Uncle brought over a herbal wine to help calm her nerves. The effects of the herbs and alcohol slowly eased Vanna's restless feelings. She opened the door to the balcony, stood outside in the breeze, and gazed toward the distant cathedral.
Dante Wayne's voice came from behind her. “Every time you come back, you have nightmares, always about things from your childhood.”
“...As a judge, I shouldn’t show such weakness,” Vanna replied in a low voice. She was much taller than her uncle, but in front of this elder who had raised her, she didn’t mind showing her true feelings. “I’m really troubled.”
“...Have you talked to Heidi?”
“She recommended four types of brain surgeries and two kinds of nerve puncture therapies,” Vanna sighed. “Considering our years of friendship, I didn’t take action.”
“...That sounds like her. She doesn’t deal much with normal people,” Dante shook his head. “Honestly, I didn’t expect that after all these years, you’re still haunted by that nightmare from that night.”
“I always thought I had moved on,” Vanna rubbed her forehead. “Maybe it really has to do with this big house. Every time I come back here, I dream of what happened... Maybe I should consider holding another exorcism for this house. Otherwise, I always feel like the shadows of that disaster are sealed within these walls...”
Dante pondered for a moment and didn’t argue. He simply asked thoughtfully, “Is the fire still in your nightmares?”
Vanna nodded. “Yes, there’s fire everywhere. You carried me out of the blaze. I can even clearly remember escaping through the factory’s pipes, with a burning building collapsing nearby…”
She paused, looking at her uncle. “...You don’t remember this fire, do you?”
“Not just me, no one remembers,” the serious city governor slowly shook his head. “I only remember the gas leak and those crazed cultists... There were many people involved that night, but it seems only you saw the raging inferno.”
Vanna fell silent for a while, deep in thought, before softly speaking again. “Aside from the ‘fire,’ our memories match... At that time, I didn’t understand anything, but now I realize it must have been some extraordinary force at work. Even after all these years and my rise to sainthood, that influence hasn’t faded.”
“This suggests either the influence is of such high rank that it left an indelible mark on your soul, or the source of that influence hasn’t disappeared with the incident but has been hiding somewhere in the city all along. I’ve been investigating this for years, but unfortunately, there’s been no progress.”
Dante’s tone carried a hint of regret at the end. He felt sorry for not being able to solve his niece’s troubles and also regretted not being able to clarify an old case as the city governor.
The scars left by the “great chaos” eleven years ago were too deep.
Vanna knew this was not just her burden but had also been a concern for her uncle. However, she wasn’t good at comforting others. After thinking for a long time, she could only change the subject. “I remember many cultists were captured. Looking back, that incident was even larger in scale than the ‘Black Sun’ event four years ago.”
“Yeah, thousands were arrested. I even doubted how so many cultists could hide in the city of Prand,” Dante sighed. “And there was more than one cult... There were followers of the Black Sun, worshippers of the Abyssal Lord, and even preachers who revered the very concept of the void... All those vermin crawled out that night, crazily causing destruction.”
Vanna looked at Dante. “But according to the later interrogations, not a single one of the thousands of captured troublemakers could be called a ‘mastermind.’ Not even one knew why chaos erupted that night. Rather than saying those cultists were organized, it felt more like they were all triggered into madness at the same time, falling into a collective state of chaos.”
Dante was silent for a moment, deep in thought. Then he suddenly looked into Vanna’s eyes. “Your restlessness isn’t just because of that nightmare, is it? Bringing up these matters is related to the recent unrest in the city?”
Vanna didn’t shy away from the question. “It is somewhat related—followers of the Black Sun are gathering in the city, looking for something called the ‘Sun Fragment,’ and the Lost Home has almost simultaneously reappeared in the real world, its ‘course’ vaguely pointing toward Prand. While I can’t say for sure if these two events are connected, the feeling of turbulence... makes me think of the chaos from eleven years ago.”
“...I’ve ordered all ports to strictly check the movement of people and communicated with other city governors. Many followers of the Black Sun have been caught on ships, and their routes into the city have mostly been cut off. As for those who have already entered Prand... it mainly depends on the church’s actions. The Guardians specialize in finding and locking down extraordinary crimes.”
At this point, the middle-aged governor suddenly paused, as if carefully considering whether to bring something up. After a moment of hesitation, he made up his mind. “Regarding the Lost Home, I can’t help much in the extraordinary realm, but I have an idea in the mundane aspect.”
“Mundane aspect?” Vanna frowned. Just as she was about to question how the ghost ship could relate to the mundane, she suddenly remembered something. “Wait, are you saying...”
“The captain of the exploration ship Brilliant Star, Lucrecia Abnomar, and the pirate captain of the Fog Ship, Tyrion Abnomar,” Dante said slowly. “The Lost Home is indeed a ghost ship beyond the understanding of reality, but as long as it was once part of the real world, there must be an ‘anchor point’ left behind... I wonder how Captain Duncan’s children will react to their ‘father’ reappearing.”
Vanna’s eyes widened slowly. She was used to dealing with enemies in a straightforward manner and had never thought about the situation regarding the Lost Home from this angle. But soon, she frowned again. “But I’ve heard those two hardly deal with the city’s forces... They have their own power on the boundless sea, maintaining a distant and even tense relationship with all the cities.”
“That’s normal. After all, they are the children of that ghost captain. The Brilliant Star and the Fog Ship were originally escort ships for the Lost Home—though they parted ways over a century ago, in the eyes of most cities, anyone associated with that ghost captain means curses and danger. It’s less about them distancing themselves from the cities and more about the cities actively avoiding them.”
Vanna frowned at her uncle. “So you expect them to help Prand against their father?”
“It’s just an idea, but worth a try,” Dante said seriously. “After all, we know the Brilliant Star and the Fog Ship parted ways with the Lost Home over a century ago. Lucrecia and Tyrion severed ties with their father before the events of the Thirteen Isles of Wiserland. Over half a century ago, there were even rumors that some deep-sea captains witnessed the Fog Ship battling the Lost Home’s phantom in the northern seas—at that time, the Lost Home had already become a legendary ghost ship, which might explain the attitude of those two captains when facing their ‘father.’”
“Over half a century ago... At that time, the Fog Ship was still the flagship under the Frost Queen. Captain Tyrion might have just been following orders to protect the city,” Vanna said slowly while thinking. “But you’re right, at least this proves the Fog Ship indeed has a record of confronting the Lost Home.”
However, she still had some doubts and voiced them after a few seconds of thought. “What if the Brilliant Star and the Fog Ship ignore Prand?”
“That’s why it’s just an attempt,” Dante said quietly. “I will spread the news and find a way to get the situation of the Lost Home reappearing and heading toward Prand on the desks of those two captains—I’ll only do this much. What those two captains decide to do afterward is up to them.”
(End of Chapter)