Chapter 124 The Only Guarantee

Agatha of Frost City-State had arrived. Accompanied by the familiar gray winds, the goddess official, now also the city-state's archbishop, appeared before Duncan and Alice, bowing her head to Duncan, "Good evening, I'm glad to see you're here in person to handle this matter."

Duncan looked up in the direction of the sea, "Strictly speaking, it's still dusk."

"Dusk will last a long time, but people still have to move according to the 'normal' rhythm of life," Agatha said, nodding slightly to Alice beside her, "Long time no see, Miss Alice."

"Um... ah! Long time no see!" Alice responded after a moment, scratching her hair embarrassedly, "There's also an Agatha on the ship, I didn't react for a second."

Hearing this, Agatha's mouth showed a slight smile, and although her eyes were covered with a black cloth, it seemed as if there was still a warm gaze falling on Alice, "On the ship... is she doing well lately?"

"She's doing great! She chases Sherry to do her homework through the mirror every day, or sneaks out to scare people when it's foggy—although she says she's just out for a walk," Alice said quickly, with a happy expression on her face, "Everyone likes her very much, only Sherry is a little afraid of her..."

Agatha listened silently to the doll lady's descriptions, her expression a little surprised at first, but gradually turning into a smile, and after a while, she nodded lightly, opening her mouth as if talking to herself, "So that's how it is... sounds good."

At this time, Tirian finally found an opportunity and stepped forward, "Has the cathedral arranged the night watch?"

"I came over after dealing with this matter, don't worry, we have enough manpower," Agatha said casually, but then couldn't help but frown slightly, retreating a little without a trace, "...Governor, do you... have a bad stomach?"

Tirian was stunned when he heard this, and then understood what was going on. Even as the "Iron Vice Admiral," he felt a little embarrassed at this time. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly, but he quickly reacted, raised his hand and pointed to the paper bag in his father's hand, "...Want to try a potato cake?"

Agatha didn't know how the topic suddenly jumped to this, she looked at the thing in Duncan's hand suspiciously, and the latter immediately raised his hand, "Made by Alice herself—Light Breeze Port flavor."

"...There's no need," Agatha took half a step back as soon as she heard the words "Light Breeze Port," but then seemed to realize that this was a bit impolite, and added, "This body is no longer alive and can no longer enjoy the delicacies of the world, thank you for your kindness."

Duncan glanced at Agatha's cracked body, fragmented like a broken doll, knowing that she was telling the truth, so he could only shrug regretfully and stuff the bag of potato cakes directly into Tirian's arms, "Then you take them all—eat them slowly when you get back."

Tirian took his father's gift with a somewhat dazed expression, his eyes silently scanning the figures present: a corpse, an undead, a doll, and his dad—who was also a corpse.

The Iron Vice Admiral finally realized belatedly that he was the only unlucky one with a high human content on the scene...

Duncan didn't care about Tirian's suddenly subtle expression, after finally sending out the bag of things in his hand, he clapped his hands and turned to look at the magnificent planet still floating quietly in the sky above the beach.

"This is just the beginning," he said to Agatha, "In the coming days, more and more fragments of the sun will fall on the Boundless Sea, and inside them will be all kinds of 'Lost Stars' as the core—and in the long night to come, these sun fragments may be the only guarantee of safety for many city-states."

Hearing Duncan's words, Agatha's expression quickly became serious, "...So, the disintegration of the sun is inevitable, is that so?"

"Yes, although it sounds terrible, it is indeed inevitable, and it will accelerate," Duncan nodded lightly, "Next, I will also contact the popes of the Four Gods to remind them to pay attention to those luminous bodies falling on the Boundless Sea and recover them in time."

Tirian and Agatha fell silent at the same time.

In the days that followed, the world didn't know how many more sunrises it could usher in—the long night was about to fall, and in the face of such a fact, even Tirian felt a little suffocated.

And while feeling this suffocation, Tirian immediately thought of even more.

He raised his head in contemplation, looking at Duncan, "...You just said that these fallen fragments may be the only guarantee of safety for many city-states?"

"Vanna has received an enlightenment from the Storm Goddess, and I have also received information from the Gloom Lord, and according to the experience of Light Breeze Port, these sun fragments can indeed exert the same 'shelter' power as Anomaly 001 on a small scale," Duncan nodded lightly, "They can't appease a large area of the sea, but at least they can protect a city-state."

Tirian's expression gradually became heavy, and after a while, he whispered to himself, "...Is it enough?"

His soft murmur fell into everyone's ears, Alice's expression was a little confused, while Aiden and Agatha obviously realized what Tirian's "is it enough" was referring to, and their expressions changed slightly, turning to solemn.

Duncan nodded slowly.

"I understand what you mean," he said in a deep voice, "Frankly speaking, no one knows how many fragments there will be at that time, and no one knows if they will be enough... but without a strong constraint, even if there are enough fragments, it will never be 'enough'."

"The church will intervene, and our patrol fleets are all over the waterways," Agatha said after a short thought, "If the church's fleets are not enough, the Frost Navy is also reliable."

"But this is also the most optimistic situation—frankly speaking, I'm not used to facing the future with an overly optimistic attitude, especially when it comes to testing human nature," Tirian shook his head, "What if even the church has disagreements? When night falls, all tests will be infinitely magnified... even the most loyal and upright people have their own positions."

Then they fell silent, and the atmosphere on the scene was a little oppressive for a while.

Alice was still looking at this scene with some confusion, she looked at Tirian and Agatha, and then looked up at the captain, finally couldn't help but open her mouth, "What are you talking about?"

Duncan didn't answer, just raised his hand and gently pressed Alice's hair.

"We are worried that there will not be enough sun fragments to protect all the city-states, or that someone will want to occupy more 'sunlight'," Aiden said from the side, "After all... this is for survival."

In such a straightforward explanation, Alice finally understood what everyone was discussing.

The doll widened her eyes, looking a little helpless—this was something she had never thought about, a problem she had never faced.

Tirian lowered his head, looking at the paper bag in his hand with a complicated expression, "...At that time, a Northerner will really never be able to eat potato cakes from Light Breeze Port again."

Duncan shook his head and said softly to Alice, "Don't think about it, this is not something you need to consider, this world has always had terrible places, it's not like this just today."

Hearing the captain's words, Alice seemed to suddenly think of something, and immediately raised her head, "Then... you will take action at that time, right? Like in Pland and Frost..."

Duncan didn't answer, but Agatha quickly reacted, "Yes—the Lost Fleet, if you add your power, it will be easier to restrain the city-states and maintain basic order after nightfall, at least... not let the worst happen..."

Duncan still didn't answer, he just remained silent, noncommittal.

His reaction made Tirian realize something, "You don't plan to take action?"

"No, I'm thinking about something else." Duncan shook his head lightly.

He turned around, quietly watching the "Lost Star" floating in the air, no one knew what his silence was thinking at this moment, even Tirian didn't have the courage to speak at this time, and it wasn't until a long time later that Duncan took back his gaze and broke the silence softly, "If the situation really gets to the worst day, I may need to do something that only I can do—that will probably be a long way away, and may even be away for a long time."

At this moment, Tirian seemed to vaguely perceive something, a kind of... premonition from intuition made him feel that there were hazy light and shadows shaking at the edge of his vision, and in an extremely short moment, he felt that his father's figure seemed to be standing in a place so far away that he could never reach it, although they were close at hand now, there was an invisible curtain gradually closing, as if to separate them in two time and spaces.

That invisible curtain... seemed to be filled with starlight.

But this feeling was fleeting, Tirian felt that his thinking was interrupted for half a beat, and when he wanted to recall his feelings just now, there was only an endless emptiness left.

Duncan turned his head, and on the face covered with bandages, the only pair of eyes revealed a calm gaze.

"Don't worry too much, even in the worst-case scenario, there will be flames to re-illuminate this world, and difficult days are always temporary."

His father's words seemed to have a deeper meaning.

But Tirian didn't have a chance to ask more—a rising spiritual flame suddenly appeared on the beach, gradually outlining a vortex.

His father was about to leave.

"I still have many things to do," Duncan waved his hand to Tirian, Aiden, and Agatha. He stepped towards the flame and said at the same time, "Put more energy into dealing with the coming night, don't think so much—also, don't worry about the cemetery area."

The flames rose, and then rushed towards the sky like a retrograde meteor, quickly disappearing from the sight of Tirian and Agatha.