The sleepy Bishop Valentine met the judge Vanna who rushed to the church late at night. The moment he heard the first words Vanna said, the old man woke up completely.

"Captain Duncan entered your dream?!" The old bishop stared at Vanna in amazement, even wondering if he hadn't woken up yet. "The ghost captain took the initiative to find you... just to tell you a place and ask you to investigate?"

"It's absolutely true - although I know how incredible it sounds," Vanna nodded vigorously. On the way here, she guessed that the old bishop would have such a reaction, but she had no choice. After all, she was no less confused than Valentine. "The chapel in the sixth block... I have had very little communication with the ghost captain, and this is the most important information he revealed."

The old bishop was silent for a moment. He turned around and looked up at the statue of the goddess of storms at the end of the church. After an unknown amount of time, he broke the silence: "Fanna, do you still remember the pollution you were exposed to at the cult ceremony in the sewer? After that, we carried out remedial purification, and now it seems..."

"I understand what you mean." Vanna took a breath lightly, her expression still calm. "Now it seems that our purification has never been successful. The Lost Homeland is still chasing me, and the ghost captain... has extended his power to my dreams."

"Are you still awake now?" Valentine turned around and looked into Vanna's eyes quietly.

"Awake, I tried it on the way, and I can recite my own name and the goddess' name completely, and recite the contents of the Storm Codex," Vanna nodded, "It seems that the pollution is still at a shallow level. Only my dreams are affected, and it has not yet spread to my body, words and deeds in reality."

"The pollution is superficial, but it cannot be completely eradicated. It's like an irreversible countdown..." Valentine's tone was low, with deep worry in his eyes. "But you are still the judge of Plande City-State. No one can replace you in a short time..."

Vanna knew what the old bishop wanted to express.

She has been spiritually polluted by the supernatural power above. As the inquisitor of the church, her "fortress" has actually been gradually breached. A fortress that is about to be breached is unreliable because no one knows to what extent this spiritual pollution will develop. No one knows whether Vanna will still be Vanna when she wakes up the next morning. She is still loyal to the Goddess of Storms, but the next second... no one knows who she will be loyal to.

If it was an ordinary guard or priest who was contaminated, the problem would be easy to solve. It would be a simple matter to perform a period of confinement and exorcism rituals. Or if there was no trouble in the city-state, she could temporarily hand over the duties to her deputy and go to the deepest part of the temple to receive the highest standards of "safe isolation" and "divine purification", but...

Now she, the "Inquisitor", is in an irreplaceable position. Even if she asks for help from the Storm Church headquarters, this problem cannot be solved in a short period of time.

"...I can't leave my post," Vanna shook her head after a brief thought. She knew she was creating problems for the old bishop, but she had to continue to perform her duties. "I have a bad feeling that we are facing a real and huge crisis. This crisis may not even be caused by the Lost Hometown or the Sun Fragment. A bigger shadow is lurking in the city-state. At this time, I can't give the duties of the Inquisitor to anyone, even my most trusted deputy."

Valentine heard a hint of seriousness in Vanna's tone, and he immediately frowned slightly: "Crisis beyond the Lost Hometown and the Sun Fragment? Have you discovered anything recently?"

"...I investigated some things in the archives. I should have told you about this the next morning, but now it seems that the situation is more complicated than expected, and the urgency needs to be raised." Vanna nodded and said very seriously, "I began to doubt the time when the solar fragments appeared in the Plande city-state, and based on this, I consulted some materials from 1889 and earlier years, and found a large number of records of heretical worship that were less urgent but strangely and densely..."

As Vanna continued to tell the story, Bishop Valentine finally opened his eyes little by little.

"These materials are lying quietly in our archives?" When Vanna finished speaking, Valentine exclaimed in disbelief, "No one has discovered them all this time? Even the missing year of 1885..."

"No one noticed. It was as if a part of our city-state was 'stolen'. Some obvious 'reality' just disappeared from everyone's sight," Vanna said in a deep voice. "And this kind of 'disappearance'... doesn't seem to be caused by the fragments of the sun."

Valentine gripped the scepter tightly, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force.

"What do you think is the connection between this incident and the message Captain Duncan conveyed to you in your dream?" he asked suddenly.

"I'm not sure, but first of all, 'stealing reality from a city-state' is not something the Lost Hometown is capable of. Secondly, if this was done by the ghost captain, then there is no reason for him to pollute my dreams and tell me key clues - this does not fit the captain's rough and chaotic style of behavior in the records," Vanna analyzed calmly, "Unless... he suddenly changed his personality and became a vicious devil who teased the world, or..."

"or?"

"Or maybe he became a caring person who cares about the safety of the city-state," Vanna spread her hands, "and came to me to report any dangers he saw."

“Ahem, this is simply a joke of the subspace level,” Valentine suddenly coughed, then glared at Vanna, “Don’t joke with me like this when you know that you are under the watchful eyes of a higher-level extraordinary being. This will make me doubt your mental state.”

As he spoke, the old man pounded his chest, and after he had calmed down his breathing, he looked into Vanna's eyes with a serious face: "Who else knows about the anomaly found in the archives besides you?"

Fanna thought about it and shook her head: "Only I know, I will check it myself..."

She paused for a moment, as if her thoughts were stuck, but then she shook her head and said, "I went to check the files myself."

"That's not bad... If there is a conscious black hand behind this, he should not have realized that the conspiracy has been exposed." Valentine exhaled, and then had to agree with Vanna's statement just now, "You really can't leave your post now... You should have an investigation plan for those files, right?"

"Yes, including coordinated actions with City Hall."

"I will provide you with all the assistance I can starting tomorrow," Valentine nodded immediately. "In addition, I will report what happened here to the Pope. I hope that the Storm Cathedral can provide us with some assistance..."

As he spoke, the old man thought for a few seconds and then asked, "Can you still pray to the goddess normally now?"

"Yes," Vanna replied immediately, "The connection between me and the goddess was not affected by the dream."

Valentine frowned: "But the goddess didn't make any revelation or warning about the spiritual pollution you suffered?"

"...Yes," Vanna hesitated for a moment, but still nodded and admitted, "The goddess did not give any warning."

Valentine stroked his chin, and after a moment of deep thought, he suddenly looked up and stared into Vanna's eyes: "...During this period, you must return to the church to rest at night, and do not sleep outside the church. And you must always carry the "Storm Codex" when you are outside. In addition, if you feel unusually sleepy or tired when you are outside, you must immediately go to the nearest church. Can you do it?"

“It can be done.”

“…Alas, I hope you don’t think this is some kind of harsh treatment or questioning,” the old bishop sighed. Although Vanna agreed firmly, he couldn’t help but say, “You can’t leave your post now, and there is no priest with a higher status than you in the Plande city-state who can serve as your ‘supervisor’. This is a necessary arrangement based on the premise of ensuring that you can perform your basic duties…”

"Don't worry, I understand," Vanna smiled faintly, and comforted the old bishop in front of her. "I know as well as you what kind of dangerous thing we are fighting. Compared with those predecessors who died due to lack of experience and theory, we are very lucky to be able to fight under the protection of rules until now."

She paused for a moment, then continued, "What about the little church in the sixth block..."

"We have to investigate. No matter what the Ghost Captain's purpose is in finding you, we have to investigate that church." Valentine nodded slowly. "Also... I just recalled briefly, but I can't remember who is the person in charge of that church. It seems that there is something wrong there."

"Okay, I'll lead the team there myself tomorrow."

"Well," Valentine nodded slightly, then looked at Vanna curiously, "Besides the matter of the chapel, what else did the ghost captain tell you?"

It would have been better if she hadn't asked this question. As soon as she asked it, Fanna's expression suddenly became strange.

Valentine: "...Why do you look like that?"

"He... did say something to me, something very unbelievable," Vanna said with hesitation, "I don't know whether we should take it seriously..."

"Why should I do this? The more bizarre the content is, the more likely it is to be the key to everything!" Valentine's eyes widened. "What on earth did he say?"

Vanna hesitated for two seconds before finally taking a deep breath and saying seriously, "Order some fries."

Valentine: “…”

After a moment of silence, the old bishop finally spoke again: "Really?"

"It is absolutely true, as true as my faith in the Goddess."

"...Ah, then this is indeed... indeed a bit too unbelievable..."