Deep Sea Embers

Chapter 65 “Alice guillotine ”

A temporary sanctuary was eventually set up for White Oak’s captain after he disembarked.

The smell of incense wafted through the room that had been adorned with amulets depicting various storm runes. On top of this, priests had also set up bronze boundary tablets on all four corners to create a barrier. They also brought the Storm Code, a biblical book from the cathedral to the sanctuary – it’s the eye for the defense against evil.

After this was all done, Captain Lawrence entered the room with Inquisitor Vanna.

“I hope you don’t mind our arrangement here,” Vanna said lightly, maintaining the conservatism and courtesy that a high-ranking priesthood should have, “all for safety.”

“Of course, everything is for safety. What I lack most now is security,” Captain Lawrence immediately nodded understandingly. After looking around the room at the sacred things, he felt slightly relieved and lost some of the fatigue over his head. “With all these things around, I believe any ordinary corruption would be destroyed the second they step inside…”

“That’s most likely. Now, why don’t we begin from the start? Here, you can tell me everything about the Vanished.” Vanna nods in agreement and waves for the captain to begin, “Let’s start from where you saw the ship.”

Captain Lawrence relaxed and began going over the tale of the terrible event: “It is ike this…”

Captain Lawrence left nothing out in front of the inquisitor lady. He even went into clear detail about what he had for breakfast that day and what time the sailors on the ship had eaten. Those of whom he couldn’t remember or weren’t aware of was also ordered by him to write inside the captain’s log for this moment.

An experienced captain knows: many anomalies are preceded by seemingly ordinary signs that individuals would disregard as the norm until it’s too late. Therefore, the professional thing to do would be to review and write down everyone’s experience to compare, and if the details didn’t add up, that’s how one would know where to look.

Vanna listened carefully to the thrilling encounter until her brow furrowed up because the situation was more serious than she had imagined and more bizarre than she could ever believe.

She had thought that Captain Lawrence’s so-called “encounter” was just a face-to-face, or at best, a passing by the ghost ship from some distance. But instead, the captain described a direct head-on collision with the ghost ship and even nearly turned into an ethereal form themselves! The mere fact that they all came out alive was nothing but sheer luck!

“Your Excellency?” Seeing that Vanna hadn’t responded for a long while, the old captain grew uncomfortable and waved at the lady to return to reality, “What is your opinion on the Vanished? Did that ship really attack us because of anomaly 099?”

Vanna glanced at him, “Isn’t that what you’ve always thought?”

“I… I’ve always thought so, but now I’m not so sure,” Lawrence sighed, “especially since you just said that the ghost captain recently extended his power to the city-state of Pland… I always felt that things would not be so simple.”

“No one can guess what the ghost captain thinks,” Vanna shook her head, “and all we can do now is conduct the most thorough inspection of the White Oak to prevent the ship from carrying any ‘intrusions’. You and your crew will also suffer some grievances for the next while since we cannot allow any of you to have contact with anyone outside of the church. This arrangement will continue until the investigation is over…. this includes family visits.”

Captain Lawrence bowed his head in compliance: “Of course, I can understand.” Then he paused before asking something else on his mind, “So… about the theft of Anomaly 099…”

Vanna knew what the captain was worried about.

The eerie horror of the sea vision was a threat hanging over the heads of all civilization. Still, before considering these long-term and vast threats, the captain was foremost an ordinary folk who needed to support his family. In addition, he has lost Anomaly 099 from piracy. There’s no way an average person like him could shoulder this burden.

“Rest assured, the matter will be explained by the church to the city-state authorities and the Adventurer’s Association,” she said quietly. “The appearance of the Vanished is an undeniable force, and the loss of Anomaly 099 is not your responsibility. Even if it was a church ship responsible for escorting, the result might be the same.”

The expression on Captain Lawrence’s face visibly relaxed.

But there was still another word in Vanna’s mind that she didn’t say: in the final analysis, “anomalies” in itself wandered on the edge of being sealed and out of control. As a result, plenty of city dwellers would lose their lives due to this reasoning. In the face of such a dynamic imbalance, no one could be certain of anything.

“In addition…” Captain Lawrence suddenly grew hesitant before forcing him to ask, “I want to inquire, what is so special about the Anomaly 099?” Speaking of this, he paused and then quickly added: “Of course, when I undertook the escort job, I had received a note with the information regarding how to seal 099 and the emergency disposal method, but I never got any information regarding its background and origin. You know it too. It is an anomaly within the one hundred figures, the less normal folks like I know about it, the better. But 099 has already been abducted by the Vanished. Therefore, according to regulations, it should be counted as completely losing control. So…”

“That’s fine. It’s okay to tell you now,” Vanna nodded before Captain Lawrence finished. “Since Anomaly 099 is no longer within the control of civilization, the next step is to release the relevant information to the Adventurers’ Association and ability users within the various city-states. You are a member of the former and the last to be in contact with 099. You are entitled to the information.”

Speaking of this, she contemplated for a while to sort through the information in her possession: “Anomaly 099, the doll coffin. Its appearance is a gorgeous wooden box like that of a coffin with a sleeping doll inside. The doll has silver hair and wears a purple dress, and the body shape resembles that of ordinary humans.”

“The anomaly was initially found in the cold sea of the north. The puppet’s appearance inside the coffin is extremely close to that of Queen Ray Nora, who was beheaded and executed by the rebels half a century ago. However, there is no evidence of a real connection between the two.

“The anomaly does not have a tendency to think, has no consciousness, but is very likely to actively perceive the outside world and exert its influence outward.”

“You should be aware of the sealing method for 099 so I won’t repeat that part. As for the danger it poses….”

“First of all, the puppet coffin tends to ‘settle’. Once it is stuck in a certain area long enough, it will regard the area as its territory. From then onward, it will be difficult to transfer 099 to other places while gradually expanding its influence to the surrounding area. The seal on it will also weaken sharply, becoming more to losing control. It’s also a common feature for a considerable number of anomalies. It’s the main reason we hired you to move 099. It’s to prevent excessive growth.”

“Secondly, in the event that the puppet coffin is out of control, all humanoid units, including elves, dwarves, orcs and the likes, will be targeted within a certain range of its surroundings. The specific criteria for targeting are not clear. All we know is that the victims will immediately lose control of their freedom of movement like a puppet pulled by a string. Without exception, they will unconsciously bow down in the direction of the coffin, just like someone worshipping a queen. Once this action is completed…. The victim will be immediately beheaded.”

“The decapitation cannot be avoided, cannot be protected, cannot be exempted, and there is no point in applying a blessing or wearing armor on the victim. The only condition for being selected is at the whim of the puppet. The victim will directly become decapitated after bowing. Only then will the puppet stay quiet for four to six hours. Afterward, it will look for the next target and repeat the cycle. Until now, no normal person has survived its selection.”

“The puppet coffin also has the characteristics of moving on its own during the out-of-control state. It’s extremely fast, extremely powerful, and will break free of capture in various unbelievable ways. On top of all that, the coffin itself is also extremely powerful. The longer it’s on the loose, the further the damage it will cause.”

“Of the several runaway events on record about the doll coffin, only one saint has ever survived the ordeal. However, that saint also happens to have the bloodline of the northern frost city-state. We cannot be certain it is the saint’s strength that prevailed or that it is the puppet coffin’s forgiveness characteristic acting up.”

Listening to the young Inquisitor’s calm and indifferent narration, Captain Lawrence felt his hair standing up little by little.

His first thought was: the money of the city-state authorities is really not easy to earn! No wonder the reward for escorting Anomaly 099 is almost five times that of the escort of an ordinary anomaly. This kind of total disregard for defensive measures and only needs the puppet’s attention on you is impossible to dodge!

At the same time, the voice of Inquisitor Vanna voice rang again to interrupt his train of thought. “For the puppet coffin’s terrifying ability, the Church gave it a special name when documenting Anomaly 099, which is named after the torture device used by the rebels to execute the Frost Queen half a century ago: Alice guillotine.”

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