Chapter 369 – Encounters, and reunions

Chapter 369 – A Chance Encounter, and a Reunion

Agatha examined the hidden compartment that hid the Queen’s side portrait, and it was indeed as reported by her subordinates – just a place to privately and secretly commemorate the Frost Queen, with no traces of any transcendent power left behind.

She looked at the things that had been searched: plaster statues, commemorative coins, manuals.

Fifty years ago, that would have been worth a noose.

But those horrible years, which had strained everyone’s nerves, were behind them, and today’s Frost authorities had the long-lasting stability of the city-state and their own image of impartiality to consider, and were unlikely to make a big deal out of a sneaky act of commemoration by a private citizen – nowadays such harmless acts of remembrance were usually met with only a warning, and at most, some sort of fine.

And even warnings and fines are matters for the magistrates to consider – secular decrees and laws are not the responsibility of the cathedral.

“It’s not our place to ask,” Agatha shook her head, “organize that part of the situation, notify the sheriff’s authorities, and let them take care of the follow-up. But these souvenirs we shall take back and examine, in case there …… is anything hidden in them.”

“Yes.”

After briefly arranging some more follow-up finishing touches at the scene, Agatha stood up from the couch and breathed a soft sigh of relief.

There were too many things that needed to be taken care of for her to continue to delay here.

“Remember to keep following up on the investigation over at the sewage treatment center, as well as monitoring the plumbing system in this area.” She finally instructed her subordinates before striding out of the room.

Outside the house was a narrow hallway, old stairs stretching forward in the dim light, next to two other homes quietly opening their doors to keep an eye on this side of the building, a few pairs of slightly alarmed eyes looking out through the cracks in the doors.

Agatha waved a hand at those pairs of eyes.

“Go home, gather your things and wait for instructions, this place needs to be temporarily evacuated – rest assured, we’ll get this place sorted out as soon as possible, and you’ll all be able to go home soon afterward.”

With those words, and without caring about the subsequent reactions of the occupants, Agatha stepped down the stairs and headed for the exit on the first floor.

She didn’t use Grey Wind to get there, though she liked to do that on a regular basis – but today she was in such a state of confusion, with so many distractions nagging at the back of her mind, that she felt she needed to organize her thoughts, and a slow walk would help her think.

At the same time, she also wanted to take in the lingering scent of the entire building, to see if she could observe any lingering “primeval” contamination elsewhere.

With that in mind, she walked down the old stairs to the exit, and came to the open space outside the residential building.

The stale, musty smell dissipated, and the fresh, cool air lifted Agatha’s spirits, even giving her the illusion that she had emerged from a dark, damp crypt into the sunlight for a moment.

The crowd that had gathered outside the residential building had dispersed, leaving only three or two curious passersby who had stopped and pointed from a safe distance, and all of those passersby had quickly departed after Agatha’s appearance.

Nope, there were still people staying here.

Agatha frowned as she saw a young woman with a veil, long blonde hair, and a large bag in her arms still standing in the open space in front of the residential building, looking like she was in a daze.

“This place is on lockdown, please do not stay,” Agatha warned in a slightly serious tone as she stepped forward, “Are you a resident here?”

The veiled blonde woman seemed startled and jolted awake, she whipped her head around to look at Agatha and pointed to herself in confusion, “You’re talking to me?”

“Of course, who else is here?” Agatha frowned, for some reason, she was always a little concerned about this stranger in front of her, even though she confirmed that she didn’t recognize the other party, but then she always felt that the profile between the other party’s eyebrows seemed a little familiar, as if she had seen them a while ago, “Are you an occupant of this place?”

“Ah, no no,” Alice hurriedly waved her hand and raised it to point in the distance, “I live over there, it’s quite far away – what’s going on here, I heard someone died? ”

“The Guardians are taking care of it.” Agatha said casually, and at the same time a little puzzled – the blonde across from her was reacting a little oddly, didn’t she recognize herself as the keeper of the city-state?
Alice, on the other hand, didn’t notice any change in the eyes of the woman in front of her, dressed in black and bandaged – she just found the other woman’s outfit really interesting.

Much like the Captain’s current appearance.

But the Captain had given instructions not to comment on other people’s appearances casually, and not to tell strangers too much about themselves – the former wasn’t polite enough, and the latter wasn’t discreet enough.

Alice wasn’t quite able to spell those two words yet, but she figured the captain must be right.

The time had come to say goodbye.

So she waved her hand at Agatha with a pleasant tone, “I’ll be off then, ah! Thanks for answering my questions!”

With that, the blonde woman wearing a veil left, looking joyful, but Agatha looked at the other party’s departing back and felt nothing but oddness in her heart.

What in the world is this person …… here for?

She had lived in this city-state for more than twenty years, but she had never seen such a person – covered in an indefinable, simple and happy aura, speaking in an unsuspecting tone, smiling without any gloom. Agatha frowned, and then suddenly froze immediately afterward, as if she hadn’t noticed something different just then until the other person had left.

“No breathing or heartbeat ……?!”

The young gatekeeper snapped her head up and looked in the direction the blonde woman had left, subconsciously about to chase after her, but just as she was about to take a step, a rush of incoming footsteps suddenly interrupted her movements.

A black-clothed guard ran over, holding up a piece of information in his hand, his expression looking rather anxious.

“What happened?” Agatha frowned and asked seriously without waiting for the other party to open his mouth, while at the same time, she couldn’t help but chant in her mind – this is already chaotic enough, don’t let anything else happen.

“An urgent ‘swift file’ has come in from Cemetery Three,” the black-clad guard stood up straight and spoke quickly, “a clue to the ‘Mysterious Visitor’, the original is here. ”

Agatha’s breathing visibly paused for a moment, then snatched the letter paper in the other’s hand, shaking it out twice before her eyes darted between the words.

This young gatekeeper fell silent, the whole person stood motionless as if frozen in place, and did not move after a long time.

The black-clothed guard looked at the top boss in front of him with some concern, and after a few seconds he couldn’t help but open his mouth, “…… Gatekeeper, this matter ……”

Agatha slowly turned her head and looked at her subordinate’s eyes, “How would you react if a person suddenly told you that a certain being similar to an ancient god had descended to the city-state in a physical form, and that the way He walks the earthly plane is by going to the Citizen’s Help Center and renting a two-story house with a balcony ……? ”

“…… I would seek out the nearest church for psychological counseling or consult one of the more renowned psychiatrists.” The black-clad guard said honestly.

“You’re right, but unfortunately I’m already the spokesperson for the highest level church in the city-state, and psychiatrists can’t solve the problem of the ancient gods descending on the city,” Agatha sighed, slowly putting away the piece of letter paper, “Everything is important, and everything has to be prioritized at the top of the list …… Ugh.”

She raised her head and looked towards the place mentioned in the information – Oak Street.

Right in the direction where the odd blonde woman with no breathing or heartbeat had just left.

……

Nina excitedly ran around the entire house, then dove back into the kitchen, studying the kitchenware that was obviously quite a bit better than in Prand’s home.

Shirley and Dog wandered around the living room and dining room on the first floor, pretending to “inspect” the place, occasionally stopping to comment on the furnishings.

The two of them had been on the Lost Country for so long that they were exhausted.

Aey landed on a table not far away, buried in a pile of French fries – today was his day to eat.

Duncan sat on the couch in the living room, watching the scene with a smile on his face – although all his smiles were blocked by thick bandages, Vanna, who stood next to him, inexplicably got the feeling …… that Captain Duncan, at this moment, actually had the eyes of a kindly old father.

Vanna hurriedly shook her head, casting that somewhat outrageous association aside, and looked toward the two girls (and the dog) who were running around the house.

“There’s an empty room upstairs that’s reserved for you guys, did you just go check it out?”

“Looked and looked!” Nina trotted over and nodded her head, “It’s nice, it’s a whole lot bigger than my room in Prender!”

“This place isn’t bad at all,” Shirley ran over as well, with a huge smile on her face, “I would have come over two days ago if I had known that you guys were settling in so well in the city-state – the ship is so boring! There’s nothing to do every day ……”

Duncan turned his head slowly, “I leave you enough homework for three hours a day – why would there be nothing to do?”

Shirley instantly realized that she had said the wrong thing and instantly scrunched her neck.

“You wrote it for her?” Duncan looked down slightly again at Dog, who was trying to hide himself in the shadows.

Dog’s head almost shrunk into his neck cavity, “I …… I was practicing more for myself to live up to your hard education ……”

Duncan smiled – he laughed out loud and looked very pleasant.

“Relax, I’m picking you all up for a good time, I’m not specifically trying to criticize you,” he waved his hand and glanced up at the wall clock, “Alice should be back in a few minutes, and there’s still at least an hour before dinner, Shirley… . go and catch up on your homework, just start on page sixteen of your word book.”

Shirley’s mournful voice rang in Vanna and Maurice’s ears for the first time in a long time.

(End of chapter)