Chapter 19 The List

The view presented in the mirror seemed to be from a window. Duncan felt like he was pressed against the glass, observing the scene within the room. Inside was an unusually tall young woman, her profile looking somewhat familiar.

After a moment's recollection, Duncan remembered where he had seen that face—it was Vanna Wayne, the prestigious Inquisitor of Pland!

Her image had appeared in newspapers.

Why was he seeing this? Why was he suddenly seeing a follower of the Storm Goddess through a window? Some kind of secret connection? And when had this connection been established? Why hadn't he noticed it before, only to suddenly perceive this invisible "line" now?

Countless thoughts flooded Duncan's mind in an instant, but the next second, the jumbled mess in his head was interrupted by something his eyes caught.

He saw what the Inquisitor was reading in the mirror.

It was a document, written in a precise format, with the sacred symbol of the Storm Goddess printed on its surface. The opening sentence read: "This is to notify all captains and accompanying priests and guides on the boundless seas that Anomaly 099 – the Puppet Coffin – has recently gone out of control. The Holiest and Wisest One bears witness, the cursed object is lost in the storm. The details of this uncontrolled anomaly and its characteristics are announced as follows..."

Duncan's eyes widened. He looked over Vanna's shoulder, watching the document describe Anomaly 099 in a format resembling a specific prayer. He saw the dangerous curse capable of decapitation, the origin of the Puppet Coffin, and the related records of "Alice's Guillotine"...

In astonishment, his gaze moved downwards, seeing the record of the White Oak being "attacked" at the end of the document. However, the key part of the last sentence was blocked by the Inquisitor's tall figure, making it impossible to see clearly.

Duncan leaned left and right in front of the mirror, anxiously muttering, "Move aside, move aside..."

In the lounge, Vanna suddenly felt a slight breeze brush past her ear. She subconsciously looked to the side, seeing a crack in the window, through which the cold evening sea breeze was blowing.

The flames of several oil lamps in the room flickered. The soft light dispelled the malice spreading between heaven and earth as night approached, and gave her an exceptionally reassuring feeling.

She placed the document aside and turned to the local bishop, "Put it away. The city-state bishops' handling will definitely be thorough. This thing is safe."

The local bishop nodded, stepping forward to collect the document while also turning on the electric lights in the room. The light, brighter than the oil lamps, dispelled the dimness of the day-night transition. "Are you returning to the Central Cathedral tonight?"

"Bishop Valentine is still waiting for me to discuss matters," Vanna nodded slightly. "Recently, things have been uneasy in the city-state. We may need to conduct a large-scale prayer to strengthen the cathedral's protection of the entire city-state."

As she spoke, she looked up at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The light bulbs in the chandelier made the room as bright as day. "...Ah, if only electric lights could have an exorcising effect, being so bright and illuminating a far greater area than flames..."

"Who says they can't?" The local bishop spread his hands. "It's just a pity that electricity has no sacredness."

Vanna shook her head, saying nothing. After bidding farewell to the local bishop, she stepped out of the lounge.

After Vanna left, an oil lamp near the window suddenly flickered slightly, then returned to calm.

The scene in the mirror gradually dissipated. After the green light film faded, the glass reflected the objects in the captain's cabin once more.

In that instant when the Inquisitor turned her head, Duncan had seen the line at the end of the document—the most useful information for him being a few words:

Anomaly 005 – The Shifting Manor.

"The Shifting Manor is indeed classified as an 'Anomaly'... and its number is so high." He returned to his desk, muttering to himself thoughtfully, but then he became puzzled. "Come to think of it, how are these numbers assigned?"

Nina's textbook mentioned many anomaly and phenomenon numbers and names, as well as that this "list" and the rules behind its formulation originated from the ancient Cretan Kingdom. However, it was vague about how the numbers of those anomalies and phenomena were determined and by whom, only saying that the various churches had the right to interpret and the obligation to publicize, and mentioned that under normal circumstances, the earlier the number, the more bizarre, dangerous, or historically significant it was—Duncan hadn't thought about it much at first, but now he suddenly had questions.

Are these numbers... arranged in order of discovery?

If they were arranged in order of discovery, then the Shifting Manor, with only a hundred years of history, could not possibly occupy such an early number. After all, there are more ancient phenomenon in this world than the Shifting Manor. In theory, all the higher numbers would have been taken long ago.

But if they weren't arranged in order of discovery, but according to the degree of danger, wouldn't these numbers have to change constantly? Every time a new anomaly or phenomenon was discovered, its danger value would have to be re-evaluated, and then the entire "ranking" would have to be corrected, which would become a huge project and would be extremely inconvenient to use.

Although the textbook said that the degree of danger of anomalies and phenomenon was not necessarily 100% positively correlated with the ranking, it also clearly mentioned that in most cases, anomalies and phenomenon with earlier numbers were more dangerous and terrifying than those with later numbers.

This raises a very thought-provoking question: if the existing list of anomalies and phenomenon is a relatively stable and unchanging thing, then its arranger is simply a prophet-like figure. When listing, he almost had to predict the "ranking" of each anomaly and phenomenon, not only to accurately assign its position when a new anomaly and phenomenon was discovered, but also to leave "empty spaces" in the table for powerful anomalies and phenomenon that would appear in the future.

Duncan's doubts about this "list" and the person behind its formulation suddenly arose because he saw the expression "Anomaly 005 – The Shifting Manor," but soon he put these doubts aside for the time being.

Because right now, something is more important than the rules behind the making of the "supernatural thing leaderboard"—Alice.

That cursed puppet from the Discordian Order has such a big background!

"I'm going out for a bit."

Duncan casually said to the pigeon on the desk and stepped out of the captain's cabin.

The goat head in the chartroom heard the sound of the door and immediately creaked as it turned its head. After seeing Duncan, it routinely opened its mouth: "Sur..."

"Duncan Abnomar—never mind that, where's Alice?"

"Ah, great cap..." After the goat head confirmed the name, it wanted to habitually ramble on for a while, but it was blocked by the captain after only a few words, causing its neck to creak. Then it reacted, "You're looking for Miss Alice? She's probably in her room counting her hair..."

"Counting hair?" Duncan was stunned. "What new problem has she developed... never mind, I'll go myself. You just keep sailing the ship."

After saying this, he didn't wait for a response and turned his head to leave the captain's room in a hurry, leaving the goat head stunned at the chart table, looking at the tightly closed door again.

"I didn't even get a chance to say more..." After holding back for a long time, the goat head finally reacted, its tone extremely depressed. "Is my ability to start conversations weakening..."

Just as it finished speaking, it saw the door to the captain's cabin in the corner open a crack, and the pigeon Aye squeezed out of the crack swaggeringly, flapping its wings to the table.

"Chat for five dollars?" The pigeon tilted its head, blinking its small eyes.

"Okay, okay, as long as there's someone to chat with!" The goat head immediately became happy. Based on the standard that everyone on the ship was its own, it wasn't picky at all about its communication partner. "What do you want to talk about? By the way, can you really talk normally? It always feels like you..."

"Get some fries."

"Huh?" The goat head was stunned. "No, I mean, can you really realize that you..."

"Get some fries."

"...If you want to talk about the cooking of maritime delicacies..."

"Get some fries."

"Can you say something else?"

"Get some fries."

Goat Head: "..."

Duncan didn't pay attention to the movements in the captain's room after he left. He walked straight through the upper deck and soon arrived at the sailors' cabin below deck. After organizing his thoughts a little in front of Alice's door, he reached out and knocked. "Alice, it's me."

A stuttering voice quickly came from inside the door: "P-p-please... c-c-come in..."

As soon as Duncan heard this, he subconsciously raised his eyebrows, then pushed open the door.

The puppet in the Gothic long dress was sitting at the table next to the bed, facing a dressing mirror on the table. She was holding her head with both hands, her silver-white hair cascading down like a waterfall—the head turned its gaze over, and a smile gradually bloomed on the pretty, delicate face. "C-c-captain, g-g-good e-e-evening..."

Duncan: "Put your head on."

"Boop."