Chapter 195: Chapter 199: The Historian’s Vigilance
Duncan felt he had been careless.
He had considered that Alice lacked the common knowledge required to live in the human world, but he hadn’t realized the extent to which this lack of knowledge could reach. He originally thought that after she arrived, she could at least help out a little in the store, but he didn’t expect that she didn’t even recognize money.
But this was quite reasonable.
After all, she didn’t need to spend money while lying in the coffin…
“Ah, while Sherry and Nina are not around, I might as well continue tutoring you,” Duncan sighed, abandoning his plan to go out that afternoon, “First, I need to introduce you to the most basic things in the human world, like currency…”
He paused and sighed again, “Looks like I really need to start a literacy class for you and Sherry.”
“Oh, Sherry, she’s the really short girl we just met, right?” Alice immediately caught on, her face lighting up with joy. It seemed to her a delightful thing to meet someone new, “I heard you mention that she’s a… what’s it called, ‘illiterate,’ right?”
“That’s nothing to be happy about!” Duncan knocked on the table, “And even Sherry is better than you—at least she knows how to dodge a fare!”
Alice: “What’s dodging a fare?”
Duncan: “…”
…
Heidi sneezed forcefully.
She got up to close the living room window, rubbing her nose and muttering about the recently unpredictable weather, then looked up with some concern at her father sitting near the coffee table.
Go to 𝘰𝘃𝕘𝗼.co
School had let out, and the annual autumn break for all Plunder City-State’s public schools would last over two months. During this period, her father didn’t have to report to school and typically had few social engagements, so usually, he would spend this time buried in the City-State’s libraries or, like today, leisurely staying at home.
But for some reason, Morris looked quite off today.
He held a newspaper in his hands, but his gaze wasn’t focused on it at all. He had been sitting on the couch in a rigid posture for nearly an hour now, appearing to be lost in thought about something, and he had even ignored the midday maid’s inquiry earlier.
Heidi frowned.
Ever since returning from Mr. Duncan’s antique shop, her father seemed continually absent-minded, occasionally showing strange expressions, ignoring others, and deeply engrossed in thought.
He even avoided going to his study—as if instinctively resisting books.
“Are you alright?” Heidi finally couldn’t help but ask as she got up and came over to Morris, bending down to inquire with concern, “Are you feeling unwell?”
After asking twice, Morris finally heard his daughter’s voice, hastily lifted his head, felt the buzzing in his head subside slightly and then waved his hand, “I’m fine… Oh, didn’t you go to the church, city hall, or the clinic today?”
“The church and city hall work was finished long ago, and the clinic is closed today,” Heidi’s brow remained unfurrowed, “I remember you asked that this morning already.”
“Oh, did I? I forgot.”
Morris gently tapped his temple, speaking somewhat hesitantly.
He knew he wasn’t in great shape, but he couldn’t explain the problem to his daughter.
He couldn’t casually disclose information about a subspace existence—not only because it might enrage Mr. Duncan, but also because handling these pieces of information improperly could lead to contamination affecting Heidi.
A deep buzzing noise arose in his mind, interrupting Morris’s thoughts, but the noise soon subsided, stabilizing his thoughts again.
Mental noise, this was a lingering effect since he returned from the antique shop.
But in fact, compared to yesterday, this aftereffect had diminished manifold.
Morris knew he should be grateful—he had not only preserved his life after directly facing the shadow of subspace but also his sanity. It was the protection of the god of wisdom and Mr. Duncan’s goodwill that had taken effect. He retained some symptoms caused by the “Madness Threshold,” but after a simple self-assessment, he was certain these would swiftly lessen over time, and there was nothing to be nervous about.
However, before the symptoms completely disappeared, he feared Heidi would have to worry about him for a while longer.
Suddenly, Morris furrowed his brows, remembering his daughter was an excellent psychiatrist—he couldn’t let her continue to notice there was something abnormal about his mental state.
At that moment, Heidi’s voice came again, “Did you talk with Mr. Duncan yesterday? I feel like you’ve been distracted ever since you came back…”
“About some… topics in the knowledge domain, very profound knowledge,” Morris struggled internally as the information about “Creeping Day Wheel” surfaced uncontrollably in his mind, recalling the intelligence Mr. Duncan had disclosed about the current state of Black Sun. He used tremendous willpower to control these pieces of “knowledge” that seemed to possess lives of their own and were chaotically moving through his mind, and smiled at Heidi, “Quite brain-consuming, I haven’t figured it out yet, so I’ve been absent-minded today… Let’s not talk about this now, I just remembered, didn’t you arrange to go to the theater with a friend during the rest day?”
Heidi paused, “…Friend? I don’t remember… having any arrangement to go to the theater with any friend… Are you sure you didn’t remember it wrong?”
“Did I remember wrong?” Morris rubbed his temples, suddenly feeling a pulsing heat near his temples, his memory blurry as if something forgotten was waking up in his consciousness, “But I clearly remembered, you mentioned the day before yesterday, a friend… what’s his name, a very tall one, also very familiar to me…”
Morris’s actions of massaging his temples gradually became agitated. He started tapping his forehead with his fists, mumbling, which immediately made the slightly puzzled Heidi feel inexplicably nervous. She quickly crouched down and took the old man’s hand, “Are you alright? Is it a headache? Do you want… me to do some hypnosis relaxation or soothing guidance? Or should we find another doctor…”
“I don’t need a doctor, no,” Morris waved his hand forcefully. His mind was again filled with noise, but this time the noise was different from the previous “mental noise.” It seemed desperate to convey some information, desperate to awaken something, he felt as though another consciousness was waking up in his brain—still his own, yet subtly different from his current thoughts, “I just need to remember, remember something very important… Heidi, you have a friend, listen, you have a friend, very important…”
Heidi’s face showed increasing worry and tension. She gripped Morris’s other hand tightly, her words unconsciously taking on the power of soothing guidance, “I certainly have friends, but who are you talking about exactly…”
But Morris was already unable to hear Heidi’s words.
He felt a sudden thunderous noise inside his head, as if all the noise compressed to be released in an instant, followed by the long troubling mental noise disappearing completely, while a massive amount of bizarre memories surged from the depths of his consciousness. In a daze, he seemed to see that scene again—a giant, full of starlight, a giant formed by twisted, crushed mirrors, then, he saw green flames, the flames burnt, the fog cleared.
This time, he didn’t suffer mental damage from seeing the giant; on the contrary, the impressions that surfaced in his mind seemed to carry a strange, mighty force, piercing through an invisible veil.
The old man suddenly raised his head, staring intently into Heidi’s eyes, “Where is Fenna?”
Heidi hesitated, “…Fenna? Who is that?”
“The City-State’s Judge, one of your best friends, the Governor Dante’s niece…” Morris spoke slowly, his breathing had steadied down, his eyes regaining the depth and sharpness of former days, the noise was gone, the giant’s figure disappeared, but two simultaneous yet distinctly different memories remained in his mind, and he could clearly discern all the discrepancies in those memories as if he was browsing through two historical scrolls unfolded before him—distinguishing history and seeking truth, this was one of his best skills, “You don’t remember, do you?”
Heidi hesitated, “I… I don’t know who you are talking about, but I am really worried about your state…”
“Don’t worry about me, I’m in very good condition now, but we should worry about Fenna,” Morris suddenly stood up, his expression more serious than ever, “Heidi, our City-State might be facing a serious problem, we need to take action.”
Instinctively, Heidi also stood up, sensing an unexplainable reviving spirit in her father, yet utterly clueless about what had happened, “Action? What are we to do?”
“You go to the cathedral, find Bishop Valentin, tell him…” Morris spoke quickly, but stopped halfway, hesitating seriously before shaking his head, “No, Fenna might be in trouble because she realized the truth… when you find Bishop Valentin, just say you seek asylum, the highest level of protection, tell him I asked you to do this, say that the most distinguished historical scholar of Plunder City-State asked you to do this, don’t say anything else…”
Heidi listened bewilderingly, already sensing that some dangerous and urgent issue was taking place, something that couldn’t be spoken directly, hence she controlled her urge to ask questions and prepared to follow her father’s instructions, but then she noticed Morris picking up a coat nearby, her eyes widening slightly, “What about you? What are you going to do?”
“…Go to the antique shop,” Morris said gravely.