Chapter 258: “Manners”
Chapter 258 “Manners”
The swift bell was striking sharply, seven short chimes in a row, followed by another seven in a row at intervals of a few seconds, three rounds in a row.
Tirian listened sideways to the movement outside the window, he heard some conversations ringing out in the hallway and hurried footsteps in the open space outside.
The mid-level and above clerics responded to the bells, and they were setting up protection at various key locations as well as getting ready for the vigil, while the highest-ranking men in the cathedral would have traveled to one of the hidden sanctuaries by this time, ready to take part in the saints’ assembly.
Tirion was not a member of the church, but after all he had lived for half a century, he still knew the rules in this area quite well, and he was able to hear the key information from the frequency and repetition of the bells – this was the bell that called for “listening”, and the invitation to the gathering was sent directly from the tomb of the nameless king. It was an invitation to a gathering directly from the Tomb of the Unknown King, and the situation sounded urgent.
“Is there another anomaly or vision gone wrong? Was a new one discovered? Or is there a big change in the old one?” Lucrecia muttered thoughtfully, “It feels like it hasn’t even been that long since the last ‘convening’ ……”
Tirian listens to the commotion outside for a moment, withdraws his attention and shakes his head, “This is a matter for the Church of the Deep itself, we need not get involved.”
“Well,” Lucrecia nodded gently, then looked to her older brother, “Is there anything else you want to ask about Anomaly 099?”
Tirian pondered for a moment and shook his head, “No, there isn’t – and with the Swift Bell ringing in the evening, this side of the Cathedral will soon be in a state of vigil, so it’s best if we don’t continue to talk about things related to the anomaly.”
“Good, then I’ll continue to busy myself,” Lucrecia said immediately, and immediately after that, the crystal ball placed on the table began to flicker slightly, and her figure faded, but just before the connection was completely broken, she seemed to remember something and suddenly spoke, “By the way, there’s still one more thing, something about Father.”
Tirion hesitated slightly, “…… you said.”
“Father, did he look for you this time …… seem to be in a normal state of mind as well?”
“He was lucid, logical, and even a little ……” Tirian said with obvious hesitation, but finally spoke, “I’m not sure, but that’s even a little affectionate. ”
“Ah, that’s nice.”
……
Vanna winded up and ran into the Great Sanctuary, and when she saw that Bishop Valentine was already waiting for him in front of the Goddess’s icon, she hurriedly took a few steps forward, “How is it that there’s another convocation so soon …… This has never happened in the past.”
“I don’t know, this time the bell is directly controlled by the Storm Cathedral, it must not be ringing for no reason,” Valentine nodded to Vanna, turned around and walked towards the tunnel leading to the “water-soaked cavern” while speaking quickly, “Maybe it’s the same as last time, it’s an anomaly and the same as last time,” he said. It’s probably a direct change in the list of anomalies and visions, like last time, and the tomb’s keeper is sending out a call to arms.”
Vanna followed the old bishop’s footsteps, and as she passed the icon of the goddess, she habitually stopped and seemed to hesitate for a moment, but soon bowed as reverently as ever before turning and continuing to the entrance of the tunnel.
It was not long before they arrived at the secret room at the end of the tunnel, the water-soaked cavern used to construct the “psychic channel”.
The scene in the chamber was the same as always, the ancient stone walls were always wet, the fire pit in the center of the room was burning with illusory flames, and the sound of water and waves filled the surroundings, bringing a different kind of quiet atmosphere.
The door to the chamber closed.
Vanna inhaled softly and stopped in front of the firepit, lowering her head to gaze at the flames that burned without fuel.
She allowed her mind to calm a little, allowing her spirituality to gradually synchronize with the guidance of the Goddess as the leaping flames became an anchor point that stabilized her humanity and gradually filled her vision.
It was supposed to be a light process, but this time, Vanna was feeling rather hard.
She tried not to imagine the sight of the flames suddenly tinted with an ethereal green, not to imagine that behind the flames might lie one of Captain Duncan’s eyes – she twisted her head slightly to look at Bishop Valentine beside her, and saw that the old man’s eyes had calmed down completely, and that his breathing had leveled off, and he had clearly entered that assembly field before her.
Vanna had no choice but to withdraw her eyes and take a soft breath, trying once again to focus her mind and synchronize her spirituality with the goddess’s guidance.
Fortunately, this time she succeeded.
The illusory waters came up and gently enveloped her, her senses were withdrawn from her mortal body and reorganized in another dimension, and after a slight trance, Vanna was already in the mysterious and ancient assembly grounds – the familiar boundless square, the old crumbling pillars standing around it, and the vague humanoid shapes gathered among them. The familiar boundless plaza, the broken old pillars standing around the plaza, and those blurred humanoid shadows gathered between the pillars.
One of the silhouettes quickly leaned over, it was Bishop Valentine: ”Vanna, have you run into trouble? It took you a long time this time.”
“Not enough mental concentration.” Vanna said casually, and immediately afterward, she noticed that there was also a striking figure standing at the edge of the square – that figure was solid and clear, very different from the surrounding saints who only had blurry black shadows, and could clearly be seen as a beautiful lady wearing a gorgeous robe and dress. Of course Vanna recognized that figure.
“The Pope’s coronation is already there in person?” She was a bit surprised, “Ah, I’m really …… late at the wrong time this time.”
“It’s fine, you get used to it if you’re late more often,” Valentine said rather sagely, “The Pope Coronation was already here when I got here, she might even have been the first one to come, I guess she might have some special arrangements… …”
Vanna listened somewhat absentmindedly, for some reason she always felt that the solid and elegant figure seemed to be casting attentive glances this way if at all, and that gaze made her rather a bit squirmy and even …… nervous.
Just then, Pope Helena suddenly turned her head.
She really took a serious look at Vanna, and immediately afterward, it was as if a hint of a smile appeared on her face, and she gently nodded her head.
Vanna was stunned for a moment, and immediately afterward, she was just about to return the salute when she was interrupted by a low rumble that suddenly rang out.
She followed the sound and saw that the stone floor in the center of the square quickly rumbled, the fragmented ground rippled like water, and in a few moments, a twilight ancient palace made of pale boulders appeared in the saints’ field of vision.
The tomb of the nameless king appeared.
The saints who were still talking in low voices quickly quieted down, and an atmosphere of silence and solemnity enveloped the square, and Vanna hurriedly collected her thoughts, not paying attention to the gaze that the Pope was casting towards her, but instead staring at the pyramid-like main building of that kind of ancient palace, and staring intently at its entrance.
The entrance door opened, and the extremely tall tomb keeper stepped out from it.
Wrapped in a shroud, half of his body burnt and half of his body wrapped in shackles, as seen last time, this terrifying creature made of a mixture of flesh and blood, steel bindings and death curses walked straight towards the saints gathered in the square.
The choice had been made.
In the next moment, he crossed over every dark shadow in the square without hesitation, stopping directly in front of Vanna.
The tomb keeper lowered his head, his one eye gazing calmly at the saint in front of him:
“You, may enter the tomb.”
He raised his hand and handed over the quill and parchment, waiting for Vanna’s reaction.
Instead, Vanna was stunned – as were nearly all of the acolytes.
The Gravekeeper had chosen the same Saint to enter the tomb twice in a row!
This had never happened in the past thousand years!
Of course, there wasn’t any clear “rule” restricting the Gravekeeper from choosing the same saint consecutively, but after so many years, the Gravekeeper always chose different saints to enter the tomb in the two calls in the near future, and this had almost become a kind of agreed “rule”! This has almost become an established “rule”, even if the saints who have entered the tomb last time come to participate in the assembly this time, it is only to comply with the order to ensure the integrity of the “listening” ceremony.
No one expected that Vanna would be chosen again.
Vanna was stunned for several seconds, then the tomb keeper patiently stretched out his hand and waited, and at this time the feeling of being watched came once again, Vanna subconsciously followed the feeling to look, but met the deep gaze of Pope Helene.
Vanna’s heart tightened, and she averted her gaze with a bit of trepidation, before noticing that the Gravekeeper was still waiting – the ancient and extremely scary looking guardian bowed his head without sorrow or joy, and passed the parchment and quill forward a little more.
“Me again?”
Vanna asked subconsciously, but just as she did, she regretted it a little – how could the tomb keeper answer such irrelevant questions?
But immediately afterward, she heard a hoarse, low voice coming from in front of her, “Yes, it’s you again.”
Vanna was instantly a little taken aback, and she glanced up at the slightly scowling face of the Gravekeeper before reaching for the parchment and quill.
The Gravekeeper seemed to nod softly, straightening up as he did so:
“Please write down what you hear.”
Vanna nodded subconsciously, but suddenly felt as if something was wrong.
It always felt like …… this gravekeeper seemed to be a lot more polite?
(Tomorrow’s update time has been temporarily adjusted to 10:00 and 12:00 a.m., tomorrow only.)
(End of chapter)