Vanna is back in the archives again.

Although even she didn't know why she wanted to come back here, an inexplicable sense of disobedience and crisis was like an invisible shadow chasing behind her, which made her subconsciously keep recalling the details of rummaging through the archives, and always felt as if she had forgotten something.

Of course, another reason for her to return to the archives was that there was nowhere to go anyway.

Due to her growing ties to the Lost Country, she is now effectively under surveillance at all times - she is still the Inquisitor of the city-state of Purland, but only because there is no one to take over her important duties at the moment, so she must remain in the cathedral at all times except for the necessary attendance.

The encounter with "Captain Duncan" in the dream is anxiety-inducing, and the clues found in the chapel in the sixth block are also calming, and in the quiet and sacred archive, she can more or less shield herself from the gaze and distractions around her, and let herself breathe a sigh of relief.

Footsteps echoed through the empty archives, rows of bookshelves as tall as the ceiling stood silently in sight like giants, and the ancient files slept silently on the shelves, overlooking the young inquisitors passing by in the aisles from top to bottom.

Vanna looked up at the bookshelves that stretched out in her sight, recalling the last time she had rummaged through the archives while a middle-aged priest in charge of the archives quietly followed her side, the lamp in the priest's hand radiating a warm and soft glow.

Enter the archives and search for materials from 1889, find suspicious traces of heretical sacrifices, use this as a clue to expand the search, find records of heretical sacrifices between 1889, and finally detect the anomaly of the disappearance of the corresponding files in 1885......

These memories were combing through her mind over and over again, and Vana couldn't remember the first time she remembered these things, they were so clearly presented in her mind at the moment, flawless from beginning to end, and there was not a single trace of distortion in them.

But Fanna's brow furrowed slightly.

The young inquisitor suddenly stopped, as did the middle-aged priest who was following her.

"Your Excellency the Inquisitor?" The middle-aged man's voice sounded from behind him.

Something is wrong, something is wrong...... I was definitely not alone at that time to look for information, there was definitely someone with me...... But who is it?

Vana didn't seem to hear the voice behind her, but frowned and tried to think about it, and she remembered the chapel in the sixth block, and the nun who died in 1885 in the chapel—how similar it was that the church had disappeared from everyone's sight, and even Bishop Valentine had forgotten its existence for years......

I also have a similar "forgetting", everyone forgets the same thing, so that I can't perceive the emptiness in my memory, and no one else can remind me...... But what did you forget, and when did you start to forget?

"Your Excellency the Inquisitor?" The middle-aged priest's voice came from behind him again.

Vana felt the power of the storm gathering, and the middle-aged priest's hand was silently close to his waist.

"How long have you been an administrator here?" Vana said suddenly.

The power of the storm dissipated, and the middle-aged priest put his hand down again, bowing his head slightly: "It's been seven years—I've been here since I retired." ”

"You're not the only administrator here, right?" Vanna asked again.

"There are two, and an older lady than me, who is on night duty and has also retired from the Guardian Army."

As if chatting, Vanna said casually as she continued to walk slowly between the bookshelves, "Two of you...... Can you get busy? ”

"It's still busy, the archivist doesn't have much to do, the guard work has all the open posts and secret posts, the work of carrying and sorting has servants and apprentices, and only when we build and access the archives need to be handled by ourselves - and most of the materials here are no longer 'moved' after they are stored, so the workload is very small," the middle-aged priest explained seriously, "It's just that because the position of the administrator requires a long stay in the library and is surrounded by books, it must be a determined and experienced priest in charge. It's also important to have less work. ”

Speaking of this, the middle-aged priest paused, and added: "Of course, after all, there are only two people, and it will still be more troublesome in case of special circumstances, I have always felt that it is better to add one more person, and it is more reasonable to take shifts with three people." ”

"Three-person shifts......" Vana muttered softly to herself, then asked, "Is the 1885 file still not found?" ”

"Yes, still haven't been found," the middle-aged priest shook his head, "After you mentioned the anomaly here, we organized a manual inspection of the entire archive, using hundreds of servants and trainees, but found nothing. ”

Vanna hummed and said no more, just stood silently in front of one of the bookshelves in deep thought, her silence making the priest behind her tense.

Sensing the other party's nervousness, Vanna shook her head with a smile: "Don't worry so much, I only met with that ghost captain once, and I haven't reached the point of delirium yet, and now there are many pairs of eyes and detection devices staring inside and outside the archives, and I will be the first to warn if I notice something unusual - I still have this professionalism." ”

"I beg your pardon," the middle-aged priest sighed, "I've seen too many of my comrades disappear into this world forever in a careless moment. ”

Vanna didn't say a word, her eyes looked to the end of the bookshelf, where the archivist usually stayed—she circled between the large bookshelves and returned to the entrance.

In a trance, she seemed to see a slightly clumsy figure sitting there.

The young judge's eyes widened suddenly.

The figure was gone.

The middle-aged priest noticed: "Your Excellency, what have you discovered?" ”

"Maybe it's a mistake...... No, let's go and see. ”

Vanna hurriedly left the next sentence, and before the other party could respond, she walked faster and faster, and finally ran to the huge curved table in almost a few steps, and then carefully examined the table with a large number of intricate mechanisms.

There was no one at the table, and the few things on the table were in full view.

Vanna walked around behind the desk and looked up and down.

Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw something—a few small scattered parts, discarded haphazardly behind a baffle on the edge of the table, rusted, as if they had been discarded for an unknown number of years, judging by their outlines...... It seemed to be part of a mechanical Rubik's Cube.

For some reason, the moment she saw the parts, Vana seemed to smell a strange smell...... It smelled like incense mixed with mechanical grease, and something was burnt.

The middle-aged priest with the lantern in his hand also followed, looked curiously at Vanna's line of sight, and made a puzzled voice: "These things...... Who threw it here? ”

"There are marks on the table." Vanna had already spotted other clues next to the parts, which looked like oil, but when closer inspection, they looked like conscious drawings.

She felt her heart pounding, there seemed to be a harsh noise echoing in her head, even the edges of her vision began to tremble, and there seemed to be fire burning and jumping between those shaking lights and shadows, but instead of bringing panic, these extremely uncomfortable feelings made her heart slightly excited—the spirit was beating, she was observing and touching the traces of the transcendent, the clues she was looking for...... Sure enough, in this archive!

With the name of the storm goddess Gomona in her heart, Fanna reached out to the side: "Use the lantern." ”

The middle-aged priest immediately handed over the "Administrator's Lantern" with rune protection and divine grease as fuel: "Here you go." ”

Vanna took the lantern and carefully placed the light close to the oil-stained tabletop, under the reflection of the light, as if some fine smoke or fog appeared out of thin air and quickly faded, and between the light and shadow brought by the flame, she finally saw the "stain".

It was dark red blood, like a dying man dipped his trembling fingers in his own blood and drew on the table, which looked like a bonfire with a cylindrical thing standing in the center.

It wasn't any of the sacred symbols used by the Church of the Deep Sea, not any blessing from the Storm Goddess Grimona.

Yet Vana still recognized the symbol—it was the mark of the Fire Bearer.

Flame-bearers? Why does the Mark of the Fire Bearer appear in the chapel of the Deep Sea Church?

Vanna wondered in her heart, although the four righteous gods are indeed in the same camp, and there are many cooperative relationships between the four god churches, but after all, everyone has different belief systems, and the sacred symbols of their respective sects will not appear in the sanctuaries of other churches under normal circumstances, but why...... Where will the Firebearer's mark appear?

Flame Bearer...... The chapel of the Sixth Block...... The forgotten people, the forgotten things, another Prand hidden in the real world......

Vanna's breathing suddenly became a little rapid, and in this moment, she finally understood.

This symbol is a warning, the only message left to reality by a defender who has been forgotten by everyone on his lonely battlefield.

"Someone pollutes history!"

The young inquisitor suddenly exclaimed, and suddenly turned his head to look at the middle-aged priest who was following him.

The archives were empty.

It was as if from the beginning, it was just herself.

(End of chapter)