Chapter 271: A Letter from Afar

Chapter 271 – Letter from afar
Father had made a trip to the antique store earlier, spent a long time there, and came back clutching a cannonball – and then had solemnly placed the thing in the best spot on the antique shelf, and had gone to it every now and then to give it a serious polish.

Every time she thought about it, Heidi was very worried about the mental health of the old man of the house.

“Seriously, you have no idea how odd that looks,” Miss Psychiatrist couldn’t help but sigh again, “He babies it, says it’s a very, very special antique, and every day he rubs the shell before he even washes his own face- -My mother doesn’t give a damn, and when I say something about it, she says, ‘That’s all your father collects, don’t bother him.'”

Vanna didn’t know what to say about this, after all, she didn’t know anything about antiques, and the most impressive close encounter with antiques in her life was when she used a toy sword to practice jumping splits and smashed her uncle’s vase when she was a child, and the memory of that beating was still fresh in her mind, so even after holding her tongue for half a day, she could only come up with a dry sentence: “… …Mr. Morris is a respected historical scholar and collector, I think his collection must have a special vision in it.”

“That’s unheard of to hold a cannonball as a treasure – even if that cannonball is real,” Heidi sighed, “It must be real, or at the very least solid and dead weight. ”

Vanna didn’t say anything for a moment, she seemed to be thinking about something, and only after a while did she suddenly say, “Better talk about that amulet, did Mr. Morris get you another one exactly like it back?”

“Yes, that’s the one,” Heidi nodded, while reaching down and pulling the “crystal” pendant out of her chest, “You’ve seen it before, I had one exactly like it before, but it was in the ‘disaster’ earlier. I had one exactly like it before, but it was destroyed in the previous ‘disaster’, and the acolyte who registered it for me at the time analyzed it and said that it was probably an item that had been accidentally tainted with transcendent power, but usually hid its own special characteristics ……”

Vanna looked at the “crystal” pendant Heidi had taken out with a thoughtful expression.

“Do you think there’s something wrong?” Heidi couldn’t help but ask.

“After the …… disaster, the cathedral was short of manpower, but we still sent someone to investigate the situation of that antique store, and the result was that everything was normal, from the store’s purchasing channels to the owner’s identity and background, there were no problems whatsoever, and in the city archives, it’s clear that the matter of the pendant seems to be just a coincidence,” Vanna slowly said. coincidence,” Vanna said slowly, her eyes always falling on that pendant, “but I always feel a little concerned …… Heidi, do you still remember, I once went to that antique store together with you.”

“Of course I remember,” Heidi nodded, “I’d say it was a bit of fate for me and the store – the gentleman who owned it saved my life at the museum, the owner’s niece was one of my father’s students, and the pendant I was in was from the same place. That pendant also happened to come from that store …… But as you also said, the church secretly investigated it and didn’t find anything wrong with it.”

Vanna, however, didn’t answer anything, but just held out her hand after a moment of thought, “Can you show me?”

Heidi didn’t think much about it, and directly unhooked the pendant and handed it over, “Sure, here.”

Vanna took the crystal pendant, which still carried a hint of body heat, and placed it in the sunlight to scrutinize it, and only after a long time did she speak as if to herself, “There’s no transcendent aura.”

“Yeah, it’s just a normal talisman, even glass,” Heidi said, followed by a somewhat serious look at her best friend in front of her, “Vanna, you’re a little overwrought, and I know it’s an occupational hazard of being an Inquisitor, but I think… . that shopkeeper really is a very nice man, and you shouldn’t doubt him.”

“I’m being concerned, not suspicious, I always felt something was off about that antique store, but I’m not looking at it the way an Inquisitor would look at a heretic,” Vanna said, handing the pendant back to her best friend, “But you’re right, I might be a little jumpy. ”

Heidi put the pendant back on, then glanced at the mechanical clock hanging next to her, “Ah, it’s that time already?!”

“Is it time to go?”

“Must go,” Heidi said as she got up and picked up the small carrying case that she had placed beside her earlier, “I have another appointment this afternoon – the same one that has been in quarantine and under observation on this side of the cathedral for a number of days previously Captain.”

Vanna frowned at the memory and quickly found a counterpart, “The captain of the White Oak? I remember it was called Lawrence …… He’s in trouble?”

“A captain running on the boundless sea, and at that age – it’s a normal thing to need the help of a psychiatrist,” Heidi said, seeming to think of something, with a slightly complicated look, but soon shook her head, “But compared to most people of the same age, it’s not a problem. “But compared to most captains his age, that Mr. Lawrence is actually in pretty good shape. More than that I can’t say, that’s the patient’s privacy.”

“Well, good luck with your work.”

……

The first thing Maurice did when he returned home was to hug and kiss his wife, and the second thing he did was to meticulously polish the shell that sat on the antique shelf.

Although he felt a little strange bringing it back with him, he knew that this seemingly odd “collector’s item” had its own special significance.

It represented the connection between himself and the Lost Country, as well as Captain Duncan’s “goodwill” towards his family members.

The incredible ghost captain always conveyed his goodwill in all sorts of strange ways, including and not limited to the soup stewed with the heirs of the deep sea, cannonballs with steel seals from a century ago, and tutoring the undereducated among his dependents to learn to read and write, which Maurice thought was a bit odd at first, but now he had adjusted his mindset perfectly.

What Captain Duncan said was right, and what Captain Duncan did was normal. Keeping this mindset, Maurice felt that he had fully adapted to the atmosphere of his new team.

Footsteps sounded from behind.

Without turning around, Morris knew it was his wife.

“You’ve almost polished it so much that it shines,” the airy old woman smiled, looking at her husband, “Didn’t you say before that antiques can’t be polished too often.”

“But this is no ordinary ‘antique,’ Mary,” said Maurice, turning his head and smiling at his wife; “it is part of the miracle.”

The old woman looked up and scrutinized the two particular collectibles on the antique shelf-a dagger, a cannonball-and after a few moments she burst out, “Will you tell your daughter some truth afterward? About this ‘miracle’, about …… that new ‘identity’ of yours.”

Maurice stopped what he was doing.

There are some ‘miracles’ that can be hidden from others, but not from the person who experienced the miracle itself.

As the product of an incomplete “subspace prayer”, his wife had been lying in bed in the form of human ashes for eleven years, and she herself knew this very well, and now that she had truly survived due to the influence of the Lost Country, she would naturally have questions about her own survival.

There was no getting around it.

So with the captain’s permission, Maurice told his wife about the Lost Country, but he did not tell Heidi.

“…… It’s not necessary now,” said Morris, “Heidi doesn’t have to be in touch with the matter yet, and it’s up to the captain whether he says …… it or not .”

Just then the doorbell suddenly rang, interrupting the conversation between Morris and his wife.

The old scholar was just about to answer the door when his wife stopped him with a smile, “I’ll go – I haven’t walked for years, but I need more exercise now.”

With that she turned and went to the foyer, a short conversation coming from the direction of the front door, and after another moment she returned to Maurice.

“It’s the letter carrier,” said his wife, handing over a letter, “for you.”

“A letter for me?” Maurice was a little surprised, the first thing he noticed on the envelope were those large denomination stamps as well as a couple of special imprints, and he couldn’t help but frown, “I’ve written to a couple of friends from afar, but I shouldn’t have gotten back to them so quickly …… hmmm?”

His movement of opening the letter suddenly stopped, his gaze falling on the first seal stamp on the envelope representing the place of issuance, and there was something strange in his expression.

“Where did it come from?” His wife’s curious voice sounded beside him.

Morris was silent for two seconds and whispered, “…… Frost.”

“Frost? That’s a long way away,” his wife said, recalling, not quite sure, “I do remember you having a friend in Frost named Brown or Bren?”

“Brown Scott,” said Maurice slowly, his tone becoming for some reason extraordinarily low and serious, and his motion of opening the seal with the letter opener extraordinarily hesitant, “was, like myself, a scholar in history, and was also enamored of the occult field.”

“Oh yes, Brown Scott, I remember him as a rather thin man, giving off a meticulous look,” the wife drifted off, “and he still keeps in touch with you? I remember he moved to Frost years ago, but he did have a relationship with you before he moved ……”

“He’s dead,” snapped Maurice, “six years ago in a shipwreck.”

The words fell, and the room was instantly silent.

(End of chapter)