Chapter 97

Chapter 97: Who Is Drafting the List?

The view shown in the mirror seemed to be based on a window. Duncan felt like someone pressed right up against the panes, peering through the glass at the room inside. In the room, there was a tall, unusually large young woman. Her side profile looked somewhat familiar.

After thinking for a moment, Duncan remembered where he had seen that face. This was the widely respected inquisitor from Pland, Vanna Wayne!

Her figure had appeared in the newspapers.

Why was he seeing this scene? Why was he suddenly looking through a window at this believer of the Storm Goddess? Was there some hidden connection? When had this connection formed? Why had he never noticed it before, yet now suddenly sensed this invisible “thread”?

Countless thoughts flashed through Duncan’s mind, but in the next second, the jumble in his head was cut off by something his gaze swept across.

He saw clearly what the inquisitor in the mirror, Miss Vanna, was reading.

It was a document written in a strict format, the paper stamped with the holy symbol of the Storm Goddess. The very first line read: To all captains on the Boundless Sea and their accompanying priests and guides, Anomaly 099 – doll spirit coffin has recently entered a runaway state. Witnessed by the Most Holy and All-Seeing, the cursed item has been lost in the storm. The runaway state of this Anomaly and its traits are hereby announced as follows…

Duncan’s eyes slowly widened. His gaze went past Vanna’s shoulder. The document described Anomaly 099 in wording that read like a specific kind of prayer. He saw mention of a dangerous curse with the power of decapitation, saw the origin of the doll spirit coffin, and saw records related to “Alice Guillotine”…

In his shock, his gaze slid downward. Near the end of the document he saw a record of the White Oak being “attacked”. However, the key part of the last sentence was blocked by the inquisitor’s tall figure, and he could not see it no matter how he tried.

Duncan leaned left and right in front of the mirror, anxious, and muttered without thinking: “Move a bit, move a bit to the side…”

In the lounge, Vanna suddenly felt as if a strand of breeze brushed past her earlobe. She turned her head reflexively and saw that the window was open a crack. The cold sea wind of evening was blowing in.

The flames of several oil lamps in the room wavered. Their soft light drove away the malice that spread through the world as the veil of night approached, and brought her a special sense of peace.

She set the document aside and turned to the regional bishop: “Put it away. The bishops of the city-states must have made thorough arrangements. This is very safe.”

The regional bishop nodded, stepped forward to collect the document, and turned up the electric light in the room. Its brightness drove away the gloom of the changing day and night even more than the oil lamps. “Will you have to hurry back to the central Cathedral tonight?”

“Valentine Bishop is still waiting to discuss matters with me,” Vanna nodded slightly. “Things have been unsettled in the city-state recently. We may need to carry out a large-scale benediction to strengthen the Cathedral’s protection over the entire city-state.”

As she spoke, she looked up at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The electric bulbs in it made the room as bright as daytime. “…If only electric lights could ward off evil,” she said. “They’re so bright, and their range is much wider than fire…”

“Who doesn’t think so?” The regional bishop spread his hands. “It’s a pity that electricity has no sanctity.”

Vanna shook her head and said nothing more. After bidding the regional bishop farewell, she walked out of the lounge.

After Vanna left, one oil lamp near the window suddenly flickered a little, then quickly grew steady again.

The scene in the mirror slowly faded. When the green film of light vanished, the glass once again reflected the captain’s cabin.

Just now, when the inquisitor, Miss Vanna, had turned her head, Duncan had finally seen the last line of the document. For him, the most useful information in that line was just a few words:

Visions 005 – the Vanished.

“So the classification of the Vanished really is ‘Visions’… and the number is actually that high.” He returned to the desk, muttering thoughtfully, but then grew puzzled. “But then again, how are these numbers arranged?”

Nina’s textbooks had mentioned many Anomalies and Visions by number and name. They also mentioned this “list” and said the rules behind it came from the ancient Critt Kingdom. But they were vague about how the numbers for those Anomalies and Visions were set and who decided them. They only said that each Church had the right to interpret and the duty to publish, and that under normal circumstances, the earlier an Anomaly or Vision was on the list, the stranger, more dangerous, or more historically significant it was. At first Duncan had not thought much about it, but now a doubt suddenly rose in his mind.

Were these numbers arranged in the order of discovery?

If it was by order of discovery, then the Vanished, which had only a history of a hundred years, could never hold such a high number. There were plenty of Visions older than the Vanished in this world. In theory, all the high-rank designations should have been filled long ago.

But if they were not ordered by discovery, and instead sorted by level of danger, then wouldn’t the numbers have to change all the time? Every time a new Anomaly or Vision was found, they would have to reassess its danger, then adjust the entire “ranking list”. That would become a huge project, and very awkward to use.

Although the textbooks said that the danger level of Anomalies and Visions did not always match their ranking one hundred percent, they also clearly stated that in most cases, those with earlier numbers were more terrifying and dangerous than those behind them.

That raised a question worth thinking about: if the current list of Anomalies and Visions was fairly stable and rarely changed, then whoever arranged it was almost like a prophet. When making the list, that person would have had to foresee the “rank” of every Anomaly and Vision, not only assigning accurate numbers when new ones were discovered, but also leaving “empty slots” in advance for powerful Anomalies and Visions that would appear in the future.

Because of the wording “Visions 005 – the Vanished”, Duncan had suddenly felt puzzled by this “list” and the person behind it. But soon he set those doubts aside for now.

Because at the moment, something was more important than the rules behind this “supernatural items ranking”—Alice.

That cursed doll from the Harmonious Church actually had such a big background!

“I’m going out for a bit.”

Duncan tossed the words casually to the pigeon on the desk and strode out of the captain’s cabin.

Goathead in the enchanted sea chart room heard the cabin door move and turned his head with a creak. When he saw Duncan, he greeted him out of habit: “Surname…”

“Duncan Abnomar—skip that part. Where is Alice?”

“Ah, great cap…” Goathead finished confirming the name and had just started his usual long speech when the captain cut him off. His neck creaked with the words stuck in his throat before he finally reacted. “You’re looking for Miss Alice? She might be in her room counting her hairs…”

“Counting her hairs?” Duncan froze. “What new problem has she picked up this time… Forget it, I’ll go myself. You just keep steering the ship.”

After saying this, he did not wait for a response. He turned and left the cabin in a hurry, leaving Goathead atop the enchanted sea chart table, staring blankly at the door that had already shut again.

“I didn’t even get a chance to say more…” After holding it in for a long while, Goathead finally reacted, sounding terribly depressed. “Has my ability to start a conversation gotten worse?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the door in the corner that led to the captain’s cabin opened a crack. The pigeon AI squeezed through with great swagger and flapped to the table.

“Want five coins’ worth of chat?” the pigeon asked, tilting her head and blinking her little eyes.

“Sure, sure, as long as someone will chat with me!” Goathead brightened at once. Since everyone on the ship counted as “his own people”, he was not picky about his conversation partner at all. “What do you want to talk about? By the way, can you actually talk normally? I always feel you…”

“Get some fries.”

“Huh?” Goathead froze. “No, I mean, are you really aware that you…”

“Get some fries.”

“…If what you want to talk about is sea cuisine…”

“Get some fries.”

“Can you say anything else?”

“Get some fries.”

Goathead: “…”

Duncan paid no attention to what happened in the captain’s cabin after he left. He walked straight across the upper deck and soon reached the seafarers’ quarters below. After taking a moment in front of Alice’s door to sort out his thoughts, he knocked and said: “Alice, it’s me.”

A stammering voice came quickly from inside: “P-please… p-please… come in…”

Hearing that, Duncan raised his eyebrows without thinking and pushed the door open.

The doll in the long Brother-style robe sat at the table by the bed, facing a dressing mirror on the desk. She held her own head in both hands, silver-white hair cascading like a waterfall. The head turned its gaze toward him, and a pretty, delicate face slowly broke into a smile. “C-cap… cap… captain, g-g-good eve… eve… evening…”

Duncan said: “Put your head back on.”

“Pop.”