Chapter 164 Unease

Slightly hurried footsteps broke the silence in the Great Sanctuary. Bishop Valentine, who was assigning tasks to the assistant beside him, looked up when he heard the sound and saw Vanna walking towards him.

The Bishop waved for the deacon and attendants beside him to step back temporarily, his eyes falling on Vanna. "I thought you would rest at home for a few more days."

"Unfortunately, it seems I don't have that luxury," Vanna shook her head, her expression a little serious. "What happened? I saw many priests in a hurry, and I heard that a team of penitents was sent into the Star Observation Well... is it related to today's sunrise?"

"Yes," Valentine nodded, his expression solemn. "Today's sunrise was fifteen minutes later than usual—and it wasn't a local anomaly that caused the dawn to be delayed. I received communications from other city-states and maritime communication nodes that the anomaly was observed everywhere in the world."

"...The world was shone upon by the 'Worldscar' for fifteen minutes longer..." Vanna's brow furrowed slightly. "Are there any damage reports yet?"

"No, a mere delay in dawn is not enough to cause any problems. The fifteen minutes of night are still within the protection range of the city-states," the old Bishop shook his head. "What's truly unsettling is that the same phenomenon was observed all over the world, which means the problem is not on the surface or the sea."

"...It's a change in the operation of Anomaly 001 itself," Vanna naturally knew what the old Bishop was worried about. "No announcement from the Tomb of the Nameless King?"

Valentine shook his head slightly.

"No movement at all, so this may just be a minor... 'change,' not involving a fundamental change in Anomaly 001, but... I'm afraid most people won't be able to rest easy. We need to see the sun set normally today and the sun rise normally the next day before we can breathe a sigh of relief."

Vanna pondered in silence, then asked after a moment, "Were the ordinary people in the city affected?"

"Not too much fluctuation for now—some people didn't notice the fifteen-minute delay, and the citizens who did notice probably didn't realize the severity of the matter. I've sent a letter to the administrative office, asking them to assess whether it's necessary to issue announcements for appeasement and guidance later on. The matter doesn't have that much impact yet, and overly active explanations from the authorities might cause public anxiety—especially since we just experienced such a major disaster."

Vanna listened silently to the old Bishop's analysis, not interrupting. As a Judge who focused most of her energy on combat missions, she knew she wasn't a professional in this kind of matter, only occasionally revealing a thoughtful expression, showing that her mood wasn't as calm as it seemed.

Valentine looked at Vanna, whose expression held a hint of worry. "What are you thinking about?"

"Just some感慨," Vanna sighed softly and shook her head. "Every time there is a transcendent disaster, I become more aware of how fragile the world we live in is... city-states, the Holy See, ocean-going ships, everything we take pride in seems to be built on a thin layer of fragile ice. If any crack is not discovered in time, we will disappear from this world..."

"That is why we must always be vigilant and steadfast," Valentine said in a deep voice, looking into the young Judge's eyes. "Vanna, you rarely感慨 like this... what happened?"

Vanna fell silent. After a few seconds, she seemed to have made up her mind and said to Bishop Valentine, "Two things. First... I saw Captain Duncan again yesterday."

Valentine's eyes narrowed at first, but after a moment, he let out a soft sigh. "It was somewhat expected." He paused and continued, "We still have no way to deal with the brand that the ghost captain left on you. Even the entire Pland City-State may have established a connection with that captain. It's only a matter of time before he comes looking for you. What did he say to you?"

"...Mostly small talk," Vanna said with a strange tone.

"...Small talk?" This time Valentine finally raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Are you saying that the captain of the *Vanished*, the shadow returning from the subspace, 'Duncan,' who reversed the historical pollution and took away the fragments of the sun, specifically sought you out just to have small talk with you?"

"I knew you would react like this—I can't believe it either, to be honest. I would believe him if he told me he had a plan to conquer the world, but..." Vanna sighed, and then in the next ten minutes, she told the old man in front of her everything about her conversation with Duncan last night.

Valentine rubbed his forehead after listening to Vanna's account. The old Bishop, who had never wavered even in the face of the doomsday crisis, now had an undisguised look of trouble and fatigue on his face.

But after a brief moment of distress, he raised his head, his tone somewhat complicated as he said, "Vanna, I've been thinking about a question since last night."

"What question?"

"...You've had two direct conversations with Captain Duncan. In your opinion, does that 'ghost captain'... seem like an invader from subspace?"

"What... do you mean?" Vanna's expression changed slightly, and she asked cautiously, "The *Vanished*'s fall into subspace and its return is a definite..."

"I'm not questioning that. Of course, I know about the *Vanished*'s return from subspace, but think about it carefully. What should someone who has been completely affected by subspace be like, and... is it possible for a true subspace invader to rationally talk to people without causing uncontrolled pollution in the process?"

This time, Vanna hesitated. She couldn't give an unthinking response like before, and hesitated for several seconds before speaking, "Judging from all the cases and the basic understanding of subspace... that's impossible."

"When conducting mental examinations on people who have suffered 'deep' pollution, there is a simple and effective criterion for judgment—those who can speak rationally are salvageable, or at least not completely transformed," Bishop Valentine nodded. "The pollution of subspace is very deadly, and for this reason, throughout history, there has never been a subspace polluter or invader who can maintain consciousness. Madness is an indelible characteristic, and we... perhaps we can also apply this simple criterion to the *Vanished* and its captain."

"...You mean, that 'Captain Duncan' is very likely to have retained his humanity?"

"Or regained his humanity," Bishop Valentine corrected the subtle difference. "In the early records, there were clear reports of the *Vanished*'s indiscriminate attacks and Captain Duncan's descent into madness. At that time, he clearly met the standard of a subspace invader."

Vanna pondered, and the more she thought, the more incredulous the expression on her face became. "Is that possible? After being completely polluted and transformed by subspace... he can still regain his humanity, this..."

"If that's impossible, how do you explain the Captain Duncan who 'chatted' with you?" Bishop Valentine softly interrupted Vanna, then paused, reminding her, "Don't forget the 'Zeroth Law.'"

Vanna was stunned, then immediately reacted. "There will always be anomalies and phenomena that do not conform to cognition or exceed definition..."

The Great Sanctuary fell silent for a time. After an unknown period, Valentine suddenly said, "But we still can't regard the *Vanished* and its captain as harmless based on this, do you understand?"

"After all, it returned from subspace. Even if that captain regained his humanity, it's hard to say how he views us...'mortals' at this moment."

"And we can't make a judgment rashly ourselves. We must report all the information we have to His Holiness the Pope and see how she views this matter."

Vanna straightened her expression and immediately nodded seriously. "Of course, I'm still very clear about this."

Then she paused, her face a little strange. "Talking about this kind of thing in this sacred sanctuary is really... stressful. If it were in the past, I'm afraid I would have given myself a 'heretic' definition."

Valentine simply sighed noncommittally, then asked, "You said there were two things. Besides seeing that ghost captain, what was the second thing?"

This time, Vanna was silent for an even longer time. She seemed to be very纠结, and finally, under the gaze of the statue of the Storm Goddess Gomona, she mustered up great courage and said solemnly to the old Bishop, "I... should confess."

"Confess?" 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 straightforwardly, "After that great fire, I had doubts about my faith."

She told him about her doubts about the goddess and her wavering faith. Except for concealing the secret her uncle had told her, she made no secret of anything.

The old Bishop didn't speak for a long time.

Vanna looked at the old man's face with some trepidation, but she found that she couldn't judge Valentine's attitude this time.

The old Bishop seemed to be pondering, and was somewhat hesitant to speak, but there was no reproach.

After an unknown amount of time, Vanna finally heard the other person's voice in her ear.

"Vanna, 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 in the Great Sanctuary whose faith has wavered," the old Bishop turned around, quietly gazing at the statue of the Storm Goddess, his voice carrying a strange calmness. "Vanna, can you feel it?"

"What?"

"...The goddess is still blessing us."