Chapter 472 – Possibilities Behind the Key

Chapter 472 The Possibility Behind the Key

Frost, the southern harbor, deep underground in a classified facility, unrelated personnel have been evacuated from the scene, while Agatha waits for Duncan’s arrival together with Tirian.

Behind them was the massive machine, built in secret by the former city hall – the ovoid pressure-resistant silo was held securely between the beams by steel cables, and the light poured down from the ceiling onto the metal casing of the submersible, causing the latter to glow with a cold, muted radiance.

Silence enveloped the hall, and after a few moments of slightly tense waiting, Agatha suddenly raised her head, the ethereal, husky voice of a dead soul breaking the silence, “He’s coming.”

The words fell, she has opened her hands to the air, burning green flames from her all over the body of the wounds in the cracks rise, its posture is like embracing a round of the sun, in front of Agatha, a green fire suddenly burned in the air, and then coalesced into a rotating flaming doorway, skeleton form of Ai first flew out of the door, followed by a dressed in a black coat, the body wrapped in bandages of a followed by a lanky figure in a black coat and bandaged body stepping out of the door.

Tirion bent down to salute the figure while taking a half step to the side, “Father.”

Agatha, on the other hand, folded her hands while restraining the flames on her body, and slightly hung her head in a prayer-like gesture with her hands clasped in front of her chest, “I apologize for the need for you to come in person.”

“That’s fine, this incarnation is running out of things to do anyway, it’s more efficient to come and see the site in person rather than listen to the report from the sidelines,” Duncan waved his hand, crossing over to Tirion and Agatha, his gaze already falling on the massive machine behind the two, “… . is that it?”

“Yes,” Agatha nodded gently, “the legacy left by Consul Winston – and perhaps the coalescence of other former Consuls as well. Based on the conclusions of the inspections so far, the submersible is near completion and in good condition.”

Duncan let out a soft “hmmm” but did not speak further, he just stood there quietly, as if gazing at a frozen piece of history, and did not say a word for a long time.

That dusty history watched him, too, and the time was filled with ambitions and lonely quests that are no longer known today, and all the fear and courage of mortals was cast in the cold steel of the interlocking lights and the nearly dusty halls.

Duncan could almost hear the obsession and hissing cast within that steel.

He took a few steps forward to the edge of the parapet and reached out to touch the cold, hard shell of the submersible, and a faint stirring seemed to come from deep within …… his own lifeless shell, and then the sensation was fleeting.

But the fleeting sensation still gave Duncan a sense of familiarity, and he recalled and found the source of that familiarity:

It was when he first set foot on the surface of Prand and stood as “Uncle Duncan” in front of Nina, who ran up to him with a smile on her face and opened her arms to him; it was when he found the silver brooch on the Lost Country, and heard the name “Lucrecia” from someone else – in a moment when Duncan had been in a hurry to find the brooch. When he found the silver brooch on the Lost Country, and heard the name “Lucrecia” from a bystander – at that moment, the faintest trace of longing and remembrance came up from the bottom of his heart, as if it were the little bit of humanity that remained in a body until the end, but could not be completely dissipated.

Duncan withdrew his arm and lowered his head to look thoughtfully at his palm, as if gazing at the one-time owner of this body, and only after a long time did he speak softly, “Ah, you know about this ……”

Tirion’s voice came from the side, “Father? What did you say?”

“Nothing,” Duncan turned, “Does this submersible work now?”

“It ……” Tirian said with a hint of difficulty in his tone, “We have carefully inspected the facilities here and the state of the submersible, the main structure of the submersible itself is intact, but there are two problems, the first is that this facility The first is that the original technicians of the facility appear to have all been killed, and the data and equipment left in the outer halls are badly damaged. This is a problem that can be solved quite easily, as some of the ‘old timers’ of the Sea Mist Fleet should be able to handle this thing – after all, it was built based on the blueprints left behind by the Queen of Frost. The second problem is a bit more troublesome ……”

Tirion paused and organized his words before continuing, “Based on our initial inspection, we found that this submersible is very different from the one we used back then, it doesn’t actually rely on surface air pumps, but rather uses built-in oxygen cylinders for its oxygen supply… but we only found the location for the oxygen cylinders, not the corresponding cylinders… -Perhaps this part hasn’t been manufactured yet, which is why Ms. Agatha said it was ‘nearly complete’ just now. It might take quite a while to temporarily manufacture an oxygen supply system that matches this submersible now.”

Duncan turned his head and gave Tirian a quiet look.

Tirian tensed a bit, “Father?”

“I don’t need to breathe,” Duncan looked into Tirian’s eyes, “Any questions now?”

Tyrian: “……”

The new Frost Consul froze for a moment, before suddenly reacting, a look of embarrassment appearing on his face before he nodded his head in a panic, “Ah, then there is no problem with that ……”

“The entire Sea Mist Fleet can’t find a few that can gasp for air, you yourself are dwelling on this issue instead, it looks like things have really kept you busy lately,” Duncan shook his head, “Well, since there’s no problem go and get ready, get this submersible ready in the shortest amount of time possible, this is the one of my main concerns in Frost.” Tirion instantly stood up straight, tensing his muscles reflexively despite not having heard a command from his father in a century, “Yes! Father!”

Tirian then left – to fulfill his father’s orders as quickly as possible.

Duncan, on the other hand, turned around and observed the diving apparatus, which looked odd to him, for a moment longer, before noticing that Agatha was still standing in place and looked …… a little desperate for words.

Duncan turned his head and swept his gaze over Agatha, and her shadow on the ground next to her, then he nodded, “You may speak, we’re the only ones here now – go ahead, what’s the situation? Which one of you will speak first?”

Agatha was stunned for a moment, followed by a sharp response, “You …… have already found out?”

“There were two shadows in the firelight, and as hard as one of them tried to hide well, the flames in you originated from me, and that hiding became a little …… clumsy to me,” Duncan turned back to me, a slight gentleness in his gaze. “I noticed it when I first arrived here, but you didn’t want to talk about it just now, so I didn’t ask.”

“I just don’t think this is something that should be brought to General Tirion’s attention for the time being.”

Agatha said, slowly taking two steps to the side.

Her shadow stayed where it was.

In the next second, the shadow that had remained on the ground then suddenly shifted, and immediately afterward, a vague, illusory, vaguely recognizable figment of what had once been the Gatekeeper’s costume stood up out of that shadow and bent slightly toward Duncan, and a raspy voice, almost identical to Agatha’s, followed, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Duncan . . captain.”

“This would be the first time I’ve seen you,” Duncan looked at the blurry, wobbling vapors with a hint of surprise, and surveyed them curiously for a few seconds before he suddenly looked up at Agatha, who was not far away, “Has she always been this blurry?”

“When in a mirror, it would be clear, but there’s no mirror here,” Agatha immediately explained, “Also, according to our tests, ‘she’ also becomes blurry when she feels tense, and the more tense she is, the blurrier she gets. Now …… she is a little nervous in front of you.”

“…… It’s amazing,” Duncan felt more and more incredulous, he looked at the phantom, even though he had realized the presence of the other party just a moment ago, he still couldn’t help but be amazed at this moment, “I thought you had dissipated into the darkness –Agatha read the memories that remained when you dissipated.”

“I did dissipate for a time, but eventually returned to the world,” the hazy shadow said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know how to explain the process, and when I became aware of my existence again, I was my own reflection in the mirror… …”

Agatha on the side then spoke up immediately after, “We suspect it has something to do with that ‘key’, but there’s no proof.”

“Key?”

“The brass key,” Agatha nodded, “According to ‘her’ vague recollection, ‘she’ got that brass key at the reappeared in this world at the time – perhaps that key not only possesses the power to store information, but can also preserve memories, personalities, and even souls to a certain extent, and when the conditions are right, the preserved memories and souls can be ‘remodeled’ in some form or another ‘ ……”

Duncan listened quietly, not speaking at first.

The key left behind by the Frost Queen, Rae Nora, was now on the Lost Country, in the hands of his “body”, and out of caution, he had not attempted to use it on Alice until now, and now it seemed …… that this caution might have been correct!
Agatha touched the key, so the “fake Agatha”, who also held the key, returned to this world, so what if the key was used on Alice? What would happen if the key was used on Alice?
Could the key …… hold the memories or even the soul of the Frost Queen, Rae Nora?
Successive generations of Frost Consuls have been influenced by the Brass Key in the process of contacting it, they passively understand the truth of the Subterranean Abyss program, passively take over the Frost Queen’s “inheritance”, and even by the Queen’s will to interfere with their own, and all along, this “influence” has only been explained in a simple and crude way. All this time, this “influence” was simply and roughly explained as “the curse of the Frost Queen”, but now what happened to Agatha …… made Duncan realize the possibility behind the key.

Considering the fact that Alice looks exactly like the Frost Queen, this possibility points to an even more disturbing direction – the doll is the container, the key stores the soul, and the two are one, the Frost Queen.

Duncan was silent, while in his mind he sighed softly.

He realized why Agatha hadn’t brought it up in front of Tirion just now.

Immediately afterward, however, he suddenly felt that there was something wrong with what was going on.

Is Alice as a doll and the brass key …… that can store souls really the means to resurrect the Frost Queen? Could it be so simple?
(End of chapter)