Chapter 1 The Dissipation of Smoke

The fleeting "smoke" that touched him dissipated.

However, more smoke continued to emanate from the Storm Cathedral, drifting and gathering, like a dark cloud invisibly coalescing over Pland, its coverage expanding and gradually encompassing half the city-state.

Duncan still felt a slight chill on his fingertips. He frowned slightly, his gaze fixed on the sky above the city, his mind clouded with doubt.

Those greyish-white mists gave him a feeling… as if some immense creature had lost its form, its soul ascending into the dimension of reality, unbound and transformed into this appearance, or as if something behind the veil of reality was gradually releasing its perception, using the mist as tendrils to "sense" the contours of the real world.

The second feeling was especially pronounced when he touched the smoke.

"Uncle Duncan?" Nina's voice suddenly came from the side, interrupting Duncan's reverie. "What are you reaching for?"

"... Nothing," Duncan said softly, blinking.

Clearly, Nina couldn't see the smoke—nor could Shirley and Alice beside her, nor the ordinary people gathered in and around the pier.

But could the people in the Storm Cathedral see it? Could the female pontiff who resided in the cathedral, regarded as the earthly representative of the Storm Goddess Gomona, see it?

Duncan quietly watched the magnificent "ark," almost as large as the entire port district, as it slowed down on the edge of Pland, its side structures slowly transforming, as if growing limbs, extending long mechanical bridges and connecting to the piers on the port.

After an unknown amount of time, Vanna was the first to react. She took a deep breath. "My faith..."

The elevator doors opened.

Vanna and Bishop Valentine stepped onto the mechanical bridge leading to the Storm Cathedral—the majestic cathedral grew closer in her sight, radiating an increasingly awe-inspiring and even suffocating aura of solemnity.

As she took a step, the slight crackling sound of flames igniting abruptly broke the cacophony in the dimly lit space.

"This is indeed directly above the Storm Cathedral, but structurally speaking, it's detached from the main body of the cathedral," Valentine said with a smile. In the light of several braziers, his smile seemed to conceal a hint of profound meaning. "We are standing on the lowest level of the Pilgrim Ark, in the belly of that behemoth."

Vanna had expected the elevator to take her somewhere on the upper levels of the cathedral-ark, but instead, she felt the entire car descending.

She seemed to be speaking to the void in the darkness. Vanna raised her head in surprise, then instinctively looked at Bishop Valentine, only to see the same perplexed expression on his face.

Led by a team of Paladin Knights, Vanna and Valentine crossed the long bridge, walked across the connecting deck, almost as wide as a dock square, and were finally brought into a huge elevator.

Vanna took a deep breath—standing in such a solemn and reverent setting, even as an Inquisitor, she couldn't help but feel somewhat…

"Very well, Saint Valentine, your resoluteness moves me—you shall continue to fulfill your duty, as the protector of the Pland city-state until the very end.

The expression on Vanna's face instantly froze.

"Your Holiness," Vanna quickly suppressed the doubts in her heart, composed her expression, and saluted respectfully alongside Bishop Valentine. After the ceremony, she slightly raised her eyes and cautiously asked, "You summoned us here, is it to…"

"Here, under the gaze of the Storm Sovereign, and also closest to the deep sea, the Lord's blessings and the Lord's judgment coexist."

She could only vaguely see a figure in luxurious clothing standing in the center of an extremely dim room.

Bishop Valentine, noticing Vanna's hesitation, gently shook his head. "Relax, this isn't your first time seeing Her Holiness the Pontiff."

After a while, she saw some colorful flags appear on the edge of the cathedral-ark. Then, a team of

Paladin Knights in specially made armor appeared on the long mechanical bridge. They rode steam-powered walkers, came to the dock along the mechanical bridge, and one of them stepped forward, approaching the group of high-ranking clerics.

"This decision takes effect immediately."

An unbearably oppressive atmosphere filled this vast and dim space.

The descent of the car lasted a long time, so long that Vanna couldn't help but start to believe that the elevator would go straight to the sea, before the creaking sound of the steel cables running suddenly stopped.

Just getting closer to it made Vanna's heart pound.

Duncan sensed no hostility or danger from the mist, so he took no action for the time being.

"Please, all clerics and city-state officials, wait a moment—you can also rest to the side," the Paladin Knight commander said, nodding slightly to Dante and the others. "Please bear with us, it won't be long."

And during this process, the amorphous and invisible smoke noticeably expanded.

Vanna somewhat confusedly followed Valentine out of the elevator, hearing the gate in front of them slam shut with a scraping sound. Then, the two looked ahead, seeing a place almost completely shrouded in darkness.

Even with the illumination of several braziers, the nearby space was still shrouded in dimness. Vanna couldn't see where the end of this "room" was. She could only see the greyish-white, slightly smooth floor extending continuously in front of her, all the way to the end of the darkness. At the edges of the brazier light, she could vaguely see some huge "pillars," and many crisscrossing shadows connected between these pillars, looking like… the cathedral-ark's bottom piping system, or perhaps support structures.

The city-state and the bell tower on the cathedral-ark rang out at the same time.

Why would the Pontiff receive her and Bishop Valentine here?

Valentine next to her was the same. The Pontiff spoke slowly, and before Vanna and Valentine could react, she finished speaking. Vanna next to her immediately reacted, lowering her head to show obedience.

The two saints on the scene looked at each other in dismay. Was there this step in the ritual?

"This is a temporary arrangement by the Pontiff," the Paladin Knight commander explained, seeing the confusion of the two high-ranking clerics in front of him. "I have some things I want to know from you."

Vanna: "...?"

"She didn't ask about your faith," Valentine shook his head. "She asked if, after one's faith wavers, continuing to fulfill one's duties becomes easier than before?"

"May the glory of the Storm Sovereign be with you." Vanna lowered her head, saying the same as Bishop Valentine next to her.

The voice of the Paladin Knight came from the side: "Please proceed forward—Her Holiness the Pontiff is waiting for you ahead."

Vanna paused, seemingly not immediately grasping the deeper meaning in the Pontiff's words, but Bishop Valentine next to her showed a dawning realization after a brief moment of astonishment. The old bishop immediately said, "I fulfill my duties as always, protecting the city-state and guiding believers both come from the bottom of my heart…"

Valentine didn't wait for Vanna to finish, but suddenly asked a somewhat inexplicable question: "Do you know what that place is?"

Vanna hesitated for a moment, then took a step forward. "Bishop Valentine, Inquisitor Vanna, may the glory of the Storm Sovereign be with you."

"Her Holiness the Pontiff invites the two of you to board the ark," the Paladin Knight commander said, amidst the hissing of air. "The others, please wait a moment."

Following the requirements of the ritual, after Helena Port fired salutes and played music to show welcome, the Storm Cathedral released a long mechanical bridge, completing the connection between the Pilgrim Ark and the city-state. Then, the second melodious and solemn sound of a steam whistle came from the ark.

The huge steam valve rotated open, and the pressure relief pipes and whistle devices throughout the Pilgrim Ark were activated at the same time. Streams of white air gushed out from the cathedral's ramparts and spires, soaring straight into the sky amidst the whistle sounds.

"... Um, I understand."

Questions arose in Vanna's mind, but before he could speak, he heard a solemn and majestic

voice coming from ahead: "You have arrived—Saint Valentine, and Saint Vanna. Welcome to the ark."

Valentine: "...?"

This is the bottom hold of the Pilgrim Ark?

"Saint Vanna, I have seen your confusion. Given your actual situation, I must announce the temporary suspension of your duties as the Inquisitor of Pland.

She raised her head, her gaze slowly wandering between Vanna and Valentine.

"As Your Holiness wills," Bishop Valentine immediately suppressed the confusion in his expression, bowing respectfully.

"This… isn't this the Storm Cathedral?" Valentine raised his head, blinking in confusion. "The bottom of the Storm Cathedral?"

The Paladin Knight commander lowered his head—he was entirely covered in armor made of white alloy, and his breastplate and arm guards had pressure pipes and steam valve structures. A thick steel mask concealed the knight's true face. Vanna could only see a faint red light in his goggles, and hear

the hissing of air mixed in his voice.

Valentine's gaze stopped, but he was looking neither at Vanna nor at the Pontiff.

Steam is the breath of God, steel is the bridge between man and God. Beneath the mask, the hissing of air in the words carried the holiness of preaching.

Bang, bang, bang, with a series of slight crackling sounds, several braziers were lit one after another. The fire suddenly dispelled the darkness of the elevator, allowing Vanna to see Her Holiness the Pontiff standing not far away, and also making her shocked to discover that the scale of this space was far broader than she had imagined—

"After one's faith wavers, is continuing to fulfill one's duties an easy thing?"