Chapter 89: Chapter 93 “This is Common Sense
Duncan quickly adjusted his expression and mindset to not appear like a common sense-deranged “foreigner,” yet his thoughts could no longer settle down, surging unstoppably like a stormy sea.
As it turned out, when you suddenly arrive in a bizarre and unusual world, no matter how strong your adaptability is or how on point your disguise, there’s always the possibility of being slapped in the face by some mundane “common sense”—ordinary historical knowledge can be systematically learned, and profound professional knowledge doesn’t need to be considered in daily life, but “common sense” only hits you in the face when you least expect it.
In the sky of this world, there are no stars; this is common sense.
The starry sky of this world lies in the Mysterious Deep Sea, at the border between the Spirit Realm and the Mysterious Deep Sea; this too is common sense.
Faced with this second point of so-called “common sense,” Duncan could only curse internally.
He had never ventured into this field, nor had he reached such depths—he had once sailed the Homeloss through the deep Spirit Realm and had seen chaotic light streaming from Subspace in the lower cabins of the Homeloss, but he had never seen that “starry sky” between the Mysterious Deep Sea and the Spirit Realm… which happened to be his current “blind spot” in cognition.
While he was conversing with Morris, he was rapidly contemplating in his mind.
Stars… hidden deep under the water… what kind of strange and bizarre sight would that be? Was the so-called “starry sky” mentioned by Morris the same as the “starry sky” he knew of? What exactly was the nature of the place where the Spirit Realm met the Mysterious Deep Sea? Was it an even more profound and dark ocean? Or was it merely a special spatial structure named after an ocean?
For some reason, Duncan suddenly thought of a girl named Sherry, and her inseparable pet and weapon “A-Dog.”
A-Dog was an Abyssal Hound, which, according to the world, was a kind of “demon” summoned from the unfathomable depths of the deep sea.
Duncan couldn’t imagine what kind of physiological structure a Skeleton Hunting Dog would have, but from its appearance, it clearly wasn’t an “aquatic creature”… so one could boldly speculate that the so-called “Mysterious Deep Sea” wasn’t necessarily a “sea.”
It could be an extremely vast and bizarre space, and moreover… enveloped by a starry sky.
As Duncan sketched out a possible spatial model of the Mysterious Deep Sea in his mind, Morris noticed that the antique shop owner in front of him was somewhat distracted. The elderly gentleman curiously looked at Duncan, “Do you also dabble in Astrology?”
“I’m just… a bit interested,” Duncan forced a smile, thinking to himself that after he had accepted the fact that this world had no stars in the sky, suddenly hearing the term “Astrology” felt particularly odd, “Exploring a starry sky hidden so deep… That wouldn’t be easy.”
“That’s certainly a dangerous endeavor, but fortunately, we can also observe the projection of the starry sky through indirect scientific means—this should be thanks to technological advancements. After the advent of the Spirit Realm lenses, the incidence of navigators going insane during navigation has greatly decreased,” Morris chuckled. He seemed not to have found someone willing to talk about these issues in a long time and was now quite engaged in the conversation, “You know, a century ago, the navigator’s role was consistently the highest mortality position on long-distance ships… In fact, I always wanted to collect a set of the earliest Spirit Realm lenses, but unfortunately, I’ve had no way to do so.”
Duncan blinked; he didn’t pay attention to the last thing the old man was talking about. In his heart, a longstanding question suddenly found an answer:
In a world where the sky had no celestial bodies, how did long-distance ships calibrate their course?
The answer was still “Stargazing”—observing the projection of the “starry sky” reflected from the depths of the Spirit Realm through special scientific instruments.
Before the year 1800 in the new City-State calendar, navigating for ships was even a lethal task.
After all, ordinary ships didn’t have real-time updated “sea charts” like the Homeloss, which resembled satellite positioning, nor did they have a reliable “Goat First Mate.”
“You really are a learned man,” after discussing many more issues, Duncan couldn’t help but sincerely express, “Nina is lucky to have a teacher like you.”
“I’m also pleased to see she has an uncle like you,” Morris nodded with reserved pride, “Now all my doubts have disappeared. You’re not only a competent guardian but also broad in your interests and eager for knowledge, honestly… it’s been a long time since I have had such a pleasant conversation.”
As the old man spoke, he sighed lightly, “Everything is fine with my life now, tranquil, peaceful, without the trivial matters of the Upper City District, the only problem is that most of the time it’s difficult to find someone willing to listen to these dull matters… Even the colleagues I work with often can’t keep up with my thoughts. It’s rare for someone to listen to me as much as you have.”
“I’m very willing to be your audience,” Duncan immediately showed a smile upon hearing this, “I have a special interest in history.”
“It shows,” Mr. Morris smiled comfortably, then glanced towards the display window, suddenly realizing how time had flown, and hurriedly stood up, “Oh, goddess above, have I really been here an entire afternoon?”
“If you don’t mind, you’re welcome to stay the night,” Duncan casually said, “You can try my cooking.”
“…I should still be able to catch the bus back to Cross District,” Morris glanced at the gradually sinking sun, politely declining Duncan’s invitation, “Thank you for your offer, but I’d better go home, the city has been uneasy recently, and not returning all night would worry my family.”
“That makes sense… then I won’t keep you,” Duncan thought for a moment, stood up to see him out, “I’ll call Nina down,”
Just as Morris was about to say something, Duncan had already turned and called up to the second floor, “Nina! Mr. Morris is going home, come down and say goodbye to your teacher!”
Footsteps came from the stairs, and Nina, dressed in a home-long dress, ran down lightly. First, she greeted her teacher, and then, surprised by the twilight outside, she turned to Duncan, “You’ve been talking for so long?!”
“We had a very pleasant conversation,” Maurice said with a smile, “Your uncle is well-read and eager to learn, and we discussed a lot about historical issues.”
Duncan, standing by his side, kept a serious face and nodded silently.
The so-called exchange was actually just the old gentleman talking non-stop by himself, while he pretended to understand, nodding and bluffing along. Since the old gentleman himself had said so, Duncan certainly wouldn’t say more—besides, to be fair, he thought he was quite a qualified listener, occasionally asking some questions to keep the conversation going. Wasn’t that the best environment for an old scholar who usually struggled to find someone to listen to his ramblings?
However, Nina looked suspiciously from her uncle to the delighted old gentleman and wondered when exactly her uncle had become so broadly interested and eager to learn. But when the words were on the tip of her tongue, she swallowed them back down. Then, suddenly becoming a bit anxious, she tugged at Duncan’s sleeve and murmured, “Did you talk about me?”
“Just a little incident at school,” Maurice, despite his age, had very good hearing and immediately caught the girl’s quiet murmur, “Your uncle will tell you—don’t worry, I’m not a snitch.”
While saying this, the elderly man picked up the walking cane he had set aside upon entering and checked the ancient dagger in his pocket, then said goodbye to the pair and slowly walked out the door.
After the old man left, Duncan glanced at the sky outside and simply hung the ‘Closed’ sign on the door, locking the entrance of the shop—by this time, there didn’t seem to be any more business coming their way.
Moreover, he had just made a tidy sum from a recent transaction; the regular “business” suddenly seemed less urgent.
As Nina watched Duncan busy himself with locking up and tidying the counter, she felt a swarm of questions bubbling up within her, but before she could voice any of them, Duncan suddenly raised his head and looked at her with a smile, “How about I take you to buy a bicycle in a couple of days?”
“Ah?” Nina was caught off guard, “Why…”
“I received a bonus from the city hall before, and we had enough money,” Duncan said as he waved the check in his hand, “then just now we had a big sale, so I think… we can afford to live a bit more comfortably. At least a bicycle will always be very useful, isn’t it?”
“Big sale…” Nina finally caught on, “Ah, did you really sell that dagger to Mr. Maurice?”
“Sold it,” Duncan nodded, “Sold it for over three thousand solas.”
Nina: “…!?”
The girl, who had a good sense of money, was startled by this figure and then looked at her Uncle Duncan with a strange expression.
“A teacher comes for a home visit, you chat with him for an entire afternoon, and then you sell him something for over three thousand solas… What if word gets out!”
Duncan thought for a moment, seriously remarking, “Wouldn’t our shop become famous?”
Nina: “Are you serious?”
Duncan spread his hands: “What else then? The old gentleman took a fancy to it, I couldn’t just give it away—It’s rare to have a genuine article in the shop.”
Nina stood with her hands on her hips, puffing up her cheeks, but in the end, the breath she had been holding back suddenly turned into a smile.
(Time to recommend a book~~ The title is “I Stand Below Billions of Lives”; the introduction is posted directly below:
What would you do if one day you transmigrated and became a planet?
Would you be perplexed, terrified, or ecstatic?
Regarding this, a certain transmigrator has something to say:
My dear children living on me—
Stop fighting!!!
If you don’t stop, I will teach you how to be proper humans personally!
Ahem.
In short, this book tells the story of a cautious and careful father, lovingly caring for his children.
(The young man’s phone number hadn’t been used for a long time and was transferred, resulting in the writer’s account getting canceled—somewhat pitiful))