Ashes Of Deep Sea

Chapter 383: Chapter 387: The Suddenly Appearing Aura Chapter 383: Chapter 387: The Suddenly Appearing Aura In the Spirit Realm, heretics and deformed freaks executed had now become remnants and ashes in the real dimension, and the severe pollution of the wastewater treatment center had been temporarily purified. However, for the shadow enveloping the entire City-State, this might have only uncovered a corner of the curtain.

The black-clothed guards returned before the gatekeeper, where Agatha briefly checked and confirmed the status of her subordinates before her gaze landed on a nearby, somewhat balding manager.

“Has his situation been confirmed?”

“He has been confirmed as a normal human being,” a black-clothed guard replied quietly, “but he’s severely traumatized and we can’t rule out the possibility of psychological contamination—he’ll need some time for psychological guidance and observation.”

“Leave him to the local church,” Agatha nodded lightly, “Also inform them that the situation at this wastewater treatment center is very bad. The entire facility will need a thorough purification and inspection later. Don’t restart it until all hidden dangers have been investigated.”

“Yes, Gatekeeper,” her subordinate nodded, then looked up at Agatha with some concern, “You… didn’t encounter any trouble, did you?”

Agatha frowned. “Hmm? Why do you ask?”

“You stayed ‘there’ longer than usual,” the subordinate explained, “Did you find any clues under the Spirit Realm’s surveillance?”

Agatha still frowned slightly, her face showing a pensive expression. For some reason, she felt like she had overlooked something, but when she thought carefully, she couldn’t find any suspicions—was it a sequelae of staying in the Spirit Realm for a long time?

She shook her head, reached into her coat pocket, and pulled out her usual eye drops, but hesitated for a moment before putting them away.

Her eyes felt no discomfort, as if she had already applied the drops before returning to reality.

“Nothing happened,” she told her subordinate, “It’s just that the appearance of those heretics was peculiar, and I spent a bit more time ‘interrogating’ them.”

Unfortunately, she hauled nothing out of the inquisition—those heretics were stubborn and fanatic, and not even straightforward death could shake their rigid hearts.

But… what exactly had she overlooked?

A faint sense of doubt surfaced again in Agatha’s heart, but she showed nothing in front of her subordinates.

“Are we heading back to the cathedral next?” another black-clothed guard asked.

“Back to the cathedral,” Agatha nodded, “We must immediately organize personnel to search all the underground facilities throughout the city. The situation might be more severe than we think.”

…

As twilight approached, the edge of the sun was gradually nearing the horizon. The splendid double Rune Circle emanated a magnificent glow near the sea’s surface, gradually staining the distant City-State buildings with the sunset, as the entire city seemed to melt into the twilight glow.

Duncan stood at the end of the hallway on the second floor, in front of a narrow window, his burly figure almost blocking all the light streaming in. Through the gaps of his bandaged gaze, he silently watched the last rays of the distant sunset, seemingly lost in thought.

The sneaky footsteps of a dog came from beside him. Duncan didn’t turn around but already knew who was coming.

“Have you finished your homework?” he casually asked.

Sherry, who had just opened the door preparing to sneak down to the kitchen for some snacks, suddenly froze. From the shadows emerged a shivering dog’s head which murmured in a low voice, “I knew we’d be found out…”

“I… I’ve finished the mental math questions,” Sherry ignored the dog’s hindsight commentary, merely shrinking her head cautiously as she gazed at Duncan by the window, who seemed as imposing as a tower, “I still have some vocabulary left, but I’m hungry…”

Duncan heard a full measure of nervousness and grievance in the girl’s tone. This made him turn around with a somewhat wry smile and look at Sherry, “Did I ever say you couldn’t eat if you didn’t finish your homework?”

Sherry shrunk her neck, not daring to respond.

Duncan sighed, smiled, and turned around, pressing gently on Sherry’s head.

“Don’t like studying that much?” he said helplessly, “You look almost as if you’ve been bullied.”

“I… I get sleepy as soon as I start reading,” Sherry said nervously, still somewhat unaccustomed to talking with Duncan’s current embodiment, his bandaged body and dark clothes appearing even more frightening to her than the captain on Homeloss usually did, “I… I’ll go back to my room and do my homework!”

Duncan gently pressed Sherry’s shoulders, halting her movements as she turned to re-enter the room.

“You should rest if you’re tired,” Duncan shook his head, “don’t study out of fear.”

Sherry looked at Duncan in disbelief, but then nodded quickly, as if afraid that the captain might change his mind.

A few seconds later, she cautiously looked at Duncan and couldn’t help asking, “Why do you insist on making me read and write… I… I don’t need to go to college like Nina or become a scholar like Mr. Morris…”

It was the first time Duncan heard this question from Sherry, but clearly, this question had been lingering in her mind for a long time — the orphan, who had never been to school and had grown up dependent solely on an Abyssal Hound, clearly couldn’t understand the captain’s intentions.

“Because knowledge is useful,” Duncan was silent for a while before he seriously said to Sherry, “Those pieces of knowledge that you resist and that give you headaches, they support the operation of the entire civilized world — look at the cars driving on the streets outside, the roaring machines in the factories, and the boundless ocean outside the City-State, haven’t you ever been curious about how those things work? Have you never wondered what the far-off City-States look like?”

Sherry thought for a moment; she seemed to know what the “right answer” was, but she still shook her head hesitantly in the end, “No, I… I always felt that having enough to eat was enough. I never thought much about it.”

“But now you need more than just to fill your stomach, Sherry,” Duncan bent down and looked her in the eyes seriously, “Perhaps you don’t understand now, but I want your life to be more complete — you have missed a lot, but now that you are part of Homeloss, everything you missed will definitely be made up.”

Sherry stared dumbly at Duncan. She still didn’t quite understand what the captain was saying, but from his serious and solemn tone, she vaguely felt some… warmth.

This warmth was somewhat familiar.

So, half-understanding, she nodded, uttering a somewhat elongated “Oh…”

“Good,” Duncan smiled, slowly straightened up, “Now that you understand, go eat something later and then continue with your homework. I…”

He suddenly stopped.

Sherry, who had been shrinking her neck, was waiting for further instruction and slightly regretfully raised her head, “Ah? What’s wrong?”

Duncan didn’t answer her. Instead, he just waved his hand lightly, but his gaze had already shifted towards the distance — it appeared he was looking at the corridor opposite, but deep in his eyes, it seemed as if reflecting a very distant glimmer of light.

He blinked, one eye reflecting the corridor and the roof of the house, while the other seemed to see a ship burning with faint green flames, wandering in the mist and shadows.

Inside the captain’s cabin of Homeloss, which was slowly patrolling the outer sea of Frost, Duncan suddenly looked up from the sea chart table.

His sudden movement caused the goat’s head at the edge of the table to react, its neck creaking as it turned, “Oh, Captain, what can I do for you? Are you ready for dinner? Although there are no available hands on board right now, I am still willing to provide dining services within my ability. What would you like to eat? We could start with Southern cuisine: fried meat rolls, fried pork chops, fried fish cakes, fried meatballs, roasted eggs, steamed eggs, boiled eggs, stewed eggs, pickled eggs, smoked eggs…”

“Shut up, I didn’t look up to hear you recite a list of dishes,” Duncan glared at the noisy goat’s head, his expression containing a trace of solemnity. He raised his head, looking out the window of the captain’s cabin in the direction of Frost City-State, and spoke thoughtfully, “The Oak of White?”

“The Oak of White?” The goat’s head paused, then responded, “Ah, you mean that steamship, the one Alice previously boarded? Why did you suddenly think of it? Do you want to reclaim that trophy? I can provide you with a complete plan for incorporating it — do you plan to replace the sailors on that ship? The captain might be kept…”

“It’s nearby,” Duncan paid no attention to what the goat’s head was rambling about. He slowly stood up from behind the table, his brow slightly furrowed as he carefully sensed that weak yet real connection, “Near… Frost?”

“The Oak of White near Frost?” The goat’s head finally stopped its chatter, its tone filled with astonishment, “That’s not possible… Isn’t Frost currently locked down? And Tyrion’s fleet is still blocking the shipping routes, any foreign ship approaching wouldn’t go unreported to you, would it?”

“…Something is not quite right, I indeed felt the presence of The Oak of White,” Duncan spoke thoughtfully, “but its location… is blurry, and it seems to be constantly shifting…”

He squinted, his gaze directed toward Frost City-State, trying to pinpoint the sudden intense presence he felt.

The presence of The Oak of White had appeared suddenly and grew intense in a short time, like a flame suddenly lit in the darkness, drawing his gaze, a sensation… he had never experienced before.

And perhaps it was an illusion, Duncan also felt several significant fluctuations in the ship’s presence, like… the flickering of a dim light.

Contemplating, he lowered his head to look at the goat head’s wooden carving on the table, “Do you know what’s going on?”

The goat’s head thought, then shook its head, “Should I recite a list of dishes instead…”

“Not useful at the crucial moment.” Duncan tugged at the corner of his mouth, stood up, and walked past the navigation table toward the outside of the captain’s cabin.