Chapter 284

Chapter 284: The Day of Boarding

In the Upper City, near the Cathedral, there was a high platform. It had once been part of the city park, but after the steam core reconstruction project, the original park facilities were moved elsewhere. Only this lonely platform remained here, like a forgotten knight standing on high, watching over the factories and plaza below.

From the platform, one could overlook the entire Cathedral District and the central factory district.

In her rare free time, Vanna came here to relax. When her thoughts would not calm, Vanna also came here to think quietly and sort out her mood.

The afternoon sunlight was good. Even with a light breeze, the platform was not very cold. The gentle sea wind swept across the platform, lifting the hair beside her ear and making it itch a little.

Vanna tossed her long white hair back. She let her gaze rest on the winding, fog-shrouded steam pipes in the distance. After a long time, she finally broke the silence: “I am going away for a while.”

“Going away?” Heidi turned her head in surprise. “Where are you going?”

“I am not sure. It might be somewhere very far away, and I may be gone for a long time.” Vanna looked into Heidi’s eyes. “I cannot reveal the exact route, but I should at least tell you before I leave.”

Heidi blinked, looking a little confused: “But you are the city-state’s Inquisitor. Can an Inquisitor just go off on a long journey like that?”

“I…” Vanna opened her mouth and tried to make her expression look like a smile. “It is an arrangement from the Church. A direct transfer order from the Storm Cathedral.”

“Ah… so that is how it is.” Heidi nodded in sudden understanding. She did not really understand the inner rules of the Deep Sea Church, but once the name ‘Storm Cathedral’ was brought up, there was no need to explain much. “So this is a holy mission, then? Are you being sent outside the diocese to fight Heretics?”

Vanna’s expression seemed to stiffen for a moment: “…In a sense, it does have something to do with Heretics, but it is not a combat mission.”

Heidi did not notice the subtle change in her friend’s tone. She only suddenly sighed: “Sigh, my father also went off on a long trip recently. There was no prophetic omen beforehand. He just suddenly told me he had to go deal with something, and my mother would not let me ask much. Now you are leaving too. It feels like you are all being mysterious.”

“Mr. Morris also went out?” Vanna muttered without thinking, but soon she shook her head, a faintly self-mocking look on her face. “He is probably off visiting his friends in the academic world, or attending some event. A scholar like him gets invitations from universities in various city-states all the time… Anyway, it is not the same place I am going.”

Heidi turned her head, looking at her friend with some doubt: “Why do I feel you are acting strange? You look weighed down. Are you uneasy because you are going far away? You really have not left the city-state much.”

“That is not it. I am probably just nervous because I was suddenly assigned to a task I have never dealt with before,” Vanna said, shaking her head. “You do not have to worry about me.”

“All right then.” Heidi let out a breath. Then, as if she suddenly remembered something, she suggested excitedly: “Right, how about we go to the cinema together? There is a new show out. We can use it to change your mood. You should really get in touch with more of what is popular these days. It might even help you expand your social circle…”

Vanna completely ignored the last two sentences. She only raised her eyebrows with some curiosity: “A new show? What is it about?”

“It is a work by Master Director Sandok, called ‘Borderland Terror’. It is about a small frontier village that falls into Heretic worship. They offer the village’s women as a sacrificial rite to a ‘cave evil spirit’, and in the end, brave guardians wipe out the evil. They say this show even uses a new technology called a ‘sound track’. While the images play, synchronized sound comes out of machines on both sides of the screen…”

Heidi eagerly introduced these ‘trendy new elements’ to her friend, but she noticed that Vanna’s expression grew stranger and stranger. Halfway through, Heidi hesitated and stopped. Then she thought for a moment and waved her hand: “All right, maybe you do not like that one. There is another show, called ‘Nightwatch’. It is about brave guardians entering a secret realm, getting trapped in a Heretic nest, and being forced to rely on their own wisdom and experience to survive inside while trying to hold on to their true selves… You do not like that one either?”

Heidi scratched her hair, rummaging through her memory: “Then I will recommend a book instead. It is a popular novel lately, called ‘Walking with Shadows’. It is about…”

Vanna finally could not listen anymore. Her face was almost turning dark as she cut off her friend’s chatter: “Thank you, but that is really not necessary.”

Then she seemed to realize her tone was a bit harsh. She sighed slightly, rubbing her forehead with her fingers as she explained quietly: “Thank you for caring. But the mission I am about to carry out requires firm will and a clear mind. Before I set out, it is better not to touch too many things that might disturb the heart.”

“Ah, all right. I did not think that through,” Heidi said with an awkward laugh. “I forgot you are a ‘professional’.”

Vanna waved her hand.

After a while, she heard Heidi’s voice again: “My break is almost over. I still have two patients with appointments this afternoon.”

Vanna let out a light breath: “Go back to work. I should start getting ready for my departure too.”

Heidi answered with a soft sound, but before she left the platform she suddenly stopped again. Heidi turned back. In the afternoon sunlight and the breeze, her expression looked a little hesitant: “When you leave… can I see you off?”

“…No. This is a special mission.”

“Then will you write letters back?”

Vanna hesitated for a moment.

She looked at Heidi. The wind blew her white hair, and in the fluttering strands, it felt as if a drifting Veil had already fallen between her and her friend.

“…I do not know,” Vanna said quietly. “But I will… try. Maybe it will not be that strict where I am going.”

“All right, then I will wait for your letters.” Heidi’s face suddenly bloomed with a bright smile. She stepped forward, pulled a crystal pendant from inside her collar, and shook it in the air. Then she pointed at Vanna’s chest. “Matching amulets. You will have good luck.”

Her friend left.

On the wind-swept platform, only Vanna remained.

The young Inquisitor lowered her head and looked at the small pendant on her chest.

“…Good luck, huh,” she muttered softly, her expression turning a little strange. “I hope that antique shopkeeper’s goods really can bring some good luck.”

A loud peal of bells suddenly rang from the direction of the Cathedral, cutting off Vanna’s thoughts.

She looked up toward the source of the sound and saw the huge clock face on the Great Bell tower showing the time. The light of the Sun had already passed the highest point in the sky and was slowly moving toward the west side of the great Cathedral.

She took out the parchment sheet and looked at the words on the back. That was her Induction Brief.

According to the instructions on the Induction Brief, a Messenger would come to pick her up in one hour. Before that, she should go to wait in the central courtyard of the great Cathedral. No unrelated people would disturb the handover.

What kind of Messenger would it be? And how would she be sent onto the Vanished, far away on the Boundless Sea?

Vanna had many questions in her heart, but she still set off toward the great Cathedral.

She had had many plans. Before leaving the city-state where she was born and raised, she had wanted to stroll through her favorite shops, visit the theater once more, go to the Harbor, see a few more friends, and go to the sanctuary for one more prayer…

But there was not enough time. She did not have that much freedom.

In the central courtyard of the great Cathedral, Pope Helena and Archbishop Valentine had already been waiting for her for some time.

“The Messenger has not arrived yet,” Valentine said with a nod to Vanna as she walked into the courtyard. “Are you ready?”

Vanna looked at what she carried.

Besides the greatsword that never left her side, she had only a packed suitcase. She did not own many personal things. Aside from the necessary changes of clothes, the heaviest items in the suitcase were her prayer book and a few Church texts that had received divine blessing.

Those were things she could safely read on the Boundless Sea, and they might help ease the boredom of life on the ship.

“Everything is here,” Vanna said with a nod. Then she looked up at the silent Pope beside her. “I can still pray on the ship, right?”

“Of course,” Helena answered with a smile. “Captain Duncan even promised that you can turn an extra cabin into a small chapel.”

“…Then I will at least have something to look forward to in my ‘crew member life’,” Vanna sighed. “I can hardly imagine what that life will be like.”

Helena opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, but just then the sound of crackling flames and beating wings suddenly came from the sky, cutting off the conversation in the courtyard.

The Messenger had arrived.

Vanna looked up in surprise, but she only had time to see a mass of emerald flame falling from the sky like a meteor. A pair of huge bone wings snapped open inside the fire. In the next second, the flames ‘fell’ onto the path in the courtyard and turned into a whirling, rising doorway.

“It is time to go,” Pope Helena said beside her, with both a reminder and a gentle urge.

“Mm.” Vanna gave a small nod. At that moment, she cast aside the last bit of hesitation in her heart and stepped forward.

She took a deep breath and crossed the spinning gate of flame. Her thoughts boiled over in that instant.

What kind of scene would lie beyond the door? What kind of life was waiting for her on that ship? Would she first see that terrifying ghost captain, or some… sailor on the Vanished?

What kind of strange forms would the crew members on that ship have?

The flames roared up and then vanished just as suddenly. Crossing the doorway took only a moment.

Vanna only felt a brief daze, and then damp, cold sea wind blew against her face. The sound of crashing waves came to her ears.

She blinked and patted her forehead hard.

Vanna felt that the teleportation might have gone a little wrong.

Or maybe there was something wrong with her eyes.

Because she saw… Morris standing right in front of her, smiling at her.