Encountering the church’s patrol fleet at the border?

Lucrecia was stunned for a moment after hearing this question, and then she frowned and recalled: "It should be last month that I encountered a Firebringer ship in the border waters... After that, I haven't seen any patrol formations from the church. But this may also be related to the fact that I haven't been close to the border frequently recently."

"That's not the case, Ms. Lucrecia," Sarah Meier shook her head. "It's not because you haven't been to the border recently, but because the Church of the Four Gods has indeed transferred a large number of personnel who were originally responsible for patrolling the border to do other things - the number has been reduced by about half."

“Reduce border patrols?” Lucrecia was surprised. “What are they doing?”

"I don't know. The Pilgrimage Ark has its own secrets, just like the city-states. They won't report to me the whereabouts of those ships and personnel," Sarah Meier said. "But according to the intelligence I have, those withdrawn forces have not been added to the 'Inner Route', but are still staying at certain locations on the border. Do you understand what I mean? They just stopped patrolling and gathered at some special locations near the Eternal Curtain, as if they were waiting for further orders, or... preparing to deal with bigger troubles."

The city-state governor paused for a moment, then looked into Lucrecia's eyes and said in a serious tone, "This has never happened before."

"...When an elf says something has never happened before, it usually means something is very serious," Lucrecia couldn't help but say this old saying that is well known among explorers. "I think I understand what you mean."

"Yes, ma'am - our world is in trouble. The Lost Homeland has already issued a warning to the whole world. An 'ordinary person' like me can sense the 'atmosphere' of a gradual crisis and things starting to go wrong. Then the Four Gods Church, which has been observing and protecting the entire world for thousands of years, cannot have failed to notice something. Of course, they have already started to act."

Sarah Meier said, raising her hand and pointing at the letter with the emblem of the Church of the Four Gods.

"This letter links their recent unusual 'movements' with the warning from the Lost Homeland. I think... the leaders of the Pilgrimage Ark should have discovered or confirmed the 'root cause' of some of the things your father mentioned in the warning, and they found that the problem was huge, bigger than anyone imagined.

"In the face of this 'big problem', it is no longer important to be vigilant against the Lost Homeland. Even if the ship is still connected to the warp and there is a possibility that it will fall into the warp again, they don't care - as long as your father is still on the side of the 'mortals' now."

After the consul finished speaking, Lucrecia did not speak for a long time. She lowered her head and looked at the letter again, seeming to be still lost in thought.

After an unknown amount of time, Sarah Meier broke the silence: "Can I ask you something now? Lady Lucrecia, what is your father, the legendary Captain Duncan, doing now? What does he want to do next?"

He was taking care of the child, and next he was going to take the two girls to the city to find something that normal humans could eat...

Lucrecia had some unreliable associations in her mind for a moment, but she quickly put them aside and made her expression serious again: "He is very interested in the 'fallen object' I found. Although I don't know why, he seems to know the origin of the 'stone ball' in the center of the fallen object. He came here mainly for it this time."

"He knows the origin of that 'stone ball'?" Sarah Mel was immediately surprised.

"Yes, he called that sphere the 'moon', and according to him, the original... or 'normal' size of that sphere should be very, very huge," Lucrecia nodded, "and he was also very curious about the physical properties of the 'moon' and the composition of the surface samples."

"The moon..." Sarah Meier frowned a little, but after thinking for a long time, he shook his head and said, "I have never heard of this name."

"Neither do I. Father said that no one in this world would know this name," Lucrecia said. "When he said this, he seemed to be in a bad mood."

Sarah Meier did not speak for a moment. After thinking for a moment, he broke the silence: "The outpost research team recently collected some samples from the surface of the 'stone ball' and is currently analyzing it. Since your father is very interested in this matter, I will ask them to share information with you at any time, and I will explain the situation to the heads of various facilities in advance. If your father wants to 'see' some of the research results with his own eyes, that's fine."

Lucrecia raised her eyebrows. "Aren't you worried about causing panic?"

"You brought him into the city in such a grand manner," Sarah Meier spread her hands helplessly, "Do you know how many people in this city recognize his face?"

"But as long as it is not publicized, I guess many people would rather believe that it is just a face that looks similar - a person who looks exactly like Captain Duncan. It is always more reasonable than a shadow from sub-space coming to the city for sightseeing."

"Looking exactly the same is scary enough, ma'am," Sarah Meier said with a wry smile. "Do you know that since your father...since then, captains on the vast seas have hardly even grown beards?"

"Then it's none of my business. It's not my father who shaved their hair."

Sarah Mel was choked for a moment, staring for a long time before waving her hands: "Okay, let's not talk about this - Madam, I want to know the most real situation, your father...what is his current condition?"

It was obvious that the Archon tried his best to make his question less rude, but he also knew that asking such a question in front of the "Sea Witch" was a bit offensive no matter how you looked at it - he had no choice but to ask it.

Fortunately, Lucrecia did not show any dissatisfaction.

"As I learned before, he did lose a lot of memories. The warp destroyed his sanity and personality. The current Duncan Abnomer... Strictly speaking, he is a completely 'reorganized' person." The "witch" had a complicated expression, but she did not hide what she knew. "I can still find some traces of the past in him, as well as a familiar aura and majesty. He also has a vague impression of me, but that's all."

She paused, briefly considering her words, and continued, "If you ask me how I feel, I feel that there is actually something else hidden in him - don't be nervous, Sarah Meier, I don't mean the subspace, but something... not dangerous, but something I have never seen before. It seems to be another personality, or like many personalities and information superimposed together..."

"I don't understand what this means," Sarah Meier frowned, "Can you explain it in more simple terms?"

Lucrecia thought for a moment and explained with great patience: "This time, when I first saw him, I briefly heard countless noises and saw undulating and wriggling light and shadows. That should be a symptom of mild mental pollution, but this pollution faded quickly and did not leave any impact on me. In this pollution, I glimpsed countless stars of light emanating from behind him. It looked... very much like the 'starry sky' floating between the deep sea and the spirit world.

"At first, before I saw those 'starlights', my feeling towards my father was a huge 'nothingness'. I looked at his shell standing there, but I couldn't feel his actual existence. But with the appearance of those noises and lights and shadows, my perception of him stabilized, and I was finally able to communicate normally with him... or strictly speaking, with that shell."

Sarah Meier's expression became particularly serious: "How long did this process last?"

"It only took a moment," Lucrecia said seriously, "and it happened on the edge of reason and perception. I doubt that most people would be able to perceive this process. Even those who could perceive it due to their high clairvoyance would be completely attracted by the starlight and would not be aware of the momentary 'emptiness' of the body."

Sarah Meier was silent for half a minute, then spoke thoughtfully: "It sounds like you were able to perceive this short 'process' because your attention was always on your 'father'... Ms. Lucrecia, these descriptions make me feel a little uneasy. It feels like..."

"I know what you want to say - you may think that the short-lived 'starlight' is the 'reality' of Duncan Abnomer today, and that the 'captain who returned from the warp' is just a part of the starlight mimicked, just like the tentacle of a sea monster sticking out of the sea to lure sailors."

Sarah Meier frowned: "Isn't that so?"

Lucrecia just shook her head slightly.

"I have my own judgment, Mr. Archon. I know that it is him. Although he has shown some disturbing 'natures' now, and even his way of existence has become incomprehensible and indescribable, that starlight is him, at least part of him."

Sarah Meier listened quietly for a long time before she spoke solemnly: "This sounds emotional, ma'am, but I know you are not an emotional person - so I can only hope that your judgment is correct, at least I hope it is based on your always accurate 'intuition', rather than longing."

"You can trust my judgment," Lucrecia said solemnly, pointing to the letter on the table, "or at least trust the 'Four Gods' Witness'."