Deep Sea Embers

After seeing Morris off and tidying up the storefront on the first floor, Duncan finally had time to tell Nina about what her teacher had said during the home visit.

After all, this was actually the main reason why Mr. Morris came to visit today—although the two of them did go off-topic after chatting later.

“Have you been not resting well lately? Or is there something wrong with your health?” At the dinner table on the second floor, Duncan asked with concern while spreading butter on slices of bread, “I heard from your teacher that you have been like this for several days.”

Nina was obviously a little nervous as she probably guessed what had been talked about. “I’m just a little tired…”

“Then it seems that what Mr. Morris said is true,” Duncan carefully observed Nina’s expression, “Physical reasons? Or is it because of something else? If you have something on your mind, you can tell me.”

Speaking of this, he paused, then added: “Of course, there may be some things at your age that you don’t want to tell adults like me, and this is normal. You are growing after all. Everyone should have their own ideas and personalities, which I respect. Still, you must remember that asking for help when needed is not shameful. Tell me if I can help, and we will find a solution together.”

He tried to make his words seem reliable and kind, which was not easy with all things considering. A drunken gambler that was so ill that he fell into being a cultist could hardly be called reliable.

“I… I’m really okay, really!” Nina seemed a little uncomfortable with such a kind uncle, but deep down, she didn’t resist such a change. Waving her hand up vigorously, “I’m only feeling tired lately, and when I’m awake, I feel sleepy like I’m dreaming.”

“Dreaming?” Duncan frowned, suddenly thinking of something, “Nightmare? Was it a dream of the fire when you were a child?”

Perhaps because he was paying attention to the sun fragments and the unsolved case eleven years ago, he suddenly had this idea that Nina would be related.

“No, not when I was a child.” Nina shakes her head.

“What is it then?”

“I always dream of… dreaming that I am standing in a very high place, like a tower in the city, and the streets below my feet are dark and full of ruins.” Nina recalled, slowly diving back into the images she had, “The ruins and ashes are like a huge scar running along the center of the city. It goes from the Crossroad up to the Upper City. I felt trapped and wanted to run, but an invisible wall kept blocking my way….”

Nina suddenly shook her head to dispel the nasty feeling: “It’s always like this in the dreams. Technically, it’s not all that frightening if I look back at it. There wasn’t anything chasing me or something like that. I only got scared because of the huge scar running across the city. Then whenever I get too stressed, I would jerk awake from the dream until it repeats again….”

Duncan listened carefully to the girl’s description and slowly frowned.

What Nina described… It is really not the fire she experienced in childhood, nor the scene I remember from this body.

It’s more like a running picture of a different Pland from another space and time.

If it were on Earth, Duncan would only regard this as a strange dream resulting from stress and workload, but in this strange and abnormal world, being haunted by the same nightmare spelled something worse.

“When did you start having these dreams?” Duncan asked with a serious expression.

“About a week or two ago? Or maybe earlier… I can’t remember,” Nina took a sip of the vegetable soup, her voice a little slurred, “I didn’t pay much care to it at the time….”

After hearing this, Duncan wanted to say “you should have told me earlier”, but then remembered that Nina’s “uncle” was still a rotten person addicted to some deplorable activities back then. An unreliable person could never be of help, so he swallowed the words back down.

“Have you consulted a professional yet? Like a doctor?”

Nina raised her head: “You mean a psychiatrist?”

“Yes, psychiatrist.” Duncan thought about it and immediately nodded.

In this world, “psychiatrist” is an indispensable profession. There are too many things watching the city-state at night. From the shadows lurking in the depths to the heretical heirs of the chaotic religions, all of which wanted to harm the mortals. However, the most problematic are the psychological kind – nightmares, hallucinations, and cognitive deviations from reality. The only field that tackles this was psychology, and in this world, it’s not a profession that sits you down and has a nice chat, they also use supernatural powers at times to correct the distorted mindset.

Nina’s frequent strange dreams should also belong to the “disease” these psychiatrists pay attention to.

“I haven’t,” Nina said sullenly, “their fees are expensive… I was just having weird dreams.”

“But these strange dreams have begun to affect your life,” Duncan said seriously, “and continuing to dream about these strange scenes may be a dangerous sign. You must have learned this in school, did you not?”

While saying this, he was also quick to add inside his heart – there must be something wrong with Nina’s continuous strange dreams. In any case, since he already lives here in a strange and abnormal world, he must be wary of the “elements” of these supernatural fields.

As it so happens, he also wants to meet the “professionals” of this field using this opportunity. It would be good to learn how they treat those who are ill so he could copy…

Nina was obviously still a little hesitant, but in front of Duncan’s serious expression, she finally lost the battle. “That… then we can go to the community church on the weekend and ask the storm pastor to do a blessing. The cost is very small for that, and if it doesn’t work, we can find a special psychiatrist afterward, okay?”

Church? Storm Priest? Those who follow the Storm Goddess Gamona?

Duncan found this arrangement to be very good. He also wants to meet a priest serving the gods too.

“Okay, that’s settled then.” He nodded immediately, “Just because you’re going to the museum on the weekend, we’ll stop by the church when you get back.”

“Hmm!”

After dinner, Nina and Duncan both went back to their rooms, the latter being accompanied by Ai’s lazy figure lying on the windowsill.

The dove had been flying outside all day and had returned without harvest.

“Hurry, destroy, tired…” Ai mopes and rests her head down like a pig when her master saunters over.

“You really worked hard,” Duncan knew that it was indeed a tiring day for this bird, so he readily untied the cultists’ sensor from her back. Soothing Ai’s feathers as he spoke, “This is indeed not going to be easy. They are hiding deeply now that the Storm Church is watching.”

The dove rolled her eyes and flapped those wings in protest.

Amused by the childish behaviour, Duncan taps the bird’s head as a tease: “Even so, this still has to be done… Of course, flying for a full day is indeed a little too intense, so I will arrange a combination of work and rest for you.”

He decided to do the search for cultists in the city a long-term project at this stage. Although after doing today’s “big business”, he’s no longer in urgent need of money, but removing rats from the city was still a meaningful act in itself.

Besides, he might actually hook a big fish somewhere down the line. The grunts won’t mean much in the equation, but the benefits of catching a sun heir were too tempting to not try. And on top of that, he’s quite concerned about the sun fragment incident from eleven years ago. It’s giving him bad vibes.

On the second hand, there seems to be a wild loli and dog running about in the city-state. The other party was constantly making trouble for the suntists. If he goes by that trail, he might run into the pair again if luck would permit. There are a lot of questions he had for those two regarding the deep sea and the starry sky mentioned by Morris. Who better to answer this than those who dabble in the power of the deep sea?

Noticing the serious expression on Duncan’s face, Ai sighs extremely humanely upon realizing there’s no way out of work.

“Aiya,” the bird’s tone was full of sorrow, “there is already a sad thick barrier between us…”

Duncan: “… Your vocabulary is quite rich!”