A century ago, in the days of sail warships, shipbuilders in various city-states had a rule when building ships – to cut a piece of wood from raw wood when working on the keel.

They would carbonize, dip, and oil the piece of wood in the same way that they would treat the keel, and put it on the slipway with the unfinished ship, and after the ship was built, the "keel cube" would be left in the shipyard and kept on land forever - often, the owners would pay an additional fee to ask the priests in the city-state to bless the piece of wood on a regular basis, or simply send it to the church for the church to keep and care for it.

Initially, this retention of "keel samples" was part of the quality specification, whereby owners checked whether the keel selection and initial processing process met the technical requirements of a ship, and later became a symbol of prayer for peace.

It is believed that ships have souls, that the keels left on land will bring good luck to the ships that sail away, that they act as lighthouses that allow the ships to find their way back to the shore, that the blessings of the priests on the keel wood can also befall the ships that sail away, and that if misfortune happens, the keels left on the shore will be transformed into ferries in the world of the dead, bringing the souls of the sailors back to their homeland.

In the past, when a ship was confirmed to be wrecked, the priests of the god of death would even take out the keel cube left on the shore for a "funeral", and the family of the wrecked crew would see off the cube as if it were the remains of their loved ones, and watch it be sent to the incinerator.

Agatha once described to Duncan in great detail the scene of the Death Priests "seeing off" the keel samples a hundred years ago.

In fact, this custom is still preserved to this day, but as the times have progressed, people have not always chosen to keep samples of ship keels, and in many cases, young captains prefer to keep a portion of the pipe cut during the installation of the steam core in the shipyard or church.

Duncan stared silently at the wooden square in the box.

The Lost Country was built a hundred years ago - no matter how special it may be today, when it was in the shipyard, it was built according to the norms and customs of ordinary ships.

A hundred years ago, craftsmen kept a sample of its keel.

Not the spine of the old god today, but the original "twig" of the Lost Country, which Duncan Abnomar found from ...... fog near the border.

Duncan reached out and carefully picked up the unremarkable-looking piece of wood.

His eyes suddenly widened slightly: "No weight?!" ”

He was taken aback by the "weight" that came from this keel sample, it was too light...... Even "light" is far from indescribable, as he blurted out, this piece of wood seems to have no weight at all, and when it is held in his hand, it is even lighter than a grain of dust!

However, Duncan clearly saw that the black satin in the box that had been used to place the wooden cube had obvious indentations on the surface, which were traces of being pressed out of the wood.

"Yes, there is no weight—but only when it is held in the hand," Bishop Valentine's voice came from the side, "it weighs 0.7 kilograms when it is placed on the weighing table, and 0 milligrams when it is held in the hand of a living person, but initially it was not like this - according to the record, it was no different from normal wood when it was first cut from the keel wood, I mean 'weight'. ”

Duncan frowned, and even though he already had the answer in his heart, he couldn't help but ask, "...... When did the change happen? ”

"On the day the Lost Land crashed into subspace," Valentine replied, "a lot of things happened on that day, and many of them were investigated and confirmed after people recovered from the chaos, and apart from the fact that this keel sample lost its 'weight' in the hands of a living person, we also found that all other pieces of wood cut from the original material of the Lost Country keel were missing. ”

After a pause, the old bishop further explained: "The 'raw timber' you brought to Poland was a very large piece of wood, and after processing it into a keel, the large amount of cut timber was still enough to be used for many other purposes, some of which were recorded to be processed into various items on the Lost Country, and the rest were deposited by you in the shipyard's warehouse, and some of this was taken by you years later and used to make the 'Sea Mist' and ' The bow of the Bright Star's ship and the steering wheel, the last remaining timber of which were useless, remained in the warehouse until the day of the ......' accident. ”

As he spoke, the old man stepped forward and pointed to the large box in front of Duncan.

"This part of the relevant records is also in this."

"Sea Mist and Bright Star were also built in Prand? And the keel remnants of the Lost Country were used? Are their construction records still there? ”

"Unfortunately, the construction records of those two ships have been burned to ashes with the fire at the shipyard, along with their 'keel samples,'" Valentine shook his head, "People say that was the beginning of the curse on those two ships - the storm that the Lost Land set off in subspace destroyed the 'anchors' left on land by the Sea Mist and the Bright Star, and from now on, those two ships gradually became what they are today." ”

Speaking of this, the old bishop seemed to suddenly feel a little inappropriate, and quickly coughed dryly: "Ahem, I hope you don't mind, these are all ......"

"It's okay, you're just stating what happened—or did I take the initiative to ask," Duncan said, shaking his head, "and now that I'm on good terms with my kids, that's all in the past." ”

As he spoke, he refocused his gaze on the weightless "keel sample" in his hand.

There are many things that I finally figured out today.

Everything went round and round, and it seemed to be a chaotic mess, but it was just a thread connected from end to end, and now, this thread finally reached his hand.

"If you want to know more about the past, I can find a way to find the elven craftsmen who participated in the construction of the Lost Country...... But it may not be easy," Valentine said cautiously, noticing the change in Duncan's face, "after all...... Things aren't going well on the elves' side right now. ”

"I know, I'm here to fix this," Duncan exhaled softly, putting his thoughts down for a moment, and nodded to Valentine, "That's enough, I've got what I want, I'll take this box with me." ”

"Of course," Valentine nodded immediately, "it's better to ...... You can take the better. ”

Duncan, of course, knew why he was saying that, he just smiled, and then put the piece of wood back into the box and closed it again.

But just as he was about to summon Aye to return the box to the Lost Land, he noticed Valentine's expression of wanting to speak.

"Anything else?"

"Forehead......" Valentine visibly nervous for a moment, and then hesitated for a few seconds before speaking, "Actually, I've been thinking about a question since just now, but I'm afraid you'll be offended......"

"You say."

“…… Vanna is on your boat, didn't make any trouble, did she? ”

"Mess? Why? Duncan felt inexplicable, "She's a mature and steady person, and it's very worry-free on the boat, what kind of mess can there be?" ”

Valentine was stunned, and said for a long time: "She didn't break anything?" She has a very straight personality, she doesn't get along with people, she has a lot of strength, and she has few friends when she is in the city......"

Duncan didn't speak for a while, he first thought about Nina, who was startled, and then thought about Shirley, who made a fuss all day because of a few rolls, and Alice, who stewed herself every once in a while, and the pile of pots and pans, mop buckets, and even gunpowder cannons on the ship......

"She's fine," he said to the old bishop with great earnestness, "she's one of the quieter ones on the ship, and she's a little ......more moved in the morning when she runs and exercises on deck."

Valentine: "......? ”

The old bishop still couldn't seem to imagine what it was like for Vanna to live aboard the Lost Land.

But Duncan didn't mean to explain any further—he soon summoned Aye, teleported the large wooden box directly to the distant Lost Land, then said goodbye to the old bishop, and swaggered out of the cathedral.

In the brightly lit interior chapel, Valentine stood in front of the icon of the Goddess of Storms and was in a daze, and in a trance, he suddenly felt that what had happened this morning had a sense of unreality.

This sacred place has literally hosted a shadow from subspace—and now, the shadow has left so peacefully.

It's like a dream.

“…… Vanna. ”

"I'm here," the psionic passage hadn't yet closed, and Fanna's voice came to Valentine's ears, "Is the captain gone?" ”

“…… He just left. Valentine said.

Perhaps the hesitation and subtlety in the old bishop's tone were too obvious, and Vanna was keenly aware of the abnormality: "What's wrong?" What's not going well? ”

"That's not it, I'm just feeling weird...... Valentine hesitated, "you say...... Does this count as a cathedral that was invaded by subspace? ”

Vanna obviously didn't expect such a sentence from the old Lord's church, and her side was silent for a few seconds, and then she responded uncertainly: "I ...... I don't know. ”

Valentine turned his head and glanced at the statue of Gomona standing quietly in the candlelight: "The goddess doesn't seem to blame. ”

"I don't think the goddess will blame," Vanna said with some certainty, "after all, the captain is just going to hang out on the door, and if this is an invasion, the Cathedral of Death on the other side of the frost is invaded by subspace once a week...... I didn't see any movement over there. ”

Valentine: "......? ”

(End of chapter)