be kept secret. Only the details and the truth behind them needed to be hidden. “The fire died down very quickly, far beyond what is normal… Mr. Duncan, please try to remember. After you went into The City Museum, you really didn’t see or hear anything unusual?”

“…No,” Duncan frowned. “In that situation, I didn’t have any attention left to spare on what was changing in the fire scene. I was just an ordinary person, after all, not a trained Guardian.”

He paused there, then raised his eyebrows: “Does the Church suspect that we few who escaped from the fire might be connected to the ‘supernatural factor’ behind it?”

“It’s my personal suspicion,” Vanna said seriously. “Please forgive me. Watching for any uncontrolled supernatural danger in the city-state is my duty as an Inquisitor. And I’m not saying you were the one who started the fire. supernatural power can stain an ordinary person, whether they meant it or not. I’m worried that all of you may have been passively dragged under the influence of some supernatural power during that fire. I’m worried for your safety.”

“I understand.” Duncan actually relaxed more than before. He really wasn’t angry at all, because he could tell this Inquisitor was simply doing her job. “You’ve been observing here for quite a while. Have you found any clues?”

“…I really haven’t found anything.” Vanna shook her head. “There’s no residual supernatural power here. The distribution of Shadows and the flow of aura inside and outside the whole building are completely normal. I think… you really were just ordinary persons swept into an supernatural incident.”

Duncan thought for a moment and couldn’t help adding: “Maybe… you could check again? What if there’s some lingering supernatural power here that hasn’t been found yet? Like you said, it’s for our safety too…”

“I have confidence in my own judgment.” Vanna lifted her chest a little before he could finish, and her tone grew firm. “By the Goddess’s grace, my eyes are the most effective detection tools, especially in daylight. No Heretic power or Shadows from the deep layers can escape my sight—even the Eldritch Gods and Demons that are best at hiding have nowhere to run in front of me!”

She had barely finished speaking when another loud crash sounded not far away. Shirley had finally dropped the base of that wooden carving from earlier.

“I… I wanted to see if I could move it to a safer place…”

“Just leave that pile of things alone! If you’re bored, go wipe the windowsill!” Duncan said helplessly to Shirley, who was trying hard to play the shop assistant. Then he turned back to Vanna and, after struggling for a while, squeezed out: “…You’re right.”

“This child looks pretty clumsy.” Vanna glanced up at Shirley and spoke casually. “And she looks… a little nervous?”

“It’s her first day helping out,” Duncan said honestly. “She’s not an official shop assistant. She’s my niece’s friend. She came here to learn a few things and earn a bit of money for her family. Kids from the Lower City start working early.”

Vanna nodded. That sounded completely normal to her. After thinking for a moment, she turned her gaze back to Duncan: “There’s one more thing I want to confirm. After leaving The City Museum, did you have any lingering discomfort? Any nightmares?”

Duncan didn’t answer right away.

Someone had had nightmares. Shirley had not only had them; she had stood with him on the edge of a nightmare and seen impossible things. But that could not be said.

The Inquisitor in front of him was a “good person” who protected the city-state’s order, but in the eyes of the authority and the Church, Shirley was an out-and-out Heretic. In this world where everyone’s nerves were stretched tight, even the most fair and righteous Inquisitor would find it hard to show much tolerance or sympathy to a “Heretic” at a first meeting.

“No, everything has been normal.” Duncan shook his head. “But may I ask something? What kind of nightmare would it be? If something similar happens to us in the next few days, I want to recognize it quickly and go to the nearest Church for help.”

“It should be related to flames,” Vanna answered. “The scale is extremely large—flames violently erupting in the dark void, bending as they burst out and forming a magnificent arc. Considering you just escaped a fire with your lives, short-term trauma Shadows might also make you dream of something similar. Ordinary people can’t tell the difference between that kind of normal dream and a nightmare under supernatural influence. So I suggest that as long as you dream of flames, you should go to the nearest Cathedral at once.”

Duncan frowned.

Flames violently erupting in the dark void, forming a grand arc…

That didn’t sound like Nina’s dream. It wasn’t Shirley’s dream. It wasn’t like the ruins of the burned site he had seen last night either.

If he had to say, the serious look on Vanna’s face when she described that scene made him think, for no clear reason, of one thing… the Sun Fragment.

Only fragments of the Sun would have that kind of power and make an Inquisitor so solemn.

Duncan weighed it for a moment. Then, still staying inside the role of a “helpful citizen and ordinary person”, he carefully adjusted his wording and suddenly asked: “Let me ask something… Is this connected to those Suntists causing trouble in the city recently? Those cultists seem to spend all day on the Sun, flames, sacrificial rites and the like. It sounds like they’re ready to set the city on fire at any time.”

Everyone already knew there were Suntists active in the city and that the authority was hunting them, so even an ordinary person could have asked this question. Vanna clearly didn’t overthink it. She nodded: “It’s possible they were behind it… But it’s enough for you to know that much. Don’t dig any deeper. That’s dangerous for ordinary persons.”

As a high-ranking Inquisitor, Vanna knew that not long ago, a cultist stronghold in an abandoned factory had been reported and destroyed. She had even gone to the scene herself to investigate. But she didn’t need to know all the details, so she naturally didn’t realize that the “helpful citizen” who had reported that cultist nest was the antique shopkeeper standing in front of her.

Duncan also didn’t mention his own report. From Vanna’s answer, he had already vaguely confirmed his guess and fallen into deep thought.

Even the upper ranks of the Church believed this matter was tied to the Suntists. That meant it really had been a Sun Fragment. When the fire broke out at the City Museum, the influence of the Sun Fragment had truly appeared for a short time in the Mortal Realm and had alerted Vanna when she later went to handle the scene.

Then the “dream image” Vanna had described… could that actually be what the Sun Fragment looked like?!

A huge jet of flame, erupting fiercely in the dark void… That was nothing like what Duncan had pictured the first time he heard the name “Sun Fragment”!

In his first imagination, a “Sun Fragment” that cultists hunted for, and that could be sealed and kept asleep in a city-state, should have been something like an Anomaly—some physical object that had a vague link to the Sun, but in truth didn’t have much to do with the real Sun. But if he went by Vanna’s description…

Duncan tried hard to picture it. He thought back to his memories of the star called “the Sun” from his life on Earth, and more and more it felt like that thing… sounded exactly like a “solar prominence”!

From the scene alone, it was basically a solar prominence erupting into space!

His face did not change much, but inside his mind, his thoughts were surging—

Sun Fragments… so they were actually literal?!

At the same time, in Nina’s bedroom on the second floor, Heidi had already finished the usual questions and mental guidance for her “patient”.

She had more or less confirmed that Nina’s dreams were not ordinary nightmares, nor just recurring dreams caused by stress. But whether those dreams had been harmed by an supernatural influence still needed further judgment.

“We might need a short, gentle hypnosis session.” Heidi picked up the purple crystal pendant in her hand and spoke in a soft voice to the girl in front of her. “Don’t be nervous. Just follow my mental guidance and answer a few more questions.”