Morris's speculation points to a dark future where everything will never be alive – one that brings chills far better than any frightening prophecy of destruction, far better than the apocalypse of madmen's babblings.

It was a dark and cold silence, the last of which would be extinguished in the embers of civilization, the afterglow of civilization suffocating in fatal contractions, like a sinking ship, from which desperate people kept throwing their burdens in the hope of delaying their destruction, but until the end, every plank of the ship would inevitably fall into the endless dark abyss.

What is even more unacceptable is that, judging by the available intelligence, this future is extremely likely – and it is already the best of all possibilities.

For "civilization" has at least a chance to survive the fourth or fifth long night, and at least to enjoy the last of its false tranquility in the shrinking and crumbling sanctuary.

In a worse case, there may not be as many long nights as followed—the third long night is already an irreproducible "miracle" and "luck", and the coming twilight will be the day when all things will truly end.

…… Perhaps, this is a good outcome?

Distracted thoughts fluctuated in his mind, and Duncan finally shook his head, putting the nonsense behind him for a moment: "We're in a pessimistic position, Morris. ”

Indeed, these speculations were made at a time when it was uncertain when and in what form the Fourth Long Night would come...... It's a little premature," Morris rubbed his brow, finally breaking free from that somewhat pessimistic mood, "My mentor is organizing a 'assembly' across the four major churches, and this assembly will invite you, at least then, that we should be able to exchange more and more useful information—the popes of the four gods also need the truths we have." ”

Duncan nodded slightly, he was not surprised by the news, because this was one of the "agreements" he had reached with Pope of Truth Lune before.

If you have to say it...... He was a little curious how the elven old man had persuaded the other popes of the three gods to accept this "proposal" - the Deep Sea Pope Helena had better said that she had dealt with her in Prand, and that there was a connection with the "secret envoy" of Vanna, who was more or less a neutral and friendly faction leader, but the other two ......

The leader of the Firebearers, Frem, might be interested in the "Chronological Pillar" in Vanna's hand, but what about the Banst of the Church of Death?

The expression on his face changed subtly a few times, and Duncan raised his hand and tapped on a small mirror placed on the coffee table: "Agatha." ”

Almost immediately, Agatha's figure appeared in the mirror: "I'm here." ”

“…… Are you familiar with Banster? ”

"As far as 'I' can remember, I have been instructed by His Holiness the Pope and trained in the 'graveyard ark,'" Agatha said for a moment, not quite surely, "but this is far from familiar, there are so many saints on the infinite sea, and I am not as 'special' as Miss Vanna." ”

Duncan touched his chin thoughtfully, "...... Then you don't know if Banster minds the ...... in the first place."

"I don't mind."

Duncan: "......"

He didn't have time to finish his sentence yet!

"I don't mind," Agatha repeated, and then, as if fearing Duncan's disbelief, she explained earnestly, "even a more obscure saint like me would hear him sigh at the beautiful frigate from time to time. ”

Duncan continued: "......"

"Of course, His Holiness the Pope was sometimes more generous," Agatha recalled, "and he usually started by saying, 'Actually, I don't care that much,' and then he sighed, and finally he said, 'It's a pity, I designed it myself...... Of course, I don't care that much about the end. ”

Duncan's expression almost didn't stop: "...... Isn't that what I care about?! ”

"Ahem," Morris coughed abruptly twice, interrupting the increasingly odd conversation between Duncan and Agatha, "I do think that the Thirteen Isles of Visceland will be a more sensitive matter for the assembly than the famous frigate 'Fleeting'. ”

"In fact...... The Thirteen Isles of Vesselland may not be so sensitive," Agatha shook her head, "Although it is a greater loss, within the Church of the Dead, there are some priests who tend to identify it as a 'subspace disaster', believing that it was the phenomenon of dimensional collapse that caused the disaster, not the Lost Land, which only fell into the subspace with the Thirteen Islands, which is equivalent to two people being caught in the fire together in a fire, and we cannot conclude that the person who crawled out of the fire is the arsonist."

"This is not a statement that comes out of thin air – there is a lot of academic research on the 'border collapse phenomenon' to support this explanation.

"Of course, there is much controversy within the Church, and for obvious reasons the bishops do not like this 'justification of the homeland,' but now that His Holiness has accepted the invitation to meet, I believe he is ready to use this interpretation to characterize the events of the year...... Or at least to stabilize the attitude of the bishops.

"In comparison, the 'Fleeting Incident' is really irrefutable...... Attack, the Lost Country was the one who took the ship away from the fleet's eyes. ”

Morriston suddenly said: "I see......"

Duncan suddenly reacted: "Wait a minute, is that ship really called 'Fleeting'?" Isn't that really a nickname after that incident? ”

Both Agatha and Maurice nodded silently.

Duncan's expression was strange: "...... How did you come up with such an unlucky name? ”

“…… The Church of Death's tradition of naming warships is in fact the same as the tradition of naming many things, such as the capital gunboat 'Death' and the long-barreled guns of the 'Sudden Death' type," Agatha said calmly, "We see death and death as a necessary part of the earthly operation, and the vocabulary associated with them is not taboo for us - and strictly speaking, the name 'Lost Country' is not really 'auspicious', is it?" ”

Duncan thought for a moment and felt that Miss Gatekeeper was right.

And at this moment, Alice suddenly raised her head and interrupted the communication between Duncan and Agatha: "Captain, I'm done drawing!" ”

Agatha in the mirror was startled by the sudden movement, and Duncan couldn't help but look at the doll with a somewhat strange expression—

Alice had been immersed in painting since just now, as if the conversations and discussions around her were something from another world entirely, and now that she has completed her "creation", she is also unafraid and unthinking about showing her work to the captain.

Duncan suddenly even envied the doll's good attitude.

Alice, on the other hand, happily pushed the painting in front of Duncan.

That's a ...... Poor paintings.

Not only can you see at a glance that the painter is unfamiliar, but you can even see that the painter is not even very skilled with the pen - there is no skill at all, let alone aesthetics and composition.

There was a large, abstract ship drawn on it, with black pencil prints outlining the sails and ripples of the water, and some small figures with outstretched hands were standing on the boat, the brushstrokes looked messy, but they could barely distinguish the characteristics of the people on the Lost Place—

Vanna was tall, Maurice had a pipe in his mouth, Shirley was with Dog, Nina had a fire on her head, Agatha was a dark shadow, Aye was on the mast, and the goat's head was poking its head out of the window of the captain's room......

Duncan, on the other hand, stood on the highest spot in his captain's hat, clearly drawing more seriously, but still crookedly.

And except for Duncan, every "person" on the ship had some lines stretched out of their bodies, floating in the air in a zigzag.

Morris leaned over curiously and glanced at it, his expression a little subtle: "Huh...... As a first 'painting', it is actually ...... It's not too bad, but generally speaking, you can't see the line on people...... At least you don't have to show it on the painting......"

The old gentleman commented very tactfully, but Alice obviously had her own thoughts: "But there really is." ”

Morris seemed to be a little crying and laughing, and he looked up at Duncan, who laughed.

"Yes," Duncan said with a smile, his gaze falling on Alice's first "magnum opus," and gradually, a thoughtful expression appeared in that gaze, "...... This is the world as she sees it. ”

"Yes," Alice smirked, "and I'm not wrong!" ”

"But ......," Duncan found another question, "why isn't there a guy on this?" ”

Alice was stunned for a moment, then looked down at her lost country number and replied, "Because I'm drawing." ”

Duncan reacted for a moment before he understood the logic of the puppet.

He couldn't laugh or cry, but he felt a little funny.

"The person who paints can also draw himself on the picture - I'll add it for you."

As he spoke, he picked up the pencil that Alice had put aside, and with a few strokes, drew Alice's stick figure on the Lost Country and drew it beside him.

Alice looked at it with wide eyes and let out a happy exclamation, "Wow! Captain, you draw so much better than I do! ”

Duncan just smiled when he heard this, put the pencil down casually, and seriously rolled up the picture and put it in Alice's hand.

"Put it away, it's your first 'work.'"

Alice looked very happy: "Hmm! ”

Duncan then turned his head and looked in an empty direction in the living room: "All done?" ”

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, Lucretia's figure suddenly appeared in the air with a flurry of undulating pieces of colored paper.

"Don't worry, Dad, it's all taken care of."

(End of chapter)