Chapter 467.

Chapter 467 Convening
“That’s how the situation is, Vanna what do you think about that?”

On the deck of the Lost Country, Duncan said to Vanna, who was carving a talisman from a piece of hibiscus wood.

Vanna listened in stunned silence as Duncan finished relaying the current problems the White Oak had encountered and the Captain’s plans for the future, it took a long time for her to respond, tossing the newly carved talisman into the barrel and looking up, “You mean that I will vouch for the White Oak as a Saint and then issue a pass as Inquisitor allowing the mutant vessel to return to its rightful identity? ”

“The process seems feasible,” Duncan said with a serious look on his face, “After all, you are indeed an Acolyte of the Storm Goddess – and an Inquisitor of Prand.”

“But my position as Inquisitor has been removed ……”

Duncan waved his hand, “Wasn’t that arranged privately by your Pope, it’s not like your official status in public has changed.”

Vanna froze again for a moment – this straightforward lady seems to be a little bit not quite adapted to Duncan’s way of thinking, “drilling loopholes in the rules” is something completely new that she has never considered in her many years of career as an Inquisitor, she instinctively felt that there was something wrong, but could not say, and could only hesitate to open her mouth. She instinctively felt that something was wrong, but could not say, only hesitantly spoke: “The process …… process I also do not know whether it is right or not, but ……”

Duncan interrupted Vanna’s hesitation with a serious face, “The White Oak needs to return to its rightful identity, and the Lost Country Fleet needs to re-engage with the civilized world, and you shouldn’t want us to serve as a shadow that looms over the world forever – it’s a good thing to make the once world-threatening Lost Country Fleet harmless, and as the Saint of the Storm Goddess, you should take the initiative to move this forward, don’t you think?”

Vanna settled for a moment, and with that her face fell into thought with a stoic expression, and only after a long moment did she raise her head and look Duncan in the eye, “You sound like you usually do when you fool Alice.”

“You are not Alice – Alice believed me the moment I said the first word.”

Vanna: “……”

“But the point is the same, the White Oak does need your help these days,” Duncan continued with a cool demeanor, “and from a practical standpoint, one more controllable and powerful transcendental expedition ship wouldn’t be a bad thing for the city-states- -better than actually having the ship become a wandering shadow on the infinite sea.”

“I ……”

Vanna opened her mouth as if she was just about to say something, when a disembodied and distant chime suddenly sounded in her head, interrupting her movements.

She raised her head and subconsciously listened to the direction from which the bells came, hearing the bells with their peculiar rhythm echoing as if in her own soul, while Duncan’s concerned voice seemed to come from the other side of the heavy curtain: “What happened?”

“The Swift Bell …… cathedral is summoning saints everywhere, as if it were a message from the Crypt of the Unknown King ……,” Vanna murmured in a bewildered tone of disbelief. “Why can I still hear this summoning ……”

Duncan raised an eyebrow, “Is that strange? You are still an acolyte of the Church of the Deep.”

“But I thought ……,” Vanna frowned, “I thought after the ride on the Lost Country, they wouldn’t summon me anymore.”

Duncan’s eyes twitched for a moment, from the other party’s tone of voice, he heard the tone of “on the ship of thieves”, but soon he hid the change in his expression and said with a bashful face, “Don’t think about it, since it’s the cathedral’s summons, you should go to the prayer room, and it’s just as well that if you have a chance to see that Helene Pope, inquire with her about granting a pass to the White Oak.”

A hint of oddity surfaced in Vanna’s features, but she managed to control the urge to question it this time, and listening to the bells in her head ringing over and over again like urging, she nodded quickly to Duncan and turned to walk briskly towards the cabin.

There were a number of empty cabins on the Lost Country, and with the Captain’s permission, one of them had been converted into a prayer room – although she hadn’t tried it before, she should theoretically be able to respond to psychic communications to the Coven through that cabin.

Vanna left, and Duncan didn’t withdraw his gaze until she had disappeared through the cabin door.

He looked at the direction of Vanna’s disappearance, and then turned his head to look at Alice, who had followed him back to the Lost Country ship, and was not far away from her, dragging a large bucket of water ready to wash the deck, and after a long time, he sighed softly, “Hey,……, it’s much harder to fool.”

After sighing, he bent down and picked up the seabreath wood amulet that Vanna carved out just now from the barrel on the side.

The talisman wasn’t too fine, but it was clearly made with care, and Duncan stood at the edge of the deck, casually fiddling with the tiny piece of wood while waiting for Vanna to return.

In theory, it shouldn’t take long.

And in the midst of this idle waiting, he was slowly sorting through the information that had come to him in the meantime, especially the ones he had just gotten aboard the White Oak.

The huge shadow under the deep sea, the “hybrid” named Martha, and …… the changes that happened to that hybrid.

Duncan’s mind came back to the scene of the rising and shrinking shadow re-coalescing and stabilizing into “Martha”, and …… before that scene, he had a vision of the “fish” in front of his eyes. The vision of the “fish” in front of him before that scene appeared.

He turned his head sideways and looked toward the slightly undulating surface of the sea in the distance.

The sea was deep and the waves were like a curtain.

It was as if the surface of that sea was a curtain that hid all secrets, obscuring the truth beneath the surface, and when the fishing rod was flung out, no one knew what would take the bait.

And what he had caught in the first place was a “fish”.

Duncan’s eyes slowly grew heavy, and he lowered his head to look at the amulet of the waves in his hand, and after a moment’s hesitation, he threw it back into the barrel, and picked up an uncarved, plain-looking piece of wood from the side.

He looked at the piece of wood very carefully for a long time before speaking in a slow, serious tone, “This is a slice of bread.”

The wood was still wood, nothing had changed.

Duncan stared at the slice of wood for half a second longer, tugged at the corner of his mouth, looked up to make sure no one was around, and casually threw the slice of wood back into place. “It doesn’t seem that simple …… so how the hell does it work ……”

……

At the same time, in a private cabin below decks on the Lost Country, Vanna had quickly set up the “site” for the ceremony.

She locked the hatch and turned her head to look at the ritual site she had set up.

Under normal circumstances, in order to respond to the summoning of the assembly, it would be necessary to utilize the specially constructed “Sea Tide Chamber” in the church to construct a psychic channel, but this was obviously not practical on the limited conditions of the ship – she could only place her usual prayer books on the ground nearby to serve as a “holy place”. She could only place her usual prayer books on the floor nearby to serve as anchors for the “holy ground”, and then lit a large candlestick in the center of the room to serve as a fire pit for the ceremony, and then found the holy oils and incense that she had purchased from the city-state to serve as the “offerings” to enhance the effect of the ceremony, and she could barely make up enough elements to open the psychic channel.

To be honest, the conditions were very modest, and even a bit disrespectful to the goddess – but there was no better alternative.

The sound of the bell in her head continued, echoing over and over again as if it would keep ringing as long as she didn’t respond.

“…… I hope the goddess isn’t to blame …… If I had known, I should have at least prepared some better quality holy oil.”

Vanna muttered, finally making up her mind, she took out the holy oil and fragrance essence and dripped them into the candlestick.

In the fiercely rising flame, she took a light breath and composed her mind ……

The dim sky that seemed like eternity shrouded the large assembly ground, chaotic streams of light surfaced and wandered at the tops of countless ancient and solemn pillars, and on the tattered plaza between the pillars, a hazy figure was emerging one after another.

Only after all the figures were in place did Vanna’s soul projection arrive late.

The slight dizziness and stripping of her senses left her standing in place for a few seconds, and only after initial adjustment did she look down to confirm her status, and the outlines of the figures around her.

“Surprisingly, that went well ……”

She grunted with some surprise.

Instead of going through the Sea Tide Chamber, she had utilized the limited conditions of the temporary altar on the Lost Country ship and the candles that acted as ceremonial fire pits to perform the ritual, and she hadn’t originally had much hope for the success rate of this set of operations, but she hadn’t expected that it would actually work in one go.

A figure approached from the side, interrupting Vanna’s thoughts.

She raised her head, and from the familiar silhouette as well as her scent, she recognized the owner of that figure – it was Bishop Valentine, who she hadn’t seen for a long time.

“Vanna, you’re finally here!” The old bishop’s voice carried a hint of joy at a long time reunion, “I didn’t expect you to really be able to come ……”

“I also …… didn’t expect it,” Vanna’s tone was slightly embarrassed, “Has everyone been waiting for a long time? The conditions on my side are limited, and it took a long time to prepare the ceremony in haste ……”

“That’s okay, for some reason the Pope’s Coronation came late today as well, and isn’t here yet,” Valentine said immediately, and immediately afterward, he came over and lowered his voice, “Where are you right now? Still on the ‘ship’?”

“…… Well, on the ‘ship’, I’ve just left Frost,” Vanna glanced around and followed suit, lowering her voice, “and ten minutes ago was talking to the ‘Captain’ talking.”

“…… Did he actually let you get a prayer room on board?” Bishop Valentine’s tone was thick with incredulity, “And you could even open a psychic channel from the ship? You found the holy relics of great power?”

“It’s just a rudimentary ceremonial altar,” Vanna said with a hint of embarrassment in her tone, “I didn’t expect it to work either ……”

“A rudimentary ritual site?” Valentine queried, but then a roar from the center of the square interrupted what he was about to say.

Accompanied by a loud boom, the ancient and solemn Mausoleum of the Unknown King slowly rose to the ground from the center of the plaza, and the saints who had gathered in various parts of the assembly ground then quieted down, and a line of sight coincidentally landed on that grayish-white pyramid-like building.

Vanna also subconsciously looked towards that building, towards the heavy door in front of the pyramid.

The gate slowly opened, and the guards of the mausoleum, whose bodies were wrapped in bandages as if they were between life and death, stepped out from it.

Vanna’s heart fluttered, and then she saw the tall guard walking straight towards her.

A small commotion rang out in the assembly hall.

For the third time in a row, the tomb guard chose the same “listener”.

However, somehow Vanna had an unexpected …… relief, she turned her head, helplessly spread her hands to Valentine’s shadow, and took a step forward, waiting for the guard to approach.

The giant that was between life and death came striding up to Vanna, his cloudy yellow eyes dropping his sight.

“Good afternoon, please follow me.”

(End of chapter)