Ashes Of Deep Sea
Chapter 582 - Chapter 582 Chapter 581 The Eve Before Entering the Dream

Chapter 582: Chapter 581: The Eve Before Entering the Dream Chapter 582: Chapter 581: The Eve Before Entering the Dream After leaving Sala Mel’s mansion, Lucrezia had not immediately returned to her residence in the City-State but had gone back to the Brilliant Starship docked at the harbor.

Colorful confetti swirled across the deck, through the corridors, over the bridge, and into the captain’s cabin. Lucrezia emerged from the Phantom Wind, casually placing the spiced wine in her hand on a side cabinet before striding toward the vanity holding the Crystal Ball.

In a corner of the room, the giant rabbit toy lying on the bed stirred, then hopped to its feet and bounced over, “Mistress! You’re finally back. Rabi is so bored on the ship…”

“I’ve just returned temporarily, I’ll be heading back to the city shortly,” Lucrezia glanced at the somewhat creepy-looking rabbit toy and asked offhandedly, “Is there anything unusual on the ship?”

“There’s nothing out of the ordinary on the ship, everything is all~ good!” said the mischievous girl’s voice from inside the rabbit, with a tone seeking praise, “Rabi has been taking care of things very well, just like when the mistress is here!”

“What about last night?” Lucrezia continued, “While we were docked at the port, did you notice anything amiss onshore?”

“The shore?” Rabi paused, finally seeming to notice the serious expression on her mistress’s face. The earlier playful pride immediately receded, “Nothing amiss on the shore… but Rabi didn’t pay much attention to what was happening ashore…”

Lucrezia’s brow slowly furrowed. After asking the rabbit toy a few more questions, she waved her hand, “That will be all for now. Wait aside– later you’ll come with Luny and me into the city.”

“Going into the city?!” Rabi exclaimed in surprise, seemingly both astonished and thrilled, “Are you taking Rabi into the city? Are we going there to have fun?”

Lucrezia reached out for the Crystal Ball. After hearing the rabbit toy’s words, she fell silent for a second or two before finally speaking faintly while touching the crystal, “For you, it might be quite fun.”

Rabi immediately jumped for joy on the spot and then hopped back to the bed, “Plopping” down in the same spot as before, waiting patiently.

The Crystal Ball slowly began to glow and hum. After some time, the light finally received a response as Tirian’s figure hurriedly appeared among the luminance, gradually clearer.

“Lucy?” the voice came from the Crystal Ball, “Ah, I was just receiving a few merchant representatives and didn’t notice the Crystal Ball’s activity– are things alright on your end?”

“I’m fine,” Lucrezia said as she watched her elder brother in the crystal. Noticing the fatigue in his expression, she quietly let go of her impatient look for having waited so long, “It seems you’re quite busy over there, haven’t had much rest recently?”

“Honestly, things have improved compared to a while ago, at least now I get to solve my own lunch at the table,” Tirian shrugged his shoulders, then involuntarily glanced behind Lucrezia as if confirming the presence of someone in the picture, then hesitated slightly before asking, “Is father… there?”

“Not at the moment, he’s busy with other matters,” Lucrezia replied, then added, “Stop being so edgy, dad is very busy right now.”

“Oh,” Tirian replied, then hesitated again and cautiously asked, “How have things been between you two these past few days? Everything okay? Do you need any help from me?”

“Everything is very well,” Lucrezia said casually and then thought for a moment, discreetly turning her head to let the silver-white waves and feather decoration appear in the picture, “He finally gave me the hair clip that was a hundred years late, and incredibly, it still looks like new.”

Tirian in the Crystal Ball was stunned, the worry that had been etched on his face suddenly solidified as he stared blankly at her, finally managing to twitch his mouth slightly, “…Ah?”

“Didn’t he bring you a gift?” Lucrezia turned her face to ask seriously.

After thinking, Tirian pressed a hand to his forehead with a tone of absolute dejection, “Twenty-four pounders-sixteen shots, thirty-two pounders-three shots, twelve pounders-I didn’t count…”

Lucrezia silently watched the figure opposite her and finally spoke softly after a long while, “You fired first.”

“…You contacted me just to say this?”

“Of course not,” Lucrezia shook her head and then spoke with seriousness, “I wanted to ask you to pay attention to… certain matters recently and to contact me immediately if anything arises.”

Tirian immediately became serious, “Pay attention to what?”

“Elves, if I remember correctly, Frost has quite a few Elves who have settled in for the long term,” Lucrezia said indifferently, “The ‘Collaborative Monitoring System’ between the Church, Adventurer’s Guild, and City-State has just been established, and it doesn’t seem to have reacted yet, so I contacted you directly…”

“`

…

99 Crown Street, within the somewhat eerie backyard surrounded by bushes, greenery, and a wall, a flame suddenly expanded into a blazing door. Duncan and Alice stepped out through the gate.

Sherry, who was lazing in the backyard soaking up the sun, immediately jumped up and turned to run into the house–though she had only taken two steps before Duncan stopped her, “What are you running for?”

Sherry hurriedly stopped, standing there confused for a moment, then turned around and scratched her head, “Yeah, what am I running for… Sorry, Captain, it was a reflex…”

“You’re always so jumpy,” Duncan frowned and glanced at the girl, “Has Lukrecia come back yet?”

“Not yet,” Sherry shook her head, “But Fenna and the old man are back. They’re in the living room right now.”

Duncan nodded, “Good, come with me, let’s see what they’ve found.”

“I’ll go to the kitchen to put things away first,” Alice said as she walked, holding a large wooden basin full of ingredients she had brought from the Homeloss, “We can have fish soup tonight!”

Duncan gave the automaton a meaningful look–in Alice’s mind, there seemed to be a stable logic tree running its course. Regardless of what major events occurred around her, as long as the Homeloss didn’t explode on the spot, she could calmly and naturally carry on with her own rhythm, like going back to the Homeloss to get fish, or heading to the kitchen to cook…

Duncan even suddenly wondered if the Homeloss really did explode on the spot, as long as he was still in front of the automaton, she could still, after realizing what happened, blankly ask him what he wanted for dinner tonight…

But that wasn’t a bad thing–Duncan felt it was actually quite nice to have an automaton by his side in this unstable world who was always only concerned about what soup to stew for dinner.

Moments later, Duncan had already entered the living room, where Fenna and Morris, having just finished a day’s work in the City-State, were reporting to him the situation they had in hand.

“From what we can see right now, it seems the entire City-State was indeed affected last night, including the local elven residents and other races living in the city–no one noticed that anomaly, and as for those who work at night, there seems to be a certain degree of ‘cognitive confusion’…”

Fenna sat on the sofa, relaying her investigation findings from the perspective of a professional Judge.

“This morning, I met with a few machinists who had just come home from their nightshift at the steam pump room. In conversation, I found they couldn’t remember the specifics of their nocturnal duties, yet they felt everything was normal last night, and nothing had happened all night long. They were lucid, yet blissfully unaware of the contradictions in their own words, as if…”

Fenna hesitated for a moment, as if searching for the right words, before continuing, “As if they’re still immersed in a ‘lucid Dreamscape.'”

“So you’re saying that people who slept through the night experienced a dreamless night, and those who worked lost a chunk of time ‘out of the blue,’ yet they feel as though everything is normal?” Duncan, listening to Fenna’s report, couldn’t help but raise a question, “Did you manage to confirm their deeper mental state? Any signs of mental contamination?”

“I used some methods from the Deep Sea Church, but nothing too excessive,” Fenna nodded, “After initial inspections, there were no signs of contamination on them. They just… ‘naturally developed incorrect beliefs and memories.'”

Duncan stroked his chin, pondering for a moment before raising his head to look at Morris sitting on another sofa.

“I met with a few old friends to inform them about the anomaly last night. The academy has already begun an investigation and is formulating countermeasures. If Miss Lukrecia’s efforts go well, then the entire official response system of Light Breeze Harbor would be mobilized,” Morris nodded, “However, based on what we’ve gathered so far, when the influence of ‘The Dream of the Nameless’ intensifies, everyone in the City-State will inevitably be affected, and only you and those of us who follow you can remain alert within or outside the Dreamscape– the actions of the academy and the City-State authorities will likely not go so smoothly.

“Furthermore, I’ve met with several scholars familiar with traditional elven myths and delved deeper into the knowledge about the great demon Saslouka, the world tree Silantis, and the ‘Dream of Creation.’ In the course of this, I’ve stumbled upon an… interesting point.”

Duncan immediately grew curious, “An interesting point?”

“Yes,” Morris nodded, “In some lesser-known narrative poems, there are a few lines that describe–

‘Saslouka created the first Dreamscape of the world, yet He knew not what dreams were;

‘Mortals called it a dream, and so He became bewildered;

‘And then, the dreamless ones were born amidst His bewilderment…'”

“`