Deep Sea Embers

The sound of hurried footsteps broke the tranquility in the cathedral. Bishop Valentine, who was assigning affairs to the side, raised his head when he heard the sound and saw the figure of Fanna walking towards him.

The bishop waved his hand to make the deacon and attendants step back temporarily, and his eyes fell on Fan Na: "I thought you would rest at home for two more days."

"Unfortunately, it seems that I don't have the leeway," Fan Jiao shook his head with a slightly serious expression, "What happened? I saw many priests hurrying, and I heard that a group of ascetic monks were sent to the Is the stargazing well... related to today's sunrise?"

"Yes," Valentine nodded with a solemn expression, "Today's sunrise was 15 minutes later than usual—and it wasn't due to the delay of dawn caused by local abnormal weather conditions. I received messages from other city-states and sea contact nodes This anomaly has been observed in all parts of the world."

"...This world was illuminated by the 'Creation of the World' for an extra 15 minutes..." Fan Na frowned a little bit, "Is there any damage report now?"

"No, just one postponement of dawn will not cause any problems, 15 minutes of night is still within the remaining range of the city-state's protection," the old bishop shook his head, "what is really disturbing is that the same phenomenon is observed all over the world, This shows that the problem does not lie in the surface and sea.

"...The operation of vision 001 itself has changed." Of course, Fan Na knew what the old bishop was worried about. "There is no announcement from the Tomb of the Unknown King?"

Valentine shook his head lightly.

"There is no movement, so this may be just a small... "accident", which does not involve the fundamental change of vision 001, but... I am afraid that most people will not be relieved. We must at least see what happened today. The sun was setting normally, and only when I saw the sun rising normally the next day did I dare to breathe a sigh of relief. "

Fan Na was silent, and asked after a while: "Are the ordinary people in the city not affected?"

"There hasn't been much fluctuation for the time being—some people haven't noticed the 15-minute delay, and some citizens who have noticed it probably don't realize the seriousness of this matter. I have sent a letter to the Government Affairs Office to let them Over there, evaluate whether it is necessary to issue a comforting and guiding announcement in the future.

come out.Now this incident has not had such a big impact, and the official overly positive explanation may cause the public to feel uneasy-especially we have just experienced such a big disaster. "

Fan Na silently listened to the old bishop's analysis, and didn't intervene. As a judge who put most of her energy into combat missions, she knew that she was not professional in this area, but she showed signs of confusion from time to time. The thoughtful expression showed that her mood was not as calm as it appeared on the surface.

Valentine looked at Fanna who had a worried look on her face: "What are you thinking?"

"I'm just a little emotional," Fan Na sighed softly and shook his head, "Every time there is an extraordinary disaster, you will become more aware of how fragile the world we live in today is... City-states, the Holy See, ocean-going ships, we lead Everything we are proud of seems to be built on a thin and fragile layer of ice. If any crack is not discovered in time, we will disappear in this world...

"This is the meaning of our eternal vigilance and perseverance," Valentine said in a deep voice, and looked into the eyes of the young judge, "Vanna, you seldom feel like this... what happened? already?"

Fanna fell silent, and after a few seconds, she seemed to have made up her mind and said to Bishop Valentine: "There are two things, the first... I saw that "Captain Duncan again yesterday, .”

Valentine's eyes became serious at first, but after a while, he sighed softly again: "Actually, it's expected." He paused, and then said: "We still don't know what the ghost captain left on you. There is nothing to do with the stigma of the captain, and even now the entire city-state of Purdue may have established contact with that captain, and he will come to you... sooner or later. What did he tell you?"

"...Mostly chatting." Fan Na said in a strange tone.

"...chatting?" Valentin finally raised his eyebrows in surprise this time, "You mean, homeless

The captain of the 'Duncan, who returned the shadow from the subspace, reversed the historical pollution and took away the sun fragments, specifically found you, just chatting with you? "

"I knew you would react like this—I can't believe it either, to be honest, if he told me that he had a plan to conquer the world, I would believe it, but..." Fan Na sighed, and then continued Within ten minutes, she told the old man in front of her in detail about her conversation with Duncan last night.

Valentin rubbed his forehead and listened to Fan Na's report. This old master who never wavered in the face of the doomsday crisis, at this moment, was troubled and exhausted that could not be concealed.

But after a short period of distress, he still raised his head and said in a somewhat complicated tone: "Fan Na, I have actually been thinking about a problem since last night."

"what is the problem?"

"...you have had two direct communications with Captain Duncan, and it seems to you that 'Captain Ghost'...like an invader from the Warp? "

"You...what do you mean?" Fanna's face changed slightly, and she asked cautiously.
"I don't doubt this. Of course I know the records of the Lost Homelander's return from the subspace. It's just that if you recall carefully, what should be the state of a person who is completely affected by the subspace, and... the real subspace invaders, Is it possible to talk to people sensibly without creating uncontrolled pollution in the process?"

This time, Fanna hesitated. She couldn't respond without thinking like she did just now, and hesitated for a few seconds before speaking: "Judging from all the cases and the basic cognition of the subspace...it's impossible.

"When conducting mental tests on people who have suffered from 'deep, deep pollution', there is the simplest and most effective criterion for judging—those who can speak rationally are saved, at least those who have not been completely transformed," Bishop Valentine pointed out. Nodded, "The pollution of the subspace is very deadly, and because of this, history
There has never been a warp polluter or invader who can maintain their sanity. Madness is their indelible characteristic, and we...maybe we can also apply this simple criterion to the Lost Home and its captain. …

"...You mean, that "Captain Duncan" is very likely to retain his humanity? "

"Or regained humanity," Bishop Valentine corrected this nuance, "In the early records, there are clear reports of indiscriminate attacks by the Lost Multi and Captain Duncan's insanity. At that time, he obviously Fits the criteria for warp invaders."

Fanna thought about it, and the more she thought about it, the more unbelievable the expression on her face became; "Is this possible? After being completely transformed by the pollution of the warp...it is possible to regain humanity, this..."

"If that's not possible, how do you explain that Captain Duncan you're "chatting" with? Bishop Valentine interrupted Fanna softly, then he paused and reminded, "Don't forget the 'zeroth law'

Fan Nie was startled, and then reacted: "There are always abnormalities and visions that do not conform to cognition or exceed the definition..."

There was a moment of silence in the cathedral, and the silence lasted for an unknown amount of time before Valentine suddenly said: "But we still can't treat the Lost Country and its captain as harmless, do you understand?
"After all, it is returning from the subspace. Even if the captain regains his humanity, it is hard to say what kind of perspective he is looking at us at this moment...'Mortal,
"And we can't make rash judgments on our own. We have to report all the information we have to the Pope to see how she views this matter.
Fan Na's expression changed, and she immediately nodded seriously: "Of course, I'm still very clear about this.
Then she paused, with a weird expression on her face: "Talking about this kind of thing in this holy church is really... stressful. If it was in the past, I'm afraid I would have to create a heresy for myself." " is defined. "

Valentine just sighed noncommittally, and then asked: "You just said that there are two things, besides seeing that ghost captain, what is the second thing?"

This time, Fan Na was silent for a longer period of time, as if she was very conflicted.
After a while, under the gaze of the icon of the storm goddess Gamona, I finally mustered up great courage, and solemnly said to the old bishop: "I...should repent."

"Confession?" Valentine looked at her in surprise. "Why are you confessing?"

"I wavered—I couldn't avoid my wavering, though I was still devout," Vanna confessed flatly, taking a deep breath, "after that fire, I questioned my faith .

She spoke out about her doubts about the goddess and her wavering in her own beliefs, except for hiding the secret that her uncle told her, she did not hide anything.
The old bishop did not speak for a long time,
Fanna looked at the old man's face with some anxiety, but she found that she couldn't judge Valentine's attitude this time.

The old bishop seemed to be contemplating, and he hesitated to speak, but he didn't have any rules.

After an unknown amount of time, Fan Na heard the other party's voice enter her ears.

"Fan Na, you came to confess to me...then who should I confess to?"

A hint of surprise finally appeared in Fan Na's eyes.

"Now, there are two wavers of faith in the Great Cathedral," the old bishop turned around, quietly staring at the icon of the Storm Goddess, with a strangely calm voice, "Vanna, can you feel ?"

"what?"

"...the goddess is still blessing us."
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