Embers of the Deep

Chapter 49: Chapter 49 Two Approaching Storm Clouds

The gods dwell in a divine kingdom far removed from the real world, and people believe that this special dimension is the cornerstone of the world. Unlike common sense might suggest, this "cornerstone" is not at the bottom of the world, but at the pinnacle of all dimensions.

The ancient Crete Kingdom described in their remaining texts the structure of the world they recognized:

The world’s cornerstone resides at the top, guarded by eternal truth and order, within which lies the divine kingdom, self-existing and eternal;

From the divine kingdom downward lies the reality of all beings, where mortals enjoy the afterglow of order and can live in a relatively stable and prosperous real world;

From reality downward, the Spirit Realm begins to deviate from human understanding, within which the blessings of the gods thin, and distorted, bizarre powers start to prevail;

From the Spirit Realm downward lies the Mysterious Deep Sea, unfit for any creature’s survival, dominated by bizarre forces, no longer considered part of the material world but more like a void’s reflection;

Beyond the Mysterious Deep Sea lies the deepest bottom of the world—the Subspace inhabited by the shadows of all things, where ancient gods and various malevolent entities reside in extreme danger.

In the records of the ancient Crete Kingdom, the gods established a covenant within the cornerstone, which is the origin and standard of all laws in the world. This order descends, defining the laws by which the world operates, permeating every worldly being, and as the "depth" continues to lower, the power of order also begins to weaken and eventually gets overtaken by the Subspace—the gods’ "cornerstone" and the Subspace are like the world’s two endpoints, with "order" flowing unidirectionally between them.

This is an ancient gift left to the people by a brilliant civilization at the forefront of the Deep Sea Era ten thousand years ago. Over long years, countless scholars have exhaustively studied this "hierarchical structure" without finding any fault in the model; now, it has become the universally recognized "world standard model."

In this standard model, mortals of the earthly realm fall into deeper places, yet rarely does anyone return from the "deep layers" to the "shallow layers," and although occasionally one or two lucky individuals return from the Spirit Realm to reality, it has never been heard of that any defy-the-heavens existence could reach the "cornerstone" dimension where the gods reside.

Precisely for this reason, the return of the Ghost Ship Homeloss from Subspace to reality has become the most absurd phenomenon in this world—it defies the world standard model as understood by the people.

However, from another perspective, the existence of the Homeloss aligns with the classical discourse on anomalies and phenomena: the Permanent Misalignment Law of Anomalies and Phenomena.

Regardless, neither Bishop Valentin nor Fenna believe that Ghost Captain has the capability to seek revenge from the Storm Goddess—even if he has the will, it is not something he can achieve.

Since the "cornerstone" and the real world are discontinuous, unlike the continuous descent and material interaction between the real world and the Spirit Realm, or between the Spirit Realm and the Mysterious Deep Sea. To date, no scholar has found evidence that the "cornerstone" and the real world are directly connected; even gods can only descend their influence indirectly through projections and commands, and how could a ghost ship possibly counterattack the gods’ realm?

Since they cannot seek revenge directly from the Storm Goddess herself, the only remaining option is the goddess’s believers in the earthly realm.

The headquarters of the Deep Sea Church, the Storm Cathedral, is a "Pilgrimage Ark" that sails hidden across the Endless Sea, appearing and disappearing without a trace. The Pope stationed on the Ark holds the authority to wield the power of the Storm on behalf of the diety, making it not an easy target. freewebnσvel.cøm

Therefore, the fixed, conspicuous, and open-to-public Plunder City-State naturally becomes a better choice: eighty percent of the people in this city-state are believers of the Storm Goddess.

Fenna had already concluded that the Ghost Captain had come for revenge—after all, Homeloss had plunged into Subspace during a storm a hundred years ago; she could think of no other reason to explain why Homeloss, vanished for so many years, would suddenly return to the real world and target Plunder City-State.

But what exactly does the Ghost Captain plan to do?

Fenna frowned deeply, pondering slowly before speaking, "Bishop Valentin, do you think... Homeloss’s return has anything to do with the recent activities of the Sun believers in the city-state?"

After pausing, she added, "In last night’s Dreamscape, I saw the burning sun and Homeloss appear together in Plunder. The simultaneous arrival of both disasters might be a premonition given by the goddess..."

"But don’t forget, at the underground ritual site, that contaminated ’sacrifice’ killed the priest of the Black Sun—which was a baptized ’messenger’," the bishop shook his head. "At least at that ritual site, Homeloss and the Black Sun seemed to be at odds."

Fenna remained silent for a moment, deep in thought due to the bishop’s words. The old man opposite her spoke again after a brief silence, "Regarding those who worship the Black Sun, I did get some intelligence from Rensa City-State this morning..."

Fenna immediately looked up, "Intelligence?"

"The Sun Heretics are not just reviving in Plunder; lately, they’ve been active in many city-states. A large group of Sun Heretics recently passed through Rensa and Moco ports, converging towards Plunder—some were captured," the elder bishop nodded. "During the interrogation, those heretics mentioned the ’Sun Shard.’"

"Sun Shard... the debris peeled off from the ’True Sun God’ after it disassembled?" Fenna suddenly realized. "They believe there is a Sun Shard hidden in Plunder?"

"It seems so for now. Where those heretics got their information from is unknown, or it might be a ’revelation’ they received in their madness. Anyway, they now firmly believe that part of their ’lord’ is hidden in this city," Bishop Valentin maintained a calm expression. "And they see it as the hope for the revival of the Black Sun."

"...Those lunatics," Fenna couldn’t help but mutter under her breath. "How many lives have they sacrificed to resurrect that dark, blasphemous Sun!"

"Black Sun is our name for it; in their eyes, the Sun God shines brightly, representing the most genuine order—you can’t expect those irrational heretics to have any conscience with their bloody hands," Valentin shook his head. "They truly believe their words and actions are righteous. Dealing with them, only two languages are effective, one is caliber, the other is poundage."

Hearing the bishop speak in a manner quite characteristic of the Deep Sea Church, Fenna’s lips twitched involuntarily: "Looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us."

"The Endless Sea is never calm, and the city-states lie within the Endless Sea," Valentin said. "Captains have to face storms at sea; we have to face the storms brought by worldly fools: Judge, be prepared. Plunder City-State may be facing a challenge soon."

"Two challenges," Fenna corrected seriously. "Besides the followers of the Black Sun, there is also a sinister and terrifying ghost captain—if Homeloss and the Black Sun are truly not in league, our trouble just doubled."

Bishop Valentin pondered briefly: "Maybe there’s another possibility—based on the situation at the sewer ritual site, Homeloss might end up fighting the followers of the Black Sun."

"...Then the two troubles will combine into one world-shattering problem, Bishop Valentin," Fenna looked at the old man in front of her, whose thoughts had clearly begun to wander. "Returning from Subspace, a ghost ship and a group of heretics fighting over Sun Shards in Plunder City-State, possibly accompanied by the descent of the Black Sun. I can’t think of a worse scenario."

Valentin sighed, admitting Fenna was right.

"Anyway, first, we work with the sheriff’s forces to capture all the Sun Heretics infiltrated into the city-state, eliminating the threat of the Black Sun before the situation worsens. That’s a more attainable goal," Fenna said, her mind clearly becoming more active after dispelling the mental interference from Homeloss and entering her area of expertise. "As for that ghost ship... we don’t know its next move and can only prepare by monitoring the Spirit Realm and the surrounding seas of the city-state..."

Saying this, the young judge couldn’t help but shake her head, her expression serious yet helpless: "Damn, who knows what a ghost captain might think of doing next..."

...

"I want to add some more ketchup..." Duncan gestured to Nina across the table, "Just pass it here, and I’ll do it myself."

Nina immediately passed the ketchup: "Alright, Uncle Duncan."

It was now noon; Duncan and Nina were eating lunch in the antique shop’s small kitchen on the second floor. The meal was simple—a local Plunder specialty of salty pancakes with ketchup or spicy sauce, and vegetable soup; nothing fancy, but both Duncan and Nina enjoyed it thoroughly.

Duncan had not had such a normal lunch in a long time, and Nina had also not had a normal lunch like this in a while.

Duncan felt he was beginning to like this place.