Chapter 516

Chapter 516: Approaching

“At our current speed, we will reach the waters around Lightwind Harbor in a day. But that is only what the enchanted sea chart shows. As for whether the Vanished is actually in these waters right now, we still have to confirm it. After all… this is far too unbelievable.”

Goathead’s tone carried both gravity and hesitation, and ever since Duncan had met this thing, he had rarely heard it react like this.

There was no doubt that what was happening to the Vanished now had already gone far beyond this “First Mate’s” experience.

Duncan braced both hands on the edge of the chart table, his expression grave as he stared at the patch of slowly rippling mist on the enchanted sea chart. Between the pale outline of the Vanished and the route to the north, swaths of mist now floated—this was the route the Vanished should have sailed along, yet it was still shrouded in fog.

“…During the twelve hours when the Sun went out, we directly ‘skipped’ the entire stretch of voyage from the northern route to the southern seas, and not even you know how it happened,” Duncan raised his eyes and looked at Goathead on the edge of the table. “But during that same period, the White Oak on the Boundless Sea did not experience this. They still more or less kept to the proper sailing path.”

“…I don’t know how to explain this, Captain,” Goathead’s head swayed slightly, looking embarrassed and uneasy. “The Vanished and the White Oak have both gone through your flame’s Baptism, but the two ships are far too different. Any tiny difference in detail could be the reason this happened…”

Duncan did not speak for a moment. His face remained solemn as he sank into thought for more than ten seconds. Then he suddenly seemed to think of something and broke the silence: “When did the enchanted sea chart change?”

This time Goathead answered unusually fast: “Just now, when the Sun lit up again.”

“Are you sure?” Duncan knew the other would not lie to him, but he still asked out of habit.

“Positive,” Goathead nodded up and down. “I have been watching everything related to ‘navigation’, including any movement on the enchanted sea chart. While the Sun was out, the enchanted sea chart did not change at all, as if we were standing still. Only after the Sun lit up again did the enchanted sea chart start showing some… confusion. It was like the chaos we see every time we rise from the Spirit Realm back into the Mortal Realm. I thought it was just recalibrating itself, but when it finally stabilized, it showed that the Vanished was already near Lightwind Harbor…”

Duncan listened carefully to Goathead’s explanation. Suddenly he frowned: “So this ‘jump’ most likely happened at the very moment the Sun rekindled…”

Goathead slowly nodded.

The captain’s cabin fell into a heavy silence.

Duncan did not know what Goathead was thinking. He only knew that his own mind was full of chaotic guesses and countless questions, and all of them seemed to circle one single core: during the Sun’s extinction and rekindling, what exactly had changed in the Boundless Sea?

At first, he had only thought it was a temporary darkness, just like when the Sun had risen more than ten minutes late before. During that delayed sunrise, aside from the people who sensed it and felt nervous and afraid, the entire world had seemed completely unaffected.

But very soon, he realized that this time the Sun’s extinction had caused many things to go wrong—communications between city-states had been cut off, and the White Oak had witnessed that strange “boundary” out at sea.

And now, after the Sun lit up again, he discovered that the eerie impact of this event went far beyond those things—the entire Vanished had “teleported” over two-thirds of its route and appeared directly near Lightwind Harbor, while Tyrian reported that the other city-states had no idea the Sun had ever gone out at all…

It was as if, in the brief switch between the Sun’s “extinction” and “rekindling”, the whole world had briefly taken on a bizarre “form”, sprouting rifts and dissonances everywhere. And the Vanished, this “ghost ship” that sailed at the edge of the Mortal Realm, had crossed that torn “chasm” for a short, lucid moment.

A terrifying idea burst into Duncan’s mind before he could suppress it—

What was the Sun’s true role?

Was it only there to provide light and heat, and to suppress the world’s “supernatural corruption”? What was it actually suppressing—the supernatural corruption in this world… or the world itself?

“…Captain,” Goathead’s voice suddenly came from beside him, breaking Duncan’s thoughts. “What do we do next? If the Vanished really is already near Lightwind Harbor… should we contact Miss Lucretia?”

“…First we confirm our surroundings. Don’t approach the city-state rashly,” Duncan thought for a moment. He could not help remembering his earlier experiences in Pland and Frostholm, and he shook his head on instinct. “Have the Vanished hide in the Shadows and the fog. We’ll contact Lucretia when the time is right.”

Goathead’s head immediately drooped. “Yes, Captain.”

Duncan grunted in acknowledgement, then walked to the Oval Scrying Mirror in the corner of the room and tapped lightly on its surface.

Shadowy light rippled across the mirror. In the blink of an eye, Agatha appeared before him, dressed like a female adventurer.

“I really didn’t expect my first long voyage with you to be this incredible,” Agatha sighed. “Just as you said: by setting out with the Vanished, I would witness every unbelievable thing in this world. I really was too conservative in my imagination before we left.”

“Too much excitement for you?”

“It’s not so bad. Luckily I no longer have a heart that starts pounding at the slightest scare,” Agatha smiled faintly. “Next, you want me to watch for changes in the Spirit Realm, right?”

“The Spirit Realm, and those ‘reflections’ moving between the Spirit Realm and the Mortal Realm. If you can, keep an eye on what’s happening below the surface of the sea as well,” Duncan said bluntly. “I can’t shake the feeling that even though the Sun has lit up again, the aftereffects of this event are far from over. A little extra caution won’t hurt.”

“Understood,” Agatha put away her smile and nodded solemnly, then quickly added, “Ah, according to the ship’s rules, I should say it like this—yes, Captain!”

The figure in the mirror slowly faded.

Duncan’s expression remained grave as he stood before the mirror in quiet thought.

…

Colorful paper scraps whirled over the streets, spiraled past the uneven rooftops and the gaps between buildings, and finally flew into a structure near the city-state’s university—into the research room of the elven Grand Scholar Taran Ael.

Lucretia’s form gathered out of the swirling paper.

A second later, the “Sea Witch” frowned in puzzlement.

She did not see the elven Grand Scholar anywhere in the room.

“…Don’t tell me he’s still stuck on the roof,” Lucretia muttered, glancing at the nearby window that still stood open.

She was just about to fly up to the roof to check whether the elven Grand Scholar was stranded up there when hurried footsteps suddenly sounded from the corridor outside, breaking her movement.

Listening to the noise in the hallway, Lucretia casually flicked a hand toward the door.

With a bang, the door flew open. A stream of Shadows shot out along the line of her pointing finger into the corridor. Screams and the thud of someone falling followed. Moments later, an apprentice who was flailing and desperately trying to get back on his feet was “invited” into the room.

The apprentice came in lying down. It looked as if he were gliding ten centimeters above the floor into the room. Only when he finally stopped did the things “carrying” him swarm out from under his body—countless toy soldiers scrambled out from beneath the apprentice, quickly formed up in ranks on the floor, then marched in step to the beat of drums and horns and darted back into the Shadows at Lucretia’s side.

The apprentice who had been “invited” in stared in terror at the toy soldiers running across the floor. Only then did his gaze move to the master of those soldiers and Shadows. He lifted his head and saw Lucretia standing by the window, and at last realized who this faintly familiar lady was.

“Witch… ah, Lady Lucretia!” The apprentice scrambled upright and hurried to greet this big shot wreathed in legends and reputation. “Goo… good afternoon…”

As he spoke, he suddenly twitched. A tiny toy soldier crawled out of his pocket, fell to the floor, and smashed apart into several pieces. But in the next instant, the toy soldier reassembled, flipped to its feet, and sprinted back to its mistress, diving into the Shadows.

Lucretia ignored both the young apprentice’s panicked awkwardness and the toy soldier that had fallen behind. She went straight to the point: “I’m here for your teacher. Where did he go?”

“I was just on my way to find him too,” the apprentice swallowed hard and quickly answered this “witch” who was rumored to be cold and withdrawn, skilled in curses, and as fickle as the sea itself. “Someone saw him go to the Tower of Flowing Clouds when the Sun went out. He went… from the university roof…”

Lucretia raised an eyebrow. “From the university roof?”

“Y-yes, someone saw him. He seemed to be in a big hurry… and he still hasn’t come back. I’m worried something happened to him…”

“Something would have to happen. With a hundred years of shoulder and neck problems, he’s still scrambling over rooftops at the university— even as an elf, he shouldn’t be trying extreme sports like that,” Lucretia said offhandedly, then waved at the young apprentice. “I’ll go check on him. By the way, what’s your name?”

The apprentice snapped to attention. “Jo… Joshua Dino.”

“Good. I’ll tell your teacher to dock three points from your conduct assessment.”

Joshua froze. “Why?”

Lucretia’s figure had already burst apart into a cloud of colorful paper, spiraling out through the window. Only one vague sentence drifted back to the young apprentice’s ears—

“…No running in the research building.”