Chapter 672 News of the Rally
Chapter 672 – News of the Rally
Maurice’s speculations pointed to a dark future in which everything would be forever silent – it gave a chill far better than any frighteningly bizarre prophecy of destruction, far better than the apocalyptic cataclysms of the ravings of maniacs.
It is a dark and icy silence, where the last embers of civilization will be extinguished, where the afterglow of civilization will be gradually suffocated in one fatal contraction after another, like a sinking ship, from which desperate men keep throwing weights in order to slow down the destiny of destruction, but at the end of the day every plank of the ship will inevitably fall into the endless darkness of the sea abyss.
What is even more unacceptable is that, judging by the information available, the probability of this future is extremely high – even, it is already the best of all possibilities.
Because “civilization” at least has a chance to survive for a while after the fourth or fifth long night, at least can still enjoy the last bit of false peace in the gradually shrinking and crumbling shelter.
In a worse case scenario, there might not be so many subsequent Long Nights at all – the Third Long Night was already an unrepeatable “miracle” and “luck”, and the coming twilight The coming twilight is the true end of all things.
…… Perhaps this is a good outcome instead?
A flurry of thoughts rose and fell in his mind, and Duncan finally shook his head, putting them out of his mind for the moment: “We’ve fallen into pessimism, Maurice.”
“Indeed, it is a little premature to make these speculations …… when it is still uncertain exactly when and in what form the Fourth Long Night will come,” Maurice rubbed his brow, finally breaking out of that somewhat pessimistic mood, “and “My mentor is organizing a ‘gathering’ across the four churches, a gathering to which you will be invited, and at least by that time we should be able to exchange more and more useful information – the Popes of the Four Gods will also need what we have hold of these truths.”
Duncan nodded slightly, he was not surprised by this news, as it was part of the agreement he had made with Pope Lune.
If you don’t want to say it,……, he was a bit curious about how that old elf convinced the other three god’s popes to accept this “offer” – Deep Sea Pope Helene was fine, he had dealt with her at the Planders. Pland is to deal with her, and there is Vanna this “secret envoy” to establish the connection exists, that female pope is more or less a neutral and friendly camp leader, but the other two ……
But the other two Firebringer’s leader Frem might be interested in the “Chronicle Pillar” in Vanna’s hand, and what about the Death Church’s Banister?
With a subtle change of expression on his face, Duncan raised his hand and tapped a small mirror on the coffee table, “Agatha.”
Agatha’s figure appeared in the mirror almost immediately, “I’m here.”
“…… Do you know Banister well?”
“In ‘my’ memories, there was the experience of being instructed by the Pope’s Coronet and trained in the ‘Graveyard Ark’,” Agatha thought about it and spoke with less certainty. “But that’s far from being familiar; there are many, many saints on the Infinite Sea, and I’m not as ‘special’ as Ms. Vanna.”
Duncan stroked his chin, thoughtfully, “…… Then I don’t suppose you’re quite sure if Banister minded that …… ship very much in the first place.”
“Much mind.”
Duncan: “……”
He hadn’t even had time to finish his sentence yet!
“Much minded,” Agatha repeated, and then as if she was afraid Duncan wouldn’t believe her, she explained seriously, “Even a relatively obscure acolyte like me would hear him every so often lamenting that beautiful frigate in the first place.”
Duncan continues, “……”
“Of course, the Coronation of the Pope sometimes acted a bit more generous,” Agatha said as she reminisced, “He would usually start by saying ‘Actually, I don’t really care all that much,’ and then lamenting a bit, and ending with ‘It’s just a shame that I personally designed it …… of course I don’t care that much’ at the end.”
Duncan’s expression almost didn’t tense up, “…… Isn’t that caring very much?!”
“Ahem,” at this point Maurice suddenly coughed twice from the sidelines, interrupting the increasingly odd pace of conversation between Duncan and Agatha, “I do think that compared to the famous ‘Turnabout’ frigate, the Vesseland Thirteen Islands would be a much more sensitive matter at the time of the rally.”
“In fact …… Vesseland Thirteen might instead be less sensitive,” Agatha shook her head instead, “Even though it was a much greater loss, there is a portion of the clergy within the Church of the Dead that is inclined to recognize it as A ‘subspace disaster’, they believe that what triggered that disaster was the phenomenon of dimensional collapse rather than the Lost Country, the latter just fell into subspace together with the Thirteen Islands, which is equivalent to a fire in which two people are caught in the fire together, we can’t assume that the one who climbed out of the fire is the arsonist.
“This claim did not come out of nowhere – there is a lot of scholarship on the ‘border collapse phenomenon’ to support this explanation.
“Of course, this claim is quite controversial within the Church, and for obvious reasons the bishops don’t like this ‘justification for the Lost Country’ interpretation, but since the Papal Crown has now accepted the invitation to the gathering, I’m sure that he’s ready to characterize what happened back then with this explanation …… or at least used to stabilize the bishops.
“In contrast, it is the ‘Incident of the Fleeting Ship’ that is really an irrefutable …… attack, the Lost Country was the one that took that ship out of the sight of the fleet in a dignified manner.”
Maurice suddenly realized, “So that’s how it is ……”
Duncan, on the other hand, suddenly reacted, “Wait, that ship was really called the ‘Transient’? That really wasn’t the nickname after that incident back then?”
Agatha and Morris both nodded silently.
Duncan had an odd expression, “…… Why did you guys come up with such an unlucky name?”
“…… The Death Church’s tradition of naming warships, and indeed our tradition of naming many things, such as the ‘Death in Vain’ main gunship, the ‘Sudden Long Death ‘ type long-barreled artillery,” Agatha said with a bemused look, “We see death and passing as a necessary part of the earthly operation, and words associated with them are not considered taboo to us – and strictly speaking, the ‘The Lost Country’ isn’t really an ‘auspicious’ name, is it?” Duncan thought about it for a moment, and decided that Miss Gatekeeper was right.
And just then, Alice suddenly looked up and interrupted the exchange between Duncan and Agatha: “Captain, I’m done drawing!”
Agatha in the mirror was all startled by this sudden movement, while Duncan couldn’t help but look at the mannequin with a somewhat odd expression –
Alice had been burying her head in painting since a while ago, as if the conversation and discussion happening around her was something from another world, and now that she had finished her “creation”, she was going to show her work to the captain without any concern or thought.
Duncan was suddenly even a little envious of the doll’s good heart.
Alice happily pushed the painting in front of Duncan.
It was a …… poorly done painting.
Not only could one glance reveal the rustiness of the painter, one could even tell that the painter wasn’t even too skillful with the brush – there was no way to talk about any technique, let alone discussing aesthetics and composition.
It was a drawing of a very large and abstract ship, with black pencil marks outlining the sails and water ripples, and some small figures with open arms were standing on the ship, the brush strokes appeared messy, but could barely distinguish the features of the people on board the Lost Country-
Vanna is tall, Maurice has a pipe, Shirley is with Dog, Nina has a fire on her head, Agatha is a dark shadow, Aye has landed on the mast, and Goathead is poking his head out of the captain’s cabin window ……
Duncan, on the other hand, stood tallest in his captain’s hat, obviously drawing more carefully, but still crookedly.
In addition to Duncan, every “man” on the ship has some lines stretching out, curving and floating in the air.
Maurice curiously put over his head to look at it, his expression was a little subtle: “Eh …… as the first ‘painting’ is actually …… not too bad, but generally speaking, you can’t see the lines on the people. But generally speaking, you can’t see the lines on a person …… at least the painting doesn’t have to show it ……”
The old gentleman commented euphemistically, but Alice clearly had her own thoughts, “But there really are.”
Maurice seemed to cry a little as he looked up at Duncan, who laughed.
“Yes there is,” Duncan said with a smile, his gaze falling on Alice’s first ‘masterpiece’, and gradually a thoughtful expression came into it, “…. . this is the world as she sees it.”
“Isn’t it,” Alice burst into triumph, “I didn’t draw it wrong!”
“But ……” Duncan realized something else, “How come there’s no you on this?”
Alice froze for a moment at his words, then looked down at the Lost Country ship under her brush and replied, “Because I’m drawing it.”
Duncan reacted for a moment before understanding the doll’s logic.
He cried and laughed and felt somewhat amused.
“People who draw are also allowed to draw themselves on the screen – let me add that for you.”
While saying that, he picked up the pencil that Alice had put aside, and with a few swishes, he drew Alice’s sketchy image on the Lost Country, beside himself.
Alice looked at it with wide eyes and let out a happy gasp, “Wow! Captain you’re drawing so much better than me!”
Duncan just laughed at that, casually putting the pencil down and seriously rolling up the drawing again and placing it in Alice’s hands.
“Keep it, it’s your first ‘work’.”
Alice looked extraordinarily happy, “Uh-huh!”
For his part, Duncan then turned his head and looked in an empty direction in the living room, “All taken care of?”
Almost as soon as his words fell, Lucrecia’s silhouette emerged abruptly into the air along with an undulating flurry of colored paper.
“Don’t worry dad, it’s all taken care of.”
(End of chapter)