Deep Sea Embers

Chapter 54 “The Underground Church”

In the end, Duncan didn’t figure out what an “heir” was.

The goat head remained vague about this aspect, and it seems that it does not know the details of these ancient things that roamed at the edge of the civilized world either. As for Duncan, he could only summarize a few concepts due to the limited number of clues.

As products of ancient times, they hated the modern world and had strange and dangerous powers while hiding in the shadows. Except for the children of the sun, other “heirs” would seldom appear in the civilized world while remaining a threat to those who explored the borders.

And in all this intelligence, there’s another fascinating point: the heirs of the sun seem to be able to disguise themselves as human beings, and only the transcendents of the Church could distinguish the children of the sun from ordinary folks.

Thinking of the recent changes in the city-state of Pland and the resurgence of sun believers who got all active, Duncan had no choice but to suspect the worst.

Behind the high-profile activities of the cultists… were they ordered by an heir? What are those ancient and strange beings trying to do in the city-state of Pland?

Standing at the edge of the deck, he stared down at the turbulent sea that was housing the other heirs beneath his feet. They’re also ancient beings threatening the crossing of ships on these waters.

Without a doubt, Duncan was both wary and curious about these deep-sea things.

He believes that although he has not dealt with these things yet, he would eventually encounter these strange creatures sooner or later so long as the Vanished continued to wander the sea. Therefore, it wouldn’t hurt to make preparations beforehand.

Whether it was gathering intelligence or further developing his own powers like unearthing the potential of the Vanished, arrangements must be made for the future.

Of course, he was not afraid of the dangers lurking in the deep sea; after all, nothing’s happened yet after drifting on water for so long. He could more or less guess the heirs were just one of the countless strange threats lurking in the dark.

He pondered on the deck for a much longer this time and found that the most important thing he needed to worry about now was whether the “supply channels” would be affected—those deep-sea heirs would not affect his fishing, right?

Although the pigeon Ai has the ability to transport supplies, it was not yet possible to determine its carrying capacity and reliability. Not to mention the city-state of Pland was an orderly place, meaning he had to pay for the supplies out of his own pocket instead of pillaging from another ship. Who knows when he could secure the needed funds?

Coupled with the abundant hunting in front of him the last time he fished, Duncan knew very well that the living improvement of the Vanished was ultimately inseparable from the gifts of nature.

If those “heirs” do get nasty, they might actually start affecting my harvest.

……

The bright gas lamps radiating light expelled the darkness of the church’s underground facilities, and the deep-sea runes inscribed in the long corridors exuded reassuring power to those walking its halls. They’re the main source of protection for the clerics here, an invisible giant net of sacred blessing from their goddess.

Vanna was quite fond of walking through the hallways because the serene atmosphere always brought her mood up. As an inquisitor of the faith, she knows all too well Goddess Gomona didn’t only preside over the torrential storm as her domain but also the power of peace and calm in sealing away evil.

Just as there are different faces of the sea, peace and storm are just two mirror images of one coin. This could be seen in how the church had been constructed here – the surface level represented the storm, while the underground represented the calm and serenity.

Of course, there are other gods in this world with two different characteristics as well. Take the God of Death Bartók, who also wielded the power of life, or the god of Intelligence, who also represented foolishness. Ordinary folks may not always know about this aspect, but high-ranking priests and officials definitely do. As an inquisitor, Vanna had extensive knowledge in this area.

On top of that, she also knew because of the two-sided nature of many gods, highly controversial and even near-heretical ideas had been spawned over the years. Scholars claimed that the world was two-sided – that in a certain dimension, there was a “barren world” where the sea and the land were completely mirrored.

These outrageous speculations are of course based entirely on conjecture and wouldn’t be recognized by the public. Even the famed Bishop of Pland, Mr. Valentine, had scoffed at the idea when he heard this.

In the old man’s original words, it’s enough of a headache that there’s a subspace at the bottom of the world. Those folk theologians should stop hanging more stuff below the subspace.

Vanna suddenly shook her head, letting that uncontrolled head to refocus again.

Beneath the quiet cathedral, the human mind could easily get distracted by other thoughts because of how overly peaceful it was. This effect reached everyone, including well-trained clerics of the church.

But on the other hand, this special environment did have its uses.

For example, having some fanatical and crazy cultists speak during interrogation.

Coming to a stop at the end of the hallway, Vanna was now faced with several doors leading into various “interrogation rooms”, while a statue of the Storm Lady stood quietly in the foyer between the entrances.

This statue was different from the one above the surface. The main lobby one had her hands opened wide like it was accepting the prayers of all; meanwhile, the one underground had her hands folded into her chest, quiet and gentle like she was here to listen to the woes of its visitors. But no matter which statue it was, the face remained covered with a light veil – this symbolizes the unknowability of the gods.

This version was known as the Maiden of Tranquility, the other side of the Storm Goddess. She suppresses the bodies of water below the surface and shelters the tranquility of the city-state’s.

Vanna respectfully bowed in front of the Tranquility Maiden, then turned and pushed open the door of a nearby interrogation room to shatter the silence.

The inside was a spacious but dimly lit room with a large table at the center. In here, Ms. Heidi – dressed in her skin-tight long black dress – was just getting up when Vanna entered. Meanwhile, opposite to the doctor, a sun heretic remained quietly seated in the chair with restraints.

Then again, restraints were no longer necessary since the captive looked like his soul had been sucked out from the interrogation. Those disorientated eyes, the limp body leaning against the handrail, there’s hardly any sign of strength left in that flesh, only an empty husk of whatever the person was before losing his way.

“Oh, Inquisitor, you have come just in time,” Ms. Heidi greets her fellow lady with a smile, “I have just finished with a ‘course’.”

Vanna’s eyes shifted over to Ms. Heidi’s medical kit – which had a lot of needles and various scary looking tools found only in surgical rooms – and couldn’t keep her expression from twitching: “Seriously, I still have a hard time associating your sessions as ‘treatment’…”

“These are the standard tools of us psychiatrists… Alright, I admit that I probably use them more often than the average doctor,” said Ms. Heidi with a shrug. “But can you blame me? I’m employed by city hall and would often be called upon by the church. The ‘patients’ I see are never normal people, especially these cultists. Some swinging crystal and hypnosis wouldn’t work unless I dose them with three times the amount of ‘midnight mixture’.”

“…… I suspect that the reason you inject three times the dosage is because the biggest syringe in your kit can only hold that much,” Vanna spat out what she thought without holding back. Shaking her head again to get back on business, “But it doesn’t matter as long as you can pry open their mouths… tell me, what did you get?”

“Yes, and the harvest is not small and strange,” Ms. Heidi replied immediately, “I have heavily hypnotized several cultists and used some special means to confirm one thing…. It is highly likely that these cultists who participated in the sacrifice ritual did not go crazy after the ceremony got out of control…”

“Didn’t go crazy after losing control?” Vanna frowned at once. Although she knew after talking to Bishop Valentine that the complexity of the matter would exceed expectations, but Heidi’s words still exceeded her expectations, “What does this mean?”

“I searched their memories and found the minds of these people… Or cognitive logic, had been damaged from an external force even before the failed ritual. The effects had them filter out certain aspects of their memories… Hmm? Inquisitor Vanna, you don’t seem to be surprised at all?”

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