Chapter 226

Chapter 226: The Shaken

Hurried footsteps broke the silence of the great cathedral. Archbishop Valentine, who had been assigning tasks to a Deacon at his side, heard the sound and looked up. He saw Vanna walking straight toward him.

The Archbishop waved for the Deacon and the attendant to step back for now. His gaze fell on Vanna: “I thought you would rest at home for a few more days.”

“Unfortunately, it seems I do not have that luxury,” Vanna shook her head, her expression slightly grave. “What happened? I saw many priests rushing about, and I heard a group of ascetic Monks were sent down into the Stargazing Well… Is it related to today’s sunrise?”

“Yes,” Valentine nodded, his face solemn. “Today’s sunrise was fifteen minutes later than usual—and it was not a local Anomaly in the sky delaying dawn. I have received Psychic Transmissions from other city-states and from communication Nodes at sea. Everywhere in the world, they observed the same Anomaly.”

“…This world was exposed to the World’s Wound for fifteen extra minutes…” Vanna’s brow slowly furrowed. “Are there any damage reports yet?”

“No. A single delayed dawn is not enough to cause trouble. Fifteen minutes of veil of night is still within the city’s margin of safety,” the old Archbishop shook his head. “What truly worries us is that the whole world saw the same phenomenon. That means the problem is not on the surface or at sea.”

“…It means the operation of Vision 001 itself has changed.” Of course Vanna knew what the old Archbishop was worried about. “There is no notice from the tomb of the Nameless King?”

Valentine shook his head lightly.

“There has been no movement at all. So this might only be a small… ‘shift’, not a fundamental change in Vision 001. But… I fear most people will not be reassured that easily. We at least need to see the Sun set normally today, and see the Sun rise normally tomorrow, before we dare to relax a little.”

Vanna fell silent, thinking. After a moment she asked: “Have the ordinary people in the city been affected?”

“For now, there is no great unrest,” Valentine said. “Some people did not even notice that fifteen-minute delay, and the citizens who did notice probably do not understand how serious it is. I have already sent a letter to City Hall, asking them to assess whether we should later issue comforting, mental guidance notices. Right now the impact is still limited. If the authorities explain too eagerly, it may instead unsettle the public—especially after the great disaster we just went through.”

Vanna listened quietly to the old Archbishop’s analysis and did not interrupt. As an Inquisitor who put most of her energy into combat missions, she knew she was not an expert on such matters. She only showed a thoughtful look from time to time, which made it clear that she was not as calm as she appeared.

Valentine saw the faint worry between her brows: “What are you thinking about?”

“I am just a little emotional,” Vanna sighed softly and shook her head. “Every time there is an supernatural disaster, I feel more how fragile the world we live in really is… The city-states, the Holy See, the ocean-going warships, everything we are proud of, all seem to stand on a thin, fragile layer of ice. If any crack goes unnoticed, we will vanish from this world…”

“That is exactly why we must always remain vigilant and strong,” Valentine said in a low voice, and he met the young Inquisitor’s eyes with a steady gaze. “Vanna, you rarely talk like this… What happened?”

Vanna fell silent. After a few seconds, as if making up her mind, she said to Archbishop Valentine: “There are two things. The first is… I met that ‘Captain Duncan’ again yesterday.”

Valentine’s eyes first grew grave, but after a moment he let out a soft sigh: “In fact, that was within expectations.”

He paused, then went on: “We still have no way to deal with the mark that ghost captain left on you. Now even the entire city-state of Pland may already be in contact with that captain. It was only a matter of time before he came to you. What did he say to you?”

“…Mostly small talk,” Vanna said, sounding slightly strange.

“…Small talk?” This time Valentine finally raised his brows in surprise. “You mean, the captain of the Vanished, the Shadow who returned from Subspace, the ‘Duncan’ who reversed historical corruption and took away a fragment of the Sun—he sought you out just to have small talk?”

“I knew you would react like that—I could hardly believe it myself. Honestly, if he had told me he had a plan to conquer the world, I would have believed him, but…” Vanna sighed. Then, over the next ten minutes or so, she told the old man every detail of her conversation with Duncan the previous night.

Valentine rubbed his forehead as he listened to Vanna’s account. This old Archbishop, who had not wavered even in the face of a Doomsday crisis, now showed undisguised trouble and weariness on his face.

But after that brief look of confusion, he still raised his head. His tone was somewhat complicated as he said: “Vanna, since last night I have been pondering a question.”

“What question?”

“…You are the one who has spoken with Captain Duncan directly twice. In your view, does that ‘ghost captain’… seem like an Intruder from Subspace?”

“You… what do you mean?” Vanna’s expression shifted slightly as she asked carefully. “The Vanished falling into Subspace and returning has clear…”

“I am not doubting that,” Valentine cut in. “Of course I know the records of the Vanished returning from Subspace. I am asking you to recall: what state should a person be in when they are completely affected by Subspace? And… is it possible for a true Subspace Intruder to talk to people rationally, and in doing so not cause uncontrolled corruption?”

This time Vanna hesitated. She could not answer as quickly as before. After several seconds of doubt, she finally spoke: “Judging from all the cases and our basic knowledge of Subspace… that is impossible.”

“When we perform a Sanity Check on those corrupted by the deep layers, we use a simple and effective rule of thumb—anyone who can still speak rationally is savable, or at least not completely transformed,” Archbishop Valentine nodded. “Subspace corruption is extremely deadly. Because of this, in history there has never been a Subspace-corrupted person or Intruder who stayed clear-headed. Madness is a mark they cannot erase. And perhaps… we can apply this simple rule to the Vanished and its captain as well.”

“…You mean that ‘Captain Duncan’ is very likely still holding on to his humanity?”

“Or has taken it back,” Archbishop Valentine corrected calmly. “In the early records, there are clear reports of the Vanished launching indiscriminate attacks, and of Captain Duncan falling into madness. At that time he clearly matched the standard of a Subspace Intruder.”

Vanna thought it over, and the more she thought, the more disbelief showed on her face: “Is this possible? After being completely transformed by Subspace corruption… to somehow take back one’s humanity, this…”

“If it were impossible, how would you explain the Captain Duncan who ‘chatted’ with you?” Archbishop Valentine gently cut her off. Then he paused and reminded her: “Do not forget the Clause Zero Law.”

Vanna froze for a moment, then reacted: “There are always Anomalies and Visions that do not fit our understanding or go beyond our definitions…”

The great cathedral fell silent again. No one knew how long that silence lasted before Valentine suddenly spoke: “But we still cannot use this to treat the Vanished and its captain as harmless, do you understand?

“After all, that ship returned from Subspace. Even if that captain has taken back his humanity, it is hard to say from what kind of viewpoint he now looks at us… ‘mortals’.”

“And we also cannot make a rash judgment on our own. We must report all the information we have to the Pope, Her Eminence, and see how she views this matter.”

Vanna straightened her expression and nodded at once, her face solemn: “Of course. I understand that very well.”

Then she paused, her expression a little odd: “Talking about such things in this holy cathedral really… puts pressure on the heart. In the past, I might have branded myself a ‘Heretic’ for it.”

Valentine only let out a noncommittal sigh, then asked again: “You said there were two things. Besides meeting that ghost captain, what is the second one?”

This time, Vanna stayed silent for much longer. She seemed to struggle with herself, then finally, under the gaze of the statue of the storm goddess Gamona, she gathered all her courage and said solemnly to the old Archbishop: “I… should confess.”

“Confess?” Valentine looked at her in surprise. “Why do you need to confess?”

“I wavered—though I am still devout, I cannot deny my moment of weakness,” Vanna took a deep breath and admitted bluntly. “After that great fire, I began to question my faith.”

She laid out her doubts about the Goddess and the shakiness of her own belief. Aside from keeping back the secret her uncle had told her, she did not hide anything.

The old Archbishop did not speak for a long time.

Vanna watched the old man’s face with some unease, yet this time she found she could not read Valentine’s attitude at all.

He seemed lost in thought, as if he wanted to speak yet held back, and there was no blame in his eyes.

After what felt like a long time, Vanna finally heard his voice reach her ears.

“Vanna, you came to me to confess… then who should I go to for my confession?”

A trace of surprise finally appeared in Vanna’s eyes.

“Now, there are two whose faith has wavered in this great cathedral,” the old Archbishop turned and gazed quietly at the statue of the storm goddess. The cold stone figure looked down on him, as silent as always. His voice carried a strange calm. “Vanna, can you feel it?”

“Feel what?”

“…The Goddess is still blessing us.”