Chapter 585

Chapter 425: Contact

On the Conquer Sea during the night, Vania, who had just fallen asleep in her cabin on the passenger ship, woke up to the noise and the loud rumbling sounds. Frowning, she sat up from her bed and yawned deeply.

“Guh… What’s going on outside? What is that noisy sound…”

Muttering as she spoke, Vania rubbed her eyes and got out of bed. She turned on the gas lamp fixed on the wall and looked out the window. To her surprise, she saw dense fog outside the porthole, making everything unclear.

“What’s happening? Why is there so much fog? There was no fog when I went to sleep earlier. Did it suddenly appear?”

Vania pondered this as she looked out the window. Then, she glanced at the clock on the wall and confirmed that she had only slept for about half an hour.

“Half an hour… Could such thick fog have formed so quickly? And what were those noises? Has something happened?”

Seeing the many unusual occurrences, Vania felt a bit uneasy. Deciding to go out and see what was happening, she put on her nun’s outerwear and opened the cabin door, stepping into the corridor. However, she was stopped by a crew member shortly after she walked out. He said in Iwig language:

“Miss Nun, we are currently facing complex sea conditions and are working hard to resolve them. Please return to your cabin and do not wander around.”

“I understand… Complex sea conditions…”

After hearing the sailor’s words, Vania nodded. Having come to Iwig for pilgrimage, she had done some homework and learned a bit of Iwig language. After the recent journey, she could understand some of the sailors’ instructions. She followed the sailor’s advice and returned to her cabin, closing the door behind her.

Inside the cabin, Vania did not go back to sleep but sat quietly on the bed, anxiously waiting for the “complex sea conditions” to end.

While waiting, Vania heard the noise and rumbling outside gradually subside. The dense fog outside the window also seemed to be dissipating. After waiting for a long time, seeing that the sea fog was almost gone, Vania let out a sigh of relief.

“Whew… It seems like we really encountered complex sea conditions. Now, it should be fine, right?”

Vania thought to herself. After feeling slightly reassured, she prepared to take off her outerwear and go back to sleep. Just then, another series of noises came from outside the cabin, mixed with faint cries of pain. This startled Vania.

“Is this also part of dealing with the complex sea conditions?”

Hearing the cries of pain, Vania’s heart sank again. Facing this sudden situation, she hesitated for a while before deciding to go out and investigate.

Vania got up again, opened the door, and stepped out into the corridor. She noticed that other passengers had also come out due to their concerns. However, when they were about to reach the deck, several sailors standing at the entrance blocked them.

“Please return to your cabins, passengers. Our ship has encountered some unexpected situations, and we are handling it. There is no significant danger. Please do not worry.”

Several sailors blocked the entrance to the deck, urging the passengers to return to their cabins. These passengers, after receiving the sailors’ response, went back to their cabins. Among them, Vania remained standing where she was, observing for a moment longer. After clenching and unclenching her fists, she decided to return to her cabin.

After returning to her cabin and closing the door, Vania sat back down in her chair, her expression becoming extremely serious.

As a “Lamp” extraordinary being of the Black Earth Tier, Vania possessed superhuman vision, able to see clearly even in pitch-black darkness. Under this vision, she saw things that ordinary passengers couldn’t.

When she went to the deck earlier and was blocked by several sailors, she saw several men holding weapons, with stern faces and bare chests, standing in the dark on the deck. At their feet lay unconscious sailors. Although the sailors were earnestly persuading the passengers to return to their rooms, Vania could sense the panic on their faces.

Seeing all of this, Vania realized that the passenger ship she was on had encountered some major incident, and it wasn’t a good one.

Suppressing her urge to act immediately, Vania returned to her cabin to think of a plan.

“There are sailors knocked down, those strangers on the deck, and those sailors seem to be under threat. Our ship might have been invaded. I can try to notify the escort fleet…”

Vania thought to herself. Then, she turned to look out the porthole, trying to confirm the exact location of the escort fleet through the ship’s lights. However, no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t find any trace of the church warships on the dark sea. Seeing this situation, Vania’s heart sank.

“Gone… They’re all gone? Where are the other ships? Where are the escort warships? Why can’t I find them?”

Looking out at the dark sea, Vania thought anxiously, realizing the severity of the situation.

Due to having frequently encountered various dangerous situations recently, Vania was not panicking or feeling helpless. After taking a deep breath and calming down, she took out her Sacred Text and placed it on the table. After closing her eyes and silently praying for a moment, she opened the book and turned to a page to start writing.

“The current situation is very strange and complex. First, I’ll inform Miss Dorothea and hear her opinion… It’s really late to disturb her…”

…

Similarly, on the dark sea, another passenger ship was sailing forward in the night. In one of the cabins on this ship, Dorothy, who had been sleeping for some time, suddenly opened her eyes and quickly sat up from the bed. After yawning, she frowned and stroked her forehead.

“This is… Vania’s prayer, hoping to notify me for communication? So late… Suddenly doing this, what could have happened?”

Sitting on the bed, Dorothy pondered this internally. Although she was filled with many questions, she did not delay in her actions. After getting up from the bed, she turned on the wall lamp and sat down at the table by the light.

Wearing a nightgown, Dorothy took out “Navigation of the Literary Sea” from her magic box. Flipping to Vania’s communication page, she saw the newly written characters imprinted on the page. Vania had detailed the situation that occurred on her side and asked Dorothy for suggestions, hoping Dorothy could help her deal with these pirates.

Sitting by the window, Dorothy finished reading everything Vania had written. Her frown deepened further. She hadn’t expected such a situation to suddenly arise; someone actually dared to attack a church ship!

“According to Vania’s description, their ship may have been mysteriously taken over. Unknown invaders struck the sailors and threatened the sailors, forcing all passengers to stay in their cabins. This looks like piracy. Who would dare to attack the pilgrim fleet? What kind of people are these?”

Dorothy thought, somewhat perplexed, but she already had some guesses in mind.

“Fog… Men with bare chests… Sudden intruders appearing on the sea… These elements make one directly think of the water mages of the Abyss Cult… Do they have the audacity to attack this pilgrim fleet? If they are indeed them, what could be their motive? Finding new sacrifices for Haemohois?

“But the Deep Blue Heart is in my possession. Without this item, they cannot perform the ritual. And if they wanted sacrifices, they wouldn’t need to target the church specifically… Are there others besides the Abyss Cult who control the Waves Path on this sea…?”

Sitting in the chair, Dorothy speculated on who could be behind the hijacking of Vania’s ship. However, due to insufficient information, she couldn’t guess the answer. Therefore, she shifted her focus to how Vania could handle the current situation.

“I am very far from Vania’s location, so it’s difficult to help her directly. Therefore, Vania must be more cautious and careful in her actions.

“If those pirates could create such a large fog to separate the passenger ship from the escort fleet, their extraordinary beings must be quite powerful, possibly including one or more White Tier individuals. If they are truly extraordinary beings of the Waves Path, in their home ground, Vania has almost no chance of winning. Therefore, Vania must avoid conflict and collect more information. The key issue now is the lack of intelligence. We must gather more intelligence to make a judgment…

“Pity that my main body isn’t on those passenger ships. Otherwise, collecting intelligence would be much easier.”