Deep Sea Embers

“What exactly is that I saw?” Heidi asks after being the first to come out of that shock.

Vanna hesitated briefly before speaking softly: “Perhaps… that was exactly what the sun heretics had been looking for.”

“What the sun heretics have been looking for?” Heidi froze for a moment, “You mean…”

“Sun fragment, a shard from their god…” Vanna nodded lightly without waiting for Heidi to finish, “Perhaps only the sun fragment is worthy of the power in your vision.”

While saying this, Vanna slowly raised her head and stared at the icon of the storm goddess: “After all… the heretics claimed that the fragments came from their real sun…”

Heidi was stunned, and her expression suddenly changed for the worse: “If something like that really appeared in the real world, then Pland would be in immense danger. There’s no way it can be as it is now…”

“My theory is that it’s been sealed,” Vanna nodded in agreement, “intel from the church indicates the sun fragment appeared eleven years ago. But now, it appears the event back then is nothing more than a leak from the real thing. The actual relic is still slumbering somewhere inside the city…”

“And now those sun heretics want to wake that thing up?!” Heidi looked horrified, “Are they trying to destroy Pland entirely?!”

“This is not the first day you’ve dealt with those crazy nutcases,” Vanna shot a sideway glance at her friend, “you should know about their mental state better than anyone. For those suntists, anything is worth it to resurrect their black sun. What are a few city-states in their eye? If they can use the entire world as timber to fuel their god’s revival, I’m sure they would do it!”

Heidi gawked her mouth for the longest time before gurgling out an incoherent mess as the frustration gripped the doctor’s mind.

“The most crucial question now is what happened when you saw that vision. What happened to you, what happened to those around you, and what happened to the museum itself. Only by understanding this will we understand where the sun fragment is sleeping.”

“…… No, I can’t remember the details,” Heidi tapped her forehead lightly, “but now I’m sure I saw its projection when I was unconscious. That’s when I performed the emergency hypnosis on myself to preserve important clues… Let me think about it. At that time, I was rescued and temporarily placed in a certain room on the museum’s first floor… According to what they told me after coming out, that room is close to the main exhibition area…”

Heidi struggled to remember, so she turned to her friend for help: “Can’t you conclude that the clue is in the museum based on this?”

“It’s difficult. Merely from the occult perspective, what you saw isn’t the main body, so we have no way of knowing where the main body is. For all we know, the museum is merely an exhaust valve that happened by accident. What’s more, a human’s consciousness is fragile when not in control. You could’ve crossed paths with it by accident, and now the connection has already moved somewhere else.”

Vanna explained patiently and then suddenly shook her head: “Of course, we will still conduct a search of the museum at the highest level and maintain monitoring afterward. After all, anomalies and visions are always irregular. Maybe the fragment will really remain in the museum in another sealed form. Even if not, we may still be able to find some clues in the fire to explain why the ‘rift’ happened to appear in the museum…”

“But the follow-up search has nothing to do with you. From a security point of view, you’d better stay away from that museum for the next month.”

“Of course, I can’t wait to keep my distance from this,” Heidi nodded vehemently, “I’ve had enough bad luck!”

Vanna silently looked at her friend, who had been unlucky since she was a child, with a face of wanting to add something, but in the end, she kept it inside. Then out of nowhere, the inquisitor remembered something else on her mind: “By the way, who were you rescued by?”

“Two girls who are still in school and a man who looks to be in his forties.” Heidi thought for a moment, “And coincidentally, one of those two girls happened to be my father’s student whom he made a home visit the other day. The man is her uncle… didn’t I mention it to you? His name is Duncan, and he’s the owner and manager of an antique store.”

“…… I’m a little allergic to the name ‘Duncan’ right now,” the corner of Vanna’s mouth visibly twitched, “although I know it’s definitely not the same person…”

“I had the same reaction as you when I heard this name from my father for the first time.” Heidi spread her hands out, “Speaking of which, I also promised that gentleman I would go to his house tomorrow for a mental session with his niece. I intend to use the visit to give a formal thanks for saving me tomorrow…. Today is such a mess, and me leaving in such a hurry is improper and bad manners.”

“Strictly speaking, it’s not just the ‘niece’ who needs to do a psychological assessment.” Vanna’s expression suddenly became serious, and her eyes stared straight at Heidi, “All three of those people need it.”

“Why…” Heidi subconsciously spoke but then reacted, “Ah!”

“Yes, they were all around you, and you saw the sun fragments in your coma.” Vanna stared into Heidi’s eyes to pass on her meaning, “If it was really the remains of an ancient god, the pollution might have spread to them along your consciousness. Perhaps the scale of this spreading pollution is small, but it can also be fatal for ordinary people.”

……

Inside the antique shop in the lower city, Duncan had closed the door early and was sitting in a relaxed position behind the counter. Meanwhile, Nina and Shirley sat opposite of him after they finished showering and changing into new clothes. However, Shirley still wore her black gothic dress since she refused Nina’s clothes due to the size difference. It couldn’t be helped; both girls were too different in stature.

Of course, it’s not known if there are other reasons for the refusal. For all they knew, Shirley only refused because she didn’t want to accept a gift from an evil god’s family.

In the middle of the counter was the Ai the dove, who was pacing leisurely around the table happily while enjoying her dish full of fries – Duncan promised, and so shall it be done!

Ai got her precious fries, and Nina returned home safely, what more could Duncan ask for today aside from further mastering of his flame? Oh wait, he did learn something new, so he got everything he wanted!

The only one that’s not happy was Shirley though. The gothic girl was about to cry again, that’s several times in one day.

“So… Shirley, you’re not actually my classmate… You’re just using some kind of… ‘detective skills’ to sneak into the school to investigate something.” Nina looked at her hard-earned friend with a complicated expression, “You don’t like steam and machinery either…”

“I can’t even read those textbooks…” Shirley spoke cautiously, answering Nina’s question while making sure to sneak a glance at Duncan for his reaction, “I’m sorry, I… I’m sorry.”

Nina didn’t seem to notice Shirley’s apology and continued to frown in confusion: “But how did you do it? I… looking back now, you always did appear in my classroom out of the blue, and then often next to me without anyone noticing you…”

Shirley quickly glanced at Duncan again. After confirming that the other party’s expression was still calm, she muttered in a low voice: “It’s actually a little supernatural ability of mine…”

“Ability?” Nina’s eyes widened in surprise, “Could it be that you are an investigator for the church?”

“No, no, I’m not from the church, I…” Shirley glanced at Duncan again for the third time already, recalling what those priests like to call people like herself: “I’m what you would call a wild transcendent…”

Nina looked surprised: “… Transcendents in the wild?!”

“If we’re not registered…” Shirley spoke as if she’s given up on something and lashed out when the topic was brought up, “Those dogs from the church are always acting so high and mighty. Just because people like me don’t want to be monitored, they give us these derogatory titles.”

Nina listened to Shirley’s explanation with an astonished face and eyed the gothic girl repeatedly. Finally, the gesture left the more petite girl uncomfortable: “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re amazing!” Nina suddenly exclaims.

Shirley was immediately overwhelmed by that remark: “… That’s all you have to say?”

“Yes!”