Chapter 160: Chapter 164: Call Not Answered
Alice cheerfully left, looking like she could stay happy for many more days, while Duncan remained alone on the deck, staring at the wooden box containing “Niru.”
He had controlled his “alter ego” located in Plunder City-State to leave the Upper City District, and was now cycling back to the antique store. Before leaving the doll shop, he had discussed many things related to Lukecrecia and Terian with the old lady shop owner, but it hadn’t yielded much more.
As the shop owner herself had said, she was just a normal citizen whose lifespan just happened to be longer than that of humans and who had personally experienced some events many years ago. However, beyond an initial meeting and some hearsay, her knowledge about the two “Duncan descendants” was quite limited.
Meanwhile, on the Homeloss, Duncan was immersed in thought.
His body apparently had a son and a daughter, even still living ones, and it seemed that these siblings were no ordinary people—one had once been loyal to the Frost Queen and had now become the biggest pirate head in the Chill Sea, while the other had long been on the fringes of the civilized world, engaging in mysteriously secretive explorations, reverently referred to as the “Witch of the Sea” by captains.
Such a pair of “children” only brought Duncan feelings of trouble and a bit of tension now.
He was the “Duncan” captain of Homeloss, and it looked like he must continue to be so for the foreseeable future. Therefore, he needed to figure out how to maintain this identity, but what if one day… he actually encountered those siblings? What should he do?
Should he show fatherly love and filial piety? Or should he show ruthless severity? Should he greet them, or should he coldly pass them by?
According to the store manager’s story, a hundred years ago, the Terian siblings had a “breakup” with their father. After a mysterious “family conflict,” Sea Mist and Brilliant Starship broke away from their flagship, Homeloss, which was publicly known.
But what actually happened back then might only be known by the three parties involved.
Duncan sighed softly.
Regardless of what the real situation was at the time, one thing seemed certain: his relationship with the siblings did not seem to be one where fatherly love could be shown—if they did meet, it might be best to push toward the unfortunate direction of family affairs…
He bent down and picked up the wooden box containing “Niru.” Inside, lined with velvet, the doll girl of just a few tens of centimeters height lay quietly. This little fellow, born a hundred years ago, was now a new “member” of the Homeloss.
Did “she” really have a connection with Lukecrecia? Or rather, did Lukecrecia still keep the doll named “Luny” that she had bought a hundred years ago by her side?
Duncan hadn’t thought much when he bought Niru, but now his thoughts became active, holding the wooden box, he returned to his captain’s quarters.
Goat head was steering the ship as usual. As soon as Duncan opened the door and entered, his perennially noisy voice immediately rang out, “Ah! The great captain has returned to his loyal captain’s quarters. It seems you have transported a lot of goods from the City-State. Your loyal subordinates are very concerned about the health of the ship’s food. If you don’t mind, I will personally guide Miss Alice to become a qualified…”
“Shut up, stop fussing with that doll over some recipe. I don’t want my next meal to look like a pot of Profound Demons’ vomit,” Duncan glared at Goat head, “Where are we now, how far from Plunder?”
“Oh, we are still speeding toward Plunder, and we have successfully accelerated in the Spirit Realm several times—like ‘skipping stones’ on the edge of the real world. Now Homeloss is only ten days’ travel from that City-State,” Goat head immediately said cheerily, “I estimate that soon, you will feel a significant surge of power during your walks in the Spirit Realm—Homeloss’s influence will become the greatest aid in your activities within the City-State…”
Duncan silently looked at Goat head, who stopped his prattle and after being silent for two seconds, suddenly blurted out, “The loyal first mate always understands the captain best.”
“Good,” Duncan nodded and walked toward his bedroom holding the box, but soon he stopped, rapidly weighing and combining words in his mind before asking casually with a calm expression, “What do you think would be Terian and Lukecrecia’s reaction if they saw me again?”
This was a careful probe after careful consideration, a question he crafted to sound normal, not arouse suspicion, yet gather some information.
He didn’t ask Goat head for his opinion about the siblings, as such a question would be too blunt, nor did he inquire about past events between Homeloss and the siblings, as this would reveal his own circumstances—the nature of the question he ultimately chose was more in line with his identity and his relationship with Goat head.
Goat head visibly hesitated, his voice delayed a long time before reaching Duncan’s ears, “Do you mean… your children… Sorry, captain, I don’t know if I should talk about your family matters since you rarely mention them to me, but if I must say… if I really must…”
Normally quite articulate, Goat head actually stuttered several times before finally continuing, “If I really must say, I think we might end up fighting with Terian again, just like we did at Frost, considering he always likes to solve problems with cannons, and as for Miss Lukecrecia… she would probably stay far away…”
Duncan remained noncommittal, but suddenly, he realized two things!
First, he remembered the Goat-Head had once revealed that initially, “Homeloss” had fought a battle near Frost City-State, and that battle had been fought against Tyrion!
Second, Goat-Head’s initial reaction was peculiar, and he specifically emphasized that Duncan rarely talked about those siblings… Could it be that Goat-Head had not actually interacted with the siblings? Was his understanding of them solely based on what Duncan “mentioned”?
Wasn’t this guy on “Homeloss” from the very beginning?!
Duncan’s eyes slightly narrowed, but his face showed nothing as he simply nodded to acknowledge Goat-Head’s response before continuing his steps silently back to his own bedroom.
The thick oak door closed behind him, blocking the view from Goat-Head in the chart room and gradually calming Duncan’s nerves.
He took a long breath, took “Niru” out of the wooden box, and placed her on his desk. He stared at the doll for several minutes before finally speaking, “Hello, my name is Duncan.”
Of course, the doll did not respond.
She was really just a doll.
Duncan suddenly felt his behavior was a bit foolish. He laughed awkwardly to himself and thought, fortunately, no one aboard had the guts to pry into the captain’s bedroom. Then he opened the drawer beside him and took out an item.
It was a small, exquisitely crafted hairpin with a design of waves and feathers.
This was an “old object” Alice had found in the ship’s cabin.
Duncan quietly gazed at the small hairpin, and just like before, that strange nostalgic feeling began to spread from the bottom of his heart.
It seemed like the only trace of “humanity” left by the original owner of this body, existing in his heart as fragments of indifferent emotions.
“This is probably Lucracia’s…” Duncan muttered softly to himself, “Was it a gift that was never given, or the only memento she left on this ship after she left…”
He slowly picked up the hairpin, gently flipping it in the sunlight. The sunlight, passing through the window, caused the silver edges of the hairpin to glow brightly.
A small green flame emanated from Duncan’s fingertips, quickly engulfing the hairpin, then the flames flowed in the air, wrapping around the doll “Niru.”
Duncan calmed his mind, trying to feel if there was any Transcendent power lingering inside these two objects, or even a slight “connection” that could point to “somewhere far.”
However, the flames quickly vanished, and neither the doll nor the hairpin reacted.
Was it because they were truly just ordinary mundane items, or was it because Lucracia was currently at the frontier of the civilized world, too far away, that the “connection” in these items was too weak to be captured even by the Spiritual Body fire?
Duncan frowned, letting the flames spread again, and with a mindset he could not fully explain, he attempted to call out, “Lucracia… Lucy?”
He used the nickname of Lucracia—perhaps, the bond established by this nickname was slightly stronger than her formal name?
Nothing happened.
Duncan waited for a long while, and in the end, he could only extinguish the flame in disappointment.
At the same time, in a distant frontier, at the edge of the eternal curtain, the clockwork doll “Luny,” whom Lucracia had transformed countless times and was now nearly an “alchemical life” or “engineering creature,” suddenly stopped wiping the table.
A series of loud whirring of gears and bearings echoed from inside it, followed by a series of “squeak, squeak” noises.
The key in Luny’s back snapped out and fell to the ground, while the alloy-enhanced arm stiffly drooped down, and a wisp of blue smoke slowly emerged from the seam at the back of the maid’s shell…