Encountered a patrol fleet from the Church at the border?

Lucrezia paused for a moment after hearing this question, then quickly frowned and recalled, "I think it was last month that I encountered a ship of the Flame-Keepers in the border waters... I haven't seen a patrol squadron of the Church since then. But that may also be because I haven't been frequently approaching the border recently."

"That is not the case, Ms. Lucrezia," Sara Meier shook her head. "It's not because you haven't been to the border lately, but because the Four Gods Church has indeed transferred a large number of people who were originally responsible for patrolling the border to do other things—reducing them by about half."

"Reduced border patrols?" Lucrezia was surprised. "What are they doing?"

"I don't know. The Pilgrimage Ark has its own secrets, just like the city-states. They won't report to me the whereabouts of those ships and personnel," Sara Meier said. "But based on the information I have, the forces that were transferred were not added to the 'internal routes,' but remained at certain locations on the border. Do you understand what I mean? They are no longer performing patrol missions, but are gathering at some special locations near the Eternal Veil, as if waiting for further orders, or... preparing to deal with some bigger trouble."

The city-state governor paused here, then looked into Lucrezia's eyes, her tone particularly solemn: "This kind of thing has never happened before."

"...When an elf says that something 'has never happened before,' it usually means something is very serious," Lucrezia couldn't help but mention this old saying well-known among explorers. "I think I understand what you mean."

"Yes, madam—our world is in trouble. The Vanishing Line has issued warnings to the whole world. Even 'ordinary people' like me can perceive the gradual crisis, the 'atmosphere' that things are starting to go wrong. So the Four Gods Church, which has been observing and protecting the whole world for thousands of years, cannot have failed to notice something. Of course, they have already begun to take action."

As Sara Meier spoke, she raised her finger and pointed to the letter marked with the Four Gods Church.

"This letter connects their recent unusual 'transfer' with the warning from the Vanishing Line. I think... the leaders of the Pilgrimage Ark should have discovered or confirmed the 'root' of something your father mentioned in the warning, and they have found that the problem is very big, bigger than anyone imagined.

"Faced with this 'big problem,' the vigilance against the Vanishing Line is no longer important. Even if that ship is still connected to the subspace, and even has the possibility of falling into the subspace again, they can't care about it—as long as your father is still standing on the side of 'mortals' now."

The governor finished speaking, but Lucrezia didn't speak for a long time. She looked at the letter again, seemingly still lost in thought.

After an unknown amount of time, Sara Meier broke the silence: "Then can I ask now? Ms. Lucrezia, your father, the legendary Captain Duncan... what is he doing now? What does he want to do next?"

He's taking care of the children. Next, he plans to take those two girls to the city to find something normal humans can eat...

In Lucrezia's mind, some unreliable associations popped up for a moment, but she quickly threw these thoughts aside and made her expression serious again: "He is very interested in the 'fallen object' I discovered. Although I don't know why, he seems to... know the origin of the 'stone sphere' at the center of that fallen object. He mainly came for it this time."

"He knows the origin of that 'stone sphere'?" Sara Meier immediately looked surprised.

"Yes, he calls that sphere the 'Moon,' and according to him, the original... or rather, 'normal' size of that sphere should be very, very huge," Lucrezia nodded and said, "And he also curiously asked about the physical properties of that 'Moon' and the composition of the surface samples."

"Moon..." Sara Meier frowned slightly, but after a long period of thought, she shook her head. "I have never heard of this name."

"Neither have I. Father said that no one in this world should know this name," Lucrezia said. "When he said this, he seemed to be in a... not very good mood."

Sara Meier didn't speak for a while. After a moment of contemplation, she broke the silence: "The outpost research team has recently collected some samples from the surface of that 'stone sphere' again, and is currently analyzing them. Since your father is very interested in this matter, I will have them share the information with you at any time, and I will explain the situation to the heads of various facilities in advance. If your father wants to 'see with his own eyes' some research results, he can."

Lucrezia raised her eyebrows: "Not worried about causing panic?"

"You brought him into the city swaggeringly," Sara Meier spread her hands with a helpless expression. "Do you know how many people in this city recognize his face?"

"But as long as there is no public announcement, it is estimated that many people would rather believe that it is just a face that looks very similar—a person who looks exactly like Captain Duncan is more reasonable than a subspace shadow coming to the city for sightseeing."

"Looking exactly alike is scary enough, madam," Sara Meier said with a wry smile. "Do you know that since your father... since then, the captains on the Endless Sea don't even keep their beards very often?"

"Then that's none of my business. It wasn't my father who shaved them."

Sara Meier was immediately choked and stared for a long time before waving her hand: "Okay, let's not talk about these—madam, I want to know the most real situation, what is your father... what is his current state?"

It can be seen that this Governor tried his best to make his question not so rude, but he also knew that asking this kind of question in front of this "Sea Witch" was a bit offensive no matter how you put it—he could only bite the bullet and ask.

Fortunately, Lucrezia did not show any dissatisfaction.

"As I understood before, he did lose a lot of memories. The subspace once destroyed his sanity and personality. The current Duncan Abnomar... is actually a completely 'reconstructed' person in the strict sense," the "Witch" had a complex expression, but she did not hide what she knew. "I can still find some shadows of the past in him, as well as a familiar aura and majesty, and he also retains a vague impression of me, but that's all."

She paused, briefly deliberating on her words, and continued: "If you ask my feeling, I feel that there is actually something else hidden in his body—don't be nervous, Sara Meier, I'm not referring to the subspace, but some... not dangerous, but I have never seen things. It seems to be other personalities, or like many, many personalities and information superimposed together..."

"I don't understand the meaning of this sentence," Sara Meier frowned. "Can you say it in a more easy-to-understand way?"

Lucrezia thought for a while, and showed great patience to explain: "This time, when I first saw him, I briefly heard countless noises, and saw undulating and wriggling light and shadows. That should be a mild symptom of mental pollution, but this pollution subsided quickly and did not leave any impact on me. In this pollution, I glimpsed countless starlight scattered behind him, which looked... very much like the appearance of the 'starry sky' floating between the deep sea and the spirit world.

"At first, before I saw those 'starlights,' my feeling towards my father was a huge 'void.' I watched his body standing there, but couldn't find the feeling of the other party actually existing. But with the appearance of those noises and light and shadows, my perception of him stabilized, and I was finally able to... or strictly speaking, communicate normally with that body."

Sara Meier's expression became particularly serious: "How long did this process last?"

"A moment," Lucrezia said sternly, "And it happened on the edge of reason and perception—I suspect that most people could not perceive this process, and those who can perceive it due to excessive spiritual vision will be attracted by those starlights to all their attention, so that they will not realize the instantaneous 'void' feeling of that body."

Sara Meier was silent for half a minute, and said thoughtfully: "It sounds like it is because your attention has always been on your 'father' that you can perceive this brief 'process'... Ms. Lucrezia, these descriptions make me a little uneasy, giving me the feeling that..."

"I know what you want to say—you may think that the brief 'starlight' is the 'truth' of the current Duncan Abnomar, and the 'captain who returned from the subspace' is just a part of this starlight's mimicry, like the tentacle of a sea monster that protrudes from the sea to lure sailors."

Sara Meier frowned: "Isn't that so?"

Lucrezia just shook her head gently.

"I have my own judgment, Governor. I know that is him. Although he now shows some disturbing 'properties,' and even the way he exists has become difficult to understand and indescribable, that starlight is him, at least a part of him."

Sara Meier listened quietly, and after a long time, she said with a solemn expression: "This sounds like acting on emotions, madam, but I know you are not an emotional person—so I can only hope that your judgment is correct, at least hope that it is based on your always accurate 'intuition,' rather than feelings of longing."

"You can trust my judgment," Lucrezia said with a solemn expression, and pointed to the letter on the table, "Or, at least believe in the 'Four Gods Witness'."

(End of this chapter)