Chapter 346

Chapter 346: Blockade

The young lady standing at the door looked at most eleven or twelve years old. She was short and wore a warm, thick white coat, and a bit of steam rose from her wool hat—she seemed to have run all the way here. When she saw Morris she was still out of breath, but a bright smile soon bloomed on her face.

“You’re Grandpa Morris, right? Mother asked me to bring this,” she said as she held out her hand and passed over a key. “It’s the basement key. Mother said she forgot to give it to you when she left.”

“Ah, thank you, little young lady,” Morris said, coming back to his senses. He took the key and nodded. “Come in and warm up for a bit?”

The young lady was just about to speak when Duncan’s voice suddenly sounded from behind Morris, with a hint of surprise: “Annie?”

Looking past the old scholar’s shoulder, Duncan gazed in some astonishment at the girl standing in the doorway.

It was Annie Barbelli, the girl he had seen earlier at the cemetery gate—the daughter of Captain Cristo Barbelli of the Obsidian.

Duncan already understood what had happened. He did not know whether to call it a coincidence or to sigh over how “small” the city-state was. After going around in circles, he had met the Obsidian captain’s daughter again. The temporary lodging that Morris and Vanna had spent a whole day finding… turned out to be Annie’s family home.

Annie also saw the tall, broad figure that suddenly appeared in front of her, and her eyes instantly widened.

The unexpected situation left the young lady a bit at a loss. She stared blankly for several seconds before she finally reacted and greeted him clumsily: “Ah, it’s the uncle from the cemetery gate… you… hel-hello?”

Her last greeting was clearly hesitant. She was obviously remembering what had happened at the cemetery gate, remembering that strange sight when Duncan left and flames soared into the sky. Duncan had not thought much of it at the time, but that scene had clearly left a deep mark in the young lady’s mind.

Even though she was still young, Annie knew that it had been the power of the supernatural. Knowledge of such things had long been written into every city-state’s textbooks and spread through the common education for all citizens. A basic understanding of supernatural powers and simple protection skills was the foundation that allowed ordinary people to live safely in this world.

But Annie still could not tell what kind of power it was. Her textbooks had never talked about it. Grandpa Caretaker at the cemetery had not explained it to her. When she went home and told Mother, Mother also told her nothing.

It felt like a secret that a small child was not supposed to touch yet.

Annie stared blankly at Duncan standing opposite her. Grandpa Caretaker’s earlier warning still echoed in her ears, and it made her instinctively uneasy. But then the tall figure suddenly stepped to the side, and his voice, which sounded a bit frightening yet carried a trace of warmth, said: “Come in and rest for a while. It’s starting to snow again outside.”

Only then did Annie belatedly turn her head to look back. She saw swirling snowflakes falling from the sky once more. A few flakes rode the wind down her collar, cold as ice against her neck.

She walked into the house as if pulled by unseen hands, looking around in a daze.

The sister with the beautiful blond hair and noble air was also standing in the living room, beside the dining table, watching them with curious eyes.

She had taken off her veil. She looked very beautiful—almost the most beautiful person Annie had ever seen.

“Mother said I shouldn’t bother the tenants,” Annie said, rubbing the dirt and melted snow from her little boots on the mat at the entrance, still speaking hesitantly. “She said Grandpa Morris is a Grand Scholar, and it would be very rude to make trouble…”

“You’re not bothering us. We were just thinking about learning a bit more about our new place,” Morris said at once, having more or less guessed the situation. “And it’s snowing again outside. It’s not safe for you to run back along the little paths. Rest here for a while. Later Vanna will walk you home.”

Annie looked up at Vanna, who was like a little giant, and nodded without thinking.

Then she looked toward Duncan. She hesitated for a few seconds before she spoke: “So… so you also need to live in a house?”

“Of course I live in a house,” Duncan said with a laugh. As he led Annie toward the sofa in the living room, he added casually: “You run around outside all by yourself. Doesn’t your Mother worry?”

In his view, Annie really ran around too wildly. She had not only gone to the cemetery alone early in the morning, but now, in this awful weather, she had run through the alleys between blocks to bring a key to new tenants whose background she did not even know. That was truly worrying.

“It’s not that bad. Everyone around here knows me. Mother says half the people on these two streets were Dad’s friends,” Annie said, not caring at all. She sat down on the sofa, braced her hands under her thighs, and swung her body back and forth. “And Mother is usually very busy. She has to keep accounts and fill in forms for people. When she has time, she also goes to help at the little cathedral. I’ve gotten used to running around.”

Duncan thought for a moment and asked: “Then… when you went home, did you tell your Mother what I told you?”

“I told her,” Annie said with a nod. Then her expression turned a bit strange. “At first she said I was talking nonsense. Later I told her what Grandpa Caretaker at the cemetery said. Then she went back to her room alone… When she came out, it looked like she had been crying… but she smiled and told me we would have fried fish fillets and sausage stew for dinner, because today is a day worth celebrating.”

She stopped swinging her body and looked a little confused. She raised her head to look at Duncan and said, curious and hesitant: “I feel like… I don’t really understand.”

“It’s all right. You’ll understand sooner or later,” Duncan said with a smile. “Some things are too complicated for you right now.”

“Uncle, you talk just like Grandpa Caretaker. He says that a lot too,” Annie muttered. Then she shook her head, as if she had thought very seriously for a while, and looked up again. “Uncle, do you… not want to be bothered by people?”

Duncan was curious: “Why do you say that?”

“Because of the way you dress—and because you suddenly disappeared when you left. Mother says that is the style of the secret staff from the Grand Cathedral, or of the hermits in those societies… I think that was the word, ‘style’.”

For a moment Duncan did not know how to answer the young lady. But she clearly did not wait for his reply. Annie thought to herself for a bit and then suddenly said: “I won’t just go and tell anyone. Grandpa Caretaker reminded me too. He told me to act as if I never met you and not tell anyone except Mother.”

Duncan let out a silent laugh, but before he could speak, Annie went on: “Then can I tell Grandpa Caretaker? Tell him… you’re living in my family’s house?”

Morris and Vanna, who had come over by the sofa to listen in, could not help looking at each other when they heard the young lady’s words. Alice at once turned her eyes to Duncan.

They all felt that something about this was not quite right.

However, Duncan only stayed silent for a few seconds, then nodded slightly with a smile: “You can. I don’t mind.”

…

At the same time, near the eastern Harbor, the work of collecting samples from the wreck of the Sea Swallow had already begun.

Several light, fast boats left the docks and carefully approached that patch of sea where foul “sludge” and a few tongues of flame still floated. Each boat carried a priest and a sacred relic, as well as nitroglycerin charges for emergencies.

On shore, the Harbor garrison was also ready to receive them.

An empty warehouse had been chosen as a temporary transfer facility. priests and Guardians who had rushed over from the higher Cathedral had already finished the purification and countermeasures for the whole area. Before leaving, Gatekeeper Agatha had left behind a squad of elite trusted aides to guard against accidents during the collection of the wreck samples.

Lister stood on the pier, watching the situation on the sea. Several of his trusted subordinate aides stood nearby, keeping an eye on the progress of the salvage work.

“Are we sure bringing those things ashore won’t cause any problems?” one trusted aide asked, unease in his voice. “Of course, I am not questioning the Gatekeeper’s judgment, but those things… a few hours ago, they were rushing toward Frostholm Island at a terrifying speed. Are they really ‘dead’ now?”

“Lady Agatha made repeated deep checks in the Spirit Realm. These things are no longer active,” Lister said calmly. “They really can be ‘killed’. Judging from Lady Agatha’s attitude and how she handled it, I think the Grand Cathedral may already have dealt with similar things before.”

“Similar things? They have already appeared inside the city-state?” a junior officer said in shock. “I… I never heard any news like that…”

“If you haven’t heard, that only shows this matter should not be made public yet, or at least not yet. The Grand Cathedral and City Hall have their own judgment,” Lister said with a shake of his head. “In any case, Lady Agatha is trustworthy. She would not risk the city-state’s safety. What we need to do is follow the experts’ judgment—the priests know much better than soldiers how to deal with such strange things.”

The trusted aide fell silent. But just then, another burst of hurried footsteps sounded, and a soldier came quickly up onto the pier.

“Commander!” The soldier trotted over to Lister, saluted, and handed the Defense Commander a document that had just arrived through the Pneumatic Tube System. “Orders from City Hall.”

“Looks like the formal order to seal off Dagger Island has arrived,” Lister said as he took the document. But when he saw what was written, his expression suddenly changed.

One trusted aide noticed. “Commander? Is something wrong?”

“…It is indeed an order to block sea routes, but not to seal off Dagger Island.” Lister’s face grew grim, and his tone became especially serious. “Strictly speaking, it is not only Dagger Island. The order demands that all routes in and out of Frostholm be sealed, and all garrison troops go into battle readiness.”

“Seal… the whole main island of Frostholm?!”

“The Sea Mist Fleet has appeared in the nearby waters,” Lister said, drawing in a slow breath. His face looked even darker than the sky. “The entire Sea Mist Fleet.”