Chapter 236 – Crossing Time and Space
Chapter 236 Crossing Time and Space
Through a layer of illusory mirrors and flames, Duncan could still clearly observe Tirion and Lucrecia’s reactions from start to finish – nervous, wary, and vaguely intimidated.
From the point of view of “family reunion”, this atmosphere is not good.
But he didn’t mind that, he’d expected it – meeting Tirian early, with the situation under his control, had fulfilled the purpose of the day, and meeting him now to lay the groundwork might prevent him from being in a state of confusion when he suddenly encountered him again, not to mention… …and today it’s “buy one, get one free”.
I didn’t expect Lucrecia to be there.
Moreover, just now, when he was hidden in the mirror, he also heard the exchange between Lucrecia and Tirion, and realized that his last attempt to call the other party through “Niru” was actually not without effect, and that although he did not receive any feedback from his own side, there was movement on Lucrecia’s side, so this information was also an unexpected gain.
After calming down, Duncan maintained his usual stoic expression and slowly swept his gaze over Tirion and the crystal ball on the table next to him, “I thought a father didn’t need any special reason to look for his son or daughter.”
Tirian’s eyes widened slightly for an instant, but the momentary faltering was quickly forced down as he lowered his voice, still looking warily at the man in the mirror, “You should know that this is a cathedral – even you should have more or less regard for the gods behind this sacred place. ”
“Yes, this is the Cathedral, of course I know that – I have seen it consumed by fire and remade this place from its shattered history,” Duncan said in a calm tone, “and if the Gods behind this church are watching. Then He owes me a debt of gratitude.”
Tirion instantly lost track of how to take that.
But this feeling of suddenly not knowing what to say when talking to his father was not new to him.
Because even a hundred years ago, before the family name of Ebnomar was haunted by the curse, he was often reticent in front of his father – his father was always too majestic and drunk on those mysterious and terrible things, and at that time, Tirian …… wasn’t not a man who excelled in words.
And in those days, whenever an awkward silence fell between father and son, it was always the livelier Lucrecia who broke the ice.
“Have you …… your sanity broken free from the influence of subspace?” The voice of the “Witch of the Sea” came from the crystal ball, just like a hundred years ago, she broke the awkwardness between her father and elder brother, “You came back this time, in order to continue …… your expedition program? ”
Duncan looked to Lucrecia, underneath the stoic exterior was a frenzy of thought within him.
This was a crucial meeting, one in which he wanted to lay the groundwork for the future, to cover or explain in advance the many “suspicions” he might reveal, and, if possible, to make all the changes in the Lost Country and in himself from now on “logical” for the siblings! If possible, all the changes in the Lost Country and himself from now on will become “logical” for this brother and sister.
Fortunately, he already had a draft before he came here.
“Subspace has left an extremely deep impact on me, one that I will probably never be able to completely get rid of,” he spoke slowly, controlling the speed of his speech and his expression, “There are many things that I don’t remember very well, including even my understanding of the real world and… . ways of perceiving. I’m trying to reacquaint myself with the world, and after learning of your existence, I thought this might serve as a key step in rebuilding that perception.”
At that he paused before continuing, “But as you say, Lucy – at least, my sanity is back.”
It was the most effective statement he could think of to address the pitfalls and prepare for the future.
In order to maintain the stability of the Lost Country, he had to play the role of “Captain Duncan”, and he couldn’t give up this identity even under the tacit agreement with Goathead, so he had to continue to play this role in front of Lucrecia and Tirian, but even the most skillful play has its loopholes. But even the most skillful play has its loopholes, not to mention that he knows almost nothing about these two siblings, so the most effective way is to prepare a pot in advance.
The most effective way is to prepare a pot in advance, and then put the pot on the subspace.
Anyway, all the evil things in this world are related to subspace, that place is simply the pot of all pots, and it is not bad for him ……
And he also deliberately emphasized that what went wrong with him wasn’t just his memories, but also his understanding of the real world and the way he perceived it – which pretty much explained everything that was wrong with him.
The rest was left to Tirion and Lucrecia’s brainstorming.
Lucrecia in the crystal ball was visibly stunned after hearing Duncan’s words, she seemed to be carefully observing the change of expression on her father’s face to confirm the truthfulness of those words, while next to her, Tirian suddenly asked after a short silence, “So, your previous actions in Prand were just to save this city-state?”
A smile appeared on Duncan’s face, “Entirely out of good intentions.”
“…… But the bishop and the inquisitor of the city don’t seem to dare to be so gullible,” Tirion spoke in a deep voice, “Especially that inquisitor …… she is very Very wary.”
“Oh, that can be sensed,” Duncan nodded, “she has jumped at me twice in a row, both attempts.”
All at once Tirion was again at a loss as to how to put the words together.
Duncan, for his part, paid no attention to Tirian’s silence, but turned his gaze to his “daughter” in the crystal ball and asked, as if offhandedly, “Is Lunie on your side?”
“She is.” Lucrecia nodded, then waved her hand to the side, and soon, a clockwork doll in maid’s clothing appeared in the crystal ball.
Duncan looked at the clockwork doll that appeared in front of him, which did not look like “Niru” no matter how he looked at it, with some surprise: “…… Why does she look like this?!”
“I did a little …… remodeling to Luni,” Lucrecia said with a somewhat odd expression, while guessing the intention of her father’s sudden change of topic, “Why are you suddenly asking about her? ”
“…… I found Niru,” Duncan said calmly, “in a doll store, you didn’t take her back then, and she was never sold.”
Lucrecia couldn’t help but let out a soft cry, “Ah ……” Some long ago memories seemed to float to the heart of this “Witch of the Sea”, and the expression on her face suddenly became complicated.
The subtle changes on her face did not escape Duncan’s eyes.
Here is almost enough – the padding has already been laid, say more may affect the effect.
Duncan’s voice came out of the mirror, “I’m leaving.”
Lucrecia and Tirian hadn’t reacted at once, and Tirian subconsciously spoke, “Leave?”
“I have much to do,” Duncan said faintly, his gaze finally falling on Lucrecia, “Nilu will be left with me for now, and if there is an opportunity in the future, I will give her to you.”
As soon as the words fell, his figure had begun to rapidly dim, and the ghostly green flames at the edge of the mirror had quietly dissipated as if they were phantoms, giving Tirion and Lucrecia no time at all to continue speaking.
The room once again returned to silence, and for the next few full minutes, neither Lucrecia nor Tirian spoke.
In the end it was Lucrecia who took the initiative to break the silence, “Just now …… really happened, didn’t it?”
“It wasn’t a hallucination,” Tirian shook his head with a bitter smile, “Did you ever think this would happen?”
“Not in …… the most bizarre dreams,” Lucrecia said, followed by a sudden, slightly nervous question, “What do you think about this?”
“You mean ……”
“What he just said,” Lucrecia said with a serious look on her face, “do you think that’s true? Father said that he was missing most of his memories and even needed to reacquaint himself with the world, and that the effects of subspace were so profound that he couldn’t get rid of them completely …… but then said that he had regained his sanity ……”
“…… Frankly, I can’t believe every single one of them, even the words ‘regained his sanity’,” Tirian said in a deep voice, “and until there’s more evidence, I’d rather believe it’s a subspace conspiracy.”
“There are no conspiracies in Subspace,” Lucrecia said calmly, “Only humans understand conspiracies.”
“What about …… a human after being baptized by subspace?” Tirian inhaled softly and shook his head, “When the chaos in subspace has intelligence, it will be even more terrifying than pure chaos …… Of course, the situation may not be that bad, and I hope that a miracle does occur, but for the time being …… It’s better to remain watchful and alert. You’ve been on the border for years, you should know better than me the need for this vigilance.”
“I understand,” Lucrecia said with a soft nod after a few seconds of silence, but immediately afterward she lifted her gaze to the oval mirror once more, a little nervously, “…… He’s really gone, isn’t he? ”
Tirian thought for a moment and took a few steps forward to remove that mirror, placing it upside down on the table.
“It always feels like father makes me more nervous than ever.” The great pirate, who had a great reputation out in the world, couldn’t help but mumble in a small voice.
Immediately, Lucrecia’s voice came from the crystal ball, “That’s because you’ve just been beaten by him, so you must be deeply touched ……”
Tirion glanced back, his face expressionless, “Keep your eyes peeled, maybe at some point Luni will suddenly open her mouth and make her father’s voice.”
The crystal ball went straight out.
……
Inside the captain’s quarters of the Lost Country, Duncan took a long breath, and sorted out the exchange he had just had with the pair of “sons and daughters”.
There should not be any omissions.
After he had finished, he casually took a pen and paper from the side, and began to sketch on it according to his memory.
After a few strokes, an odd hexagonal emblem appeared on the paper.
That was exactly the strange symbol that Ryan had shown in front of Vanna and Bishop Valentine earlier, and it was a model of the emblem carried by those strange “ascetics” that Captain Duncan had received a hundred years ago.
Through Vanna’s eyes, Duncan received this unexpected information!
Putting down the pen in his hand, Duncan looked thoughtfully at the odd hexagonal shape and the fragmented cross structure within it, pondering where to start in deciphering the symbol’s secrets.
But suddenly, his eyes froze.
He saw a wet mark suddenly appear on the edge of the paper, as if an invisible stream of water had saturated a corner of the paper, and immediately afterward, a bit of a vague pattern actually emerged in the middle of the saturated water mark!
It was a word.
Thank you.
(End of chapter)