Chapter 254

Chapter 254: Perhaps It Was Not Over Yet

By this point, Duncan finally understood the whole story of the Abyssal Trench Project, which had been sealed away for half a century. He now knew why it was seen as a taboo, and why even the Rebels who had started the Frostholm uprising were deeply afraid of it—they truly had every reason to be afraid.

Even though the whole thing had taken place from beginning to end within the Mortal Realm, once the situation entered a runaway state, it clearly went beyond the order of the Mortal Realm. Beneath the Deep Sea lay a completely unknown terror. Even in the end, no one ever figured out what it really was. People only kept falling into madness, and the entire project only sped up, as if it was sliding toward an abyss.

There was the endless Deep Dive, the strange mood that slowly spread, and the Queen of Frostholm’s later behavior, which was almost like shutting herself away from the world… To be fair, even Duncan himself, looking at this chain of facts, would instinctively think that Ray Nora had truly been tempted and controlled by something. He would even suspect that the Queen of Frostholm had joined hands with Subspace.

In such a situation, it was not just that Frostholm already had hidden opponents of the Queen inside its walls. It was not just that many city-states in the Frost Sea already held ill intentions toward Frostholm and the Queen’s rule. Even if the northern situation had once been steady, under such pressure, undercurrents would still have risen with time.

But Tyrian kept stressing that Ray Nora had never been influenced by anything. He firmly believed that the Queen of Frostholm had stayed clear-minded until the end, and had protected the city-state until the end.

Duncan could not say for sure whether Tyrian’s judgment was right, but he tended to believe it, because… he had also seen that Queen of Frostholm in the fragments of history.

She had even calmly and rationally asked him: “Please don’t corrupt history.”

At least from that one meeting, the Queen of Frostholm in those days had not looked like some terrible madman controlled by Subspace.

But it was exactly because of this that Duncan felt even more curious. He could not figure out what kind of motive would make a clear-headed city lord make those withdrawn and extreme decisions. What could drive her to keep pushing the Abyssal Trench Project at all costs, even when she knew there was something wrong with it? And what reason could make her lock all those secrets in her heart and say nothing, not even in front of the navy commander she trusted the most?

After thinking for a long time, Duncan found that all the questions pointed to one thing in the end: what kind of “secret” had the Queen of Frostholm learned in the Deep Sea?

“…After the Frostholm Great Uprising, you never returned to that city-state?” Duncan raised his head and looked at Tyrian as he asked.

“No. Her Majesty Ray Nora once ordered me to lead my direct troops out of Frostholm. At that time, the Rebels had already joined forces with other northern city-states, and they had gathered an entire fleet on the outer sea,” Tyrian said. His voice grew especially low; it was clearly a past he did not want to bring up. “…But if I had disobeyed the order and stayed, Frostholm would have had one more unit still loyal to the Queen. Those Rebels would never have broken through the defenses of the Harbor so easily…”

“So in later years there were rumors that you actually took part in the uprising, and that you were even the one who let the Rebels into Frostholm,” Duncan said as he shook his head. “Have you ever thought about why the Queen of Frostholm gave that order back then? Did she leave you no other instructions?”

“…I was confused by it for many years,” Tyrian said honestly. “The Queen gave no further orders. She only told me to leave with my troops. I once thought that maybe she wanted to leave a force behind to avenge her in the future, but… that made no sense. She forbade us from ever returning to the city, and the Rebels took the city. If we could not go back, how could we avenge her?”

“You could raid the Rebels’ fleets on the outer sea and intercept every merchant going in and out of Frostholm. You did that for many years.”

“Yes. That was the only thing I could think to do, and it was also the only way to keep the Sea Mist Fleet alive… At that time we did not even have a home port,” Tyrian said, shaking his head. “But now we have slowly stopped those raids.”

“Why?”

“…Because the last Rebel leader is dead now. He died of old age,” Tyrian said with a bitter smile as he spread his hands. “We did everything we could to hunt down those Rebel leaders. When we caught one, we hanged him from the mast, then threw the body onto merchant ships bound for Frostholm. So they got smart. They all hid inside the city and did not step beyond its walls for decades. I could only watch as they lived out their lives in peace, until everyone who had taken part in the uprising had left this world.”

Duncan did not speak for a while. He stayed silent in thought for a long time before he suddenly said: “All of your soldiers are ‘Living dead’, right?”

Tyrian answered without thinking: “Yes. Everyone knows that.”

“They also all took part in the Abyssal Trench Project, directly or indirectly?”

“I took part in that project. They were my direct troops, so of course they took part too,” Tyrian said offhand. Then he frowned slightly. “Have you thought of something?”

“You all took part in the Abyssal Trench Project, but unlike the others involved, you did not become insane and twisted in the later stages. After ‘one thousand meters’, the Queen of Frostholm quarreled with you and pushed you out of the project. Then, on the eve of the Rebel assault, your Queen ordered you to lead your direct troops away from Frostholm…”

Duncan spoke slowly as he thought. In the end, his gaze fell on Tyrian, and his voice grew low: “You are right. That Queen of Frostholm may really have wanted to leave a force behind. But she did not seem to leave this force to avenge herself…”

Tyrian slowly showed a stunned look. Just as he was about to ask something more, the figure in the mirror shook his head lightly and said: “Don’t ask me. If you can’t figure it out yourself, I can’t either. I only said what I thought, from the view of an onlooker.”

After that, the room fell into a brief silence. After who knew how long, Duncan’s voice sounded again: “Tyrian, we have talked long enough this time.”

The Pirate Lord, who was still lost in thought, looked up at these words. He stared at the Father in the mirror in some surprise, as if he only then realized something. A complicated, shocked look appeared in his eyes.

He seemed to have just realized how much he had told the other side, and realized that, without noticing it, he had fully grown used to the mood of this conversation. Even a century ago, he had rarely had such a long talk with the Father. As for the bit of wariness he had felt when he first woke up here… it had already vanished at some point.

“I…” He tried to speak without thinking, but a sudden sting came from his forehead. He could not help touching his brow. “Ah… that hurts…”

“…The child didn’t know her own strength. I hope you won’t hold it against her,” Duncan’s voice came from the mirror. “Do you need some salve?”

“No… no need,” Tyrian said. His expression was a bit strange as he waved his hand. He could not help thinking of the last scene he remembered before coming here: that strange little young lady, and that thing that had flown at him through the air… something like a dog. Then he suddenly reacted: “Wait, I remember now. That wasn’t a dog. That was a Abyssal Hound!”

He looked toward the mirror, disbelief in his eyes: “Is that also one of your subordinates now? An… Annihilator?”

When he said the words “Annihilator”, he sounded a little unsure. He clearly did not dare to claim Shirley’s true nature. He had seen Annihilators before, but this was the first time he had seen one rush in swinging a contracted demon like a club…

“She is doing some work for me,” Duncan said with a faint, unreadable smile. “But if you ever get the chance to meet her again, I suggest you don’t use the word ‘Annihilator’ in front of her. She dislikes it very much.”

Tyrian made a muddled sound of agreement, then looked around the room without thinking. His eyes finally fell on Alice, who already seemed to be spacing out beside him.

Alice quickly snapped back to herself and looked at Tyrian in curiosity: “Why are you looking at me?”

“Nothing,” Tyrian said as he pulled back his gaze. Something complicated, some feeling, hid in his eyes. In the end he looked at the mirror that was still burning with flames and asked, not very sure: “Then I… can leave now?”

“Do you want to stay for dinner?”

Tyrian quickly waved his hands: “Ah… no, that won’t be necessary…”

“Very well. Then I’ll have my messenger send you…” Duncan in the mirror nodded. But then he suddenly frowned, as if something had come to him. “Wait. I just thought of something.”

Tyrian tensed up a little without meaning to: “Something?”

“Strictly speaking, it’s two doubts about the same thing,” Duncan said. His face grew serious again as he stared at Tyrian. “Do you remember what you just mentioned, about several ‘replicas’ of Submersible No. 3 surfacing one after another?”

“Of course,” Tyrian said with a nod. “Counting the first original and the six later replicants, seven ‘Submersible No. 3s’ surfaced in total.”

“I have two questions,” Duncan said slowly after putting his thoughts in order. “First, was that first submersible that surfaced back then… really the original?

“Second, was the seventh submersible that surfaced really empty inside?”