Chapter 264: Knocking on the door
Chapter 264 Knocking on the Door
Maurice left, with an odd look on his face, clutching a cannonball that was a hundred years old.
Duncan stood at the counter and watched the old gentleman’s back as he left with a pleasant smile.
“…… You really gave the cannonball to Mr. Morris, huh?” Alice on the side muttered.
“Really gave Mr. Morris the shells ……” Nina tittered along.
“I don’t like cannonballs,” Alice whispered, “especially not.”
Curious, Nina asked, “Why?”
Alice looked serious, “Because the Captain once gave me eight cannonballs ……”
“Stop chanting,” Duncan’s voice suddenly came from the sidelines as he glanced helplessly at Alice with her grudge and Nina next to her who had clearly had her curiosity piqued, “Where did Shirley go?”
“She said she was dizzy from memorizing the alphabet and had to go out for some fresh air,” Nina sputtered, “but I guess she’d have run off to the next block by this time.”
“To be expected,” Duncan sighed, “With Shirley’s level of literacy and personal grooming, it’s a wonder she manages to stick to her daily routine of not swearing in front of me ……”
Sighing, he craned his head to look out the window, and through the clear windows, the everyday, peaceful streetscape of Prand came into view.
The roads were bustling with pedestrians, the citizens going about their days, and the Lower City was still free of incident today – the brief malfunction of Vision 001, the barely visible defect on the Sun Rune Ring to the naked eye, the forgotten deep-diving operation in the far north, a mysterious symbol left behind by the ancient kingdom of Kritzerland …… All of this seems a long way from this sunlit neighborhood.
He narrowed his eyes slightly for a long time before muttering softly as if to himself, “Tirian really is going back early ……”
……
In the southeastern harbor of the city-state, the massive steel battleship Sea Mist was ready to set sail.
This battleship, which was once heavily damaged by the Lost Country, has recovered most of its strength after just a few days of “self-conditioning”, and the many wounds and cracks on its armor belt and decks have completely healed, and not even the slightest traces of damage can be seen, and the Immortal Sailors are busy going back and forth between the trestle and the battleship, carrying on board the supplies and parting gifts that Prender has so generously provided. The immortal sailors were busy moving between the trestle bridge and the battleship, carrying the supplies and parting gifts generously provided by Prender aboard.
The tall Vanna came down to the dock to see off the Sea Mist’s captain in person.
“We didn’t expect you to leave so soon,” Vanna said, “but the Archbishop was prepared for the Sea Mist to be a guest for at least two weeks.”
“Actually, I had thought I’d be here for a long time as well – but something unexpected happened,” Tirian rubbed his forehead gently, “There’s something going on in the north that I have to go back and take care of. ”
It seemed to be just a pretext, but Vanna wasn’t interested in prying into the parts that people didn’t want to talk about, she just eyed Tirian with some concern, her brow furrowing slightly, “Forgive me …… Mr. Captain, but is your face puffy?”
“Small accident, small accident.” Tirian immediately waved his hand, thinking that it was fortunate that this had already gone through another day of recovery, if it was yesterday that this Inquisitor had seen him, he really didn’t know how to explain his head that had grown a whole circle larger.
Immediately afterward, as if to prevent the embarrassment from continuing, he hurriedly changed the topic, “It was a very pleasant day to be a guest in Prand, and thank you for the gifts.”
“It’s good that you like it,” Vanna nodded with a smile, and immediately afterward raised her head with some curiosity, looking at the towering sides of the Sea Mist, as well as the main gun emplacement that could be seen from the side, “Even though I’ve heard about it before, it still feels incredible to see it in person… …This ship has really ‘healed itself’ like this, and even the main guns that have been completely erased have …… ‘grown back’? ”
Tirian glanced back at his ship, his eyes falling on the three new main cannons that had obviously just been restored, and at the moment looked as if they were slightly smaller than the other main cannons, a smile tinged with pride on his face, “The Sea Mist knows what it’s supposed to look like, and it’ll always tend to put itself in the best possible shape- -But those main guns aren’t quite ready for use right now, they’re still small, and they’ll have a few more days to grow before they can fire fully loaded standard caliber shells like the rest of the main guns.”
Vanna froze, always feeling as if there was something wrong with the smile on the other woman’s face as she looked at her ship’s main guns and the tone of voice she brought out between words, but couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was ……
Luckily, though, she wasn’t one to dwell on such details.
At 3:20 PM, with a mellifluous whistle, the steel battleship with its towering bow slowly accelerated and left the city-state.
Vanna stood on the dock and watched the battleship fade into a nondescript black shadow on the sea level before she exhaled softly and turned to board the black steamer that had been waiting for a long time nearby.
The subordinate in charge of driving raised his head and glanced through the rearview mirror at the Inquisitor whose face showed a tired look, “You seem tired?”
“It’s been one thing after another, and paperwork is far more laborious than carrying a greatsword and fighting heretics,” Vanna moved her shoulders and neck, leaning back in the back seat unimaginatively, “And I’ve been suffering from insomnia lately.”
A low vibration and chirp came from the steam core, gears and linkages running briskly, and the ministry couldn’t help but get a smile on his face as he listened to his officer’s complaints, “But at least the city-state has been peaceful lately – no heretics, no monsters, no unlucky souls trapped in the Nightshade, and the guardsmen patrolling the streets have been gone days without encountering a twist in the night …… There’s always a sunny day after a storm, isn’t there?” Vanna listened to her subordinate’s sentiments and slowly said after a while, “Indeed, the nights have been calmer than ever lately, and even in the lower city and sewers, where darkness most often envelops, there is no longer any noise coming from them.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“…… Certainly, a good thing,” Vanna said softly, then adjusted her position in the seat and closed her eyes, “I’ll take a nap, wake me up at the cathedral.”
“Yes.”
As soon as the ministry responded, Vanna had felt herself slip into a drowsy, light sleep, the sounds of the car’s mechanical workings and the voices outside the windows fading away.
She was indeed sleepy, she hadn’t gotten a good night’s rest in many days.
The order of the city-state had been fully restored, all the aftermath of the incident had been methodically finalized, the paperwork had been dealt with, the reports to the cathedral and the various contacts with the city hall were all in order – but behind this “everything is going well” was the exhaustion of the past few days. behind all this “smoothness” were days of exhaustion.
After sending off the Sea Mist’s special “visitor”, she was finally able to breathe a little easier.
At least she would be able to rest for a few days before the Storm Cathedral arrived in Prand and received the Pope’s crown.
A gentle night breeze suddenly blew across her cheeks, carrying a cool, refreshing scent, and along with it, the sound of waves lapping against the hull of the ship.
Vanna’s eyes snapped open.
She was in a strange room.
As far as the eye could see, there were classical and exquisite furnishings, the walls were hung with gorgeous tapestries in the style of the last century, the corners were placed with dark-colored shelves and wine cabinets, and in the center of the room there was a thick woven carpet, on the carpet there was a parlor table with carvings and back chairs, and at the moment she was sitting on one of the back chairs.
Vanna sprang to her feet, then arched her body slightly like a beast at war, wary of everything around her.
The next moment, she saw a window not far away – the window was open, and although it was still daytime when she went to sleep, the view outside the window at the moment was that of night, and the cold night air blew through the window into the house, filling the window sill with a cold, bright light, in which the undulating sea could be seen in the distance, as well as the shimmering of the sea. Floodlight floodlight.
The floodlight is as fine as mercury.
Vanna’s line of sight involuntarily fell outside the window, and immediately after, she seemed to have suddenly discovered something and violently rushed towards the window, raising her head to look at the sky outside the window.
A …… thing she could hardly understand appeared there.
It was a glowing circular object that looked like that main body in the middle of the sun, but it was neither blinding nor scorching, but rather hung quietly in the sky like a glowing disk with a cool feeling, and certain textures could be faintly seen on its surface – the entire glowing body, all of it, seemed to emanate a marvelous aura of peace and stillness.
Vanna stared blankly at the strange body of light, for a moment, she felt that her mind seemed to have fallen into a state of silence along with that clear glow, and this blank state of mind lasted for an unknown period of time before she thought sluggishly–what is that?
Is that the cooling sun?
Where had the Creation of the World gone?
Then she withdrew her gaze and looked again at the strange room.
Where was this place again?
Outside is the undulating sea, beside her is a strange room, and outside the window is a weird sky, a weird celestial body …… Thinking about what she has been through all these days, the answer doesn’t seem to be too hard to guess.
But this time seems to be not quite the same as before, this time …… she did not see that terrible ghost captain.
Vanna thought so, but as if in response to this thought of hers, the next second, she suddenly felt an aura approaching.
“Knock knock.”
Someone knocked on the door of the room.
(End of chapter)