Chapter 155 Archives
Chapter 155 The Archives
Managing the Archives was an old priest who was already old, hunched over, his thinning gray hair in disarray, wearing a complex set of lenses made of brass cranks and crystal lenses on his head, and smelling of motor oil.
Sitting behind a dark-colored circular table, the old priest was using the lens set to intently study a mechanical creation that looked like a Rubik’s Cube, and with the help of some delicate tools, he disassembled the Rubik’s Cube into a pile of parts, and the light from the gas lamp shone on those parts, making them glow with a gleam of light.
When Vanna approached, her tall body blocked the light from the side, and only then did the old priest look up, moving the lens in front of his eyes with his fingers, and smiled after seeing the visitor, “Oh, it’s Your Honor the Inquisitor – what kind of help do you need today?”
“May I ask where the records of the various disasters and accidents in the city-state around 1889 are located?” Vanna asked as she nodded her head in greeting to the old priest.
“Records of disasters from 1889?” The old priest grunted as he knocked on a spot on the wide circular table, and immediately there was a slight mechanical scuffling sound from underneath that tabletop, followed by a tabletop that receded downward, and a mechanical table littered with many cranks, numerical discs, and paddles that rose up out of it.
Accompanied by the sound of creaking machinery, the old priest began to operate the delicate machine with the help of those dials and digital discs in a light manner, after entering the necessary information, Vanna heard the characteristic low roar of the operation of large-scale machinery, she felt the floor under her feet vibrate slightly, countless gears and connecting rods under the impetus of the core of the steam to run up merrily, and immediately after that, she heard the old priest Immediately after that, she heard a clear “ding” from the mechanism in front of her, and a printed paper tape was then spat out from the machine.
“From this road forward, turn left on the third row of bookshelves, turn right at the end, one of the bookshelves is already lit up, and the row with the lights on is the one that’s lit up. The contents are very mixed, all events that could be called disasters have been recorded, including the smallest steam injury accidents, ring the bell if you need help.”
The old priest said as he handed over the note – he held it in a prosthetic hand, the brass-crafted palm and small arm had elaborate mechanics, and in a clear window on the back of his hand, a gear set could be seen ticking away inside.
Vanna thought that this might be a veteran Guardian retired from the front lines – not uncommon in the civilian sector of the Storm Church.
Their flesh had been crippled and proved their faith and loyalty with blood and sacrifice, and the aid of steam organs or magical prosthetics allowed them to continue to serve the Order, and various types of positions that dealt with archival volumes were the final destination for some of these veterans.
In a sense, this is of course a favor to the soldiers, the relatively free and favorable conditions of the archives department is suitable for “old age”, and from another point of view, this is actually an excellent “use of talent” – the body of these veterans. -These veterans may no longer be physically fit to continue fighting heresy, but their wills are still tough, and the job of guarding books and archives …… has always required toughness.
A hint of respect surfaced in Vanna’s mind as she accepted the paper tape with both hands and bowed her head slightly, “Thank you.”
“Remember to pack up the books when you’re done reading, as well as don’t touch the ones that aren’t in the directory,” the old priest waved his hand, “There are a lot of books here that have been sitting around for a long time, so don’t just disturb them.”
With that, he returned to his “work”, no longer paying attention to Vanna.
Vanna didn’t care, she just took the paper tape with the list of books printed on it and walked deeper into the archive, tall enough to be described as “magnificent” bookshelves were neatly arranged on both sides of her, connecting one after another to the dome above, as if they were ancient guardians lined up in a row, looking down on the small figures below, bright electric lights and gas lamps with their positions calculated with precision alternated, while bright electric lights and gas lamps with their positions calculated with precision alternated. Bright electric lamps and gas lamps whose positions had been precisely calculated were arranged alternately between the shelves, so that the place was so brightly lighted that not the slightest shadow of darkness remained even between the deepest and most profound shelves.
Vanna found the bookshelf the old priest had mentioned – a row of tiny bulbs lit up the shelves, indicating the volumes that could be pored over by her.
Those volumes weren’t placed too low, but luckily Vanna was tall enough that she didn’t need to use a ladder to bring the books down, much to her relief.
Pushing a ladder around in such a huge library of books was not an easy task.
Taking a soft breath, she found the start of the volume on the shelf, pulled out the numbered file, and began flipping through it quickly.
What she was looking for was simple: the fire from eleven years ago, or the one packaged as a factory leak.
In fact, this was not the first time she had investigated this matter – as an Inquisitor, she was already sensitive to all “unusual phenomena”, including what happened to her, and after realizing that she was the only one who remembered the fire from her childhood, she had privately investigated the matter. After realizing that she was the only one who remembered the fire from her childhood, she had privately investigated some of the information from that year, but those superficial investigations had not yielded any results.
At the time, she quickly put the matter to the back of her mind. Because no matter what, she was only twelve years old when she suffered that accident, neither a devotee of the goddess nor any outstanding mind, it was not impossible for some false memories to appear in the mind of a child who panicked and inhaled poisonous fumes, there was really no need for her to get too involved in this matter, so after consulting some public dossiers, she put this matter down.
But now, she suddenly realized that there were even people in the Prandian city-state who had experienced the fire that she remembered.
Doubts and countless speculations that had been put to the back of her mind instantly surged up, and her “professional alertness” as an Inquisitor frantically sounded in her mind.
It was also because of this professional vigilance that she refused Heidi’s suggestion to “turn back to the antique store” at that time, and waited for today without moving, directly running to the archive favored by the goddess to investigate those original materials that were not open to the public.
The reason is very simple, there is a dangerous atmosphere in this matter – erasing a fire sounds easy, but in fact it involves the cognition and memory of thousands of people, and this incident also involves a large number of cultists in the destruction of activities, if all this is really a “black hand behind the scenes If this is really the work of a “mastermind”, then this mastermind will not sit idly by while someone realizes the truth.
The residual memories in their own minds, the residual memories in the mind of the girl named Nina …… These “residuals” are very likely to be the omissions of the mastermind behind the scenes, and the “man” behind the scenes may not have realized that the “man” behind the scenes is still in the dark. “Now may not have found these omissions, but if he found …… himself is not afraid, Nina and her uncle, as well as the girl named Shirley, are ordinary people.
So she refused Heidi’s suggestion at that time, and asked Heidi not to mention this matter again afterward – on the one hand, it was because she didn’t want to frighten the snake, and wanted to start the investigation in a covert manner, and on the other hand, it was in order to avoid implicating the innocent.
Before grasping a certain amount of information, one should definitely not show any more attention than necessary to that antique store.
Slowly flipping through the dossier in her hands, Vanna’s mind couldn’t help but rise and fall while doing so.
For some reason, at the same time she noticed a shadow, she had the illusion of being spied on and watched by eyes from everywhere, that awful feeling of being watched from the shadows was really like an awn on her back, making her feel slightly irritated.
She put down this file and went to pick up the other one next to it.
At the same time, she was thinking about what had happened in the city-state in recent times.
Many of the solar heretics currently operating in the city had been apprehended, and it seemed that the resolute actions on the part of the city-state had effectively deterred those heretics, or perhaps the channels through which they had infiltrated in had really been all but destroyed, in short, the number of solar heretics in the city had now been greatly reduced, and the heretical incarceration centers underneath the major churches were instead stuffed to overflowing.
And the purpose of those solar heretics’ activities in the city-state has long been identified.
The purpose of their activities in the city-state has long been identified: to search for the “sun fragments” that appeared briefly eleven years ago, and may still be hidden somewhere.
Shards of the Sun …… The Fire Eleven Years Ago ……
The “vision” Heidi had previously seen in the museum.
Vanna’s hand paused as she leafed through the dossier, and clues that hadn’t caught her attention before suddenly connected and became more and more prominent as she began to look again at her memories of the fire.
“There is a connection behind these events …… The fire eleven years ago was definitely real ……” The young Inquisitor inhaled softly, and at the same time, her gaze inadvertently swept over some words on the dossier:
“……X month X, XX neighborhood, a vicious cult of heresy, three families constructed altars in their homes, sacrificed blood and prayed to some kind of evil creature that never appeared in the records, triggering panic and nightmares in a large number of residents in the vicinity, the sacrifice ceremony was later prosecuted and dismantled, but clues left at the scene could not be point to any of the known evil gods or evil spirits ……
“Theoretically, the dedication ceremony could not have had any effect and should have been a blind attempt by ignorant fools for their own personal selfish desires, but mass panic and nightmares among local residents did occur. Follow-up investigations confirmed that the area had indeed been under the influence of transcendent forces at the time ……”
(End of chapter)