Chapter 234

Chapter 234: A Harmonious Family

Tyrian had to spend a lot of effort explaining to his younger sister the strange changes that had happened to Father, and the bizarre things Father had done in Pland.

“I can feel that he is no longer that frenzied, chaotic Subspace husk from half a century ago. There seems to be ‘humanity’ and ‘reason’ in that body now, but that feeling is also very strange to me… I don’t dare be sure what exactly is inside his shell,” Tyrian said slowly with a frown. “He still seems to recognize me, but aside from that bit of recognition, I have no idea how much of him is still the Father we knew. He… changed a great deal.”

The black-haired woman on the other side of the scrying crystal stayed silent for a few seconds, then said: “But it at least sounds better than how things were half a century ago.”

“…You could say that,” Tyrian said in a low voice. “Half a century ago, I stood on the bow of the Sea Mist, looking at that figure and wishing it was not him. Now, seeing him again, I am only confused about whether it really is him… In any case, the Vanished did not bring a great catastrophe this time like it used to.”

Lucretia did not respond. She only thought for a moment, then suddenly brought something up: “Do you remember what I told you last time? Lunie suddenly malfunctioned, then said that ‘Old Master’ was looking for me… Now it seems our Father really is planning something.”

“What would he plan?” Tyrian frowned. “To continue the last expedition he failed to finish back then? To gather the Vanished Fleet again?”

“I don’t know.”

Lucretia said this calmly.

At the same time, a patch of interfering shadows suddenly appeared again in the scrying crystal. Right after that, some of the automatically running magic devices behind Lucretia seemed to malfunction. Faint popping noises came from there, and a group of automata rushed up to check the equipment, looking thoroughly flustered.

“What’s going on over there?” Tyrian suddenly grew a little worried. “Do you need to deal with that pile of equipment behind you first?”

“Don’t worry. The automata will take care of it. It’s just a small problem, nothing worth mentioning compared to the real storms on the border,” Lucretia said calmly, not even glancing back at the chaotic scene. “I’m almost past this unstable sea area.”

“What are you exploring this time? You aren’t planning to rush straight into that fog, are you? Let me remind you, the border is not a safe place…”

“I’m tracking something. It suddenly appeared near the border and plunged into the sea with enormous energy, but the instruments on the ship didn’t have time to capture a clear image of it,” Lucretia still looked just as calm. “Don’t worry, it’s on the inner side of the Eternal Veil. I am not reckless enough to challenge that thick fog yet. Mm, once I find it, I’ll send you the recording. If it’s a material thing that can be cut up, I’ll slice off a piece as a souvenir for you.”

As soon as Tyrian heard that, he waved his hand: “No need. None of the souvenirs you send over are ever not cursed. I still want to sleep a few more nights in peace.”

Lucretia did not mind. She just followed up casually: “Then did you buy that Spirit Realm lens for me?”

Tyrian froze for a moment. His tone suddenly turned a bit unnatural: “That… might take a few more days. You know, you need luck to get that thing…”

“You forgot?”

“Of course not. The suppliers I know all ran out, and the four great Churches do have some, but the paperwork is too difficult…”

“You forgot, didn’t you?”

“I’m doing my best,” Tyrian said with a serious face. “There should be a solution other than robbery.”

“Then it seems you really did forget.” On the other side of the scrying crystal, Lucretia nodded to herself, her tone calm as though she had expected this. “It’s fine. You’re very busy, and it is a hard favor to ask…”

As Tyrian listened to his younger sister, you could see the relief appear on his face. Then he heard the rest of the sentence coming from the other side of the scrying crystal: “Then I’ll ask again the day after tomorrow.”

Tyrian: “…”

The pirate lord wiped his forehead and seemed about to say something, but just as he opened his mouth, the sound of wings flapping suddenly came from outside the window, cutting him off. A moment later came the tapping of a beak on glass.

“Hold on, something’s happening over here,” Tyrian said quickly as he looked up. A look of surprise came over his face. “Polly?!”

He hurriedly stood up and opened the window, letting in the big parrot with the brilliantly colored tail feathers. Polly flapped its wings as it landed on the table with a flutter, shouting loudly: “Polly!”

Tyrian sat back down at the table, looking at the big parrot in confusion: “Why are you here? Did you sneak off the ship, or did Aiden send you?”

“Ah! Aiden sent Polly!” The big parrot spread its wings and bobbed its head up and down as it squawked: “Polly came to deliver a message, an important message! Aiden said… Aiden said…”

The parrot stalled, stuck for words. After quite a while, under Tyrian’s stunned divine gaze, it finally screeched: “Get some fries! Get some fries!”

Tyrian: “…?”

Lucretia on the other side of the scrying crystal also heard the commotion. Her puzzled voice came through: “Brother, is Polly hungry?”

“…No. It should be carrying some other message, but someone tampered with it.” Tyrian reacted at once. As Polly’s master, he knew this big parrot all too well, and he also knew Aiden’s personality just as well. His expression quickly turned serious. “Polly, did something happen on the ship?”

The big parrot tilted its head at its master and repeated “Get some fries” several more times, the meaning completely unclear. Then it suddenly stopped, as if it had finally remembered something. It cried out excitedly: “Blood-seeking spirit compass!”

Tyrian frowned slightly: “The Blood-seeking spirit compass?”

“It points at the city-state!” The big parrot beat its wings hard and yelled excitedly: “The Blood-seeking spirit compass, it points at the city-state!”

Tyrian suddenly froze, then reacted at once. His expression changed, and he snapped his head up to stare at the scrying crystal in front of him: “Lucy, he is…”

“Brother, leave Pland immediately.” Before Tyrian finished, Lucretia had already reacted on the other side of the scrying crystal. Her voice grew urgent as she said: “This could be a trap!”

But Tyrian did not respond at all to his younger sister’s urgent warning. He sat there rigid, like a frozen statue, eyes fixed straight ahead.

“Brother?” Lucretia’s voice now held confusion. “Didn’t you hear me?”

“Lucy, he is…” Tyrian finally broke the silence in a low voice. “…right across from me.”

The voice in the scrying crystal went quiet.

Tyrian stared fixedly ahead, at the other side of the table. On the wall over there, the surface of a decorative mirror with an oval frame was rippling with faint green flames. Amid the flickering fire, a stern figure stood in the mirror, calmly turning his divine gaze this way.

“First,” the figure in the mirror spoke. “This is not a trap. I am just as surprised that you came here.

“Second, I’m done with my work, so I came to see what you two are busy with.”

Tyrian still sat up straight, saying nothing. In the scrying crystal, Lucretia was just as stiff, but she could not see what was happening on the other side, and could only hear the voice. That made her even more uneasy, and she could not help whispering: “Is he really there?”

With no expression, Tyrian grabbed the box on the table and turned the scrying crystal and the lens assembly toward the other side: “Say hello to Father.”

As soon as Tyrian moved, Lucretia’s voice grew louder and more hurried: “No, no, no need to turn it, I just…”

She had already been turned.

Through the magic crystal sphere, she saw Father hanging on the wall.

Duncan also looked through the mirror surface at the woman inside the crystal sphere.

This was his first time seeing her, and in the mind of this body, aside from a faint impression of affection and nostalgia, he had no memory at all of being with her.

But that faint remaining sense of warmth and nostalgia still slowly spread through his heart. He had felt something similar when he saw Tyrian, but facing Lucretia now, that feeling seemed to carry a faint extra trace of… guilt and regret.

Was it because he owed her more? Or because of that last gift he never managed to send?

Duncan did not know. After all, those were not his own memories and feelings. It was only because of the identity he held now that he followed along, nodding to Lucretia: “Long time no see, Lucy.”

“Uh…” Lucretia’s expression grew unusually flustered and lost. This sea witch, who always presented herself as calm and mysterious, had finally run into something even harder to understand than the ever-changing border. She was so nervous and cramped that it felt as if she had gone back many, many years, back to that afternoon when she broke Father’s navigational instruments for the first time. “I… long time no see…”

After that, the room fell into an oppressive silence. Duncan only watched the pair of children in front of him in silence, his divine gaze on them. That wordless pressure seemed to pass through the scrying crystal all the way to the distant border of the Boundless Sea. Lucretia desperately searched her mind for a topic to break this quiet, and after holding it in for a long time finally blurted out: “Your… your frame suits you quite well…”

Duncan: “…Hm?”

“I mean, this patterned frame you have now really matches your presence…” Lucretia tried to patch it up in a panic. “Restrained, understated, and…”

“…Huh?”

“Especially when you’re hanging on the wall…”

Even Duncan was stunned: “What exactly are you trying to say?”

Lucretia finally turned her head a little to the side, as if trying to find where Tyrian was, muttering under her breath: “Help me out…”

Tyrian sighed, pushed the carrying case that held the scrying crystal a little to the side, then stood up and stepped between the crystal sphere and the framed mirror: “You came to us. Is there something you need?”