Chapter 329

Chapter 329: Student

Alice and Vanna hid in the dark at the corner of the street. They would wait there for orders and keep an eye on the area around the building.

Duncan and Morris walked up to the building with the black front door.

The inside of the building was very quiet. That was only natural. The Sun had not yet risen, and this world’s nights were never fit for an ordinary person to be out and about. Most normal people did not have much “night life” after nightfall. Going to bed early and waiting for morning was the rule.

But would a “replica” that had returned from the Deep Sea keep the same schedule as an ordinary person?

Duncan raised his head and noticed a clear button in the corner of the doorframe. He reached out and pressed it twice.

Faintly, they could hear the sharp, urgent ring of an electric bell from inside the building. In the stillness of the night, the bell sounded especially harsh.

“Maybe we should not be knocking on doors during curfew,” Morris rubbed his forehead. His tone held a bit of doubt. “If we disturb a neighbor, it will draw suspicion.”

“But your friend may not be able to wait much longer. It is better to be early,” Duncan said calmly. “Do not worry about the rest. Making the Church suspicious or alarming the city-state authority is all just part of life. You should get used to being a member of the Vanished.”

Morris opened his mouth but did not say anything. Duncan reached out again and pressed the doorbell twice more.

At last, they heard hurried footsteps from inside the building, along with the sound of something being knocked over. Then the light in the living room came on, and soft light spilled out onto the street through the nearby window.

The lock clicked. The black door opened a crack, and a wary eye peered out. At the same time, a young, nervous voice asked: “Who is it?”

It sounded like a young woman.

Duncan and Morris exchanged a glance. Duncan looked a little surprised, while Morris looked thoughtful, as if he had remembered something.

“Are you Galina?” Morris asked carefully. “Is Brown Scott Mr. at home? I am a friend of your Teacher’s.”

As he spoke, he turned toward Duncan and lowered his voice, speaking quickly: “That might be Brown Scott’s student. I heard him mention her.”

Duncan nodded in understanding. At the same time, the young woman behind the door clearly hesitated after hearing Morris’s words. Only after a moment did she speak again: “Sorry, it is very late, and Teacher is sleeping. Could you come back after sunrise?”

Morris frowned. The situation was not what he had expected. He had not thought that, six years after Brown Scott’s death, the man’s student would still be living in this house. But after a short pause, he found the right words. “We arrived too late and have not found a place to stay yet. Also, your Teacher wrote me a letter earlier. He invited me here.”

The old scholar paused for a moment, then went on: “My name is Morris Underwood. Your Teacher should have mentioned me.”

The voice inside fell silent. “Galina” seemed to be searching her memory. After several seconds, she spoke again: “Then… please wait a moment. I will open the chain.”

The sound of metal clinking and chain scraping came from behind the door. The person inside opened the safety chain that hung on the inner side, and the door finally swung open. In the warm, bright light, Duncan saw a tall, slightly strange figure.

She was only a few centimeters shorter than Vanna. Her height, almost one meter ninety, was striking. Unlike the tall but still slender Vanna, this young lady in the doorway had strong, powerful muscles visible all over her body. But what drew the eye even more than her height was her skin, which was gray-white like stone and traced with faint golden lines.

Aside from these obvious nonhuman traits, however, her face was no different from that of an ordinary young human woman. It even looked a bit… delicate.

Because she had just been woken from sleep in the middle of the night, this stone-like young lady wore only a loose nightgown. Her brown hair lay a little messy down her back. She held on to the doorframe and studied the two uninvited guests at her door with cautious eyes.

Just as Duncan was curiously looking her over, she was also looking curiously at Duncan: a broad-shouldered Visitor in a black coat and a wide-brimmed hat, with no facial features visible between the folds of clothing, only layers of bandages.

Even if people in Frostholm were used to “bandages,” this Visitor was still a bit too intimidating.

The muscles on her body tensed in a way that could be seen with the naked eye.

“Ah, I forgot to say,” Morris’s voice suddenly broke the tense, awkward mood. He turned to Duncan. “Brown’s student Galina is a Senkin. They really are not very common in the northern city-states.”

Then he looked back at Galina standing in the doorway: “This is Mr. Duncan. He is…”

“Morris’s friend, a traveling explorer. He is very interested in Mr. Brown Scott’s research, so he came by while passing through,” Duncan said first. “I hope we are not causing you any trouble.”

“…Teacher is resting. I do not know when he will wake up, but he did mention that Mr. Morris might come visit,” Galina said. Her soft, hesitant voice did not match her tall, strong body at all. It carried a kind of timid lack of confidence. When she spoke, she did not dare meet Duncan’s or Morris’s eyes. She muttered as she stepped aside. “Please come in. It is cold outside.”

Morris thanked her and stepped into the house with Duncan.

The turning of the hinges broke the silence of the night. The black door closed, and the street outside fell quiet again.

Just inside the entrance was a plain living room. The furniture looked like it had already been in use for at least ten or twenty years. One side of the living room opened into the kitchen and dining room. On the other side was a staircase leading up to the second floor. Under the stairs they could see a narrow door that likely led to a basement or wine cellar.

Under the bright electric light, no suspicious dark corners could be seen in the room. Everything in sight looked warm and… ordinary.

Duncan and Morris did not show too much curiosity. They only gave the room a quick look, then sat down in the living room under Galina’s guidance. The tall Senkin lady went into the kitchen and began busily making tea and preparing some snacks.

“Would you like some sweet pancakes and sausages? That is all we have right now…” Galina called from the kitchen to her guests, her voice carrying a hint of apology.

“Just some hot water is fine. No need to trouble yourself,” Morris waved a hand. When Galina came back over, he asked a seemingly casual question, “By the way, have you been living here all this time?”

“Yes, I have always lived here,” Galina nodded. “Teacher went away on a trip for a while before. He gave me the key and asked me to look after the place for him. So I moved in from my old rented place and have stayed ever since. He came back recently, and I stayed here to keep taking care of him.”

“He went away for a while?” Morris frowned without thinking. “When was that?”

“…About five or six years ago,” Galina thought for a moment and answered without much certainty. Her face held a touch of shame. “I can never remember times very well. Teacher always scolds me for that.”

Morris and Duncan exchanged a look.

“When did Mr. Brown come back?” Duncan asked, as if in passing.

“About a month ago,” Galina answered in the same casual tone one used for small talk. “He came back all of a sudden and said he was tired from traveling and needed a good long rest… Oh, it was after that that he mentioned inviting Mr. Morris over as a guest.”

“I was very surprised when I got his letter,” Morris went on smoothly. “He had not contacted me in many years. The last news I received from him, many years ago, was that he was going to sea by ship… Ah, I think it was a small mail steamer called the Obsidian?”

As he spoke, he watched the person in front of him closely, without seeming to.

But Galina showed no reaction at all when she heard “the Obsidian.” She only thought for a moment, then shook her head: “I do not know about that. He did not tell me much when he went out…”

Her tone and expression as she answered were perfectly normal.

But her answer itself was clearly wrong.

She did not know which ship her Teacher had taken when he left!

For an ordinary teacher-student relationship, that might not mean anything. But her bond with that folklore scholar was clearly more than that. Brown Scott had trusted this student enough to hand over the key to his own home, and she had lived here for six full years. After “coming home,” Teacher had let her keep caring for him without any doubt. With a relationship that close and trusting, Brown could not possibly have left without telling Galina his travel plans.

Galina calmly met the Visitor’s eyes. Her expression was quiet and peaceful.

It was as if everything happening around her was only natural.