On the Conquest Sea at night, inside the cabin of the passenger ship, Vanya, who had only just fallen asleep not long ago, woke up amidst a series of noisy sounds and buzzing roars. She sat up from the bed with a frown, then let out a deep yawn.
"Woo woo... What's happening outside? What's making such a loud noise..."
Muttering to herself, Vanya rubbed her eyes as she got out of bed. She stood up, turned on the gas lamp fixed to the wall, and then looked out the window. Immediately after, she was surprised to find that outside the porthole was a dense fog, making it impossible to see anything clearly.
'What's going on? Why is it so foggy outside? There was clearly no fog before I went to sleep just now. Did it just start?'
Vanya thought to herself as she looked at the fog outside the window. Then she looked at the clock on the wall and, after checking the time, confirmed that she had only slept for about half an hour.
'Half an hour... Could such a thick fog appear suddenly? And those sounds outside? Did something happen?'
Seeing the various unusual circumstances before her, a trace of unease couldn't help but rise in Vanya's heart. She then decided to go outside and see what was happening. After casually putting on her Sister's outer garment, she opened the cabin door and came out into the corridor. However, not long after she reached the corridor, she was stopped by a crew member, who spoke to Vanya in Iweig language:
"Miss Sister, we are currently experiencing complex sea conditions and are focusing on resolving the issue. Please return to your cabin and do not move around freely."
"Complex sea conditions, I understand..."
Hearing the sailor's words, Vanya nodded. Because she was coming to Iweig for a pilgrimage, Vanya had done her homework before coming and learned a little Iweig language. After the recent journey, she could understand some simple instructions from the sailors. Then, she also followed the sailor's words, returned to her cabin, and closed the door again.
Inside the cabin, Vanya did not go back to sleep again, but sat quietly on the bed, waiting with a hint of worry for the so-called "complex sea conditions" to end.
While waiting, Vanya heard the noise and roaring outside gradually cease, and the dense fog outside the window also seemed to start slowly dissipating. When she had waited for a long time and saw that the sea fog had mostly cleared, Vanya couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew... It seems we really did encounter complex sea conditions. It should be alright now."
Vanya thought to herself. After feeling a little relieved, she prepared to take off her outer garment and go back to sleep. Just then, another burst of noisy commotion came from outside the cabin. These sounds were mixed with faint cries of pain from people, which startled Vanya.
'Is this... also dealing with complex sea conditions?'
Hearing the sounds of people crying out in pain outside, Vanya's heart, which had just settled down, immediately rose again. Facing this sudden situation, she sat inside the cabin and hesitated for a while, then decided to go out and see.
Vanya got up again, opened the door, and walked out of the cabin, returning to the corridor. She found that at this time, there were other passengers in the corridor who had also come out to check the situation due to worry. However, as they were about to reach the deck, several sailors standing at the entrance stopped them.
"Please return to your cabins, passengers. The ship has encountered some sudden issues that we are dealing with. There is no great danger, please do not worry."
Several sailors blocked the entrance to the deck, persuading the passengers who had come out to check to return to their cabins. These scattered passengers, after receiving the sailors' replies, also returned to their cabins. Among them, Vanya waited until the passengers around her had left, then stood in place and observed for a moment longer. After slightly clenching her fists and then releasing them, she also chose to return to her cabin.
After returning to her cabin and closing the door, Vanya sat back down on the chair. At this moment, her expression became extremely grim.
As a Black Earth Stage ""Lamp"" Extraordinary, Vanya possessed vision far surpassing ordinary people. Even in the pitch-black night, she could see things clearly to a certain extent. With such vision, she saw things that ordinary passengers did not.
Just now, when she went towards the deck but was blocked by several sailors, she saw several men standing on the dark deck behind those sailors, holding firearms, with serious expressions, and standing naked. At the feet of those men were sailors lying on the ground unconscious. Although the sailors were sincerely persuading the passengers to return to their rooms, Vanya could sense the look of panic on their faces.
After seeing all this, Vanya knew that a major change, and one that was not good, had occurred on the passenger ship she was on.
Suppressing the urge to directly take action, Vanya returned to her cabin to think of a countermeasure.
'Some sailors were struck down, those strangers on the deck, those few sailors seem to be threatened. Our ship might have been invaded. I can try to notify the escort fleet...'
Vanya thought to herself. Then she turned her face to look out the porthole, wanting to confirm the specific location of the escort fleet by the ship's lights. However, no matter how she looked, she could not find any trace of the Church warships on the dark sea. Witnessing this situation, Vanya's heart couldn't help but sink.
'They're gone... They're actually gone? Where are the other ships? Where are the escort warships now? Why can't I find any of them?'
Looking at the dark sea outside the porthole, Vanya thought anxiously to herself. At this moment, she was increasingly realizing the seriousness of the situation.
Because Vanya had frequently encountered various dangerous accidents and witnessed all sorts of storms recently, the current situation did not make Vanya feel panicked or at a loss. After taking a breath and calming down for a while, she took out her holy book and placed it on the table. After closing her eyes and silently praying for a while, she opened the holy book, turned to one of the pages, and began writing on it.
'The current situation is very strange and complicated. Anyway, I'll first inform Miss Dorothea and hear her opinion... It's so late at night, I'm really bothering her...'
...
Similarly on the dark sea, another passenger ship was sailing forward alone in the night. Inside a certain cabin of this passenger ship, Dorothy, who had been asleep for some time, suddenly opened her eyes, then quickly sat up from the ship. After a yawn, she rubbed her forehead with a slight frown.
'This is... Vanya's prayer, a prayer hoping to communicate with me? At such a late hour... Suddenly this happens, did something happen?'
Sitting on the bed, Dorothy thought to herself. Although her heart was full of various doubts, her actions were not slow at all. After standing up from the bed, she turned on the wall lamp and sat down at the table using the Light.
Dorothy, wearing pajamas, took out the ""wen hai hang zhi"" from the magic box. After turning to Vanya's communication page, she saw the newly written words printed on the book's surface. Vanya informed Dorothy in as much detail as possible about the situation that had occurred on her side and asked Dorothy for any suggestions. She hoped Dorothy could help her deal with these hijackers.
Sitting by the window table, Dorothy finished reading everything Vanya had written. Her frown deepened even further. She hadn't expected such a situation to suddenly occur on Vanya's side, that someone would dare to attack a Church ship!
'According to Vanya's description, their ship might have been inexplicably controlled. Intruders from who knows where struck down the sailors, threatened the crew members, and forcibly ordered all passengers to stay in their cabins. This looks like hijacking no matter how you look at it. They even dare to hijack the Church's pilgrim fleet, what is the background of this group?'
Dorothy thought, somewhat confused. However, she already had some guesses in her mind.
'Thick fog... naked men... intruders suddenly appearing on the sea... These elements combined immediately make one think of the Sea Abyss Church's group of Water Manipulators... Do they have the guts to hijack this pilgrim fleet? If it's really them, then what's their motive? To find new sacrifices for Haimo Hois?
'But the deep blue heart is in my hands, without that thing, they can't perform the ritual. And if they wanted to find sacrifices, they wouldn't need to specifically target the Church... On this sea, are there others besides the Sea Abyss Church who possess the Wave Path?...'
Sitting on the chair, Dorothy guessed who the people who hijacked Vanya's ship were. However, due to the lack of information, she guessed for a while but couldn't come up with a result. So she turned her attention to how Vanya should deal with the current situation.
'I am very far from Vanya's location now, and it's very difficult to help her directly. Therefore, Vanya's actions over there must be cautious and careful.
'Since those hijackers can create such a thick fog to disconnect the passenger ship from the escort fleet, their Extraordinary rank must not be low. There might be one or even more White Stage. If they are truly Wave Path Extraordinary, then with the home field advantage, it's almost impossible for Vanya to win. Therefore, Vanya must not clash with them. Instead, she needs to find an opportunity to collect more information. The key to the problem now is insufficient intelligence; it's better to collect more information before making a judgment...
'It's a pity my main body isn't on those passenger ships, otherwise the intelligence collection work would be much easier.'
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Dorothy analyzed and thought in her mind, then she also picked up her pen and began to write suggestions on the book-sea navigation record for Vanya on how she should respond at this time.
In short, Dorothy told Vanya not to act rashly for the time being, not to clash with them, to cooperate with them as much as possible, and to try to figure out more information first.
In addition, because Dorothy was worried that Vanya would not be able to effectively collect information due to language barriers, she also suggested in her reply that her language knowledge be given to Vanya through Aka, so that Vanya could at least basically master the languages of major surrounding countries such as Iweig and Castile.
Dorothy would not act easily without sufficient reconnaissance, but this time, due to the difficulty of her main body reaching the scene, this reconnaissance would be much more difficult and could only rely on Vanya's temporary response.
...
'Don't act rashly, cooperate with them, and collect information first?'
Vanya sat in her cabin, looking at Dorothy's reply and thinking in her heart, but at this time, she didn't have any suitable means for reconnaissance.
'It seems... for now, I can only follow Miss Dorothy's suggestion, not actively provoke conflict, and take it one step at a time...'
'But I didn't expect Miss Dorothy to actually offer me language knowledge... I'm so grateful, if I can't even understand what's being said, I won't be able to collect information properly... Also, Miss Dorothy's knowledge is simply too vast, she knows several languages at such a young age, and she just gives them away...'
Vanya thought silently like this, and after giving up the idea of directly taking action that she had considered before, she decided to wait and see for now.
...
Time passed minute by minute. Although the night was getting deeper, Vanya did not sleep. She was worried and wondered how she could actively learn about the information of the ship hijackers. Just then, she heard some noise outside her cabin again. The noise grew from small to large, from far to near, slowly approaching her side. It sounded like knocking and questioning. Finally, Vanya found her cabin door being knocked on.
Hearing the knock, Vanya swallowed, then walked forward and opened the cabin door. What appeared behind the door was a restless sailor. He looked at Vanya who opened the door and spoke.
"Uh... excuse me, Sister, do you know how to treat wounds? I mean, things like using medicine, treating illnesses, and bandaging..."
The sailor standing at the door spoke to Vanya. Listening to his words, Vanya was slightly startled, then nodded and replied.
"Yes, I do. I know how to treat wounds. I've done some medical work."
"That's great. Please come with me, Sister. We need you."
The sailor said to Vanya. Listening to the sailor's words, Vanya nodded and followed him out. Then, she followed the sailor through the corridor. During this process, Vanya silently prayed to Aka and contacted Dorothy again. Dorothy, who had not slept and was waiting for Vanya's situation, also gained Vanya's senses and began to understand her situation in real-time.
Following the sailor who was leading the way, Vanya arrived at a larger cabin. Here, Vanya saw many injured Church sailors. Some were lying on the ground, some were leaning against the sofa or the wall. Their faces were panicked and their expressions were pained. Some had fallen to the ground unconscious, while others were groaning in pain. Some of their wounds had already been bandaged, but from Vanya's perspective, these bandages were not professional.
In addition to these injured sailors, there were also some sailors and three shirtless men in the cabin. They were soaked wet, well-built, and their eyes were resolute as they surveyed the surrounding environment. On each of their arms, a tree tattoo in the shape of an inverted triangle could be seen. One of them had a bloody bandage on his hand. The sailors and injured soldiers in the cabin looked at these men with obvious fear and vigilance.
"Sister... please help these people with simple wound treatment. Some of them seem to be in a bad state..."
"Okay, I'll do my best."
The sailor who brought Vanya said to her. Listening to the sailor's words, Vanya began to bend down and treat the injuries of the injured soldiers before her.
Using the knowledge she had learned, Vanya began to use the ship's own medical kit to carefully provide emergency treatment for the injured soldiers, while Dorothy in the distance began to analyze the situation before her based on what Vanya saw.
'Those three men... they should be the invading ship hijackers. Looking at the current situation, our ship has been completely controlled by them. The injuries on these sailors should be the result of fighting them.'
'To be able to defeat so many sailors with so few people, they are probably Extraordinaries, and their ranks won't be low. I must be careful. If they are all Water Manipulators, it is best not to clash in this situation.'
'But then again, these hijackers seem to have some principles. They didn't leave these injured sailors to fend for themselves, but instead specifically found medical personnel from among the passengers to help them with treatment. This doesn't seem like the style of a typical cult. With the style of the Ebergrass Church, these injured sailors should either have become supper or been thrown into the sea to feed the fish.'
Dorothy thought with a little confusion in her heart. At first, Dorothy thought this wave was the work of the Ebergrass Church, but after seeing how these hijackers treated the prisoners of war, her idea was somewhat shaken. The Ebergrass Church is a ruthless character who would consider slaughtering the entire ship of two thousand people just to find a thief. If it weren't for Haimo Hois's sacrifice requirement, the passengers on the shining white pearl would have probably suffered a devastating disaster. The style of these hijackers really didn't seem like the Ebergrass Church.
Dorothy was silently analyzing the situation, while Vanya focused all her attention on treatment. She treated the injuries of the injured sailors one by one, putting her main energy into rescue. No matter what the situation was, she didn't want to see innocent people die in front of her.
During the treatment process, Vanya found an injured sailor who was lying on the ground dying with serious injuries. After checking his condition, Vanya found that his situation was very bad and measures had to be taken as soon as possible. So, Vanya began to use her abilities for the first time in this treatment, using Extraordinary power to heal some dangerous wounds for the injured.
And just after she finished treating this dangerous injury and stabilized the sailor's condition, a voice sounded behind her. It was a sentence in Iweig, with a clear foreign accent and not very fluent.
"Are you... a Light Extraordinary? I've heard... they have such an extraordinary ability to heal others. Female clergy who use this ability wear white clothes."
Listening to the voice behind her, Vanya turned around and found that the leader of the three hijackers was talking to her. A hint of curiosity was in his eyes.
"Yes, I am a Healing Priest who follows the Holy Mother's Path. Thank you for being willing to give these poor people a chance to be treated."
Facing the man named Bahoda's question, Vanya replied seriously, and the other party also spoke.
"Every life is worth respecting. Even though we fought each other, since they no longer have the ability to resist, we naturally won't senselessly take their lives. Besides, the more of you who are alive, the more useful you are to us, servant of Light."
Bahoda said this to Vanya. After hearing his words, Vanya's expression was slightly surprised. After judging in her heart that there seemed to be a possibility of communication with the person in front of her, she also responded.
"Yes, life is worth respecting... We should treat every living being with kindness and equality. This is what the Holy Mother taught me... I am glad that you also have similar thoughts."
Vanya said this to Bahoda. She wanted to reach some consensus with the other party and further inquire about their information through conversation, but she didn't expect the other party to directly snort and speak.
"Treat every living being with kindness? Hmph... that sounds nice, but you Light have never treated anyone with equality and kindness! You have always been arrogant and unreasonable. For those who don't believe in your god, for those who don't recognize your scriptures, you have always suppressed them domineeringly, and even brutally slaughtered them! You can't tolerate even a little difference in your eyes. You are sinners who force and kill others like pirates. You are not qualified to talk about respecting life, and you are not qualified to talk about kindness."
Facing Vanya, Bahoda spoke righteously, his expression showing obvious dissatisfaction and even anger. This sudden attitude of his startled Vanya, who was preparing to talk to him properly, while Dorothy in the distance, after listening to his words, thoughtfully stroked her chin, as if she had thought of something.
"An objector to the spread of Light? Interesting..."