In the dining room on the upper deck, Duncan and Lucrecia sat side by side, each with a stern face, while the two connection kings who had just had their heads replaced sat on the chairs opposite them - Luni looked a little nervous, while Alice had a bright face as always, and even looked like she hadn't had enough fun.
After holding it in for a few seconds, Duncan finally spoke first: "Is it fun?"
Luni immediately lowered her head and fiddled with her fingers in embarrassment, while Alice nodded happily: "It's fun, Captain! You didn't know that our interfaces are the same size..."
Duncan's eyes twitched for a moment, and then he noticed the little movement of Luni fiddling with her fingers. He felt that this movement was a little familiar. After a moment of confusion, he looked at the "sea witch" beside him thoughtfully: "When you were a child, did you also like to pick your fingers when you did something wrong?"
"Um... that happened when I was very young..." Lucrecia didn't expect the topic to suddenly fall on herself. She was stunned for a moment, and then her expression became a little strange. "You... you still remember these?"
"… I don't remember, but it still feels familiar." Duncan shook his head slightly, then coughed twice and looked back at the two puppets. "Who came up with the idea first?"
This time the two puppets finally answered in unison: "Shirley!"
Duncan: “… ?”
A moment later, Duncan and Lucrecia were still sitting on the bench in the restaurant with stern faces, but this time, in addition to the two connection tyrants, there was also Shirley sitting opposite them.
Ah Gou lay on the floor next to Shirley, holding his head with his hands, and muttered quietly: "Don't look at me, it's none of my business. I tried to persuade you, but I couldn't stop you..."
Duncan glanced at the mumbling Agou, and then his eyes fell on Shirley, and he recalled how she had tricked Alice into pouring glue into her neck. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart - it turned out that he should keep a close eye on this guy who was eager to create chaos...
"You said you had nothing better to do than give them some bad advice," Duncan sighed, looking at Shirley helplessly, "We are sailing in the spirit world, which is different from land. What if they really get dizzy and fall into the sea, will you be responsible for pulling them out?"
Shirley was just shrinking her neck and pretending to accept criticism, but her eyes lit up when she heard the captain's words: "So we can do this on land?!"
Duncan: "... Do you want to listen to what you are saying?"
Shirley smiled awkwardly, but then her smile began to deteriorate. She moved forward with a playful smile and muttered, "It's not my fault, Captain. Think about it, didn't you have the same idea when you saw the two of them? Two puppets that can take their heads off, using the same joints. According to the old man... it's the spirit of exploration, right? Don't you want to try...?"
To a curious person, Shirley's words sounded like extremely tempting subspace whispers. Duncan's eyebrows couldn't help but jump, but just as he was about to speak, he heard a barely audible murmur from the side: "It seems to make sense..."
Duncan's expression suddenly became a little subtle, and he turned his head to look in the direction of the muttering sound. Lucrecia raised her head a little embarrassedly, and after reacting, she quickly made amends: "Of course, this kind of behavior is not worth promoting. The experiment must be based on the premise of caution and safety..."
Duncan took great pains to control the expression on his face. He remained calm and serious, pretending to ignore Lucrecia's muttering. Then he sighed and looked at the two contact tyrants opposite him: "Don't play like this in the future, at least not on the ship - it's not safe. Remember?"
"Oh, I know, Captain!" "Yes, old master."
"Go back to your room. If you really don't want to do your homework, you can read a book, even a picture book," Duncan waved his hand at Shirley again, "We are about to leave the spirit world and enter the eternal veil. Before that, don't make trouble everywhere."
Shirley lowered her head and agreed honestly: "Oh, okay, Captain..."
The restaurant finally became quiet. Shirley left with Agou, and Alice dragged Luni to a corner of the restaurant, mumbling to each other about something - at least they each had their own heads.
Duncan glanced at the directions they had left, shook his head and sighed, but for some reason, he felt a little relaxed and happy in his heart.
It seemed that he hadn't breathed a sigh of relief like this for a long time since the Breeze Harbor incident.
But Lucrecia's slightly uneasy voice came from the side: "Are you... angry?"
Duncan didn't look back: "Why do you say that?"
"... We are going to the border to investigate the cultists' holy land. This is a dangerous and serious matter, but Luni is causing trouble for you at this time..."
She was halfway through her sentence when Duncan suddenly interrupted her: "Is that what you were like when you were a kid?"
Lucrecia didn't react for a moment: "...Huh?"
"Lune," Duncan raised his hand and pointed at the clockwork doll in the distance who was whispering to Alice and occasionally showing a happy smile, "What were you like when you were a child? I mean in terms of personality."
Lucrecia didn't say anything for a while, just pursed her lips. After a long while, she whispered: "... Luni is the first doll I made. I... sealed some parts of my soul that are prone to making mistakes in her body. Although in most cases these sealed souls will not affect her operation, occasionally, they will make her behave strangely."
"So most of the time, Luni seems calm and reliable, but when she's with Alice, she becomes lively?"
"… Yes, it seems that this will lead her to make mistakes—or at least increase the chances of making mistakes."
Duncan looked back at Lucrecia and said, "Is this level of 'mistake' a problem?"
Lucrecia was silent for a few seconds, then replied softly, "At the border, it's easy to die if you make a mistake."
Duncan didn't say anything for a while, just staring thoughtfully at the two puppets in the distance who were happily chatting about something. After a while, he said calmly: "You can make mistakes when you are with me."
Lucrecia seemed a little dazed for a moment. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she said nothing. She just looked in the direction her father was looking.
Alice seemed to be introducing some interesting things on the ship to Luni, at least interesting things in her opinion, and Luni listened with great interest - Alice seldom chatted so well with people other than the captain, and Luni... as the "first mate" on the Brilliant Star and the servant of the "Sea Witch", she had probably never met someone like Alice with whom she could communicate in this way.
The two dolls seem to be getting along very happily.
At this moment, Duncan seemed to suddenly remember something: "Oh, there is something I have been delaying..."
As he spoke, he waved his hand in the air. Ai, who was eating French fries on a table not far away, disappeared instantly. The next second, a rotating green fire ring appeared next to Duncan. Duncan reached out his hand into the fire ring, took out something from it, and placed it on the table in front of him.
Lucrecia looked at the thing with some surprise—it was an exquisite wooden box about seventy centimeters long. Apart from its exquisite and simple workmanship, it seemed to have nothing special about it.
But gradually, she felt a long-lost sense of familiarity and intimacy from the wooden box.
"This is Nilu," Duncan opened the wooden box, and an exquisite three-point doll appeared in front of Lucrecia. "I said I would give it to you a long time ago, but I was too busy recently, so I delayed it. Now I see Alice and Luni together... Take it, it can be regarded as a reunion of the 'sisters'."
Lucrecia looked a little strange. She took the wooden box and carefully took the three-point doll named "Nelue" out of the box. She put her on the table and let her sit down leaning against the wooden box. However, her thoughts seemed to drift away.
On that distant afternoon, accompanied by the sound of crisp wind chimes, she and her brother walked into the doll shop hand in hand. Luni and Nello sat quietly in the window, and the warm sunlight shone on their delicate hair and dresses like a layer of hazy gauze.
At that time, she could only take one of them.
But those were the few warm memories she had left of her childhood - and in those warm days, the "sun" was something that was destined to rise in the sky the next day.
The "witch" was a little dazed, and in the trance, the little doll sitting on the table leaning against the wooden box slowly turned its head and gave her a hollow smile.
Lucrecia woke up from her trance and saw the little doll still sitting quietly on the table, its head tilted obediently to the side, its soulless body empty.
She reached out and pointed her finger at the puppet's forehead: "Go back to sleep."
The doll's body suddenly shook, as if it was injected with a moment of life. Then she climbed up stiffly, stumbled into the exquisite wooden box, grabbed the lid of the wooden box beside her, and tried hard to close it.
But she was too weak.
Duncan casually pushed aside and closed the lid of the box for the puppet.
"Thank you." A small voice came from the box, and then it was quiet again.
"It's amazing." Duncan looked up and said to Lucrecia in surprise.
"We are entering the border, and many things are becoming active," Lucrecia said. "Infusing some things with souls in advance can prevent some uninvited guests from 'smuggling' in. This is how Luni 'woke up' for the first time many years ago."
"… It's time to come up for some fresh air." Duncan nodded and slowly stood up from behind the table.
As he moved, the Lost Homeland began to gradually rise from the depths of the spiritual world, and outside the porthole of the restaurant, the sky was gradually getting brighter.
The shadows lurking in the spirit world gradually receded from all directions.
(End of this chapter)