A devout believer often wavers twice. The first time is when he begins to question his faith, and the second time is when he questions his faith but the gods still bless him.

Noises, overlapping finely, coming and going, vague but real, began to sound in Fanna's mind, like tinnitus. She recalled the projection of the goddess she saw in the illusion, and the incomprehensible words the goddess said to her. She no longer accepted all this without thinking as she did before, but began to think seriously about the meaning of these words, and even tried to guess Gemona's... intentions.

The more she thought, the more obvious the fine noise in her head became, making it difficult for her to concentrate.

But suddenly, all the noise disappeared. She shook her head in a trance, but met Bishop Valentine's concerned gaze.

"Are you okay?" the old man asked worriedly.

"I'm... fine," Vanna tapped her forehead lightly, then looked at the elder with some strangeness, "You too..."

"When the last bell rang, I wavered... There's nothing to hide. After all, I don't have a flawless will like those saints enshrined in the temple," Valentine shook his head and said to Vanna frankly, "I wonder why the pollution and infiltration of those end-of-the-world preachers could reach such a level, why the protection of the cathedral still couldn't stop the sacrifices of those sun heretics - why the crisis has been spreading for more than ten years, but the goddess has never warned us once..."

He listened, turned around, and stared quietly at the statue of Gemona. The cold stone statue also looked down at him, silent as always.

"When I woke up again, I was filled with shame. I knew I had made the biggest mistake in the Tome of Storms. I took the protection of the gods as a panacea, which shook my will. But even so, these doubts still took root until now."

"…The enemy infiltrated from the inside and breached the barrier. They had been planning for many years. This was a sneak attack that was difficult to resist." Vanna was silent for a moment, then said calmly, "The heretics will always take advantage of the opportunity to sneak in. This does not mean that the authority of the goddess can be easily subverted."

"I understand this," Valentine laughed. "So I said, even if I am a little shaken, I am still pious, because the goddess truly protects our world, and this love is real, but... I have some unnecessary thoughts."

"Thinking breeds heresy, Bishop Valentine," Vanna said seriously, but then she sighed, as if talking to herself, "The same goes for me."

"Then consider this a test," Valentine said softly, "for both of us."

Fanna didn't say anything else. She just came to the statue of the goddess, lowered her head slightly, and prayed silently as usual.

Not long after, the sound of footsteps suddenly broke the silence in the cathedral.

Vanna woke up from her prayer. She looked up in the direction of the voice and saw a middle-aged priest in a clerical robe walking quickly towards her. The priest saluted the statue first, then handed a document to Valentine: "Archbishop, this is the report you asked for."

Valentine nodded in thanks, took the document, and after quickly flipping through a few pages, his expression became visibly strange.

"What is that?" Vanna was curious. "What's written on it?"

"...It's an initial survey of the city-state's current situation after the disaster... It was sent by the City Hall." Valentine frowned and seemed a little hesitant, but in the end he handed the document directly to Vanna, "Take a look for yourself."

Vanna took the document in confusion, and knew what it was as soon as she saw the beginning - a preliminary damage report, something she was very familiar with, including whether there were any damages or changes in various parts of the city-state after the disaster, whether there were any missing people or "increases" in people, and whether there were any areas with residual supernatural powers... The content in the front was nothing, basically indicating that various parts of the city-state had been reset to the state before the disaster, but the content in the back made her instantly understand what was going on with Bishop Valentine's strange expression.

"...Merchants in the dock area reported that a large number of French fries mysteriously disappeared, and ketchup was also reported on the loss report..." The young Inquisitor raised his head with a blank expression and looked at Valentine, who also had a blank expression on his face. "...Seriously?"

"How about you lead the team to ask them yourself?" Valentine's mouth twitched. "Theoretically, no one would dare to falsify such a report."

Fanna held the report in her hand and was silent for a long time.

After holding it in for a long time, she finally blurted out, "Why would such content appear in such a serious report..."

Valentine deadpanned, "There's a whole squadron of guardsmen keeping watch over the fries at the docks - why do you think that is?"

Vanna: “…”

"...In short, the 'things' mentioned in the report are the only known losses in the city-state so far," Valentine sighed, then seemed to hesitate for a moment before looking into Vanna's eyes, "Why don't you just ask her directly next time you meet?"

Vanna was stunned: "Ask? Ask whom?"

"…What do you think?"

Vanna: “…”

After a while, the young judge couldn't help rubbing his forehead. "I feel like my thoughts are a little disconnected. Let me confirm. We should discuss some serious matters here. Is that right?"

"I can't connect either." Valentine said with a straight face.

Vanna was speechless, but suddenly a strange thought came to her mind - if this was also the "influence" of the ghost captain, then he... was indeed quite scary in a sense.

At this moment, another sound of footsteps suddenly came from the door, interrupting Vanna and Valentine's thoughts again - a priest walked quickly to the statue.

"Archbishop, Inquisitor, news has come from the port area..."

The priest bowed and spoke quickly, but when he was halfway through his sentence, Fanna heard the word "port area" and couldn't help interrupting him: "Stop, we already know about the French fries, there is no need to report it twice!"

"… French fries?" The priest was a little surprised. He looked at the usually calm and respectable judge in confusion. "What French fries?"

"Ah... aren't you going to report about the French fries?" Vanna was embarrassed when she saw this, and quickly coughed twice to cover it up, "I thought it was another report... Don't worry about it, keep talking, what happened in the port area?"

As she spoke, she couldn't help sighing in her heart: It's good that it's not French fries - at least she doesn't have to be associated with that scary ghost captain anymore.

The priest who came to report nodded with a serious face: "News came from the port area that the Sea Mist is applying to enter the port - Tirian Abnomar hopes to contact the cathedral as soon as possible. He brought news related to the Lost Homeland."

Vanna suddenly burst into a violent coughing fit.

The priest was startled by the noise: "...Your Excellency the Inquisitor?"

"I'm fine," Vanna finally stopped coughing after a lot of effort. She felt that ever since the Lost Homeland had made a grand tour in the city-state, this place seemed to be different in every way. She couldn't put it into words, but it seemed that many things around her were changing - she even wanted to attribute the fact that the sun was fifteen minutes late in the morning to the ghost ship. "Sea Mist? I know we did send a letter to its owner, but we never got it..."

"The Sea Mist did come, and it seems to have arrived near the coast of Plande long before the 'disaster,'" the priest nodded immediately. "But according to the news sent by that ship, it accidentally encountered the Lost Homeland in the eastern waters and a fierce battle broke out. Due to the damage to the power, it had to be overhauled, and it only regained its ability to sail last night."

"A battle broke out with the Lost Homeland?!" Vanna finally became serious and realized the importance of the matter. She turned to look at Valentine and said, "I have to go there in person."

"Okay," Valentine nodded immediately. "The Sea Mist is a special ship. Although it belongs to 'our own people', the crew members on that ship are likely to cause the ordinary people on the dock to be nervous and panic. If you personally lead the team to greet them, it should be able to calm the emotions of the ordinary people."

Vanna agreed and quickly left the cathedral.

The Sea Mist arrived - although it was a little later than expected, this huge warship shrouded in legendary aura and terrifying curse legend still arrived at the city-state of Pland that had sent out the distress letter as promised. Now this formidable steel warship is slowly approaching the pier specially for large ships under the instructions of the dock guide, and some people who received the news gathered near the dock, looking at the steel behemoth with nervousness and curiosity.

Soon, people near the dock realized that this majestic steel battleship had arrived at the port after a fierce battle.

It was covered in scars, three of the six main guns had disappeared, and horrific gaps left by something "dug" out a piece of it could be seen everywhere on the side of the ship. The bridge was also destroyed by one third, and the horrifying scars spread from the side of the bridge to the main armor belt. Even near the waterline on the side of the hull, there were several terrible holes.

If this amount of damage happened to an ordinary warship, it would be enough to sink it several times.

But the Sea Mist still stubbornly floated on the sea. The holes in its belly seemed to have life. The soft, metallic substance had blocked the leaks. The seawater that seeped into the bottom compartment was constantly being discharged overboard. The Sea Mist's water pump had been shut down, so the seawater actually seeped out directly from the side of the hull, just like... a person sweating.

This is an advanced steel battleship, but also a cursed ship with abnormalities in every way. Everyone standing near the dock can clearly see the characteristics of a "living thing" displayed by the ship, so the curiosity of the onlookers is mixed with horror, and there are whispers everywhere.

It was not until several majestic steam walkers appeared on the dock that Vanna's tall figure calmed many people down.