Chapter 348 – The Great Hall of Silence

Chapter 348 – Silence Great Sanctuary

The Sea Mist Fleet came, pouring in.

In the past half a century, this famous cursed fleet had always been a sharp blade hanging over the heads of the Frost people – it was the legacy of the Frost Queen, the shadow that never dissipated after the great rebellion half a century ago, it stood like a ten thousand-foot iceberg on the cold sea, and inside its cold and hard shell hid the inscrutable mind of the immortal pirate general. The elusive mind of the immortal pirate general is hidden within its cold, hard shell.

Whenever it is mentioned, the people of the Frost City State can’t help but lower their voices.

Almost everyone who knows history knows that the reason why the Frost Rebellion succeeded half a century ago, and the reason why the rebel army gathered by the rabble was able to defeat the most powerful Queen’s fleet ever, was not at all based on “justice” and “blessing” – the reason for their victory was not “justice” and “blessing” – the reason for their victory was “justice” and “blessing” – the reason for their victory was not “justice” and “blessing”. “The most important reason for their victory was that the Queen’s strongest fleet was not even on Frost Island at the time.

No one knows why the Sea Mist Fleet left in the first place, just as no one knows what truth the Queen of Frost learned from the deep sea back then, people only know one thing – to this day, that fleet is still acting in the name of the Queen.

For half a century, the mighty Sea Mist Fleet has been wandering in the northern sea like a ghost, not that there are no city-states that have tried to destroy or recover this fleet, but they have never succeeded, and on the other hand, although the cursed warships of the Immortals roam the Frigid Sea, most of the time, the ships that encountered them only need to pay money to be spared from the disaster, compared to the loss caused by the head-on war with the Sea Mist Fleet, this “buying money” is the only way to avoid the disaster. Compared to the losses incurred in a head-on battle with the Sea Mist Fleet, this “road money” is more like a benevolent and cost-effective tax – the northern city-states would rather pay for peace than risk paying a half-century-old debt to the Frostbringers.

But the Frosts themselves know that the Sea Mist Fleet will return someday, it’s like a curse, and has even become a “legendary prophecy” that many Frosts have grown up with – and it’s a curse that has become a “legendary prophecy” that many Frosts have grown up with – as long as the flag of the Sea Mist Fleet is flying.

As long as the flag of the Sea Mist fleet is still flying, the Frost Queen’s rule over this city-state is not over, and as long as the engines of the Sea Mist are still revving, the reckoning of the Great Rebellion of a half-century ago will come to this city sooner or later.

Curses and legends spread by word of mouth have far-reaching effects, and the icy shadow of the Sea Mist fleet continues to grow more and more terrifying under the weight of these legends year after year, a pressure that even well-trained professional soldiers can’t ignore.

Lister’s fingers gripping the documents were slightly hard, and his joints were a bit white.

As his words fell, an eerie and indescribable silence enveloped the entire pier.

This defense commander knew that the information about the Sea Mist Fleet didn’t need to be kept secret-that huge fleet was sailing right next to Frost in a big way, and it was still approaching Frost Island and Dagger Island even now, and by the time the sun rose tomorrow at the latest, the residents living near the coastline would only need to push open their windows, pick up their binoculars and look in a southeastern direction, they would be able to see the hazy shadows of those ships – the news would soon spread throughout the city-state.

“Could the sudden appearance of the Sea Mist Fleet …… Sea Mist Fleet be related to what happened on Dagger Island?” A close officer said, “Could it be related to that ‘Sea Petrel’ that suddenly appeared?”

“I’d rather they were related so that we at least only have to deal with one problem,” Lister gritted his teeth, “but the worse possibility is that it’s two troubles ……”

Another close officer sounded a bit nervous, “The Sea Mist Fleet will take advantage of the fire? Taking advantage of the fact that the Frost Main Island is threatened by an unknown force ……”

“It’s too early to make any judgments, executing orders is the first priority,” Lister interrupted his subordinates’ rambling thoughts and spoke quickly, “Arrange for a blockade immediately, send out martial law signals to the neighboring city-states and ships on the shipping lanes, and stand by for all the shore defense gun positions! …… We may be in big trouble.”

……

Frost City State hinterland, just like the layout of the vast majority of maritime city states, the solemn towering cathedral stands in the highest terrain and most centrally located place in the city state.

The locals called it the Cathedral of Silence, or just “Cathedral”.

It is an ancient and majestic building, almost entirely made of gray and black bricks, with a variety of spires and elongated buildings combining to form its body. Whenever the snow flies in winter, these layers of spires look hazy against the background of the snowy sky, like a forest of tombstones and black swords pointing to the sky in the fog.

When outsiders who first came to the Frost City State saw this church, they would often feel that this church was too gloomy and depressing at first, and even felt that it was a bit scary, but for the Frost people who believed in Bartok, the God of Death, almost all of the people, this black cathedral had only majesty and holiness.

The locals firmly believe that the spires of the church are a bridge between the realm of the dead and the earthly world, and when the snowy days come, the messengers of the god of death will hide between those spires and roofs, watching over the city-state with their all-seeing eyes, and promptly guiding the dead who are lost and wandering around for various reasons back to their resting place.

Therefore, the Frost People regard the first day of a heavy snowfall as the “Day of the Long Lost Dead”, when they close the cemeteries and suspend the delivery of the newly dead, in order to leave a wide enough path for the long lost souls to make their way to the Great Hall of Silence in a timely manner.

Today is the day of the snow.

With the surrounding cemeteries closed, and the Cathedral no longer accepting ordinary people other than the clergy in and out, the atrium walkway, where the snowflakes were constantly falling, seemed quieter than ever, so much so that even the sound of snowflakes falling from the treetops could be heard extraordinarily clearly, in addition to the sound of feet treading on the snow.

Wearing a wide-brimmed hat and dressed in black, Agatha passed through the atrium doors of the church, entered the audience hall, and then walked deeper and deeper, finally arriving at the sanctuary of meditation where the bishop was located.

Like Prand, Frost had two supreme church spokesmen – the “Gatekeeper” was the keeper of the city-state’s security and was mainly responsible for secular affairs, while the bishop of the city-state was mainly in charge of clerical work and communication with the higher theocratic powers.

Inside the sanctuary of meditation, candles flickered in the niches densely arranged on the walls on both sides, and the pale light from countless lamps and candles made the room quite bright, and at the end of the sanctuary was a high stone platform, but there was no icon or seat on the platform, and only a black coffin with a simple and ancient appearance was placed on the platform. That was where the Bishop of the City State was.

Agatha stepped onto the high platform, looked down and spoke, “I’m back.”

There was silence in the coffin.

Agatha waited patiently for a few seconds and raised her voice some more, “Bishop Ivan, have you heard the news of the appearance of the Sea Mist Fleet?”

There was still no movement in the coffin.

Agatha frowned, raised her head to look around, and after a slight hesitation finally raised her cane and tapped on the side of the coffin, “Is it there?”

After knocking three times in a row, a hoarse and old voice finally came out from the coffin, “In, don’t knock, respect the old man.”

Agatha put away her cane, “…… You fell asleep while meditating and praying to the God of Death?”

“I was too absorbed in my meditation to hear the voice from the earthly world.”

“But your snores reach the earthly world through the coffin panels.”

“Huh? All that commotion?”

Agatha sighed, “You did fall asleep, Bishop.”

The voices in the coffin fell silent all of a sudden, and it took a few seconds before a slight scuffling sound broke the silence, and the dark, heavy lid slid to the side a little, but only a crack escaped, and that old, husky voice then seemed a little clearer, “Your heart is in turmoil, Agatha, and it seems that things aren’t going well in the city-state.”

“I was on my way back to the cathedral when I received word of the Sea Mist fleet approaching the city-state,” Agatha said slowly, “I’m afraid that news will be …… soon.”

“The matter of the Sea Mist Fleet should be left to the headaches of the Navy and the gang at City Hall, your concern is the balance of the Transcendent Realm and the peace within the City State,” the voice of the Bishop of the Frost City State, Ivan Romuso, came from the coffin, “Let’s start with the situation within the City State.”

Agatha nodded at his words, putting the news of the Sea Mist Fleet aside for the moment, then her expression became serious.

“A new site contaminated with ‘primordium’ has appeared at 42 Fireplace Street, and judging by all indications, a fake made of ‘primordium’ lived in that building for a long time, until not long ago In addition, a civilian who was apparently cognitively disturbed was found at the scene ……”

“Cognitive interference?” Bishop Ivan interrupted Agatha’s narration, “What kind of cognitive interference?”

Agatha organized her words and spoke, “After reviewing the population registers of the local neighborhoods, we discovered that the ‘original’ of the fake had actually died in a shipwreck six years ago, but the truth is that during the time of the fake’s activities… . the female apprentice with whom she lived never noticed the obvious anomaly, and even until the fake disintegrated and disappeared and the investigators entered the scene, she thought her teacher was resting upstairs.”

Agatha paused at this point and continued speaking, “And …… we found more than that.”

“More than that?”

“A third-party force – unidentified but extremely powerful – seems to be investigating the Protoss as well. The combatants among them killed two heretical magi of notable strength in a nearby alley, and its investigators searched the building even before the squad of elite guardsmen arrived – unfortunately, we found no clues whatsoever, and we couldn’t even confirm where this third-party force came from. ”

Silence fell in the coffin, and the silence lasted for an unknown amount of time before Ivan’s voice sounded again, “Any other news?”

“There is,” Agatha inhaled softly, “Do you remember the ‘Visitor’ that appeared in Graveyard Three?”

“…… He appeared again?!”

“Yes, appeared again, and more than appeared, He left a …… ‘letter of report’.”

(End of chapter)