Chapter 162

Chapter 162: Nilu.

Duncan quietly fixed his gaze on Nilu, the doll lying in the box.

It was just an ordinary jointed doll. Her look matched the “court maiden” style that had been popular in the city-states a century ago. She had beautiful curly golden hair and a dress trimmed all over with lace. The joints in her arms used an old-fashioned ball-joint structure, even more obvious than Alice’s. Her face was made of porcelain, and around her mouth and eyes were the telltale seams that marked an old-style doll.

To be fair, this doll was made with great care and had been kept in very good condition. It was hard to believe she had already been lying in this box for a full century. She was far from Alice, that “doll” who was almost no different from a real person, but this little one named Nilu could still be called pretty.

A hundred years ago, Lucretia had bought from this shop the other doll that formed a pair with this little one, a doll called Lunie. Now the one that had been left behind back then, Nilu, lay quietly in the box in front of Duncan.

And Duncan himself had only wandered into this shop on a whim today. His first goal had only been to mess with… to buy a wig for Alice, and to ask a bit about how to maintain and care for dolls.

Fate really was a strange thing.

“This doesn’t look like something that’s been kept for a whole century,” Duncan said thoughtfully. “She only looks a little old.”

The shopkeeper said slowly: “Things made by elves are always famous for being long-lasting. We usually have to use them for a very, very long time. My skill at making dolls is nothing grand enough to call myself a master, but it should still be far above many of my peers. I would never want a child I crafted so carefully to fail at keeping someone company for at least one or two centuries.”

“…I understand, but for humans this is already an antique,” Duncan raised an eyebrow. He quickly pulled himself out of his thoughts and realized this well-preserved doll was not some simple item. “I don’t think I can afford her.”

He had not forgotten that a single century-old dagger had already earned him more than a year of an ordinary person’s living expenses from old Mr. Morris. This finely crafted, well-kept doll in front of him… there was no way she would be cheap.

“An antique? I never thought of it that way,” the shopkeeper chuckled, her plump face full of good cheer. “She’s not expensive. In fact, if you buy that wig and the matching silver hair ornament, I can sell this doll to you at cost – the original cost from back then, 142 sola.”

This time Duncan was the one who was surprised: “Why?”

“Maybe it’s just that you and she are meant to meet,” the shopkeeper said slowly. “Nilu has been lying here quietly for many years, and not a single fated master has come to take her away. This ‘younger sister’ who was left behind all alone is actually very lonely. Today I almost had no guests at all, yet you, a gentleman who truly loves dolls, came and chatted with me for so long. You even happened to mention Lucretia, the young miss who took Lunie away a hundred years ago. I feel there might be some guidance from fate here…”

“Fate…” Duncan’s mouth twitched. He usually liked using that word to fool other people, yet he had not expected to have it used on him. Then he understood, and the look he gave the elven old woman turned odd: “So the real situation is that she won’t sell, right?”

“…It is fate.”

“Because she has a bit of a link to that ‘Abnormal’ family that was under The curse, so she simply won’t sell at all, right?”

“…It really is fate.”

“Does this doll have any other traits like The curse? Like coming back on her own after someone throws her away? Or going into the kitchen while people sleep to look for a knife…”

The old woman finally opened her eyes wide, and her voice jumped by an octave: “I even hired a priest to drive out the evil! I still have the exorcism certificate…”

Duncan chuckled: “See? So it really is because people suspect this doll is carrying The curse and so she won’t sell, right?”

The old woman said nothing.

“I run an antique shop in the Lower City,” Duncan sighed. “An antique shop in the Lower City. You know what that means.”

“…I really don’t like dealing with business folk, especially ones like you,” the old woman shook her head with a sigh. “All right, yes, that is the real reason. Nilu stayed unsold for a long, long time, and the longer she sat there, the older she looked, so I simply pushed her into storage. If you really want her, then take her at a discount for 75 sola. At least let me earn back what I spent on the priest for the exorcism…”

“Deal.” Duncan agreed before she could even finish.

Either way, he really had grown very interested in this doll. Even though there was no proof at all that this little one had any connection with Lucretia, just the factor of “fate” was enough for him to decide to buy her.

This was his instinctive reaction after suddenly learning that “he” had somehow produced a pair of children. Who knew when those siblings might show up, and who knew what trouble they would bring. Now that he had found something related to Lucretia, whether it would be useful or not, he wanted to keep it by his side first and study it slowly.

In a world that held supernatural powers and all kinds of strange things, objects that carried a “connection” like this often played a role in occult studies.

“Then I’ll leave Nilu in your care,” the shopkeeper said. Duncan’s quick answer clearly stunned the old madam, and she looked as if she already regretted not asking for a higher price. But she soon shook her head and pushed the box with the doll toward him. Before Duncan could reach out, she could not help speaking again: “You must take good care of this child. I can see you truly love dolls, sir, but I still have to remind you: don’t treat Nilu as some cheap piece of merchandise.”

“Of course,” Duncan said as he took the wooden box and closed the lid. Then he glanced at the wig and hair ornament he had picked out earlier. “How much are these two together?”

“425 sola. Fixed price.”

Duncan’s face instantly twisted as if his teeth hurt.

In the Lower City, that was two months of living expenses for a whole family. But in the Upper City… it was only enough to buy two “accessories” for some rich person’s luxury goods.

He even wavered for a moment, wondering if he should just give up on them, but he soon pushed that thought away.

This was the gift he had promised Alice (even if Alice’s mood might be a little strange when she received it). On the other hand, thinking of what he had gained in this doll shop today, this price did not seem completely unacceptable.

After comforting himself that way, Duncan let out a quiet breath and got ready to pay up without arguing.

Only when he was paying did he suddenly remember something, so he could not help asking one more question: “Right, back then, why did Lucretia only buy Lunie and not take Nilu, the younger sister?”

“…Do you really want to know?” The shopkeeper looked at him with a slightly mysterious air. “This matter… is another secret related to the Abnormal family.”

Duncan instinctively leaned in closer: “Now I’m even more curious.”

“Then you should settle the bill first.”

Duncan froze for a moment, then paid with a helpless smile: “Can you tell me now?”

“Oh, it’s actually nothing much,” the old madam said offhand while taking the money. “Those two children simply didn’t bring enough money back then. Lucretia left with tears in her eyes and said that when she had money in the future, she would definitely come back for Nilu as well. But looking at things now, she must have forgotten.”

Duncan: “…”

He could not tell if it was this old madam’s way of talking that was strange, or if all the elves in this world had a few screws loose.

…

On the gently rocking Vanished, rising and falling with the sea, Alice carried the last batch of supplies into the cabins and then came back up to the upper deck. At once she saw the captain standing quietly by the rail, as if he was lost in thought.

“Captain~~” The doll girl trotted over happily. “I’ve taken everything down to the cabins! The food and cookware went to the galley, and the rest went to the captain’s cabin!”

“Mm.” Duncan came back to himself and let out a soft breath. His gaze finally settled on Alice. “Good work.”

“Captain… are you feeling better now?” Alice looked Duncan up and down and asked, a bit unsure. “Your face suddenly looked really strange just now. Are you really all right?”

Duncan shook his head: “Don’t worry. It’s a small problem.”

He still felt a little unsettled. His head was full of the two names that had suddenly appeared, Tyrian and Lucretia, and the trouble they might bring. When he looked at Alice, this cursed Doll who absolutely had some link to the Frostholm Queen, his thoughts grew even harder to settle. In the end, though, he pushed many of those words back down.

No matter what link she had or didn’t have to the Frostholm Queen, Alice was just a doll who knew nothing. Talking to her about some things… it would be better to go talk to Shirley, that illiterate girl.

At least Shirley had a somewhat educated dog at her side.

He turned his head to look at the pigeon resting on the deck. Its outline flickered in the air, and then it vanished from above the deck in a burst of flame.

Alice watched the spot where the flame disappeared, wide-eyed: “Did AI go to ‘move cargo’ again?”

“Mm. There isn’t much this time,” Duncan nodded lightly. Then he looked at Alice and let a slight smile show. “It’s a gift for you.”

Alice’s eyes lit up: “A gift? A gift really for me?! Captain, you really—”

The doll girl had not finished the second half of her sentence when a whirl of ghostly green flame suddenly appeared over the deck beside them. In the blink of an eye AI finished her teleportation from the city-state of Pland to the Vanished, and as the flames rose, a new batch of supplies appeared before Alice’s eyes.

That doll could not finish the rest of her words at all.

The first thing that appeared before her eyes was a wig…