A roaring noise that nearly tore the soul apart echoed incessantly in his consciousness, chaotic and out of control perceptions stirring his sanity, which gradually subsided as ti passed. The "Storm" had persisted for an unknown period before the registrar suddenly beca aware of his own existence.
He heard the pounding of his own heart, as his sanity struggled back from the brink of loss to the "human" side. He belatedly realized what had just happened and instinctively raised his head to look in the direction of the unfamiliar sound.
Duncan stood before him, with the Spectral Fla still lingering behind him, his tall figure like a dark cloud fallen from the sky, exuding an indescribable oppressive aura.
The registrar thought for a mont, then suddenly recalled a sentence a girl nad Nina had spoken to him, "... just don’t be afraid later."
He recognized the tall figure before him—for an elf, sothing that happened a hundred years ago was not too far in the past.
But before he could exclaim aloud, a gentle force suddenly infused into his mind, and at the sa ti, a familiar voice ca from not far away: "Leave this to ."
The registrar turned his head towards the source of the voice.
A middle-aged man in a deep blue Academy robe, with slightly graying hair and a thick to under his arm, walked into the room, looking over with a calm yet tired gaze.
"Truth Confidant, sir!" the registrar exclaid, as if saved, and imdiately stood up from beside the desk and quickly distanced himself from Nina and Duncan.
He opened his mouth as if intending to report sothing, but before he could speak, the middle-aged man known as "Truth Confidant" interrupted him with a gesture of his hand, "I am already aware of the situation here. The City-State University will take over this matter now, no more questions needed. Your work today is over, leave here imdiately and go for a psychological assessnt."
The registrar left with full of speculation and confusion, while Duncan’s gaze settled on the weary-faced middle-aged elf, examining him carefully before curiously asking, "Who are you?"
"Don’t you recognize ?" the middle-aged elf frowned in confusion but then nodded in realization, "Oh, right, I heard your mory was affected by the Subspace..."
He sounded weak and weary as he spoke, so much so that even his expression of surprise lacked variation in tone. Finally, he sighed and raised a finger to himself, "Ted Riel, the ’Truth Confidant’ of Light Breeze Harbor, responsible for the safety of this city in the Transcendent field. We knew each other a hundred years ago when you’d often invite for a drink, discussing many matters related to the frontier."
Ted Riel? Truth Confidant?
Duncan furrowed his brows; he certainly didn’t rember the na, but the situation of encountering soone familiar wasn’t surprising. Before coming to Light Breeze Harbor, he knew there must be many here who would recognize him—after all, a hundred years wasn’t a long ti for elves, and back then, Holoss often operated on the edge of the civilized world, dealing mostly with frontier cities like Light Breeze Harbor.
So, after a brief reflection, he used his prepared response, "Sorry, I don’t rember, the Subspace took a good part of my mory, please forgive ."
Ted Riel waved his hand, "It’s alright, forget it then. ’Forgetfulness’ is the greatest blessing from Rahm, and I have already gotten used to dealing with ’forgetfulness.’"
Used to dealing with "forgetfulness"?
Duncan felt puzzled, sensing so underlying resentnt and significance in those words, though they seed not directed at him. But before he could inquire further, the "Truth Confidant" continued, "I heard from Miss Lucracia and the field team leader about what happened. The lady behind you is Miss Nina?"
Nina, having already risen from her chair, hid behind Duncan and scrutinized the stranger curiously. Hearing her na, she boldly ca forward, greeting politely, "Hello, I’m Nina."
Then she looked up sowhat sheepishly at Duncan, "I’m sorry, Uncle Duncan... Did I cause you trouble?"
Duncan laughed, ruffling Nina’s hair, "It’s all minor, no need to worry."
While speaking, he was inwardly relieved—getting accidentally involved in a Transcendent event while attempting to report an anomaly to the guardians was far better than leading a group of ghostly sailors rampaging through the city center and getting caught by the sheriffs...
Compared to the commotion Lauren had caused before, the little trouble with Sherry and Nina was already quite harmless.
With this thought, he then asked, "Where’s Sherry?"
Just as he spoke, he heard footsteps suddenly approaching the doorway; Lucracia then walked into the room with Sherry, "Dad, here’s Sherry."
Sherry looked anxious and cautious as she entered the room, carefully observing Duncan’s expression before she approached him hurriedly with small steps, rapidly explaining, "I didn’t do anything bad! Nina and I were just about to report a situation to the guardians when suddenly a strange thing appeared, and those jumpy guardians insisted on taking us..."
"Oh, I apologize on their behalf," Ted Riel turned to glance at Sherry, "but it was a necessary safety protocol."
Sherry had just reached halfway when she was suddenly startled by a stranger’s voice coming from beside her. She turned her head to look at the middle-aged man with an unremarkable appearance who had been hardly noticeable before, "Who is this person... Uncle, who are you?"
"He is Light Breeze Harbor’s ’Truth Confidant’ Ted Riel," answered Lucresia, the "Sea Witch" beside her, nodding towards Ted Riel as a form of greeting, then she added, "You can think of him as the ’Gatekeeper’ or ’Judge’ of this City-State."
Hearing this, Sherry instantly darted to Duncan’s side.
Ted Riel, seeing Sherry’s exaggerated reaction, was stunned for a mont before turning to look at Lucresia, "...Am I that frightening?"
Lucresia spread her hands, "I guess it has nothing to do with you."
Duncan, on the other hand, turned to look at Sherry who had scurried to his side, "I see you getting along just fine with Fenna all the ti. Why are you afraid of a ’Judge’ or similar figures now?"
"Is it the sa thing?" Sherry shrank her neck looking at the "Truth Confidant" across from her, murmuring under her breath, "Fenna has already joined the gang, this one isn’t one of us..."
Duncan imdiately glared at her, "Team, how many tis do I have to say it’s ’team’!"
"Oh..."
Duncan sighed helplessly and shook his head before looking up at Ted Riel and the approaching Lucresia, "I’ve already gotten the gist from Nina, so let’s skip the explanations and formalities—now, I would like to see that ’weird thing’ Sherry ntioned. Is it in this facility?"
"It’s in Containnt Room Twenty-Four, located in the underground archive of the central district," Ted nodded his head, "I’ll take you there."
After speaking, this weary-faced "Confidant" took out the thick book he was carrying under his arm and casually flipped open a page, tapping it with his finger.
The next mont, the book’s page suddenly flew into mid-air; Duncan saw a large door painted on the page, covered with nurous arcane and complex symbols—in a dizzying sequence of transformations and reorganizations, the door drawn on paper quickly transford into a translucent, ethereal doorway in the air.
The semi-transparent ethereal door opened, revealing a blurred view of a corridor deep underground in a facility.
Duncan watched this scene, initially amazed and thinking there’s no wonder that the faction with the highest cultural level in the world—this "Confidant" from the Academy of Truth indeed seed a bit cooler than Fenna’s chopping stunts.
His second reaction was curiosity, wondering what would happen if he took it down from mid-air during the paper unfolding process—this bold idea swirled in his mind for a second, the next he noticed Lucresia’s subtly watchful glance at his side.
"Dad, don’t ss around."
The "Witch" Miss quietly mouthed a reminder.
Duncan casually turned his face away, tucking away his audacious thoughts.
Following Ted Riel’s lead, Duncan, Lucresia, and the curious-looking Sherry and Nina sequentially passed through that floating ethereal door.
The brief dizziness and sense of dislocation soon ended, and when the lights and shadows in front of them stabilized again, they had arrived in the underground archive of the "central district" ntioned by Ted.
A profound, lengthy corridor appeared in Duncan’s view, illuminated on both sides by bright gas lamps. Close to these lamps, one could see the reliefs carved with the Holy Symbols, emblematic figures, and scriptures of the God of Wisdom Rahm, lined up, giving the imposing hallway a dignified and substantial air. Additionally, every certain distance, there were ergency isolation gates, with several rooms between each gate featuring tightly closed doors.
"This is the containnt area," Ted Riel glanced at the two curious young won beside him and casually explained, "Suspect samples found unexpectedly, anomalous items below dium threat level, and various items contaminated and unable to be destroyed promptly are imprisoned in these rooms according to their danger level and containnt thods—don’t rashly approach those doors; the things inside are not very ta."
To corroborate the "Confidant’s" warning, as he spoke, various vague sounds erged from so rooms along the corridor, including the noise of chains rubbing, murmurs as if soone was talking in their sleep, the disgusting noise of thick liquids churning, and the footsteps that continuously resonated behind the doors, as if sothing would step out at any mont.
Sherry and Nina imdiately recoiled their curious gazes, the expressions on their faces finally showing so serious tension.
Duncan’s gaze swept through the adequately secured rooms.
The next second, the entire corridor fell silent.
"Now they’re behaving," Duncan nodded in satisfaction.
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