Ashes Of Deep Sea-Chapter 245 - 249 The First Step Towards Sincerity
Chapter 245: Chapter 249 The First Step Towards Sincerity
Tirian felt surrounded by darkness and his senses fluctuated as if pulled by an invisible force, shuttling through a dimension that hovered between reality and illusion.
He tried several times to open his eyes, but he could only barely see a dot of faint green light and rapidly moving shadows in the darkness, which he recognized after a while as a bird’s-eye view of the City-State.
It seemed he had been taken into the sky by something.
This thought had just flashed through his mind when he lost consciousness again.
When he became aware of his body again, he found himself in a stable place—something cold and hard underneath him, like a concrete floor, with dim lighting all around, like the poor quality lamps used in warehouses. A blurred figure sat beside him, seemingly curiously bending over him.
Tirian’s mind finally cleared.
...
But instead of opening his eyes right away, he continued to pretend to be unconscious, while cautiously sensing his environment, trying to determine his situation from the humidity in the air, the faint noises by his ear, and through his slightly open eyelids.
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He had just managed to hear a bit of the sound of carriages and horses, confirming that he might be in a street-facing location of some district when he suddenly heard that familiar voice next to him, “You’re awake. Your eyelids are moving.”
Tirian was startled and knew he couldn’t hide any longer, so he reluctantly opened his eyes.
Following that, he felt his whole body stiffen, the person in front of him leaving him dumbfounded and aghast.
He saw Lei Nora—the Frost Queen—just like the one in his memory, not the blonde lady with the obviously different hair color from before.
The silver-haired “Frost Queen” was sitting on a chair next to him, watching him lying on the ground with a tranquil and detached expression. Tirian, after being dumbstruck for several seconds, suddenly snapped back to his senses and leaped to his feet.
A sudden headache almost made him lie down again, but the pain also stimulated his spirit, finally ridding him of the last bit of dizziness after the blackout. He first confirmed that he was indeed awake and then quickly scanned the surroundings, trying to determine where exactly he was.
But all he saw was a warehouse filled with shelves and wooden crates—the old-fashioned goods of unclear age and origin were neatly arranged on erratically placed shelves, and somewhat disorganized wooden crates were stacked against the wall. There were no windows in sight, so he could not see the outside, and the only door was behind the chair where the “queen” was seated.
It seemed to be just a warehouse, impossible to tell where in the City-State it was located.
Tirian’s gaze returned to the “Frost Queen.”
However, after the initial shock and excitement had subsided, the calm pirate’s first instinct was to doubt. He thought of the blonde lady he had seen earlier and the words she had spoken to him, and his eyebrows knitted slightly, “You are not Her Majesty Lei Nora. Who are you?”
“I told you, my name is Alice,” the silver-haired woman on the chair said with a smile, “Ah, if you’re talking about my hair… I did a little disguise because the captain said my appearance might cause trouble in the City-State.”
She mentioned the captain again.
If Tirian was just a bit confused when she first mentioned the “captain,” hearing this title now brought out an immense wariness and sense of danger in him, because he had confirmed that this was not a cruel joke or a ridiculous trap planned by some captain with a grudge against him—there really might be his dreadful father standing behind all of this.
Tirian slowly stood up, watching the silver-haired woman calling herself “Alice” opposite him, and spoke gravely, “Is it really him?”
“Yes, he wants to see you,” Alice said as she got up from her chair and slowly approached an antique mirror next to her, “Captain, he’s awake.”
The next moment, a faint green flame rose up around the edge of the mirror, and Tirian felt as if he could hear a crackling sound entering his ears. Then, he saw the mirror suddenly turn black, and a familiar and imposing figure gradually emerged from the darkness.
“Tirian, we meet again,” Duncan’s voice came from the mirror.
“…Yes, we meet again,” Tirian spoke hesitantly. Although he had already seen him once, the feeling of talking to his sane and sober father still felt very awkward, “Why like this? Aren’t you not opposed to contacting me through the cathedral?”
“In the cathedral we can catch up, but it’s not suitable for discussing some more private matters—there are some things I don’t intend for Gomona to overhear,” Duncan said unhurriedly, his gaze sweeping past Alice, “You’ve met Alice now. You must have quite a few questions.”
Tirian couldn’t help but have an odd expression appear on his face at the mention of the Storm Goddess by his father, but quickly, his attention was drawn back to Alice, who looked exactly like the Frost Queen. After pondering with a slight frown, he suddenly remembered something, and his expression changed dramatically, “Before, the Explorers’ Association issued a warning to all captains on the Endless Sea, mentioning that Anomaly 099 had gone out of control…”
“As you see,” Duncan smiled, “She’s right in front of you.”
Tirian looked at Alice next to him, who wore an innocent expression, with a sudden shudder, as if only now realizing the non-human traits hidden within her overly delicate and perfect face, and the ornaments on her body that clearly served to cover joints. The next second, he subconsciously touched his neck.
Obviously, as one of the most experienced captains on the Endless Sea and someone extremely concerned with intelligence related to the Frost Queen, Tirian was quite aware of the traits of anomaly 099.
His action caught Duncan’s eye.
“Relax,” the voice from the mirror spoke, “anomaly 099 is under control now.”
“The puppet in the container has awakened and is moving freely outside, and you call this ‘under control’?” Tirian said to Duncan while keeping an eye on Alice’s movements, feeling a chilly sensation on his neck, “How did you manage to use an ‘anomaly’ with such an early number for your purposes, and even suppress her beheading instinct?”
“Alice is a friendly puppet and not as terrifying as people might think—at least not when she’s by my side,” Duncan said offhandedly, “And you, I thought you would have brought up the Frost Queen first. After all, as far as I know, you served her even longer than you did in the Exiled Fleet.”
Tirian gradually caught on and watched the figure in the mirror with caution, “Are you trying to get information about Her Majesty Lei Nora from me?”
“Do you resist speaking about it?”
“…I still can’t fully trust your ‘humanity.'”
Duncan was silent for a few seconds before speaking in a deep voice, “Do you know what my initial plan was?”
“Your initial plan?”
“To have Alice disguise herself directly as the Frost Queen Lei Nora, to pretend resurrection if need be, to play the part of a spectral projection, or even to step directly into your Dreamscape—it’s all too easy for me,” Duncan’s gaze fixed on Tirian’s eyes, “I can guarantee that you won’t be able to differentiate the truth from lies, and you would be led to reveal many things. I could easily obtain the information I want in this way.”
Tirian suddenly felt a chill down his spine.
He believed every word his father said, believed he could do these things, and more importantly, he knew he would have been fooled—no matter if he managed to notice any discrepancies in detail, he would have been tricked into revealing a lot of information first!
Even just now, having seen “Golden-haired Alice” beforehand and knowing that the person in front of him could not possibly be Lei Nora, he had almost believed that the person opposite him was the Frost Queen returned from the dead!
Tirian unconsciously lowered his eyelids slightly, as if trying to avoid direct contact with his father’s eyes, and asked in a deep voice, “Then why didn’t you do it?”
Duncan watched Tirian calmly.
Why else? Because Alice couldn’t memorize such long lines, couldn’t play such an extended scene, and would panic at the slightest bluff, and without any hesitation she would start shouting captain save save save… seventeen saves in a second.
Unbelievably incompetent.
“Of course, it’s because I didn’t want to resort to deception when dealing with my own children—even though I’ve forgotten many things,” Duncan’s expression turned solemn, his voice low.
Then he paused and added, “Nor do I want to insult the monarch you once served with such a ‘farce’—although I’m not familiar with her, from our brief encounter, Lei Nora seemed to be someone to be admired.”
“Clap clap clap clap—”
Hearing the captain’s earnest response, Alice immediately started applauding—even though she had barely understood what the captain was saying.
Duncan and Tirian looked at the puppet with odd expressions in their eyes.
“…Shouldn’t I applaud?” Alice shrank her neck and cautiously glanced at the captain in the mirror, “I just think what the captain said was right…”
A wave of weariness washed over him, and Duncan sighed, “…as long as you’re happy.”
At the same time, Tirian suddenly realized a detail in his father’s words, and was astonished:
“You’ve met Her Majesty Lei Nora?!”
