Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Touching the Flame

After he took the helm with his own hands, Duncan truly held control over the Vanished. He could also sense any movement anywhere on the ship. Even so, out of caution, he still ordered Goathead to keep constant watch over the “cursed Doll”.

He knew he was no expert in the field of occult studies. He knew little about the supernatural forces of this world. A doll that could walk and talk was far beyond his knowledge. Alice’s behavior might be harmless, but if that doll girl had any effects that could not be seen with the naked eye, he would very likely fail to notice them.

In this respect, Goathead was more professional than he was.

Even putting that aside, Duncan knew he could not watch over the Vanished every moment. Although he had already decided to live on this side of the world, when necessary he would still have to return to the other world behind the door. At that time, he might not be able to sense anything happening on the Vanished.

When he thought of this last point, Duncan’s eyes changed slightly. Without a word, he glanced at Goathead on the edge of the chart table. The obsidian-carved eyes of the latter answered with a hollow gaze.

When he went back to the other side of the door, when he returned to his small single apartment… would this Goathead sense it? When he left the Vanished, what was the situation on the ship?

These questions that suddenly rose in his mind made Duncan feel somewhat restless. Under Goathead’s hollow gaze, however, he did not show anything. Instead, he split off a bit of attention to check on Alice’s situation.

Of course, he had no habit of peeping. That did not change even when the other party was a “non-human being”. He only roughly sensed what was happening below the deck. Even with just the information passed through his link with the Vanished, he could at least tell where Alice was and whether she was trying to damage anything.

After all, beneath the harmless, elegant, and pretty exterior of that doll girl lay the essence of a cursed Doll, a dangerous individual that ordinary people in this world called “Anomaly 099”.

She was still in her room. She really might just be examining the furnishings and setting up a place to rest.

Duncan let out a small breath. At the same time, Goathead suddenly spoke beside him: “Captain, what are your plans next? If you are feeling bored, your loyal-”

“Quiet.” Duncan glanced at Goathead, then pressed both hands on the edge of the chart table. As his thoughts shifted, the feeling he had when his hands were on the helm rose up once more. The emerald flame once again flowed like water.

In the burning blaze, Duncan’s body once more became a spirit form. The streaming fire spread out from the chart table, flowed out of the captain’s cabin, up to the upper deck, climbed the masts and the rigging, and made the translucent Spirit-Sails on the masts billow in the wind.

As the many main sails, side sails, and jibs adjusted their angles nimbly in the sea breeze, the huge three-masted ship began to slowly pick up speed on the vast, boundless ocean. Duncan’s gaze fell on the enchanted sea chart in front of him. As he had expected, the grayish white mist that had been coiled over the enchanted sea chart changed at once. The silhouette that represented the Vanished started to move slowly forward, and the mist around the silhouette faded away along with it.

After a brief moment of thought, he tried to focus his attention on the enchanted sea chart. The faint emerald flame wrapped around the chart table, extending his will as the captain. In this subtle “connection”, Duncan finally became vaguely aware of the secret of this enchanted item.

With a thought, the silhouette on the enchanted sea chart that represented the Vanished suddenly grew a little larger, then at once shrank back to its original size.

Duncan was “zooming” the scene shown on the enchanted sea chart, and this fanciful attempt actually worked. For now, no matter how he zoomed in or out, the edges of the enchanted sea chart still showed nothing but fog. Yet Duncan was already sure that this chart could record every inch of ocean that the Vanished had explored. It could also present the details around the Vanished precisely and in real time!

Under Goathead’s hollow gaze, Duncan’s face did not change at all. He looked as cold and serious as a true captain calmly studying the enchanted sea chart. Even so, a faint excitement rose in his heart.

His eyes swept over the flames rising from his own body. His mind sensed the state of the Vanished and the changes in the enchanted sea chart.

This strange green fire really was the key to controlling the Vanished, and also the key to controlling many of the eerie objects on this ship.

Perhaps… this was the power of the Captain?

Duncan pondered this Power of Flame. He understood very well that, if he wanted to truly master this ship and survive in this strange world by taking the ship as his foundation, he had to understand his own abilities.

First, he had to gain full control over this flame.

As for the “plans” Goathead had just asked about…

Duncan looked at the enchanted sea chart as it slowly changed in front of him, and at the mist slowly clearing around the silhouette of the Vanished. His intentions were very simple.

Since he knew too little about this world, since the whole map was still covered in fog, then revealing the map first could not be wrong.

After all, one set sail in order to roam the seas.

Anyway, in the minds of the people of this world, “Captain Duncan” was already a world boss that wandered the wild places everywhere. Even if he and the Vanished behaved and stayed at sea, that would not improve his reputation in the slightest.

As for whether there would be any danger in sailing aimlessly like this, Duncan had his own view: before he took the helm himself, this ship had already been drifting everywhere. The Vanished had never dropped anchor or moored anywhere, so where would any “extra risk” come from?

Compared with that former blind drifting, sailing with the sails up at least let him disperse the fog on the enchanted sea chart. This meant he was no longer completely passive and lost in the mist.

Duncan rose from behind the chart table. The green flames on his body slowly faded. Yet in his perception, the translucent Spirit-Sails on the Vanished’s masts did not vanish with them. Some of the green fire clinging to the masts and rigging still burned, continuing to carry out the captain’s will.

Combined with what he had observed the last time he held the helm, Duncan had a faint understanding in his heart.

Although the Spirit-Sails had only flared up in the blaze after he “took the helm”, neither the towering sails nor all the self-moving things on the ship actually relied on the captain’s own power. This ghost ship had its own source of power.

He still did not know what kind of “energy” made the ship move. But it was clear that all he needed to do as captain was to give the ship its orders.

Then the ship would faithfully carry out the captain’s commands.

Duncan stepped away from the chart table and turned his head to look at the small door at the very back of the captain’s cabin.

Behind that door was his private bedroom as captain. During his first few days exploring the ship, he had always used that room as his resting place.

Now he needed a quieter environment in order to study what else he could do as the captain of the Vanished.

Before that, however, someone still had to watch over this ship that was already in full sail.

He looked at the wooden Goathead on the edge of the chart table and spoke in a very matter-of-fact tone: “You take the helm.”

“Ah?” Goathead froze for a moment, sounding a little surprised. “But Captain, you-”

“I have things to do. Do not disturb me during this time.” Duncan seemed not to care about anything Goathead wanted to say. He simply gave his orders in a completely natural way. At the same time, in his other layer of awareness, through the information carried along the deck by the spreading green fire, he could clearly see the many… connections hidden deep within the ship.

Masts, rigging, sails, rudder, cannons…

Everything was connected in the unseen. Some kind of “nerves” or “blood vessels” ran through the entire ship, and all of these connections ultimately converged in the captain’s cabin.

Goathead was faintly linked to all of it.

Perhaps this mysterious and eerie Goathead was the Vanished itself. Or perhaps it was some kind of “control mechanism” meant to take over the whole ship in an emergency.

Duncan was not the one who had built this ship, so naturally he did not know how it worked. Still, he thought that the real Captain Duncan must know what Goathead was capable of.

From another angle, since Goathead always called himself the “first mate”, it was only natural that he should be able to take the helm in the captain’s place when the situation required it.

Duncan had to take a small risk and do something he had never done before, but which a true captain had to know and would certainly do.

After all, a captain had to rest at some point.

One second later, Goathead let out a cheerful and noisy cry. “Ah, yes, Captain. You can focus on your work. Your loyal-”

Duncan paid him no attention. He only waved his hand casually, turned, walked into the bedroom at the back of the captain’s cabin, and shut the door behind him.