"Why do you say that?"
Verdu pondered for a mont before answering, "Every ti those pirates and explorers t their demise, the island was shrouded in thick fog." As he spoke, he tucked his pocket watch away and stood up. "That's why I believe the ruins we can't find under normal circumstances might just reveal themselves in this mist."
In his previous life, soone had analysed the strange fog on Bansy Island and speculated that it might be a projection from the City of Calamity. Others said it was the byproduct of a ritual conducted by dici descendants to worship an evil god. Regardless of the origin, the fact that it was enough to make the Church of Storm raze Bansy to the ground ant it was extrely dangerous.
Edward dared to co to Bansy only because, according to the tiline in the original work, the island shouldn't have reached that catastrophic stage yet. But now, it seed that the tiline might no longer be reliable.
Just then, Verdu headed toward the door. Edward asked in surprise, "You're going out now?"
"Of course. The last ti the fog appeared was a month ago. If we miss this one, we'll have to wait another month at least." He glanced at Edward with a grin. "Besides, who says staying in the restaurant is safe? Haven't you noticed? There's no one left in here."
Edward quickly turned around and looked through the restaurant. The dim lighting gave the space a strange, unsettling atmosphere.
Creak—
Verdu pushed open the restaurant door. A stream of cold, white mist blew in with the wind.
"Let's go."
Edward quietly tested Apparition—he found it was still working—then cast a Bubble-Head Charm and followed. Who knew whether the fog itself might be harmful?
Outside, the wind was low, the darkness deep, and the mist so thick that they could barely see a few ters ahead. They hadn't walked far from the restaurant when the door behind them slamd shut with a loud bang, and the lights inside extinguished completely.
Edward imdiately drew his revolver—the one he'd first confiscated from Danitz—and cautiously scanned his surroundings. Verdu, holding an astrolabe in one hand and a lantern in the other, led the way.
The two walked in single file through the mist for five or six minutes. All around them, there was nothing but silence. None of the zombies or monsters Edward had expected appeared.
"Have you heard of the bloody and brutal sacrificial rituals on Bansy Island?" Verdu suddenly asked.
"I've heard about them. I think the object of worship was a deity called the 'God of Weather'—or sothing like that?"
"Mm. It's a blood sacrifice. Most of the ti, they used outsiders as offerings. Occasionally, even locals were used." He turned back, holding up the lantern. "I wonder if those pirates died in one of those rituals."
Edward asked, "If that's the case, does that an the two of us could also be targets for the islanders' sacrifice?"
"Heh…what do you think?"
Verdu's expression suddenly twisted into sothing strange. His head began to swell rapidly and balloon grotesquely. Then it detached from his shoulders and flew into the air. His eyes and nose rotted and fell off in an instant, but his mouth—filled with stark white teeth—looked even more vicious.
"Dying here…is your honour!"
The decaying head opened its mouth wide and flew toward Edward. Just as he was about to react, a searing beam of light burst forth, dispelling the mist and instantly turning the head to ashes.
The real Verdu ca running through the fog, lantern in hand. "Are you alright? You disappeared the mont I turned around!"
"I—I'm fine."
Edward suddenly rembered sothing and asked, "Are you the real Mr. Verdu?"
"I am! That thing that attacked you was a corpse being controlled by soone else."
"You're…also a Beyonder?"
He nodded. "Why else would I dare co out during the fog? It'd be suicide otherwise."
Verdu raised his lantern. "Up ahead seems to be the telegraph office of Bansy Harbour. Let's check it out."
But Edward suddenly ca to a halt.
"Actually...shouldn't we head to the Church of Storms first?"
"Why?"
Edward was holding a green crystal that was spinning counterclockwise in his hand.
"My divination tells the telegraph office is dangerous."
Verdu suddenly shouted, "No! We're going to the telegraph office!"
"Then you go on ahead. I'm heading to the church for help."
"No!"
Verdu's expression twisted into frustration and restlessness. His eyes began to dim.
Snap!
Edward clenched the crystal tightly.
"Sorry. What I actually just divined was—'Is the man in front of truly Verdu?'"
"GO TO THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE!!"
Verdu's seven orifices suddenly bled as he lunged at Edward.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Verdu froze instantly. Petrification crept up his body with alarming speed.
"Diffindo!"
The second curse shot out—but hit nothing.
Verdu had vanished.
In the next mont, everything around Edward twisted and collapsed.
He found himself standing at the entrance to the Green Lemon Restaurant, holding the door handle open for the young woman and her daughter.
"Thank you."
The woman gave a slight nod. The little girl sweetly added, "Thank you, Mister!"
"…"
Edward froze.
Had everything just now been an illusion?
Or had ti rewound?
Or…was it like what happened later with Little Sun and the others—so kind of loop?
"…It was an illusion."
At that mont, Verdu spoke with a grave expression. "The conversation we had in the restaurant just now, and walking into the fog together—I experienced all of that too. Then, as we walked in the mist for a few minutes, you suddenly turned into a living corpse and attacked . Another version of you appeared and helped , suggesting we go to the telegraph office."
Edward fell silent for a mont. "I had the sa experience."
He turned to look at the dimly lit port. "But now I don't know if everything happening is also an illusion."
Verdu was briefly stunned. He took out a coin and flicked it into the air. The coin landed, rolled for a bit, then stood upright without falling.
"It's fogging up." He murmured.
With a gentle breeze, gray-white fog quickly filled the dark port, and everything around them once again beca shrouded in a murky gloom.
"Mr. Verdu, did you ntion earlier that everything happening on Bansy Island might be related to this fog?"
"I did. Why?"
Edward looked toward the two figures—a woman and a child—gradually becoming blurry within the mist. "If they're residents of this island, why are they still outside when the fog rolls in?"
"That mother and daughter?" Verdu's eyes widened. "Let's follow them!"
The two imdiately gave chase, but after only a few hundred ters, they had completely lost sight of them.
Simultaneously, both n recoiled two steps, wariness flashing across their faces. In near-perfect sync, they produced divination crystals.
As Verdu saw his crystal begin rotating counterclockwise, he acted instantly—a translucent book appeared in front of him.
"Wait!" Edward shouted urgently. "Mr. Verdu, your divination has been interfered with!"
"Hm?"
Verdu froze slightly and saw Edward's green crystal spinning clockwise.
Edward quickly explained, "I have a sealed artifact that can ensure, to so extent, that my divination results are not tampered with."
Verdu didn't imdiately believe him, but he did stop his spell.
"In the first illusion the mist gave us, the other person beca a living corpse or a disguised one—sothing to alert us. But this ti, what if it's trying to make us kill each other?"
"Think about those pirates!" Edward added quickly.
"But I can't verify whether what you're saying is true."
"That's simple. From now on, we move separately."
Verdu considered for a few seconds. "Alright. Where are you headed?"
"To the Church of Storm. You?"
"I want to find the source of the fog."
Edward frowned. "Are you sure? That's dangerous."
"There are so things I must do."
He pulled out his astrolabe again and backed into the mist, disappearing.
Edward first tried Apparition to reach the church directly—but it failed.
It wasn't that he couldn't Apparate. It was that he couldn't Apparate to the church. More accurately—he couldn't locate the destination.
He took a rod from his pouch and perford a dowsing spell: "The Church of the Storm."
The rod tilted to the left.
Edward picked it up and started walking. "I rember the mist Klein encountered in Bansy didn't make them lose their way. So...is this fog different from the one in the original story?"
Every dozen steps or so, he stopped to repeat the dowsing, all the while staying alert for threats hidden in the fog.
But nothing happened.
After ten minutes, so faint lights appeared ahead in the mist. Edward imdiately slowed and approached with caution.
Soon, the storm sigil's emblem ca into view—the chapel's stained glass windows glowing eerily.
"Is anyone there?"
He stopped about seven or eight ters from the church entrance and called out loudly.
After a long silence, an aged voice responded, "Yeees...Heeere..."
"Are you the bishop of the Church of Storms?"
"I...amm..."
"Then let ask—what is your view of the Lord of Storms?"
Another long pause.
"Heee...haaas two eyes...one mouth...two nostrils...two eaaars."
"..."
Fantastic. If you really were a bishop, Leodero would have smited your ass off for that blasphemy!
But...didn't [Genius on the Right] guarantee that as long as there's a divination result, it won't be interfered with or misled? Could it be that the essence of the City of Calamity is just too high for even my cheat ability to work?
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Footsteps slowly approached. Verdu's figure erged from the mist. Seeing Edward, he didn't look surprised.
"As I thought—they're trying to force us into the telegraph office."
With that, he headed straight toward it.
Edward quickly said, "Wait! It's a trap, Mr. Verdu!"
"I know. But the source of the fog is likely inside the telegraph office."
"You seek the origin, not the building itself—there's a difference."
Verdu paused, puzzled.
"What's the difference?"
Edward raised his wand and aid it at the building in front of them.
"The difference is…Bombarda Maxima!"
BOOMM!
In a violent explosion, the church collapsed instantly into rubble.
———
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