After hearing the apprentice Joshua's report, Taran El and Ted Lear looked at each other almost at the same time. Before the latter could speak, Taran had already turned around and said to the apprentice: "The second door on the left of the metal cabinet by the window in the next room, the blue paper tape box - run!"

"Ah... OK!" Joshua agreed hastily, turned around and ran out of the room - followed by a series of noises of bumping into something in the corridor and rummaging through drawers in the next room - before Ted Lear was almost worried that this reckless young man was planning to demolish the building, he ran back in a hurry with a sealed file box in his hand.

Ted Lear took out the records from the file box and compared them with the paper tape that Joshua had just brought to the room. He then went to the bed where Taran El was lying and gave the two records to the latter for review.

Taran El's eyes fell on the new and old paper strips, identifying every peak and trough in them, and the dark color gradually became heavier.

"Is it the same signal?" The voice of the Keeper of Truth sounded from the side.

"Excluding the distortion caused by interference and possible errors in the instrument itself... it should be the same signal," Taran El said seriously.

"...This is the 'light signal' that Ms. Lucrecia recorded on the Brilliant Star," Ted Lill stared at the record that was previously sealed in the paper tape box, his expression thoughtful, "It is the information released from the inner cycle of the 'light body' during the period when the sun went out, but we have not been able to decipher its meaning so far..."

He suddenly raised his head and looked at the sky outside the window.

The sun was slowly approaching the roof of a building in the distance, the brilliant double rune rings were gleaming brightly in the sky, and the magnificent corona was still emitting infinite light and heat - the time was approaching dusk, but Anomaly 001 itself showed no signs of extinguishing.

However, the "luminous geometry" located near Breeze Harbor suddenly began to release this strange "signal" that had appeared during the period when the sun was turned off... Why is this?

"Does this signal keep repeating?" Taran Eyre asked his students.

“Yes… yes,” Joshua nodded hurriedly, obviously very nervous. “When the observatory sent the data over, the signal had already been repeated three times…”

"What do you think about this?" Taran El turned his head and looked at his old friend.

"...I'm going to go to the observatory myself. These signals give people a very unusual feeling. I always feel that this is that strange 'luminous geometric object' trying to... 'contact' the outside world. Maybe I can find some clues in the past," Ted Riel said quickly, walking to a clothes rack not far away and picking up his coat and hat. "Also, I have to tell this news to the people who are gathering at the 'Fifth Ark'. They may not have observed any abnormalities yet..."

The keeper of the truth was ready to go out, and he picked up his thick book that recorded many miracles and opened the page that described the "door", but suddenly he stopped and raised his eyelids to look at the great scholar lying on the sickbed.

Taran El suddenly felt a little uneasy: "...Why are you looking at me?"

"If anything happens to the sun again this time, you'll just stay put. Your shocking behavior last time has already affected the safety assessment of the entire academy."

"Nonsense! My lumbar disc is almost pushing up against my hips, where else can I go!" Taran El's eyes widened. If his lumbar spine hadn't really allowed it, he would have wanted to fly up and bite someone. "Do you think I'm willing to climb walls and fly over teaching buildings and clock towers?"

However, Ted Riel shook his head upon hearing this: "...My experience tells me that lumbar disc herniation cannot completely stop your curiosity - as long as the target has enough research value, you can get back on your feet."

As he spoke, the keeper of truth walked slowly to the bedside of the great scholar and tapped casually on his own "Book of Miracles" - a small and illusory scalpel appeared in his hand.

Taran El instantly realized the reason for his uneasiness and shouted, "What are you doing... I'm warning you, Ted... Don't... Damn it, you can't!"

Ted Riel paid no attention to the scholar's protest. He pointed the scalpel at Taran El from a distance and tapped the air three times: "This can effectively confine you to this bed - don't worry, I will heal you when I come back."

"Ted, you bastard! The God of Wisdom gave you the knowledge of disease and treatment, not for you to do this! I... (elf swearing) (Breeze Harbor swearing) (unbearable vulgar language)!!"

The room was filled with the excited but weakened shouts of a great scholar. However, the Keeper of Truth had already turned and walked into a door that appeared out of thin air, leaving only the bewildered apprentice Joshua in the room, facing his teacher at a loss.

"…What are you looking at? Bring me your hemorrhoid cream!"

"oh oh!"

※※※

The main part of the meeting was over - after exchanging enough intelligence and reaching a series of apparent "cooperation agreements", Duncan and several church leaders present jointly announced a recess.

But unlike a normal "meeting", there were no flashes, no hordes of reporters recording these precious moments, no photos or videos to record any intelligence about the meeting - not even a page of agreement left on paper.

Because the things they discuss here are so sensitive that any form of meeting minutes may undergo unpredictable "changes" at some future date.

But all the participants did not mind this because they believed that the testimony of the Four Gods was enough.

The bishops left the venue first - Lucrecia's servants took the guests to a temporary rest area on the deck, where tea and snacks had been prepared in advance, and in half an hour, there would be a small barbecue party on the deck.

Many participants still feel it is a little unreal. After all... enjoying a sumptuous dinner on the deck of the Lost Homeland with the sea breeze blowing - even the most imaginative poets and playwrights in the world would not dare to conceive of this scene with a clear mind.

Other participants had another level of worry - they were still concerned about the "food safety issues" on the ship. Although they had now accepted the fact that "Captain Duncan had humanity and had established a cooperative relationship with the church", they still felt that something harmful to the physical and mental health of ordinary people would appear on the ship, especially at the so-called "barbecue party".

...Actually, they are right to worry.

But it didn't work.

Because it is not time to return to the Ark of the Pilgrims yet - the four popes are still at the venue, and the "closed-door meeting" after the public meeting is the really important part.

"We are the only ones left here now," Duncan said, looking at the four people sitting opposite him in the hall that suddenly became quiet and empty after the departure of the bishops. "We can discuss some things that are not so suitable to be discussed publicly."

"Where would you like to start?" Helena said, "We will try our best to answer all your questions."

"... Actually, it's not really a question," Duncan thought for a moment and spoke slowly, "I just want to know, are you planning to keep your actions in the border waters a secret from the city-states forever? I'm not referring to the search for the gods, but the search for a new sea route. If you really find a new sea route, how do you plan to persuade the city-states that knew nothing about these plans to carry out such a large-scale population migration? And what about those other ambitious 'migration' plans..."

He paused for a moment, his expression becoming serious. "To be honest, they do sound very exciting, but if you calm down and think about it, you will find that there are too many hasty decisions and too many assumptions, especially since you plan to accomplish these 'feats' alone without telling the world - what do you think the real success rate is?"

"... Concealment is also a helpless move. There is too much information that ordinary people cannot know. Those 'secrets' involving the border can easily lead to disasters if leaked to ordinary city-states." Helena sighed, "Of course, your doubts are correct. There are too many hasty and presumptuous elements in these plans. In any case, these large-scale operations cannot be concealed forever... I can only say that we didn't expect the situation to deteriorate so quickly at the beginning."

"We originally planned all this over a span of several centuries," Frame nodded. "If there was enough time as a buffer, we could rely on the relay of several generations to smoothly push these things forward. We could also have more energy to identify and process intelligence related to the border and safely transmit it to various city-states. Now... we can only say that time is too short."

"Time... time is really too short," Duncan sighed softly. He knew that what Helena and Frame said were helpless facts, so he did not dwell on this topic. Instead, he sighed and turned his head to Vanna next to him, "Then let's talk about something else. Vanna, don't you have something to say to Lord Frame?"

The tall, gray-skinned Firebringer Pope, Frem, who was sitting opposite the table, was startled for a moment. Then, as if realizing something, he adjusted his sitting posture and looked at Vanna seriously.

Vanna nodded slightly, then stood up, turned and walked to the corner of the hall. A moment later, she returned to everyone carrying an extremely huge object.

It is the "cane" left by Tarekin.

"Be careful with the beams..." Duncan couldn't help but remind him, "and the pillars..."

Vanna nodded, carefully not to break anything in the hall with the "cane" that looked like a giant tree trunk, and then slowly placed it on the table in front of everyone.

"This is the 'Chronicle'."