Chapter 748: The Sky is Darkening

Chapter 746 – Darkening Sky
Agatha of the Frost City-State came – with the familiar gray wind, the Goddess Officer, who now doubles as the City-State’s Archbishop, appeared in front of Duncan and Alice and bowed her head in greeting to Duncan, “Night Anne, I’m glad to see that you’re able to come in person to deal with this matter.”

Duncan glanced up in the direction of the ocean, “Technically, it’s still dusk.”

“Dusk will last for a long time yet, but one must still move about at a ‘normal’ pace of life,” Agatha said, adding a slight nod to Alice next to her, “It’s been a long time, Ms. Alice. ”

“Eh …… hey! Long time no see!” Alice reacted for a moment before opening her mouth to respond, scratching her hair in embarrassment, “There was an Agatha on board as well, I didn’t react for a moment.”

Agatha smiled at the corners of her mouth, and despite her eyes being covered in black cloth, it was as if she still had a warm line of sight falling on Alice, “How has she been on the ship …… lately?”

“Fine! Day after day she chases Shirley through the mirror to do her homework, either that or she burrows out to scare people when it’s foggy – although she says she’s just out for a walk,” Alice spluttered, a happy expression on her face, “Everyone loves her, except Shirley who’s a bit scared of her ……”

Agatha listened silently to these descriptions of Miss Mannequin, an expression on her face that first looked a little surprised, but gradually turned into a wisp of a smile, and after a moment she nodded her head softly and spoke as if to herself, “So that’s how it’s going to be …… Sounds good.”

At this time, Tirian, who was on the side, finally found an opportunity and stepped forward, “Has the vigil aspect of things on the Cathedral’s side been arranged?”

“I only came over after handling this matter, there is no need to worry, we have sufficient manpower,” Agatha said casually, but immediately after that, she couldn’t help but frown slightly and stepped back without moving, “…… His Excellency the Consul. Are you …… having a bad bowel movement?”

Tirion heard a stunned, and then realized what was going on, even as a “steel Lieutenant General” at this time also feel a little embarrassed, the corner of his mouth slightly trembled, but quickly reacted, raised his hand and pointed to the paper bag in his father’s hand: “…. . would you like to try the potato pancakes?”

Agatha didn’t know how the topic had suddenly jumped to this, and she glanced quizzically at what Duncan was holding, who immediately raised his hand, “Alice made them with her own hands–Lightwind Harbor style.”

“…… Not necessary,” Agatha took half a step back at the words ‘Lightwind Harbor’, but immediately added, as if reacting to the fact that it was a bit impolite. “This body is too lifeless to enjoy the world’s delicacies, so thank you for your kindness.”

Duncan glanced at Agatha’s body that was covered in cracks and fragmented like a broken mannequin, and knew that the other party was also telling the truth, so he could only shrug his shoulders regretfully, and shoved the bag of potato pancakes directly into Tirion’s arms, “Then take them all – go back and eat them slowly. ”

Tirian took his father’s gift with a somewhat dumbfounded expression, his gaze silently sweeping over the several figures present: a corpse, an undead man, a mannequin, and one was Dad – and a corpse, too.

The steel lieutenant general finally realized, as an afterthought, that he was the only unlucky one on the scene with a high human content ……

For his part, Duncan didn’t care about Tirion’s instantly subtle expression, and after finally giving away the bag of stuff in his hand he clapped his hands together and turned his head to look at the magnificent planet that still floated silently over the beach next to him.

“This is just the beginning,” he said to Agatha, “In the days to come, more and more pieces of the sun will crash into the infinite sea, with all sorts of ‘lost stars’ as cores within them –and in the long night that follows, these sun fragments may be the only guarantee of safety for many city-states.”

Hearing Duncan’s words, Agatha’s expression quickly turned serious: “…… So the disintegration of the sun is already inevitable, is that right?”

“Yes, as bad as it sounds, it has indeed become inevitable and will accelerate,” Duncan nodded gently, “Next I will also go and contact the Pope of the Four Gods, reminding them to keep an eye out for those luminous bodies that have fallen on the infinite sea and to recover them in time. ”

Tirion and Agatha fell silent in unison.

In the days after this, the world did not know how many more sunrises would come – the Long Night was about to fall, and even Tirian felt a bit suffocated in front of such a fact.

While feeling this suffocation, what Tirian thought immediately afterward was yet more.

He raised his head in contemplation and looked at Duncan, “…… Did you just say that these falling fragments may be the only guarantee of safety for many city-states?”

“Vanna has received revelations from the Storm Goddess, I have received information from the Profound Holy Lord, and from the experience of Lightwind Harbor, it is also true that these sun fragments can exert the same ‘sheltering’ power as Vision 001 on a small scale,” Duncan gently nodded, “They don’t have the power to pacify a large area of the sea, but they can at least protect a city-state.”

Tirion’s expression grew a bit heavy, and after another moment, he whispered to himself, “Is …… enough?”

His soft muttering fell on everyone’s ears, Alice’s expression was a bit confused, while Aiden and Agatha obviously realized what Tirion’s “is it enough” was referring to, and their expressions suddenly changed slightly, turning grave.

Duncan nodded slowly.

“I understand what you mean,” he said quietly, “and frankly, no one knows exactly how many shards there will be when the time comes, much less if they’ll be enough …… But without a strong constraint, then even if there are shards are enough, they will never be ‘enough’.”

“The Church will intervene, we have patrol fleets all over the shipping lanes,” Agatha said after a brief moment of thought, “and if the Church’s fleet isn’t enough, the Frost Navy is reliable.” “But that’s the most optimistic scenario – frankly, I’m not used to facing the future with too much optimism, especially when human nature needs to be put to the test,” Tirian shook his head, “What if even the Church is divided? When night falls, all tests are infinitely magnified …… Even the most loyal and upright people have their own positions.”

They then fell silent, and the atmosphere of the scene was a bit depressing for a while.

Alice, however, still looked at the scene with some confusion, she looked at Tirion and Agatha, and then looked up at the captain, and finally couldn’t help but speak, “What are you talking about?”

Duncan didn’t answer, he just raised his hand and gently pressed Alice’s hair.

“We’re worried that when the time comes that there won’t be enough sun fragments to shelter all the city-states, or that someone will want to take over more of the ‘sunlight’,” Aiden said in an aside, “After all . . it’s about survival.”

With such a blunt explanation, Alice finally understood what was being discussed.

The doll’s eyes widened, looking a little bemused – it was something she had never thought about before, a dilemma she had never faced before.

Tirian lowered his head and glanced at the paper bag in his hand with a complicated expression, “…… By that time, a northerner can really never eat potato pancakes from Lightwind Harbor again.”

Duncan, on the other hand, shook his head and said softly to Alice, “Don’t think about it, it’s not something you have to think about, there have always been bad parts of this world, it’s not just today.”

Hearing the captain’s words, Alice, however, seemed to suddenly think of something and immediately raised her head, “Then …… you will step in when the time comes right? Just like in Prand and Frost ……”

Duncan did not answer, but Agatha quickly responded, “Yes – the Lost Country Fleet, if we add your power, it will also be a little easier to restrain the various city-states and maintain the basic order after nightfall, or at least …… not to let the worst happen ……”

Duncan, however, still didn’t answer, he was just silent and noncommittal.

This reaction of his made Tirian realize something, “You do not intend to make a move?”

“No, I was thinking of something else.” Duncan shook his head gently.

He turned around, quietly staring at the “lost star” floating in mid-air, no one knows what he is thinking about in this moment of silence, even Tirian did not have the courage to open his mouth at this moment, and it was only after a long time that Duncan retracted his gaze and softly broke the silence: “If the worst comes to the day, I may need to go to the city. day, I may need to go and do something that only I can do – and that will probably be far away, and possibly for a long time.”

In this moment, Tirion seemed to be vaguely aware of something, some …… foreboding born of intuition made him feel a hazy shimmer of light trembling at the edges of his vision, and for a very brief moment he felt as if his father’s figure had stood in a place so far away that he would never be able to reach it, and even though they were now close at hand, there was some sort of invisible Although they were now close at hand, there was some kind of invisible curtain that was gradually closing in, like it was trying to block them in two times and spaces.

The invisible curtain …… seems to be filled with starlight.

But this feeling is fleeting, Tirion felt that his thinking was interrupted for half a beat, and when he wanted to recall what he had just felt, but only an endless emptiness remained.

Duncan turned his head, a calm gaze held in the only eyes revealed on his bandage-covered face.

“There is no need to worry too much, even at the worst of the worst, there will be a flame to light up the world again, and hard times are always temporary.”

Father’s words seemed to mean something else.

But Tirian didn’t have a chance to ask for more – a rising spiritual flame appeared abruptly on the beach, gradually outlining a vortex.

Father was getting ready to leave.

“I have much to do,” Duncan waved a hand at Tyrian, Aiden, and Agatha as he stepped toward the flame while speaking, “Use more of your energies in dealing with the night ahead, and don’t think so much- -Besides, there’s no need to worry about the Graveyard Park side.”

The flame rises, and then rushes into the sky like a retrograde meteor, quickly disappearing from Tirion and Agatha’s view.

(End of chapter)