Lucricia arrived in front of Duncan with that thrillingly eerie rabbit doll, settling onto the sofa beside him, while Rabi cautiously moved closer and plonked himself on the floor with a "puff."
"I’ve already sent that ’saint’ to the containnt room on the Brilliant Starship, equipped with special sealing facilities for dealing with all sorts of border and Spirit Realm contaminants. He will slowly recover there until he ets the requirents of your ’ritual.’
"The surviving ’sacrifices’ have now been placed in the City-State’s rescue center. I’ve spoken to Sala l; Light Breeze Harbor will take good care of those people and send them ho as much as possible... so of their sanity and mory have crumbled, unsure of where ho is. ntal health specialists will step in to help afterward.
"Per your instructions, I’ve left the ’artificial beacon’ onboard that ship. You should now be able to sense the status of the ship through the beacon...
"Additionally, I’ve inventoried the resources on that ship which can still be of use— a substantial amount that could be brought back if there’s a chance—consider it a generous share of spoils. After all, a ghost ship that sails on its own certainly doesn’t need any fuel or chanical spare parts..."
Lucricia reported the situation to Duncan thodically and efficiently.
Clearly, she was quite experienced in handling these "post-event" tasks.
"Hmm," Duncan nodded in satisfaction, not stinting on his praise, "Well done."
However, Lucricia opened her mouth, suddenly appearing hesitant.
Duncan noticed this, "Is there anything else?"
"...I’ve inford my brother about what happened here. He asked if we need a fleet," said Lucricia, "considering the annihilator’s ’nest’ might be a centuries-old sea fortress located in the border mists, a real ’assault’ might be necessary next. He said he could send the Mist Fleet if needed."
"That won’t be necessary," Duncan pondered for a mont and then shook his head, "Not for now, at least. We do not yet know exactly what this nest looks like; rashly expanding the scope of the operation might lead to more loss than gain... Let’s first scout the situation in the mist."
"Okay." Lucricia nodded.
Just then, a sudden presence outside the house interrupted their conversation in the living room.
Lucricia frowned and looked towards the entrance, and almost imdiately, the sound of the doorbell rang.
Standing ready in the corner of the living room, Luny promptly got up and headed for the front door. Lucricia quickly instructed, "No newspapers, no insurance, no lottery tickets, no community survey forms, if it’s soone claiming to be collecting for the community, send them away, an announcent was made last month, those are scamrs— I really don’t understand why people still dare to co here..."
"Madam," before Lucricia could finish, Luny’s figure reappeared in the living room, "It’s Truth Confidant, sir."
Lucricia: "...Huh?"
While she was taken aback, a voice tinged with resignation echoed from the entrance, "I know Miss ’Witch’ is not fond of visitors, but this ti the situation is indeed special— there is an invitation from the Four Deity Church to convey to your father."
With this weary and reluctant voice, Ted Riel stepped into the living room, the Truth Confidant looked as usual, shrouded in the aura of soone who had worked continuous shifts for a month without rest.
"People usually don’t dare approach your ’Witch’s Mansion’. Taran El has back problems today and couldn’t leave his bed, so I had to co personally."
As his words trailed off, Ted Riel noticed Duncan sitting on the sofa, his face imdiately showing a slight smile: "Good day, Captain."
"Taran El can finally lie down for a few days," Lucricia said offhandedly upon hearing Ted’s news, "I even think it’s a good thing."
"Not for , I lost three solares," Ted Riel said regretfully, "I bet with so colleagues at the academy on what part of Taran’s body would give out next. I lost badly... By the way, I bet on hemorrhoids."
Lucricia’s expression was slightly complicated: "You guys really have too much free ti..."
Ted Riel shrugged: "But my guesses were very accurate before."
Morris, who had been sitting on the sofa, then stood up and greeted the Truth Confidant: "Ted, have you recovered?"
"Just a little stomach upset— nothing compared to the impact of those dissertations those kids rushed out overnight," Ted Riel waved it off, then his gaze involuntarily settled on Morris. After staring at him in confusion and shock for several seconds, he finally spoke with a subtle expression, "We didn’t get a chance to observe at the brief eting before, Morris, your..."
He suddenly stopped, and after a mont of hesitation, he seed to understand sothing as he lightly exhaled.
"There’s nothing much, you look quite spirited."
"Really? I also feel I’m in a good state right now—my daughter is a psychiatrist, and she thinks my ntality is quite healthy." Morris laughed, his eyes behind his monocular as bright as ever, his smile embodying a gentle and scholarly warmth.
Only saints and scholars with exceptionally high spiritual talents could perceive the barely noticeable madness and noise that had already deviated from human rationality in his smile, eyes, and voice.
Ted Riel’s gaze left Morris and fell upon Duncan.
Many, many years ago, he had been friends with the greatest explorer in history.
For an elf, forming a friendship with a human was sothing that required extre caution and substantial ntal preparation.
Yet, the younger Ted Riel could never have imagined that his preparations had gone in the completely wrong direction—not that he should worry about bidding farewell to short-lived humans, but that he should prepare for a reunion with an eternal subspace shadow.
Fortunately, the brilliance of humanity still shone through this shadow—though it was filled with many truths he dared not probe and resonances he dared not listen to.
"I was just discussing the Four Deity Church with Morris," Duncan initiated, "I knew there would be a gathering, but didn’t expect the official news to arrive so quickly."
Ted Riel paused for a mont, then took out an exquisitely sealed letter from his chest, placing it on the coffee table and pushing it towards Duncan.
"I’m not sure you care about ’invitations,’ but the Pilgrimage Ark tasked to hand this to you," he said, "It has already been signed by the Four Deity Pontiffs, and you can take this as the first official and formal gesture of goodwill from the Four Deity Church towards the Exiled Fleet."
Duncan’s gaze landed on the beautifully sealed letter, reaching out to open it and extracting the special "invitation."
On the stiff card, elegantly handwritten was the notice that the Four Deity Church would hold a "special closed eting," including an invitation to the "Lord of the Exiled Fleet," "Great Explorer Captain Duncan." The content itself was nothing extraordinary, only the four glittering signatures at the end of the invitation intensely drew Duncan’s attention.
They were like brightly burning arcs in the darkness—
Rahm, Tarrikin, Gomona, Bartok.
Duncan calmly gazed at these nas, feeling unsurprisingly unshocked.
"This says the eting will be held tomorrow—so soon?" he remarked as he tucked away the invitation.
"Yes, at least from the attitude of His Excellency Rune, the sooner this assembly occurs, the better," Ted Riel nodded, "By tomorrow noon, fleets of the Four Deity Church will start arriving near Light Breeze Harbor, and all the Pilgrimage Arks will appear—it will be a grand event."
Duncan was startled upon hearing this, while Morris exclaid in astonishnt beside him, "Ah? You an the gathering will take place in the real world, and the four pontiffs are going to be here?"
"Yes, I initially thought this would be a ’eting’ held through psychic resonance, as the pontiffs and saints typically conduct, but I didn’t expect it to be in the real world, and even less so... tomorrow."
"For such an important ’closed eting,’ this is practically without any preparatory process, and the journeys of the Pilgrimage Arks themselves take ti..." Duncan mused, seemingly having realized sothing, "So, the most plausible answer is that the four Pilgrimage Arks had already been deployed near the southern border even before today—in fact, even before the Light Breeze Harbor incident, the Four Deity Church might have already planned a eting, and the situation in Light Breeze Harbor just provided an unexpected opportunity to schedule it here, and to do so tomorrow?"
"It seems so."
"...Has sothing recent happened? Is it related to the church’s frequent recent activities in the border waters, and those fleets gathered near the ’Eternal Veil’?"
"I’m aware of these situations, but I don’t know the internals."
Duncan was sowhat surprised, "Even you, a Truth Confidant, don’t know these things?"
"I really don’t know," Ted Riel shook his head, "Truth Confidants, just like Judges, Gatekeepers, and Firekeepers, though we are the highest church representatives of the City-State, our knowledge is limited to the city-state’s affairs. The four Pilgrimage Arks actually operate independently of the church system, directly commanded by the four pontiffs, and all ’secrets’ are locked within the Ark Fleets, not interacting with the city-states or the church run by the city-states, especially... those more dangerous secrets."
He lifted his head, looking earnestly into Duncan’s eyes.
"It’s a necessary safety asure."
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