Chapter 164: Chapter 168: Warning Signs Spread
Bishop Valentin, groggy from sleep, immediately woke up when he met Judge Fenna, who had rushed to the church in the dead of night. As soon as he heard the first sentence Fenna uttered, the old man was fully alert.
“Captain Duncan entered your Dreamscape?!” The elderly bishop stared at Fenna, dumbfounded, even doubting whether he was still dreaming, “The Ghost Ship captain approached you… just to give you a location to investigate?”
“Absolutely—though I know it sounds incredible,” Fenna nodded vigorously. On the way here, she had anticipated the old bishop’s reaction, but she couldn’t help it as her own confusion was no less than Valentin’s, “The small chapel in the Sixth District… I have had little interaction with that Ghost Ship captain, and this information was the most crucial he disclosed.”
The old bishop fell silent for a moment. He turned around, gazing at the statue of the Storm Goddess at the end of the cathedral, and after what felt like forever, he finally broke the silence, “Fenna, do you remember the contamination you contracted at the scene of the cult ritual in the sewer? After that, we conducted a remedial purification, but now it seems…”
“I understand what you mean,” Fenna took a light breath, her expression still calm, “It looks like our purification was never successful. The ‘Homeloss’ is still pursuing me, and that Ghost Ship captain… has extended his power into my dreamscape.”
“Are you still coherent?” Valentin turned back, quietly gazing into Fenna’s eyes.
“Coherent. I tried it on the way here; I can completely recite my name and the Goddess’s name and also recite passages from the ‘Storm Scriptures,’” Fenna nodded, “For now, the contamination remains superficial, only affecting my dreamscape and not yet spread to my physical actions and speech in reality.”
“The contamination is superficial but cannot be completely eradicated, like an irreversible countdown…” Valentin’s voice was low, his eyes filled with deep concern, “And yet you are still the Judge of the Plunder City-State, and no one can replace you on short notice…”
Fenna knew what the old bishop meant.
She had been contaminated by a superior Transcendent force. As the church’s Judge, her “fortress” was already being breached, and a soon-to-be-breached fortress was unreliable because no one knew how severe the mental contamination would become. No one knew if Fenna who woke up the next morning would still be Fenna, and while she still served the Storm Goddess now, the next moment… no one knew whom she might serve.
If an ordinary guardian or priest became contaminated, an easy solution would be to carry out a confinement and exorcism ritual, or, in times of peace within the City-State, her assistant could temporarily take over while she retreated to the deepest sanctuaries of the cathedral for the highest standard of “secure isolation” and “divine purification,” but…
Now she, as “Judge,” found herself in an irreplaceable position. Even if they sought help from the headquarters of the Storm Church, the problem wouldn’t be resolved anytime soon.
“…I cannot leave my post,” Fenna shook her head after a brief contemplation, aware that she was posing a difficult challenge to the old bishop, but she had to continue performing her duties, “I have a very bad feeling; we are facing a true, significant crisis. This crisis might not necessarily stem from ‘Homeloss’ or the ‘Sun Shard.’ A bigger shadow lurks within the City-State, and in such times, I cannot hand over the duties of a Judge to anyone, not even to my most trusted assistant.”
Valentin picked up a hint of unusual gravity in Fenna’s tone and immediately frowned slightly, “A crisis beyond ‘Homeloss’ and the ‘Sun Shard’? What have you found out recently?”
“…I investigated some matters at the archive, which I was supposed to tell you tomorrow morning, but given the circumstances, the urgency level needs to be heightened,” Fenna nodded, her tone noticeably serious, “I questioned the timeline of the ‘Sun Shard’s appearance in the Plunder City-State and consulted records from 1889 and earlier years, where I found a massive, frequent, but less urgent…records of heretical worship…”
As Fenna continued, Bishop Valentin slowly widened his eyes.
“These records just sat quietly in our archive?” Valentin exclaimed incredulously, when Fenna finished speaking, “All this time, no one noticed? Not even the missing 1885…”
“No one noticed; our City-State seems as if someone ‘stole’ a part from it. Some apparent ‘realities’ just vanished from everyone’s sight,” Fenna spoke solemnly, “And this kind of ‘disappearance’… doesn’t seem like something the ‘Sun Shard’ could cause.”
Valentin gripped his staff tightly, his knuckles whitening from the force.
“Do you think there’s a link between this and the message ‘Captain Duncan’ conveyed in the Dreamscape?” he suddenly asked.
“Uncertain, but firstly, ‘stealing reality from the City-State’ is not a capability of ‘Homeloss’; secondly, if it were the Ghost Ship captain doing this, he wouldn’t have a reason to further contaminate my dreamscape, giving me crucial clues—it doesn’t match the captain’s chaotic and violent style noted in the records,” Fenna analyzed calmly, “Unless… he suddenly changed his nature, becoming a cruel devil playing tricks on the world, or…”
“Or?”
“Or turned into a conscientious person concerned for the City-State’s safety,” Fenna spread her hands, “seeing a danger and reporting it to me.”
“Cough, cough. That is practically a ‘Subspace’ level joke,” Valentin immediately coughed, then glared at Fenna, “Don’t make such jokes with me, knowing that we are under the scrutiny of a superior Transcendent being. It makes me question your mental state.”
Saying this, the old man thumped his chest to regain his breath and then fixed his eyes seriously on Fenna’s, “Who knows about the anomaly discovered in the archive, apart from you?”
Fenna thought for a while and shook her head, “Only I know, I went to investigate it myself…”
She suddenly paused as if her thoughts had hit a snag, but then shook her head again, “I went to investigate the archives myself.”
“That’s good… If there is a conscious black hand behind this matter, then he probably hasn’t realized that the conspiracy has been exposed,” Valentin sighed and had to agree with what Fenna had just said, “You really can’t leave your post now… You must already have an investigation plan for those archives, right?”
“Yes, including coordinated actions with the city hall.”
“Start immediately tomorrow, I will provide you with all the assistance,” Valentin immediately nodded, “Also, I will report the incidents here to the Pope, hoping that the Storm Cathedral can provide us with some support…”
While speaking, the old man pondered for a few seconds and then asked, “Can you still pray to the Goddess normally?”
“Yes,” Fenna promptly responded, “My connection with the Goddess has not been affected by that dreamscape.”
Valentin frowned, “But the Goddess didn’t reveal or warn you about the mental contamination you suffered?”
“…Yes,” Fenna hesitated for a moment but still nodded in acknowledgment, “The Goddess did not warn me.”
Valentin stroked his chin, and after a moment of deep thought, suddenly looked directly into Fenna’s eyes, “During this time, you must return to the cathedral to rest at night. Do not sleep outside the cathedral. Also, you must always carry the ‘Storm Canon’ when you are out, and if you feel unusually tired or fatigued while on the move, you must immediately go to the nearest cathedral. Can you do that?”
“I can.”
“…Ah, I hope you don’t think this is some kind of harsh treatment or a doubt,” the bishop sighed, and although Fenna’s response was firm, he couldn’t help but say, “You cannot leave your post now, and there is no higher-ranking cleric in the Plunder City-State who can be your ‘supervisor’. This is a necessary arrangement to ensure you can fulfill your basic duties…”
“Rest assured, I certainly understand,” Fenna showed a faint smile and reassured the old bishop, “I am as aware as you of the dangerous nature of what we are combating. Compared to those predecessors who sacrificed due to a lack of experience and theory, it’s a great fortune that we can fight under the protection of rules.”
Pausing, she continued, “About that small church in the Sixth District…”
“It must be investigated, regardless of what purpose that ‘Ghost Ship Captain’ had in finding you, we need to inspect that church,” Valentin slowly nodded, “Also… I just briefly tried to recall and couldn’t remember who is in charge of that church. It seems there really is some situation there.”
“Good, I will personally lead a team there tomorrow.”
“Hmm,” Valentin nodded slightly, then looked curiously at Fenna, “Besides the matter of the small church, what else did the Ghost Ship Captain tell you?”
This question made Fenna’s expression turn odd right away.
Valentin, “…Why that expression?”
“He… indeed said another sentence to me, a very baffling one,” Fenna’s face was filled with hesitation, “I don’t know if we should take it seriously…”
“What shouldn’t you take seriously? The more baffling the content, the more likely it could be key to everything!” Valentin suddenly widened his eyes, “What did he say exactly?”
Fenna hesitated for two more seconds, finally took a deep breath, and said gravely, “Straight-up fries.”
Valentin, “…”
After a moment of silence, the bishop finally spoke again, “Really?”
“As true as my faith in the Goddess.”
“…Ah, then that is indeed… quite baffling…”