Chapter 439

Chapter 439: The Captain’s Suggestion

Duncan shifted into a more comfortable position and leaned back against the sofa. His gaze, peeking through the gaps between the bandages crisscrossing his face, rested on the Goddess official in front of him with a half-smile.

“Now that you know who I am, how do you feel?” He smiled as he spoke. “From the point of view of the Church of Death—you should report this at once.”

Agatha opened her mouth but could not say anything for quite a while. After a full half minute, she finally gave a bitter little smile and spread her hands: “You have put me in a very awkward position…”

“But you really should report everything that happened here to the Church at once,” Duncan put away his smile, and his tone finally turned serious. “Pland was the first, Frostholm is the second. Those cultists have indeed caused a lot of trouble over the years, but never so many big incidents so close together. And do not forget, besides two city-states coming close to total destruction, the Sun above our heads—Vision 001—has also shown some unsettling changes lately.”

Agatha threw off her embarrassment at once. With Duncan’s reminder, her expression slowly grew solemn: “…You mean these events are all connected?”

“I do not know—do not look so surprised, I am not some all-knowing being,” Duncan said casually. “But I have a habit. When all kinds of low-probability events happen one after another, I tend to think of them as ‘omens’ of a larger system starting to go wrong. What the cultists did in the two city-states may not look connected, but have you thought about why they all managed to succeed lately? In all of history there have been so many large-scale heretic sacrificial rites. How many actually stirred up anything on this level?”

Agatha fell into thought, and her expression grew heavier.

“Report it all,” Duncan said softly. “Do not let any clue slip by—let the minds of clever people really think it over.”

“I understand. I will make a full report,” Agatha said with great seriousness, then fixed her gaze on Duncan and added on purpose: “Everything.”

“I look forward to the Church of Death’s reaction,” Duncan breathed out gently, as if putting down a weight. “It is not good to keep dragging this out.”

After that, the sitting room fell quiet for a while. It seemed everyone had sunk into their own thoughts (Alice excepted). No one knew how long had passed before Agatha suddenly spoke and broke the silence: “I should go back.”

“Not stay a bit longer?” Duncan asked. “In the current situation, the moment you go out, you will have countless things to give you a headache. You will not get many chances to hide here for some peace and quiet.”

“That is exactly why I have to go back as soon as possible,” Agatha shook her head. “The city-state has countless problems that need solving. It is not just the Church; City Hall is also a complete mess. If I keep hiding for some quiet, then truly there will be no one left to hold the situation together.”

“A complete mess…” Duncan repeated thoughtfully, then suddenly asked a question. “Do you think, relying only on Frostholm’s remaining organization and manpower, you can really restore order to the whole city in a short time?”

Agatha paused, not understanding why Duncan had suddenly asked this. After a brief silence, she still nodded: “…I will do my best.”

“‘Do your best’—but many times, doing your best does not solve the problem.”

“…What do you mean?”

“I just suddenly had a very bold suggestion,” Duncan said with a smile, his gaze settling on Agatha. “A suggestion from an outsider.”

…

When Agatha left No. 44 Oak Street, the daylight had already grown dim. The power of the Sun was slowly fading from the Mortal Realm, while the fine snow still flew in the sky. The tiny drifting flakes fell out of the dark chaos above, passed through the dim halos cast by gas streetlamps, and slowly covered the cold, empty streets.

A Guardian night patrol unit marched past the distant intersection. Now and then the clanking footsteps of a Steam Walker broke the silence on the road. The chimes that marked the change of day and night floated from far away, and in the evening wind came the organ music of the little Cathedral at the street corner.

The scarred city-state was licking its wounds beneath the veil of night.

The cold wind swept through the alleys, tugging at Agatha’s hair and skirt. Standing on the snowy street, she held out her hand and tilted her head slightly: “It is still snowing.”

Vanna, who had walked her to the door, turned her gaze curiously: “You cannot see the snowflakes?”

“I cannot—but I can feel them,” Agatha said softly. “There are many more things in my field of vision now, but there are also many things gone. It will take a long time to get used to it.”

She slowly drew back her hand, and a small smile suddenly appeared on her face. “But the good news is, I no longer feel how sharp the cold wind is. No matter how many layers of clothing I put on or how many stoves I lit, this world… always felt just as cold.”

“…Sorry, it is hard for me to imagine that feeling.”

“Oh, do not worry about it. It actually does not trouble me much,” Agatha said with a small laugh. She slowly curled her fingers into a fist, and as power gathered, faint ghostly green flame rose along the crisscrossing “scars” all over her body. The flame flowed through her like blood. “Like this, it feels a bit better.”

Vanna was silent for a few seconds: “If the Captain knew you were using the flame he gave you as a hand warmer, his expression would probably be quite something.”

“What kind of person is he?” Agatha let the Power of Flame fade and suddenly asked with great curiosity. “Is he very strict or scary in daily life?”

“What do you think? You have already met him twice,” Vanna said.

“I feel that every report about him is off from the truth. He is far calmer and friendlier than I imagined. But… maybe I should call him ‘He’ instead. I do not know if I should judge a being like Him by mortal standards. I know He used to be human, but Subspace… you know what I mean.”

Vanna thought for a few seconds and gently shook her head: “I have not followed him for very long, so I probably cannot give you a clear answer. But I can tell you that I once had worries like yours. And in the end, the Storm Cathedral decided to send me, an Inquisitor, aboard the Vanished. Just as Captain Duncan chose to believe that a ‘replica’ could have humanity, we also believe—or rather, choose to believe—in Captain Duncan’s humanity. After all…”

She suddenly stopped, lifted her head, and looked up at the sky where the snowflakes were swirling. After a moment, she spoke softly as if to herself: “After all, this world is too cold. If even we stop believing in hope, then on this Boundless Sea there would really be nothing left but a bitter wind.”

Agatha did not speak for a while.

After a few seconds of quiet, Vanna suddenly asked: “What do you think of the Captain’s suggestion?”

Agatha fell into thought. After a while she answered with a complicated expression: “Letting the Sea Mist Fleet enter the city… To be honest, I do not even know whether that will restore order to the city-state or bring greater chaos. You have been living in this city for a while. You must know very well what the Sea Mist Fleet means to most people in Frostholm…”

“To most people in Pland, the Vanished is just as terrifying,” Vanna said. “But believe me, after a terrible disaster, people’s ‘ability to accept things’ really reaches a shocking level. From the point of view of the crowd, their longing for a stable life will outweigh many worries.”

“A longing for a stable life…”

Agatha spoke softly. Through this body that had already lost its life, she felt the cold of the snowy night, and for some reason, she thought of something else.

Fifty years ago, when that great uprising broke out, it had also been snowing.

“I will discuss this matter carefully with the officials at City Hall,” she said, as if making up her mind. She turned to Vanna. “And from a personal point of view, I will support it.”

“We all hope everything will turn out well,” Vanna said.

“Yes, we all hope everything will turn out well.”

Agatha repeated the words, then waved her hand and walked toward the Steam Car parked at the curb, the one bearing the Church’s crest.

But after only a few steps, she suddenly stopped.

“Is there something else?” Vanna asked curiously.

“Some… private questions. I hope I am not being too rude,” Agatha turned her head back. Her expression looked a little strange as she asked hesitantly: “Did you really once leap off a cliff, slay a spawn, and then come back safe and sound?”

Vanna froze, her eyes going odd: “Why suddenly ask that?”

“I do not know either. The question just suddenly popped into my head,” Agatha said, looking a bit embarrassed. “I feel like I heard that kind of rumor somewhere before… Sorry if it makes you uncomfortable, I…”

“It is nothing. It did happen,” Vanna relaxed and waved her hand with a smile. “But the truth is not like the rumor at all. I actually stepped wrong while taking a walk and fell from the edge of a cliff. When I hit the ground, I happened to crush a Deep Sea corruption body that had somehow washed ashore. It was not a real ‘spawn’, and it was hardly any kind of heroic kill. I have no idea why it spread that way.”

Agatha’s mouth opened slightly—in spite of the cloth over her eyes, her expression still clearly said she was stunned.

“Then… you were all right?” the Miss Gatekeeper asked without thinking.

“I was actually hurt pretty badly,” Vanna said with an embarrassed smile. Then she patted her chest and struck a strong pose. “But luckily I am an athlete. I went home, drank hot water, and lay in bed for two days, and I was fine.”

Agatha: “…?”

The Miss Gatekeeper was deeply shaken.

Vanna looked a bit puzzled: “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…You Pland athletes are terrifying,” Agatha said.