Chapter 79: Chapter 83: Ghosts Entangled with Reality
Uncle brought some herbal wine to calm the nerves, and the strength of the medicine combined with the alcohol finally eased Fenna’s slightly agitated mood. She opened the balcony doors, stood on the balcony, and gazed towards the distant cathedral.
Dante Wayne’s voice came from behind her, “Every time you come back to stay, you have nightmares, and they’re always about your childhood.”
“… As a Judge, this is a sign of weakness I shouldn’t display,” Fenna’s voice was low; she was significantly taller than her uncle, but in front of this elder who had raised her alone, she never minded showing her true feelings. “I’m very troubled.”
“… Have you talked to Heidi?”
“She recommended four brain surgeries and two neural puncture therapies,” Fenna sighed. “Considering our long friendship, I refrained from taking action.”
“… That’s her style; she doesn’t interact much with normal people,” Dante Wayne shook his head. “I really didn’t expect that after all these years, you are still haunted by that nightmare from that night.”
“I always thought I had moved past it,” Fenna massaged her brow. “Maybe it really has to do with this big house; whenever I come back here, I dream of those scenes… Maybe I should consider performing another exorcism on this house, or I always feel that this building has trapped the shadows of that disaster…”
Uncle Dante pondered for a moment and didn’t offer any objections, but he asked thoughtfully, “Does your nightmare still include that fire?”
Fenna nodded. “Yes, there were flames everywhere. You were carrying me out of the blaze. I even clearly remember us escaping the city area through the factory pipes, and nearby, a burning building was gradually collapsing…”
She paused, her gaze falling on her uncle, “… You don’t remember the fire, do you?”
“Not just me; no one remembers it,” the somber City-State Governor slowly shook his head. “I only remember the pipeline that leaked poison gas and those crazy heretics… Many people were involved that night, but it seems only you witnessed a sea of flames.”
Fenna didn’t speak for a long time, just silently reflecting, before she finally spoke softly, “Aside from the ‘fire,’ my memories align with yours… I didn’t understand anything back then, but now I’m very clear, it must be some Transcendent power influencing, and even after all these years, and my promotion to a Saint, the influence still hasn’t faded.”
“This means either the influence is of a supremely high order, leaving a lifelong mark on your soul, or the source of the influence didn’t disappear with the resolution of that incident but has continued to hide somewhere in the City-State—over the years I have been investigating this, but unfortunately, there has been no progress.”
Dante Wayne’s tone carried a hint of apology at the end; he was not only sorry for being unable to alleviate his niece’s troubles but also regretted his inability to clear up an old case in his role as the City-State Governor.
The scars left by that “Great Chaos” eleven years ago were too enduring.
Fenna knew that the matter was not only a knot in her own heart but also a constant worry for her uncle. However, she wasn’t good at comforting others. After thinking for a while, she could only veer the conversation off-topic, “I remember that a lot of heretics were caught back then. From the aftermath, that incident was even bigger than the ‘Black Sun’ incident four years ago.”
“Yes, thousands were captured, so many that I started to doubt how so many heretics could hide in the City-State of Prand,” Dante Wayne sighed, “and it wasn’t just one sect… There were followers of the Black Sun, heretics worshipping The Saint of the Abyss, and even doomsday preachers who worshipped Subspace itself… Those vermin from the sewers all came out that night, wreaking havoc in their madness.”
Fenna looked at Dante, “But according to the interrogation results later on, none of the thousands of saboteurs caught could be considered the ‘mastermind,’ and not a single one knew why they caused chaos that night. Instead of saying those heretics were organizing destruction, it would be more accurate to say they just simultaneously exploded into madness, falling into a state of collective loss of control.”
Dante remained silent for a moment, lost in thought, then suddenly looked into Fenna’s eyes, “Your irritation can’t just be because of the bad dream you had—does suddenly bringing this up have something to do with the recent instability in the City-State?”
Fenna didn’t avoid the question, “It indeed is somewhat related—the Sun Heretics are gathering in the City-State, searching for an ‘anomaly’ known as the Sun Shard, and the Homeloss almost simultaneously reappeared in the real world, its ‘course’ vaguely pointing towards Prand. Although it’s hard to see any direct connection between these two events, the feeling of these turbulent currents… always reminds me of the chaos eleven years ago.”
“I’ve already ordered all ports to strictly inspect person movements and have communicated with governors from other City-States. Many Sun Heretics were found on ships, and we’ve essentially cut off their way into the City-States. As for those who have already infiltrated Prand… it mainly depends on the actions of the Church. The guardians are professionals in finding and locking down transcendent criminals,” he explained.
As he said this, the middle-aged governor suddenly stopped. He seemed to carefully consider whether some issues should be brought up now but after a moment of hesitation, he finally made up his mind, “As for the matter of the Homeloss, I can’t be much help in the transcendent domain, but in the secular aspect, I have an idea.”
“The secular aspect?” Fenna frowned slightly, about to say what connection this ghost ship Homeloss could have with “secular” matters, when she suddenly remembered something, “Wait, are you saying…”
“The captains of the pioneer exploration ship Brilliant Starship, Lucresia Abnormal, and the pirate leader of the northern seas, captain of the Sea Mist, Tirian Abnormal,” Dante said slowly, “Homeloss is indeed a ghost ship beyond the comprehension of reality, but as long as it was once part of the real world, the real world would have left its ‘anchors’… I wonder what the response of Captain Duncan’s children would be to their ‘father’ reappearing.”
Fenna’s eyes slowly widened. She was used to resolving enemies straightforwardly and violently, but she had never considered this angle regarding the Homeloss. However, she quickly frowned, “But I heard that those two hardly interact with the City-State forces… They command their own powers separately on the Endless Sea, maintaining a cool and even tense relationship with all City-States.”
“That’s quite normal, after all, they are the children of that ghost ship captain, and the Brilliant Starship and Sea Mist were originally the two escort ships of the Homeloss—although they parted ways a century ago, in the eyes of most City-States, anyone related to that ghost ship captain means curse and danger; rather than them distancing from the City-States, it’s the City-States that actively avoid them.”
Fenna frowned as she looked at her uncle, “So are you hoping they would come to help Prand fight against their father?”
“It’s just an idea, but worth a try,” Dante asserted earnestly, “after all, we know that the Brilliant Starship and the Sea Mist parted ways with the Homeloss over a century ago. Lucresia and Tirian broke up with their father before the Vesrelan Thirteen Islands incident, and half a century ago, there were rumors that some ocean-going captains witnessed the Sea Mist battling illusions of the Homeloss in the northern seas—at that time, the Homeloss had already become the legendary Ghost Ship. This might indicate the captains’ stance when facing their ‘father.’”
“Half a century ago… At that time, the Sea Mist was still the flagship under the Frost Queen, and Captain Tirian might just have been acting on orders to protect the City-State,” Fenna mused, slowly speaking, “but you’re right, at least this is enough to prove that the Sea Mist indeed has a record of confronting the Homeloss.”
But she still had some doubts, pondering for a few seconds before voicing her concerns, “What if the Brilliant Starship and Sea Mist ignore Prand?”
“That’s why it’s just an attempt,” Dante said quietly, “I’ll spread the news and find ways to send the information about Homeloss reappearing and heading towards Prand to those two captains’ tables—I’ll just do that much, what reaction those two captains have will be up to them.”