Chapter 227 – The Shakers
Chapter 227 – The Shaker
Slightly hurried footsteps broke the silence in the great sanctuary, and Bishop Valentine, who was assigning matters to the assistant priests on the side, looked up at the sound and saw that it was Vanna’s silhouette that was coming towards him head on.
The bishop waved his hand for the assistant priests and attendants beside him to temporarily retreat, and his gaze fell on Vanna, “I thought you would be resting at home for two more days.”
“Unfortunately, it looks like I don’t have that to spare,” Vanna shook her head, her expression slightly serious, “What happened? I saw many Magi traveling in a hurry, and I also heard that a group of ascetics were sent inside the Stargazer’s Well……. Is it related to today’s sunrise?”
“Yes,” Valentine nodded, looking solemn, “today’s sunrise is fifteen minutes later than usual – and it’s not a delayed dawn due to localized anomalies in the sky – I’m receiving psychic energy transmissions from other city-states and maritime contact nodes. Transmissions of psychic energy have come in, and the anomaly has been observed in all parts of the world.”
“…… The world was illuminated by the ‘Creation of the World’ for an additional fifteen minutes ……” Vanna’s brow furrowed a little bit up, “Any damage reports now?”
“No, a mere delay in dawn is not enough to cause any problems, fifteen minutes of nightfall is still within the redundancy of the city-state’s shelter,” the old bishop shook his head, “What is truly disturbing is that the same phenomenon has been observed all over the world, which suggests that the problem does not lie on the surface of the earth or the sea. ”
“…… is a change in the operation of Vision 001 itself,” Vanna knew what the old bishop was worried about, of course, “No announcements from the Mausoleum of the Nameless King?”
Valentine shook his head gently.
“There’s no movement, so this is probably just a tiny …… ‘change of heart’ that doesn’t involve a change in the nature of Vision 001, but …… I’m afraid that most people won’t put their hearts down on this, we at least have to see the sun set normally today and see the sun rise normally the next day before we dare to breathe a little sigh of relief.”
Vanna murmured, and after a moment asked, “The ordinary people in the city weren’t affected?”
“It hasn’t fluctuated too much for the time being – part of the population didn’t notice the fifteen-minute delay, and the other part of the citizens who were aware of it shouldn’t have realized the seriousness of the matter either. I’ve already sent a letter to the Office of Government Affairs, asking their side to assess whether or not they need to follow up with an announcement of a calming, guiding nature to come out. Right now, this matter is not that impactful, and an overly aggressive official explanation may instead lead to the people’s unease-especially since we’ve just gone through a disaster of that magnitude.”
Vanna silently listened to the old bishop’s analysis and didn’t interject anything; as an Inquisitor who focused most of her energy on combat duties, she knew that she wasn’t specialized in this aspect of the matter, and only showed a thoughtful look every now and then, showing that her mood wasn’t as calm as it appeared to be.
Valentine looked at Vanna who looked vaguely worried, “What are you thinking about?”
“Just some feelings,” Vanna sighed softly and shook her head, “Every time there is a transcendent disaster, one realizes more and more how fragile this world we live in today is …… city-states, ecclesiastical orders, ocean-going ships. Everything we are so proud of seems to be built on a light and fragile layer of ice, and at any crack that is not detected in time, we will disappear from this world ……”
“That is precisely the point of our eternal vigilance and fortitude,” Valentine murmured, and gazed into the young Inquisitor’s eyes, “Vanna, you usually rarely lament something like this …… What happened? ”
Vanna fell silent, and it was only after a few seconds that she said to Bishop Valentine, as if she had made up her mind about something, “Two things, the first …… I saw that ‘Captain Duncan’ again yesterday. ”
Valentine’s eyes first stared down, but after a few moments, he let out a soft sigh, “It was actually expected.”
He paused, and then said, “We have so far not been able to do anything about the brand left on you by that Ghost Captain, and even now even the entire city-state of Plainland may have already established a connection with that Captain, and it is only a matter of time before he comes to find you ……. What has he told you?”
“…… Mostly small talk.” Vanna said in a slightly odd tone.
“…… Small talk?” This time Valentine finally raised an eyebrow in some surprise, “You mean to tell me that ‘Duncan’, the captain of the Lost Homeworld, the Shadow who returned from subspace, reversed the historical contamination and took away the sun shard, found you specifically to just make small talk with you?”
“I knew that would be your reaction – I couldn’t believe it either, honestly, I’d believe him if he told me he had a plan to conquer the world, but ……,” Vanna sighed. She then spent the next ten minutes or so telling the old man in front of her exactly what she had talked to Duncan about last night.
Valentine rubbed his forehead as he listened to Vanna’s relay, the old bishop, who had never wavered even when faced with the perilous situation of doom, had a troubled and tired face that was hard to hide at this point.
But after a short period of troubled color, he still raised his head and said in a somewhat complicated tone, “Vanna, I’ve actually been thinking about a problem since last night.”
“What problem?”
“…… You are the one who has had two direct exchanges with Captain Duncan, in your opinion, does that ‘Ghost Captain’…… look like an from subspace intruder?”
“What do you …… mean by that?” Vanna asked cautiously as her face changed slightly, “The Lost Country’s crash into subspace and return is a matter of definite ……”
“I’m not doubting that, I’m certainly aware of the records of the Lost Country’s return voyage from subspace, it’s just that you’re carefully recalling memories of what the state of a person who is completely under the influence of subspace is supposed to be like, as well as …… whether it is possible for a true subspace intruder to rationally talk to a person, and in the process without causing uncontrolled contamination?” This time, Vanna hesitated, she couldn’t give a response without thinking like she did just now, and hesitated for several seconds before speaking, “Judging from all the cases and the basic knowledge of subspace …… it’s not possible.”
“There is this simplest and most effective criterion for judging when mentally examining people who have suffered ‘deep’ contamination – those who can speak rationally are saved, or at least those who have not been fully transformed, “Bishop Valentine nodded, “the subspace contamination is very deadly, and for this reason, there has never been a subspace contaminant or intruder in history who could maintain their sanity, insanity is a characteristic they can’t erase, and we …… may be able to apply this simple standard of judgment to the Lost Country and its captain.”
“…… You mean it’s highly likely that that ‘Captain Duncan’ retained his humanity?”
“Or took back his humanity,” Bishop Valentine corrected the nuance, “There are clear eyewitness reports of the Lost Country’s indiscriminate attack and Captain Duncan’s descent into madness in the early records, when he clearly met the criteria for a subspace invader. ”
Vanna pondered, the more she thought about it the more incredulous the expression on her face became, “Is that possible? After being completely transformed by subspace contamination …… to even take back his humanity, it ……”
“If this is not possible, how do you explain that Captain Duncan who ‘chatted’ with you?” Bishop Valentine interrupted Vanna softly, then he paused and reminded, “Don’t forget that ‘Zero Law’.”
Vanna was stunned, then responded, “There will always be anomalies and visions that do not conform to perception or are beyond definition ……”
There was a momentary silence in the Great Sanctuary, a silence that lasted for an unknown length of time before Valentine snapped, “But we still can’t dismiss the Lost Country and its captain as harmless on that basis, do you understand?
“It is after all returning from subspace, and that captain, even if he has regained his humanity, it is hard to say what kind of perspective he is viewing us …… ‘mortals’ from at the moment.
“And we can’t rush to judgment on our own, we have to report all the information we have so far to the Pope Coronet to see how she views this matter.”
Vanna’s expression changed and she immediately nodded gravely, “Of course, this is something I’m still well aware of.”
Then she paused, with a somewhat strange expression on her face, “Talking about this kind of thing in this holy sanctuary really …… puts pressure on the heart. If placed in the past, I’m afraid I would have to give myself a definition of ‘heresy’.”
Valentine just sighed noncommittally, and then asked, “You just said that there were two things, besides meeting that ghost captain, what was the second thing?”
This time, Vanna was silent for a much longer period of time, and it was as if she was torn before she finally summoned up great courage under the gaze of the icon of the Storm Goddess, Gemona, and said solemnly to the old bishop, “I …… should confess.”
“Confess?” Valentine looked at her in surprise, “Why do you want to confess?”
“I wavered-although I am still devout, I cannot avoid my wavering act,” Vanna took a deep breath and confessed dryly, “After that fire, I questioned my faith. ”
She spelled out her doubts about the goddess and her wavering in her own faith, not hiding anything except to conceal the secret that her uncle had told her.
The old bishop did not speak for a long time.
Vanna watched the old man’s face with some apprehension, yet she found herself for once unable to judge Valentine’s attitude.
The old bishop seemed to be pensive, and a little intent on speaking, yet without any reproach.
It was some time before Vanna heard the other woman’s voice reach her ears.
“Vanna, you have come to me to confess …… And to whom shall I confess?”
A hint of surprise finally surfaced in Vanna’s eyes.
“Now, there are two waverers of faith in the Great Sanctuary,” the old bishop turned and gazed silently at the icon of the Storm Goddess, his voice carrying an otherworldly calm, “Vanna, can you feel it?”
“What?”
“The …… goddess is still blessing us.”
(End of chapter)