"This is the situation. What do you think about it, Vanna?"

On the deck of the Lost Homeland, Duncan said to Vanna, who was holding a carved amulet of Sea Breath Wood.

Vanna was stunned as she listened to Duncan's retelling of the current problems encountered by the White Oak and the captain's future plans. It took her a long time to react. She threw the newly carved amulet into the barrel and raised her head: "You mean, I will guarantee the White Oak as a saint, and then issue a pass as an inquisitor to allow the mutated ship to return to its legal status?"

"The process seems feasible," Duncan said seriously, "After all, you are indeed a saint of the Storm Goddess - and you are also the inquisitor of Plunder."

"But my position as Inquisitor has been revoked..."

Duncan waved his hand: "Isn't this arranged by your Pope in private? Your official status in public has not changed."

Vanna was stunned again - this straightforward lady seemed to be a little uncomfortable with Duncan's way of thinking. "Exploiting loopholes in the rules" was a completely new thing that she had never considered in her many years of career as an inquisitor. She instinctively felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She could only speak hesitantly: "The process... I don't know if the process is right, but..."

Duncan interrupted Vanna's hesitation with a serious face: "White Oak needs to return to its legal status, and the Lost Home Fleet needs to reconnect with the civilized world. You probably don't want us to be a shadow covering the world forever. It is a good thing to make the Lost Home Fleet that once threatened the world harmless. As a saint of the Storm Goddess, you should take the initiative to promote this matter. What do you think?"

Vanna froze for a moment, and then she fell into deep thought. After a long while, she raised her head and looked into Duncan's eyes: "Your tone is just like when you usually fool Alice."

"You're not Alice—Alice believed me the first time I said it."

Vanna: “…”

"But the principle is the same. The White Oak really needs your help now," Duncan continued calmly, "and from a practical point of view, having another controllable and powerful extraordinary exploration ship is not a bad thing for the city-states - it is better than letting this ship become a wandering shadow on the vast ocean."

"I……"

Vanna opened her mouth and seemed about to say something, but at this moment, an unreal and distant bell suddenly rang in her mind, interrupting her action.

She raised her head and subconsciously listened to the direction of the bell. The bell with a special rhythm seemed to echo in her soul. Duncan's concerned voice seemed to come from the other side of the heavy curtain: "What happened?"

"The swift bell... The cathedral is calling saints from all over the world. It seems to be news about the tomb of the nameless king..." Vanna muttered to herself in confusion, with a hint of disbelief in her tone, "Why can I still hear this call..."

Duncan raised his eyebrows: "Is this strange? You are still a saint of the Deep Sea Church."

"But I thought..." Vanna frowned, "I thought they wouldn't call me again after I boarded the Lost Homeland."

Duncan's eyes twitched, and he heard the tone of "getting on a pirate ship" from the other party's tone, but he quickly concealed the change in his expression and said calmly: "Don't think too much. Since it is a call from the cathedral, you should go to the prayer room quickly. If you have the chance to meet Pope Helena, you can ask her about issuing a pass for the White Oak."

There was something strange in Vanna's expression, but she managed to control the urge to question this time. Listening to the bell in her mind ringing again and again as if urging her, she nodded quickly to Duncan, turned around and walked quickly towards the cabin.

There are many empty cabins on the Lost Homeland, and with the captain's permission, she has converted one of the cabins into a prayer room - although it has never been tried before, but in theory it should be possible to respond to psychic communications through that cabin and go to the "assembly ground".

Vanna left, and Duncan didn't look away until her figure disappeared behind the cabin door.

He looked in the direction where Vanna disappeared, then turned his head to look at Alice who had followed him back to the Lost Homeland and was dragging a large bucket to wash the deck not far away. After a long moment, he sighed softly, "Ah... it's much harder to fool her."

After sighing, he bent down and picked up the sea breath wood amulet that Vanna had just carved from the wooden barrel beside him.

The amulet was not very exquisite, but it was obviously made with great care. Duncan stood on the edge of the deck, fiddling with the small piece of wood casually while waiting for Vanna to come back.

In theory, this shouldn't take too long.

While waiting idly, he was also slowly sorting out the intelligence gathered during this period, especially the intelligence he had just obtained on the White Oak.

The huge shadow beneath the deep sea, the "hybrid" named Martha, and... the changes that took place in that hybrid.

Duncan's mind flashed with the scene of the expanding and shrinking shadow re-condensing and stabilizing into "Martha", as well as... the illusion of "fish" before that scene appeared.

He turned his head and looked at the slightly undulating sea in the distance.

The sea is deep and the waves are like a curtain.

The sea surface seemed like a curtain that covered up all the secrets and obscured the truth beneath the sea. When the fishing rod was cast out, no one knew what would be caught.

And what I caught was "fish".

A trace of solemnity gradually appeared in Duncan's eyes. He lowered his head to look at the wave amulet in his hand, and after a slight hesitation, he threw the amulet back into the barrel, and picked up a piece of uncarved, ordinary-looking wood from the side.

He looked at the wood chip very seriously, and after a long while he spoke in a slow and serious tone: "This is a piece of bread."

The wood is still wood, nothing has changed.

Duncan stared at the piece of wood for a long time, curled his lips, raised his head to make sure there was no one around, and threw the piece of wood back to its original place.

"It doesn't seem that simple... So what is the principle..."

※※※

At the same time, in a private cabin under the deck of the Lost Homeland, Vanna had quickly set up the "venue" for the ceremony.

She locked the cabin door and turned to look at the ritual site she had set up.

Under normal circumstances, in order to respond to the call of the assembly, it is necessary to use the "sea tide chamber" specially built in the church to construct a psychic channel, but this is obviously not realistic on a ship with limited conditions - she can only place her favorite prayer book on the ground nearby to serve as an anchor for the "holy land", and light a large candlestick in the middle of the room to serve as a brazier for the ceremony. Later, she found the holy oil and essence purchased from the city-state to serve as "sacrifice" to enhance the effect of the ceremony, and barely gathered enough elements to open the psychic channel.

To be honest, the conditions are very makeshift, even a bit disrespectful to the goddess - but there is no better alternative.

The sound of the bell in her mind continued, echoing over and over again as if urging her, as if the bell would keep ringing as long as she didn't respond.

"...I hope the goddess won't blame me...If I had known earlier, I should have at least prepared some better quality holy oil."

Vanna muttered to herself, and finally made up her mind to take out the holy oil and essence and drip them into the candlestick.

In the suddenly rising flames, she took a deep breath and calmed her mind...

It was as if an eternal dark sky enveloped the huge gathering place. Chaotic streams of light emerged and wandered on top of countless ancient and solemn pillars. In the dilapidated square between the pillars, hazy figures were emerging one after another.

After all the figures were in place, Vanna's soul projection finally arrived.

The slight dizziness and sensory detachment made her stand there for a few seconds. After she had adjusted herself, she lowered her head to check her condition and the outlines of the figures around her.

"It's going pretty smoothly..."

She muttered in surprise.

The ritual was performed without going through the Tidal Chamber, but instead using the limited temporary altar on the Lost Homeland and candles that served as ritual braziers. She had not originally held high hopes for the success rate of this operation, but she did not expect it to succeed at once.

A figure approached from the side, interrupting Vanna's thoughts.

She raised her head and recognized the owner of the figure from the familiar outline and breath - it was Bishop Valentine whom she had not seen for a long time.

"Fanna, you're finally here!" The old bishop's voice was filled with a hint of joy at the long-awaited reunion. "I didn't expect you to actually come..."

"I... didn't expect that," Vanna said with a slightly embarrassed tone, "Has everyone been waiting for a long time? The conditions here are limited, and we prepared the ceremony in a hurry. It took a long time..."

"It doesn't matter. For some reason, His Holiness the Pope came very late today and hasn't arrived yet," Valentine said immediately, and then he came closer and lowered his voice, "Where are you now? Are you still on the 'ship'?"

"...Well, on the 'ship'. I just left Frost." Vanna glanced around and lowered her voice. "I was talking to the 'captain' about ten minutes ago."

"...Did he really let you build a prayer room on the ship?" Bishop Valentine's tone was filled with disbelief. "And you can even open a spiritual energy channel from the ship? Did you find a powerful holy object?"

"It's just a simple ritual site," Vanna said with a bit of embarrassment, "I didn't expect it to be successful..."

"A simple ceremonial venue?" Valentine asked in confusion, but then a roar coming from the center of the square interrupted what he was about to say.

With a loud bang, the ancient and solemn Tomb of the Nameless King slowly rose from the ground in the center of the square. The saints gathered in various places in the assembly hall also quieted down one after another, and their eyes all fell on the gray-white pyramid-shaped building.

Vanna also subconsciously looked at the building and the heavy door in front of the pyramid.

The gate slowly opened, and a mausoleum guard with bandages wrapped around his body, looking between life and death, stepped out.

Fanna's heart moved, and then she saw the tall guard walking straight towards her.

There was a small burst of laughter in the assembly hall.

The third time, the mausoleum guards chose the same "listener" three times in a row.

However, for some reason, Vanna felt a sense of relief. She turned her head and helplessly spread her hands to Valentine's shadow, then took a step forward and waited for the guard to approach.

The giant between life and death strode up to Vanna, his cloudy yellow eyes lowered.

"Good afternoon, please follow me."