章 26: Chapter 26 The Starless Night

編集者: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Seriously," Duncan suddenly realized that even with nerves thicker than a mainmast, it was difficult to walk with composure when the pigeon on his shoulder started talking.

At this moment, all he wished was that he could be a normal pirate captain with a parrot—or at least a monkey—on his shoulder.

But he had already pushed open the door to the chart room, and by now, turning back was impossible.

Inside the room with the navigation desk, Goat Head was chattering away excitedly about the twelfth legend of fish stew, which was finally interrupted by the sound of the captain's bedroom door opening. His dark wooden head immediately turned toward Duncan, his intonation rising with apparent delight, "Ah, captain! You've finally come out—I have to tell you, Miss Alice is truly an exceptional conversation partner, and it's been many years since I've enjoyed a chat so much, you know..."

Duncan blatantly ignored the loud prattle from Goat Head and instead looked straight at the victim across the navigation desk, only to see the headless doll sitting rigidly on a chair, holding her head in her hands and pressing hard on her ears.

Even so, Alice's gaze was still as vacant as if she had sat through a twelve-lesson calculus class, not even reacting when Duncan approached her.

Duncan: "..."

"She took off her own head," Goat Head explained before Duncan could say a word, "although I have no idea why she would do that..."

Just how fearsome must Goat Head's blabbering be to force a cursed doll to remove her head in defiance of the sound waves?!

While Duncan was shocked, the overly chatty Goat Head finally noticed the unfamiliar fellow that the captain had brought with him. His wooden head turned slightly, and his pitch-black eyes suddenly fixed on the pigeon on Duncan's shoulder, "Hmm? Captain, what is this on your shoulder..."

"It's called Ai Yi, and from now on, it's my pet," Duncan stated succinctly, avoiding potential pitfalls with as few words as possible while also observing Goat Head's reaction to the news.

"Your pet?" Goat Head was obviously taken aback, then seemed to concoct his own explanation, "Ah, Homeloss indeed sensed that you had temporarily left the ship... Did you go for a walk in the Spirit Realm? Is this a trophy you brought back from your journey through the Spirit Realm?"

A walk in the Spirit Realm?

A term he had never heard popped up, and Duncan thought of the brass Compass in the captain's quarters, the writings left by the true Captain Duncan, and the fascinating experience of soul projection to faraway places. He correlated them in his mind and concluded that his guess was nearly spot-on before nodding nonchalantly, "Just needed to clear my mind a bit."

As soon as Duncan finished speaking, Goat Head immediately started flattering as expected, "Ah! Truly worthy of the great Captain Duncan, even a simple stroll through the Spirit Realm returns with a trophy—Is this a pigeon? To become your pet, it must be extraordinary, right? You even hung your Compass on it? Does this mean... Oh, of course, your judgment is always correct, but what's special about this pigeon? Could it be..."

Duncan heard a subtle hint in Goat Head's flattery and realized that he certainly recognized the brass Compass now hanging on Ai Yi's chest, and that this Compass was obviously very important to the real Captain Duncan—so important that it should not be carelessly entrusted to a newly emerged "pet."

But even though he sensed something was improper, there was nothing he could do because the Compass seemed to be "tied" to the pigeon, which, according to the feedback from controlling the Spiritual Body's flame, seemed to be the true master of the Compass at this moment!

Duncan quickly pondered over this in his mind, yet his face remained expressionless. In that moment of hesitation, Ai Yi, who had been obediently perched on his shoulder, suddenly cooed loudly and flew over to Goat Head, flapping his wings.

Goat Head's black eyes immediately focused on the pigeon, which proceeded to tilt its head and peck at Goat Head's face with its beak, asking, "Fancy some Q coins?"

Duncan: "..."

"A Spiritual Intelligence anomaly?!" Goat Head was clearly taken aback, but then caught on quickly, his tone full of surprise, "This pigeon can talk?!"

Duncan immediately chimed in with a gentle reminder, "You can talk as well."

Pigeon Ai Yi paced a few steps on the table while muttering to himself, "Does it make sense, does it make sense, does it make sense..."

Seeing this, Duncan rubbed his fingertips together, and a green flame suddenly leaped, causing the pigeon that was pacing on the table to vanish into thin air and reappear on his shoulder the next instant.

"Yes, a Spiritual Intelligence anomaly, and I have direct control over it," Duncan nodded to Goat Head, "Any other questions?"

Goat Head hurriedly replied, "Ah... of course not, absolutely no problem at all—everything is under the great Captain Duncan's control."

Duncan stopped engaging with the goat head and, after quickly ending that topic, turned his attention to Alice, who was still cradling her head in a daze—perhaps his broad experiences had further strengthened his nerves, or perhaps after seeing it a few times he had grown accustomed to it. At this point, he didn't find Alice's head-cradling daze too strange; he even thought she seemed a bit… cute.

He reached out and tapped the doll's shoulder, "Wake up, wake up."

Alice's body immediately jerked as if waking from a lingering nightmare, and then the head she was holding in her hands opened and closed its mouth, emitting a sound, "Ship… ship… ship…"

Duncan said, "First, put your head back on."

Only then did Alice react, hurriedly scrambling to put her head back in place. With a click as her joints locked together, her voice finally became smooth again, "Ah, Captain, you're back? Something seems to have happened… is Mr. Goat Head done talking?"

The goat head on the table immediately spoke up, "No, we had just gotten to certain legends about fish stew, we can discuss this topic another time…"

Duncan was brief and to the point, "Shut up."

"Oh."

Beside him, Alice visibly flinched the instant the goat head spoke. Despite being a cursed doll, her face showed a terrified expression. Even though the goat head obediently shut its mouth at the Captain's command, she still glanced over at the navigation table, visibly shuddering.

Duncan suspected that for a considerable time to come, the doll lady would not step foot into the captain's cabin again.

With this thought, he finally asked out of curiosity, "What brings you to me?"

"I…" Alice's expression was somewhat blank, as if her original reason for visiting the captain's cabin had been completely forgotten after her conversation with the goat head. However, a few seconds later she recalled, "Ah right, I just wanted to ask if there's a place on the ship where I can take a bath? My wooden box got waterlogged earlier, and now my joints feel a bit… uncomfortable."

By the end of her statement, the doll's facial expression was visibly embarrassed. But in reality, Duncan should have been more embarrassed than her—since he was the one who had thrown her box overboard.

And had done so several times.

A flash of embarrassment crossed his mind, but Duncan managed to maintain an unchanged expression, speaking in an even tone, "Just for that?"

Alice sat tentatively in the chair, "Just… just for that."

"Freshwater is an extremely valuable resource for many ocean-going vessels, so bathing is a luxury that requires restraint," said Duncan, speaking in earnest, but then he suddenly revealed a slight smile, "However, you are in luck, Homeloss is no ordinary ship, and freshwater isn't a problem here. Come with me, there's a place to bathe in the middle deck's cabin below. We'll need to pass through the upper deck first."

Alice immediately stood up—she really didn't want to spend another second in a place with a talking goat head.

Before leaving the room, Duncan turned to look at the goat head and instructed, "You continue steering."

After giving the order, he rose, pushed open the door of the captain's cabin, and led Alice onto the deck.

At that moment, night had already fallen.

The night sky over the Endless Sea was clear.

This was the first time Duncan stood under the clear night sky of this world after days of continuous clouds.

He suddenly stopped, looked up at the sky, and stared motionlessly at the night canvas.

The night sky was pitch black, void of stars, devoid of any celestial bodies.

All that could be seen was a pale scar, faintly resembling a tear across the entire sky. That scar stretched across the horizon, its edges fraying out into fine cracks as if flesh had been torn apart. A dull, grayish halo of light gently diffused outwards from the scar, like the spreading of blood in a deep pool of water.

This "pale scar" that traversed the sky illuminated the entire Endless Sea, its light over twice as bright as the moonlight in Duncan's memory.

コメント 0のコメント

投票

ギフトを贈る

Load failed, please RETRY