Chapter 214: After Homeloss Departs
Homeloss departed in all its grandeur, just as it had arrived with an unstoppable presence.
Fenna watched as the nearly “magnificent” giant ship sailed majestically through the center of Plunder City-State, passing the densely packed rooftops and towers of the City-State. Its ghostly hull, like a fading illusion, gradually disappeared from her sight. With the departure of Homeloss, the spiritual fires that had blazed everywhere in Plunder City-State also began to extinguish and recede as if fulfilling some mission, returning to nothingness.
Only a clear sky, a City-State as usual, and all living beings who had just experienced a nightmare remained.
The sound of bells, one after another, echoed in the skies above the City-State. The bells from the churches around the city continued to chime along their original historical trajectory, but the sound, originally meant to counter reality’s invasion, now seemed more like a farewell. The whistle from above the cathedral blared, startling Fenna with its piercing shrillness.
She sensed a presence approaching, turned around, and saw Bishop Valentin had quietly joined her. The elderly bishop, who had once faced death, held his staff tightly and gazed in the direction Homeloss had left, murmuring to himself as though in a soliloquy, “I feel as if I’ve had a very long dream…”
“You should know that wasn’t a dream.”
...
“I mean I just dreamed about twenty rabbits in cha-cha dance dresses twirling and dancing around me…”
Fenna paused, taken aback, “You were indeed dreaming then, perhaps a part of recovering consciousness… Do you really have to make such a cold joke right now?”
“But it did snap you right back into focus, from total disarray to returning quickly to work mode,” the old bishop calmly said, with an expression so serene it was as if the one who had made the cold joke wasn’t him. Then he lowered his gaze toward the direction of the cathedral square, “We have a lot of work ahead of us. This time, it’s not just a matter of a White Oak ship barely brushing past Homeloss.”
Fenna followed the old bishop’s gaze and saw the guards and City-State Guards on the cathedral square had fallen into a kind of confused chaos. They seemed to have just woken from a grand dream, looking at the now-normal City-State with memories still lingering in the battle where historical contamination invaded reality. Some, who had ‘awakened’ earlier, had even witnessed the departure of Homeloss, which further intensified the resulting confusion and tension.
Valentin’s voice continued to rise beside Fenna, “…first, let the guard forces restore order, then start investigating and sorting out the current situation in the entire City-State, confirming if everyone has ‘returned’, and if anything in the City-State is missing or if there’s something extra, and…”
Valentin paused, looking at the young Judge beside him.
“And prepare to report the situation to Storm Cathedral—Fenna, the most challenging paperwork of your life is about to begin.”
Fenna’s breath halted suddenly.
The disaster had ended, but not all was over; after everyone survived… it seemed the real investigation work was just beginning.
…
The sunlight was just right.
The solemn and heavy doors of the cathedral creaked open as Heidi, with a somewhat dazed expression, arrived in the cathedral square. She looked at the streets under the clear sky light, which were as usual, but her mind still harbored the remnants of the recent torrential rains, and the terrifying moment when the rain turned into a fiery downpour.
How had it all ended?
All she remembered was a ghost ship rising from a sea of fire, gliding over the City-State as if on patrol, her consciousness drifting in a dimension between reality and illusion. Two completely opposed histories met in her view and split at the ghost ship’s course—one solidifying into reality, the other crushed into dust.
A slight burning sensation came from her chest. Heidi looked down to see the pendant her father had brought back from the antique shop as a “free gift” emanating a faint glow. She reached out to touch it, but at the moment of contact, the pendant emitted a soft crack and seemed to exhaust its power, silently disintegrating into dust, the string that held the pendant also disappearing in smoke.
Heidi remained stunned for a moment, but soon, the noisy voices from all over the square broke her trance.
The guards were restoring order; the garrison troops from the town hall began to call the roll and regroup under the command of their senior officers. Some priests who aided in restoring order emerged from the cathedral, conveying commands from Bishop Valentin and Judge Fenna. At the same time, there were conversations about the silhouette of the departing ghost ship.
“…As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw that thing floating above my head, as if sailing through transparent seawater…”
“It was too frightening! Those flames nearly grazed the cathedral’s spire! But it seemed to just… move on…”
“That was Homeloss, no doubt about it… Don’t you not believe it; that was definitely Homeloss!”
A loud voice was shouting across the square, proclaiming with absolute certainty that the ghost ship that had just passed through the City-State was none other than the legendary maritime disaster known as the Homeloss. Heidi looked in the direction of the voice and saw a familiar old ship’s captain with graying hair—she had dealt with him on a daily basis and knew him well.
“Captain Lawrence,” Heidi walked over, greeting the old captain who was talking to a few refugees, “how are you doing?”
“Me? I’m doing just fine, although I also don’t quite understand what’s happening,” the old captain said, smiling upon seeing Heidi, “Seeing that you’re safe and sound is truly a relief, Miss Doctor—what with all that rain and fire earlier, it was quite frightening!”
Heidi casually responded, then immediately asked, “You said the one that left just now… was the Homeloss?”
“Yes, indeed, I’m certain of it,” Captain Lawrence immediately nodded, “Too familiar I am with that sight—I’ve seen it before!”
A citizen who had taken shelter in the cathedral and was still somewhat shaken chimed in, “You’ve seen it?”
“Of course, why do you think I’ve been quarantined in the cathedral for so long?” Lawrence glared, then turned back to Heidi, “I know you can speak with the upper echelons of the church. I have a suggestion for you, check carefully what’s missing in the City-State. Whenever the Homeloss passes by, it tends to take something with it… I have experience!”
Heidi listened, dazed, and nodded along just as dazedly. It was a long while before some memories of events that had recently transpired, yet felt like a lifetime ago, suddenly surfaced in her mind—
How was it on my father’s side?
…
Maurice wasn’t feeling very well; his head was spinning, and his stomach was churning as if he had drunk a potent liquor. He wanted to vomit, but he didn’t quite dare to.
He felt as if the mops and buckets in front of him were glaring at him menacingly, and Miss Alice beside him was silently watching him too.
If he truly vomited on deck, he might get beaten—for on this ship, even the simplest rope was older than him, and they probably didn’t have the concept of respecting the elderly.
He felt he was seasick, or perhaps, sick from the pigeons.
Maurice raised his head and saw the pigeon named Ai Yi strutting proudly around the deck, inspecting the mountainous piles of french fries. That same pigeon had previously transformed into a horrifying skeletal giant bird and had transported him onto this ghost ship amidst the sudden rain of fire outside the antique shop. Now it appeared harmless again, strutting among piles and piles of french fries.
A girl named Sherry was sitting not too far away with an Abyssal Hound by her side. It seemed like a typical Summoner and Profound Demon relationship, but at the moment, both were behaving more demurely than the other—Sherry sat primly and properly like a well-mannered lady, not daring to make a sound, while the creature she called “A-Dog,” the Profound Demon, had somehow found a newspaper and was sitting upright on a barrel, clumsily holding the paper and pretending to read it—even though it clearly couldn’t read, as the newspaper was upside down.
Further away, one could see the towering masts, the sails made of ethereal Spiritual Bodies as translucent and elusive as gauze curtains, the vast expanse of the sea, and the Plunder City-State, which was becoming more and more distant.
Recalling everything he’d witnessed and experienced while sailing through the City-State on this ship, Maurice still felt his heart pounding. The experience of being turned into a Spiritual Body by ghostly flames and overlooking the burning land below was somewhat exhilarating. If this had happened many years ago, he might have found it an exciting and nerve-wracking adventure, but now he was no longer a young man, and such an experience was perhaps… a bit too stimulating.
Maurice took a deep breath, his thoughts jumbled. He pondered whether he had a chance to return and worried about his family back home.
At that moment, a voice suddenly came from across, from the Abyssal Hound—Maurice knew what Abyssal Hounds were, but he never imagined one would be as rational and polite as this one, “E-excuse me, s-s-sir, do you th-think I look like a well-mannered, cu-cultured dog?”
“Uh… To be honest, I don’t think a dog needs to read the newspaper to show its manners, but you’re a Profound Demon, so the standards can’t be the same as a dog in the human world… Anyway, the smartest dogs in the human world can’t learn to read a newspaper while sitting on a barrel,” Maurice was taken aback for a moment and answered the question with a perplexed expression, “Besides two things, first, the newspaper in your paws is upside down, and second… do you stutter?”
A-Dog was startled and hurriedly righted the newspaper in its paws, replying, “I-I don’t stutter, I’m just n-n-nervous…”
“A-Dog, I don’t think you need to be this nervous,” Sherry murmured all of a sudden, “And anyway, what newspaper are you looking at—Mr. Duncan already knows we both can’t read…”
As soon as Sherry finished speaking, before A-Dog had the chance to respond, Alice, who was lost in thought beside them, suddenly raised her hand, “I can’t either!”
Sherry looked surprised, while Maurice silently bowed his head and rubbed his forehead.
The old scholar felt he had arrived at a place far too outlandish… What was all this even about?