"That's the way it is, what do you think about it, Vanna?"

On the deck of the Lost Land, Duncan spoke to Vanna, who was holding a carved amulet of sea polyp.

Vanna was stunned as Duncan finished relaying the current problems of the White Oak and the captain's plans for the future, and it took a long time to react, throwing the newly carved amulet into the barrel and raising her head: "You mean, I vouch for the White Oak as a saint, and then issue a pass as a judge that allows the mutant ship to return to its legal status?" ”

"It seems procedurally possible," Duncan said earnestly, "after all, you are indeed a saint of the Storm Goddess - and a judge of Purland. ”

"But my position as Inquisitor has been removed... ...”

Duncan waved his hand: "Isn't this privately arranged by your pope, and your official status in public has not changed." ”

Vanna was stunned again - this straightforward lady seemed to be a little uncomfortable with Duncan's way of thinking, "exploiting loopholes in the rules" was a new thing that she had not considered in her years of career as an inquisitor, she instinctively felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't say it, so she could only hesitate to speak: "Process······ I don't know if it's right or not, but ······"

Duncan interrupted Vanna's hesitation with a serious expression: "The White Oak needs to return to its legal identity, the Lost Fleet needs to re-engage with the civilized world, and you should not want us to be the shadow that shrouds the world forever - it is a good thing to make the Lost Fleet that once threatened the world harmless, and as a saint of the Storm Goddess, you should take the initiative to promote this matter, do you think?" ”

Vanna froze for a moment, and as her face fell into thought calmly, it was a long time before she raised her head and looked into Duncan's eyes: "Your tone is like when you usually fool Alice." ”

"You're not Alice—Alice believed it when I said the first thing." Vanna: "....

"But it's the same thing, the White Oak does need your help right now," Duncan continued, with a complacent, expression, "and from a practical point of view, having one more controllable and powerful transcendent expedition ship wouldn't be a bad thing for the city-states—better than literally turning the ship into a wandering shadow on the endless seas." ”

"I ······"

Vana opened her mouth as if to say something, when an illusory and distant bell suddenly rang in her head, interrupting her movements.

She raised her head and subconsciously listened to the direction the bell came from, listening to the special rhythm of the bell as if it were echoing in her soul, and Duncan's concerned voice seemed to come from the other side of the heavy curtain: "Something happened"

"Swift Clock······ The cathedral is calling saints from all over the world, as if it were news of the tomb of the unknown king······" Vanna muttered to herself in a daze, with a hint of disbelief in her tone, "Why can I still hear this call······

Duncan raised an eyebrow: "Is this weird?" You are still a saint in the Church of the Deep Sea. ”

"But I thought ······" Vanna frowned, "I thought they wouldn't summon me anymore after I boarded the Lost Country. ”

The corners of Duncan's eyes twitched, and he heard the tone of "on the thief ship" from the other party's tone, but he quickly concealed the change in his expression, and said indifferently: "Don't think about it so much, since it is the call of the cathedral, then you should go to the prayer room quickly, just if you have the opportunity to meet the Pope Helena, and ask her about the issuance of a pass to the White Oak." ”

There was a hint of strangeness on Vanna's face, but this time she managed to control the urge to question, and as the bell in her head rang over and over again, she nodded quickly to Duncan and turned to walk briskly towards the cabin.

There are many empty cabins on the Lost Country, and with the captain's permission, one of them has been converted into a prayer room by her - although she hasn't tried it before, it is theoretically possible to respond to psionic communications and go to the "assembly room" through that cabin.

Vanna left, and it wasn't until her figure disappeared through the cabin door that Duncan withdrew his gaze.

He looked at the direction in which Vanna had disappeared, and then turned his head to look at Alice, who was dragging a large bucket not far away to wash the deck, and sighed softly: "Hey······ It's much harder to fool. ”

After sighing, he bent down and picked up the sea polyp amulet that Vanna had carved from the barrel beside him.

The amulet wasn't too elaborate, but it was clearly deliberate, and Duncan stood at the edge of the deck, fiddling with the small piece of wood as he waited for Vanna to return.

Theoretically, this shouldn't take too long.

And in this idle waiting, he was also slowly sorting out the information during this time, especially the information he had just obtained on the White Oak.

The vast shadow beneath the deep sea, called Martha's "hybrid", and······ The changes that took place in that mixture.

Duncan's mind conjured up the image of the rising and constricting shadow reconverging and stabilizing into "Martha", as well as ······ Before that scene, he had a vision of the "fish" in front of his eyes.

He turned his head sideways and looked at the gently undulating sea in the distance. The sea is deep and the waves are like a curtain.

The surface of the sea was like a curtain that covered all the secrets, obscuring the truth beneath the surface, and when the rod was thrown, no one knew what would take the bait.

; And what I caught at the beginning was a "fish".

Duncan's eyes slowly took on a hint of solemnity, and he looked down at the wave talisman in his hand, and after a little hesitation, he threw it back into the barrel, and picked up an uncarved piece of wood from the side, which looked unremarkable.

He looked at the piece of wood very earnestly, and only spoke in a slow, serious tone: "This is a piece of bread. ”

Wood is still wood, nothing has changed.

Duncan stared at the piece of wood for a long time, tugged at the corners of his mouth, raised his head to make sure that there was no one around, and threw the piece back to its place.

"It doesn't seem that simple······ So what the hell is the principle······

At the same time, in a private cabin below the deck of the Lost Homeland, Vanna had already quickly set up the "venue" for the ceremony.

She locked the hatch and turned her head to look at the ceremonial arena she had set up.

Under normal circumstances, in order to respond to the call of the assembly, it is necessary to use the specially built "sea tide chamber" in the church to construct a psionic channel, but this is obviously not practical on a ship with limited conditions - she can only place her usual prayer book on the ground nearby to act as an anchor point for the "holy place", and then light a large candelabra in the center of the room to serve as a ritual brazier, and then find holy oil and perfume purchased from the city-state to act as a "sacrifice" to enhance the effect of the ritual, barely enough to open the spiritual channel.

To be honest, the conditions are very improvised, even a little disrespectful to the goddess - but there is no better alternative.

The bell in her head continued to ring, urging over and over again, as if the bell would keep ringing as long as she didn't respond.

“······ May the Goddess not blame······ If you had known, you should have at least prepared some better quality holy oil. Vanna muttered, finally making up her mind, and took out the holy oil and essence and dripped them into the candlestick.

In the sudden flames, she took a light breath and calmed her mind······

It was as if the eternal dim sky was shrouding the huge assembly hall, and the chaotic flow of light appeared and wandered on the tops of countless simple and solemn columns, and the hazy figures on the ruined squares between the columns were emerging one after another.

After all the figures were in place, Vanna's soul projection was belated.

A slight dizziness and sensory distraction allowed her to stand still for a few seconds, and only after she had adjusted to it did she look down to confirm her status, and the silhouette of the figures around her.

"It turned out to be a good ······"

She muttered in some surprise.

Instead of going through the sea tide chamber, she used the limited temporary altar on the Lost Land and the candles that served as ritual braziers to perform the rituals, and she didn't have much hope for the success rate of this set of operations, but she didn't expect it to succeed in one attempt.

A figure approached, interrupting Vanna's thoughts.

She looked up, and from the familiar silhouette and aura, she could discern the owner of the figure—Bishop Valentine, whom she hadn't seen for a long time.

"Vanna, you're finally here!" There was a hint of joy in the old bishop's voice after a long absence, "I didn't expect you to really come······"

"I ······ too Unexpectedly," Vana said with a slight embarrassment, "Have you been waiting for a long time?" The conditions on my side are limited, and it took a long time to prepare the ceremony in a hurry... ....”

"It's okay, for some reason His Holiness the Pope is here late today, and it's not here yet," Valentine said immediately, and then leaned over and lowered his voice, "Where are you now?" Still on the "ship"? ”

“······ Well, on the "ship", I just left the frost," Vanna glanced around, followed by a low voice, "I was talking to the "captain" ten minutes ago. ”

“······ Did he actually let you get a prayer room on the ship? Bishop Valentine's tone was filled with incredulity, "And you can even open a psionic passage from the ship?" Have you found a powerful relic? ”

"It's just a humble ceremonial ground," Vanna's tone was a little embarrassed, "I didn't expect it to succeed······

"A humble ceremonial ground?" Valentine wondered, but then a roar from the center of the square interrupted what he was about to say.

With a loud bang, the simple and solemn tomb of the nameless king slowly rose from the center of the square to the ground, and the saints gathered in various places in the assembly hall also quieted down, and their eyes fell on the gray-white pyramid-like building one by one.

Vanna also subconsciously looked at the building, at the heavy gate in front of the pyramid.

The door slowly opened, and the mausoleum guard, wrapped in bandages, stepped out of it, as if between life and death.

Vanna's heart moved, and then she saw the tall guard walking straight towards her. There was a small commotion in the assembly hall.

The third time, the mausoleum guards chose the same "listener" three times in a row.

However, for some reason, Vanna had an expected ······ Relieved, she turned her head, helplessly spread her hand to Valentine's phantom, and took a step forward, waiting for the guards to approach.

The giant between life and death strode up to Vanna, his cloudy yellow eyes lowering his gaze. "Good afternoon, please come with me."