Chapter 233

Chapter 233: The Family curse.

Bishop Valentine put away the sheet that showed the strange emblem.

“None of us recognize this pattern. It is likely from a very ancient era, or from a secret society that has never exposed itself,” the old Bishop said as he folded the paper away. “We might find some record of it in the archives. I’ll also contact some friends in the academic world and see if any of them know it.”

Vanna’s gaze returned to Tyrian. She looked curiously at the pirate captain before her: “Before your Father had that secret talk with those strange ‘ascetics’, was there anything else unusual about him? For example, did he suddenly obtain some mysterious book, or explore some hidden ruin?”

“That’s hard to say,” Tyrian shook his head. “You should know that a century ago, he was one of the greatest explorers in this world. Dealing with all kinds of strange relics and secret places was his daily work. He spent almost all his time with the very things you just mentioned, and back then Lucretia and I had only just started helping Father with a few matters. We had very little chance to learn in detail about his ‘collection’. And besides…”

Tyrian paused here and let out a soft sigh.

“Back then Lucretia and I had no idea what would happen later. Those strange ‘Visitors’ were odd, but Father often received all kinds of strange guests. By the time we noticed that his state was getting worse and worse, almost a year had passed since that ‘private talk’. It was impossible to go back and investigate anything then.”

Vanna nodded lightly. Just then, a loud bell and the blare of steam whistles suddenly came from outside the window, cutting off the conversation in the reception room.

“The dusk Bell has rung,” Bishop Valentine looked up toward the window. He saw the Sun, bound by twin rings of runes, slowly sinking below the sea’s horizon. In the sky, the faint outline of the World’s Wound could just be seen. “Let’s stop here for today.”

Then he drew back his gaze and nodded to Tyrian: “If you don’t mind, you can rest in the Great Cathedral tonight. We have already prepared dinner and quiet guest rooms for you.”

“Then thank you,” Tyrian agreed gladly, then added, “I plan to stay in this city-state for a few more days. A hundred years ago I lived here for a short time, and I’m quite interested in how it has changed.”

“Of course,” Valentine smiled. “The Sea Mist is already a friend of Pland. We are always ready for our friends – stay here as long as you like.”

Vanna rose from the sofa and nodded to Tyrian: “I’ll take you to your rooms.”

With this special meeting over, Tyrian left the reception room with Vanna and joined several accompanying sailors who had been resting in a nearby room. Together they walked toward the depths of the Great Cathedral.

“I didn’t expect Your Excellency the Inquisitor to personally lead the way,” Tyrian said casually on the way to the guest rooms. “For a ‘pirate’, this is quite an honor.”

“Only a ‘pirate’?” Vanna glanced back with a faint smile. “Your identity is not that simple – son of Duncan, general of the Queen of Frostholm, Commander of the Sea Mist Fleet. If all the pirates on the Boundless Sea were like you… then we would have no need for any city-state authority.”

“…Being a ‘pirate’ is just a convenient identity. It makes it easy for me to cause trouble for certain people on the Frost Sea. And they like this identity too; it lets them issue more wanted notices so they can pretend they are still useful,” Tyrian said lightly. “But all those titles you just mentioned are things of the past, Your Excellency Inquisitor.”

After a brief silence, Tyrian went on: “I have never told an outsider this much about ‘him’. I hope you understand that.”

“Of course,” Vanna nodded slightly. “If I were in your place, I also wouldn’t want to reveal my family’s… ‘curse’ to outsiders. Sorry, I can’t think of a better word.”

“It’s all right. It really is a curse,” Tyrian sighed. “If not for the strange and bizarre events in Pland, and for you bringing up his anomalous condition just now, there are some things I truly wouldn’t want to remember.”

As he spoke, his gaze unconsciously swept across Vanna’s eyes. A second later, he lowered his eyes without meaning to.

That faint, elusive pressure appeared again, even more obvious than what he had felt at the docks.

Thinking of how this young Inquisitor had recently communicated with ‘that person’ several times, Tyrian even began to have some frightening guesses about that indescribable pressure.

Vanna noticed his odd behavior.

“You look a bit stiff, Captain Tyrian,” she asked very directly. “Do I make you nervous?”

“No, Your Excellency Inquisitor,” Tyrian shook his head, then spoke a bit hesitantly. “I just suddenly thought of what you said earlier. You said you have spoken with my Father several times… Besides talking, did he ever give you anything else? For example, power?”

Vanna’s steps stopped suddenly.

“Why do you ask that?”

“I meant nothing else by it,” Tyrian suddenly realized that his question might sound offensive to a devout and steadfast Saint, and hurried to explain. “I just wanted to remind you, my Father… the power he brought back from Subspace is very strange and very hard to remove. Like other chaotic corruption from Subspace, that power is extremely corrupting. If you are contaminated too deeply by it…”

“Thank you for the warning.” Vanna took a deep breath and thanked him sincerely.

But in truth she thought his warning had come a little too late – Captain Duncan’s influence was far more serious than anyone imagined. Now she could only hope that the next time the captain came to her, he would at least knock on the door…

Tyrian had no idea what was going through the Inquisitor’s mind. He only felt that the air had grown rather awkward. But the awkwardness did not last long – Vanna was the first to break the silence.

“I’m curious about one thing,” she suddenly asked. “About that ‘countdown’ your Father mentioned before he went mad… Do you know anything more about it? Did he ever mention any other details?”

When she asked this, what rose in Vanna’s mind was the time she had communicated with Gamona, the storm Goddess, and the hard-to-understand words the Goddess had spoken to her –

Time is limited. The threshold is near.

Back then she had not understood that sentence at all. Now, hearing Tyrian talk about the ‘countdown’, it suddenly seemed deeply connected to it!

Tyrian met Vanna’s gaze.

After a few seconds of silence, he spoke in a low voice: “In his last days, he once suddenly said something to Lucretia. He said – ‘Our world is nothing but a pile of dying embers’.”

The corridor had reached its end.

“Thank you for leading the way,” Tyrian nodded to Vanna. “I’d like to spend some time with my subordinates now.”

Vanna snapped out of her thoughts. Tyrian’s last sentence still echoed in her heart. She nodded without thinking and took her leave of this Pirate Lord.

The door of the guest room closed. Only when everything around him grew quiet did Tyrian truly breathe out in relief.

He replayed his last conversation with the young Inquisitor, and that faint pressure he had felt from her. Only now did a belated sense of dread slowly spread through him.

In a daze, he remembered the last moment when his eyes had met the Inquisitor’s…

In that instant, he had actually felt as if he were standing under his Father’s gaze!

“Captain, are you all right?” A sailor who was also his trusted aide looked at his boss with some concern. “You’ve been on edge ever since you came ashore.”

“…I’m fine,” Tyrian pulled himself together and waved at his subordinates, then walked toward a nearby table. “Bring the things here.”

A sailor immediately stepped forward and put a carrying case from the Sea Mist onto the table. Tyrian used the key to open the box, revealing what was inside.

It was a complex lens array device, made of many small lenses and curved linkages. At its center sat a large scrying crystal.

“Watch the door. Don’t let anyone disturb me.” Tyrian ordered his subordinates.

After several sailors had left, he finally focused his attention on the scrying crystal. He gently adjusted the angle of one of the lenses and called softly: “Lucretia.”

After quite a while, the array of lenses began to tremble and turn. The scrying crystal at the center started to glow faintly. Amid the crackle of interference noise, Lucretia’s blurry figure appeared inside the crystal: “I’m here.”

“Why is it so blurry?” Tyrian frowned. “Where are you now?”

“I… am at the border…” Lucretia’s voice came from the scrying crystal, full of crackling interference but still barely understandable. “The environment… here… the interference has grown stronger. I’ll… adjust… Is it better now? Can you hear me clearly?”

The interference finally faded, and Lucretia’s figure slowly grew clearer.

“The environment here has changed a bit. The Spirit Realm is causing strange disturbances to the Mortal Realm,” the voice in the scrying crystal explained. “What is it, Brother? The Radiant Star is passing through an unstable sea area. If it’s nothing important…”

“I’m in Pland right now,” Tyrian got straight to the point. “The Sea Mist was badly damaged in a battle with the Vanished, and something seems very wrong with this city-state too.”

The figure on the other side of the scrying crystal froze.

A few seconds later, Lucretia’s slightly tense voice came through: “You really ran into the Vanished? Are you all right now?”

“…To be honest, I took quite a beating, but I’m all right for now,” Tyrian’s voice was low. “The problem is… something seems off with ‘him’.”

“Something is off with ‘him’?” Lucretia frowned. “You saw him up close?”

“Yes.”

“Then…” Lucretia opened her mouth, hesitating a little. “This time, the one you saw – was he our ‘Father’?”

“…Not entirely.”