Chapter 200 – The Alarm of the Historian
Chapter 200 The History Scholar’s Alert
Duncan felt careless.
He single-handedly thought about Alice’s lack of common sense in living in the human world, but he did not think about how far this lack of common sense could reach, he had thought that this thing would at least be able to help out a little bit in the store after coming over, but he did not expect that she did not even recognize money.
But it was quite reasonable.
After all, it’s not like she needs to spend any money while she’s lying in a coffin ……
“Alas …… while Shirley and Nina aren’t around, I’d better continue to fill you in,” Duncan sighed, helplessly abandoning his plan to go out for a spin in the afternoon, “First of all, it’s necessary for you to get to know a few of the most basic of the human world’s things, like currency ……”
He paused and sighed again, “Gee, looks like we’ll really have to turn around and start a literacy remedial class for you and Shirley before we can do that.”
“Ohhh, Shirley, that’s the short girl from earlier right?” Alice immediately matched the number and was full of happiness, being able to get to know someone new seemed to be something worthwhile for her, “I heard you say that she’s an …… what’s it called like me, ‘illiterate’ right? ”
“That’s not something to be happy about!” Duncan pounded on the table, “And even Shirley is better than you – well at least people know how to skip a ticket on a bus!”
Alice: “What’s fare evasion?”
Duncan: “……”
……
Heidi stuttered and sneezed.
She got up and closed the living room window, rubbing her nose and grunting at the cold and hot weather we’d been having lately, then looked up a little worriedly at her father, who was sitting not far from her by the coffee table.
School was out, and the annual fall break for the various public schools in Prand lasted for over two months, during which time her father didn’t have to report to school and didn’t have much socializing to do on weekdays, so in years past he would usually be dipping his toes into the city-state’s major libraries at this time of the year, or staying at home to spend his days at leisure, as he was doing today.
But for some reason, today’s Morris state looked rather off.
He was holding a newspaper, but his eyes were not focused on it at all, he was sitting on top of the sofa and had maintained that stiff posture for almost an hour, he seemed to have been contemplating something, and he didn’t even respond to the day maid’s inquiry just now.
Heidi frowned.
It seemed that ever since he had returned from Mr. Duncan’s antique store, his father had been in the same state, in a trance, with occasional strange expressions, ignoring the bystanders and brooding.
Not even going to the study-as if he were instinctively resisting the books.
“Are you all right?” Heidi finally didn’t hold back, got up and came to Maurice’s side, bending down and inquiring with concern, “Not feeling well?”
Only after asking twice in a row did Morris finally hear his daughter’s voice, and he hurriedly raised his head, feeling the buzzing in his head subside slightly before waving his hand, “I’m fine …… Oh, you didn’t go to church or the town hall today? Nor the clinic?”
“Church and Town Hall are long done, and the clinic is closed today,” Heidi’s frown didn’t stretch, “I remember you asking about it this morning.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot.”
Morris tapped his temple, a little hesitantly.
He knew he wasn’t in the best of shape, but there was no way he could explain this to his own daughter.
He couldn’t reveal information about a subspace being – not only because it might offend Mr. Duncan, but also because it might contaminate the information and affect Heidi.
A low buzzing in his head interrupted Morris’s thoughts, but the noise soon subsided, allowing his thoughts to stabilize again. Thought noise, the aftermath of returning from the antique store.
But in reality, compared to yesterday, this aftereffect had diminished by an unknown number of times.
Maurice knew he should be grateful – he had not only saved his life after facing the shadow of subspace, but even his sanity, it was the God of Wisdom’s protection and “Mr. Duncan’s” goodwill that had worked simultaneously, he was left with some symptoms caused by the “madness threshold”, but after a brief period of time, the symptoms had been reduced. He was left with a few symptoms caused by the “Critical Madness”, but after a brief self-judgment, he confirmed that these symptoms will be reduced rapidly over time, and there is nothing to be nervous about.
But before the symptoms disappeared completely, he was afraid that his own bad state would have to worry Heidi for a while longer.
Maurice frowned suddenly, remembering that his daughter was a psychiatrist par excellence – she couldn’t be allowed to continue to notice anything different about his mental state.
Just then, Heidi’s voice came again, “Did you talk to Mr. Duncan about anything yesterday? I feel like you’ve been distracted ever since you came back ……”
“Some …… knowledge field topics, very deep knowledge,” Morris’ mind could not restrain the emergence of the “creeping sun wheel” related information, recalled that Mr. Duncan revealed to himself about the black sun. Mr. Duncan disclosed to himself about the current situation of the black sun, he used great perseverance to control these “knowledge” that seemed to have an independent life and drilled everywhere in his consciousness, and smiled at Heidi, “It’s quite difficult to understand, I still haven’t figured it out yet, that’s why I’m always lost in my thoughts today! …… Let’s not talk about this, I suddenly remembered, didn’t you make a date with your friends to go to the theater on your day off?”
Heidi was baffled for a moment, “…… Friends? I don’t remember …… making a date with any friend to go to the theater …… Did you remember wrong?”
“I remembered wrong?” Morris rubbed his temples, for some reason, he suddenly felt that the area near his temples was throbbing with heat, and his memory was in a trance, as if something forgotten was awakening in his consciousness, “But I clearly remember that you said the day before yesterday that there was a friend …… what’s-his-name Come on, a very tall, with me also familiar ……”
Morris rubbing his temples gradually became irritated, began to use his fists to gently beat his forehead, muttering in his mouth, which made Heidi, who was originally just a little puzzled, suddenly feel inexplicably nervous, she hurriedly squatted down to hold the old man’s hand, “Are you all right? Is it a headache? Do you want …… me to give you a hypnotic relaxation or tranquilizing guidance? Or find another doctor ……”
“I don’t need a doctor, I don’t need a doctor,” Morris waved his hand forcefully, and the noise appeared in his mind again, but this time the noise was different from the previous “thought noise”, this time the voice seemed to be desperately conveying some information, desperately trying to wake up something, he was trying to wake up something, he was trying to wake up something. He felt as if another consciousness had awakened in his mind – a consciousness that was still his own, but with subtle deviations from his current thinking, “I just need to remember, remember something important… …Heidi, you have a friend, listen, you have a friend, very important ……”
The worry and tension on Heidi’s face grew worse, she gripped Morris’s other hand hard, her words already unconsciously carrying the power of tranquilizing and guiding, “Of course I have a friend, but which one are you talking about ……”
Morris, however, could no longer hear Heidi’s later words.
He felt a sudden roar in his mind, the chirping sound of all the noise being compressed into a single moment of release, and then the noise of thought that had plagued him for so long completely disappeared, while a large number of odd memories came pouring out from the depths of his consciousness, and in a trance he seemed to see that scene again – a giant, filled with starlight A giant, filled with starlight, twisted and fused by crumpled mirrors, and then he saw green flames, which burned away, and the fog cleared.
This time, his sanity was not impaired by the sight of the giant, but on the contrary, the impression that came to his mind seemed to penetrate an invisible curtain with inexplicable greatness.
The old man suddenly raised his head and stared intently into Heidi’s eyes, “Where is Vanna?”
Heidi froze, “…… Who is Vanna?”
“Inquisitor of the city-state, one of your best friends, niece of Consul Dante ……” Morris spoke slowly, his breath had smoothed out, his eyes were back to their usual depth and sharpness, the noise disappeared, so did the giant’s silhouette, and only the two simultaneous and distinct memories remained in his mind, and he could clearly recognize all the divergences in that memory, as if he were perusing two ancient scrolls of history spread out before him-discerning history and searching for truth was one of the things he was best at, “You don’t remember, do you do you?”
Heidi hesitated, “I …… don’t know who you’re talking about, but your state worries me ……”
“Don’t worry about me, I’m in great shape right now, but we should be worried about Vanna,” Maurice stood up suddenly, his expression more serious than ever, “Heidi, something may be terribly wrong with our city-state, we need to act.”
Heidi subconsciously rose with him, she could detect that her father’s spirits had indeed perked up inexplicably, but had absolutely no idea what was happening, “Act? Do what?”
“You go to the cathedral, to Bishop Valentine, and tell him ……” Maurice spluttered, but stopped in mid-sentence, and after weighing the matter nervously and carefully he shook his head, “No, what happened to Vannah may be the result of the realization of the truth, too. It is because of the realization of the truth …… You find Bishop Valentine, and say that you seek asylum, the highest rank of asylum, and you tell him that I asked you to do this, that the most distinguished historical scholar of the City-State of Prand asked you to do this, and say nothing else …… “
Heidi listened sparingly, already sensing that something dangerous and urgent might be going on that couldn’t be said outright, and controlled the urge to ask questions, ready to follow her father’s instructions for now, but then she noticed Morris picking up the coat next to him, and widened her eyes slightly, “And you? And what are you going to do?”
“…… To the antique store.” Morris said in a deep voice.
(End of chapter)