The sound of hurried footsteps broke the silence in the cathedral. Bishop Valentine, who was assigning tasks to his assistants nearby, heard the sound, looked up and saw Vanna walking towards him.
The bishop waved his hand to let the deacon and attendant beside him leave temporarily, and his eyes fell on Vanna: "I thought you would rest at home for two more days."
"Unfortunately, it seems that I don't have the luxury," Fan Jiao shook his head, his expression a little serious, "What happened? I saw many priests in a hurry, and I heard that a group of ascetics were sent to the Stargazing Well... Is it related to today's sunrise?"
"Yes," Valentine nodded, his expression solemn, "Today's sunrise is fifteen minutes later than usual - and it's not delayed by a local abnormal astronomical phenomenon. I have received energy transmissions from other city-states and maritime contact nodes. This abnormal situation has been observed everywhere in the world."
"... This world was illuminated by the 'World Creation' for fifteen minutes longer..." Vanna frowned a little, "Are there any damage reports now?"
"No, a delay in dawn alone won't cause any problems. Fifteen minutes of night is still within the city-state's protection range," the old bishop shook his head. "What's really disturbing is that the whole world has observed the same phenomenon, which shows that the problem is not on the surface of the earth or the sea.
"… The operation of Vision 001 itself has changed." Vanna certainly knew what the old bishop was worried about. "There was no notice from the Tomb of the Nameless King?"
Valentine shook his head slightly.
"There is no movement, so this may just be a minor... "accident" that does not involve any fundamental changes to Anomaly 001, but... I'm afraid most people won't be relieved. We must at least see today's sun set normally and the next day's sun rise normally before we can breathe a sigh of relief."
Vanna was silent for a moment before she asked, "Are ordinary people in the city not affected?"
"There hasn't been much of a stir yet - some people didn't notice the fifteen-minute delay, and some citizens who noticed it probably didn't realize the seriousness of the incident. I've sent a letter to the Government Affairs Office, asking them to assess whether they need to issue a soothing or guiding announcement.
"It's not such a big deal right now, and an overly positive official explanation could cause public unrest, especially after such a big disaster."
Fanna listened silently to the old bishop's analysis without interrupting. As an inquisitor who focused most of her energy on combat missions, she knew that she was not professional in this area. She just showed a thoughtful look from time to time, indicating that her mood was not as calm as she seemed.
Valentine looked at Vanna, who looked worried, and asked, "What are you thinking about?"
“It’s just a little emotional,” Fan Na sighed softly and shook his head. “Every time a supernatural disaster occurs, I become more aware of how fragile the world we live in is… City-states, the Church, ocean-going ships, everything we are proud of, seems to be built on a thin and fragile layer of ice. If any crack is not discovered in time, we will disappear from this world…
"This is why we must always remain vigilant and resolute," Valentine said solemnly, looking into the eyes of the young Inquisitor. "Vanna, you rarely express your feelings like this... What happened?"
Vanna fell silent. After a few seconds, she seemed to have made up her mind and said to Bishop Valentine, "There are two things. The first one is... I met Captain Duncan again yesterday."
Valentine's eyes hardened at first, but after a moment, he sighed, "It's actually within expectations." He paused, then continued, "We still have no way to deal with the mark that the ghost captain left on you. Even now, the entire Plande city-state may have established a connection with the captain. It's only a matter of time before he comes to find you. What did he tell you?"
"...mostly small talk." Vanna said in a somewhat strange tone.
"…Chatting?" This time, Valentine finally raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You mean, lost hometown?"
The captain of the USS Duncan, the shadow that returned from the warp, who reversed the historical pollution and took away the fragments of the sun, specifically came to you to chat with you?"
"I knew you would have this reaction - I couldn't believe it either. To be honest, if he told me he had a plan to conquer the world, I would have believed it, but..." Vanna sighed, and then in the next ten minutes or so, she told the old man in front of her every detail of her conversation with Duncan last night.
Valentine rubbed his forehead as he listened to Vanna's retelling. This old master, who had never wavered in the face of the doomsday crisis, now looked troubled and tired.
But after a brief look of confusion, he raised his head and said in a complicated tone: "Fanna, I have actually been thinking about a question since last night."
"what is the problem?"
"... You have had two direct communications with Captain Duncan. In your opinion, does the 'ghost captain'... seem like an intruder from the warp?"
"You...what do you mean?" Vanna's expression changed slightly, and she asked cautiously, "The Lost Homeland falling into the subspace and returning home is a clear
"I'm not doubting this. I know the records of the Lost Homeland's return from the warp, but you need to think carefully about what a person who is completely affected by the warp should be like, and... Is it possible for a real warp invader to talk to others rationally without causing uncontrolled contamination in the process?"
This time, Vanna hesitated. She couldn't respond without thinking like before. She hesitated for several seconds before speaking: "Judging from all the cases and basic knowledge of the subspace... This is impossible.
"When conducting mental tests on people who have suffered from 'deep pollution', there is a simple and effective criterion - those who can speak rationally can be saved, or at least have not been completely transformed." Bishop Valentine nodded. "The pollution of the warp is very deadly. That is why history has always been a place where people can be saved.
There has never been a warp polluter or invader in history who can maintain lucidity. Madness is their indelible characteristic, and we... perhaps we can also apply this simple criterion to the Lost Homeland and its captain.
"…You mean, that Captain Duncan is very likely to have retained some humanity?"
"Or he regained his humanity," Bishop Valentine corrected the subtle difference. "In the early records, there were clear eyewitness reports of the indiscriminate attack by the Shiduo and Captain Duncan falling into madness. At that time, he obviously met the criteria of a warp invader."
Vanna pondered, and the more she thought, the more unbelievable her expression became; "Is this possible? After being completely contaminated and transformed by the subspace... I can actually regain my humanity, this..."
"If this is impossible, how do you explain Captain Duncan who was 'chatting' with you?" Bishop Valentine interrupted Vanna softly, then he paused and reminded, "Don't forget the 'zeroth law'."
Fan Na was startled for a moment, then reacted: "There will always be anomalies and phenomena that do not conform to cognition or exceed definition..."
The cathedral fell silent for a moment. The silence lasted for an unknown amount of time before Valentine suddenly said, "But we still can't regard the Lost Homeland and its captain as harmless based on this. Do you understand
"It is returning from the warp after all. Even if the captain has regained his humanity, it is hard to say how he views us... 'Mortals,
"And we can't make hasty judgments on our own. We must report all the information we have so far to Her Holiness the Pope to see how she views this matter.
Fanna's expression straightened, and she nodded seriously: "Of course, I am very clear about this.
Then she paused, with a strange expression on her face: "Talking about this kind of thing in this sacred church is really... stressful. If it were in the past, I would probably have defined myself as a 'heretic'."
Valentine just sighed noncommittally, and then asked, "You just said there were two things. In addition to meeting the ghost captain, what was the second thing?"
This time, Fanna was silent for a longer time. She seemed to be very confused.
After a while, he finally mustered up the courage under the gaze of the statue of the storm goddess Gemona and said solemnly to the old bishop: "I... should confess."
"Confession?" Valentine looked at her in surprise. "Why do you want to confess?"
"I wavered - although I am still devout, I cannot avoid my wavering," Vanna took a deep breath and confessed bluntly, "After the fire, I began to question my faith.
She expressed her doubts about the goddess and her wavering faith. She did not hide anything except the secret her uncle had told her.
The old bishop was silent for a long time.
Vanna looked at the old man's face with some trepidation, but she found that she could not judge Valentine's attitude this time.
The old bishop seemed to be in deep thought, and seemed to be hesitant to speak, but he did not say anything.
It was unknown how long it had been before Fanna heard the other person's voice.
"Fanna, you came to me to confess... Then who should I confess to?"
A hint of surprise finally appeared in Vanna's eyes.
"Now, there are two people whose faith has wavered in the cathedral." The old bishop turned around and stared at the statue of the goddess of storms quietly. His voice was unusually calm. "Vanna, can you feel it?"
"What?"
“…The goddess is still blessing us.”
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