The sound of hurried footsteps broke the silence in the cathedral. Bishop Valentine, who was assigning tasks to the deacon beside him, heard the sound and looked up. He saw Vanna walking towards him.

The bishop waved his hand to let the deacon and attendant beside him leave temporarily, and his eyes fell on Vanna: "I thought you would rest at home for two more days."

"Unfortunately, it seems that I don't have the luxury," Vanna shook her head, her expression a little serious. "What happened? I saw many priests in a hurry, and I heard that a group of ascetics were sent to the Stargazing Well... Is it related to today's sunrise?"

"Yes," Valentine nodded, his expression solemn, "Today's sunrise is fifteen minutes later than usual - and it's not delayed by some abnormal local astronomical phenomenon. I have received psychic transmissions from other city-states and maritime contact nodes, and this abnormality has been observed everywhere in the world."

"...This world was illuminated by the 'World Creation' for fifteen minutes longer..." Vanna frowned a little, "Are there any damage reports now?"

"No, a delay in dawn alone won't cause any problems. Fifteen minutes of night is still within the redundant range of the city-state's protection." The old bishop shook his head. "What's really disturbing is that the whole world has observed the same phenomenon, which shows that the problem is not on the surface of the land or the sea."

"…The operation of Vision 001 itself has changed." Vanna certainly knew what the old bishop was worried about. "There was no notice from the Tomb of the Nameless King?"

Valentine shook his head slightly.

"There is no movement, so this may just be a minor... 'accident', which does not involve any fundamental changes to Anomaly 001. However... I am afraid that most people will not be relieved. We must at least see today's sun set normally and the next day's sun rise normally before we can breathe a sigh of relief."

Vanna was silent for a moment before she asked, "Are ordinary people in the city not affected?"

"There hasn't been much of a stir yet - some people didn't notice the fifteen-minute delay, and some citizens who noticed it probably didn't realize the seriousness of it. I've sent a letter to the Government Affairs Office, asking them to assess whether they need to issue a soothing or guiding announcement. Right now, this incident hasn't had that much of an impact, and an overly positive official explanation could cause public unrest - especially since we've just experienced such a major disaster."

Fanna listened silently to the old bishop's analysis without interrupting. As an inquisitor who focused most of her energy on combat missions, she knew that she was not professional in this area. She only showed a thoughtful look from time to time, indicating that her mood was not as calm as it seemed.

Valentine looked at Vanna, who looked worried, and asked, "What are you thinking about?"

“I just feel a little emotional,” Fanna sighed softly and shook her head. “Every time a supernatural disaster occurs, I become more aware of how fragile the world we live in is… City-states, the Church, ocean-going ships, everything we are proud of, seems to be built on a thin and fragile layer of ice. If any crack is not discovered in time, we will disappear from this world…”

"This is why we must always remain vigilant and resilient," Valentine said solemnly, looking into the eyes of the young Inquisitor. "Vanna, you rarely express your feelings like this... What happened?"

Vanna was silent for a few seconds, then she seemed to have made up her mind and said to Bishop Valentine: "There are two things. The first one is... I saw Captain Duncan again yesterday."

Valentine's eyes hardened at first, but after a moment, he sighed softly: "Actually, this is within expectations."

He paused, and then continued, "We still have no way to deal with the mark that the ghost captain left on you. Even now, the entire Plande city-state may have established a connection with the captain. It is only a matter of time before he comes to find you. What did he tell you?"

"...mostly small talk." Vanna said in a slightly strange tone.

"...Chatting?" This time Valentine finally raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You mean, the captain of the Lost Homeland, the shadow that returned from the warp, the 'Duncan' who reversed the historical pollution and took away the fragments of the sun, specifically found you to chat with you?"

"I knew you would have this reaction - I couldn't believe it. To be honest, if he told me he had a plan to conquer the world, I would believe it, but..." Vanna sighed, and then in the next ten minutes or so, she told the old man in front of her every conversation with Duncan last night.

Valentine rubbed his forehead as he listened to Vanna's retelling. The old bishop, who had never wavered in the face of the doomsday crisis, now had an expression of distress and fatigue that was difficult to conceal on his face.

But after a brief look of confusion, he raised his head and said in a complicated tone: "Fanna, I have actually been thinking about a question since last night."

"What's the problem?"

"...You have had two direct communications with Captain Duncan. In your opinion, does the 'ghost captain'... look like an invader from the warp?"

"You...what do you mean?" Vanna's expression changed slightly, and she asked cautiously, "The Lost Homeland falling into the subspace and returning home is a clear..."

"I'm not doubting this. I know the record of the Lost Homeland's return from the warp, but you need to think carefully about what the state of a person who is completely affected by the warp should be. And... Is it possible for a real warp invader to talk to others rationally without causing uncontrolled contamination in the process?"

This time, Vanna hesitated. She couldn't respond without thinking like before. She hesitated for several seconds before speaking: "Judging from all the cases and basic knowledge of the subspace... this is impossible."

"When conducting mental examinations on people who have suffered from 'deep' pollution, there is a simple and effective criterion - those who can speak rationally can be saved, or at least have not been completely transformed," Bishop Valentine nodded. "The pollution of the warp is very deadly. Because of this, there has never been a warp polluter or invader who can stay awake in history. Madness is their indelible characteristic. And we... maybe we can also use this simple criterion to judge the Lost Homeland and its captain."

"...You mean, that Captain Duncan is very likely to have retained his humanity?"

"Or he regained his humanity," Bishop Valentine corrected the subtle difference. "In the early records, there were clear eyewitness reports of the Lost Homeland's indiscriminate attacks and Captain Duncan's madness. At that time, he clearly met the criteria of a warp invader."

Vanna pondered, and the more she thought, the more unbelievable her expression became: "Is this possible? After being completely contaminated and transformed by the subspace... I can still regain my humanity, this..."

"If this is impossible, how do you explain Captain Duncan who was 'chatting' with you?" Bishop Valentine interrupted Vanna lightly, then he paused and reminded, "Don't forget the 'zeroth law'."

Fanna was startled, then reacted: "There will always be anomalies and phenomena that are inconsistent with cognition or beyond definition..."

The cathedral fell silent for a moment. The silence lasted for an unknown amount of time before Valentine suddenly said, "But we still can't regard the Lost Homeland and its captain as harmless based on this. Do you understand?

"It is returning from the warp after all. Even if the captain has regained his humanity, it is hard to say how he views us... 'mortals' at this moment.

"And we can't make hasty judgments on our own. We must report all the information we have so far to Her Holiness the Pope to see how she views this matter."

Fanna's expression straightened, and she immediately nodded seriously: "Of course, I am very clear about this."

Then she paused, with a strange expression on her face: "Talking about this kind of thing in this sacred church is really... stressful. If it were in the past, I would probably have defined myself as a 'heretic'."

Valentine just sighed noncommittally, and then asked, "You just said there were two things. In addition to meeting the ghost captain, what was the second thing?"

This time, Vanna was silent for a longer time. She seemed to be struggling for a while before she finally mustered up her courage under the gaze of the statue of the storm goddess Gemona and said solemnly to the old bishop: "I... should repent."

"Confession?" Valentine looked at her in surprise. "Why do you want to confess?"

"I wavered - although I am still devout, I cannot avoid my wavering," Vanna took a deep breath and confessed bluntly, "After the fire, I began to question my faith."

She expressed her doubts about the goddess and the wavering of her own faith. She concealed nothing except the secret her uncle had told her.

The old bishop remained silent for a long time.

Vanna looked at the old man's face with some trepidation, but she found that she could not judge Valentine's attitude this time.

The old bishop seemed to be in deep thought, and seemed to be hesitant to speak, but he did not make any reproaches.

It was unknown how long it had passed before Fanna heard the other person's voice.

"Fanna, you come to me to confess... then who should I confess to?"

A hint of surprise finally appeared in Vanna's eyes.

"Now, there are two people whose faith has wavered in the cathedral." The old bishop turned around and stared at the statue of the goddess of storms quietly. His voice was unusually calm. "Vanna, can you feel it?"

"What?"

"…The goddess is still blessing us."