Chapter 549

Chapter 549: Witness of the Four Gods.

“Ran into a patrol fleet of the Church at the border?”

Lucretia froze for a second when she heard the question.

Then she frowned and began to think.

“It should have been last month.

“I met a Flamebearer’s ship in the border sea…

“After that, I have not seen a Church patrol fleet again.

“But that might just be because I have not gone near the border as often lately.”

“It is not that, Lady Lucretia,” Sara Mell shook his head.

“It is not because you have not gone to the border.

“The Church of the Four Gods truly did pull a large number of people off border patrol to do other things—about half of them.”

“They reduced border patrols?” Lucretia said in surprise. “What are they doing?”

“I do not know. The Pilgrimage Arks have their own secrets, just as all the city-states do,” Sara Mell said.

“They will not report the movements of those ships and crews to me.

“But from the intelligence I have, that withdrawn strength was not moved into the ‘internal routes’.

“They are still staying in certain places on the border.

“You see what I mean?

“They are no longer carrying out patrols. Instead, they have gathered at some special locations near the eternal Veil, as if they are waiting for further orders—or preparing to deal with some much greater trouble.”

The Governor paused, then looked straight into Lucretia’s eyes, his tone especially grave:

“This kind of thing has never happened before.”

“…When an Elf says something ‘has never happened before’, that usually means it is very serious,” Lucretia could not help quoting the old saying that was well known among Explorers. “I think I understand what you mean.”

“Yes, my lady. Our world is going wrong,” Sara Mell said softly.

“The Vanished has already sent a warning to the whole world.

“Even someone like me, an ‘ordinary person’, can sense this feeling that a crisis is approaching and things are slowly becoming wrong.

“So the Church of the Four Gods, which has watched and protected this world for thousands of years, cannot possibly have missed it.

“Of course they have already started to act.”

As he spoke, he lifted a hand and pointed at the letter bearing the Church of the Four Gods’ seal.

“This letter links that unusual ‘deployment’ to the warning from the Vanished.

“I think the leaders of the Pilgrimage Arks have already found, or confirmed, the ‘root’ of something your father mentioned in his warning.

“And they have found that this problem is huge—far bigger than anyone imagined.

“In the face of this ‘huge problem’, keeping up their guard against the Vanished is no longer important.

“Even though that ship is still connected to Subspace, and might even fall into Subspace again, they can no longer worry about that—so long as your father now stands on the side of Mortals.”

When he finished, Lucretia stayed silent for a long time.

She lowered her head again and read over the letter, as if still caught in deep thought.

After who knew how long, it was Sara Mell who broke the silence:

“May I ask now, Lady Lucretia?

“Your father—the legendary Captain Duncan… what is he doing at this moment?

“And what does he plan to do next?”

He is looking after a child. Next he plans to take those two young ladies into the city to find some food that normal humans can eat…

Those unreliable thoughts flashed through Lucretia’s mind, but she quickly pushed them away.

She let her expression grow serious again.

“He is very interested in the fallen relic I found.

“I do not know why, but he seems to know where the stone sphere at the center of that fallen relic comes from.

“That is mainly what he came for this time.”

“He knows the origin of that ‘stone sphere’?” Sara Mell said, shocked.

“Yes. He called that sphere ‘The Moon’.

“And according to him, in its original—or you could say, ‘normal’—state, its size should be extremely large,” Lucretia nodded.

“He also asked with great interest about the physical properties it shows and the composition of the samples taken from its surface.”

“The Moon…” Sara Mell’s brow furrowed tighter and tighter.

But even after thinking it over for a long time, he still shook his head.

“I have never heard that name before.”

“Nor have I. Father said no one in this world should know that name,” Lucretia said.

“When he said that, his mood… was not very good.”

Sara Mell did not speak for a while.

After some thought, he finally broke the silence:

“The outpost research group has recently taken some more samples from the surface of that ‘stone sphere’. They are doing analysis right now.

“Since your father is so interested in it, I will have them share their findings with you at once.

“And I will warn the heads of the facilities in advance.

“If your father wishes to ‘see some of the research results with his own eyes’, they can be ready.”

Lucretia raised an eyebrow:

“You are not worried about causing panic?”

“You already brought him swaggering into the city,” Sara Mell said helplessly, spreading his hands.

“Do you know how many people in this city recognize his face?”

“But as long as you do not make any public announcement, I expect many people would rather believe he is just a man whose face happens to look very much like his,” Lucretia replied calmly.

“Compared to Subspace Shadows coming into the city for sightseeing, a man who looks exactly like Captain Duncan is easier to accept.”

“Looking exactly like him is frightening enough, my lady,” Sara Mell said with a bitter smile.

“Do you know that ever since your father… since that time, the captains on the Boundless Sea hardly ever grow full beards anymore?”

“That has nothing to do with me,” Lucretia said. “It is not my father shaving them.”

Sara Mell was choked speechless for a moment.

He stared for a while, then finally waved his hand:

“Very well, let us not talk about that.

“My lady, I want to know the truest situation.

“Your father… what state is he in now?”

It was clear that the Governor was trying his best not to sound rude, but he also knew that asking such a question in front of the “Sea Witch” was bound to be a bit offensive no matter what.

He could only grit his teeth and ask.

Thankfully, Lucretia did not seem displeased.

“Just as I learned earlier, he really has lost many memories. Subspace once destroyed his reason and his personality,” the Witch said. Her expression was a little complicated, but she did not hide what she knew.

“The present Duncan Abnomar is, strictly speaking, already a completely ‘reassembled’ person.

“I can still find some shadows of the past in him, and the familiar air and authority I remember.

“And he still has a vague impression of me.

“But that is all.”

She paused, choosing her words with care, then went on:

“If you ask how I feel, I feel that something else is hidden inside him—do not tense up, Sara Mell, I am not talking about Subspace.

“I mean something that is not dangerous, but that I have never seen before.

“It is like another personality, or like many, many personalities and pieces of information layered together…”

“I do not understand what that means,” Sara Mell said, frowning. “Can you put it in plainer words?”

Lucretia thought for a moment, then showed unusual patience as she explained:

“This time, when I first saw him, I briefly heard countless noises and saw swelling, writhing light.

“That should count as a mild mental corruption.

“But this corruption faded very fast and did not leave any mark on me.

“And in that corruption, I caught a glimpse of countless points of radiance drifting out behind him.

“It looked… very much like the Starry Sky that floats between the Abyssal Deep Sea, and the Spirit Realm.

“At the very beginning, before I saw that ‘starlight’, my sense of Father was a great ‘nothing’.

“I saw his shell standing there, yet I could not feel that he truly existed.

“Only when those noises and lights appeared did my sense of him become steady, and only then could I talk with him—or, to be strict, talk with that shell—normally.”

Sara Mell’s expression grew even more serious.

“How long did that process last?”

“For an instant,” Lucretia said gravely.

“And it happened on the edge of reason and perception.

“I suspect almost no one else could notice it.

“Those few whose Spirit Sight is high enough to sense it would be completely drawn to that starlight, so they would not even realize that his shell felt ‘empty’ for a moment.”

Sara Mell stayed silent for half a minute, then said thoughtfully:

“It sounds as if you noticed that brief ‘process’ only because your attention was fixed on your ‘father’ the whole time…

“Lady Lucretia, what you describe makes me uneasy. To me, it feels as if…”

“I know what you want to say,” Lucretia cut in softly.

“You may think that brief ‘starlight’ is the true Duncan Abnomar now, and that the ‘captain who returned from Subspace’ is only the part it uses to copy a shape—like a sea monster lifting one tentacle above the surface to lure sailors.”

“Is that not the case?” Sara Mell asked, brow deeply furrowed.

Lucretia only shook her head.

“I have my own judgment, Mr. Governor,” she said firmly.

“I know that is him.

“Even though he now shows some unsettling ‘qualities’, even though his way of existing has become hard to understand and beyond words, that starlight is him.

“At least, a part of it is him.”

Sara Mell listened in silence.

After a long time, he finally spoke again, his face very grave:

“That sounds like you are being driven by emotion, my lady.

“But I know you are not someone who lets her feelings lead her.

“So I can only hope your judgment is correct—or at least that it comes from your usual, very accurate ‘intuition’, and not from missing him.”

“You can trust my judgment,” Lucretia said solemnly.

Then she pointed at the letter on the desk.

“Or, at the very least, trust the ‘witness of the Four Gods’.”