Deep Sea Embers

Chapter 143 “Hypnosis”

Nina faintly gulped as she watched the crystal pendant swaying in Heidi’s hand. Although the other party said to relax, this was her first time receiving hypnotherapy; therefore, it was always difficult to control her reaction.

While her eyes were attracted by the swaying crystal, she also noticed that Heidi was wearing a seemingly simple stone bracelet on her wrist, which was woven together with tough silk rope and strung with many colorful stones. She also noticed many rune-like marks on the stones, something strange for a female trinket.

Noticing Nina’s gaze, Heidi jiggled her wrist with a smile: “I am a ‘student’ of the Truth Academy, following and serving the god of wisdom, Lahem. Although I don’t seem like it from the outside, but from a technical standpoint, I am a registered clergy.”

A clergy… not just a psychiatrist, but also a member of the Truth Academy?

Nina has certainly heard of the Truth Academy since she’s a student at one of their schools. Although its name sounds like an academy, but in fact, the real body of this “academy” was one of the four orthodox churches in this world. Together with the Storm Church, the Death Church, and the Flame Bearers, these four organizations maintained the civilized order of the Deep Sea Age. But unlike the other three major churches, the Truth Academy did not have a strict faith system and was more inclined towards pure knowledge. They are the backbone of research and scientific progress, so they’re the promoters of schools and universities instead of cathedrals and chapels.

In addition, these scholars are by far the smallest in terms of numbers compared to the other three faiths, and the ones that do wear a marker that registered them as a true wisdom clergy was, to say, rarer than a diamond.

At this moment, Heidi appeared glowing like a halo to Nina’s eyes. This finally allowed the nervous student to ease up like a junior meeting a top honor graduate of the same school. Bluntly said, Nina went into full idol ogling mode….

Of course, Heidi wouldn’t miss the change in Nina’s expression, but she didn’t care about it. To the doctor, her status as an idol in the eye of her juniors didn’t even register because that’s how her brains worked. Continuing to fiddle with the crystal pendant in hand, she started to speak slowly, cooing with a hypnotic note: “About your childhood. Just now, you mentioned your parents passing in an accident. Can you tell me about the details? The incident may have left a looming shadow over your heart…”

“Actually… it’s nothing I can’t talk about.” Nina thought and figured it was not worth hiding, “I’ve told many people about this before, but everyone assumed I was hallucinating and mistaken as a child…. Eleven years ago, there was a factory leak in the sixth block, and many cultists destroyed the area before being arrested. Did you know that?”

“Of course,” Heidi nodded, “I was only in my teens when it happened. Our family was staying near the Crossroad when it occurred, and we happened to witness the first crowd of people flooding the streets and running over each other….”

“Then do you remember a fire as well?”

“Fire?” Heidi tilted her head slightly and unconsciously stopped fiddling with the crystal pendant, “What fire?”

“See, you don’t remember that fire either, but in my memory, a huge fire killed my parents. Yet, everyone says I am mistaken…”

Heidi silently listened to Nina’s story until the end, not once did she reject the version contrary to her own. Then with a faint nod, she took a good minute before continuing like she was also contemplating what to do next: “So this should be the hidden shadow inside your heart. The fire you’re so afraid of is the catalyst of your dreams. You’ve been suppressing the emotion, but you’re afraid the flames will appear again and take away the people around you. This is the cause.”

Nina slowly nodded, not rejecting the assessment.

“Have you been under any pressure lately?” Heidi asked, “Academically, in life? Recent pressures may have amplified the long-standing haze in your heart…”

Nina fell silent for a moment before she replied with some hesitation: “Maybe it’s because my uncle’s body has been unwell before. It’s been getting worse and worse for a while, which worried me a lot…”

Speaking of this, she paused and quickly added: “Ah, of course, his health is better now. I feel that I have also relaxed a lot, and I haven’t had that strange dream in the past two days…”

“Are you worried about your family’s health…?” Heidi cooed thoughtfully, listening to the whispers of the now partially hypnotized girl across from herself.

She didn’t need to keep swaying the tool of her trade anymore because Nina had fallen down on the bed in a dreamy state. The crystal pendant was merely a distraction, while her words were the true source of the hypnosis.

“I can see that you have a hard life… You’ve kept the tension and anxiety in the back of your mind all by yourself. You don’t want to burden those around you and ignored your own needs. But it’s okay now. Relax and sleep. When you awake again, you will leave behind the stress in that dream and be refreshed…”

In a half-dreamy state, Nina’s voice sounded softly: “… Thank you…”

Heidi grinned at getting some result. Then in order to further improve Nina’s state of deep relaxation, she casually brought up another question: “By the way, your uncle was not in good health before, right? What disease did he have? I just saw that Mr. Duncan seemed to be in good health.”

Nina was silent for a much longer time this round before she spoke softly: “It’s just that his body is weak, he is now… totally fine…”

However, Heidi could no longer hear Nina’s response.

The moment she had asked the last question, the doctor was already lying at the end of Nina’s bed, falling into a deeper dream than her own patient.

On Heidi’s right wrist, the hand-woven stone bracelet was faintly glowing due to one of the runic symbols activating. These symbols are often worn by the followers of the Truth Academy, representing the blessings from Lahem, the God of Wisdom and Foolishness. They may not have strong powers to fight the supernatural, but the scholars had other means, like using these runes carrying their god’s power.

After a few seconds of flickering, a red agate in the string of stones suddenly made a slight cracking sound and quickly disintegrated into dust before disappearing with the wind.

……….

After being left alone, Vanna continued asking Duncan several more questions. One to learn if she had missed any key details about the museum fire, the second to ensure Duncan hadn’t been affected by the sun fragment.

During the conversation, the rustiness and embarrassment of the first meeting gradually dissipated, and the scene’s atmosphere became friendly and familiar. This allowed Duncan to sense the genuine concern of the female inquisitor sitting across from himself. It’s not the feeling of an investigator trying to crack a case but the heartfelt emotion of caring for others. Whether this emotion was due to Heidi’s connection or if it stretched to everyone in the city-state, his impression of the lady couldn’t be any better despite their stance.

“Speaking of which, Miss Heidi and Nina have been up there for a while now, right?” During the conversation, Duncan noticed the time and subconsciously glanced up at the stairs leading to the second floor.

“Indeed,” Vanna also reacted to such a reminder and faintly frowned, “usually Heidi’s treatment process is very fast…”

“…… I don’t think you can use Miss Heidi’s usual treatment model as a standard. Physical hypnosis and kinetic anesthesia are very quick indeed, but I don’t think she would go that path with my niece.” The corner of Duncan’s mouth visibly twitched at remembering those tools in the doc’s med kit, “But the two of them are taking quite a long time… nothing will happen, right?”

Vanna shook her head: “No, Heidi is a professional who has been strictly trained by the Truth Academy. She won’t mess things up in a typical hypnotherapy and is mostly talking to Nina for treatment. I do admit she can be a bit eccentric when it comes to dealing with the paranoid cultist. You know, her attitude towards work is the same as someone going on holiday despite the criteria of her job….” After saying the last bit, the inquisitor suddenly got less confident about the matter and grew worried, “Maybe it’s best we go take a look ourselves.”

Duncan and Vanna both went up to the second floor together and came to Nina’s room. But before they could knock on the door, their ears perked up on the same unexpected noise – two snoring sounds of the ladies inside.