Deep Sea Embers.

Chapter 548 Lucy's "Home"

Crown Street, in this block located on the edge of the upper city of Qingfeng Harbor, there is a mansion always lingering with mystery located in its deepest part - No. 99 Crown Street.

This is a three-story spire building with a distinctive northern city-state color. It is completely different from the elf-style houses that are common in Qingfeng Harbor. It has a dark roof and a contrasting white exterior wall. It also has complicated patterns and solemn lines. There are tall and tall windows, and there are spacious gardens that are quite rare in the city-state at the front and back of the mansion. In the garden, there are all kinds of strange flowers and shrubs that almost no one can name.

Many people know the existence of this mansion, but almost no one knows the details of this mansion, because its owner seldom shows up. On weekdays, only a few taciturn servants take care of the gardens and houses here, and at night Afterwards, when the lights in the mansion were turned on, some spooky-looking shadows would appear in those lights——

Some insisted that they saw the servants who tended the house during the day shed their human skins at night, and turned into squeaky living puppets and tin men, walking up and down the house, and some announced that they were passing by in the vicinity of the mansion. Sometimes they were attracted by inexplicable whispers, and when they woke up, they came to other places inexplicably. Some people even said that they saw the flowers and plants in the front yard of the mansion turn into black thorns at the moment of sunset , covering the entire first floor of the big house like a cage.

There are countless weird rumors extending from this. In the most outrageous rumors, the troublemakers claim that the house is actually imprisoned by a lady's ghost, and the power of the curse spreads from the basement of the mansion, transforming the original place. Servants of God - turn them into tin men and puppets without consciousness and memory when night falls.

But in the end, it turned out that these were just weird delusions made up by passers-by under the nervousness of their brains—and in the city-states on the boundless sea, there are always many similar rumors and imaginations.

The changes and pollution brought by the night are nerve-wracking. It is inevitable that many people will be overly vigilant and regard those caves that emit wind and empty houses with strange noises as nests that breed filth in the dark. The guards deal with many supernatural reports every day, and it is inevitable that there will be such nervous "false positives"-generally, as long as this kind of tension does not cross the boundary of "spiritual pollution", there will be nothing question.

After all, pure nervousness is not enough to "create" something in the dark. It is better for the citizens to be vigilant than to have no reaction after the supernatural infection really happens.

As for the real owner of the mansion...

The "Sea Witch" has long been used to the frightening eyes and scary messages surrounding her, and to a certain extent, part of the rumors surrounding No. 99 Crown Street was actively spread by her.

"I need a place to rest in the city-state. After all, always staying at sea will make people nervous, and I am no exception." Back to her "home" in Qingfeng Harbor, Lucrezia came Going to the window, I looked at the quite quiet door, "But I don't like to deal with people - it's hard to find a place that is really undisturbed in a city-state, and even remote streets are crowded with people, so it's better to make some The frightening movement, so that no one will look at my door out of curiosity."

"Why don't you consider learning from Tirian?" Duncan was looking at the furnishings in this big house curiously, and said casually after hearing Lucrecia's words, "He found a deserted place in the no-man's land of the Cold Sea. The island serves as the base of the Sea Mist Fleet, so you don’t have to worry about being disturbed for a century..."

Lucrezia turned her head: "Then you were bumped into by your dad while secretly watching a striptease at home?"

Duncan coughed dryly twice immediately: "Ahem, don't say that about your brother—say it in front of him next time."

Lucrezia: "..."

The corners of Miss Witch's eyes obviously twitched—she didn't know whether she liked her father's current personality, but she knew that she obviously needed some time to get used to it.

But soon, she sorted out her expression: "I can't learn from him. Occupying an island means building and managing countless facilities, and commanding a fleet to maintain everything from logistics supplies to foreign affairs. The whole system of communication, I don't have the brains - it will take up a lot of my time for research, you know, just maintaining the operation of the Bright Star has exhausted my energy."

Footsteps came from the side, and a servant in a black and white uniform came over with a tray in his hand. In the tray were heated towels and refreshing drinks to relieve the fatigue of the journey—this servant offered Lucrezia and Duncan Bending slightly in salute, a smile stiff as a corpse, the ticking of clockwork and gears inside.

"You and Tirian have their own areas of expertise," Duncan took a drink from the tray, and looked at it curiously. As a result, the "manservant" who had a psychological fear said casually to Lucrezia, "Before I saw you again, I heard many rumors about you. According to the rumors, the relationship between your brothers and sisters is cold, even almost antagonistic." , Now it seems that the deviation is outrageous."

"After all... the split of the Lost Fleet was a major event a century ago, and the events after that event are not something ordinary people can find out. They only know that the Bright Star and the Sea Fog parted ways and almost ran to the end of the civilized world. Two ends, this will inevitably make them make up... a lot of drama."

As Lucrezia said, she shook her head with a complicated expression.

"After you... left, my brother and I met briefly a few times. At that time, the Lost Homeland had completely disappeared in the real world, but we could feel that you were still...'alive'."

She looked out the window, as if she was talking to herself, she whispered the past events that outsiders could not know.

"Near the border, at night, on the waterway you have explored, as long as we relax a little, we will 'hear' your voice, that irrational roar full of malice and destructive desire, It came from the depths of the world again and again, as if struggling to rise up, trying to tear down the barrier between the real world and the subspace...

"Several times, we even saw you and the Lost Homeland in the darkness at the turn of day and night—the ship rose from the darkness, approaching us like the end of the world, and death was everywhere it passed.

"But then we found out that only we can see that scene, it only exists in our vision, in our minds.

"Later, my brother summed up some rules. He found that it was because of the existence of 'us' that he attracted your 'eyes'. The closer Tirian and I were, the stronger this attraction...you Do you know? Just like lights, when two lights gather together, they will emit a brighter light, and Tirian and I are the 'lighthouses' for you to return to the real world from the subspace...

"So we parted, farther and farther apart, Tirian to the northern borders, and I sailed south - when at last we were half a world apart, we no longer saw your phantoms, and When we are farther away... we will finally not be able to hear your roar."

Lucrezia exhaled lightly, as if a heavy burden had fallen, holding back her words for a century, and her breath was a hundred years late.

Duncan listened quietly, but didn't know what to say—he knew that this "witch" was remembering and discussing another person at the moment, and he didn't have to bear any burden because of her narration, and he didn't have to. There is some regret and guilt, but for some reason, it is difficult for him to be indifferent, and even the "feeling" that he does not know whether it belongs to him can't be restrained from the bottom of his heart, so after a long silence, he can only gently Sighed: "Thank you for your hard work."

"Actually...it's okay," Lucrezia smiled and shook her head slightly, "In the first ten years, we missed you very much, and even when we heard those voices and saw those visions, we felt uneasy. Practical thoughts, thinking that if you actually follow the 'light' back to the real world, maybe everything will be alright.

"In the following ten years, the number of terrorist disasters caused by the frequent approach of the Lost Homeland to the real world increased day by day, and we began to be afraid. Coupled with the mentality of not knowing whether it could be regarded as a 'sense of responsibility', my brother and I began to look for A way to truly banish you completely.

"After a few more years... our 'exile' seems to be working. When the fear gradually subsides, the nostalgia can't help but rise again. My brother will occasionally mention the old days. We are careful not to mention you and the Lost Home name, but can't help but discuss those great routes and memorable voyages...

"In the last three to forty years, everything that can be discussed has been discussed, and we finally gradually stopped talking about the Lost Country. Everything seems to have passed, even in the official documents of most city-states and the sailing experience of the captains. , The Lost Homeland has become a 'historical term', a legendary story—even with that, the world's fear of the Sea Fog and the Bright Star seems to have subsided a lot.

"And then you appeared—the White Oak escaped from the storm and brought the terrible news to the city-state of Purand... Did you know? Tirian didn't sleep well for three days after receiving the news."

She suddenly laughed, as if she had never laughed so easily in a century.

At the tip of her hair, the silver-white hair accessories in the shape of sea waves and feathers swayed with her smile, glowing with warm light.

Duncan sighed softly.

However, just as he was about to say something, a scream suddenly came from the direction of the living room, interrupting the conversation between him and Lucrezia.

It sounded like Nina's voice.

Duncan and Lucrezia glanced at each other quickly, turned around and ran to the living room.

Just halfway through the run, they heard Nina's voice full of shock and annoyance——

"They! Why! On muffins! Stinky beans—"

(End of this chapter)