Chapter 2054: Chapter 2054: Seabed
As she lunged, the coldness even caused the air to whisper as it froze. With frost clinging to her eyelashes, cheeks, and hair, the Evil Ghost, whose face had turned completely blue, reached out a hand as if to strangle Miss Teresa.
But she was blocked by Shard, who intercepted her hand with the silver Moonlight Greatsword held in one hand. Though the sword’s glimmer was dim, it revealed the runes that had been hidden within the light.
Holding Miss Teresa in his left arm, Shard looked at the girl with frost on her face, his right hand gripping the sword. Staggering back two steps, she then suddenly lunged at them again. The sword’s light was not bright, yet it effortlessly pierced through her. Thus, star-like glimmers drifted from her illusory body, and the restored calm girl looked at her own hand, giving Shard a grim smile:
"Do I look hideous now?"
"Though I don’t really know what you count as, Miss Schultz Teresa is truly beautiful."
The now translucent girl nodded bitterly:
"Can you give me one last hug?"
Shard thought for a moment. The Moonlight Greatsword dissipated, and he embraced her with his left arm as well. That illusory body thus finally dispersed into light, completely vanishing. A transparent, pure-white spirit nestled in Shard’s embrace, bewilderedly looking at her own body on the other side.
When the spirit and body clasped hands, amid violent coughing, the body Shard had "fished out from the sea" finally showed a flush of color on its pale face. Miss Schultz Teresa opened her eyes, then, expression pained, clung to Shard’s body, trembling. As the spirit returned to the body, the discomfort originating from the body surged into the spirit in an instant.
Adding to the already fragile state of the spirit and body, she could not even adapt to the feeling of "being alive":
"I seemed to have had a dream; I dreamed of playing with marbles in the past, dreamed of seeing my aunt for the first time, dreamed of Rune courses, dreamed of..."
The faint voice was not easy to distinguish. Carefully holding her, Shard sat down beside the fire. Looking again at the other three, the frost layers on their faces had disappeared without notice. They bewilderingly gazed at the firelight as if completely unaware of what had just happened:
"Sir, what did the deity say?"
Prof. Ivins shivered as he asked.
Miss Malone, the ordinary girl, and Maid Miss Maxim also looked at him. Holding the gradually recovering Miss Teresa, Shard hesitated slightly:
"The deity is fishing, taking the bait you’ve offered, fishing... the truth of the sunken ship and then sending you out. I am here to assist the deity, so you just wait here."
Though unclear about the specifics, it is highly likely that the sinking of the Radiant Messenger relates to the four present. The divine statue offers them a chance at salvation, though in a peculiar way. Since they don’t yet realize their bodies have long since sunk into the deep sea with the ship, Shard saw no need to reveal this point.
Earlier, everyone said that when the Radiant Messenger sank, everything around was rapidly descending; they probably "died" together at that moment. Yet the spirit floated up under the deity’s guidance, and whether the fishing deity was simply for their wishes and dreams, Shard couldn’t yet determine.
This story wasn’t difficult, nor dangerous, but it was full of complexities.
Of course, Shard wasn’t worried about himself also being in a soul state. "She" could monitor Shard’s body state in real-time, and besides, the Tree Father sent Shard to the past just to witness the story and offer slight assistance to the people of the past, not to face danger.
"Fishing, is it? Thank you, sir, it’s all on you now."
The violet-haired Maid softly said, moving her lips. Shard then smoothly made a request:
"Using your items for fishing requires passing tests similar to an Illusionary Realm. Professor, Miss Maxim, Miss Malone, please ponder carefully any wishes or desires from your past. I don’t know if you saw earlier, but the past wishes fished up need to be fulfilled. I’m not particularly erudite and don’t know what pasts and conflicts you have. In fact, later I’ll be leaving here; if you have problems, I can look for solutions outside."
"Who exactly are you?"
Professor Sarah Evans finally asked the long-suppressed question, while the newly awakened Miss Teresa leaned on Shard’s shoulder, answering for him:
"Shard is the person chosen by Her Majesty Violet, the closest to Her Majesty."
She gently squeezed Shard’s hand. Besides Shard, she also understood the current situation and knew that the three companions weren’t entirely real. There were too many things in the deep sea dreams she didn’t want to remember, but dreams about childhood, girlhood, and the conversation from a few days ago were like nails, firmly stabilizing her spirit.
"My time is running out."
Shard said:
"I just have one question: why would this deity help you?"
He glanced at the deity fishing again; the deity did not use the remaining three baits. Fishing with an empty hook, it was uncertain whether it could indeed catch anything:
"Do you have any connection to this Great One?"
"When I was young, I probably prayed to this deity."
Miss Teresa softly spoke, and the other three gave similar answers. Maid Miss Maxim even clearly remembered hearing this deity’s legend from her grandmother and once naively believed that with sincere prayer, she could gain trees that grew candy.
"Candy trees? These conditions are easy to fulfill."
Shard said. The Arcane Technique [Candy Making] can transform any object Shard considers food into candy. Though he doesn’t eat trees, he can make the fruit on a tree growing apples become apple candy.
Taking a notebook, with Miss Teresa, whose body was warming up, substituting for him, Shard gathered the wishes of the remaining three spirits. He was somewhat worried about whether the normal Miss Teresa would still be willing to stay with the three abnormal "companions," but he seemed to have underestimated the Eleventh Rank Witch of this era.
Shard took advantage of the final moments to return once again to the Deity who was fishing.
The Deity didn’t look at him, continuously gazing at the pitch-black sea.
Sitting at the edge of a floating board amid the ocean waves, fishing with his back to the waiting souls for redemption, even though the Deity now appeared as a child, the scene remained extremely striking.
"Deity, I seek answers from you."
"Of course, I am happy to fulfill the wishes of a child."
Shard adjusted his mood:
"How can they leave here? Since you are willing to give them a chance to live again, would you also generously allow them to return to the normal world?"
"That’s easy, didn’t you tell them yourself? Find out the truth of the shipwreck, and they will naturally be able to continue their lives. Children must not lie, they must do what they say."
The Deity glanced at the sea and smiled:
"Of course, if you can indeed help them discover the truth, I can give you a gift as well. The Creator of Innocence is so generous with you, I certainly cannot be stingy either."
"Thank you for your generosity."
Shard whispered his thanks:
"While fishing for Miss Schultz Teresa earlier, I saw her last conversation with Miss Violet. Does this mean that the four of them knew some critical information before the accident occurred but failed to piece together the truth?"
He tentatively asked, the Deity smiled but remained silent.
"Also, for what reason are you here to rescue them?"
Shard thought the Deity might say "for their wishes," but the Deity still smiled without speaking. Somehow, he suddenly recalled the Deity’s earlier words that "children cannot lie," and gently nodded to indicate his understanding.
The time for this session was ending, so he thanked the Deity once more and then turned back to the bonfire.
The living need food, so he left enough food, water, and other supplies before again emphasizing the "mission" of seeking the truth of the shipwreck. The task given to Shard by the Tree Father didn’t include this, but sending the living out of the mysterious place was something Shard had always been doing.
The expressions of the three false bodies varied; it was unclear what they were thinking. However, there was no time to ask, so Shard retrieved his notebook, looking at the collected wishes and regrets of each individual from their childhood and teenage years:
"No problem, I’ll find a way to handle it. Miss Teresa, be careful here; absolutely do not enter the seawater again."
He said to the only other living person besides himself, his solo emphasis not causing suspicion among the other three, who appeared very close from the start. The young golden-haired girl nodded, despite her reluctance to let her only current support leave, she knew it was something she couldn’t prevent, as Miss Violet had said she would eventually become an independent Grand Witch:
"Come back soon, I’ll be waiting for you here."
She gently hugged Shard, although there were many things she wanted to say but couldn’t voice. Thus, she gently kissed Shard, a shallow kiss with the taste of seawater, indeed novel to taste.
Touching his lips, he draped a blanket over her once more, and Shard waved farewell:
"So everyone, we shall meet again next time. Please believe you are still alive, only then can you be saved."
The three souls bid farewell to Shard, and simultaneously, a white mist that these ladies couldn’t see began to emerge around Shard.
He prepared to return to the time of the Sixth Era, yet at the final moment, he heard the Deity fishing with his back to him whisper:
"Perhaps you are quite interested in what’s really in the water."
During the thickening mist, Shard dashed once more to the edge of the floating board. The seawater, originally completely opaque, appeared illuminated due to the glowing white mist.
In the mist that entirely enveloped Shard, right before the Outlander completely left this time point, he witnessed for the first time the scene beneath the Sea of Darkness.
On the deep ocean floor, countless corpses with only the whites of their eyes staring made a crisscrossing scene. Suspended within the water, each reaching out with arms trying to touch the surface, their aimless shuddering in the lightless waters resembled tens of thousands of trembling worms.
Between the corpses floated countless indistinct objects, and the Deity’s faintly glowing fish hook hovered amidst them, untouched by corpse or item.
"Just now, did I cast the fish hook between these things?"
A moment of shock witnessed the corpses seemingly trying to leap out of the water in madness, rushing toward Shard. But the next moment, Shard vanished, leaving only an undertow pushing the corpses in the darkness below the surface.
By the fire, the three ladies watched the flames, Miss Schultz Teresa quietly observing them, then wiping her lips with her fingers.
Professor Ivins appeared bewildered, seemingly fearing something; the purple-haired Maid Miss Maxim hid her left hand under the blanket, grasping something, her face starting to frost slightly; the ordinary girl Miss Malone’s lips moved, as if constantly murmuring someone’s name, her gaze on the flames empty and lifeless.
Everyone harbors their own secrets; their presence here is no coincidence.
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